Halloween 2011

When asked what she wanted to be for Halloween, Clara choose a giraffe. Boy how things change in one year. Last year, she cried when we put her bear costume on. This year, she didn't want to take her giraffe costume off.

She was probably the youngest out there trick or treating. Everyone commented on what a cute giraffe she was. I recycled mine and Bear's costumes (lion again for me and tiger for Bear) and we were the African safari. However, Bear did not go trick or treating with us like she did last year. It was way to difficult to walk a toddler and a deaf dog at the same time last year. Plus, this year, it was rainy (and kind of chilly) on Halloween. Guess you can't get perfect weather every year.

So some photos from the night:

The African safari crew. And who is that black, faceless man about to take away my daughter?....Oh, it is Daddy. Yep, Daddy once again wore all black and sat outside with the candy and scared many kids throughout the night. I don't know how he does it. He doesn't move an inch and the kids get scared every year. And they wonder if he is real or not (many times their conclusion is he is not real).


Clara enjoying a piece of candy from her stash before she goes to bed.

p.s. besides the fact that Mike sits out there in all black, he also uses a black light, we put up black curtains, and he plays scary music/noises in the CD player. Plus he puts his friend next to him (which I do not have a photo of). The house does take on a whole different look when all set up.

State Fair 2011

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit in October. We went to a high school football game, a marching band competition, and the state fair. They also brought us some bushes and a tree to plant in our backyard. Hence, we were busy while they were here. But we also got our patio extended!


Photos from the state fair:

Clara rode a pony again! She loved it!

Mike and Clara in the rabbit house/building.


Clara meets Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Our backyard

Fall 2011

I'm pretty proud of the flower garden we put in our backyard (in September 2010).

Puppy's visit to the O'Brien Hospital

One afternoon in October (October 7 to be exact), I'm in the bathroom and I hear an "uh, oh" come out of Clara's mouth. Mike says, "uh Katie?" So I come out to find Clara holding Puppy's head in one hand and puppy's "body" in the other. She wasn't too happy and wanted his head put back on. And...I don't know how to sew :( . So I said (very calmly as to not upset Clara more), okay well maybe we can see if Ms. De can fix Puppy. If not, then we might have to wait till Gamma can fix him (Gamma and Papa were traveling).

I ran over to the O'Briens and luckily they were home. Ms. De took Puppy right away and got ready for his "surgery." She said she'd work on him right away. (Mr. Ray joked that she should sew his head on backwards. Seriously Mr. Ray, let's not give our child anymore nightmares :) ).

A few hours later, Puppy was all recovered and came home all together! Thank goodness for our neighbors!

Why, oh why did Clara have to choose to love the most the one "lovey" we cannot replace?...

Some things never change

Sleeping Clara, 1 month old

Sleeping Clara, 2 years old

Pumpkin patch 2011

Clara was all excited to go pick out her pumpkin this year. I guess it sort of has become a tradition to go up the road to the United Methodist Church and buy our pumpkins for Halloween. When we got there, Clara took off in search of the perfect pumpkin.



Daddy and Clara photo. Mommy and Clara photo.


I think she found her pumpkin.

Clara, Clara, Clara

Cute photos of my 2 1/2 year old little girl.

Becoming Miss Independent

Before I had to carry or walk with Clara everywhere on the playground. She would not go up the stairs or ladders without holding my hand. Sometimes I even had to slide down the slide with her. I was a little discouraged as I watched her friends run and climb and swing on their own.

Lately, she has been doing more and more on her own. We were out with her friends from daycare and Clara watched Chance grab a bar, lift his feet off the ground and start swinging from the bar. Seconds later, Clara was doing the same thing. Yea!

She now walks up ladders and across those bouncing bridges. She has even attempted to climb a rock wall after watching a couple of girls her size climb it. But it was about 10ft. tall and I was nervous about not being able to spot her very well. We'll try that when her daddy is around.

She also is swinging from monkey bars and even going across those monkey bars that one goes across with their hands and their legs are off the ground (of course I am holding her). But again, after watching the "big kids" do it so many times, she knew exactly what to do and one day just decided to do it.

We were at Chance's birthday party this past weekend and she followed the boys all around. Of course she continues to be Miss Talkative too. If she couldn't find one of the boys, you would hear "Braydon/Chance/etc. Where. Are. You?" I can see it now when they are in elementary school. The boys will be running all over the place but Clara won't be too far behind...being the "annoying" talkative, little girl keeping up with the boys. Love it.

Vollmer Farms

Near our area, there are corn mazes and pumpkin patches in the fall. We found some information about one online: http://www.vollmerfarm.com/. So we decided to go check it out. Clara had a lot of fun!

Getting buried by mommy in the corn. Burying her head in the corn.


Clara loves school buses. But this one speaks for itself :) .


They had a huge bouncing "pillow." We couldn't get Clara off of it.

They also had a couple of playgrounds, an 80ft. tunnel slide, a zip line, a cow train, and baby farm animals. I'd say it was worth the drive and admission fee for it made for a fun Sunday afternoon.

Nature hike

Mike took a day off from work so we went hiking. We checked out a place in Cary called Hemlock Bluff's. Had a few short hiking trails. Short...yet we managed to find a way to get lost.

Clara collected items found in nature: colored leaves, nuts, pine needles, feathers, and a small log.

Clara's boo boo

Clara was playing at the neighbors and fell on their driveway. She did a pretty good job on her knee and elbow. Her knee healed quickly. She insisted we get a photo of her boo boo on her elbow.

This happened awhile ago and she still talks about it today.
Clara: "Clara's boo boo."
Me: "It is practically gone."
Clara: "Mr. Ray's driveway. Mr. Dave kiss it."

Chick fil-a cow

Clara loves the Chick Fil-A Cow. He was at a Holly Springs high school football game so she had her photo taken with him. Then we saw him the next day at the 5k and North Hills mall (they were having a "kids day." She followed him everywhere.Here he is teaching her how to play chess.

Finishing a race

I ran another 5k this past September. Clara insisted on running through the finish line/chute area.




And she had to carry all her friends.

It's hard

Another one of Clara's favorite phrases, "It's hard." She'll pick something big up and say "it's hard" while she carries it. Walking up the stairs, "it's hard." Love it.

Don't know where she got it from but love it!

Puppyyyyyy.....!

Clara's most favorite "lovey." She has four of these type of security blankets: angel, lamb, and horsey, but Puppy is "the one." He goes everywhere and does everything with us. And he "talks" now too, more like a high pitched squeal is the way he talks. And to see Clara when she gets excited about Puppy...she gets all tense and out comes "Puppyyyyyy" in a high pitched screech. Then she puts him up to her face to give him a kiss or nuzzle noses.

2 1/2 years old (I've lost count on how many months :) )

What can I say about our little girl...not enough. She continues to talk up a storm, learning more words and we can understand them too. She is a sponge and will repeat anything she hears. And she is a sponge when it comes to any kind of learning. She knows the alphabet song plus about a dozen others, can count to 10 (and we are working on counting objects by pointing to each one and "assigning" each one a number), knows her colors, and is learning her shapes. She knows a lot. Each opportunity I am given, I try to teach her something. I am working on opposites which I think she is understanding big and small/little, happy and sad.

Her favorite phrases are: "what's that?," "Clara's (or insert name, object, animal, item here) happy" or "...sad," "I like....," and "I try it...."

She loves to look at the moon, she loves water, she loves to swing at the playground, she loves the show "Yo Gabba Gabba (where she learned the "I try it...)," she loves her "friends" and puppy, she loves books, she loves music, and she loves to sing. She is becoming more of a risk taker and is starting to jump off things: ladders, curbs, end of slides, etc. I am happy she is becoming more independent in that sense.

She is also very observant, today she exclaimed "It's windy outside." Which btw, she seems to be figuring out verb tenses: when to use "are" or "is" or "am."

I could go on and on. Am I bragging? All I am trying to do is write down everything so it will be recorded and I'll make this blog into a book that we can look at together down the road.

Creative moment

On this cloudy, windy, slightly rainy day (because of Hurricane Irene), I got creative. We made chocolate chip cookies!


Here is puppy enjoying the finished product.

Swim lessons

We enrolled Clara in swim lessons this summer. She LOVES them. She loves everything about water, swimming, pools. The very first class, she was so excited, it was very hard to get her to practice anything. She just wanted to squirm and splash around. Since then, she has calmed down and is "learning" more.

The classes are not really what I expected. They are designed to get toddlers used to being in the water and if possible be in the water on their own. I thought there would be more instruction from the teacher but there is not. So really I just paid $$ for me to teach my child to swim. Anyway, Clara doesn't know any better and she is enjoying the lessons so I guess it is worth it (and we have bonding time).

Classic

We were just lounging around last night and Clara pouts her lips, droops her eyes, and hangs her head low; she looks at me and says, "Clara's sad" in a cute, quiet voice.

"Oh, your sad." I reply with concern. "What can I do to make you happy?" And I grab her and give her a huge hug and start tickling her. She starts laughing and smiling. I stop and she asks to be tickled again.

Classic memory!

Kids run the bases...

...at the Durham Bulls baseball game.

She ended up being the last one running so Wool E. held her hand and ran her in. Below she is running the bases and going to give Scooby a high 5.

Scooby Doo verses Wool E. Bull

I think they tie as far as Clara's love and admiration. She has no fear when it comes to mascots or anything.




We went to a Durham Bull's baseball game on Sunday, July 31. Scooby Doo was going to be the special guest star. Mike introduced Clara to Scooby Doo and she loves him. So we took her to see Wool E. Bull (she has met him before) and she also met Scooby Doo. She was in heaven. Adorable... her giggles...her big smiles.

She took a stuffed Wool E. Bull with her and showed Wool E. it. He liked it so much, he got his picture taken himself with Clara's stuffed Wool E. Bull.

4 years, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith

4 years to my amazing husband, Michael
July 28, 2011
2 dozen roses!

We saw Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith in concert that evening. Great concert!

Beforehand we had a nice, childless, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Love me some cheesecake!