Clara's trip to Manzanita

Clara's enjoyed her first trip to the beach house in Manzanita, Oregon. The first time we took her down on the beach she made lots of "oohs" and "aahs." We think she is a big fan of the coast already!
We had some amazing weather for our trip so Clara got to put her toes in the sand and Kevin made her a little sand castle.
Clara has started making more faces and sticks her tongue out a lot. She sits up really well and is babbling all the time.

She was very interested in the sand - so much so that we had to watch her carefully so she didn't try and eat it.

Grandma and Grandpa Stevens, Uncle Matt, Auntie Danielle and Cousin Tay were able to come too. Taylor and Clara had fun playing together.

Clara is SO interested in watching everything Taylor does.

Daddy's girl

So sweet!

Grandma Jan got the girls these adorable coordinating dresses, so we just had to take some photos in them on the beach. Getting the two of them to look at the camera at the same time was pretty tricky!

SIX MONTHS OLD !!!

How amazingly fast the past six months of our lives have flown by. Parenthood has been an even better adventure than we had imagined it. Clara has changed so much since we first brought her home. She is sitting up strongly on her own (tipping only occasionally), loves to play hard and makes so many different sounds (most frequently grunts to display dissatisfaction). She is amazingly strong willed especially in her pursuit of items like the television remote, Mom's iphone and our beverages. This challenges us to adopt clever methods of diverting her attention. All in all, we are excited to see what Clara's next six months of development bring for our little family.

On the weekend Clara turned 6 months old, Mommy was not feeling well, leaving Daddy to care for little Scout on his own all weekend. At first Clara put up a bit of a fight to this change (especially going down for naps) but by Sunday she had come around. While our planned activities didn't take place, Clara and Daddy had fun time together and the needed rest was greatly appreciated by Mommy.

Nakey baby!

Looking so sweet in her Over the Rainbow shirt from Auntie Brooke - A favorite of Mommy's since in is PINK and Wizard of Oz!!

Spending some time with cousin's Julie and Daniel, Scout's buddies!

Clara hanging out with cousin Taylor in the nursery at Kent Lutheran Church, where Mommy played as a child. We attended a memorial service for a special family member, Norman. Clara was able to meet some family members for the first time too.

Taylor trying out the dolly cradle.

~ Special cousins ~ Clara can't wait until she can toddle around behind Tay!