Claire's first ponytail

15 months

It's been a few weeks since I last posted anything and, as usual, we've got plenty to tell about. The last weekend in August is always the Builta reunion. Claire wasn't the baby of the group this year, but she had a ton of fun! Daddy spent a lot of time chasing her through the playground.
And, then mommy chased her some more trying to get some pictures! She loves the little hamster tunnels!

Later that week, Trever spent his final day at Select Exotics and accepted a position with Family Heritage.

We spent Labor Day weekend together and simply enjoyed being together as a family. On Saturday we went to Chenoa and took in our first Mighty Mites game. I enjoyed putting on my "big" lense and trying my hand at some sports photography.

Shelbie is my little sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and she cheers for the GCMS Mighty Mites team.

This is my favorite picture of Graham since my battery died in the first half!


This is my favorite picture from the day. This little guy is a friend of the Voelkers and Michael was pestering him from the sidelines.
Sunday we headed to church. After church and naps we headed to a cookout at our friends house just north of Piper. It was a great chance to visit with people in our community and we are so appreciative of the invite.

On Monday we took a shopping trip to Arcola, Tuscola and Champaign. We literally shopped till we dropped but we got Trever some new things for his new job!

Tuesday moning Trever headed for Chicagoland for licensing training. He had a few chalenges with the traffic but after 2 days of class and 4 tests he is officially eligible to sell insurance in the State of Illinois!

In the meantime, a nasty stomach bug hit our house. Claire woke up sick Tuesday morning. Luckily, Gammy came over to help with Claire so I could get some work done. She was feeling much better by the end of the day. We went back to the sitters & work on Wednesday but by Wednesday night it had hit me too. Thankfully, Trever was home Wednesday night to study and could take care of Claire while I slept on the bathroom floor! He made it through his tests on Thursday but the bug found him by bedtime that night. Unfortunately he wasn't able to slow down too much so it lingered with him a while longer. We've all been upright for a couple of days now so hopefully it stays away.

Yesterday Claire turned 15 months old! We tried to get some pictures before we headed to Champaign for the day but were only successful with this one.

We had a baby shower for Radebaby yesterday at El Toro in Champaign. I didn't take any pictures but I hope to get a few from the others in attendance. We stopped to see Grandma & Grandpa at the tailgate but decided to skip the game. I was in bed asleep before the game was even over!

This morning Trever taught Sunday school and then we tried to get our 15 month bear pictures. Attempt 1...


Attempt 17...short 1 shoe.

I took a lot more than that, but those are the best I got!

Then we went and helped daddy in the barn. Before he left for the week he got all of the feed ready so that Claire and I can handle chores without him. Claire really wanted to help!

She even figured out how to turn the water on. She LOVES water.
And she pet the heifers. I wish mommy was as confident with the cows as Claire is!

And Trever left about 12:30 for the airport. He will be in Dallas until Friday for Sales School. It sounds like he has a pretty action packed week ahead of him and we sure hope he has time to call home before midnight! Claire and I are off to a pretty good start to our week! Only 9 more chores until Daddy gets home!

He just texted me that he's boarding in Chicago. Next stop St. Louis!

Claire's first Quad Tour

We took Claire on her first tour of the U of I quad today. She got her picture taken at the Alma Mater!

Then some strangers (Kara & Jake) thought we really needed to take a family picture.

Then we headed to Cold Stone Creamery where we treated Kara & Jake to some yummy ice cream!

Claire's first demo derby

A couple of weeks ago we found out that our friend Tony was going to be in the demo derby at the Fairbury fair. We happened to be free that night so we of course we took them up on the invitation to come watch. We got there with just enough time to check out the Fairbury Fair before the demo started.

Claire with Mr. Tony's car in the background. He was the red and blue #13.

Claire and daddy with her checkered flag. They passed these out too all of the kids in the stands.

Mr. Tony with his trophy. Not really sure why since he got last place, but he got his entry fee back and a trophy to go with it!

I don't think we'll be frequenting the demo derby scene, but it was a lot of fun to have someone to cheer for!

14 months

Time is flying by. We've done lots of things since my last blog entry but we haven't taken many pictures.



A few weeks ago we gave Claire her first ear of sweet corn and she LOVED it! She hates to wait for it to cool off and sometimes calls it a banana. We made a trip to the McLean County fair last weekend and picked up an ear of corn at the Pork Producers booth. It kept her entertained for over an hour!


Yesterday Claire turned 14 months old. She becomes more independent everyday and has developed quite the attitude. Since she wouldn't cooperate for the pictures, we decided to replace her with someone who doesn't throw fits and is potty trained!

We really didn't get a very good picture of Claire with the bear. She has figured out that she can see herself in the back of the camera. So, as soon as she sees the camera she yelss "MAMA" and takes off running toward me to see the picture in the back of the camera.

At 14 months Claire...

• throwssome serious fits
• likes to help daddy do chores
• carries Congo around upside down
• climbs on everything
• knows the signs for more, please, thank you, and all done
• says quite a few words like more, thank you, puppy, I, mama, dada, papa, Mamaw, nana (banana), Melmo (Elmo), and a lot of others that I can't think of right now.knows what cows, sheep, chicken, snakes, bees, monkeys, donkeys, horses, ducks, and pigs say (everybody knows pigs say LaLaLa right?)
• Knows what outside means and you better mean it when you say it.
• isn't one bit afraid of cows or pigs charging out her down the aisle in the barn, but is terrified of sleeping pigs.
• LOVES brushing her teeth
• has 9 teeth and a few more on the verge of poking through
• Folds her hands when we say prayers

I"m sure there are many other things that I'm missing. I'll try to be better about catching the every day things and post a little more often. But for now, I need to pack for vacation. That's right, we're headed to the State Fair!

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.