Bubbles

I was one proud mama yesterday. Nate and I were sitting on Claire's bedroom floor, just watching her destroy everything in her room, when she eyed the bubbles on her nightstand. She walked right over and picked up the bottle. She turned around, held it out to us and said, "bub-bal?"

One proud mama.

Memorial Day Fun

Were we the only ones who had all these grand plans for Memorial Day only to have them crushed by "isolated thunderstorms" all day?? We were going to work in the yard in the morning and then go to the park and play the rest of the day. But nooooo. Mother Nature had other plans. Oh well! We can always find something fun to do! Nate had the brillant idea to go bowling. A few other people had that same idea, so we had about a 30 minute wait once we got there. They had an arcade, so we introduced Claire to the world of Skeeball.

The guys played pool

And my nephew Corgan was content to just stare at the crazy carpet.


We finally got our lanes and had some great fun! Here are my two younger brothers. The machines would tell you how fast you threw the ball down the lane. Needless to say, they were seeing who could throw it down the lane the fastest.


My mom and older brother, Brad...he's got a look of determination.


Nate and me, showing our awesome form.


Claire even got to try...although her first attempt at bowling was not very successful.


I never got an action shot with E'Shell, but here she is keeping Claire occupied for us!


B, Claire and the Nate Dogg


Afterwards, we went to Appollo Burger and if you've never there, you should try it. It's definitely ghetto and a total grease-fest, but the fry sauce is awesome! Here are Claire and Corgan sitting in their high chairs.


FUN TIMES!

Forward facing

I never knew two words would make such a difference in Claire's life. And in my life for that matter. She has officially graduated from a rear-facing car seat to a forward-facing one! {Meaning she is over one year old and weighs more than 20 pounds.} She absolutely loves it! I don't blame her. She can now see out the windows and isn't so bored staring at the back of the car all the time. That girl is riding in style. It looks so comfortable, I wish I had my own! When we first started driving today Claire kept saying, "Ha! Ha!" Then she was talking up a storm the rest of the ride..."da, da, da, lo, lo, looka, looka, looka..." (<--My interpretation of Claire's babbling.)

Oh, the simple things.

Shout out to the B-man!

My favorite youngest brother played in the state championship for lacrosse last Saturday. He's been playing lacrosse for six years and he ROCKS! I had to give him a little shout out on the blog and let him know how proud we are of him. He's accomplished so much. He's a senior, so it was awesome to make it to the state finals his last year. Here are a couple action shots from this season (you can always tell its him by the red-striped socks and #3):

Here we are at the state finals, which sadly, the Wildcats lost to Lone Peak. They put up a good fight. It was really fun to see and I got a little hoarse from yelling. :)

Claire, Brandon and Drew

My parents and Brandon with the sign I made for him.

Way to go B-man! We couldn't be prouder!

More of Claire's First BDay!

Click here to see photos of Claire on her first birthday.

I l-o-v-e this girl!

UPDATE: I've had a lot of questions about it and YES, I did make the tutu. But only because of the step-by-step instructions I got from my awesome friend, Natalie. Thanks again Nat!

Race for the Cure

We participated in the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure" last Saturday! It was a blast!

...or should it be called "Walk for the Cure"...

Yes, it was a little crowded and there wasn't much "race" to be had. But still, we had a great time and all for a good cause! Nate and I took turns pushing Claire in the stroller. It was a fun little family outing. Here we are right before it started.

We had a pretty big group from our neighborhood who participated, but I only got one of all the girls.

Here are just some random pics during the walk...

This was our final time

You read that right, it was so crowded, it took us an hour and 18 minutes to walk 3.2 miles. But it was a well-spent hour and eighteen minutes!

Claire by the end of the race

It was a lot of fun! And now I feel inspired to do some more 5k's this summer. Maybe I'll even get a little ambitious and try a 10k! :)

Happy First Birthday to Claire!

On May 2, Claire turned ONE YEAR OLD. Can you believe it? I can't. Ever since Claire has arrived time seems to have gone into warp speed. I swear we just found out that I was pregnant with her!! But it has been the most exciting and rewarding year of my life. It was really fun all day to think about what we were doing exactly one year ago. (Let's just say I'm glad that was one year ago.) ;)

Claire is just getting to be so much fun. She's so interactive and curious about everything. It's amazing what she picks up. She's a little sponge. Here are a few tidbits, all about Claire:

• Claire talks NON-STOP. Most of the time she's just an excellent babbler, especially "da, da, da". "Dada" was her first word. She also says, "mama", "uh-oh", “look-a-look-a”, “na, na” (means hungry), “shhhh” and many other things that don’t make any sense to us.
• She's great at signing...she can do: all done (her favorite), banana, dad, doggie, swimming, hat, more, cracker, touchdown (Nate's favorite).
• Claire is pretty much the best sleeper ever. She started sleeping through the night at 2 months and hasn't stopped since. She still takes three naps a day, with her afternoon nap usually lasting about 3 hours.
• She eats anything we give to her. Before her birthday I would have said her favorite was bananas...but now I would have to go with cake or anything with sugar. Uggg...
• Bath time = Claire's favorite time ever.
• She has nine teeth: four on top, four on bottom and one molar.
• Claire loves to mimic. She makes kissing noises, growls, smacks her lips, scrunches her nose. Basically any noise you can make, she’s tries to imitate.
• She knows and will point to these body parts: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, belly, hair, and feet.
• My little girl is still as busy as ever...she doesn't hold still for two seconds. I really wanted a cuddler, but that did NOT happen. :)
• Claire loves to play with her cousins, Drew and Corgan.
• She wants you to walk with her everywhere. I spend a good part of my day just walking around holding her hand.
• She doesn’t like to be alone, but entertains herself well. As long as I’m in the room (or anyone else for that matter) she’s very content.
• She loves to be read to. Her favorite books right now are: “Open the Barn Door”, “Old Hat, New Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham”.
• Best of all, she always has a smile on her face. She’s the happiest little thing. Even when she's sad or crying, she'll smile through her tears.

Thanks for allowing me that little Mom bragging time. :)

She had a great first birthday that lasted all weekend. On Friday, we did a fun little photo shoot with her attacking her cake. Check my photography blog in a few days for more pics from that.

Then we went to the park, had dinner and just played. Here's a little self-family portrait.

Claire and me.

Her first time on a playground swing. I don't think she liked it.

She was all tuckered out by the time we left.

Then on Saturday we had her big par-tay. Here is the invitation I made for it:

Here are the kids just playing around...

Claire opening her presents. Of course, she loved the boxes and wrapping paper the best!

Drew was quite fascinated with all of Claire's presents, he kept trying to help. They especially loved all the books she got!

The closest thing I got to a group shot...sad. Next time we're getting one with everyone!

Aunt E'Shell, Uncle Brad and Corgan gave her a bubble machine. It was the hit of the night! Here are the kids playing with the bubbles:

And finally, she got a second chance at her birthday cake. We made her her own special butterfly cake.

Yeah. She tore into it.

Then Drew and Corgan wanted to get in on the action.

What a great birthday! Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and emails! It was a special day. And big thanks to our families for always being there for us.

Nate and I are so grateful we get to be parents to Claire. There has been nothing more fulfilling to us. We sure love you little Claire bug! Happy birthday!