A cousin, a wedding and a kitty

We've had a very busy July! After two weekends of weddings we had a weekend off and got to spend it with some very special visitors. Aunt Kyla and Maddi K came home for a few days. We went to the fair and played all weekend long!

Maddison LOVES to give Claire hugs....but Claire wasn't so sure about ALL.OF.THE.HUGGING!

Getting two toddlers to sit still AND smile is nearly impossible!

This picture turned out pretty well. The dress was a present from Miss Marie. It's one of our favorites!

Maddison thought there might be room for both of them in the car!

The girls enjoyed playing in the sand and riding the 4-wheeler with Papa Kuip.

And Claire put the sand in her mouth, which just proves that Grandma & Grandpa's house is a great place for a sandbox!

Last weekend was a busy wedding weekend! My long time friend Erin got married in a quaint (and very hot) little church south of LeRoy. I enjoyed being a part of her wedding festivities.

The bride was beautiful in her red and white dress!

Mom and dad cleaned up pretty well too!

This is the only decent picture of the bride and groom.

The LeRoy crew! Jack & Carolyn, Joey, Jessie, Jenna, Diane, Erin & Tony, me & T. JP & Linsey had already left for the night.

We ran out of marshmallows for the chocolate fountain, so Carolyn and I had to improvise.

Claire and I headed to LeRoy Thursday morning and didn't get back until Sunday night. Trever thought that meant he could bring home another inside pet. His name is Congo and he currently lives in the basement. He only gets out when he's on a leash.

Claire LOVES to carry Congo around. And Congo tolerates it.

He even lets her dress him up!

We've got other things going on around here too but it's going to have to wait for another post!

13 months

What's been going on since Claire turned 1? All kinds of stuff!

The weekend after Claire's birthday was Fathers day. This was the first weekend in months that we hadn't had plans or had work to do in the garage.

On June 25-26 we took a little "vacation" to the National Junior Anugs Association Eastern Regional that was held in Bloomington, IL. Claire spent some time playing with her friend Haley. Hopefully they will be great friends because we plan on about 20 more years of showing together! The next weekend was the 4th of July. We spent the morning of the 3rd in Onarga for the big festivities. Claire sat perfectly still for the parade and shared candy with Ava & Kate. Thanks to Aunt Jeanie for taking some pictures for us. After the parade we went to the park for lunch. Great Papa Kuipers shared his chips with Claire and he quickly became her best friend. Then we sent Claire home with Gammy so Trever and I could go to a wedding. We enjoyed the wedding of Trever's college roommate and judging teammate, Jeff & his new wife Ashley.

On Sunday we headed to Lake Mattoon for a day in the water. These pictures don't show it very well, but Claire LOVED the lake. She wasn't too fond of the life jacket but did pretty good in the floaty.

Claire's first boat ride. She wasn't too sure what to think and by the time she was smiling, my battery was dead!

I had to make a super quick diaper run one day last week and after some quick calculations determined that these "denim" diapers were cheaper than plain ol' white ones. We had to do a quick photo shoot to show them off.

Friday night I got to spend some girl time celebrating Erin Burcham's bachelorette party. It was pretty low key and just a good time. But I didn't take any pictures! Wait just a couple of weeks and I'm sure I'll have plenty from her wedding day!

Saturday night Claire got to stay with Grandma & Grandpa Builta and Trever and I headed to Shipman for the wedding of my co-worker Nicole. It was a warm but very nice wedding and I got some great pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

And finally, yesterday Claire turned 13 months old! She still doesn't want to sit still with the bear but now it's because she knows she can see herself in the back of my camera! So, here are a couple of pictures from our photo shoot.

We finally tied her to the chair but not before bribing her and losing a shoe!

At 13 months old Claire is...

• Eating us out of house and home.
• Loves hotdogs, strawberries, bananas, watermelon and green beans.
• Cries when daddy goes outside without her.
• Points to her bed when she's ready to go nigh nigh.
• Says nigh nigh!
• says uh oh, pupu (puppy), mAma (grandma), papa, baba (baby), and she has started telling us NO once in a while.
• She knows the signs for more, all done, please and food. Sometimes we get a sign that supposedly means drink/milk.
• LOVES going to Miss Mary's every morning and doesn't care for coming home in the afternoon.