Three Years Old!

Grace turned three last week!

She is holding up a star shaped watermelon piece that she had the pleasure of eating at Alisha and Judd's house for the Fourth of July.

Our grown up girl.  (Looking good, Gini.)

We started the day with present opening at 7:01 am.  She received some wonderful things, including this doctor set from Aunt Sam.  She likes to give Clara shots.  She also received some glow in the dark race car tracks that are flexible in many different ways.  She loves her vehicles!

Next we went to the Union Station Museum.  Trains!  This was Grace's first time and she had a blast, outside of the talking bronze statues everywhere that she found off putting.

We had lunch next to the train cars and Grace enjoyed walking around on them.

Even the elevator was a thrill!

There was an science exhibit there where you could design your own laser show.  Grace and Clara had a great time chasing them around.  The rest of that exhibit was geared for an older audience but they had fun with it anyway!

Grace was VERY clear that she wanted cake with sprinkles.  The details other than that were left to me.  I ambitiously decided on a 6 layer cake with caramel filling, and I just BARELY finished it before bedtime.  Here she is putting her sprinkles on, looking very tired after an eventful day.

Blowing out the candles!

13 Months Old!

Clara turned 13 months old 3 days ago!

She is turning into a little girl!

She adores rough housing and playing with her big sister.  Whenever she is upset, I can cheer her up by counting to three and throwing her vigorously onto the couch.  Grace loves playing with her too.  Lately, they have been playing in the tent tunnel.  Sometimes they just look at each other and start giggling like mad!

We have an appointment with an eye doctor for her tear duct that is still blocked, but she is otherwise in great health with steady development.  She has been saying a lot of new words including "cracker," "down," and "again."  She bops when she hears music which Grace never did.  We FINALLY ditched bottles after one day of screaming protest and switched to sippy cups.  She is cruising a ton but not walking yet.  She wiggles away when you are trying to dress her or change her diaper.  I call it "baby wrangling."  She is getting all four eye teeth at once right now.  She has a sense of humor; she loves different forms of peekaboo and poking you from behind when you are sitting in a chair.  She is a pleasure and a happy baby! 

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit!

The girls loved playing and getting lots of attention.

Grandpa figured out right away that rough housing makes Clara smile!

Grandma figured out that Grace adores playing on the top bunk of her bed!

Grace loved learning how to make popovers and peanut butter cookies!

I think that everyone had a great time together!

Jason cuts down a tree

We've been talking about cutting down this tree for ages!

It was starting to impede the growth of the tree next to it.  Plus, it just didn't look right in the middle of the yard like that.  It is sad to cut down a tree but I think it really opens up our yard and will make it even more enjoyable to play back there.

Grace really enjoyed watching.

She also loved helping Jason put the branches in a pile.

She looks so grown up in these pictures to me.

She is almost three!

Balsam Lake - The Boat

We had a great time vacationing at Balsam Lake!

Our friends Eric and Gini have relatives with a lake house in Wisconsin, and they invited us to stay there with them for a week!  How fantastic is that?!  We are going to do our best to stay on their good sides so we can go back again!

Grace ADORED riding in the boat.  She loved standing in the back and watching the wake, as well as dropping and lifting the anchor.  She likes to go FAST!

She was often pensive while we drove the boat, but she would occasionally let out a giggle of glee when we hit some choppy patches.  She also liked to exclaim, "I like the boat!" repeatedly.

Clara wasn't a huge fan, but she put up with it mildly sometimes, especially if there were crackers involved.  I don't think she liked wearing the life vest or the cold wind when we were really moving.  We tried to take Grace out a lot during her morning nap.

Gini and Eric have a son named Ethan who is about to turn 2.  They both enjoyed watching the action as we zoomed along!

I think I will divide my pictures into a few postings about this vacation, so stay tuned for more pictures later!

Vacation Day 1

This is my 300th posting!

We are on vacation in Minneapolis and having a great time!

The girls have been really great being good sports with the traveling.  Grace really enjoyed Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes videos that we borrowed from Avery.

Clara was a rock star in this folding stroller pretty much all day.

We went to the Sculpture Gardens and it was perfect for strolling around with the girls.  Grace really liked most of the sculptures, but this one was too scary.  It was of clothes with invisible bodies inside of them, so I don't blame her!

Grace helped out by pushing Clara around.

Spoon bridge to nowhere!  You can't tell in the pictures, but there is water flowing over the cherry.

The requisite family shot!

All of this activity conked out Clara, but not Grace!

More to come, stay tuned!

One Year Old!

Clara turned one year old a week ago!

We had a great crowd here to celebrate:  Grammy and Grandudes, Aunt Sam and Uncle Brian, and GiGi as well!

We all had a wonderful time celebrating together.

Clara had a cupcake just as Grace did on her first birthday.

And she loved it of course!  She was very neat about it and didn't get it in her hair.

We spent the long weekend relaxing mostly,

but we also enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool

and playing at the park!  (do you see Grace and Brian running around in the background?!)

Both girls soaked up the love and attention

and loved every minute!

Aunt Sam and Uncle Brian had to spend an extra couple days because of the bad weather here, but we didn't mind at all!  Uncle Brian babysat for several hours while we worked and he survived with a smile on his face!  He is as avuncular as they come.