Budding Photographer

Claire has a new interest in taking pictures with the camera, here are my favs. Please note the first one, an action shot of Grace dropping Mike's phone on Cali's face....poor Cali!

, but you should know there are about 30 in total!

Circus #2

We went to the circus last year and Claire talked about it for months. Amazed at the concept of the traveling show...where did it go? I usually responded it went to where Mikaela lives! Needless to say it was a MUST DO again this year and this time Grace joined us. Both girls had a blast, I think Grace even more so than Claire, she just sat on our laps, thumb in mouth pointing at things! Another perk to my super secret Sprint Center parking spot.....Elephant viewing!

Wildcat Weekend!

Mike, Claire and I headed to Manhattan for the KSU vs. North Texas game. We all had a blast, hit Aggieville and Varney's, and tailgated with Grandpa, and the Lee's and of special note, had a blast running around with Brady! Highlights include the band marching right down our aisle during the tailgate, the cheerleaders, Willie tackling the green guy at midfield, the cheerleaders, the wabash cannonball, the cheerleaders, and lots of smiles! As you can see Claire is over the moon with cheerleaders, we purchased an cheer outfit at Varney's as she has decided she will be a KSU cheerleader for Halloween!

Pretty in Pink

This day was a particularly pink day at the Hochberg house...socks, shoes, shirts and pants..Claire even sported the pink hoodie!

Grace and Cali

Both girls love Cali, Grace is currently obsessed with her. Loves on her, kisses her, hugs her, rides her! Cali as usual loves her right back by letting her do what ever she wants and just lays there and takes it!

Daddy's away, the girls will play!

Mike headed to the K-State game against Miami early one Saturday morning in September and the girls and I had a busy and fun day! We went on a walk to visit the horses, took Grace to get her 2nd haircut, went the castle park, lunch out, naps and finished the gorgeous day at the Overland Park arboretum

Ashlee's Wedding

Em, Ellen, Claire and I headed on a road trip on labor day weekend to St. Louis to celebrate the wedding of our cousin Ashlee to Tyler, what a great weekend and a great couple!

Ice Cream Store

I likely have posted about the ice cream store before, but am not sure. There is self serve frozen yogurt place very near our house that we frequent. Well more than just the ice cream has turned into tradition. The shopping center is filled with statues of little kids all over, so now we also take a walking tour to say hi to each of the "kids". Claire is a little freaked out by them, they are life size...Grace is not!

Trouble

Oh where to begin...our little Gracie girl is full of mischief! This particular picture she has half an ego waffle shoved in her mouth staring me down. But the story I want to tell is about running and hiding. She typically is doing nothing but running from us....weather she needs a diaper changed, it's time for bath or dinner, we say her name and she runs the other way, giggling the whole time. She's pretty quick and she doesn't stop until she has gotten as far as she can on the other side of the house. One morning we were getting ready for work/school and I was doing Claire's hair. I knew Grace had left the room several minutes ago (the longer Claire's hair the more time it takes to get out tangles). She had been gone and quiet a little too long and assumed she was in the back of my closet pulling down shoes. Well I head that direction and she is no where to be found...I checked her room, claire's room, the guest room...no where! The gate was up at the top of the stairs so I know she had to be there somewhere. I called Claire to help me find her, ran back to my closet, checked her and Claire's room again, nothing...Panic was starting to set in. Went into the guest room, turned on the light (it was very dark in there), and there she was in the very far corner with a pillow in front of her just giggling....the little stinker was hiding from us!

Piggies!

Sisters

Love them! With age, the fighting increases, but so do these moments! I wish them a wonderful relationship through the years, the same as I am blessed to have with Em.

Go Saints!

It's is Saint Thomas Aquinas's 25th anniversary this year, and we headed up to enjoy the festivities with a pancake feed and kids carnival! Claire was frozen in awe as one of the cheerleaders put this tatoo on her face!

Garden House

The girls love this garden house at Deanna Rose...oh wouldn't that be great if someone could build us one! It is a gorgeous garden done by K-State, we love visiting it!

The Barkemeyer's

We are SO EXCITED the Barkemeyer's are moving to KC! They have been through the ringer in the process of selling their house in Topeka and finding one here, but the landed safe in sound in Olathe very close to us! Here is a pic of Ellen bonding with Cali on one of the days that she stayed with us so Em and Brett could find a house!

First Day of School

Claire moved into the 4 year old room the last week in July. She had a great year with Ms. Glenda and Ms Priya and really learned a lot and blossomed into an independent 3 year old. This year she has Ms. Micah along with some of her same friends and she is pretty excited. This time next year she may be having her first day of Kindergarten...hard for me to believe!

Grace also switched Daycare from Ms. Kim, who has been nothing but an angel to our family over the last 4 years to Ms Pennie. Kimmie, as the girls call her is a very loving woman who not only cares for kids, but makes them a part of her family. We will miss seeing her, Uncle Brent (unc buck as Claire used to say), Kira who painted the girls toenails weekly, Brea who babysat for us and Frankin (Bubba) who the girls watched get on and off the school bus! We love them so much!