Thursday, March 22, 2012

February...Better Late Than Never :)

Sorry for the late post - life is keeping us busy.  This beautiful weather has thrown Pete and I into a ridiculous amount of yard work that we didn't get to last year.  We are currently staining our fence and just finished staining our gazebo that sits over our hot tub. 

Anyways, February was a wonderful month!  We made a trip home to Indy the third weekend in February.  We went up to Lafayette and visited one of our favorite bars from college.  It was a great time had by all...



We purchased a table for the foyer...

We had some craft time in the tub.  I took shaving cream and added food coloring to it and let the girls paint.  They had a blast!


My friend, Melissa, and I took our kids to the Cleveland Children's Museum.  It does not remind me of the Indianapolis Children's Museum AT ALL but the kids had a great time.  Melissa and I don't really plan on going back - it was tough to keep track of  the kids, not stroller friendly, etc.






 They had a big room full of sand that Claire and Jake liked but Grace wouldn't stand in it!  Their favorite part was the fake grocery store!

 Our little Jake is army crawling and said his first word on Saturday (March 17th) - "Emma".  He just loves her!  I take him with my to the Y when I go workout and it is typically his morning nap time.  He has fallen asleep a couple times while standing up!  The childwatch employees think its hilarious!



We put Grace in a big girl bed.  They do really well together and Grace loves her bed!


We played out in the hot tub on a snowy day.  The girls were amazed because I would take a big handful of snow and say "Abra Cadabra" and drop it in the water and it would instantly disappear. :)


The weather started to warm up at the end of February and we were able to break in the swing set for the season!  Claire has learned to swing all by herself and she loves to show us her new talent!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Professional Portraits

We took Claire this morning for her 4 year pictures and decided to try and get some family shots and kid photos.  We had the most success to date!  Grace was still unsure, but did a great job and our photographer was so wonderful!  Here are some of the proofs...













The photographer kept catching her on the "S" of cheese and I think Claire as a little bit of a lisp :)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

January 2012

January was a wonderful month for us.  We were hotel Vandervaart and enjoyed every minute of it.  My mom came to visit the 2nd weekend of January.  We did a little shopping, went to lunch and hung out at our house.  The next weekend, my sister and her boyfriend, Matt came to visit.  We got a babysitter on Friday night and went out to dinner and for drinks.  I took Beth to a spinning class and she seemed to like it.  We relaxed and hung out at home on Saturday.  The following weekend, Keith and Allison came to visit.  Deb was, unfortunately, sick and unable to come.  We had a nice dinner and pretty much hung out here the entire time.  It was great to just relax and enjoy each other's company.  Saturday night, friends came over and we all played poker.  We had a great time with all of our visitors!

At the beginning of the month, I started watching our friend's baby Nolan who is 3 months old.  He is a great baby and the added income is nice.  It is very busy and hectic at times but I suppose it helps solidify our decision to stop at 3 kids :)

Claire continues to have more energy than I can keep up with!  She has a great sense of humor, she is very polite, and she loves to talk!  (Karma for me as a kid I am sure!)  She loves to color and do any sort of art!  Unfortunately, she got sick at the end of the month and was not herself.  She is much better today and back to bouncing off walls!

Grace is talking more and more.  Her advancement in talking amazes me.  Let me rephrase, she is not advanced in talking - her progress throughout this month is amazing!  I will say that she seems to excel in fine motor skills like puzzles and how things go together, etc.  She also loves to color and do any sort of art.

Jake has gotten SO big!  He sits up on his own now and rolls over left and right.  He will start sitting up on 1 side of the room and end up on his tummy on the other side of the room.  He babbles and eats well.  His smile simply melts my heart!

Pete and I are continuing to go to the gym and have lost another 10-15 lbs combined.  We are hoping to continue on this journey (mine longer than his!). 

Pete had a birthday this month and we went to our favorite Hibachi grill on a date.  Then we went out with a bunch of friends another night to celebrate.  

Here are some pictures from our month...

 Grace painting Jake's toenails - oops!!!



 Jake and his buddy, Harrison

 Jake and cousin, Bently


 They look like twins in this picture!

 Jake and his crazy hair

 A photo that I am sure will be in graduation and wedding slideshows :)

 Rockin on all fours


 Pete on his birthday night!

 Grace and Aunt Beth

 Sleepy Jake

We went to Chucke Cheese with some friends...



 Grace, cousin Allison and Claire

 Uncle Keith and Claire

 Jake and Allison

Me and my mini-me