Lake Viking

With no major vacation planned for the year, we still wanted to get away so we headed to Lake Viking for a couple of days. We had a great time, Claire loved "vacation", and all it entailed. A new house to explore, watching boats, a couple paddle boat trips and swimming in the pool we brought. She wasn't too interested in swimming or standing in the lake. I was the only one that took advantage of some raft time in the lake...how relaxing, wish I could do that everyday!

Pinkalicious Party

Claire is a big fan of the Pinkalicious Book series and requested pinkalicious cupcakes, so that was her birthday party theme. All her guests took the pink theme to the extreme and dressed and wrapped presents accordingly.

Claire's 3rd Birthday

Claire had a great 3rd birthday. Sunday was her day, we did presents and donuts in the morning, a trip to the pool, more presents after nap from out of town family, and then a Pinkalicious birthday party in the evening. We had a great day, celebrating a REALLY GREAT little girl. She is energetic, sweet, sasssy, loving and a great daughter, big sister and overall little girl. How lucky we are to have her as part of our family.

FOOD!!

Grace loves her food, but hasn't liked some of the combinations that we give her. Along with the rejection comes funny faces, gagging and spitting. At least she is not afraid to express her opinion!

Say Cheese...

Just like winter we have had to get creative with indoor activities to keep us all sane. Last weekend we headed to trusty Oak park mall on saturday morning. We visited the Disney store, American Girl, the toddler play area, Barnes and Noble story time and train table. We let Claire pick a small toy at Disney, and she picked a princess camera and she has been busy taking pictures ever since!

Heat Wave

We have had 100+ degree weather with no rain for over 2 weeks, which means we are mostly home bound. No evening walks, and most nights it's even too hot for our popsicles after dinner. The pool is one of the few things that gets us outdoors. Grace loves being outside, she has made a trip to the neighborhood pool and enjoyed her float toy. Here she is in our backyard, just happy as a clam.

Beads

Grandma's house is always full of new discoveries, but a consistent favorite is the beads. Here Claire is showing them off in all their glory!

Flip Flops

We had a pair of fun flip flops with ribbon that someone gave us for Claire, but they never fit her foot. Well they fit Grace just right and she had so much fun wearing them, grabbing them and then ultimately kicking them off!

Summer School

Claire's school has been so much fun for her this summer. They have had fun summer theme's each week, and special activities almost everyday. Everything from bounce houses, magicians, concerts with kids musicians, plate painting, Stretch and Grow Yoga and her favorite Soccer. Here is a picture of our Hawaiian princess in the outfits they made!

Headbands with Bows...

You can guess who's idea this was.....Claire got a new headband with a bow so Grace needed one too!

Grace's Half Birthday

Grace's six month birthday has come and gone in the middle of a very long heat wave and we are officially back in the full swing of our routine. Grace has learned in two short weeks how great Kim's house is and is very happy to be there every morning. She sits, smiles and growls like a Tiger, it's pretty cute. She is a very vocal little girl and most of the "growling" occurs when she wants something! We had her 6 month doctor's appointment and she looks great, staying true to her percentile's that are much smaller than Claire was at her age. Maybe we will have a shorty pants in our family, who knows! I will tell you one thing, her chub and rolls are so cute! She loves to look at books, and toys don't stay in hr lap very long as she has quite an arm on her and loves to throw them! She continues to be a very happy girl which makes her mom and dad happy as well. Here are some picture of our princess on her half birthday, I might just have caputured all her personalities in one photo shoot!

Grace's turn to read books with me

Every night as a part of the family bedtime routine, either Mom or Dad spend time reading books with Claire while the other one gives Grace a bottle before she gets tucked in by both parents. We switch off every other night, and Claire has started asking or proclaming who's turn it is to "read books with me". Well now that I am going back to work, part of the morning routine is for the girls to entertain themselves for 5 minutes on our bed while I get dressed after nursing Grace (don't risk wearing work clothes until all girls are fed, burped and ready to go). Now that Grace can sit for the most part, she has been looking at books with Claire. Claire is in charge of the situation, "No Grace, don't put that book in your mouth", or "Be careful with that book Grace", but I can tell loves this time with her sister. She now informs all it's "Grace's turn to read books with me". I never have the camera upstairs while we are getting ready on week days, so here they are on the couch on a Saturday morning reading books.

Mommy's Girl

Let's be honest, Claire has had a rough 6 months. First she is no longer an only child, she can't quite figure out why Mom stopped working for awhile, 4 ear infections, strep throat, lots of snot. In addition a run in with a cow at Deanna Rose caused horrible nightmares and a fear of all shadows and even going into her room by herself. Now all of a sudden mom goes back to work (some days) and then she leaves for almost 5 days. Let's not forget she turns 3 in a month, which all books, articles and friends say is an even harder age than 2. We try to keep all of this in mind when she is screaming for Mommy or only wants Mommy to help her and is overall just whining. We try to be consistent with discipline, firm but loving, and give her lots of snuggles, speical Mommy time and love, but it's been rough on all of us. At the end of the day, I love her more than words can say, she will always be my baby.

Sparkles....

Claire loves her sparkles, prefers them on just about anything, but is especially proud of her Sparkle toes and big girl flip flops!

Fun in the Sun

We are really enjoying our backyard this summer, part of that involves some fun with sprinklers and a baby pool. Here are my bathing beauties!

Father's Day 2011

We had a great Father's Day weekend with a BBQ for my dad (Grandpa) on Saturday night and then a relaxing day at home for Mike. Here he is with his girls, how lucky they are to have such a great Daddy!

Claire - 2 1/2 years old

Grace - 5 Months Old

Family of 4

We recently had some family photo's taken in Grandma Fields's back yard. The photographer was in heaven with all the landscaping, pond and lilypads. She so wanted Claire to stand in a certain spot in the trees so she could get some lilypads in the pics, but Claire wasn't in the mood for much that day.

A new perspective

Grace has a new view and perspective of the world lately....an upright one. She loves to be upright, always has been. When in her carseat or bouncer she leans forward, trying to sit up. She is actually getting pretty good at sitting with just a little support that she can balance against.

Claire's Soccer Ball

Claire has been doing a soccer program at school called Happy Feet. I have never seen it first hand, but apparently they tell stories and do fun games using soccer balls to help teach balance and some basic soccer skills. All I know is that she loves it. We have some old soccer balls in our yard, and she is actually pretty good at dribbling the ball and "crushing it" as her daddy would say into the fence for a goal. So Mike thought it was time for Claire to get her own ball and they went shopping together for a size 3 ball and Claire got to pick the color.....no surprise...PINK!

Donuts with Dad

Here is a pic of Mike and Claire just before they head out to "Donuts with Dad" at Claire's school. She is SO EXCITED this morning, she can hardly stand it!

Matchy Matchy

As Emily would say when the girls are dressed alike they are "matchy matchy", well Claire particulary enjoys this. We now pick out Claire's clothes for the next day every night and set them out to avoid morning battles that we just don't have time for. However, she still picks out Grace's clothes every morning, and if possible picks a similar shirt or same color. Here is a matchy matchy day! I love the one of Grace looking up at Claire!

Popsicles

Claire loves popsicles, in fact we now have them every night after dinner outside. Claire picks what color or flavor each of us gets each night....it's always fun to get a blue one!

Chubby cheeks

Look at those chubby cheeks! I love them and kiss them daily!

When Daddy is out of town.....

.....Cali gets comfy on the couch.

Chairs

We have been wanting to get Claire and Grace some kids camping chairs like ours for the backyard and "Under the Shady Tree" as Laurie Berkner, Claire's favorite musician would sing. Daddy came to the rescue on Memorial weekend and picked up some chairs for the girls. Grace will have to grow into them, but Claire has enjoyed her time in them both indoors and out. She has declared the pink one hers and the red one for Grace but we keep reminding her she will be sharing! As you can see we have setteled into summer nicely.....

Grace at 5 months old

Grace hit her 5 month mark this week and it's hard to believe we are there already. As my "back to work" date comes flying into my face things are changing around here, we started formula, some trial runs at Kim's house, and I am taking all the snuggle moments I can get. Grace has started talking A LOT, but only at home in the presence of those she is most comfortable with. When we are visting others, she remains Miss Serious and just looks around to take it all in. She can turn herself clockwise on her tummy to get the toys she wants, can change a toy from one hand to the other and has really started drooling and putting everything in sight into her mouth...those teeth must be coming soon. But most of all she continues to be our little blessing that we can't imagine life without. Here she is swinging to celebrate 5 months!