Great Sleeping Bear

Last Sunday, before Daddy's round of golf, we enjoyed a family outing to Redmond Town Center for a little shopping, food and of course playtime in the kid's area. Right away, Scout found what she called the "Great Sleeping Bear." One of the books that she is currently OBSESSED with is the Berenstain Bears and The Spooky Old Tree - she is SO obsessed that it is currently "hidden". She practically knows the whole book and of course, so do we!

Do they dare go over Great Sleeping Bear? Yes...they dare!

This book was a childhood favorite of Kevin's. When we brought it up with Grandpa Murray he practically still had it memorized from reading it so many times to him. Clara's first year, we searched bookstores for a copy and ended up finding it at a second hand bookstore. It was instantly a hit with Clara too! For a while exposure to this book make everything "spooky" but this quirk seems to have quieted a little! It was just so fun to see her apply imaginary elements from a story to something in the outside world!

Scout's 2nd Take Your Child to Work Day

Clara taking over as an associate level attorney at Cozen O'Connor.

Playing legal BINGO

Riding the Monorail - this day gave Clara quite a few new experiences in Seattle public transportation. We took the bus in the tunnel to Westlake Center, then took the monorail to Seattle Center. Then we took the land/water Duck tour. On way back to the office, we took the monorail and the commuter train in the bus tunnel! Clara thought this all was great!

Checking out the great view on a sunny afternoon!

Seafood lunch at the Center House

Checking out the view from the Duck on Lake Union!

The Duck ride came right around Clara's nap time and after the long days that we have had, she was pretty tired. To add to that, the tour provides everyone with little duck bill horns that all the kids were having fun with (LOUDLY)...all the kids except Clara, who was mortified by them! The first part of the tour she wore her headphones to muffle the noise until the other kids had tired of blowing on the horns as much. We gave her a few fruit snacks and she pulled through happily enjoying our time out on the water!

Such a fun day for Clara and Daddy had just as much fun, too!

Growing baby "Gem"

At 18 1/2 weeks our lil' "Gem" is starting to make Mommy really pop out! This pregnancy is so different from Scout's in a lot of ways. I am getting bigger so much faster, have felt the baby move around for weeks. I still have a hard time finding foods appetizing and am tired all the time! On May 3rd, we have our appointment to learn the gender of our growing lil' "Gem."

Scout seems to have an age-appropriate understanding of what is happening to Mommy and that she is going to be a BIG sister! She talks nicely about "Gem" although if you ask her what she wants the baby to be, she has been known to say "a book" or even "a witch." The other day we were BBQing in the back yard when the neighbor came outside. Clara introduced herself to him and he said "My name is Jim." She replied without any hesitation, "No, "Gem" is in Mommy's tummy!"

Quick Visit

Tuesday evening Clara and Mommy spent the night in Chehalis and then got up early with Grandma & Grandpa on Wednesday morning to attend Great Aunt Mildred's funeral service in Vancouver. It was a beautiful service and a nice opportunity to celebrate her life with family.

After we got back to Chehalis Wednesday night we made a quick trip over to visit Taylor, Brendan, Auntie Danielle and Uncle Matt. Brendan has changed so much since we saw him on Easter weekend. He is already so strong and expressive but still such a snuggle bug! Clara enjoyed entertaining him for a while but was far more interested in following Taylor around.

It is fun to watch Clara and Taylor play together. Clara, who is typically the bossy type with her same age peers who come over to play at our house, was content being bossed around by her big cousin Taylor. Taylor kept trying to pick her up (they weigh virtually the same) and so this was the pose we caught them in most of the day!

Spring Playdate

The week of Easter we were scheduled to attend a fun Easter playdate, but when the day came the stormy weather and high winds caused a cancellation of the event. We figured the kids wouldn't mind going on an egg hunt after the holiday. The date chosen for rescheduling was a beautiful day and the kiddos had so much fun playing outside and of course...hunting eggs!

Clara knew exactly what to do! When we pulled up to her friend Sayde's house she started spotting the eggs right away. It was a challenge to get her to leave them alone until the start of the hunt!

Clara and Acacia in the wagon!

Flashing her very first temporary tattoo - it was the witch from Sleeping Beauty and Clara thought it was SO cool to have her on her tummy! One of her friends, Andrew started roaring at her pretending to be a dinosaur and Clara lifted her shirt as if to say, "Oh yeah, we'll I've got a witch!"

Concerned with what the other kids were doing!

Checking out what was in the eggs. I had to sneak a few out of her basket and re-hide them for some of the other kids because she found so many!

Our Goodbye to Daddy's Childhood Home

Clara's cousin Zane recently turned SIX!! We celebrated with the family over the weekend and our Scout was delighted to be with her cousins.

Clara's always down to enjoy a cupcake for any occasion!

She tagged along with will her big cousins through out the day. They are all at the right age where they don't seem to mind much and think that everything that Clara does is cute. It isn't uncommon for Clara to frequently announce "I'm so cute" after a weekend of spending time with her big cousins -Taylor, Hailey & Ashley! We are loving family gatherings with this combination because the girls make GREAT babysitters and Clara is thrilled to be with them and therefore obeys their every request. At one point we found all of the girls in watching Monsters Inc. It was adorable to see them all together like this - Clara trying so hard to fit right in!

She is captivated by the movie and SO tired at this point, but happy as can be!

The next day we spent a relaxing day at Kevin's parents house, the house Kevin grew up in. Grandma & Grandpa Michael sold the house last summer along with the farm and finally found their new home in the town of Quincy. They plan on moving after the first of June and while we hope to get back before then, with our travel schedule and Kevin's work business, we may not be able to. We spent the day enjoying the house, taking pictures and letting Clara wander the yard and pick Grandma Carol's beautiful flowers.

She had so much fun collecting the flowers. She got so excited when she would spot a blooming flower and race over to pick it!

Grandma & Clara

Mommy is even sad to say goodbye to the farm. In the past ten years Kevin & I have been together, we have had a lot of fun times together, with our friends, and now as a family in this home, plus the view is amazing!

Sometimes we wonder if Clara would have enjoyed being a farm kid too...

More from C's Photo Shoot

Photographs by Baby Dream Photography

Easter 2010

Having spent Easter in Quincy last year, this year we spent the holiday in Chehalis with Mommy's side of the family. Grandma & Grandpa Stevens have just completed a remodel of their home that took almost 6 months. It is great to see all of their hard work and planning come together to create a space that is perfect for our family to gather.

We headed to Chehalis the night before Easter, had delicious pizza at Papa Pete's and then went back to Grandma & Grandpas. Clara set out a big, juicy carrot for her pal the Easter Bunny on the special plate we had picked out a few weeks prior. She was really excited to finally use the plate and was a stickler on how and where the carrot should be left, when cousin Taylor tried to move it! Clara called out, "No Tay-or, that caw-wut is for the Eeeessta Bunny. I put it on this plate."

The next morning Clara woke up excited to see what the Easter Bunny left. She followed the eggs down the hall to her basket. She had figured out the whole candy in the egg deal the day before so she sat down with the first egg to open it up. As predicted, she was far more interested in the CANDY than her pretty basket full of surprises!

Aren't her Guess How Much I Love You jammies too sweet? We have a new Nieman Marcus in Bellevue and we found them there on a shopping trip with Cousin Ashley and Auntie Sherri. I bought them big hoping that she can wear them for a long time!

Our springy brunch table in Mom & Dad's new dining room - we had delicious food all day long!

Clara in her Easter outfit from Grandma Wanda with Saltwater sandals from Grandma Jan.

Clara & Cousin Taylor looking so pretty!

It is amazing how fast they grow up!

Grandma Wanda & Papa Bob with their Great-Grandchildren, Taylor, Clara & Brendan

Matt & his beautiful daughter

Easter Egg Hunt

Check out what that bunny left - AGAIN! Clara was so focused that it was impossible to get her to look at the camera!

Taylor Alain

All the eggs were found, some candy had been broken into and we have two sweet, happy girls on Easter Day! What a blessing!

Dahlia Park Easter Egg Hunt 2010

Another year we lucked out and had the weather cooperate for our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! Last year it was warm and sunny and this year was a little soggy and cool, but we had sun breaks and the rain held off for a few hours so the kids could have some fun!

It was so neat to watch Clara this year. She still had some learning to do when it came to getting eggs in her basket but she was delighted to see the Easter Bunny and be surrounded by all the neighborhood kids!

We think she looked absolutely adorable in her new raincoat and boots!

When the Easter Bunny came hopping down the path she got so excited and was right in there to great him with all the children. Notice the delighted expression on her face. As he hopped along to greet the others, she continued to stay about this close to the bunny!

All of the families heading down the decorated path to the pond where we held the hunt!

Family photo - one where we are all smiling!!

Clara found one of her favorite treats - a lollipop!

After the hunt - Clara and her pal Easter Bunny! She was absolutely priceless chasing after him down by the pond calling out, "Easter Bunny, I am over here!"

Happy Easter 2010

We love our neighborhood and all of the enthusiasm it has for holidays and fun activities. We look forward to many more fun neighborhood egg hunts!