Santa!

The kids have seen Santa several times this year... at least three times. It is a little much, but it seems like Santa is able to attend every event that we go to over the holidays! The kids went to Breakfast with Santa at their school, had a second breakfast with Santa at the country club with friends, Clare saw Santa again at a friend's holiday party then we went to the mall yesterday to get our "official" Santa pictures. We need to do pictures first next year because at this point William was over it and told me he ALREADY has told Santa what he wants for Christmas... Oh boy. William and Grace love Santa though. Clare. Not so much. She couldn't be distracted for one pretty picture. Here are all our Santa encounters below!

MSEE's Breakfast with Santa - Grandma and Grandpa Orosz brought them.

Interlachen's Breakfast with Santa with the Hurts

Dinner with Santa at the McDowell's house

THE Santa at the mall!

We love this Santa!

Except Clare!

Maybe next year Clare will warm up to Santa - or at least we will figure out a better way to distract her! Thank goodness I only waited 15 minutes in line to see Santa... I waited until the week of Christmas to fit this in... not very smart, but I was able to sneak into line instead of taking a number for the 6 HOUR wait! The line lady must have taken note of their nice outfits and knew I'd buy the CD! Ha!

Clare is 11 Months!

11 months

One month shy of 1. It's mind boggling. The year has flown by with this quiet, determined, tiny one. She is developing quite the personality. Silent, but feisty at times! She knows what she wants! She's racing around, climbing the playground, following the big kids, talking, pointing, clapping, waving, shaking her head no, sprouting teeth (5 teeth are now in), 

Walking into the Science Center together

Playing with oranges

Pressing the button to see the popcorn fly

First time voter (not pleased about the experience!)

Dominating the playground

Fun at My Gym

Front and center for songs

Napping

No limits on the playground

Lunch like a big kid

Cousins!

Upgrade to the big car seat

Grace photo shoot

Lady friends at the park

As you can see Clare is living the life! One fun day after the next - especially when you have two older siblings that like to keep busy. She has been a great sport at hanging with us (even when it means skipping a nap or cutting one short). Here are some other updates on our little 11 month old!

• Loves her bottles and we're down to 2.5 - morning and night then she really likes a little one before her afternoon nap. 
• She loves food pouches and she play with real food a lot - already making big messes, but a few of her favorites include blueberries, raspberries, bread, popcorn, muffins, chicken. 
• Still taking her morning and afternoon nap. 10:30am and 2:30pm about. It's pretty flexible though and I feel like she could maybe drop her morning nap if I wanted... but I do like the little break in the morning, which gives me time to do a couple things with Grace and William without her jumping into the mix. 
• Says some words like "this" (points to something she wants and says "this") and "yes" (Do you want to take a bath? and she says "yesh") and I think I hear her trying to say "William" - I haven't made out "Grace." She says "mama" when she is in distress like in the morning and it's more ma ma ma ma ma ma ma over and over again. She repeats "dada" often. She mimics a lot of other noises that are gibberish. 
• Understands commands pretty well and knows to follow us. We walked to a neighbors house a couple blocks over and she walked the entire way with us because she knew to stay with the pack. She'd get distracted now and then, and of course Grace was happy to run over to her and scream "Let's GO, CLARE!" Clare obliged. 
• Tough lady because she is constantly manhandled by Grace. She isn't afraid of trying to conquer the playground steps or walk around by herself because of the confidence they've instilled in her. She thinks she's a little kid! 

Overall, Clare is one happy baby! You can see the wheels turning in her head trying to figure it all out. She definitely won't let being the smallest and youngest get in her way. So close to being 1. And not "zero" as William says. Stay tiny, Clare! We love our baby Clare! 

William's First Field Trip

William had his first school field trip today and I had the pleasure of chaperoning. I took two of his classmates with us in our car and we headed to the Happy Elf show at the Orlando Rep Theater. The car ride was interesting to say the least. They enjoyed the show though. William said it was "an awesome show!" I think traveling with friends somewhere other than school was probably the most exciting part. They did great and were attentive the entire time. The first of many fun field trips!

Warner, William and Benji

Ready for the show!

William's class after the show

Christmas is here!

The Orosz home is full of Christmas spirit! The day after Thanksgiving we pulled out all our Christmas decorations and bought our Christmas tree.

Home Depot to buy a tree

Clare picking out her first tree

Actually she would rather run up and down the aisle

"Look! I'm a peacock!"

We found the perfect tree stunner and brought it home. We got a new tree stand this year and it was the easiest installation we have ever had! Kicking off the holiday season right - no crooked, falling over trees at our house! We saved the decorating for Saturday though. We fueled up on more Thanksgiving leftovers and hit the hay.

Ready to decorate!

We woke up Saturday and decorated the tree and the rest of the house. Full of holiday cheer and music!

Yes, Grace wore her outfit from Friday to bed.

Incoming ornament!

Grace's turn

Saturday night we went to Disney Springs to check out a holiday drone show that is new. It was INCREDIBLE! We walked down to the water to feast by the food trucks and wait for the show. The weather was perfect and the sunset beautiful. The kids started to get antsy for the show and we walked around a little before heading back to watch 300+ drones. Our new seats weren't as great as the original waiting spot, but the show was still incredible. I absolutely want to go back and see it again. William and Matt parted ways with us following the show for Hollywood Studios. Grace, Clare and I walked around Disney Springs some more and saw some of the holiday sights... large Nutcrackers and Christmas trees. We grabbed a Mickey pretzel for the road then went home. A fun evening!

Clare is ready for drones.

Holiday spirit!

Grace is excited for Disney!

Love the holiday decorations

Our spot for dinner by the water

I mean, look at that!

A drone dove! Amazing!

Grace, Clare and I checking out the scene

Very large holiday characters and small Grace up front

Mickey pretzel

Great way to kick off the holidays! I'll have to share a picture of our house lit up as well. Matt installed all the lights and did a great job. Nothing has fallen over yet :) A ton of fun holiday activities to come... this is only the beginning! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving as usual was delicious! It was Clare's first Thanksgiving and she sat at the table with the rest of the family. She probably ate better than William and Grace! We had Grandma and Grandpa Orosz, Steve, Helen, Max and Miles over to eat. A wonderfully easy and relaxing Thanksgiving. We all ate at noon then took long naps in the afternoon. A few pictures from the day below...

We fry one turkey the night before, 2nd day of

Matt's glorious fried turkey

Trump pumpkin pie!!

The bountiful food

Matt ready to feast

Clare ready to feast

Grace, Max and William at the kiddie table

Leftovers for dinner

Relaxing Thanksgiving night

And a handful of pictures from the weekend before when we relaxed at the beach.

Clare loves the water

Cold water doesn't bother these kids

Digging holes for Clare

And this happened 5,000 times...