Our sweet little lady!

Such a Daddy's Girl

As another week passes, Clara is becoming more of a conversationalist. We have started to actually have two-way dialogue. Clara is able to report things about her day to Daddy when he comes home and will bring up things that she has remembered. While always enjoying books, she has really turned into a full fledged book worm lately. She will read independently for long stretches and LOVES to be read to. We continue to invest in books so we don't get too bored reading the same ones over and over.

A bathing beauty

Entertaining her buddy Davis for lunch

Cute kiddos

Imaginative play is also a favorite of Scout's. She pretends to cook in her kitchen, take care of her baby, make calls on the phone (this week she commonly calls GiGi, Papa Murray and Uncle RyRy), and enjoys playing the door game (above). She shuts herself into a room or closet and will either wait until we knock or will knock so that we can take turns answering the door and acting surprised to see one another.

Should we be worried???

As Clara gets older, it is comical how her silly little personality emerges. She really is her own person and just SO much fun! Occasionally though, we wonder if we should be a little concerned about some of her behaviors. Like, is it normal to have such a shoe obsession at 19 months old? I caught her in our closet rummaging through my shoes and even trying some on. She is certainly taking after her Auntie Sherri in her LOVE of shoes!

We also got a kick out of her obsession with this "hat" which is actually a plastic cone insert from the packaging on one of her toys. She wears it like a helmet and even refused to take it off to eat her lunch! Grandma Jan reminded me that Uncle Ryan also went through this (not so brief)phase where he wore a yellow Tupperware bowl on his head like a helmet too.

Fun in the park with friends

Yesterday we met up with our pals Davis and Olivia in the park. All the little ones are around the same age and it was a lot of fun watching them interact. We were thrilled to get them all to sit still long enough to snap a few shots... and they are all looking the same direction - YIPEE!!

Cutie pies, Olivia & Clara

They all loved riding around in the wagon together - at this age the wagon seems to always be a hit with Clara, but to have pals ride along too, is supreme!

Doing the Puyallup

On Sunday, Clara took her first trip to the Puyallup Fair with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa. Last time we went to the fair I was about 4 1/2 months pregnant with Scout, but all through my youth going to the Puyallup Fair and showing my rabbits was a yearly ordeal with lots of fun family memories we were excited to share with Clara.

Papa Mark was also anxious to get Clara hooked to some of his favorite fair treats like cotton candy. At first, Scout wasn't so sure of what to do with cotton candy, but it didn't take her long. She was so delighted with the sweet taste and made such a mess eating it!!

Somehow we got there without the battery in our camera and Grandma left her camera in the car so the only photos we took were with my iphone - BUMMER!

mmm, mmm, mmmmmm

Check out the chunk of sticky cotton candy stuck to her cheek! And the special button she designed in the wildlife building. She selected the cottontail on her own and gave it a beautiful rainbow coat.

Grandma & Papa

Clara checking out the ity-bity baby bunnies in the rabbit barn. The funny thing was that these babies belonged to an old competitor of mine back when I showed at the fair.

Daddy & Clara checking out the carnival fun. Grandpa was a little bummed that Clara had to be 2 years in order to ride any of the rides.

All the pretty dahlias - One of Grandma's favorite exhibits

Clara with "Ga Ga" & "Papa"

Kevin & I indulged in some ridiculous fried fair foods - red neck sushi & deep fried cookie dough. We'd probably not get either again, but can say we've tried them. I am still a little bummed that they had run out of the Krispy Kreme Chicken Sandwich!

Check out Clara's next dirty face after eating some of the fried cookie dough!

Cute kissing cows!

Daddy & Clara in the petting zoo! She pet chicks and some goats but was just most impressed with tromping around on the sawdust!

Tractor with Grandpa

We had a long but fun day at the fair. Clara did so well. She likes being around people and commotion and of course trying all the tasty treats like the rest of us!

Quincy for Havest

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Quincy. We hadn't seen Kevin's side of the family in a while and there was a short lull in the apple and pear harvest so they has time to visit. It turned out to be a great little visit. Clara had so much fun being a farm kiddo. We drove into Quincy Saturday afternoon for the annual Farmer Consumer Awareness Day. Grandpa Murray was working at the Rotary booth and there was lots of activity for Clara to take in. We watched the tractor pull, pet animals and looked at the nice crafts for sale. Grandma Carol got Clara an adorable hand made back pack for Clara to wear and we also had to taste some of the cool treats!

Scout & Daddy looking cool

Clara running away with the ice cream cone she and Daddy were sharing.

Later in the day we headed to Auntie Sherri & Uncle Todd's house for a BBQ. Clara is tickled to be with all of her cousins. They are all such a GREAT group of kids and Scout is lucky to have them to look up too. She is already trying to mimic what they do. For example, Clara is such a shoe girl. She sometimes insists that we put her shoes on when she is still wearing footed PJ's, but this weekend when all of her cousins were running around barefoot, she was then insisting on having her own shoes off too. We were also surprised that she took to the pool as well as she did. Kevin tried to get her to go in back in July and she screamed. This time she not only wanted to go in, she only wanted to be held by her cousins in the pool. WOW!

Hailey

Zane (who started kindergarten this year)

Clara & Taylor

On Sunday morning, Daddy took Clara on her very first tractor ride. Last year we set her on the tractor, but this year he fired it up and they went around the orchard. We couldn't quite tell if she loved it when they were going around, but as soon as they got off she ran back over and wanted to ride some more. It was pretty sweet.

Clara also helped herself to a tomato from Grandma Carol's garden and started eating it on the spot. It was so darn cute although not easy to get it away from her. She had eaten about a third of the thing before we finally did!

Seeing how much Scout loved the tractor, Grandma took Clara on the mule, something that all of the grandkids have been a big fan of at some point. She loved this too!

Before we left Quincy we went out and gleaned apples and pears to take home. Clara found interesting ways of entertaining herself while we picked. She loved playing in the dirt. At one point Grandma Carol mentioned something along the lines of, "I am surprised she hasn't put it on her head." Guess where Clara's very next fist full of dirt went...yep, right on her head! We also had a hard time keeping her from trying to eat fruit that had already fallen off the tree. One of the rotten pears we pried from her hands was extremely nasty! Luckily she ended up pretty content getting to gnaw away on her very own apple.

Labor Day "stay-cation"

This Labor day weekend, we hesitated in making plans. We thought about going to Chehalis, but my parents are in the middle of a hectic remodel. We thought of going to Quincy, but they were busy with harvest. And so we stayed home in the yucky drizzle. Once we accepted that we were going to do it, it ended up being a blast. We let Clara catch up on sleep, did several small projects around the house, watched movies and just enjoyed playing and being silly as a family. It was a better weekend than we could have ever imagined!

Clara is at another unbelievably fun stage in her development. She is stringing together words, singing songs all of the time and modeling a lot of what we do. Her attention span had grown and she'll sit and play with a puzzle for 20 minutes or let us read a whole (non-board book) story to her. These changes make the play A LOT more fun for Mommy & Daddy. On the weekends, Kevin takes on more of Clara's care than on weekdays and therefore they get so bonded. Together they get so silly and fill this big house with laughter. Taking the time to just be home as a family was a great opportunity to gather perspective and be thankful for the joyous life we have together.

Visit with Itai & Ori

Somehow we have been busy enough lately that I have gotten behind on blogging. These photos were from a few weeks back. We had a nice visit with the Ami-ad family and Clara's buddies, Ori and Itai. It was a nice day and the kids had fun playing in their back yard and eating homegrown tomatoes that Ori had picked. Clara enjoyed the visit and we hope to see them all again soon.

Ori the "Wizard"

Clara and Itai are only a few months apart. It has been fun to watch them "grow up" together.

Seattle Waterfront & Pike's Place Market

On Sunday we were treated with the perfect weather to go down to the waterfront and walk through the market. We hadn't taken Clara to the market in quite a while and had never brought her down to the waterfront. Our initial idea was to take Clara to the aquarium, but we didn't time the trip well as far as her lunch and a nap and decided to do it another day. Scout was a trooper, though. She was delighted by the boats, water and even the seagulls!!

Clara and Daddy checking out the water

Family shot

Clara enjoyed the carousel so much in Seaside, Kevin wanted to take her on the one on the pier. As you can see, again she had a BLAST!!

We ended our day with a nice dinner at Wild Ginger downtown. We feel lucky that Clara is still relatively well behaved when we go out to eat. We know that this wont last, but sure appreciate it right now. We also loved having Grandma Jan along with us!

Music in Dahlia Park

On Saturday, our family joined the neighbors in our community park to enjoy a steel drum band and potluck. The Fisher family and Grandma Jan were able to join us too. It was a lot of fun to listen to the music and let the little ones wander around together. Clara eventually had a good time, but initially was completely freaked out by some silly balloons some of the neighbor kids were playing with. When she saw one she immediately shrieked, tensed up and froze. This was by far her most adverse reaction to something. Luckily with the kids and cupcakes, Clara was able to eventually get distracted and have some fun.

Kevin and Cory took turns pulling Clara and Logan around in the wagon.

Logan enjoyed his cupcake too - what a sweetie!

Hayden easily made friends with the neighborhood kids and even had his chance to play the steel drums. It was a pretty fun day!