tHe HAiR ThaT iS ClaIRe

Can I just say that Claire's hair is CRAZY but I love it.... I love how curly her hair is and it is so cute when it is actually done, but that is not very often. It can only be done when it is soaking wet and just washed...so only right after a bath. Then if she takes a nap it is a crazy mop when she wakes up and I have to get it soaking wet again to even manage it. At least it is long enough to put it in a pony tail for those days that I don't have time to re-wet her hair 5 times!

ANIMAL HOUSE

Yessss sometimes I feel like I live in a zoo. Especially since I started working the house is not always clean, the dishes don't always get done right away, we start to run out of clean clothes, Claire's toys take over the whole house and we are just a mess. So on my day off this week I had so many plans to clean, clean and clean some more but instead we decided to go play. Way funner right? We thought we would go see some real animals, instead of staring at our zoo and the only animal.....nessy. Ok so they aren't quite real animals but I had been wanting to take Claire to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum for awhile. I was afraid Claire was going to run wild around the wildlife so I called in reinforcements and invited my little niece Hailey :)

We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of animals and I even snapped a few pics of the two animal tamers at work.

Our house.......in the middle of the street

So I finally have some pictures of our house! I know I am so behind and such a procrastinator when it comes to blogging, but here are some pics for those who have not seen it or those that live to far away to come see it :( Keep in mind it is a work in progress and I am not an interior decorator......So ideas are welcomed!

when you walk in the front door you see...

family room

entry way
dining area with a table that a slaved away
on for what felt like years! but I thought
it turned out ok for my first painting project
Claire's room
down to the basement
basement family room
with little kitchenette

back wall of family room
guest bedroom
a room that will be a theater room
(when we actually get a theater system ha)

backyard view from the upstairs balcony

That was probably boring for everyone but we are excited and love being in our own home and it just gets more cozy everyday!

A Day of HEARTS (and treats)

I now have gained 10 pounds and have a very packed pantry because of Valentines Day. I don't think we have ever had so many treats in our house before, but I'm not complaining. This year for Valentines Trevor and I went on a early date. It was the first date we have had in a loooooong time and it was nice to just spend some time together. We went to the typical dinner and a movie and had lots of fun. Since we had already done our date we did not have much planned for the actual Valentines Day. I was going to take Claire around to deliver her valentines and then make a yummy dinner. Well that didn't happen. I ended up getting called into work that morning and had to work all day. Luckily I have an awesome babysitter who lets me surprise her and bring Claire last minute. They even had a fun Valentines party and she got lots of cute cards and yummy treats. Since I was stuck at work I did not get to make a dinner or even get home before Trevor. But when I got home Trevor surprised me with a very nice gift card to get some new clothes :) and surprised Claire with a huge balloon filled with confetti, aka shreds of paper that I am still finding around the house, a warm blanket and a cute heart pillow. I am the winner of boring gifts and got Trevor an exciting drill (we have been needing one lately ha). Claire got lots of fun little gifts like hair clips, books and a knitted beanie from her great grandma. Even though we are not too exciting we had a fun Valentines this year!

I did hurry and make some heart shaped toast
and pancakes before I had to go to work :)

15 Months! & some randoms....
I don't even like to say the word but I feel like Claire is a TODDLER! AHHH!!! I can't believe how fast time is flying. I was in the baby food section the other day and notice all of the foods she likes to eat now say toddler! You know how they classify the food by a baby's development like sitting or crawling...toddler! Hopefully we have a few more years before she starts wanting to eat the Preschooler foods! Although Claire is pretty much the energizer bunny, I try to keep up and she always keeps us laughing. Some of the things she can do now that she is a "toddler"....

*She is starting to feed herself (I don't give her too much freedom on this one due to the mess) *She tries to repeat everything we say
*Some of her new favorite words are meow, please, thank you, love you, up, nessy, bubbles, books, bite and she is learning new ones everyday! (i may be the only one who can understand them too but it sure is cute!)
*She knows what a cow, dog and kitten say
*She LOVES to put on my jewelry and gets into my bracelets every day
*She still loves to dance especially in the car
*Her favorite song is the Itsy Bitsy Spider and she tries to do the hand actions
*Her favorite foods are yogurt, fruit cups, pizza, veggies, blackberrys & cold cereal
*She loves trying to run me over with her powerwheel
*If I am ever sad or crying she laughs her head off at me and it puts me in a good mood
*She has not used a binky in 1 whole month (next to go is the bottle....)
*She can now unzip her pajamas and jackets
*She has her two top and two lower front teeth and she loves to bite
*I can get her hair into a pony tail
*She LOVES to read books. she will hand you a book and then back up and sit on your lap
*Her favorite books are anything with pop ups or flaps so that she can rip them out!

There are so many more things I could add to the list. She is growing up into such a fun girl. She is my best friend and I love spending time with her because we always have so much fun!

Claire spilled a whole box of cheerios while she was having a snack

playing her favorite game: seafood
as you can see, she keeps us on our toes!