Tea for Two

{Claire having a tea party with Pet Wock}

Claire is obsessed with rocks. A walk or bike ride is not complete until she's picked up at least a pocket-full of rocks.

I saw these little pet rocks while doing a little online shopping, and knew it'd be a hit with Claire. Sure enough, she fell in love as soon as figured out how pet rocks work. Claire and Pet Wock (or Pet for short...and still working on that hard "r" sound) have quickly become BFFs. Pet likes to sleep, have tea parties, go for car rides, eat cereal, sleep, watch Dora and Diego, jump on the trampoline, sleep, play with toys, read books, and we learned tonight that Pet likes to eat carrots.

Spending time with this girl is always the highlight of my day. I don't think I left Katie's house tonight until after Claire said "I luff you wiff awl my hawt" ten times! Good times.

I love my little BFF.

Claire, Claire, Claire...

Spent Friday afternoon being crafty with work peeps and made a little reverse applique shirt for Ms. Claire. Didn't turn out quite as planned, but it works, right? After work, I went to drop off the shirt, and she didn't want anything to do with it because it wasn't a "princess" shirt. (Me = fail!) Claire is convinced that Grammie (my mom) made the shirt for her, not me! Ha! (Doesn't Claire know by now that I do have a crafty streak in me? :)

Katie got Claire to wear her new shirt on Saturday--yay! But Claire got ahold of the scissors and did a good little whack-job to her bangs--no! Katie called in a panic, needing "help" with the situation. Claire was so proud of her new 'do, as evidenced by her sassy little attitude when I got the camera out. It was only a matter of time til it happened.

Family pictures next week should be highly entertaining! How can you be mad when she's loving it?! (I know, I know...if she were my daughter...yada, yada, yada...)

Downpour!

Full Havasupai report coming soon. For now, know that it was pretty incredible!

We've had some impressive afternoon storms this week. Claire now knows about lightning and thunder and loves watching the storm from behind the curtains (because it's safer behind the curtains, of course). Love her.

Happiness

Claire + iPad (watching Mickey and Minnie Mouse cartoons from the 1930s) + Minnie Mouse by her side = one happy two year old.

Puddle Jumpin

It was a good day today. For more than one reason, but jumping in the puddles with my Claire was one of the highlights!

Ready for Summer

Miss Claire somehow tricked me in to *wanting* to be outside last night to play with chalk...that little kid is so good at getting her way! She's fun to talk with on the phone and is starting to form sentences that actually kind of make sense, so when she asked if I'd come over to play, I couldn't turn down the offer.She also managed to get into my sister's nail polish and covered her legs in pink because she wanted "pink wegs" (pink legs) to go along with her pretty princess pink toe nails. Oh, and Katie now has a pink mirror and a pink bathroom sink. Gotta love the pink! Back to the chalk...I loved that my phone camera snapped the pic of Claire kissing Katie when it did--I love it! And I totally love Bubba's little smirk on his face when I gave him kisses...sure do love that kid! Dreaming of warmer weather and long summer nights.

Headed to Arizona tonight with some friends to visit Gina for the long weekend. Ready for a break :)

Confession

Get ready for a huge (read: UGE) secret.

I'm terrified of drawing. You know, the sit down and draw-a-picture-of-something-or-someone kind of drawing. I jumped through a lot of hoops while I was in school to get permission to only take one drawing class. I think I ended up with a very generous B- in my Drawing 1 class from a very gracious professor and a lot of prayers! I literally get quite anxious thinking about "drawing."

But doodling? I'm totally there! I don't consider myself great at it, but I can hold my own. I practice my doodling skills daily. The other night when I was at my sister's house and Claire pulled out the paper and crayons, I knew I'd be in good company. I like doodling with Claire because in her (almost!) two year old imagination, she can figure out what it is that I'm attempting to draw. My favorite thing I drew that night was the "owl dressed as BATMAN"...and my favorite thing my sister drew was the pelican! See if you can spot them; they're pretty tender.

I had forgotten about doodling with Claire until today when I was flipping through some pics on my phone. Heaven bless the person who came up with a phone + camera...I use it all the time! Seeing these pictures totally made me laugh. I love my little doodle buddy and I'm glad that she doesn't know what fine art is. :)

Framed.

Yup. Framed and on my desk. I can't stop looking at this little cutie-patootie!

On Saturday, I tricked my sister into packing the kids up and heading up the canyon to take some pics. I'm glad she humored me...it was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Claire (in typical fashion) couldn't sit still for more than two seconds, so we only got a handful of pictures, but they turned out pretty cute!




Claire + rocks + water = LOVE. She love, love, loves her rocks, and throwing rocks in water is even better! Claire would pick up a little rock and throw it in the river followed with "where dit goooo?"


She also discovered how much fun it is to gather leaves and throw them up and laugh uncontrollably as they fall!


Bubba (as Claire now refers to him) in all his cuteness sat and watched us run around chasing Claire for an hour! He's such a good little guy...we sometimes forget he's even around because he never makes a sound!


Another trip up the canyon is planned for this weekend...the leaves are almost done turning, but it's still so beautiful. I love fall!!

Weekend...

Sniffle. Clean. Breakfast with Dad! Conference. Move furniture. Cough, cough. Watch more Conference here. Clean room while watching Conference. Get ready for day (at 5:00 pm). Sniffle. Cough. Head out to Deseret Book with roomies and dinner. Come home, take Nyquil. Bed at 8:30.

Airport run at 6:00. Return rental truck. (More on that later.) Breakfast...german pancakes! Finish cleaning-slash-organizing-slash-get rid of more stuff. More Conference. Cough. Cough. Dayquil this time! A little more Conference. Sniffle. Sniffle.

It's been a crazy weekend, but so, so good. Saturday morning Conference session was just what I need. President Uchtdorf quoted Leonardo da Vinci, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Watch here. "What does this have to do with flying an airplane? Well, let me tell you..." Classic.

Currently missing this little lady:

(us flying to St Louis...she LOVED looking at all the airplanes!)

Last week I took Claire with me as I flew home to St Louis for the weekend. We had a little mini family get-together for mom's (50th!) birthday and little Caleb's baby blessing. It worked out for me to fly home a little earlier than everyone else, and because Claire is still under two, she got to come with me! She was perfect while we were in the air, but it was at our layover in Denver that she had her inevitable meltdown. We (barely) survived the meltdown and I might have thought about leaving the kid in Denver...just kidding!! (I love that little girl a little *too* much!) I have so much more respect for parents flying with little kiddos!...it's hard! Claire (oh...and her mom and brother) won't be back in Provo for two weeks, and I'm going crazy with out them here. I'm hoping the next two weeks go fast.

And here's to hoping this little sickie will feel better. Soon.

Almost here...

Fall, that is.
Spent the afternoon over at the sister's house with Claire and Caleb...I just can't get enough of those kids! Claire and I read her current favorite book (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?) on the grass under this most amazing tree! It's just a little tree, and I've always thought it didn't stand much of a chance, but when you get down and look up through it's branches and leaves, it's pretty amazing! The one branch fades from green to bright red. So beautiful!

This weekend to do list includes going on a drive up Provo Canyon. Must. Do.

Iron Man? Claire?

Went to Wal-Mart last night with Claire, and she somehow got her hands on this Iron Man mask. We definitely went around the store with it on. Claire was laughing the whole time--even though her eyes might suggest otherwise...


There's a smile under there!

Oh--and the pool noodles were on sale, and since she's always "borrowing" the other kids' noodles at the pool, I thought it'd be a good idea to get her a couple. Claire had to "hold" the noodles while in the cart, but she kept hitting everyone we'd pass by, which was especially comical because she had her mask on.

Never a dull moment when you're with Claire!! Love my little buddy!

hello

I found myself at Ikea on Saturday with Katie and the Little Lady, and on our way back, Katie reminded me it's been over a month since I posted...oops! It's been a busy month to say the least! :) I'll get back to blogging (maybe) this week. Promise. And yes, that would be me and missy Claire on our way to IKEA, tutu and all! I love it. I love her juice-drenched shirt. I love her crazy curly blonde hair. I love her.

But first, please take a look at this goodness:Would you believe this is from...IKEA? Yes, yes it is. Anthropologie will always have a special place in my heart, but this looks mighty tempting :)

Images from Agent Bauer. (Not to be confused with Jack.) Go check it out. Beautiful!

Happy Monday :)

How To Eat A French Fry. By Claire.

The more dip the better! :)

And a cute preggo pic of Katie! :) She was looking so cute in this dress this afternoon...it seems like overnight she grew a cute little tummy!



Thank goodness we had a beautiful day today! The last two days, we've seen snow, rain, wind and hail...craziness, I tell ya! The trees at my complex are in full bloom and it's beautiful. Love this time of year.

claire & me.

3 posts in a row with bebe Claire...I can't get enough of her! I don't think there's any better ending to the weekend than to spend a little time with the little miss. Claire tackled me on the beanbag and just wanted to cuddle {collective "aww...} and you never pass up a moment when she wants you to hold her! These moments are few and far between. Love that girl.

I think I have a stomach ache from too many jelly beans today...can't get enough of those, either!

Happy Sunday :)

Kinda cute...right??

My roommate Michelle and I got a little crafty last night and made some simple little fabric flowers! These flowers aren't sewn to the shirt yet...I'm still deciding if I like 'em or not. They're kinda cute...right?? :)

...and because I haven't blogged about cutie-patootie Claire lately:


Claire climbed into the front seat of my car as I was buckling her car seat in the other day. When I turned around, she had climbed over to the driver's side and took over the radio! (Not really. Note: no keys in the ignition.)


Those "who me?!" eyes get me every time. I can't help but laugh!