Horsey!

One of Claire's new favorite things to do is to ride on our backs! If we are sitting on the floor she will come and push on our back and then try to climb on. Tonight she talked daddy into giving her a ride around the living room!

Fall!

It has started feeling like fall around here and we are loving it! We are also loving all the fall colors in clothing! Here is Claire on Sunday in one of her new fall outfits!

18 months old (a few days late)

Claire is now officially 18 months old! I know I say it every month but she is changing daily!! At her one year check up she weighed 22 lbs and was 31 1/2 inches tall - at her 18 month check up she weighs 29 lbs and is 33 1/2 inches tall! This is the official height and weight from the doctor - which on height I don't always trust...our growth chart says that she is 34 1/2 inches tall...but that's beside the point - she has GROWN!! She is now in the 95% for height and weight!
Things about Claire at 18 months!

• You have 7 teeth - four on the bottom, two on the top, and one molar!! You have 2 more that should be making their appearance any day now on the top!
• You say tons of things!! So many that I really can't list them all any more! You are putting 3 and 4 words together, you can ask us for something, you almost always say please and thank you, and when you see animals you know you call them by name or make the sounds they make!
• You have gone baby sign crazy!!! You sign: more, all done, milk, cereal, mommy, daddy, baby, ball, kiss, friend, please, puppy, sleepy, drink, eat, and several others - I need to watch the video again so I know what all you are saying :)
• You LOVE LOVE LOVE school! Mrs. Shauna (you call her Na Na) and Ms. Laura (La La) take such good care of you! You are learning so much from them. You have centers and Bible time, you make crafts, build things, play in the sand box, play with your friends Tate and Taylee! You are taking naps anywhere between 2 to 3 hours each day - which is a Claire first for daycare! You love the food that Mrs. Shauna makes for you especially mac and cheese days! You love school so much that you are never ready to leave when I come to pick you up.
• You are starting to sing songs. We are not really sure what the songs are but they are beautiful to us!
• You dance - all the time!! If there is music you are dancing!
• You have become really good at stairs - going up is much easier than going down.
• You still love to read. You will sit and read books for 45 minutes which amazes me!
• You are starting to use imaginative play - you love tea sets and making people tea to drink.

This is just a few of the many things that you do to brighten up our lives! We are so thankful to have you in our lives each and everyday!

School Craziness

Coming into my classroom today I noticed two things - my AC was still out, and I had a waterfall in my room!!! I have to laugh at all of this - that's the only thing I can do!!!

HAPPY GRANDPARENT'S DAY

To my Gigi, BB, Mimi, Pops, Grandpa, Grandma, Great Grandma, & Great Grandpa -
I love you all so much! You are the best set of grandparents a girl could ask for! Thanks for loving me more than I will ever know!
Claire Elyse

Jumping in Puddles

It stopped raining for a few minutes today - so Claire and I went outside to jump in some puddles. This was her first puddle experience and I think she did very well :) Michael was so grossed out that we were playing in puddles - he said that he has NEVER jumped in a puddle - they are too dirty! He wouldn't walk outside until he put shoes on because he didn't want his feet wet - we laugh because we are so different in that way! Claire had a great time!

Our lake

So we decided to redo our back yard this weekend and add a water feature - we went big and added a lake...

It is supposed to rain around here nonstop until Monday sometime. Then we have a chance for rain everyday until Friday. Crazy!!!

Claire fun

Here is a video of Claire talking and doing some sign language. She can do a lot more but this is all I could remember off the top of my head. The first couple of seconds of the video Claire is trying to wink. We will wink at her and this is what she does back to us - it is SUPER cute!!! When she signs friend she says "Tate" which is her new friend at school. And when I ask her to say Uh Oh she says "spaghetti o's" She is pretty much talking non stop now! Michael and I can pretty much understand everything she says and can translate for other people. It is so much fun having a toddler than can interact with you!

Labor Day

For Labor Day we went over to our friend's the Cieply's house to hang out and eat! We had amazing fajitas and peanut butter pie for dessert! It was great to just fellowship and hang out with friends - and be very low key! The weather was perfect yesterday. We sat out on their patio for a long time watching the boys play football and just chatting! Claire also sported her first pony tail on Monday! I had to use some little clips to pull some of the hair back but it looked very cute - and she looked VERY old! Michael told me that I couldn't pull her hair back like that again because it made him a little sad that she looked so old!

Just some cute pictures!

Family reunion

Our family reunion was a couple of weeks ago and I completely forgot to blog about it. We had a great time catching up with my family down in Bend, TX. I got to meet my cousins newest babies - Lilly June and Graydon. They are the cutest twins ever! They were also very good snuggle bunnies so I loved that! This year we had a scavenger hunt which turned out to be a lot of fun. I think the best part of the weekend was getting to see my brother and sister the entire weekend!


Our family

My mom and her brother Bill

Amanda and her new fiance Stuart!

Miss priss!

My mom with Graydon (left) and Lilly (right) - her shirt sums up the weekend!

He will hate me for this one :)

Amanda and Claire

Daddy and Claire

Aunt Moo moo and Claire

Mommy and Claire

Uncle Jamie and Claire

So sweet!!

cousin Sydney and Claire