It's a Snow Day!!

Christmas Morning!

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so much fun celebrating Christmas with Claire. She still didn't understand exactly what was going on but she could tell that we were excited and she went along with us. Claire got a new baby doll and a baby doll center. It comes with a bed and a high chair so Claire can take care of her babies. She loves her new baby. It cries and laughs and she likes to change the outfits. The baby stuff was so exciting for her so we took a brake from presents and ate warm cinnamon rolls and fruit. She also received her very own hot wheels and Fisher Price dual speedway. She LOVES cars and it's about time she had some of her own. Mark got a pepper grinder and salt set(you have to get creative after 6 Christmas' together!). He can now add fresh pepper to anything and everything that he eats. Mark surprised me with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy books. Just to clarify, I didn't ask for the books for Christmas! Mark has been trying to get me to read them for years. He is currently reading the Twilight series for me so it's a fair trade. I enjoy the movies so I know that I will like the books. We had a yummy turkey dinner with the Hamblins and spent time with friends and family. Claire was so excited about her new toys that she couldn't stop playing long enough to take a nap. It was so fun to watch her go in between babies and cars. She is so happy.
Mark and I took Christmas down today. It is always sad to end this magical season. Claire will miss her tree and the lights and balls. The goal for our family is to try and remember the strong spirit of Christ that we felt all month and make sure that we continue to have that spirit in our home all year.

Hamblin Family Christmas Party

Claire and her Hamblin Cousins: Jonas, David and Trevor.

School's out FOREVER.......!

Mark has officially completed all necessary coursework for his graduate degree! He turned in his last paper and finished his last final yesterday. After 7 years of being a student, he is finally done with classes. No more finals, papers, midterms and best of all no more HOMEWORK. This is especially exciting because it means that Claire and I get our Dad and husband back in the evenings. Of course Mark still has to have successful research and write a dissertation but that's his problem! I am so proud of his hard work. He is the most diligent student. I tried for years to get him to stop reading every word of every page of every textbook. A person can get through college by skimming, but that isn't Mark. You can't ask him to not do his very best. It is exciting to be a step closer to graduation. Congratulations Hon! We think you're great!

Family Photo

Finally, a picture of all 3 1/2 of us! Thank you to Claire for taking the bottle out of your mouth long enough to stare at the camera. Oh well! The family photo also includes one of the most important members-Ducky. I love Ducky because he helps her go back to sleep at night when she wakes up. I hope we never lose Ducky. Baby Sean is coming in ten weeks and hopefully not a day sooner. He is due February 10th. I wrote out my list of tasks that need to be accomplished before he comes. This list includes: make room for the baby in Claire's bedroom. Make room in the hallway closets for the baby's stuff. I need to organize the baby clothes to make sure that I have something to dress him in and we should probably buy some newborn diapers. History has shown that I might not have ten weeks to get ready so I need to get going. I'm starting to get excited. I can't wait to meet this little boy. I like his big sister so much so I know that I will like him too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving at the Luke's house this year. The food was great and the company was even better. Claire had fun playing with eight of her ten cousins. It's nice that she is a big girl and likes to play.