Life Through Heather's Lens

Play Date with Maya

Back when I was working, my friend Lisa and I met and bonded over our shared disdain for our company and our jobs. We both got pregnant just a few months apart and as luck would have it, we both had little girls. Now that we're both staying at home, we get together on a weekly basis to let the girls play. I'm happy to say that Lisa is one of my best friends now, and I love to see how our little girls interact and how they are becoming friends. Now when the subject of our old job comes up, all we can do is shake our heads and agree that we are so glad not to be there anymore! I can't imagine missing out on moments like these.

Maya

Look at that sweet face!

I love Maya's eyes. They are so pretty.

This is the first time Claire actually sat down to color

instead of just throwing the crayons everywhere!

Good friends.

Claire's First Haircut

My girl was in desperate need of some bangs! I was tired of the sheepdog look, so we headed on down to the Hairy Elephant for a trim. Skip thought the name of the joint sounded a little x-rated. I want to know what kind of movies Skip has been watching when I'm not around!

Here is our "before" picture. Look how happy Claire is to "GO." She gets so excited when she hears the word, she runs to the garage door saying, "go, go, go..." Poor girl has no idea what she's in for....

Somehow I doubt this is what she had in mind.

But a trip to McDonald's for a Happy Meal soon makes everything better. And all that hair out of Miss Claire's eyes sure makes Mama happier! Now there's a pretty girl!

Christmas Day at Aunt Terry's

On Christmas Day we went over to Skip's Aunt Terry's house for a while. Any gathering with Skip's family naturally has to involve card playing, and that is exactly how we found everyone!

Cousin Joey, Michael's wife Terry, Cousin Tom, and Cousin Michael

Spades is a tricky business!

Skip has a serious "spade face!"

Cousin Joey's wife, Christine and Aunt Terry

Cousin Tom's wife, Dawn

Skipper must be winning!

Cousin Andrew, Skip, Christine, and Cousin Kathy

I can only take so much of watching people play cards, and I'm too intimidated to play with all these cardsharps! So I spent a lot of the time chasing Cousin Michael's son Jacob around and taking pictures of him and their new puppy!

Christmas at Pappy's House

Logan always loves to go to "Pappy's house," in my home town. This year we Missouri Stanleys held our family Christmas gathering at my parents' house in Slater. My cousins, "Uncle" Jason from NYC, and "Aunt" Katie from California flew in, and of course Uncle Bragg and Auntie Joyce came in from Columbia. I love our annual Christmas gathering and I hope we always make time for it in the years to come.

Here are Claire and I after our two and a half hour trek to Slater. We are opening presents: