Clara Walking

So Clara is twelve months old now and started taking her first steps last week.  She is getting better and better at it each day.  She started out with just a few steps and now she takes about 15 at a time.  It's hard to get pictures of her actually walking, but I attempted and was able to get a few to put on display.

Oops - sometimes we get a little too excited and end up falling down.  Good thing there is a diaper to cushion the fall!

She takes several steps and then looks around to make sure we are all watching and paying close attention.  Then she does a few more.  Eventually she will finish and sit down and clap her hands - feeling very proud of herself.  What a big girl she is!!!

First Day of School!

Who doesn't LOVE the first day of school?  As a parent it's something that I look forward to as soon as school gets out!  This year the girls were extra anxious about starting back up but they were ready to go on Monday morning and excited to get back to things!  They had fresh haircuts, new clothes, and new lunchboxes - all the ingredients for a great first day!

Samantha is in SECOND grade this year!  She is in Mrs. Francy's class and is enjoying herself.... mostly because Mrs. Francy hands out gummy bears for good behavior!  She has lots of friends in her class and even made a new friend on the first day which she is great at doing.

Emma is in FOURTH grade.  Her teacher is Mrs. Graves and Emma says she is very nice.  This is her first year with actual text books which is very exciting.  She looked so grown up.  There were a few tears from her - mostly out of nervousness of not knowing her teacher since we missed the Meet-n-Greet.  But she found her close friend and the day turned out wonderfully!

Both girls have good teachers and good friends which makes me happy.  Although Clara misses her big sisters, we are enjoying our days together.  I think it's going to be a good year!

Western Idaho State Fair

Last weekend we traveled to Boise to attend the Western Idaho State Fair.  It was our last summer trip before school started and we had a great time.  We love this fair and since our local fair is not fun at all, we try to attend the Idaho fair whenever possible.  The weather was perfect, the kids were happy, and the crowds were limited!  We love to walk through the barns and the craft buildings.  Here is Emma and Sam by the Simplot display.

Even Clara was happy loved observing her surroundings.

Emma and Sam rode on several rides.....

.... but poor Clara had to just sit and watch her big sisters.

One of their favorites is the GIANT slide!  They went on it twice.

Mark and the kids love animals so we went to an area where you can actually pet and feed the animals and try milking a cow.  Emma and Sam were very impressed with the horns on this guy.

Clara was a bit timid but touching the animals was great fun for her!

I love how she is looking at her daddy in this picture.  It's almost as if she's thinking, "Are you sure this is OK?"

The horse barn was great fun.  Oh, how the girls wanted to bring a horse home with them!

My little cowgirl....

Lots of fun was had by all - we even tried a deep fried Twinkie and a deep fried Snickers bar (that was in honor of my mother who LOVES a good Snickers).  We each got a couple of bites and then decided we prefered to split an Elephant Ear instead.  You can't go to a fair without having an Elephant Ear!  We stayed the night in a hotel and enjoyed the swimming pool and then the next day did some school shopping for the girls.  It was a fun family weekend and we are already looking forward to next year!

Garden

Just wanted to show off part of our harvest last week.  Zucchini, onions, tomatoes, beans, peas, and cucumbers!  We've made lots of zucchini bread and salsa!  Love it!

Cheerleading Camp!

This past week Samantha and Emma participated in a Cheerleading Camp through the Parks and Recreation summer program.  They really enjoyed themselves and learned how to do a few cheers, how to do jumps, and how to be a part of a pyramid. 

They did such a good job -- I definitely see cheerleading in their future!  I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet.  In the meantime they are practicing their cheers and having fun which makes me happy! :)

Happy 1st Birthday Clara Elizabeth!!!

Wow!  I can't believe it happened - my baby girl turned a year old today!  I have very mixed emotions.  I am so proud of her sweet spirit but sad that an entire year has passed.  I just want to bottle her up and keep her just the way it is.  Mixed feelings aside, we did try to do a few things to help her celebrate her big day.  We started out with a birthday breakfast at Dennys.  She ate part of a biscuit and some pancake with syrup.  It was sure yummy!

We came home and got some chores done and the girls helped me make her cake.  This is a picture of them putting sprinkles on it.

She had a nice birthday nap and then we had a birthday dinner - chicken nuggets and french fries!  Now who wouldn't love that?  She ate a couple of each and had a VERY full tummy afterwards!

After dinner we decided to go for a little drive so Clara could try out her new car seat!  She sits forward facing now and I think she really likes it!  She talked and talked during our drive like she finally had lots to say.

Then it was time to come home and open birthday presents.  Her grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles spoiled her as they always do.  She got lots of new toys that make music which is perfect for her because Clara loves music!

Daddy tried to get her to blow out her birthday candle but mostly she just wanted to dig into the cake....literally!

I'm thinking that she really liked her cake!

She was so filthy afterwards that we had to put her in the bath tub and clean her up.  Then she got into her nice, comfy pajamas that came from Gramma and Grampa.

I sure love my little girl!

What a blessing Clara has been to our family!  I can not imagine our family without her!  We love you pookie!

Staycation Week!

Last year when I was very pregnant with Clara and we knew we would not be traveling anywhere for a summer vacation, the girls and I decided that we would have a STAYcation instead.  It was such a success that they wanted to do it again this year.  So I planned out a week of activities but on a little smaller scale since this time around we would also have the company of an 11 month old.  Our first day was "Tour Your Town Day."  This was a repeat of last year but we had lots of fun with it still.  One of the girls' favorite places to go to is Sunflower Books.  They had a great time looking at all the wonderful books available for all the kiddos.

They also like to go to the cafe "Joe & Sugars" to get a little treat.  Emma got a cinnamon roll, Sam picked out a cookie, and I chose a blueberry scone.  Clara enjoyed having some.....Gerber Sweet Potato puffs while we had our snack. :)

After going to several shops in town we chose Primos Pizza for lunch.  Who doesn't love a pizza buffet for kids?  I knew they would fill their tummies and enjoy playing at the arcade. 

Clara even had a good time, too!

On Day 2 I surprised the girls with a scavenger hunt around town.  I took pictures of places that they might recognize and turned them into puzzles so they had to figure out where the next clue would be.  One of their first clues was a tree in front of their school.  I only took a picture of the tree thinking that it would throw them off but they recognized it immediately.  Such smart kids I have!

Thanks to a few friends for allowing me to include their front doors as clues.  Here the girls are at Jessica's house receiving their next clue. 

Their next clue took them to our church - they recognized the clue very quickly but it was a little more tricky to actually find where they were headed to afterwards.

In between stops they had to work together to make the puzzle pieces fit - it was very intense!

We hit the library every week so the fountains in back of the building were a good choice to hide a clue.  Our scavenger hunt ended with a picnic at the park and it was really fun.

Day 3 was an afternoon of board games and homemade milkshakes!  I play volleyball on Wednesdsay mornings for a couple of hours so we needed something at home to do while Clara took a nice, long nap.  Here the girls are playing Disney Scene It with their milkshakes.

We got through several games (Monopoly, Life on the Farm, Book of Mormon Go-Fish, Scene It, and Uno) and hopefully the girls enjoyed themselves, even though it was a quiet afternoon.

Day 4 was "Local Parks Day."  I brought a whistle and at each park they had 20 minutes to play as hard as they could.  When the whistle blew, we loaded back in the van and went to our next stop.  I think we hit five parks in the morning and then met friends at McDonalds for lunch.

Clara enjoying her swing....

Day 5 was a repeat of last year as well.  We hit up the Pendleton Water Park with Dad on his day off from work.  We found a great spot in the shade and Emma and Sam went down the slides dozens of times and swam to their hearts' content!

Several hours and lots of snacks and sunscreen later, we were pooped and ready for our week to end.  I cross my fingers that the girls were able to make a lot of fun memories and that they enjoyed hanging out with the family as much as I did.  'Til next summer!