Easter Is Coming Soon!

Here's a preview! I just finished making this for Claire...what do you think? :)

Precious Pictures (scroll down for another post)

 Today was such a beautiful day, and I just had to snap some pictures. Since daylight savings time, we have had more time in the evenings to spend outside before the sun sets (hurray!). With the daffodils blooming so beautifully this year, Claire just had to stop to smell the flowers.

 What a sweet daddy Austin is to my girl. I could never ask for a better, more loving husband--or a kinder, sweeter daddy for my little one.

Happy spring!

(P.S.--Scroll down for another post...)

A Fun Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Palmer

 Last weekend Grandma and Grandpa Palmer flew in for a whirlwind weekend of fun! They arrived late Thursday night, and stayed until Monday evening. We had so much fun with them here! :) During the "weekend getaway" we enjoyed doing some fun things...like playing! Above you can see Claire and Grandpa Palmer had a fun time together. Claire was especially interested in Grandpa's tablet. :) She really warmed up a lot to Grandpa on this trip! :)

 As always, though, Grandma Palmer wins a special place in Claire's heart...and sometimes I swear they are two peas in a pod! One night we went to eat at Braum's...and when it comes to ice cream, Claire sure takes after Grandma Palmer. :) Ice cream and Palmer girls...an inseparable combination!

 Mmm...delicious! There is no ice cream like Braum's ice cream. :)

 On Saturday, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD had their annual book sale. Since Austin's mom likes to read too, I suggested we check out what was for sale this year. :) We sure had a lot of fun roaming the book tables, and we loved the low prices! A few hours later, we left to head back home (more like the guys called to see if we would ever return from our book paradise, haha!). I must say that we took quite a few books with us...we were worried that they wouldn't all fit in the suitcases flying home!

 While we were out shopping, Austin and his dad worked on some home projects together. Now we are the proud owners of white light switches, hurrah!!! I cannot tell you how wonderful it is! :) They put a lot of effort into this, and I am so lucky (and grateful) to not have to look at those dark brown switches anymore! Thank you guys, for your hard work!

Monday we went to the park, since it was a gorgeous day outside...even a little on the warm side. :) Claire showed off her climbing and sliding skills to Grandma and Grandpa. It was so much fun to have them here for the weekend, I was wishing that they could have stayed at least another week! Austin, Claire and I were very sad to see them go. :( But we were so happy that they were able to fly down to visit! We love you guys! Hopefully we will get to visit again soon. :)

Claire Cuteness

 Claire fed herself her own breakfast this morning! I have a lot more pictures to post from Christmas and Landon and Megan's wedding, but couldn't resist posting a few pictures from the past couple of weeks! :)

Santa Baby

This was Claire's first experience of Santa--ever! :) Needless to say, it was a typical holiday picture moment...just about the same as every other one year old's reaction to Santa. Austin and I went to my parents' ward Christmas party, and they were taking pictures. We couldn't pass it up! :) We had a great time with the 1st ward, but by the end of the night, Claire was ready to go to bed. Maybe next year she will be more interested in the "Santa moment."  Daddy and I love you, Claire!

Claire Loves To Help

 Claire LOVES to help rake the leaves! This was from today, in our backyard (out by the garden plot).

She did such a great job helping, maybe I should have paid her some Christmas money. :)

Claire loves these leaves. She especially likes to rake the pile of leaves, then go and sit down prim and lady-like in the pile. Sometimes she'll let me put some leaves on top of her lap to "bury" her in the leaves, but not today. :)

 Our busy little girl. She hasn't been quite herself, what with teething, a bit of a runny nose and cough, and all the Christmas-time busy-ness going on at our house.

 Austin was so excited to unwrap a nutcracker from Britta this year for Christmas! Claire was loving on it, but was not particularly happy about the getting her picture taken part.

Austin and his first official nutcracker for our home. :) It's almost Christmas! We are getting so excited over here at our house! :)

Christmas FHE

Usually Austin and I just read a Ensign article for Family Home Evening. But I thought, "Hey, Claire will be going into nursery in a few months (this upcoming March). I bet that we could start teaching FHE out of the nursery manual Behold Your Little Ones to get her used to listening to a "real" lesson. :) So last night, that is exactly what we did. Since Christmas is coming up in a few weeks, we learned about the lesson titled "Jesus Christ is the Son of Heavenly Father." (This was the Christmas lesson.) The picture above is the one pictured in the manual. We talked about Jesus being born of Mary and about Him being born also as the Son of God. I pointed to the baby and told her "this is baby Jesus." She looked at Austin and I, then pointed at Jesus and said "Baby!" This was a precious moment to me...to hear Claire reacting to us trying to teach her about her Savior. We pointed to the Star in the background, and Claire started doing the actions for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We explained that the Star was a sign of Jesus' birth. I love how quickly Claire is learning and growing. And at this Christmas time of year, I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to teach my sweet daughter the reason for this joyous season--the celebration of Christ's birth, the Redeemer of the world.