Around here lately: November and December 2015 edition

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We have definitely been enjoying the Christmas season and our time with family and friends. I will certainly post quite a bit about all of our celebrating over the next couple of weeks, but those posts are not quite ready yet (and the celebrating isn't quite finished!). In the meantime, here's the latest installment of Claire-isms that I don't want to forget (and that I hope entertains you). Enjoy!


"IT'S THE TICKLE BOX!" (her response when Brad holds her so that she cannot escape with either her arms or her legs and is immobilized for tickling)

"I have to pay the tickle tax!" (her response when Brad won't let her pass until he tickles her thoroughly) variation: "Don't tickle tax me, Daddy!"

*Lays back dramatically and puts cherry pit bag on head* I use a heated cherry pit bag on my head when I have migraines, and Claire is captivated by the bags. She often commandeers one of them and pretends that she "has a headache" like Mommy. Bless.

"There's a sprinkle on the bed!" (referencing a rogue sequin from her red sequin shorts)

"I feel so much better!" (immediately after taking cough syrup. Like, the moment she swallowed it.)

"Go, toes, go!" (an encouragement to her toes when putting her feet into her pants/tights/socks)

"I have to take the car away, daddy, because you disobeyed, ok?" (playing cars with Brad...not sure what Brad did to deserve such reproof. It does, I think, give insight into "phrases often heard in our house.")

"Daddy, Mommy doesn't feel like nice. Please leave her in bed."

"Nana, will you close me?" (pronounced as in "Kroger is close to my house," not like "close the door," meaning "will you pull me close?")

"Aha! I have an idea: you want to take turns?"

"Great job, toes!" (playing cars with Nana, catching the car with her toes)

"Read it again, would you?"

Brad, coming downstairs and seeing Claire in the bathroom: "Whatcha doing, Claire?"

C: (singing a made-up tune) "I'm sitting on the potty! I'm sitting on the potty! I'm sitting on the potty BEE-DEE-HA!"

"Poppy is on him's way!"

"I'm going to go upstairs and tell daddy, 'what's the problem here, Daddy?'" (because Daddy had shut the tv console for the night, and she did not appreciate it)

"Please find S E S E Pen. Try harder, please, Nana." (asking my mother to find ESPN. Yes, she's an unusual child.)

Kat: See you later, alligator!

Claire: See you later, Crocodile!

Claire to Kat: "Are you awake, Crocodile?"

"The trigangle is back!" (referring to the angle my legs make when I'm laying on my side on the couch. She likes to sit in the bend of my knees and calls it the "triangle")

"Did Daddy blow it backwards?" (regarding the deflated air mattress before it was folded and put away) 

"Hi, Christmas Tree!" (a daily greeting heard during the Christmas season)

"I'm  getting the hot off." (rubbing my legs after I kicked off a blanket and said I was hot)

"I need my good night flashlight." (night light)

"Can I have the nuvver ear to kiss?" (after kissing one of my ears)

Wips = chapstick

"Grandpa has a beard. I have a face."

"Let me do it- you do it allll day." (Brad was doing something on the computer, and Claire wanted to participate. Refer to this post for the first part of this story.)

"I'm doing decorate!" (while putting random items on the Christmas tree)

"I'm a little upset to Daddy. He told me 'no'."

"I'll be a sweet girl to Mommy!" (stated automatically when Daddy leaves. Brad has trained her well.)

"Mommy, I'm hicking up!" (hiccup-ing)

C: "Gran, could you go ask Maizie, 'What's the problem?'" (Maizie is Gran's bird) *takes Barbara's seat while she's out of the room*

Me: "Claire, we don't start eating dessert until the hostess picks up her fork. The hostess is Gran."

C: "Gran, could you pick up your fork?"

(in the midst of a negotiation over behavior and the receipt of a cookie)

C: "I don't want a cookie. Can I have a cookie?" (no breath taken between statements)

Brad: "Well, if you aren't going to do what you need to to get a cookie, I'm going to eat it."

C: "Daddy, PLEASE don't eat my cookie!!" (insert extremely pitiful face)

Brad: "Who is George, Claire?"

Claire: "He's a curious monkey!"

And, the conversation that wins for this edition:

(during a post-nap meltdown wherein Claire was crying uncontrollably, didn't want to leave her room, didn't want me in her room, and refused to calm down. Please read in the voice of a hysterical 2-year-old)

C: "Could you leave?"

Me: "No."

C: "Could you close the door and go on the other side?"

Couldn't make this stuff up if I tried, folks. If you haven't met Claire in real life to experience this nuttiness, I'm really sorry. It's hilarious. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends!

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

(If you didn't get a card from us in the mail, here's one for you! And, if you'd like one in the future, let me know!)

Christmas-y things with Claire

Christmas with Claire was fun last year. But Christmas with Claire this year is SO MUCH FUN! She is just in love with all the Christmas things. She loves Christmas trees! And lights! And movies! And food! We've been learning the Christmas story, and she's getting pretty good at telling (certain parts of) it.

When Brad and I got married, several of my parents' friends got together and gave us the Willow Tree nativity set. I would never have thought to buy it for myself, but I LOVE it and am so glad we have it. Looking back, it's one of my favorite wedding gifts. I don't think Claire ever noticed it last year (I display it up higher than her head, and she was quite small last year), but she has been enamored this year. Maybe it wasn't a wise decision on my part, but I let her play with them fairly extensively when I unpacked them. I had the best time watching her play with the animals (she was less interested in the people and there are a LOT of animals in the set). My favorite moment was when I realized that she was attempting to give the sheep rides on the camel's back. She tried to drag the camel and riders around for a good half hour.

This is probably only half of the animals in the set and pictured here are 3 sheep, an ox, and a camel. The sheep are climbing aboard.

Oh yeah, Mums the stuffed sheep and Mr. Squeaky also got to take turns on the camel ride.

Here's a relatively thorough shot of the nativity, after Claire helped me set it up. Please note that a wise man and a shepherd are in the Mary-Joseph-Jesus'spot. We're working on it, y'all.

We had a blast setting up the tree with Claire. She was basically bouncing up and down until we got the tree out of the box and was actually fairly helpful in branch fluffing. And when the lights came on, it was magical. I wish you could have seen it. She was a little bit impatient with me while I was trying to untangle the ornament hooks; I was clearly not fast enough. In my defense, I was trying to untangle hooks and mentally censor which ornaments were Claire-friendly for this year and which needed to be saved for future years. That's a lot of fine-motor skill and mental acumen all at one time! We let Claire hang most of the ornaments (with a little help), which meant that we ended up with some interesting ornament placement. I haven't fixed it, though; she was so intentional in her placement and did it with such enthusiasm that I couldn't bring myself to change anything. Since the original tree decorating, she has added other "ormaments," like fabric scraps she found, craft pom poms, and play necklaces and bracelets. Everyday she asks to see "our beautiful tree," so I'd say that she's quite pleased with her work.

Waiting so very impatiently for us to unbox the tree.

Just staring at it, waiting for us to get our act together and get the show on the road.

Finally!

The magical moment. She gasped and squealed.

Kat captured this great action shot. Bear was so very determined and focused on this important task.

Carefully placing and arranging.

Yes, we were watching "Christmas with the Kranks."

She condescended to let Kat help her.

Here's a fairly accurate sample of what our tree looks like. It's so...special.

A few years ago, my mom gave me this Hallmark ornament of the Fisher Price rotary dial phone that all kids my age played with in the mid-80's. Claire has admired it for the past two Christmases. Back in April, when she and I were in Alabama to help my mom and aunt sort through my Granddaddy's belongings, I asked if I could bring one of these (non-rotary but similar style) phones home with me for Claire to play with. She has thoroughly enjoyed playing with it, and when she saw the Fisher Price ornament, she ran to get "her" phone. She plunked it down under the tree and told me it was "JUST LIKE THE RED PHONE, MOMMY!" 

Because her love of Christmas trees is so strong, I decided that I really wanted to get her a small one of her very own. We have an At Home store in town with gazillions of tree options, so we headed there to find one. She was so excited when we walked in and there were Christmas trees of all shapes, sizes, and colors set up everywhere. We snapped a picture in front of the pink Eloise tree (spoiler: we didn't buy that one) and then let her roam among the trees for a while (under supervision, of course). We ended up getting her a pre-lit tree that's just a smidgen taller than her and pretty thin, along with some shatter-proof ornaments and a gold star for the top (because I was NOT going to have that discussion 3984726 times). We set it up, helped her decorate it, and she said, "My Christmas tree is PERFECT, Mommy!" She admires it everyday, which makes me feel we got our money's worth.

The Eloise tree!

Proudly introducing her perfect Christmas tree.

The Durham Museum of Life and Science (that I have mentioned on occasion) has an annual Santa Train. There's a train you can ride any given day that rides you around the wooded museum property, and at Christmas, they transform it into the Santa Train that takes you to the North Pole. I knew I wanted to do that with Claire; she LOVES trains, and I could only imagine that the train at Christmas time would thrill her little heart. I was mostly right. She was extremely wary of Santa when he came by our train bench. That's fine; I don't need her to be super cozy with unfamiliar men, especially since we don't really do Santa. She doesn't get the whole Santa concept, as we've never discussed it or promoted it at home (we're not anti-Santa; we've just chosen not to teach her Santa lore. We teach Jesus stories and figure she'll pick up Santa stuff along the way). She did enjoy the hot chocolate and marshmallows, the light structures, the train, the "North Pole," and the general merriment. She keeps saying she wants to go back to "the surprise," so I'd say it was a success!

The picture I got on our way to the museum. She was very excited about the surprise.

Crummy nighttime shot of the "North Pole."

Crummy nighttime shot of Brad and Claire being an ice skating penguin and polar bear. It was nearly impossible to get them both looking at me at the same time. Ahem, Brad.

Checking out the light trees.

Crummy nighttime shot of Claire with the light trees. At least I tried.

And, in true Claire fashion, she's made a few hilarious comments about Christmas-y things over the past few weeks:

We've watched quite a bit of "A Very Monkey Christmas," known around here as "Christmas George." It's the Curious George Christmas movie, and it really is rather cute. She asks to watch it multiple times a day, although she doesn't get to. During the opening credits, there's a part where George pulls on a ribbon that opens a bow, revealing the words "Curious George." When George picks up the ribbon, before he starts pulling, Claire always says, "Mommy! Are you ready? George is going to pull the Curious!!" I don't remember telling her that those words say "Curious George," but somehow she figured it out. Proud.

She has also started this hilarious little habit of saying that we're doing such-and-such so WE CAN BE CHRISTMAS! No idea where she got it, but she says it regularly. Example: "Mommy put up the rug (she means the banister garland) so WE CAN BE CHRISTMAS!" or "Let's turn on the lights of our beautiful tree so WE CAN BE CHRISTMAS!" It's so funny; I feel like she looks and sounds like a cartoon character when she does that.

The first line of "Jingle Bells" is "Crashing through the snow..."

When she sees any unfamiliar boxes or bags (which is often this time of year) she says, "What's IN the bag?" which isn't a funny question, but her inflection on the word "in" sounds hilarious. Read it out loud; I think you'll see what I mean.

We've had a blast with Claire this Christmas. Christmas is always fun around here, but she's given us such a funny time this year, and we have loved it. I hope it stays this way for a long time.

Thanksgiving 2015: Bogga Bogga Bogga!

Note: Bogga, bogga, bogga is what a turkey says, apparently. You know, according to Claire.

This year, we spent Thanksgiving in Tennessee. It was beautiful and fun, of course! We love visiting Johnson City, as east Tennessee is so beautiful. Durham is in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, meaning we are smack in between the mountainous west and the coastal east. It's pretty and wooded but kind of flat and not as interesting as the mountains or the coast. SO, traveling west is such a pretty trip. 

We got to TN on Tuesday evening and left on Sunday, filling up our visit with lots of family time and lots of food. It was super exciting that Bill was off five days in a row, Tim was there almost the same amount of time as we were, and Rachael rearranged her work schedule so that she was off almost the entire time we were there. Those things are not always a given, as Bill is a doctor, Tim is finishing his last year of medical school, and for the past year and a half, Rachael has been working the 12-hour night shifts at the hospital. Lining up those schedules is HARD. And yes, our family is extremely medical. Between my dad, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law, we are pretty well set. It's enviable, I know, to have so many medical professionals on speed dial. I'd also like to point out that Brad will also (eventually) have the title of "Doctor"...he just won't be any help if you're sick. Although, he is super good at picking prescriptions up at CVS.

Claire got to participate in her favorite activities: playing with Boswell toys from the previous generation, staying up later than her bedtime every night, eating more sugar than she usually gets to, visiting the creek, hanging with the animals, sitting on Grandpa's tractor, and generally getting to do what she wants. And, because my mother-in-law is super thoughtful, she broke her usual "no Christmas up before Thanksgiving" rule and made sure the tree (minus the decorations) was up and ready for Claire to see and help decorate. Claire is INFATUATED with Christmas trees. She also has very strong opinions about trees NEEDING a star as the topper. Since we've been married, Brad and I have used the fancy, swirly "B" that served as our wedding cake topper-rather than a star- on our tree, accompanied by a bow and ribbon. After approximately 1,000 discussions with Claire about why we didn't have a star ("to shine down on BETHWEHEM!"), I caved, bought a star, and packed up by "B" until future years. I'm a pushover, but I'm fine with that. Her Christmas exuberance is infectious and adorable. All that to say, I should have warned Barbara. She always uses an angel...and bless her, Claire was all over that situation. She was fine with the angel for about the first 24 hours, but then the wearing down of the Gran began. Thankfully, she had a star in storage and was able to pull it out to satisfy the NEVER ENDING discussion about the star. 

Claire in her element. That garland was rearranged MANY times. Many, I tell you.

Note the tree topper. Gran is a great sport. I have given my mother a heads-up for our visit to her house.

Here's a little Claire conversation about tree toppers that you might enjoy:

Me: Claire, if Gran takes down the angel, who will say, "Glory to God!"?

Claire: The Holy Spirit will come down to you!

We think she got that line from one of her episodes of Superbook. It definitely caught Barbara and me off-guard to hear that out of such a small person. She is a sponge, guys. Watch what you say.

We spent one afternoon doing some serious family bubble blowing in the driveway. Claire was extremely happy and clearly thought it was totally normal for six adults to be blowing bubbles in the driveway.

This might have been a face of pure joy...or an attempt to eat a bubble. Not entirely sure.

The Siblings Boswell (+ Claire)

Tim is actually a wizard.

This is a new favorite of mine. Totally going to print it.

After we finished with bubble blowing, the whole clan (fun fact: did you know that Boswells originate from Scotland, making "clan" a semi-appropriate term in this case? )trekked down to the creek. Interestingly, Claire only played at the actual creek for only a few minutes before deciding to spend time with the neighbors' donkeys, which she called "zebras." Also, zebras say "moo." In case you weren't aware.

Throwing some sticks in the creek, you know, as one does.

Chatting with the zebras.

Getting kisses.

Giggling about kisses.

Zebra trying to give me (or maybe my camera?) a kiss.

Claire and Ray Ray.

Claire and Takia. Takia and Ray Ray are great sports. (And please note Tim's facial expression. It's hilarious.)

I didn't actually get any pictures of Thanksgiving Day festivities. I had my camera, but I wasn't feeling very well and just didn't get it done. Barbara, however, captured several cute shots of Claire wearing her sweet dress that Papaw and Mamaw (Brad's grandparents) gave her and cuddling the new bear from Aunt Donna and Uncle J.D. (Brad's aunt and uncle). We ate gobs of awesome food and spent most of the day with family that we don't get to see very often. Claire had a blast and even took a short nap (which was a nice surprise). Getting to spend time with family (and we happen to like all of ours) and know that there's not just enough food for sustenance but abundantly more than we need is such a wonderful reminder of all that we have to be thankful for. And a toddler who naps in an unfamiliar location? Extra thankfulness icing on the cake.

The one picture I took on Thanksgiving Day.

One of Barbara's pictures. I love it.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was the Iron Bowl (for those not from Alabama, that's the Alabama-Auburn game). Being an Alabamian, I recognize that this is basically a state holiday to be celebrated, no matter where I am. Thus, I dressed my daughter up in Auburn-wear, put on the only blue and orange that I have that fits currently, and watched the game, hoping for best but preparing for the worst. It wasn't as bad a game as it could have been, so I was happy about that. Claire was a great fan and cheered them on quite well. She can say "touchdown Auburn" and "War Eagle" like she means it, of which I am proud. And seriously, y'all: If you've never experienced an Iron Bowl in Alabama, you really should. It is majorly a cultural event.

Trying to get her to pose in her dress.

Just because the game's on is no excuse to stop the work that needs to be done.

Holding up an "Elsa." And by that, I mean a snowflake ornament.

Leading Sadie around with Daddy's Turkey Trot medal. Yeah, all the 20-30 something aged adults ran in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning...except me. I would say it's because I'm pregnant, but let's be real: it's not happening pregnant or not.

I like to think of this as her "TOUCHDOWN" look, but really I think she was asking Rachael to fly her around.

Claire also cracked us up with her rendition of "Let It Go." She's always liked the song, but she became very committed to it when all of the snowflake decorations started appearing over the last few weeks. She calls snowflakes "Elsa," by the way (I can't imagine too many of you not understanding these references, but in case you don't, Elsa is a character from the movie Frozen and "Let It Go" is a song she sings). 

This pink sweater was crocheted by Gran last year and fits her perfectly this year, so we attempted to get a few pictures. These are the two best, I think. Two-year-olds and posing appropriately for pictures = HARD.

We had a lovely time with our family and really tried to make the most of our week. I think we did a pretty good job! Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon. And to close, a few gratuitous shots:

Sadie tolerating Claire. That's the relationship they have; Sadie attempts to tolerate Claire, and Claire tries to be friends with Sadie.

A stellar picture with Takia. Such a good picture is kind of like a unicorn- sort of mythical.

Also, a big thanks to those of you who signed up for Ebates using my referral! I hope it works out for you as well as it has for us.