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!

Summer Fun!

Well, even though summer is almost half way over I don't have one single post up...shame on me.  And unfortunately, I will have less posts than I hoped for because I very irresponsibly lost my camera and all the pictures that went with it.  Boo.  Let's not dwell on that, though.  Let's take a look at some of the fun things we've been doing this summer. 

One of the best things about this summer is the extra time I've gotten to spend with my niece and nephews and the time Clare has gotten to spend with her cousins.  Clare LOVES her cousins!  Several Tuesdays this summer, I've had the opportunity to watch all 4 kids while Sara is at work.  We've had a lot of fun during our time...going to the library, the park, going out to eat, the zoo, and even a trip to a mini splash park.  Here are some of the highlights:

We went to a presentation about animals from all over the world at the zoo.  The kids were allowed to touch all kinds of animals and learned more about what the animals eat, their habitats, etc.  Clare could have cared less about all of the information but she sure thought it was neat (and at times a bit scary) seeing all of them.  After the show we got to walk around the zoo some more, had a picnic lunch, and then played at the park for a while. 

Another favorite of the summer was visiting the mini splash park outside of the new Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan.  The park has fountains the kids can play in and a small little river that they can swim in with fountains over their head going to music.  All of the kids really loved this one.  As I've said before, Clare is a little fish and would spend all of her time in the water if she could.  It was funny to watch her run up to get splashed in the face with the fountains...I don't know many kids who don't mind getting splashed in the face like her. 



Hope you, too, are finding ways to stay cool this blazing summer!

Memorial Day at the Lake

Oh, sigh...I had started this post right after Memorial Day and clearly forgot to finish it, so I am going to finish it now.  So sorry for the delay.  Hoping to get caught up with this blog this next week.  We have been so busy and there is so much to tell!  :)

So, back to Memorial Day...We had a great Memorial Day weekend at Lake Wabaunsee.  Even before our time at the lake, we had a great start to the weekend.  My dear friend Miaken came down from Minnesota with her boyfriend and we were able to spend good quality time together at the park and at dinner.  It was great to see her because it's been forever since I've seen her...so long in fact that she had never even met Clare.  We had so much fun!  Somehow we had so much fun that I even forgot to take any pictures. 

On Saturday it was off to the lake.  And even though we had rather windy weather, we made the most of it.  Clare LOVES the lake, and we so enjoy seeing the smile on her face when she is on the boat, on the golf cart, or in the water.  Here she is in her cute little swimsuit, and swimming in the lake with daddy (thank goodness he wanted to get in because that water was COLD!)  As you can see, she is just a little fish.  She is so brave in fact that she makes me a bit nervous around the water. 

And later on in the day, it was off for a boat ride.  Now, little miss totally thinks she is the queen of the lake, so she is often fighting grandpa for the spot of captain.  Looks like this time she was the winner.  

One thing Clare has started doing a ton of lately is dancing.  Any music that comes on she is bobbing her head and swinging her arms.  It is super cute!  Check out these moves...

Then it was on to some relaxation and snuggle time on the boat to finish up our ride...

In the midst of all of our fun that weekend, Clare also tried a couple of new things for the first time.  She had her first sucker and her first time eating a big, juicy slice of watermelon rather than small chunks cut up by mom.  As you can see, she loved both of them.  Although, at first she wasn't sure which side to eat on the watermelon!  Her expressions were pretty funny.

And after all that fun, we came home to relax and get ready for the week.  This is what I found Clare doing as we were unpacking...love it!  She likes to read her books to baby, to herself, and sometimes even Daisy.  I just love the way she was really into it, even though the book was upside down!  It makes me smile that even at such a young age, she already has a love for books. 

Socks, Shoes, and Spring

So, Clare's new favorite thing is finding socks and shoes anywhere she can, putting them on (no matter how huge they are), and walking around in them.  It's so funny!  The minute we take our socks and shoes off at home, Clare has them pulled up to her knees and is prancing around in them.  This past weekend she even found Grandpa's size 14 shoes to walk around in...now that one was a bit of a challenge.  I especially LOVE the pic of Clare and Aubrey in the cowboy boots.   

Clare is also into putting on her stocking caps and wearing them around the house any chance she gets.  I don't get it because I am already getting sick of hot weather, but she seems to love it.  She also wears daddy's camo ball cap backwards, which I haven't been able to get a picture of yet...but I will.  Oh boy, I have a feeling there will be a lot of dress up clothes in our future.  :)

In addition to all the dress up fun, in the last month we have been having fun doing all kinds of spring stuff.  We have been playing with a lot of bubbles on the driveway....

And planting my flowers in the pots (and playing with the dirt just a little)...

Playing on the tire swing at MeMa and PaPa's...
 

And enjoying some fun time with daddy...

Seriously...can this little lady get any cuter?!?  : )  Have a great week!