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!!

Summer Fun

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This past week Miss Scout had a fun visit with her Grandma & Grandpa Stevens. During her visit she had lots of fun playing with her cousins Taylor & Brendan. We are not going to be with them over the 4th of July weekend and so Grandma Jan wanted to get some fun patriotic photos of the kids together. Brendan was so easy, but the girls have so much fun being together they get one another worked up into some serious sillies, thus it was quite a challenge to get some photos! We didn't capture any "perfect shots" but got some ones that portray the energy of these special kiddos!

Father's Day Weekend 2010

We had a busy Father's Day weekend this year. It started with Daddy returning from a mini business trip on Friday night to a surprise banner and gifts from Scout and Mommy. We had a fun breakfast that Clara got to help make - yogurt and fruit parfaits where Clara counted out the strawberries and blueberries in each.

On Saturday, our neighborhood held its annual garage sale. Grandma and Grandpa Stevens came up for a visit and attended some garage sales with us. Clara was the big scorer with some of our deals including a Snow White dress up outfit, a Cinderella doll and a super cool trike!

Saturday evening we headed to Quincy and made our first visit to Grandma and Grandpa Michael's new home. On Father's Day Kevin's side of the family all got together for a BBQ to celebrate our wonderful Dads and Great Grandpa Zane's 87th Birthday.

Clara had so much fun running around in Grandma & Grandpa's new courtyard with her cousins that she just plain puttered out. This is pretty uncommon for our lil' tot so we were shocked when she crawled up in Kevin's lap and fell asleep within a few minutes. This tender moment might have been Kevin's favorite part of his Father's Day.

A photo of all the Dad's - Uncle Todd, Great Grandpa Zane, Grandpa Murray, Daddy & Uncle Elmer.

Kevin also enjoyed spending some time with his own Daddy. He and Murray got up early for a round of golf and while neither of them was very proud of their score, they both came home chuckling and happy to have gotten to play together.

Helping out in the Kitchen

Lately Clara has shown a lot of interest in food preparation in our household. She LOVES to have a job and be able to help Mommy & Daddy make meals. We are learning to find little jobs where she can participate and love watch how seriously she takes the task.

She took this cookie task so seriously, I couldn't even get her to look up for a picture!

Clara and the Chocolate Factory

Our big event with the Issaquah Mom's Group this week was getting to tour the Boehm's Chocolate Factory, which has been an establishment in Issaquah since 1942. Sadly after living in Issaquah over six years, this was my first trip, but I know it will not be our last. Kevin remembered making stops there as a child on his family trips from Quincy to Bothell to visit his grandparents and based on their preservation philosophy, I doubt it has changed much since then.

It was a little challenging with a whole lot of 2 year olds who were expected not to touch anything, but I was very pleased with how well Clara did. At first I wasn't sure if I would get her to keep the cute paper hat on her head, but since all of the kids and adults wore them too, she seemed to agree to wearing hers and then eventually forgot it was even there.

The whole factory and the authentic Swiss chalet above that was the living quarters of Julius Boehm smelled AMAZING to tour, therefore we were all very happy when given the opportunity to sample the delicious chocolate!

We came home happy girls from our little outing!

Silly Daddy, Silly Daughter!!

Having a silly Daddy is the BEST!!!

Kevin and Clara have so much fun together! Kevin's unique sense of humor is one of humor is one of the traits I absolutely treasure about him and I take even more delight in watching him be silly with our little gal. Clara's own sense of humor seems to have taken off lately. She notices so every detail so one of her favorite jokes is having something that is completely out of place like counting "1,2... 4". The kicker is that she hasn't fully mastered her timing, and will typically start laughing before she even makes her joke. Some of our other favorites are singing songs or reciting books and changing a word, Saying something like "Momma doesn't like ice cream," or even wearing her dress up clothes incorrectly. The best one is when she emerged with her kiddo sized oven mitts on her feet. Daddy (and Mommy too) like to play along, like in the above photo where Daddy went to sleep in C's bed!

Poor Kevin has been working like a dog lately and I am so proud of how he always makes time for his girls (C & Mommy who requires a little more TLC these days). Clara has questioned several times about why he has to go to work, and I am doing my best to help her understand how fortunate we are to have a Daddy that works so hard to provide for our family so that Mommy doesn't have to go to work. I know some day she will truly appreciate his commitment to being a present father at home while continuing to be successful in his young legal career.

Kevin, we love you like crazy and honor you this upcoming Father's Day weekend!