Clara's Blog

Today I made Christmas lists for Mommy, Daddy and Me. Here they are:

Clara (Me)
Reindeer outfit
Ballerina outfit
Kitty suit (aka outfit)
Decorations for a really crazy fancy dance/ball (like flowers for chairs)
New crayons
Colored pencils

Cheryl (Mommy)
New computer
Wood pieces to make letters
Princess outfit
Decorations for a fancy dance/ball

Scott (Daddy)
Reindeer outfit
Kitty suit (aka outfit)
"Just one" princess outfit with ribbons and slippers

Thanks, Mommy, for writing down all my ideas. I hope Santa gets everyone what I chose for them. You listenin' Santa?

(Mommy commentary here: the computer really was Clara's idea though it seems awfully out of place with the other stuff.)

I would like to thank the Mautners for the three bananas I ate at their house yesterday. Mommy says, "No ill health effects yet."

Sorry, I haven't updated in so long! If you haven't heard, I started school. I go to a really great school with nice teachers. I do work like painting, washing a pumpkins, spooning grains or stringing beads. I also really like to hang out in the reading corner. I wash my own dishes and clean my place after lunch. We sing songs every day and I've learned some songs that Mommy and Daddy don't know. (Don't worry I still make up my own songs all the time.) We go outside EVERY day no matter what the weather is doing. I'm making new friends and one of my favorite new friends loves to dress up even more than me. Can you believe it? How cool.

I'm still taking swimming lessons. I'm a Penguin now and I jump in and go underwater all the time and I can float for a little while all on my own. I'm working on my front glide...I just need to perfect my kicks and then I'll be an Otter. I like all the animal names they have for our classes.

We've gone on some great hikes this fall - just today I went with Daddy and the dogs up to Dry Creek Falls. I hiked or ran for about 1.5 hours! Daddy did carry me some too. It was a lot of fun. When the weather was a little nicer, the whole family went up to Mirror Lake. It's really pretty up there! I guess there's a reason that the parking lot there is almost always full.

For Halloween, I dressed up as a ballerina and went to see our favorite neighbors. I also got my picture taken someplace fancy with a cool white backdrop. I thought it was a stage and really didn't want to stand still at all for the lady with the camera. Mommy had fun watching that!

On Thanksgiving, Uncle Todd came over and we had yummy food. I made the cranberry relish and everyone thought it was really good. I also helped Mommy make rolls from scratch. (I call them roll-ups. I don't know why.)

I promise to try to update my site more often. I think we'll be off to pick out Christmas trees soon and other fun things. I'm hoping to share some of my artwork from school soon, too!

Lots of fun stuff going on lately. We had a sad goodbye to Beckham and his family - they're off to Germany! It wasn't so sad, actually, it was lots of fun. I got to play with some rowdy boys which is pretty rare for me. But fun! I hugged them and encouraged them even while they were being loud and rough. I'm funny that way I guess.

I also talked with the Slingsbys - Rich, Cyn and Stella. I'm not sure if I've ever met Stella. She's really cute. I think I'll share some of my clothes with her (she's only one). Of course, Mommy didn't think to tell me before that party that Cyn is a firefighter! A REAL firefighter! Cyn is super nice and invited me to come by the station. We did that a few days later and it was really great. I even got some homemade zucchini bread. I guess I haven't told you but I'm going through a little bit of a firefighter fascination stage. Every time I hear sirens I say, "There goes Cyn! Cyn's on a call!"

The other big thing that has been going on is....SWIM LESSONS! I have been going every weekday for about three weeks (one to go). Mommy decided that the pools are mostly open when I'm napping so swim lessons would be the best way for me to get a lot of practice in the water. There were a couple of days that I was overtired or something and didn't feel like cooperating but, mostly, they're really great. I even went underwater all on my own the other day! My teacher was very impressed. We kick and blow bubbles and sing songs. Good stuff!

Daddy, Scout and I did another hike. Mommy stayed home with New Dog. Reika is on strict rest: maybe she doesn't have a torn ligament after all, so rest might fix her up. It's sad. I think Mommy and Reika would have liked this hike. Oh, by the way, Reika is over her kennel cough, but I sill have it.

I hiked by myself for a little bit, but it was steep and slippy and just got worse! Mostly, I rode in the backpack, and Daddy said that I got a silver star! I wasn't fussy at all, not even after a long, bumpy car ride, and a long hike in the sun.

There were like a million butterflies and two million wildflowers and four snow-capped volcanoes. What species of flies are butterflies? I really wanted a butterfly to land on my hand, and I clutched a wildflower for forever to entice them, but no luck.

Daddy and I went up Ed's Trail. It's very scenic, but we had to scramble up some loose, steep stuff above big drop-offs, and that was scary. Especially with Scout doing his best Rockhopper Penguin. I didn't freak out, and I held on tight to the backpack handles, but later I told Daddy that I was scared.

We met lots of people on the trail. Another Daddy shared cherries with me, and a nice lady shared her trail mix. Later, she found my hat on the trail! Thanks, nice lady!

When we got home, I even pooped in the potty instead of my pants and fell asleep before 9:00 pm, so it was an all-round miraculous day.

Do you sometimes say, "No!" just because you feel like it? Do you then say, "No!" to any alternatives? Yes! Me, too. Know what? If you do it all the time, Mommy and Daddy get really agitated. Ha ha.

I had plenty of practice on our Fourth of July vacation. I might call it our Car Driving Vacation because we were in the car forever. (We went to East Lake Resort on the Newberry Caldera.) We fled the fireworks. Scout and I bark at fireworks.

So, I was pretty good in the car on the way there. We stayed in a cabin right on the lake, and I wanted to swim all the time. Lakes are also good for rock throwing.

I tried fishing, but you have to sit and wait for at least two or three minutes, and I don't have the patience for that.

I also did not want to sleep, ever. And I wasn't going to hang out alone in my bedroom, that's for sure.

Oh, do you know how to learn the rules? The secret: be naughty. When you're naughty: a) you learn the rules; b) you get attention. Scout is a good teacher.

I am doing more and more hiking on my own. Until I get tired. I am a good hiker.

The New Dog is funny. In every picture Mommy takes, Reika looks crazy.

So, actually, she has some problems. She got kennel cough from the shelter, and it got worse on vacation. (Pop caught it, too.) She coughed so hard that she vomited, and it was so bad that no one could sleep. Mommy drove her to Bend for medicine. Eighty mile round-trip. and the Bend vet thinks that Reika has a torn cranial cruciate ligament.

I think that the excitement, attention focused on Reika, and lack of sleep caught up with me at the end. I was, maybe, a bit evil. I cried when we left: I live here! Don't take me away from my home!

It was a long car ride home.

Though we did stop in Sisters, and Daddy shared his scone with me.