Blog Revival!

Well, after a very long 10 month hiatus from blogging, I have decided that it is time to revive the Buessing Family Buzz!  As I looked back at the blog I realized just how much I really loved documenting Clare's growth and changes she was making along the way and I miss doing it.  And now there's even more of a reason to bring it back with our newest addition, Austin!  Now I can not only document Clare's growth through her toddler stage, but see how Austin grows and changes as an infant and beyond.  However, before we get to our sweet little boy I thought it was only fitting to do a quick picture recap of the last year with Clare.   

Last summer, we took two vacations with Clare.  First was a road trip to Virginia with me and Nana.  Clare got to see the beach for the first time and we had a blast!

Then, late in July it off on Clare's first plane trip to Connecticut with me, Tony, and Grandpa Sam.  On this trip, Clare got to meet her east coast cousins for the first time and they were all so stinking cute together!  It was a great trip for me too, because it had been way too long since I've seen all of my family! 

In September we closed on our new house.  That meant big changes for Clare.  She moved into a big girl bed and now has a very cute and very girly room (which she never had because everything was neutral).  One of the first things she did once she had her big bed was a sleepover with her cousin and best bud Aubrey.  Love this!

Also in the fall came Clare's second birthday.  The theme was Elmo and she had a blast!  The party was full of family, friends and fun and still to this day she talks about her "Elmo birthday."  She even makes Elmo birthday parties with her kitchen and her play food...too cute!  She got many great gifts for her birthday because she was spoiled as usual.  You can see her below riding on her new scooter. 

October wrapped up with a trip to the pumpkin patch and Halloween.  Clare was Tinkerbell (or a version of her) with Aubrey.  Casey and Payton were Peter Pan and Captain Hook, so the four of them made quite the cute group. 



Through the winter we had a good amount of snow which meant lots of sledding.  Our new house has some great sledding hills, so we had a lot of fun exploring the outdoors in the winter weather.  Last winter we really didn't have much snow, so this was Clare's first opportunity to play in the fluffy white stuff!

We of course had a great Christmas holiday with all of our wonderful family.  We spent time with everyone and traveled some while also staying at home for a good portion of the time.  Here is Clare on Christmas morning with her kitchen from Santa.  And there's one of her in her Christmas dress looking beautiful!



Two of Clare's favorite things right now (besides doing tons of puzzles) is to read and to draw/paint.  I recently found her in her closet sitting on her duck stool reading.  The teacher in me absolutely loves the way she enjoys reading.  You can see how much she loves painting in the other picture below.  A little over a month ago Tony & I took Clare to the Children's Discovery Center in Topeka and one of her favorite stations was where she got to paint on the windows. 

And besides Easter (which I will try to post later), that pretty much catches us up to our most recent news...the arrival of Austin!  I will post about him very soon.  Hope you have a great week!