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!

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!