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.
  
  

By the way...

Claire was 22 pounds and 30 1/2 inches tall at her check-up today.

Party time!

Claire had a GREAT party on Saturday. We were extremely lucky to have so many family members and friends in attendance. Claire had a blast and so did her mommy & daddy.



We've spent the last few months remodeling our garage. It's a good thing we did because we spent a lot of time in there thanks to monsoon season here in Illinois.

Claire got lots of super cool toys. This scooter toy was a custom crafted by Cooter just for Claire!

One of Claire's favorite toys, and definately the loudest toy she got, was the train from Gammy & Papa.

Claire got a Going to Grandma's house bag fool of goodies from Grandma & Grandpa B. Including her very own cell phone!

We did get all of the gifts unwrapped but Claire wasn't overly intersted. There were kids to play with and rain to dance in!

Finally it was time for cake. Great Grandma Builta made Claire a very special lamb cake. It's a cake just like her mommy had for her first birthday.

She was a little timid about the diving in to the cake, but with a little help to Aunt Kyla she got good and messy! After a quick bath and a wardrobe change Claire was back to her tom boy antics.

She didn't need any encouragement, but she had plenty!

Too bad she didn't open her present from Kara until after she sat down in the puddle. The pictures of Claire in her super cute rubber boots didn't want to load to the blog.

Thank you to everyone who made her 1st birthday so much fun! I know she won't remember it, but we will!

Our baby girl is 1!

She wanted to sleep in, but mean ol' mommy woke her up with a camera flash. And daddy was singing "Happy Birthday Claire, this is your special day".

Slowly but surely we got a smile out of her!

She wasn't quite sure what to think about the fire on her rolls.

Then she opened up her present from mommy & daddy! A pretty charm bracelet with her name on it!

And we got a quick picture with the shrinking bear!

Claire is spending her birthday with Daddy, Gammy & Cousin Maddison at a cattle show in Bloomington. After a couple quick shopping stops they'll be home to help put the finishing touches on everything for the big party tomorrow.

*You may notice the large, red bump on her head! Let's just say that Claire hasn't mastered the stairs yet. She's a tough girl though!

Claire videos

Here are a couple of videos that show some of Claire's newest tricks. They aren't as great as the real thing, but they'll have to do!

Life at 11 months

Claire is an active, independent, 11 month old. So, what does a day in the life of 11 month old Claire look like?

6:20 a.m. Mommy & Daddy force her out of bed so we can eat scrambled eggs together.
6:45 a.m. Time to hop up on the bed and get dressed for the day
7:00 a.m. Daddy takes Claire to Miss Mary's house.
7:05 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Sh has TONS of fun at Miss Mary's house and aparently takes too many naps.
4:45 p.m. Mommy picks Claire up (unless mommy is working late dealing with crabby farmers and then daddy picks her up)
5:00 p.m. Claire helps daddy do chores (aka sits in her stroller) or helps mommy make dinner
5:30 p.m. Claire gets locked in her baby jail (aka a pack and play) with her bottle while mommy and daddy work in the garage.
6:00 p..m Claire has a meltdown because her bottle is gone and she's still locked in baby jail.
6:05 p.m. Mommy gets tired of listening to her scream so she takes Claire inside to finish dinner.
6:45 p.m. Claire "helps" mommy fill the dishwasher and plays while daddy goes back outside to work.
7:30 p.m. BATH TIME!
8:00 p.m. Play time until
9:00 p.m. Bed time

In between all of this excitement, Claire enjoys....


Eating sticks, rocks, mulch, dirt, etc.

Playing with Rally, giving him open mouthed kisses, and feeding him mulch, rocks, sticks, dirt, etc.
She LOVES her dadadadadadadadada....I do believe that is the ONLY word she knows.
Playing Tarzan....beating her chest, or anyone elses, like she's Tarzan.

And growing up and becoming more independent every day.