We've had requests for more dance videos...

These are from the Woodruff 3rd ward's Christmas breakfast with a live cowboy band.

It was great!

Run-ins with Santa

Claire trades her precious microphone to Hooma for a chance to take some holiday pictures.

Claire arrives on the Christmas scene at 7am. Notice the green ball--she picked it out as a present to herself and when we went to check out, the clerk politely informed us it was a dog's toy. We said we didn't care, it's beautiful and Claire can't destroy it. Plus--it squeaks!

Claire moving at high velocity. There was a whole lot of Christmassing to get done.

Claire leans perilously close to Santa.

Claire and Hannah have some playtime at the Parent-to-Parent Christmas party.

Claire was invited to a billion Christmas parties this season. She was really unsure about the fat dude in a red suit, but Aunt Hannah assured her that she needed to butter him up in order to get presents. Plus, he seemed to be at almost every party so Claire warmed up to him.

Claire's favorite gift turned out to be a $5 princess microphone that flashes and sings "Be Our Guest." Adam is a bit cross that I even found it as the tune is a bit grating. Claire is in seventh heaven with it though---totally worth it!

Claire and "Her" IPod

Adam got this IPod for school data storage and podcast lessons, but if there are groovy tunes to be found anywhere you can bet Claire will discover them! We saw her rocking out to the IPod before but we assumed she was just imagining. Sure enough, she can turn it on and access the music files. She's listening to Black Eyed Peas here...

Greek Night with the Burches

If you look carefully, you can see Claire's little teeth. She won't let us take pictures of them, this is a rare glimpse!
Claire helps us cook fantastic Greek food by making a mess in the living room. She'd like a crack at the camera too... Our very own Charybdis!
Laurel stuffs dolmathes while the spanikopeta cooks.
Just about done; these are like Greek eggrolls. They steam in broth for an hour and then they become grape leaf ricey beefy oniony spicy goodness! We felt very awesome after enjoying this dinner--Claire liked the spinach pies best.

Claire hugs my legs after I voiced disapproval at her using the squirt bottle on people.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I made this lurpy wreath--at least it smells nice!
Claire shares her beautiful sparkle tree with the neighbor baby.
Claire is busy decorating the whole house for Christmas.
She gives a fierce Christmas Monster face.
Claire insisted on wearing her dog costume for this picture of the finished decorations. We're calling her the Christmas Dog which pleases her immensely.

Claire rides a plane for Thanksgiving

Claire is stylin' in her duds from Aunt Sam and Uncle Aaron. The unicorn is courtesy of Aunt Hannah. This picture is from the return trip, which didn't go as well as the first plane ride. Claire was fussy and she made the guy in front of us purple with rage. I was terrified that he was going to strike her, but he threw biscuits at us instead. Weirdo!
Claire, much more chipper than her parents at 4am in the Portland Airport. She insisted on wearing her purple super boots (inherited from Abby Vance) to go see Hooma.

Claire Doesn't Care

It's freezing here in Oregon, although everything's still green and growing. Claire loves to run and play outside though and she won't let a little sub-freezing weather stop her. She ran out of the house without her coat (that's our door in the background), so I chased her with a coat and camera.

Another Successful Foray

These are the mushrooms we collected during a break in the storms at Siltcoos Lake on Saturday. The varieties include Blue Knight, Winter Chanterelle, Chanterelle, Yellow Chanterelle, Cone Chanterelle, Hedgehog, Candy Cap, Jelly, Cauliflower, and PORCINI. Oh yeah, check out the two giant porcini! Adam practically cried when he found those. We used them in our birthday dinner.

University Museum of Natural History

Claire was big on the do-it yourself exhibits of course. We went there hoping for dinosaurs but were told they were fresh out at the museum. Well, I don't have a picture, but Claire found a forgotten Pterosaur hanging from the ceiling in one of the lecture halls. She can spot a dinosaur a mile a way and always has her growl ready to greet with. The museum is free for us as students, so we'll be spending more time there. They even have an accordion you can play with!

Every Grandma Needs a Webcam!

Claire congratulates Hooma on her excellent hair growth during our at least weekly webcam chat. They are about tied for length now!
Claire kisses Hooma goodnight. Claire always adds in a "mmmuah!" sound effect when she gives kisses. It is totally invaluable to have this technology. We miss the Schmutzes very much!

Sweet Creek Falls

At the beginning of November, we decided to try this hike in the Siuslaw National Forest after seeing it in our atlas. It was incredible! Almost the entire hike takes place on a catwalk built out over the Sweet Creek, with innumerable cascades right under your feet! We also found bunches of Candy Cap mushrooms which smell like maple and walnut and are good in cookies and buckwheat pancakes. There was an exciting rainstorm throughout the hike, so we did the whole thing under umbrellas. Claire thought the tatoo of the rain on the nylon was very giggle worthy.

Newt Hike: Enchanted Valley, Darlingtonia, Pacific Ocean

We kept looking for unicorns to dash out of these mysterious looking woods but they never did...
Obligatory visit to the ocean after hiking. It's Claire's favorite place to "Run and run!" We go to Heceta Beach because it's the closest free access point. It never gets old! We are oceanphiles.
Adam holds a rough skinned newt, a native Oregon species. They were everywhere the day we hiked! We also saw beetles, hawks, slugs and snails.
This behemoth got Adam back for catching him by whizzing on his pant leg. Claire laughed herself silly.
A spider tree.
Claire's an old pro at hiking now. Thanks again to the Vance Family for their awesome hand-me-downs! The purple "super" boots really complete the outfit.
Munchie and Daddy play in the sand.
Notice Adam's cool mushroom collecting hip pack. We cut up a milk jug that we attach to a belt to make for easy collecting.
Claire's favorite place to eat in Florence is Bliss' Burgers. They have a 1950s theme, and as you can see in the background, they've got the Elders' Stamp of Approval.
Me with a tiny baby newt.

Claire loves this burger joint in Florence--she's offering to pray (in gratitude?) over the food again in this video.

Halloween Parade Videos

Monster Mash

Click for a hilarious Burch Family (plus Hannah and Anthon) Halloween Video!

Eugene "Trunk-or-Treat"

Claire is wiggly and excited to get to the party. I made her stop for a picture with our Samhain tribute pumpkin (Samhain means Celtic New Year, which is what Halloween was before it was held hostage by invading religions...).
Claire checks out the fooky "Blood Toss" game. She thought it might be nice to tip over the decorations and start the clean up help early.
Happy puppy surveys the scene.
Thanks again to Hooma and Aunt Hannah for selecting this awesome puppy suit!
Claire with her good friend Josh. His parents were pirates too and they made a "Den of Iniquity" of their classroom in which they dared kids to steal their pirate treasure candy. Way cool!

While most LDS communities hold Trunk-or-Treat with car trunks, Eugene's fall weather is too wet and cold to facilitate such an attempt. We hold our parties inside the church and have people decorate classrooms so that kids can trick-or-treat door to door. We had music and carnival games in the gym. Claire thought that it was amazing to see a lit and crowded gym, since she often spends the majority of church dancing there in the dark.

Shaw or Shoe?

Further Explorations of Eugene

This is just outside our front door. A rainstorm took out the beautiful leaves last night so I am glad we took this picture. Notice Claire's cute "fish dress"--she loves to poke the pattern and (loudly) proclaim, "Fweeshh!" all through Church.
The sun peeks through the forest at the base of Spencer Butte in Eugene (our complex, Spencer View is named for Spencer Butte, the highest point in Eugene).
The trail gets steep at the end, but it's not a bad hike at all. We did it in two hours at a very leisurely pace and we all had colds. There wasn't any huffing and puffing, just lovely cool fresh air and awesome mushrooms (of course!).
Adam and Claire are kings of the hill.
This marker denotes the summit of Eugene City proper.
We were above the cloud layer, but you could view stunning fall colors through the breaks.
Adam and Claire look at our apartment from above.
Claire mugs for the camera.
An "Earth Star" mushroom. These are about the size of a silver half dollar. Adam read about them in one of our guidebooks and we were surprised and delighted to find a real one!