Mmmm....cake

Claire LOVES to eat cake!! She is cleary my daughter. She actually prefers to just lick of the frosting, atta girl! She really enjoys helping out in the kitchen, mixing and adding ingredients. I love having her help, it makes a bigger mess, but I hope that I am instilling some good skills in her by having her help so early. You can see that she is happy with the finished product and can't wait to eat some sprinkles!

Snuggle me momma?

Claire's morning routine involves chocolate milk, a show and snuggles. This particular morning, she wanted to snuggle with Henry. He loved laying by her and she made sure they shared the 'big' blanket. I enjoyed it too, as I got to sip my coffee (while it was hot) and read the news on my phone!

Mr. Man, with teeth

Posing for Daddy!


Two bottom teeth, he just smiles to show them off!

Fashionista

Claire loves to have a dance party! To twirl around with a scarf, in something pretty is pretty much the ultimate in her world! This particular evening she got herself dressed. 2 pairs of shorts, one tutu, 5 headbands, some necklaces and bracelets, a tiara and to top it off she said "Momma, I need a flag!" So she ran and got it! She enjoyed blasting Spencer's clock radio dancing in front of the mirror in our room. Silly girl. I love the little person she is starting to become!

This is the life!

We tried to maximize the boat time this year. The summer started so late. We try to take out our friends and family whenever possible. Our good friends Matt and Tracey, parents of Addy (one of Claire's BFF's) joined us. The girls had fun swimming with their Daddies adn the Daddies enjoyed a cold bevvy in the cool water. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon if you ask me!!

She's a Covey

Claire has been wanting to take Max to the river to play. She runs along the shoreline with him, Spencer throws logs for Max to swim too, and dips Claire in the river! She can't get enough. It's funny to watch her. She is so confident outside, which is nice to see. She is definately not afraid to get dirty or wet. And that river is freezing! I don't know how she does it!

Waterpark

We've been taking the girls to the waterpark all summer, and on this not particulary hot day, they decided to brave the water! Here are the girls, warming up with a towel and enjoying the sunshine!

This kid can eat!

Henry, at 4.5 months is already showing an interest in foods. So we tried some oatmeal cereal and he LOVES it! He is kind of an agressive eater, and you better not miss a moment between bites. He is not shy about letting you know how that frustrates him. His other love, watermelon! The kid can't get enough. Since he already has two teeth (at 4 months), he can bite off big chunks, so we have to be careful! He is just too cute!

It's hard to be Claire Bear

A walk and picnic on the river at McGregor Park with Mom and Henry. She picked the spot to eat and insisted on getting her "lunch bag" by herself!



Claire loves to dress herself and I allow it for the most part. What better way for to express herself and indivduality. She was loving this day at the park, just running and running, stopping for a blackberry every now and then!



This pic of Claire is interesting because it doesn't look like her. But those eyes! Oh those eyes!!!



She loves picking blackberries. We try to pick some on our family walks when the season is right! Here is a good start!

Family Shot

We finally got a pic of all of us together, such a rarity! Sure do love my life!

He's the Man

Henry has been boating since the 7th day of his life. Here is his, propped up by his Dad (who is oh so proud), sitting in the front of the boat. Yes, I know, he should have his lifejacket on, but at this moment, he doesn't. Don't judge me! He loves to watch his Daddy "Wake board", and watch Claire swim around and splash on the deck. He is such a handsome little boy, don't you think?

Fancy Nancy

One of Claire's two best friends: Tay-Tay, had a "Fancy Nancy" birthday party for just the three of them! Since their birthdays are just a couple weeks apart, we got to celebrate each of the girls at their own bash. Tay's was decked out with tea sandwhiches, sprinkle rimmed glasses full of punch, cupcakes, tiaras, high heels, doilies they got to decorate, it was awesome! Here are the girls enjoying themselves. They really are so sweet together. They have know eachother since they were in the womb! I hope they will always be friends! Their parents have turned into great friends of our too, so its a win-win!
THE CUPCAKE QUEEN


CRAFTS


TIME TO EAT

Claire and Henry

it is love between these two! Just when I think she is being too rough, he is laughing hysterically. He literally can't take his eyes off of her. Every morning she says "Where Henry go?", "Oh, hi Henry! Happy Birthday!". They really are sweet together!

Swimming

Claire loves to swim. She got a new floatie for her birthday and she got to wear it for the first time in Bend. She was very proud of herself as you can see!

Vacation to Bend

Since I was about 9, my family went on Vacation to Bend with my God Parents. My Godfather participated in the OASBO Conference (for School finances). We went with them every year, spent a week in Bend at some resort. I have so many great memories! This year we attended the conference again, however it was SPENCER who was attending as he is now working with School and Public finance. Funny how the OASBO conference is STILL part of my life. This year we spent a week in Bend for the conference staying at my best friends. We brought the boat and explored some lakes up there as well.
A week later, I went back with the kids to meet my God parents there, as they still vacation there annually. The kids and I and my parents spent 2 nights. We swam, played games and relaxed. It was a nice get away!

Party Pics

Here are few pic of Claire's birthday. One of her fav gifts, from her cousins, was a Tinkerbell outfit! You can see, she enjoyed it!

Our Birthday Princess

Claire is 3! I can't believe it! What a beautiful, funny, silly, smart, creative and thoughtful little girl we have. We never imagined the love we would feel for our kids. She is something special, yes she is a challenge sometimes, but the good heavily outweigh those stressful times. We threw Claire a small party with family and 3 of her friends. We had a "mermaid" theme as she loves mermaids right now. Spencer spent the morning setting up the bouncy house, splash pools, turning her slide into a water slide (he had more fun then the kids did for sure!). We had a nice BBQ, cupcakes (her fave) and gifts. It was a lovely, low key afternoon. Celebrating the most wonderful little girl we could have every hoped for!

The Baby Powder Incident

I was doing something with the kids and Claire disappeared. She is pretty good at keeping her self entertained at home. However I had noticed it being oddly quiet (a key sign something is not going right!). I went and found her, and she had dumped an entire (large) container of baby powder ALL over Henry's room. It was so much it made it difficult to breath in the room. I quickly opened the window, stripped her down and threw her powder covered body in the shower. I then took a closer look around Henry's room and it was COVERED! I mean the baseboards, the chairrails, the walls, the windows. Luckily Spence came home soon after and I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning up the mess. Oh but did Miss Claire Bear have fun!! She would do it again if I let her! :)

Henry the Happy

Oh he is such a joy! Always willing to go with the flow, from here to there. Being passed around and kissed and squeezed. Tolerating his sisters love and affection (aka borderline torture). What a blessed addition he is to our family!

Camping with Cousins

Here are some shots of us Camping. We went for one night but managed to squeeze in mucho fun! We had our own private beach area for the kids with a big mud whole. We spent the day there and played and played. We were able to hike, splash around and catch some fish, which made for the yummiest appetizer!

Cousins, Cousins and more Cousins!

July was a busy month! We were lucky to have my family from the Fresno area visit for a week and Spencer's family visit from L.A. It was a whirlwind, but beyond fun!
Our L.A. visitors included Spencers cousin Dave (aka Davey), his beautiful wife Linda, and there three boys, Spencer, Cameron and Leyton. A special treat was Spencer's Aunt CeCe (Davey's mom)! It was quite the get together when we were all together: 3 boys, Claire and Henry and my neices (their hosts) Grace and Brynn. We went camping, visited the Fish Hatchery, toured the Dam, went boating, had mulptiple family dinners, roasted marshmallows and shared many laughs and glasses of wine. Here a few shots of our adventures. There are many more, so I will have to upload more later!