Clara Laughs

She thinks Mommy is silly!  You all know that is pretty much the truth!

A great way to start the morning

Dinosaurs Alive!

We went and saw a special exhibit at the zoo the other day.  It is called Dinosaurs Alive and it is a wooded path with 15 animatronic life size dinosaurs along it.

  

They move around and roar when you get close.  It is actually a pretty neat exhibit!  You can control some of them yourself.  Grace was extremely afraid at first.  We had to explain to her that they are "big toys" and not real.

I think the enormous sand pit complete with sand toys made up for the fear she experienced!  Supposedly there were "fossils" in there, but she is always content to dump sand from one place to another.

What is especially interesting is that even though Grace seemed really afraid, she has been talking about those dinosaurs for days.  When we went to the zoo again earlier this week, the one thing she wanted to see again was the dinosaurs.  She has said she wants to dress up as a dinosaur for Halloween and she also likes to roar and stomp to her bedroom like a dinosaur when it is time for bed.  Those dinosaurs obviously left an impression!

State Fair

We decided to go to the Iowa State Fair for the weekend!  It was our 6th anniversary, and Jason especially was itching for a family vacation this summer.  We decided to go on Saturday morning and jumped in the car like a herd of turtles around noon.  

Everyone was excited when we got there!

Grace loves hugging giant characters so it was great that we met this right away.  I was calling it a flower but now it looks like a blue ribbon to me.  Whatever it is, Grace was overjoyed to hug it.  

Grace loved the horse barn.  Jason said at every stall in which we looked, Grace sighed "awwwwww!".

She also loved petting this miniature horse!

Clara and I posed in front of this big pig because Grace was afraid of the pigs.

And the giant bull, over 3000 lbs!

  

Grace enjoyed sitting in some military vehicles

and John Deere tractors!

She is very serious about driving this tractor!

The line for fried twinkies.  There were TONS of food trucks like this, and everything was either fried or on a stick or both!

Grace enjoyed touching this 1000 lb pumpkin.

This is our hotel set up.  Grace slept in the pack and play inside her "tent" made from a comforter and Clara slept for 7 hours straight on the bed.  Success!

The next day we checked out the carnival stuff.

Jason took Grace on this bumper water boat.  She enjoyed it as long as Jason wasn't too rough with the bumping part.  They also went on a little plane ride that really freaked her out.  I saw Jason apologizing to the people sitting in front of them!  They also went through a kiddie fun house and Jason said she really liked that.  

  

Apparently, the Iowa State Fair is a pretty big deal.  There were people EVERYWHERE and we were pretty amazed by the rows of parked cars for practically as far as you can see.  We had a good time but it was also exhausting with two little girls.  Yet we survived, and we might even go again next year!  

Smiling 101, Clara edition

I've caught glimpses of this for weeks.  Here we have the real deal, official proof!

I sound like an idiot, but it is worth it all day for those smiles!

Two Months Old!

Clara is two months old (as of Saturday)!

A list of Clara's favorite things:

1. Milk

2. Blankets (and being warm in general)

3.  Pacifiers

4.  being held constantly

5.  Baths

And big sisters, of course!  Speaking of, here is a list of Grace's favorite things as I understand them:

1. attention of any kind
2.  her sandbox and being outside
3.  her recycling truck
4.  Sesame Street
5.  Daddy's iTouch

There are so many others, but those are probably the current favorites.

Grace really enjoys helping Daddy in the kitchen too!  She received a stool for her birthday that puts her at counter height.  But I digress!  Back to Clara being two months old.

They both had doctor appointments today and are in the 50th percentile for just about everything.  Grace received her first sucker and loved it!

I know I'm biased, but as far as I'm concerned, my girls are perfect!

New Front Porch

Jason finished this over a week ago but I haven't posted about it yet!

Jason worked for about a week on this, and I think it looks great!  We plan to stain it a bit darker and seal it after the treated wood has a chance to dry out.  Some people have said, "I never noticed anything wrong with the old one!", to which I respond with a Scooby Doo huh? and a record skip.  Have you people never seen our house in daylight?  The bottom step was completely detached, there were loose nails poking out, the steps felt so wobbly that I thought I'd fall through one day, and the boards were all warped and discolored.  But okay, if it isn't your house, maybe you aren't thinking critically.  I appreciate that.  So, I tried to find a before picture.  Of course I forgot to take a before picture!!  We were too excited to rip the old one off, just like every other house project we've done.   

This is the best I could do.  2012 Gracie will model it for us.  You can at least see the warping going on, but just trust me, it was hideous.  Now it is beautiful (and safe for little girls)!