Family Reunion

This past weekend we were able to attend a family reunion on my mom's side of the family. Though I didn't get pictures of the crowd that was there (we had a great time seeing relatives that we only get to see once a year), I did get some snapshots of more immediate family members.

It has been 8 weeks since we saw my niece Justice right after she was born. Claire was excited to see her beautiful cousin!


Claire wanted to play with Justice! We just need to work on the word "gentle" for next time :)



I caught her right in the middle of a sneeze!

What a beautiful little girl...

Here is Claire with her Papa...

My cousin Lindsy had a little girl, RaeLeigh, just 2 weeks before Claire was born last year. Here are Claire and RaeLeigh giving kisses!

The minute my brother walked into the room at the reunion, he said, "Hey Claire!" And she immediately reached for him and wouldn't let him go all day!

Claire loves her Uncle Bo!

Here are a few snapshots of my brother's sweet family. We love Jared, Bonnie, and Justice!!!

And here I am with my little girl! We missed Spencer but he was busy studying hard, and so he couldn't make it to the reunion.

Claire, Justice, and RaeLeigh with their mommies!

Here are a couple of the boys with their girls...

Like father, like son...

And of course I couldn't resist a few of Claire by herself in front of this beautiful red barn!

It's the Little Things

This is a green bean.


But this is no ordinary green bean. This was the favorite toy of the day for Claire.

She played with this green bean all day.

She also immensely enjoyed a food storage container...

And yesterday she pulled all her diapers out and played with them.

In other words...well...it doesn't take much to entertain Claire. And for that, I am thankful.

Let's Go to the Picture Show

First word? You be the judge.

Future musician for sure.

This is what I am greeted with at the end of a nap...

Everyday Updates

All right, so you know how most children become attached to a blanket or a stuffed animal? They love their Teddy or their Blankie and drag it all over the house with them. Right. Well, yesterday, Claire acted the same way. About a pen and a pencil.


She took them everywhere with her. All day.

In other news, we have ourselves a climber. I turned around and found Claire on top of the diaper box.

Livin' it up in Pampers-Land.

And another favorite activity...

Beating on the frying pan with a spoon...

I love my life!

Singin' in the Rain

Look at that little girl. It's ridiculous that she looks more like a little girl than a baby now. Sorry, random "mom" moment. Anyway, we had another great weekend filled with visiting family. This time Gran and MeMaw came up and stayed at a friend's house in Highlands. We spent all day Saturday with them and had a great time. Claire had lots of adventures this weekend. She enjoyed being in a new place...

...Spending time with Gran and MeMaw (sorry we didn't get any pictures of you this time, MeMaw!!!)...

...And learning how to climb stairs (with a little help from Daddy, of course.)

But the most wonderful, amazing part of the whole weekend was...

Playing in the rain!!

"This is awesome!!!"

Never had so much fun. Ever.

Praise the Lord for rain!!!

Picture Perfect

Adventures

Well, we've had a busy few days! It all started Thursday when Claire and I made a day trip to GA to see some VERY good friends. We met Robby and Joanna in seminary and they immediately became some of our dearest friends. We even got to be next door neighbors for a while and loved watching them become parents to little Trey. We parted ways over a year ago - Robby and Joanna to work with a church plant in VA, and Spencer and I to PT school. Much has changed since then - we've each added a precious little girl to our families! So of course, I was super excited to find that Joanna was visiting family in GA while Robby was overseas on a mission trip. We had a great time catching up - it felt like no time had passed at all.

Here are Claire and Mary Grace playing together...

I could not believe how much Trey has grown! He even greeted me with a "Hi Jana!" My goodness, he was barely starting to talk last time I saw him!

After our Thursday trip, we had family come into town on Friday to spend the weekend with us. It was so wonderful to see Papa and Nanny Faye! We decided to go to Cherokee on Saturday. Here is Claire hanging out in the trunk before we left...

Who needs a pack-n-play when you've got a car trunk???

Claire and her beloved "Elephant"...

Here are Claire, Nanny Faye, and Papa!

Of course, if we ever see water, it's kind of just a given that we will stop and take a little dip. Here is Spencer taking Claire into the river...

"Not again, Daddy!"

Wow, I didn't even realize there was a bear behind us until I saw this picture! Hmmm...

Claire was a little intimidated by the bear at first, but she got over it pretty quickly.

Of course, the day wouldn't have been as much of an adventure if we hadn't had a little car trouble. Here are the professional mechanics working on the engine...

And here is the captive audience! :)

Today was so beautiful, Spencer decided it was a good afternoon to wax the truck. And Claire decided it was a good day to help him.

Here is Claire eating something inedible, I'm sure.

And here is Claire after I removed the inedible object from her mouth!

Happy Labor Day!