Sweet "Gem" Baby

Olympia Hands On Museum

During our last trip to Chehalis, we popped up to the Hands On Children's Museum near the Capital in Olympia. We ended up with a free membership coupon after buying a membership for Taylor and Brendan for Christmas and wanted to go check it out. We only had a limited amount of time to play but Clara made the most of every minute...



... So much fun, that it was hard to get her to pull her attention away from the fun to smile for a photo!

We will definitely be going back every opportunity we can!

"Fishing like Papa Mark!"

Playing in the Ambulance with Daddy

Janie & Mommy

Clara found the stage and the microphone stand and immediately went into Carrie/Taylor mode dancing and singing. I wish I could have had the camera ready fast enough to capture some of her best moves, but trust me... it was PRICELESS!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Cousin Bren!

We had a fun trip to Chehalis to celebrate Mr. Brendan's 1st Birthday! He had a fun party, made a fun, mess tasting his cake, loved playing with, or rather "on" a balloon, and enjoyed some of his new toys! On his birthday he was starting to take some steps, and within no time, has taken off as a true "walker." We are so proud of him!

Brendan has changed so much in one year! Now he is surely "all boy" and "Stevens Boy" at that. While being physical and playing hard, he shares great goofy grins and seems to really go with the flow more that the girls did at that age. More recently we have started to notice more or Grandpa Mark in his appearance!

Clara enjoyed the party too.! Having just celebrated her own birthday, it was a bit of a challenge to recognize that it was Brendan's party, and that he got to be the center of attention, and I imagine with their birthdays so close, this might continue to be a challenge in the years to come.

And of course, there is big sister, Taylor! She is such a smart girl with a very spunky personality and Clara just adores her. Despite occasional spats about who gets the red chair or who gets to be Snow White, these sweet girls end up having such a fun time whenever they get together!

We have a THREE year old!!

We have a THREE year old... How can this be? Most days we have a really hard time wrapping our minds around the idea that our sweet lil' Clara Natalie is already 3 year old, and yet we still can't really recall what life was like before having children. Boy, we must have had so much time on our hands!! These days we are busier than we've ever been. (Yes, even when were in grad school.) While we are only a few days into life with a three year old, but we are having a blast!

Clara is such a sensitive and sweet little girl. She is really well behaved, so much so that we remind ourselves to lighten up on her when she does make a big mess or throw the occasional fit, keeping in mind that she is still really little and is learning so much every day about the world around her. She has an amazing imagination and most days enjoys pretending she is a character in a book or movie. Like a little sponge, she remembers just about everything she is exposed to and can act it out or tell us all about a book that she has only been read once or twice. Like every parent, we are convinced she is a genius, and one with a really great sense of humor at that.

On her birthday, Clara woke up to a lot of little surprises that we let her open throughout the day. Daddy knew she would love the plasma car and Potato Head toy while Little Sister, Janie picked out some cute Calico Critters. All were a hit with Clara!

The day before her 3rd Birthday, little Scout ended up having her first case of the flu. We did not make any big plans to allow her to rest, but she seemed to be feeling a lot better so off to Red Robin for a late lunch we headed. Clara LOVED getting the Sundae and birthday treatment!

After lunch we took Clara to her first trip to Build-A-Bear. She received a gift certificate for her first birthday and sadly we hadn't taken her to use it. She had so much fun picking everything out (So, Thanks Aunt Glenda & Uncle Chuck)!! She selected a rabbit, stuffed it just right, added a heart, gave it a bath, dressed her (with multiple outfits and accessories) and named her, birth certificate and all.

Welcome to the family, Rapunzel Flower Rabbit!

After Build-A-Bear and a quick trip to Kid's Cove at Bell Square Mall, we took Clara to Target to get a new princess dress. We picked up her beloved Snow White dress at a garage sale this summer and it is looking pretty shabby these days. Clara selected a Rapunzel dress for herself, which is sweet since Tangled is the first movie we took her to see in the theater a few weeks back.

After dinner, Clara opened a few more gifts - BOOKS!!

And FINALLY we sang our first sweet baby girl Happy Birthday and enjoyed some cake! She really is our little princess!

Love this photo...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

...Our sweet Clara Natalie turned THREE!!!

For months now, Clara has been talking about having a Wizard of Oz birthday party. She loved getting to be Dorothy for Halloween and the enthusiasm has just grown ever since then. I have to say that I was very tempted this year to go the Gymboree or Bounce House route just because my time is limited with Miss Janie, but since I am just as big of Wizard of Oz fan as my daughter, and she will most likely have shifted her infatuation to a different character by next year, I didn't want to pass up the opportunity for some fun, yellow brick road style.

With her costume, the themed decorations and goodies, and of course Clara's little munchkin pals, it sure was a fun day for our sweet little Scout. We are grateful to our great family and friends who helped to make Clara's day so magical.

Husky Basketball with Auntie Michele

It may have taken several attempts but we FINALLY made it to a UW basketball game as a family with our dear friend Michele. She is a season tickets holder and has wanted to make this happen for a while now, but we have been... well, a little busy!!

Lucky us, the game we were able to attend was a fun game on a great (partly sunny) winter day in Seattle. We packed up Janie in the Bjorn with some ear plugs under her hat and it ended up working better than we had expected.

Of course our first stop was visiting the Husky statue outside of Hec Ed. We always talk about it when we drive past the stadium, so it was neat for Clara to see it up close.

Family Shot

The game was a little closer than we expected, but the Huskies still came out victorious, of course it didn't hurt that they had little Miss Clara cheering them on! She LOVED watching the cheerleaders and mimicked many of their moves. Too bad she was not quite as impressed with some of the basketball moves, because if she keeps growing at her current rate, and inherits a little of Daddy's agility, she might make a good ball player.


After the game, we decided to take Clara to see some of the UW campus. It had been a few years since we had been there so it was fun to see some of the changes. Since Mommy & Daddy met during our undergrad years at UW, it holds many fum memories for us. Right after entering Red Square, Clara calls out, "Oh look, it's an obelisque!" Whoa!! What!?! At first we were not sure what she said and got her to repeat, it even more clearly the second time. Sure enough, that is exactly right, Broken Obelisk statue was right there. It took us a minute, but we traced this monument knowledge back to a special book we purchased for her at the Louvre this summer, Paris - Hide and Seek. For a while it is a favorite bedtime activity of Clara and Kevin's.

We also had to tell Clara about Suzzallo, let her see the fountain and its ducks and found the columns from the original UW campus.

Crazy University of Washington Girls

What a fun day for us all!