BIRTHDAY GIRL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE BEAR!! Our baby girl turned 2 on Tuesday! She has been such a blessing in our lives and we just love her to pieces! We celebrated her special day with a party last Sunday and then again on her actual birthday. She was spoiled with lots of great girlie stuff!

Modeling her new Nebraska cheerleading outfit in preparation for football season ( much to my despise)

A very chic new apron from the very creative Summers family! Thank you!

I had our very talented neighbor, Elizabeth, once again make us a super yummy cake...almond flavored with raspberry filling!

Hmmm...not sure I can blow out these TWO whole candles!

On Tuesday the four of us went to Pump it Up for open play time to let her do two of her FAVORITE THINGS....JUMP and SLIDE!!

Here are some fun facts about our TWO year old!

1. She arrived in 7-27-08 at 5:24 am in record time. I am pretty sure she was half way out by the time we got to the hospital. She weighed 7lbs 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long

2. She has BEAUTIFUL hair! Seriously she gets compliments on this all the time! It is the hair I have always dreamed of having, thick blond hair with perfect wispy curls at the end.

3. She LOVES food! Seriously, there isn't much this kid won't eat and she eats a TON of it! She has some serious chunky monkey thighs going for her!

4. She LOVES anything girlie...manicures and pedicures, playing dress up, taking care of her babies, hair bows, dresses, and most importantly shoes!

5. She continues to suck the first 2 fingers of her right hand..we are saving for braces for this kid.

6. Her vocabulary is still limited to only a few words, but she definitely gets her point across by pointing, grunting, screaming or kicking until we figure out what she wants.

7. She is NEVER to busy for a good snuggle with her momma and her blankie!

8. She hates to be dirty...every day after daycare she takes off her shoes in the car on the way home, looks at her filthy feet and says "ewww" I give her a wipe and she cleans her feet up on the way home! She also lets me know IMMEDIATELY if she has pooped...brings me a new diaper and insists on me dropping everything I am doing to change her!

9. She LOVES Curious George and could actually sit for hours and watch him!

10. She gets embarrassed super easy! If you laugh at her and she isn't laughing back, she will BREAK DOWN or if we tell her NO, she will burst into tears! We are all hoping she outgrows this stage or we are in for a real treat when she is a teenager!


AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST...We love her so much! She is our precious, beautiful baby girl! We can't wait to see what your next year brings!

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Wow! We have been busy! Even though we have had a bout of HUMID weather and swarms of MOSQUITOES we ( mostly Carter and I ) have had a ton of fun OUTDOORS! After much debate on where to find the perfect camping spot ( thanks to all who offered their opinions) we decided on good ol' Lake Anita. It is about 10 miles from my parents house and a good spot in case we ( I) chickened out! Darcie and Jill are pro's at camping thankfully and let Carter and I along with my mom tag along a couple of weekends ago. The weather was perfect, the beach was nice, we ate a TON of good food and best of all, there was a FLUSH toilet about 100 yards away! Carter told some amazing campfire stories, beat everyone in the yard toss game, roasted some mean marshmallows and wienies, and thought it was cool to pee outside any chance he got!

I was able to get some much needed time off work last week so Carter, mom and I headed up to see my aunt and uncle, Jim and Corinne Beals at their lakefront home in Ely, MN. We were able to make stops both ways in Minneapolis to see my cousin Patty and her family. It was a nice way to break up the 8 hour car ride with a 4 year old! Getting there was a little challenging as we drove through a pounding thunderstorm, the bladder of a 4 year old boy, being eaten alive by mosquitoes at every rest stop in Minnesota, getting pulled over for speeding, and road construction. We finally made it to Ely and were able to enjoy the paradise that is northern Minnesota. Some people think my aunt and uncle are crazy as they retired up there but if you have every visited this part of the country you can see why people love it so much. The water is CRYSTAL clear, the temperature is perfect in the summer, and the lull of the water and songs of the loons put you into a deep sleep each night.



We had an action packed week! The first night Jim made us a fire and we sat by the lake watching all the ducks he feeds daily come in while we roasted wienies.The second night we drove to Orr, MN to the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary. This is an amazing place where trained volunteers feed black bears in the wild. The bears are free to come and go as the please, no cages, etc. We got there at the perfect time, seeing close to 30 bears come in to feed. This one bear climbed up on the steps to the overlook deck and just checked us all out.



Jim took us to his "lucky" fishing spot and sure enough it was prosperous! Now, by no means are these QUALITY fish, but the QUANTITY is amazing! The first night we went out, Carter caught 25 fish in 45 minutes, the second night about 30 fish in an hour. I didn't get much fishing in as I was baiting hooks the entire time! Carter had so much fun putting his line down and actually watching the fish take his bait as you can see down about 10 feet into the water it is that clear! As a special treat, he got to help Jim drive the boat back to the dock!

We also visited the Sudan underground mine, the International Wolf Center in Ely and took a hike to a waterfall the last day we were there. We had such an amazing time and hated to leave! They have tempted us to come back in the winter and try our hand at snowmobiling with them!





In his down time, Carter learned to ride his bike WITHOUT training wheels! I took them off and away he went. He is still perfecting his starting and stopping but he has the in between part down!

In between all of his adventures, Carter took swimming lessons from an amazing teacher and in 5 short sessions learned to jump in the deep end of the pool and swim to the side, learned to back float and the American crawl! I am so proud of him!




Although Claire had to stay home with daddy during our outdoor adventures, she wants everyone to know she loves the outdoors too and maybe next year she'll be able to go with us on our outdoor adventures!

Rain rain GO AWAY!!

Well, I'd love to blog about all these great things I had planned for us over the long weekend, but a stubborn rain cloud decided to hang out for about 3 days over Waukee so needless to say our plans for a parade, Centennial Park activities, BBQ with neighbors and fireworks turned into naps for everyone ( including me!!!), movie night and pizza. Jeremy and Carter did venture out in a downpour to see STAR WARS in concert at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday afternoon while Claire and I took yet another nap!

There was a brief break in the rain Monday night and this was the view from our deck! Thank you God for putting things back into perspective for me!

Even though we didn't get to go anywhere, I made the kids pose in their 4th of July outfits. Aren't they cute?