This, That and the Other

Clara had a blast this weekend spending lots of time with her Daddy! Saturday afternoon, in particular, seemed like it was a special time for her. She got to go with Daddy to run errands and then "helped" Daddy out in the yard as he set up for and did a hamburger BBQ! She was even helping scrub the grate! And she found it fun and amusing to run through the smoke! She loves being outside and being with her Daddy!





The rest of these shots are a collection from the last week or so.



Clara enjoys tromping around in Mommy and Daddy's shoes occasionally. Here she is sporting Momma's wedding shoes. Reminds me of how we enjoyed using MY Mom's wedding shoes for dress up. I think we wore those things till they fell apart!





Socks for Teddy... well, at least we're trying! :-) There didn't end up being success. Notice how Teddy is nicely laid down on a disposable washcloth. :-)






Clara got to see her friend Kailey (pronounced by Miss Clara: "Kaigey"), twice this week! Here they are sitting under a built in desk at Kailey's house. I thought it was a pretty cute shot!

New Stunt

This is a new stunt for Clara: supporting her weight and swinging from the edge of the table! If only the stunts would remain this safe!

Lil Baker

Here's the lil baker... or is that lil eater???? :-)






Later in the day, a little lady had a pretty rough wake-up-from-nap time. Daddy captured these shots during snack time... you can see a touch of that "waking-up-and-finding-it-a-little-hard" look. :-)

This and That

Our little package thinks Broccoli is just fabulous stuff. Last night at supper, she ate very little of anything else on her plate and devoured the broccoli. Once she finished up what she'd been given, she just started helping herself right out of the pan to piece after piece after piece. And needless to say we thought it was so cute and really liked the fact that it was a veggie... so we took pictures instead of correcting table manners....





The other day we made an excursion to a lovely park near us and took a quick walk around part of the lake, then Claires got to play out in the sunshine for a little bit:

Helpin'

A thank you to my mom on this one! She had once suggested that when I'm trying to do cooking and need to keep Clara occupied, try giving her something to chop up with a harmless bread knife. Well, the other day I was going to make an apple crisp and thought of letting Clara be involved, using a bread knife! It worked out FABULOUSLY!!! It was fun because we could do it together, she enjoyed it, and I was able to accomplish some work without feeling like I was neglecting her to entertaining herself or wandering around bored! And it produced some sweet pictures too!




Oh, and as an added benefit, she consumed quite a bit of good-for-you apple along the way! :-)

By Special Request...

My dear friend, Julie, requested a "pregnant picture" up-date. I'd been meaning to take a picture for some time... and that gave me an extra push! So, here's the progress report, of sorts, for 6 1/2 months:



Oh, and we added a new feature to our blog!!! :-) There's now a due date count-down on the side bar, right beneath our welcome message!

Quick Family Photo Session

Click here to view these pictures larger

I had really been wanting to get a nice family picture while we are still a family of three (well, three VISIBLE people). :-) My good friend, Jen, had offered to shoot some of us, so we finally took her up on the offer the other night and did a quick family photo shoot. It wasn't quick enough for Clara... she proved to be a challenge... but we still got some good ones! Thanks again, Jen!!! You did a great job!

We actually combined the photo session with date night! Jen and her family where watching Clara Friday night, so that Stephen and I could go on an early Valentines date, so we just all got fixed up and took some shots before the date. Tonight we get to trade and go watch Jen's kids so she and her husband can have their date! It's kind of becoming a tradition of ours... we did the same baby-sitting trade last year!

Stephen took me to this fabulous Thai Restaurant, which we had heard recommended through the grapevine. We were very pleased with it (minus the appetizer we selected... but some things you just won't know until you try!). The atmosphere was quiet, calm and had some very nice lighting touches... and even had a rose on each table... lovely! Stephen ordered red curry shrimp and I went with duck with basil in a chili-garlic sauce... both came with fabulous sticky rice! And my iced Thai tea was yummy too! Seeing as it was our first time, we didn't know how hot their spice levels actually were... Stephen, brave man that he is, ordered the Hot level and I ordered the Medium. Oh man!!!!!! Talk about turning an already hot date into a FLAMING hot date!!! Wow!!! Both dishes were SUPER spicy! However, we still really enjoyed the experience and both want to go again... though, granted, we both plan to take the spice level down a notch! :-)

Mmmmmmm! Yummy!

Clara enjoying an After Eight, sent from Grandpa and Grandma F., for Christmas! We ALL like 'em! Clara's Grandpa and Grandma sell them on their internet, British tea and food store.

Here's a quick up-date on life around here:

Pregnancy is progressing along quite nicely. I have a little bit of aches and pains, but not bad, and some heartburn here and there but, again, mildly. Baby moves a lot and has a good heartbeat.... usually around 140. Only about 2 and 1/2 months to go!!!

Clara is taking off with words! It's been a lot a fun! She is willing to imitate a lot! Some ones that have been used quite a bit lately (generally pronounced in her own adorable and incorrect way):

cracker
water
milk
helper
Maggie (friend from chapel)
watch it (what she says for watching a video, which she GREATLY enjoys doing)
Bye bye


And many others! She still uses her sign language for "please", "all done" and "more. However, she will often say "ah du" and "more" as well as using the sign, but hasn't started saying please yet.

She and I started a Mommy and Me type gymnastics class this week. She seemed to enjoy the experience pretty well, though she really likes to watch what other people are doing too and not just concentrate on what she's suppose to be doing!

I was looking forward to taking course 2 in cake decorating from Michaels... but the class held at the time that was most convenient for me didn't have enough people sign up, so it was canceled. I was disappointed, but will probably try again next month.

Stephen is doing well. Last weekend, he got to get away for the and go to a men's retreat, at which he was the speaker. He had a very good and encouraging time.

We are very blessed by the Lord Jesus!

Momentous Occasion

So, you are all looking at this picture going "oooookkkkkkk????? What is that about????" Well, it was a very momentous occasion and Mommy (Me) was VERY excited and just HAD to take a picture and share it with you all!!! A few days ago we were getting the table ready for supper. Mommy put on Daddy's and Mommy's plates and Clara put on hers. Then I gave Clara the three forks and told her to put one at Mommy's, one at Daddy's and one at hers. Even though I explained it pretty well, I wasn't sure what would happen... maybe all end up scattered around Clara's plate???? And the picture above is the accomplishment of the little helper. And, I'll tell you what, it may sound weird but this Mommy was thrilled to death! Our little girl helping set the table!

And here is our dear helper! Thank you, little one!

So Fun!

A Tradition... Continued.

The ladies in my family had a tradition. When the men took off to a men's retreat for the weekend, we had a girl night! Generally, these girl nights included treats such as Taco Bell for dinner, lots of yummy junk food (ice cream, candy, or whatever) and some girlie movies, such as a Jane Austen selection (or two or three!). We REALLY looked forward to these girl nights and greatly enjoyed them!

Well, the tradition has continued, or should I say begun, in this new household. :-) Daddy took off to a men's retreat this weekend. And, you guessed it, Claires and I had a girl night on Friday! :-) We popped pop corn (I actually had to look up on the internet how to do it, as I was making it on the stove top :-) ). We did kettle corn and it turned out yummy! I ate too much (as I always did on girl nights). We also made hot choc... one in a mug and one in a sippy cup. And we got situated and watched Pollyanna! I think it got kind of long and boring for Clara... but she hung around for almost all of it... though, granted, she did start doing things like making noises, and shaking the pop-corn bowl and trying to stick her little foot in it. :-)

Here are a few pictures:






So, with fond memories of the girl nights growing up, the tradition continues! Note Mom and the sisters: it would have been a lot more fun to have you guys here too!

Discovery!

Someone discovered yesterday that snow wasn't all bad! And some fun times were had!

We took a walk to the corner market to get a few things. On the way there I took this picture of Clara in front of this neat yard that has life-size animal figures. I assume the yard belongs to the farmers market store.





After getting home from our trip to the store, the little lady wanted out of her stroller... and pretty soon she was having a grand old time! :-)








And more fun times were had today:



Don't miss the invention post below! :-)

Hmmmmmmmmm...

Would you say she takes more after her engineer Daddy and Grandpas, or her more artistically minded Mommy and Grandmas? :-)