So I usually wait so long to post that I forget to share some of the fun little things of life that we enjoy. I thought I'd take the opportunity to do so now.

Chris is home with Claire and I all of the time now. His job working at Penn State ended in December, so he is now unemployed until the end of April when he goes back into the active military. Until then, I am being totally spoiled by have a husband home every day. I'll be honest; I was a little worried. I got used to being home alone with Claire during the day and doing my own routine. But I have to say, it is the most wonderful thing having Chris home every day! I feel so blessed and am just enjoying every moment.

We plan to do some projects together. We already organized the storage area of the basement and threw some things out, reorganized things in storage totes, and tidied up a bit. I stumbled upon the bag of cards that we received for our wedding. Every time I do, I just want to throw them away. They fill a bag and take up a lot of space. Every time I mention it though, Chris says, "no, we only get married once. We have to keep them." So, I decided to get rid of some of the bulk by throwing away the envelopes at least. In the process, I peeked inside the cards to reminisce over all the people who gave us cards and gifts. We jokingly said it would be funny if we found money in one, but I didn't think it was possible. Much to our surprise, we found a $50 gift card to Walmart (which is still good) and a $50 bill in another card! I couldn't believe it! What a blessing! I felt bad that it sat there so long, but was so excited to have found it. Thank you Chris for not letting me throw away those cards! Other projects we plan to do is work on organizing Chris's family history, cleaning out the freezer in our basement, and cleaning up/ backing up our computers. It's so nice to get organized!

Since Chris has had so much more time on his hands, he has enjoyed exploring cooking! (And I have enjoyed eating!) He made sausage yesterday, and has been exploring foods from different cultures. One week, we had a few Moroccan dishes which were very tasty. Last night, he made a yummy Mexican dish. We hope to also explore Greek, other Mediterranean, English, Italian, Asian, and other food from other cultures. We love to travel, and exploring different food is one way that we can experience other cultures that we may not ever see. I have been enjoying not cooking too. I have helped Chris some in the kitchen, but other times, he does it all on his own while I relax and read a magazine. Ah, the life. We really do enjoy cooking together though. I consider myself his sous chef. Oh, and one night, he made crepes and home made hash browns while another night he made meatloaf with a home made bbq sauce that he made which was amazingly scrumptious!

A couple of nights ago, while cooking together in the kitchen, Claire was wandering around near our feet. Lately, when I have been in the kitchen, she has hugged my legs and said, "ahh" in a nasal kind of voice that she does when she hugs people or her stuffed animals (or sometimes her sippy cup.) It's so cute! Well, one night when Chris and I were both cooking, she walked back in forth between us, taking turns hugging our legs and saying, "ahhh". She is so sweet! I love that she is an affectionate little girl and is very liberal giving out hugs. She sometimes just wraps her little baby arms around my neck so tight. I just love it!

Claire is enjoying learning the different animal sounds. While at my parents' at the beginning of December, my mom taught her to say "woof woof." For a while, all animals said "woof woof." In fact, she loves to take a little tour of the decorations we have in our home. Since it was Christmas time, the decorations were Christmas decorations - mostly nativities which I collect. While going around looking at the different nativities, I would tell her the sheep say "baa" and I would ask her what the donkey said. Sometimes even before I could ask, she knew the donkey said, "woof woof." It was so cute, I just decided it was close enough. The donkey was brown and had ears like some dogs, why not "woof woof?" Then, for her birthday, she got the little people Noah's ark. Not long after, she learned that the lion says "roar." Then of course, the nativity donkeys also said roar. Finally, about a week before we took the nativities down, I taught her that donkeys say "hee haw." Well, she doesn't quite say "hee haw...instead, she says "uh oh." The inflection is nearly the same, so I thought it was close enough. So finally, by the end of the Christmas season, Claire now knows that donkeys say "uh oh." Hee hee. She also knows that cows say "moo" (though when she says it, she sticks her belly out and doesn't quite open her mouth), sheep say "baa" (though she just kind of shouts "BAA" with big eyes) and she can sometimes make a sound that sounds like a quack.

She is a very outgoing little girl, so she seems to be ahead of the game moving around and with speaking. She took her first step at the beginning of September, but didn't start walking more frequently until the beginning of November. By Thanksgiving, she was a pro, and now she sometimes runs. She's now starting to climb a little. In fact, she has grown to love the rocking chair we got her for her birthday. It makes me nervous that she can get herself in it now because she doesn't know how to get off. She usually tries to stand up (which I'm trying to teach her not to of course) and this morning, she stood up and just walked off faster than I could get across the room where I was putting her clothes away. Yikes! She was startled, but fine though.

Claire is also very good at imitating. While she says and understands a lot of words (mom, daddy, hi, uh oh, ball, thank you, all done, no, etc.) she can also imitate many words after we say them (cool, key, book, etc.) It's very interesting to see how social she is, and I wonder how that will be a part of her personality as she grows. Apparently she reminds people of me when I was little. I was the little five year old who would annoyingly introduce myself to my older siblings friends including my full name, address, and grade in school. I probably made my parents worry since I would introduce myself this way to complete strangers too! I just love watching Claire grow and seeing the silly little things she does every day.

I have a sweet husband whom I adore, and a beautiful little girl with such personality and character - life doesn't get much better than this!