Maggie Cowley

Ohhhhh Maggie.... the cute little puppy Claire got from Santa Clause is not a puppy anymore. I swear she is growing by the second and getting more mischievous all the time! It has taken me awhile to get used to having a dog and taking care of another baby (she is harder than a real baby!) but she has won over Claire and Trevor's hearts so I guess we will keep her....

 Maggie can't let Claire have all the fun 

 best buds

 thinks she is a small dog that can fit anywhere

 Maggie will always be one of Claire's patients 

Doing what she does best....causing trouble

Tiny Dancer

Our little tiny dancer finally had her spring dance recital. We were so excited to see her in her costume and finally do her dances up on the big stage under the big lights! She kept saying how excited she was and that she was not nervous so I was curious to see she would stay that way once she got up there. When she got on stage she rocked it! She did not look nervous at all and she was having so much fun. There was a few times she was dancing the to beat of her own drum but overall she did so good and I was so proud of her! 

She did such a great job and she would not stop talking about for weeks. She loved being up on that stage and having everyone watching her (which worries me a little). She is definitely a little performer. 

A week before the recital she had her pictures taken which I thought turned out so cute. 

SAN FRANCISCO

Since the beginning of the year I had been wanting to go on a trip. Any trip...any where! I just needed to get out. I thought of a few different places and out of all the places we have never been I chose San Francisco! It was more of a last minute trip, just like almost every trip we go on, but I think we put together a pretty fun vacation.

Because we were only going to be there for about four days we didn't want to spend two of it driving so we decided to fly. This would have been a great idea if we hadn't have missed our flight out. We got there 50 minutes before our flight and they won't even print a ticket for you after 60 min till flight time.....bummer. Luckily we got on a flight later that day but we spent a FUN (sarcastic) 6 hours at the Las Vegas airport. Lets just say the airport is not the most entertaining place for a three year old. Finally, we got on our plane and ended up in San Francisco! (thank goodness). When we got there and got to our hotel it was a little overcast and raining but that was not stopping me from wasting the rest of the day so I drug Trevor and Claire on an adventure to China Town. It was so weird walking down the street past all these brand new clothing stores and restaurants and then all of the sudden you hit china. Claire thought China town was the coolest place ever! Trevor loved all the shops with all the trinkets (I know....he has a chinese money frog statue on his nightstand).... I was a little grossed out once we saw all the food markets and a little creeped out of all the bums, but other than that we loved it.

The next morning was beautiful day so we decided to go for a walk and look at all the cool houses and streets. Well we walked and walked and walked and ended up at Fisherman's Wharf. The wharf had so many cool shops and beautiful views over the water.

There was an awesome aquarium that we wandered into that Claire loved!

One of the highlights of our trip was riding bikes across the Golden Gate bridge. I don't even know the last time I rode a bike so it was touch and go at first but turned out to be awesome! It is the best way to take in all of the views. We started out at the Wharf and went across the bridge into a little town called Sausalito. It was so much fun and such a good day! Sausalito is the most picturesque town and to end the adventure we got to ride a ferry back to the wharf.

Once we got back to the Wharf we walked around and found a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum and a wax museum that were quite interesting.

The next morning we went back to Wharf to go on our tour of Alcatraz. When we got there it was hard to do the tour because Claire did not want to keep stopping and listening so we did our own tour and wandered around the whole area. The views on the island were so awesome. I guess if you had to be in jail somewhere at least it had great scenery!

After the tour we headed over to the Golden Gate park, which I did not realize is so big. I really wish we would have had more time to spend there because you could easily spend the whole day there and only make it through half, but we walked through some of the trails until we found a cool park which Claire did not want to leave!

We didn't have much time at the park because we had tickets to a Giants game that night! The Giants stadium was awesome. One whole side of stadium is surrounded by water and there are people in kayaks floating around waiting for home run balls. The game was so much fun and the Giants won!

I was sad for that day to end because I knew the next morning we had to go home. We were definitely tired and felt like we needed a vacation after our vacation but I was happy we got to see and do everything we wanted to. The flight home went a little bit smoother and it felt good to be home.

that sneaky easter bunny

I think I have said this before, but Easter is my favorite time of the year. It came a little earlier than usual, which was a good thing because it meant the candy came out a little earlier! Why is candy so much better when it is shaped like an egg? and don't even get me started on cadburry eggs!

One of my favorite traditions about Easter, is that almost all of Trevor's family comes to visit. No one lives too far away but just far enough that we aren't able to get together very often. We started the morning off having breakfast with Trevor's family and then we headed off to one of the nieces' baptism. The baptism was such a nice reminder of what Easter is all about and our niece, Parker, looked so beautiful. After the baptism we started the Easter Egg Hunt festivities which would not be complete without a hopping congo, lead by Trevor, through the house with bunny masks on singing "hop,hop, hop like an easter bunny..." Not sure who made that little jingle up the last few years but it sure gets stuck in my head.

Even though we had already had enough fun and treats to last us till next Easter, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa McMullin's where we ate even MORE food and played more games. The kids all  had their fun scavenger hunt to find their surprises.

Since Claire had already been spoiled enough for the day, we decided to save our festivities for Easter Sunday. It was such a great day and the Easter bunny managed to come to our house too! Claire thought it was just crazy that he ran around our whole backyard and left eggs everywhere! She was even more shocked when she found her whole basket and could not figure out how he carried all of that!

That sneaky little Easter bunny did  not disappoint this year and we can't wait for him to come next year! 

my VALENTINE

I am lucky enough to have the TWO best valentines ever! Holidays are getting so much more fun with Claire every year and I knew she would love Valentines Day.  The night before Valentines we stayed up late to make special valentines for Claire to take to her "school." She really wanted Cinderella valentines so we got those and some candy and also made some s'more bars for her to take.

they said "everyday I like you s'more:" and they were delicious if I do say so myself :)

thank you pinterest....

The next morning she woke up bright and early to go to school and when I picked her up she could not stop talking about all the fun she had! They made the cutest heart pockets to hold all of their valentines.

and they always spell her name wrong for some reason....

That night we exchanged gifts, which is always Claire's favorite part. We got her a Cinderella movie and a ballerina box that came with a book, tutu and necklace that she won't take off. 

For Trevor I had a big present I had been wanting to get him for awhile. I was going to get it for Christmas but just didn't end up getting it so for valentines Claire and I got him a mountain bike. He does so much for our family and works so hard, I don't know what we would do without him! We are so lucky and we love to make him happy which I think we did :) Even though Claire almost ruined the surprise...shocker. She came with me to buy the bike then we stashed it in my parents garage until we were ready to give it to him. Well the next day we were all at my parents and Claire said "Dad, there is a bike in the garage it's for you!" Luckily my mom came to the rescue and acted like it was my dad's bike that he was starting to ride...and Trevor bought it! Trevor is great but gullible. So needless to say he was still surprised when we brought out the bike on Valentines. Trevor was so sweet and got Claire and I flowers and a gift certificate to go get manicures and pedicures, which Claire LOVES to do!

We had such a fun Valentines and are so lucky that we have each other and that we got to spend it together!