Bun in the Oven...

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our third child in June!!

We saw our newest, smallest addition via ultrasound yesterday with a wonderful looking heartbeat!

Our Halloween costume...

Grace in her "Middle Child" t-shirt

Middle Child and Oldest T-Shirts

Greedy Trick or Treater

Claire did such a great job trick-or-treating but she had quite a method...as the homeowner would put something in her bag, she would reach into the bowl and grab more :)

Claire "Scaring" Uncle Keith

Here is Claire buzzing over to scare Uncle Keith... I think his enthusiastic reaction triggers Claire's clumsiness...

Claire Practicing for Halloween

Here is Claire practicing what to say on Halloween night

Sharing

Here is Claire sharing her sucker with Grace... briefly :)

Swinging

Little dare devil, Claire loves to be spun around and around...

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, Claire and Grace were both bumble bees. It was amazing to see how well Claire did by saying "Trick or Treat" and then saying "Thank you, Happy Halloween!" It wasn't tough to get her costume on because all we had to tell her was that she could wear her black "Tap" shoes and she would get candy :)

I was on the ground taking these pictures while Pete made the bumble bees "fly"

Trust me... it looks WAY more dangerous than it was - all about camera angle! :)

Grace trick or treating at my parent's house

Family photo at ZooBoo

"Can you believe mom and dad did this to us?"

Jackson (basketball hoop), Claire (bumble bee), and Jude (Super Jude)

October 2010

October was a wonderful month for the Vandervaart family. The month included "Light the Night" - a walk to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a visit from Pete's parents and sisters, a couple of trips to the Children's Museum, a visit to the zoo for ZooBoo, and a couple of visits from my sister, Beth. We spent an evening at the Getty's house and another evening with the Syrek family. We went to the pumpkin patch and I took the girls to the Covered Bridge Festival with some family and friends. On October 8th I got certified to teach Zumba classes and my first session is this Wednesday! I am really excited!

Claire is maturing by the minute it seems - she is getting a little less clumsy and continues to climb things like a monkey. She has the best imagination I know... She will all of a sudden say "Shh... a dinosaur is coming!" and then I will follow her wherever she goes and then she will say "Whew, that was close!" She continues to be a bit of a picky eater but her favorite food is a bagel with cream cheese! She sings her ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, and some songs off of Dora and Fresh Beat Band. She is such a joy to watch - plain and simple :)

Grace is SO close to walking. She cruises along furniture and loves to walk with her walking toy. Yesterday when we were getting her pictures taken she actually took her first step on her own and we were able to catch an action shot photo of it! (For a scrapbooker like myself, this is a big deal!) She loves to say "mama" even though I don't think she knows that's me. She is a bottomless pit and will eat anything in front of her. She is like her sister and loves when Pete horses around with her. She, too, is such a delight to watch grow.

Here is Grace cautiously approaching the pumpkin

She liked to stir the pumpkin goop

She dropped a toy inside the pumpkin

Claire was having a great time!

Trying to do some carving

The following are pictures from "Light the Night"

Claire and Grandpa

Claire and Grace in pumpkins

Bath time!

Love her kissable cheeks

The following are from the pumpkin patch...

Aww.... sisterly snuggling!

Shirt says it all :)

Pajama time

We went to tuck Claire in and this is how we found her!

Luckily it was bath night

A cake that Claire decorated

Claire protecting or hiding behind Grace (while I was vacuuming)

What a Gerber baby!

Jumping Pillow

Claire on the jumping pillow at the pumpkin patch

Grace "Walking"

Grace walking across the room with her kiddie walker

Claire bowling

Claire showing off her bowling skills

Dance party

Claire, Beth, and Grandpa dancing at the bowling alley...

Claire feeding Grace

Claire feeding Grace and doing that thing with her mouth - why do we all seem to do that?

Swinging

Grace and Claire swinging while Claire frantically kicks the ball that Pete is tossing her way!

Claire and Jackson Singing

Here is a video of Claire and Jackson singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABC's"... at one point they were combining the two since they have the same tune :)

September 2010

The month of September was busy, but certainly fun-filled! We went to Ohio for a friend's wedding, helped get my parent's house ready to be put on the market, went to a couple showers for work girls, took my dad bowling (one of his favorite hobbies), did some Christmas shopping, went to the Children's Museum, and had dinner dates with many different families (White, Getty, Syrek, and Obenchain families). Pete and Keith took the kids to the zoo on a Saturday morning of my work weekend - they seemed to have a very good time. I took Claire to see her first movie (Toy Story 3) - at first she was really scared and covered her eyes with her blanket and by the end of the movie, she was sitting in her own seat chowing down on popcorn.

Claire is at the "push buttons" phase - we will tell her to pick something up and she will put her hands about 2 inches from the object and freeze, and then look back up at us with a smile. BUT, she is very good at saying "please" and "thank you" and whever Grace comes to play with the toy she is playing with she quickly gets up to get Grace a toy. Claire started back in her PDO program and goes to "school" 2 days a week. She loves it! Her new obsessions are Dora the Explorer and The Fresh Beat Band. She loves playing with dollhouses which is good because that is a Christmas gift coming her way!

Grace is a bottomless pit - she eats and eats and eats. She is such a laid back kiddo. She started to have some anxiety when Pete or I leave the room but she is getting better. She has started pulling herself up onto furniture and walking along the couch.

Here are some pictures from our month of September...

Mike, Anne, myself, and Pete and Scott & Trina's wedding

Ashley, Anne, and I

The beautiful bride and groom

Grandma and Grace

The following are pictures from our bowling adventure. We had bumpers and light bowling balls to help Claire and my dad, BUT my dad got a strike using NObumpers and NO special treatments! What a rock star!

Proud papa after his strike

Action shot

Claire in bowling shoes - adorable!

Grace was a big help :)

Grandpa and Grace

The following are pictures from when Pete and Keith took the kids to the zoo. (It was my weekend to work so I was sleeping)

Grace content in her stroller

What a crazy picture! (Obviously there is glass in between)

Keith and Claire after Claire has yelled out "Hey, giraffes... wanna eat?"

You may think this picture is off centered - but that gentleman on the left is Dallas Clark (tight end for the Colts)! They bought tickets around the same time which meant the pretty much went through the zoo together - Pete and Keith were pretty pumped.

One evening, Pete and I took the girls to the park...

Our little monkey, Claire, climbing all around

Me, attempting to help Grace down the slide and Grace looks like she is skeptical

Pause at the bottom of the slide for a quick picture

Grace in the swing, rockin those adorable shoes!

One day, Mallory and Jude met up with us and we went to the Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun and all kids seemed to have a great time!

Grace getting tired in playscape from all of the playing

She was dropping toys over this ledge and watching them fall

More playing

Jude and Claire at the water table

Claire at the water table

Grace playing with the (unbreakable) blown glass

Jude and Claire watching the train

Jude showing Claire the ropes

Carousel ride!

Teamwork :)

Indulging in Dippin' Dots after a great day

Jude and Claire watching the water clock

Claire and Jude hugging good bye

Claire's first outfit she picked out

The swing on our balcony soothing Grace

Opa and Gracie

Claire sitting at her new Dora table eating some ice cream

Claire's smile when you ask her to smile for the camera... ha! :)

Go Colts!

Ready for the game!

Grace loving her swing

Claire with a very sweet face

Claire being a little dramatic...

Grace watching Claire in time out (Claire didn't want to share this seat)

Claire ready to go for a walk

Jude and Claire going for a ride

So photogenic together

Teething Grace

Can't believe how big she is getting!

Mommy and Grace

I attempted to cut Claire's hair - the only way for her to sit still was to be eating Cheetos and watching Dora

Pretty "even"

Making music in the tub

A shot of the finished product of Claire's hair - and yes, I ventured enough to throw some layers in there!

Grace standing on her own (for a very brief moment)

Ha, I let Grace have an oreo.... then a bath!

Chowing down

"Hey Mom, look at my oreo!"

One day, the girls and I went to the local library to look around and it was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures....

They played on a little computer

Lego wall (we plan to re-create this for Grace's birthday)

They both loved it

Grace enjoyed this puzzle where you could move the car around

Claire liked this dollhouse (surprise, surprise)

Another cool shot thanks to clear walls!

Grace ready to do some grocery shopping with mom

Claire and Grace were big troopers in the store once we discovered this cool cart

We added another swing to our balcony so the girls can swing together

We met my mom at Fazoli's for lunch one day

Needless to say, it was a messy choice