18 Months

So, while I was on a roll I decided I should put a few of Clare's 18 month photos up.  They turned out amazing and I just have to give a shout-out to my fantastic sister-in-law Sara who always takes great photos! 

As I looked through these, it so hard for me to believe this is our baby girl.  She is growing up so fast!  It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital, nervous as could be as first time parents.  It has been so much fun watching her as she learns new things and develops her big personality.  Evening during the most frustrating times, this sweet thing can put a smile on my face.  We love you, Clare Bear!

Easter Blessings

There have been so many times lately that I have looked around at the family that we have and thought "Wow - we are so lucky."  Easter was no different.  We were surrounded by our parents, children, siblings, and I just can't imagine what we would do without any of them.  So without getting too sappy, we are so thankful that we have so many blessings in our life. 

Easter was a fun-filled day.  Nana came and stayed with us the evening before and spent the day with us so Clare always loves that time.  And by the end of the day we had Aunt Sara, Uncle Nate, and the kids; Grandpa, Tammy, and Ariana; and last but not least MeMa and PaPa.  We started with church and Easter baskets. 

After church, we moved the festivities outside, which was when the kids really started having a ball!  First, there were bubbles and sidewalk chalk.  Clare just dumped the bubbles out of her wand as soon as we would refill them, so that didn't last long.  She still thought it was fun to play with the empty bubble wand, though!  

Next on the agenda was the dyeing of eggs.  This was so funny to watch.  Most of the kids really enjoyed this and had it figured out.  However, Clare was just having a good time sticking her whole hand in the dye and cracking the eggs open as she went.  And after a few minutes of that, she was more interested in running around in her huge t-shirt cover up in the yard than anything with the eggs.  What's that they say about your attention span and your age?  :)

And of course, no Easter would be complete without an egg hunt.  Since Clare had practiced this on Friday, she actually did pretty well with hunting eggs.  She was having so much fun - squealing and laughing in delight.  Casey and Payton did a great job with helping the girls find eggs, so that made it even more fun to have them helping.  

There just aren't any other words to describe it but this... so many blessings.  Have a great weekend!

Pre-Easter Fun!

Easter weekend at the Buessing household started with a day off work for me for Good Friday.  I wanted to take advantage of the day to spend with Clare Bear, so I took her and my niece Aubrey to an Easter egg hunt in Wamego.  They had so much fun!  The hunt was at the local retirement community and set up by the Mom's Club that I am a part of.  It was not only fun for the kids and the parents, but I could tell that the residents really enjoyed taking part too.  

The girls got more than a dozen eggs a piece which translated to tons of candy.  So when we got home, it was time to sort it all out to see what we got and what we could/couldn't eat.  Clare enjoyed just shaking the eggs and taking them apart and putting them back together...those are two of the things she really likes to do with just about anything right now. 

So once we checked out all the eggs, it was on for more egg fun.  The girls thought it would be a really good idea to take all of the eggs from the table and throw them on the floor, which led to another hunt inside the house to make sure we got all of the eggs and the candy picked up and put away.  All and all it was a great time!

After the egg hunt, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent several hours at the park.  I swear Clare could go down the slide 100 times in a row and not get bored.  She is an outside kind of gal.  She and Aubrey were loving the time to play.  Since they are so close in age, they play so well together and are great friends.  It just warms my heart and puts a smile on my face to see these little sweeties having so much fun!  Check out the bottom pic...it looks like the girls are really solving the problems of the world in a deep conversation!  :)

Spring Fun!

Well, since we have been having summer like temperatures in March, we have been taking advantage of some outside play.  Last weekend we went to the lake cabin for some rest and relaxation...and to catch up with my cousin Ted who was in town from Boston. Even though you can see Clare has her life jacket we definitely have not been in the lake.  We just like to be safe when she is on the dock.  Check out how much Clare was enjoying the day. 

First, Clare loved fishing with daddy.  They even caught a fish and she thought it was pretty neat to touch it. 

She also loved throwing a bobber into the water that has filled the paddleboat in the last week's rain.  The water wasn't exactly the cleanest...but she was having so much fun.  You can see the puddles underneath her in the second picture of just how much water she splashed all over.  I have a feeling this summer this sweet girl is going to be a little fish!

Clare also is really into putting anything on her head right now...toys, pots and pans, even shorts from the shelf when we go shopping.  Last weekend, she was really into her grandpa's hat.  It was so cute, I couldn't pass up a few photo opps.