Welcome Home, Baby Claire! (catch-up)

And welcome to a home where....


Your sisters are very sick, and very contagious, but they can't get their hands off you!


Most of the time, this sister loves you a little TOO MUCH...


And this sister thinks that she can borrow your clothes since she can manage to get them on.
The highlight of the day is when your sisters get to hold you

And when visitors come to see you (Grandpa Yorgason's first time to hold Claire)


You get your first bath from Grandma--it's a tradition!

Your sisters want to learn how to take care of you, so they practice on their dollies (Millie is "feeding" her baby under the blanket)

And this sister has quite the skill for making silly faces!

Christmas 2009

Thatcher Family Christmas Party
The Thatcher family is growing fast, and we've finally gotten big enough that we had our party at the Paradise Church. Claire met the family for the first time. The older girls loved doing Christmas crafts, and then were indecisive while dressing up for the Nativity, which was performed on the stage. Paul and I got to be Mary and Joseph, because Claire was the best candidate for baby Jesus. Millie and Gracie stayed by us, and adored "baby Jesus" during the entire nativity. Grace was giggling so cute at Claire.


Grace loved seeing Kent and Sara--two of her favorite people in the whole world! Can you tell from her face that she LOVES them?


When Santa came out, Grace stood in the opposite corner of the cultural hall, crying that she didn't want to sit on his lap (wish we got a picture of that!). Millie is at the perfect age for believing in Santa. She told him how she wanted pink ballet shoes for Christmas. Whenever we asked Grace what she would ask for from Santa, she would say "a sucker." Not hard to please!

Yorgason Family Christmas Party
It was a fun party with the Yorgasons, as usual. Dave and Holly traveled up, but we missed Don, Jordan, and Jason's families. Paul and I got to be Mary and Joseph again, all because of newborn Claire. And no, we didn't plan to wear ALL red!

We learned from experience, that this Angel needed her favorite Sunday dress and her own fairy wings to willingly play the part.

Angel Millie sitting on "Grandpa's, oops, I mean Santa's lap!" Afterward, Millie kept asking us, "Is he our Santa?" A pretty smart question, we thought!
This is about as close to Santa as Grace was willing to come. She got her candy cane, and as soon as Santa reached out his hands to hold her, she was GONE!

Claire slept through it all--what a sleeping beauty she is!

Grandma was happy to sit down and hold Claire. At events like this, she rarely sits down to rest!


We caught Grandma kissing Santa Claus again! He's been dressing up as Santa in this very costume for 40 years! And she's been caught kissing him every time. Glad to see these two still in love!