Happy Friday

Completely her idea...

Oh, what a fun morning we had!


Hope your Friday is as good as ours!

Boot Camp

A Few of Claire's Favorite Things...

At 18 months, here are a few of Claire's favorite things...

Favorite Books:







Favorite Foods:

• Sauteed Mushrooms
• Avocado ("cacko")
  
• Black Olives
• BREAD ("beh")
  
• Goat Cheese
• Almond Butter
  
• Mango ("minim")
  
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Pasta

Favorite Activities:

• Reading a "bahk" (book)
• Doing a "bockle" (puzzle)
• Playing with a "bockle" (buckle...what, you can't hear the difference???)
  
• Coloring
• Dancing
• Eating
• Transferring...well, anything...from one container to another

Happy Birthday Coach!

Last weekend we celebrated Spencer's birthday! We commemorated the event with taco salad, peanut butter cookies, and a round of golf.

This was Claire's first golf experience. She wasn't quite sure what to think at first...


But she soon discovered how much fun she could have on a golf course!



And, though the golf cart was not quite as cool as a four-wheeler, she enjoyed hanging out and eating her mango!


For Spencer's birthday I made him a "magazine" with a compilation of stories, memories, and letters written by family and friends from high school, college, seminary, and PT school. I had the magazine printed and bound at Staples. Here is the cover that I made in Photoshop...


Happy birthday to the best coach/husband/daddy/PT in the world!

Claire-isms

• Claire has two new favorite words. The first is "yeah", which sounds more like "yah". Claire, do you want to go to the park? "Yah." Claire, do you like your snack? "Yah." Claire, do you see that dog in the back of that truck? "Daggy...yah! yah! Daggy!" The other word is "whoah". Claire falls down..."whoah." Claire spills her water... "whoah." Claire is startled by a man-sized burp that could not possibly have come out of mommy..."whoah."
  
  

• When Claire gives a kiss, she leans her forehead forward and says "mmmm-nah." When she is being disciplined, she immediately starts saying "Naah-naah" (which translated means, "yes ma'am"), as if repeating that over and over will end the conversation early. She even says it when Spencer is disciplining her, which makes it even harder to keep a straight face.
  
  

• Claire is in love with the moon. Every night when it gets close to bedtime, she starts saying, "Moooo? Moooo?? Daddy, moooo?" She gets so excited about seeing the moon. And the horse that lives in our backyard. Oh my goodness. She calls it a "daggy" (we're working on that) and she just about explodes with excitement whenever she spots it.
  
  

• My back has been hurting all day...pretty sure I strained a muscle due to not properly warming up before lifting weights the other day (don't worry, I've already shaken a finger at myself.) Anyway, all day I have been letting out random yells when I turn the wrong way or move too quickly or breathe too deeply. So tonight I finally sat down on the couch after supper, and Claire walked right up to me and said, "Mommy...ow." So precious. Oh, and earlier, I was cooking supper and Claire was trying to get my cell phone out of my front pocket. She got it out but promptly dropped right on my bare toe. I let out a yell and automatically flinched, causing more pain, this time from my back, and let out another yell. Claire stared at me and then wordlessly walked into the living room and laid down on the floor. It was so funny. She didn't know what to do, so she just laid down. As soon as I got myself together, I went to make sure she wasn't traumatized. She just sat up and grinned at me, and then went about her business.
  
  

• Tonight Claire sat right down in her little rocking chair and cuddled her stuffed cat. I said, "Are you going to rock your cat to sleep?" She proceeded to put the cat down and go to her room. She came back with her "Going to Bed Book", sat back down with her cat, and started "reading". It was awesome.