Why Claire is Awesome

So, Claire's Sunday school teacher had a great story to tell me when I picked her up after church yesterday, and I have to write it down because it's that good. It goes like this:

The teacher has her daughter in the class with her who is also 3. For whatever reason, the little girl was having a hard time and was crying. Claire walked up to her, took her hand, and said, "It's ok friend. Let's come over here and we'll play together, ok?" Then Claire took care of her for the rest of the day!

She really is amazing! We have talked before about how she isn't shy, so if one of her friends at school is sad then she can comfort them and be their special friend. It's great when we can actually see her carrying out the things we talk about! She has such a big heart for others, and loves to be friends with everyone she meets. I think her special gift is going to be making others feel loved. I'm so proud of her!

Jude is One!

I can't believe our little boy is already a toddler! What a fun few months it has been. Jude has a very sweet personality. He smiles constantly and is generous with hugs and kisses! After mastering simple walking, he has now moved on to more challenging tasks such as spinning, running, and going backwards- and he has the bumps on his face to prove it!

For Jude's first birthday we went with a Rock n Roll theme. He, of course, wore a Beatles shirt that said "Hey Jude." It was a fun time, and we were blessed to have so many friends- old and new- to share it with!

We also used his party as the perfect time to tell everyone that Squiddy #3 is on his/her way! So now Jude is both a little, and a big brother. Claire is hoping for a sister and is insistent that we name her Quesadilla. (We're taking it under consideration.)

For Halloween we took the kids trick-or-treating at the mall. Claire was elated by the concept! She dressed up as "Alice's Wonderland" as she put it. We dressed Jude as a dragon. He tagged along, but did not do any actual trick-or-treating. Claire had so much fun! When we got home I let her choose a few pieces to keep and the rest went into the bowl of candy we were giving out to the neighborhood kids. She then got to hand out candy to everyone who came to our door. I think she had just as much fun handing out the candy as she did getting it earlier. We used it as a good lesson in generosity- giving most of the good things we've been given to others to make them happy.

In house news: They have started construction! The hole is dug and I think the foundation will be poured today or tomorrow! Kevin and Claire get giddy watching the tractors work! We go over every day to watch the progress. We have already met some of the neighbors, and Claire has spent some time playing in one little boy's backyard. We're so excited!

The next year promises to be filled with many big adventures! Before the end of 2012 we will have a new house and a new baby. Crazy!

Life as We Know it

Summer is ending and we are gearing up for something called weather. Living in Southern California for the past 7 years, this is a foreign concept to us. So far, the warm temperatures are still holding, but natives assure us that this is unusual and about to come to an end. I have been trying to soak up as much warm sunshine as possible in these last few weeks. Here is Claire playing in her flower sprinkler (Thanks Caty! Claire made you guys a video, but I haven't edited it yet!)

Tomorrow I am going with Claire on her very first field trip! We're going to a pumpkin patch. It should be a really fun time. Because visiting a pumpkin patch is the official signal that fall is here, I'm burning a pumpkin spice candle, drinking chai, and folding long sleeved shirts. This is truly my favorite time of year! I love everything about autumn: the colors, the crisp air, the cozy clothes, the aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, and earth. This is going to be a good season, I can tell! Bring it on, Colorado!

Kevin's parents were just here visiting for the last week and a half. We had lots of fun! We played, went to a huge consignment sale where I bought warm clothes for the kids, went on walks, and even got a chance to do a date night of frozen yogurt with friends! Toward the end of the week we headed over to visit Garden of the Gods and let the kids scramble all over the rocks.

In addition to the date night, we also utilized the grandparents' presence for some much needed appointments. We were able to finalize all the design options for our house! Here's a picture of most of our choices. The color swatch paper is the exterior paint choices. The only big thing not shown in the photo is the rock we picked for the exterior and the fireplace. It was a really fun experience being able to choose everything that was going into our house!

This week I went to the DMV and got our new CO plates, my driver's license, and registered to vote. I am officially a citizen of Colorado!...Again. (I was born about 45 minutes up the road from here.)

Another big change: Claire got her first haircut! She decided she wanted short hair, like Mommy and Rapunzle at the end of Tangled. She was bummed that cutting her hair would not also result in it turing brown, but she was willing to move past that. I took her to a super cute kids' hair cutting place where she got to sit in a hot rod car while they cut it. (She choose the hot rod over the pink princess station with the feather boa and tiara.) After it was cut, the lady pulled part of it up into a knot, and sprayed glitter in her hair. Claire LOVED the whole experience and keeps showing everyone her "new short hair." It looks super cute- even better than I had expected! People ask to take pictures of it so they can cut their daughter's hair the same way. It fits her saucy personality, to be sure!

Looking excited!

The first cut:

The finished product:

That's all of now. We love you all!

We Have a Preschooler!

Today Claire starts her second week of preschool! She goes twice a week, for three hours. She LOVES it! IN fact, when I came to pick her up on the first day, she burst into tears when she realized it was time to go home. I have the only kid who cries when they get picked up from their first day of school! Her school is in a church not far from home. It's called Springs Community Church Preschool, and Claire already recognizes the building. Every time we drive past, she screams, "MY SCHOOL!!!" I choose it because when I was doing tours of various programs, the kids here looked like they were having the most fun! She already knows most of the girl's names in her class, and has a best friend- another talkative fireball just like her! I find myself uneasy with the quiet when she's gone and have decided to use some of that time to go take a class at the gym, and also to give Jude some quality one-on-one time.

Here's Claire about to leave for her first day!

All the sweet toys in her classroom. She's in heaven!

Claire also started AWANA this past Sunday...it's sort of like Christian girl/boy scouts. The focus is on having fun and memorizing scripture. (She also cried when we picked her up from that, of course!) She has already memorized the scripture verse from last week, and the one they will be covering this week. She's sort of awesome! Here's a video of her reciting it: (unless it's broken)

We were toying with the idea of also signing her up for a sport. Claire wanted to do dance, Daddy wanted her to do soccer :-) But we decided she's only 3 for heaven's sake, no need to start giving her a crazy life already!

Our Monkey Boy

Jude is 10 months old now! He's grown up quite a bit in recent weeks. Highlights of things he has learned in the last month or two since I last did a specific post about him:

• He can walk! (Although he rarely chooses to.)
• He loves to clap, especially to music
• He has a nice collection of signs that he does consistently: all done, more, please, bath. (ok, I guess 4 is hardly a "collection", but I'm proud nonetheless!)
• He finally found his voice, and uses it all the time to make nonsense speeches
• He gives those great open-mouth baby kisses
• He has stopped being a giant and is now comfortably in the 10th %ile for weight and 20th %ile for height, just like his sister was. He's been in the same size clothes now for about 5 months, which is a huge change from when he was first born and would out-grow a size category well before the recommended age.
• He's become slightly less independent. He now gets super excited when he sees Kevin or I come into the room. When Kevin comes up from work in the basement Jude crawls to him as fast as he can saying "Dadda, Dadda!"
• He still loves to cuddle. All the childcare workers at church and the gym want to take him home. He's quite the favorite!
• He smiles at everyone in that cute, shy, flirty way that never ceases to melt their hearts.
• He has the most hilarious tantrum technique I have ever seen. When something is taken away from him, or he is set down when he wants to be held, he throws himself prostrate on the ground and then scoots forward on the ground rubbing his face as he goes. Makes us laugh every time! He's given himself some crazy rug burn on his cheek and nose from doing it, and I don't think he appreciates the humor we all find in his distress!

We love him dearly, and can't believe he'll be one so soon!!

California Trip, August 2011

(The picture is a link to an album of pictures from our trip!)

For Claire's birthday, we decided to head out to CA for one last trip for a while. (We just signed the paperwork to build a house, so we won't be going anywhere for a while!!)

We threw a birthday party for her at a park that had a water lagoon for the kids to swim in. It was so much fun! The kids had fun taking pictures under the water. Claire requested a giraffe party, so I ordered a banner, got some balloons, and our friend Tammi made a cute sign. That was the extent of the decorating, since I was planning everything long distance. In fact, I relied on other people for all of the important things. Mikkele spent hours at the park before the party holding the spot for us. She's a rock star! We had a great spot in the grass with plenty of tables! Our friend Cindy baked the cupcakes, which Claire declared were "Super yummy!" My uncle Chris and Aunt Michele went to Costco to wait in the horrendous lines to get the pizza and water. (Seriously, Costco on a Sunday is quite and ordeal!) And our friends and family came from all over to enjoy the day and hold Jude while we all celebrated Claire.

While we were in town, we decided to hit up Disneyland one last time before our annul passes expire in September, and while Claire is still technically under three and free! We spent two full (hot!) days at dland. It was exhausting, but fun. My parents, my sister Vanessa, and her daughter Lucy came down from Northern CA and joined us at Disneyland. Claire loved having her cousin to play with! She was also super excited that her Aunt Mikkele spent one of the days with us going on rides and watching fireworks. During the fireworks show, Tinkerbell flies above you suspended by a cable. Where we were standing, we were actually pretty close to her, and Claire kept screaming, "Tinkerbell, hi!!" She was emphatic that Tink hear her. It was pretty funny.

It was a great trip! We got to see a lot of our friends, and a bunch of our family traveled down to see us and spend time with us while we were there. We're so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives! Thank you all so much!

Our Trip to Durango!