Zoo Day

Tuesday was a beautiful springy day and a perfect day to spend with friends at the zoo! Claire got to see all the animals, eat a picnic lunch, ride the carousel, and RUN around with her buddies.

Here's Claire and Ellie checking out some animals

The Bengal tiger (just like in Claire's favorite Wonder Pets!)....he would walk right past the kids. They seemed interested, but not nearly as excited as I would have thought!

all the kiddos watching the bears...

Claire would NOT feed the giraffe this time around. In fact, she was quite upset that this giraffe ate all of Gavin's food. She is still talking about that and I keep reminding her that it's ok and he is supposed to eat the food!

This peacock was proudly showing off his feathers right in the middle of the walkway. Claire pretty much just marched right past him.

Overall I would say she had a blast, but her favorite part was running with her friends. I think I could have saved myself $20 and taken her to a field to run her little heart out!

When we got home I thought for sure she would just pass out - but after 4 hours at the zoo she shocked me and didn't take a nap at all! Mimi came and picked her up and she spent the night there so Rob and I could go to a concert. After all the activity I guess it all caught up to her because the next day she was exhausted! This is how I found her after a good 2 and half hours of napping:

Ice Cream with Mommy and Mere

While Daddy was at a UVA baseball game, we decided to get ourselves a little treat with Aunt Meredith! Her pictures were so cute, I had to post a couple

Claire's free ice cream.....with sprinkles and "eyes"

Yum!

It's amazing how a 2 year old who "can't" use her spoon at home, all of a sudden can use one perfectly fine with ice cream!
Thanks Mere for joining us and for the pictures!

Ganny's Farm

Last Saturday we spent a beautiful day on the farm visiting with Ganny, Billie, Sam, Nancy, Popa, Abu, Matt, Alison, and Katie! It was so much fun to stop by for a surprise visit and spend time with the family.

Popa and Abu had an Easter basket for Claire! Lots of fun stuff inside!

Katie was adorable as always!

Claire found Ganny's magnifying glass :-)

After lunch we spent some time outside running around and playing in the grass. Here's a cute photo of the cousins and Katie got a few minutes without her helmet! *Photo stolen from Alison's blog....thanks Alison!

What a fun day! Thanks everybody for letting us crash the party :-) So nice to be able to catch up with family and especially the ones we hardly ever get to see!

Back at home, she chowed down on the peeps from her Easter basket and loaded all her money into the piggy bank! Thanks Popa and Abu!!! (She's been having lots of fun with the window stickers and "squishy thing" - whatever that is called?)

Happy Easter Day!

The Easter Bunny came to visit Claire!!

When she walked in the room and saw her basket, I said "What did the Bunny bring you?!" She said "a drink." Well, yes there is a sippy cup in the basket but as you can see from her expression, I don't think she was too impressed by the Bunny's practical choices in his gift-giving.
Doesn't everyone get underwear in their Easter baskets?? She also had a couple cards to open and this one from Mimi and Papa had some $$ for the piggy bank!

Mommy made a yummy breakfast for everyone - blueberry ricotta pancakes from scratch.
Later in the day we headed over to Uncle Andy and Aunt Tara's house for a delicious outdoor lunch,

and Easter bunny cake!

The Easter Bunny's cousin had stopped by and left another basket for Claire!! (Thanks cousin!)

"The Big Storm" book (Claire's favorite!) from Mimi and Papa

Then we were off for an egg hunt in the backyard!

a couple were pretty tough to find....

Uncle Andy had to help get them open. I'm pretty sure Claire would have been satisfied after finding just 1 egg and eating the treats inside! We had to convince her to keep searching.

All the loot in her new bumble bee basket (Thanks to Mrs. Dameron!!)

Next up on our schedule for the day was Easter on Parade! Here's Claire checking out the "mama llama" and all the animals in the petting farm...

It was pretty hot and Claire was tired so we didn't stay too long. Lots of fun though and a great Easter tradition!

Catching up...

I've been such a slacker lately - it's been well over a month since I've updated the blog! Not much blog-worthy has happened in between the multiple snow storms of winter and now (high 80s today!!), but I thought I'd add a few photos to catch up.



Here's Claire on St. Patrick's Day! Luckily we had a green hand-me-down shirt to wear. (Thanks Patty!) Can't wait til next year when the leprechaun can come visit us and play tricks!

(Check it out - we can FINALLY put her hair in pigtails! Love it!)Claire now loves to make "silly faces." Here's one in action...

And a not-as-silly face....she knows to "say cheese" now for pictures.

Last weekend we got together with the Barnes crew to CELEBRATE! Jake was accepted to UVA and will be going there in the fall!!!

We're gearing up for Easter tomorrow and Claire got her first Easter present from Aunt Mary Lynn. Thanks for all the great stuff! She LOVED the little animals in the eggs and as you can see, the book was a hit too!

I'll be back tomorrow with an Easter post! We're looking forward to the Easter bunny and hoping he is practical in his gift-giving this year (hint hint....Claire peed on the potty for the first time last night!!!)

My Valentine

We started our Valentine's Day off with some pink pancakes for breakfast! (Rob thought this was very weird, but I thought it was fun!! I will have to learn how to make them heart shaped because it didn't work this time)

After naptime, I put on Claire's special Valentine's dress, made by Mimi. When we came down the stairs Claire said "I look like a princess!" For our Valentine's dinner, we went out to Claire's favorite - pizza! She was so good in the restaurant and it was really fun to celebrate the day as a family.

When we got home, it was time for some of my "cookie hearts" as Claire calls them. Then we let her watch Clifford's Valentine show before bed. What a fun day!!

This is kind of random, but here's a picture of her in another Valentine's outift - courtesy of Skylar. Just wanted to show that we can finally get her hair in a tiny ponytail!! :-)