Memorial Weekend

Why do long weekends seem so short?! We crammed alot of things into our Memorial Weekend and it feels like summer has begun now!

We headed down to the river Sunday to spend the day. (Also an early birthday celebration for PoPa!) The weather was great and we got to play outside, read and relax, and enjoy hanging out with the family. The only time it rained was for the 10 minutes or so that we tried to go for a boat ride!
Claire played with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and in the sandbox (horseshoe pit)

This was Claire's first trip back since last summer and so the first time being there that she could walk. Kind of a different experience now that I have to chase her around!

Claire is definitely in "mommy mode," but every once in a while I was able to sneak away and have some quiet time to myself. At one point, I was literally hiding on the pier while she played with PoPa and Abu. (She's fine with everyone when I'm not around, but if I'm in sight it's "Mommy Mama Mommy Mama" Cute at first, but it gets old!) Here's Claire and Uncle Jake watching cartoons and having a snack.

For Memorial Day, we took it easy in the morning and after naptime headed over to Uncle Andy and Aunt Tara's house. They just got back from vacation and we were excited to hear all about their trip!

Claire had a fun surprise waiting for her in the backyard...

She doesn't understand that you're not supposed to get in the water table so most of the time she had one foot in and one foot on the ground.

Tara showed her the beanbag game and Claire showed Tara that it's much easier if you sit on it and throw from there!

Having a delicious cook-out with the family.

Racing with Sam The Man

Claire and I were out supporting the Autism Society of America this morning at their annual 5K. We knew a couple teams this year and we were really proud to cheer on my cousin, Sam "The Man!" Here he is coming down the home stretch...

Congratulations Sam for raising a ton of money and doing a great job in the race!

Here's Claire with her first official race bib! Even though I've done a couple races with her before, this is the first one that she was registered...if I could find where they are posting the results I will have to take a picture of her name and her "official time" :-)

*Edited to add.....I found the results! And look who won first place in her age group :-)

I'm not sure if they were kidding, but when we crossed the finish, they told me I was the first one with a stroller to finish! (If it's true, I would have pushed to go a little faster so I'd have a decent time! I think I take after my Dad with my competitive nature!)

She got her own race packet with t-shirt....just a tad too big.

We were happy to participate and support a great cause - over $35,000 was raised for the Central Virginia Chapter of the Autism Society. WOW!

A Berry Fun Day!

(yeah, I know it's cheesy.....couldn't help myself)

Claire and I joined our buddy Tanner (and his mom Lisa) at the Chesterfield Berry Farm today for some strawberry picking! I remember going as a kid to pick berries and my favorite thing was roasting hot dogs on sticks over a fire. (They still do that by the way!)

Here we are on the hayride over to the berry fields...


As soon as we got there, Claire knew exactly what to do...

Lisa and I only picked up the small baskets because we really thought it would only keep the kids interest for a few minutes. To our surprise, they stayed right by us and let us pick berries as long as we wanted.

one for each hand...

Covered head to toe in strawberry juice!

After the hayride back, they had all kinds of activities for the kids including farm animals and a bounce house...

They also have a huge corn kernel play area - what a fun idea! Claire could barely walk through it. Mostly, I was trying to make sure she didn't eat them since she loves to eat her freeze-dried corn!


I got in with her and managed to get corn kernels all in my pants! (You should have seen the look on this guy's face when I was going into the bathroom and asked Lisa to watch Claire so I could "get this corn out of here!") Even at home, corn was falling out of Claire's shoes, shirt, and diaper!


Yummy! Time to go to the store for some pound cake and cool whip!

One Person's Junk is Our Treasure!

It's yard sale season and on Saturday, I went out searching with my mom, the Queen of Yard Sales! We were on a mission for some outdoor toys for Claire and any other treasures we might find. We hit the jackpot with the perfect slide for our backyard and Claire LOVES it!

We also found a fun playhouse which we tested out this morning while it rained. (She asked all morning to slide and I tried to explain that it was too wet!)

I think she likes it - I found her sitting inside reading books a couple times during the day.

And of course, we couldn't pass up some "new-to-us" books, especially when they are only 25 cents!

Annual Azalea Photo Shoot

Last year Rob and Claire had a photo shoot in our backyard and gave me one of the pictures framed for Mother's Day. I love the picture so much and decided we should make it an annual photo spot out by the azaleas. It turned out great and it's amazing to see how much she's grown. (The only thing that hasn't grown much is her hair!)

2009

2008

Reading...

My girl loves her books! I love when she sits in her chair and reads to herself. Here's a short video of her reading about animals. She gets a little more shy when the video camera is out, but you can hear her point out a couple of the animals and the sounds they make. (My favorite is the loud "Quack Quack!")

Mother's Day at The Mason Motel

Happy Mother's Day!

Rob and I headed to the river this weekend while Claire stayed with Grammy and Papa at the Mason Motel, her "home away from home." She always has so much fun, and Mommy and Daddy are always grateful for a little break! Being Mother's Day though, I had to get back to see my baby! (And my Mom too of course!)

Here's Claire and Papa Jim hanging out watching for cars and trucks.


We had a nice dinner together and Claire was happy to get to eat with us! (We normally have our family dinners later after she's in bed, but I think she's started to realize she's missing out on the fun.) Unfortunately Andy and Tara were out of town and Rob wasn't feeling good so they weren't able to make it.


Claire made a beautiful card for me!

And a present was waiting for me at home! A book called "First Marathons" which I am very excited to read for some inspiration! Who knew Claire was such a thoughtful gift-giver?

I had a wonderful Mothers Day - thank you to all who helped Claire with her shopping and card making! She made me feel very loved today - and even Charlie treated me pretty nice too!