Birthday Party Fun

Miss Scout had a wonderful time attending a fairy themed birthday party for her friend Acacia. The party was held at the Orange Blossom Society in Redmond, which was a great venue for kiddos. Clara had a blast with the activities and being around all of her pals from the Issy Mom's Group.

Check out our gal eyeing Acacia's beautiful birthday cake!

Here she is modeling the beautiful crown that she made at the beginning of the party.

Enjoying the fun outdoor activities with the rest of the group.

Digging for "magic stones" in the sand

Showing off the "magic stones" that she found in the garden

Singing and Dancing with all of the adorable kiddos!

Just a cute shot of her in the garden.

And enjoying MORE treats! What a fun party!

Issaquah Mom's Group Summer Picnic

Last Saturday was the Issaquah Mom's Group Summer Picnic. This year the group was much smaller which ended up being a good thing for Clara. She was a lot less timid approaching some of the fun activities. Last year at this time she would screech in terror at the sight of a bounce house and this year, she ran right over and climbed inside - WOW!

She also enjoyed this water slide although it was her preference to hang out in the pool part instead of going down the big slides like some of the other fearless kiddos.

Clara & Daddy enjoying the picnic dinner

which included WATERMELON - YUM!!

Here is sweet photo of Clara having a BLAST jumping in the bounce house

The other big hit was Beep Beep the clown. She came and presented a magic show complete with all sorts of great balloon animals. Clara, who has not made her dislike of balloons hidden through different stages of her development, really seemed to enjoy watching Beep Beep make her creations. She wasn't even phased when one of the balloons popped - PROGRESS!! Woo Hoo!

Scout displays her beautiful balloon butterfly! Daddy was also called up as Beep Beep made him this wonderful dolphin hat which he wore proudly!!

Backyard Fun!

Between the crummy weather, our travel schedule, Kevin being swamped at work and my reduced motivation due to the pregnancy, our back yard and lots of other household chores had been neglected so far this season. This past weekend, our Daddy worked his tail end off around the house getting the yard in decent shape, getting ready for the instillation of our new heat pump (AWWW) and starting in on Clara's "Big Girl" room! We celebrated with an impromptu shrimp boil and dinner on the patio! Clara likes to help out whenever she can too - above she is helping shuck the corn.

Then she enjoyed playing on her slides, including the new one from Anthony and Samantha (below). It has a cute little clubhouse door and so she got in it, shut the door behind her and said, "I am an animal and this is my cage."

Soon she was on to some artwork on her easil...

And before long, the shrimp boil was ready to eat! A little rustic in presentation, but it sure hit the spot!

Eating corn on the cob was the hit of the night with our gal!

Summer FINALLY arrived...well, maybe just visited!

Clara and Davis making the most of the warm day by playing outside. We set them up with a big tub of water and a even got out Clara's sprinkler mat - the one that she was terrified of last year. They both had so much fun splashing and playing!

Later that day, we attended a BBQ at one of Kevin's co-workers. Clara is the youngest kiddo in this group and it took her several hours of watching the kids play in order for her to want to get in the pool, but once she did, she got right in there with the splashing and silliness! We were a little shocked, but so proud - what a difference a year makes when it comes to her interest in being in the pool, especially an inflatable-ish one with lots of kid commotion!

I asked them to pose for a silly photo - it was the only way I could get close enough to take a picture without getting soaked!

4th of July in Manzanita!

The Michael clan on the 4th of July

Clara and Mommy waiting for the parade to begin

Once it started Clara LOVED watching all the kids and floats. While she had been to the Winlock Egg Day parade a few weeks back with Grandma & Grandpa Stevens and caught on to the whole candy deal, she was a little slow to run to get any this time. It was all the better and we just encouraged her to run after a few lollipops (her favorite). I think she ended up with about 8 of them!

It had been since before we were married that we had spent the 4th of July in Manzanita and were astonished by how much bigger the festivities have become. Before, it was more of a kid & bicycle parade and now has grown into a 40 minute production with floats and horses! A delight for lil' Scout!

Out on the beach enjoying all of the fireworks. This year we didn't even do a sparkler and we were just as content watching everyone else light there's off. There is just something so terrifying about the kid/fire combination and as parents, the 4th of July festivities will take on some new worries that we have yet to have to experience.

Mommy and the rest of the kids we very happy with the S'mores - a first for Clara and to no surprise, they were a hit!

Manzanita!!!

We were finally able to make our first trip to the beach house in Manzanita this year and it was such a memorable weekend because we got to go with Kevin's parents, and his sister Amy with her children, Taylor, Hailey and Zane. Clara couldn't have had more fun!! She loved being around her cousins so much and with three of them around for several days she basked in all of the attention. We lucked out for our trip and had some great weather. There was rain but it seemed to happen overnight or during nap/rest time and didn't really get in our way.

The rest of the group had been there for almost a week when we arrived and so the kids had made lots of fun discoveries that they wanted to share. After our long car trip, we all took a walk to the bay in Nehalem State Park. The kids (including Kevin, because he really still is just a big kid) loved climbing on all of the drift wood and building forts.

BIG kid, Kev!

Clara wasn't at all shy about getting in the water and exploring.

Daddy's (first) little girl

That evening we headed out to the fun Farmer's Market Manzanita hosts on Friday nights. We went a few times last year and are always impressed at all of the great produce and tasty treats the market in such a small town has to offer. Clara, after eating dinner, a ton of fresh berries and most of Hailey and Taylor's strawberry lemonades was out having a great time shakin' it to the live music!

The adults enjoyed the strawberry shortcake - especially this Mama-to-be! My third trimester actually has me feeling a little peppier so far, especially since my affection for sweets has returned.

The next day we spent a lot of time down on Manzanita beach.

Hailey, Clara & Taylor

One of Mommy's favorite parts of beach trips has now become Scout's as well... Tillamook Ice Cream!

Play-doh is fun for kiddos of all ages!

At one point the kids were all doing the crab walk in the sand. Above, Clara can't quite get the hang of it, but she thought she was copying her cousins, so she was happy!

Running and ROLLING down the steep and sandy hill!

Being silly while watching her cousins do their crazy tricks.

Clara would be content digging in the sand and lugging a bucket around all day. At one point she had the bucket overflowing with sand yet refused to let us help dump it over. Instead, she kept scooping up the sand and watching is fall off the mound.

Kevin was taking a belly photo when Clara leaned over and gave "sister" a kiss - so sweet!

More digging...

Hailey was flying the trick kite, which was moved really fast but was harder to keep in the air!

The others were off flying a kite so she decided to take her bucket and shovel over closer to them. I offered to carry it for her or take some sand out, but she absolutely insisted on doing it herself.

New Hair Style

During our last trip to Chehalis, Grandma Jan gave Clara the most adorable "big girl" hair cut. She was so proud to come home and show it off to her Daddy and seems to love when people notice her "new doo"! We can't believe how much older it makes her look!

Our sweet little baby girl really is growing up so fast, and it now feels like the perfect time to bring another baby girl into our home. Scout has matured so much since the beginning of the year when we first learned that our family would be expanding. We won't lie, this Daddy & Mommy are still are worried about some of the juggling we will have to preform to care for two children, but we are really starting to get excited about snuggling a newborn and experiencing baby milestones all over again. All while getting to share it with Clara, who is going to make an excellent BIG sister!!