March

 March was a wonderful month for our family.  Some of the many highlights include: Claire's birthday party; my sister, Beth, getting engaged to Matt; and getting through the one year anniversary of my dad's death.

On March 21st of last year, my family was clearly devastated and while we still miss him every day - it is nice to have the "firsts" behind us.  (First Christmas, first child he missed being born, first anniversary of his death, etc.)  Pete asked me what I thought would help me have a good day on the 21st.  I decided that a day at the spa would make me feel good - who doesn't feel good after a spa day??  A girlfriend joined me for some of it and it turned out being a great day.  That evening some friends met up with us and we had a great time.  Back home, my family had a buffett of my dad's favorite foods (fried chicken, onion rings, corn dogs, applesauce, etc.)  They seemed to have a good time and enjoyed honoring him.

Onto lighter and happier subjects... Beth and Matt got engaged on March 18th and I decided to hop in the car and celebrate with them in Indy.  It was a short trip but was good to hang out with the happy couple!

Claire birthday (as you will later tell by the photos) took over much of March with celebrations.  Pete and I still can't believe we have a four year old, or even three kids for that matter!  We feel very blessed...most of the time!  Just kidding!

Claire and Grace swim with Grammy on Wednesdays and Claire has swim lessons before this fun swim time.  She has advanced to the "Eel" status which means she has been in the big pool without floaties and has to have goggles for all of her "torpedos" (dives into the water).

Jake is getting SO big!  He is now crawling on all fours and pulls himself up to stand.  He is so cute when I go into his room in the mornings and he just standing there smiling!  Problem is, he doesn't know how to sit back down gently :)

Grace is her same wonderful self!  She is definately a momma's girl though.  Is she is not at my side, she is in my lap or sitting at my feet! 

Here are some pictures from our month...

 We enjoyed the nice weather and took the kids on many walks...

 This is how Jake sleeps in the car - I LOVE how he crosses his legs :)

 We got Claire a bike for her birthday and she does really well with it!  She is still learning how to do the breaks, but she is getting there!

We took on the big project of staining our fence.  As you can see, it needed some TLC.  We were doing it by hand at first but that was taking FOREVER.  So we went and bought a sprayer and it was well worth the money!

We even got the little pool out for a couple of days

On Claire's birthday we went to the mall (She loves the mall!).  Grammy, Aunt Sarah and Bently met us there and we had a great time!

 Where's Claire?

 Thankfully she wasn't doing this to real people...

At the beginning of March, we took the kids swimming on a Friday night.  Our kids love to swim and we all had a great time!

 On Claire's actual birthday, Pete took her to the store to pick something out and she picked roller skates.  Claire is clumsy without skates so it is pretty disastrous on skates - but we admire her courage!  (It's a good thing we didn't name HER Grace :)

For Claire's birthday party this year, we went a little crazy!  We rented a pony to come to our backyard and give all of the kids pony rides.  It was a blast and well worth it!  The party was great and we simply loved being surrounded my so many family and friends.  We were touched at all of the people that drove into town to celebrate - Great Grandma and Great Grandpa K, Aunt Kathy and Uncle Kwabena, Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt (soon enough, right?), Grandma, and The Getty Family with Claire's best bud, Jude!