Things to Do

Recently I was complaining to Tim that it just seemed like we didn't do anything or go anywhere. I felt like we sat at home way too much. Enter in last week. A jammed packed week of summer fun. On July 19th, we celebrated our 7th anniversary by having dinner sans kids. I forgot how nice it is to have just adult conversation without being interrupted with the word why. I would ban that word from being said if I thought I could. We ate at a nice steakhouse, with great views. I didn't have to share, deal with potential meltdowns because someone was hungry, etc. A blissful hour and a half.

After that, we enjoyed a movie at the drive in movie theater. It was great. We took both the girls and turned the back of our mini van into a comfy place to watch a movie. I put the third row down and put down blankets and pillows. I also popped some popcorn. Our minivan has cup holders in the back and a nice sound system with speakers in the back so the movie came in crystal clear. If someone had told me five years ago that I would love having a minivan I would have laughed and said they're crazy. But it's true, I love owning a minivan. The girls didn't go to sleep right away like I expected, but we finally got Claire asleep and Lilybelle stayed up the whole time! I was amazed. I was more shocked by the fact that she watched the movie and laughed at it. She really got into it. It's so great to watch her grow up.

The next day we got up early and headed out to Bliss State Park to enjoy some beach time with family who were camping up there. The morning was great weather, but by the afternoon we got rained off the beach. On our way back to the campsite, we saw a bear. We hung out a little bit longer and then made the long trek home. I would definitely go back and camp there, but I don't think I would make a day trip out of it again.

On Wednesday we had our ward Pioneer Day BBQ at a local park and it was good. Anytime we go to the park it pretty much means nonstop slide and swing time for Lilybelle.

Thursday was a down day, a chance to get caught up on laundry, go grocery shopping, and workout.

On Friday we went to an Aces baseball game. It's hard to watch a game when you are trying to make sure that two little kids don't wander off, but we still had a great time.

On Saturday Tim had to work so I took the chance to clean the house relax. Overall it was a great week, a little draining, but I can't complain that we didn't do anything this summer.

Summer Fun

So this summer has been an interesting one so far.

Fourth of July was a little overcast. The day started off with a walk of the local historical mansions with my dad and then a walk to eat lunch with my parents, Tim, and the girls. In the evening since the weather never improved, we turned our couch into a fort and brought out Lilybelle's castle tent. The tent was such a huge hit that it now has a permanent home in my dining room. Oh what you manage to fit into a house when it makes the kiddies happy.

It's been hard to juggle to needs of two little ones when they have such different entertainment ideas. Lilybelle would live outside, but the thought of Claire crawling around outside where the dog and the neighborhood cats go to the bathroom just doesn't excite me. It's gotten a little better since Claire kinda walks now and likes to stand up to play with her water toy. Lilybelle also likes going to the park, but it only works if there is two adults or Claire is sleeping. I found this last one out when on Tuesday we had a great park outing (Claire was sleeping) and today when Claire cried and wanted to be held for the fifteen minutes that I lasted at the park. It's also getting hot. It was already close to ninety at nine this morning. Claire didn't even like the swing. So we went home and on the way home Claire fell asleep so we went to the store and then to the library. Lilybelle and Claire both love the library. It's a battle though to make sure Lilybelle doesn't run off and Claire doesn't destroy something. But story time today was fun and we made it through the whole program. Swimming though is an activity they can both get behind. For her birthday Claire's Grammy got her a little pool. I decided to try it out when we went to my parent's house over the weekend. They spent almost an hour in their pools. Lilybelle was more into splashing, but Claire was into getting wet. I have pictures of her smiling. Yes an actual smiling, not a kinda smile.

Claire's Birthday Party

Well the summer started out really hot, went a little cool, and now is finally back into the normal average temperature. During one of those really hot spells we had Claire's birthday party. It was outside. On a day that hit 100. Luckily we had it in the morning so in the shade it wasn't too bad. It's the first time that we have ever used our yard for an event and I think it turned out quite well. Our little yard is bigger than I thought. Especially when I took the car out of our fake driveway. Maybe one day I'll have a yard, a real driveway and a garage. Sigh. Back to the party.

Lilybelle was super excited about the birthday party. She still talks about when her party will be. I tell her September, but I don't think she gets when that is. We had family over and had a Teddy Bear Picnic themed party because well we call Claire "Claire Bear" so I figured she needed a birthday party with a bear theme. It went great. We had bubbles, water toys, great people, and great food. We ended the event with teddy bear cupcakes.

Here's some photos of the day. The ones of Claire cracks me up. They are such classic Claire pictures. She doesn't believe in smiling. Oh I've also included one of my new super awesome cupcake pan. It is a thing of beauty. At least I think so.

I have a one year old

Claire turned one yesterday. It's weird to think Claire is now one. We did the usual birthday stuff. Shots, photos, and of course her own personal cake. She had a blast with that. She smashed it in no time flat. She was not shy about it. Lilybelle got into the spirit of it too. Although I think she thought that it was her birthday party. But she didn't care that it wasn't hers because she got a "cake" too.

11 months

The countdown is on. In less than a month Claire will be one and I can officially ditch my breast pump. I think that of all things is the thing that I am looking forward to the most. But I digress, I sat down to write this post to talk not about freedom from my breast pump, but about my growing daughter. I cannot believe that she's already 11 months. It seems just like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. Now she's babbling, crawling, laughing, and just making our life that much better.

Lilybelle is growing too. She's such a big girl now. So smart and sweet, with a tad sassy in there for good measure. Last week my dad came up and we went for a walk along the river and downtown. I never got a double stroller and so when Claire was done with the Ergobaby, Lilybelle sweetly said that Claire could ride in her stroller and she would let me carry her, but not in the Ergobaby because she is not a baby (her words not mine). After some convincing she agreed to let me carry her in the Ergobaby on my hip which helped immensely. It was such a pretty walk. It reminded me why Tim and I bought our small house. I just love our neighborhood so much and the closeness to all the amenities of downtown. We got ice cream at a local chocolate shop and ate it by the river. Afterwards we walked to downtown and got some lunch.

Tim worked on the yard yesterday to get it ready for Claire's birthday party. He did such a good job freshening up the front of the house and starting on one side of the yard.

And finally a few outtakes from the last "photo shoot."

Double the Fun

I did it. I know that I did. I didn't get around to posting her nine month photo before she turned ten months. So for your viewing pleasure you can view both the nine month and ten month photo together. As I was editing (which is essentially me just cropping the photo) the two photos I realized how big she has gotten. She is really growing up. I'm glad that I take these monthly photos because it reminds me just how much she is growing.

 

 In other news, tax season is over and for those of you who don't know about tax season, it's a big deal. I now get to be reacquainted with my family after not seeing them for a little while. It wasn't too bad this year, but man it's hard with two kids. I couldn't have done it without my husband though. He did a really great job with the two girls.

My parents came up and spent the day with us for Easter. I had all these outdoor activities planned, but it was only about forty degrees outside so we stuck to inside play. We didn't do much, just watched General Conference and had a nice dinner of chicken, salad, bread, and roasted potatoes. It was nice to just relax and have family. Lilybelle is really starting to get into things and she loved the Easter Eggs that we dyed the night before. She was also excited to eat those eggs. She enjoyed her Easter Basket and the candy. Boy does that kid know what candy is now. I love having two girls to put them in matching outfits. My mom got them the cutest Easter Dresses.

Today was my first day back to my part time schedule at work and I really enjoyed the day with the girls. We ran errands, hung out, and made dinner. I don't know the last time I made dinner on a weeknight. I made taco salad with homemade flour tortilla bowls and they turned out pretty okay. Tim said that dinner was good so that's all that matters, but I will definitely have to perfect the bowl technique.

One of these days I will learn how to put my photos in a prettier order, but for now they are all in a row. Until next post.

8 Months

This is going to be a short post. I'm just posting her 8 month photo so I don't feel completely horrible about it. I promise a long catch up post after tax season with plenty of photos. For now, here is Claire at 8 months. Still as serious as ever, but now she will hold her own sign up thank you very much.