July Randoms

A wrap up of our month:

July 2 - A playdate at the Bulverde park with Grace and Jacob.  The little splash pad was big fun!


The last swim lesson at Aqua Tots!  It was a lot of fun, but we decided to take a break for awhile.


July 4 - For our trip to Dallas, I got each kid a book (Frozen for Claire and a dragon guide to How to Train Your Dragon for Will) along with the Dragon movie.  Will immediately became obsessed with the book and can now recite the entire thing from memory - and it's a Level 2, so it's not short.


July 15 - We got a lot of rain today, and when I got home from picking up the kids from their summer fun program, I noticed that all 3 of our garbage cans had rolled down the hill.  Fortunately a service truck at the neighbor's house stopped them from going all the way down the street!


July 26 - We are getting ready to have the interior of our house repainted, so Claire and I found some bedding that we both liked before we repaint.  We are both excited to see the final result soon.


July 29 - This evening I let the kids play with their new water guns.  Will really liked spraying himself - silly kid!


July 30 - We went up to Bulverde this morning to drop off some meals for a fellow MOPS member who just had a baby, so it was a good chance for us to play at the splash pad at the local park.  Claire and Will had so much fun in the water - beautiful day!

Claire's Perspective

Occasionally Claire will ask to use my camera to take some pictures, and it's always interesting to see her world from her perspective.  Here are a few of her photos from February.

Playing outside


Mommy close-up!


Mommy in the kitchen early one morning


Will's bathtime (in Claire's bathroom)


Her room from her bed


Popcorn, a favorite snack

Summer 2013: The Backyard

August 2013 marked the 5 year anniversary of living in our house.  When we were deciding which house to buy, the backyard was one of the main reasons we knew this was "the one."  We have two huge oak trees that provide a lot of shade throughout the day, making it possible to enjoy time outside even in our insanely hot South Texas summers.

The kids and I spent a ton of time out in the back this summer, and they were usually in their swimsuits.  I may get tired of the heat, but I do love summer.

Easter 2013: Part 2

On Saturday of Easter weekend, we hosted an Easter egg hunt for several of our friends and neighbors with small children.  Besides being a good motivator for spring cleaning our backyard, it was So. Much. Fun.

Each child brought a dozen filled eggs, and while Robert and some of the other daddies hid the eggs, we had a simple little craft for the kids - decorating a foam egg with stickers.


We managed to get a shot of most of the kids together...


...and then the hunt began!








Enjoying the spoils


Love this shot of Kate & Claire!


And with Elliot


Everything went so smoothly, and we had a blast.  This may have been the first annual egg hunt at our home. :)

Will's Nursery

The nursery is still missing a few touches that I want to add - mainly photos and a couple of shelves - but I don't want to wait any longer to share photos.

When you walk in, the armoire is to your left, and then you have the crib, his closet, glider (which you will all recognize from the chair pictures!), and dresser.

The dresser is from Ikea. We have a larger one in white from the same line in Claire's room, and it still looks good after almost 3 years of use. Love Ikea!

Dad and I painted the armoire shortly before Will was born. I really wish I'd taken a "before" photo - it was a major transformation. I've had the armoire since high school. The poly coating had yellowed, and the brass hardware had definitely seen better days. I replaced the knobs and handles and spray painted the hinges. So happy with how it turned out. Still need a photo for that frame...

The quilt was a gift from Lindsay, and will be moved once we stop swaddling him and he has use of his hands while in the crib (which is something that needs to happen, but I'm scared of how it might affect his sleeping!).

The prints above the crib are by Larry Stephenson. We got them at the Main Street Arts Festival the night we got engaged - we bought one of his originals to celebrate, and when the artist saw us admiring these prints, he threw them in for free. We always thought we'd eventually find a place for them, and now they are in our son's room. :) Robert and Dad did the custom framing job. We got some quotes and decided that we could do something ourselves. We found frames that were the right height, and Robert and Dad cut them down to fit. They did a great job!

I love his room and am happy with how it turned out!

Project Life: Week 9

February 28 - March 6:

Monday

Will was fascinated by his buddy Harrison at Life Group tonight.

Wednesday

I spent most of today working on a book of blog posts from 2010 - my first blog book! I've spent most of my free time this week playing with it, and I am almost done. I hope to order it this weekend - can't wait to see the final product!

Claire has a habit of getting out of bed and laying by her door - we think she likes to try to hear us after we go to bed. We usually get her back in bed before she falls asleep, but tonight she was completely crashed out when I went to check on her. I did move her into bed - after I took a picture!


Friday

Robert told Claire that he was wearing a "Bevo shirt" today, so Claire decided that she and Will should also wear theirs. Even I have to admit they look pretty cute in their matching shirts.

Saturday

Claire tried wearing her big girl undies today. She made it a couple of hours before having an accident, and then wanted to wear a diaper again. Small steps!

Sunday

Will tried out the Exersaucer for the first time today. His feet touched the bottom, but I had to give him lots of padding to help him stay upright. He wasn't sure what to think at first but quickly figured it out.

Christmas in July

I was going through some photos and realized I never posted about Claire's new slide. For Christmas, Nana and Granddaddy gave us money to buy Claire a slide for Christmas. She always loves playing on ones at friends' houses. Since we were going on our trip to Hawaii in January, we didn't want to order something and risk it arriving while we were gone, so we planned to get it when we returned. Life got in the way, and money sat there on our refrigerator.

As we were getting things in order for our trip to New York, Robert suggested that we go get a slide so that Claire would have a new toy to help keep her occupied while my mom and dad were staying with her. We found one we liked at Toys R Us, and kept it in the garage until they arrived. The first day they were here, my dad put it together, and Claire was so excited to have her very own slide in her playroom! It's the first thing she runs to every time we go upstairs. Thanks Nana & Granddaddy.

Random October Photos

Here are some other pictures from October that I never posted on the blog. The first few are some that I took during practice for my photography class. Claire is always so happy in the morning and was having fun exploring her room.

This next set is from a fall festival sponsored by our church the Sunday before Halloween. Claire and I rode down the big slide - she loved it! Just look at her face in all of these - she laughed the whole way down.

She also had a blast at the kiddy playground:

It was a really good set up, and we're looking forward to her being able to participate in more of the games and activities next year.