A Chilly Spring Break

This is Grammy's Spring Break week so we planned an afternoon at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. It was not the sunny Spring weather we were hoping for, but we decided to give it a try anyway. It was SO cold, but really beautiful and lots of fun things for Claire to see and do. We'll definitely be back on a warmer day!

Old Fashioned Egg Hunt

Today was the start of our Easter celebrations with an "Old-Fashioned Easter Egg Hunt" at Crump Park. First we walked around and saw all the animals.

Claire and the sheep...

smiling at the chickens...

And then the Easter Egg Hunt began....except it didn't actually involve eggs! They had marked off a section of a field and there was candy everywhere for the kids to collect. Rob had fun pointing out the "good candy" and getting Claire to put it in the basket! She got the hang of it and even put some candy in a few other kids' baskets!


Claire's favorite prize of the day was this orange candy egg. (Uncle Andy, I know you will appreciate this!! Don't worry, she insisted on me taking it out of the wrapper and later we "accidentally" lost it.)

Popa-razzi

Yesterday, Claire and I took an impromptu trip with PoPa to the farm. Billie, Sam, and Nancy were all there to visit Ganny and it was a great chance for them to all see Claire and spend some time with the family. Rob was really jealous that he couldn't join us! Claire followed her PoPa around all day saying his name! She also surprised me and as soon as Ganny walked in the room, she said "nee nee." For now, that's her best attempt at "Ganny"

After lunch, we went outside to run around and play. I left my camera in the car, but noticed that Sam and PoPa had their cameras and were following Claire around like the paparazzi! So....here are some photos courtesy of the "PoPa-razzi" :-)




We visited Grandma Kathy and Claire enjoyed all the "fow-wahs."


My little "princess" found a mud puddle and loved playing in it/sitting in it!


After getting muddy, we took a pan of water and put it outside to play in. Who knew you could have so much fun with just a little pan of water?!

There's Nancy in the background!

By the end of our stay, Claire had chocolate cake on her face, mud all over, wet shoes and socks, and pink cheeks from playing so hard....a great day on the farm! It was so great to visit with everyone and see family that we just don't get to see often enough.

Great News!!!

Guess what?! Claire's getting a COUSIN!!!!


We are SO happy and SO excited for Uncle Matt and Aunt Alison who are expecting their first baby in August. I'm almost as excited about getting a niece or nephew as I was about being pregnant myself!!

We're headed over to their house tonight for a family dinner.....and to find out if it's a boy or girl!!

Which gift will we be giving them? Only a couple more hours until we find out...

ETA: Check out Matt and Alison's blog for baby updates and to find out the sex!

Here's Claire and her baby (her latest favorite thing). We're "practicing" for when her cousin is born....I guess we have a little more practicing to do before she'll be ready to babysit! :-)

Run Mommy Run!

Yesterday was my 8th Monument Avenue 10K and I had a great time....I even beat my time from last year by 1 second! If you remember, Rob and I were going to run together, but it didn't work out this year. Instead he was home with Claire and decided at the last minute to come out and cheer...unfortunately I never saw them! Claire had a great time pointing at the runners and clapping her hands.

Congrats to all the runners and walkers! See ya there next year!! I can't wait until Claire is old enough to participate in the kids fun run :-)

Mommy's Little Girl

I have always been made fun of for how much I liked to look at myself in the mirror when I was a kid. I remember in our house we had a whole mirrored wall and I used to dance around and look at myself for hours.....so I've been told!

Well, Claire has taken after her Mommy! She LOVES to see herself. On her highchair, there's a little toy with a mirror and she will watch herself eating. (Occasionally opening her mouth to see what's in there!) Now whenever I pull out the video camera, she runs over and wants to see herself on video. I've been having fun flipping the screen over so she can see what I'm filming...my favorite is her making faces at the end...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

1.5

I've been a slacker lately, but we really haven't had much going on that has been blog-worthy. I thought I'd post a couple pictures today to celebrate Claire's HALF-BIRTHDAY!! I can't believe we are half-way through her 2nd year!

Here's Claire on St. Patrick's Day. Luckily, we received some hand-me-down clothes that included this green shirt....otherwise there would have been some pinching going on! She loves to rock and hug her bear :-)

I tried to get an "official 18 month photo" but goldfish and Sesame Street are way more interesting than having your picture taken!!