The last few weeks

I've been slacking on the blogging lately. And I've also been slacking on the picture taking. Claire has been keeping us busy. She does not slow down! That means that everything we do involves an extra set of hands.

A couple of weeks ago Trever brought home my birthday/mothers day present/fathers day present. Claire helped him put it together, when she wasn't eating rocks.

A couple of weeks ago, Claire and I roadtripped with Angie and Addison to Jacksonville, IL for a very special baby shower. Dani and I have been friends since our pig showin' days, we're sorority sisters, and now she's Claire's "Crazy Aunt Dani". We're excited that in about a month there will be another little girl for Claire to play with. The picture below is one of the better pictures of all of the girls and the one boy of the group.

In the picture below, Claire & I are behind Darcy & Delaney, then there is Becky & Hayley, Dani & baby W, JorjAnn & Zachary, Angie, Addison & Baby Eggenberger #2.

Last weekend we got to hang out with two of our favorite, and growing, families! Jeremiah was having a good time playing with Mr. Potatohead. He wasn't so sure about sharing it with Claire though.

We wanted to get a picture of Claire with her boyfriends. Of course we didn't plan very well and they were all thinking about bed when we finally did it. None of the pictuers had all 3 kids facing the camera, but I thought this was a cute picture. It looks like Jeremiah is teaching Claire a thing or two. And poor Andrew was just thrown in there!
This week has been a busy work week for us but our evenings have been spent working around the farm. Grandma Marge came yesterday and spent the afternoon with Claire while Grandpa went to a pig sale. Tomorrow night we are both heading to get our littles and who knows what the weekend will bring.

10 months

Claire had a pretty low key 10 month birthday yesterday. She was super happy when she woke up and even cuddled for a little while. She ate pancakes, took a nap, went to church, ate some lunch, helped remodel the garage, played with Gammy and Papa, took a LONG nap and then posed for pictures before bathtime, playtime and bedtime.

Getting pictures with the bear continues to become more difficult. We've also learned that Claire is not a big fan of the grass when it touches her bare legs as you can see in the last picture!

Enjoy!

Claire's 1st Easter

Claire had a rough week last week. She started off the week a little on the whiney side with a runny nose and nasty cough. She finished the week with lots of goodies in her Easter basket and a new tooth!

Early in the week she got a special package in the mail! She got a super cute Easter shirt from Uncle Steve & Aunt Jeanie!

Gammy sent home Claire's Easter basket with us a little early. Claire didn't realize it was there until about Thursday. Don't those eyes look like they are saying "I'm sorry mama. I didn't mean to eat the whole chocolate marshmallow bunny by myself"

But this evil grin tells a whole different story!

On Friday, Miss Mary and Miss Cierra took the kids to the nursing home for an Easter egg hunt. I showed up to take a few pictures and beat up the big kids that tried to take Claire's eggs.

Claire wasn't sure what to think of the Easter Bunny. She refused to touch her fur, bu we got a picture anyway!Before we headed to Good Friday service this is what we found in the bathroom....She walked around the house for a few minutes with toilet paper stuck to her foot!

Saturday night we dyed eggs. Only a dozen though.

Ok...so mommy and daddy dyed eggs....after mommy forced daddy to help...but doesn't Claire look cute watching!

And eating the egg that cracked during boiling?

Sunday morning Treve was in charge of Sunrise Service and the breakfast that followed. Then we headed to church so Gammy & Papa could see Claire in her Easter dress. A quick stop at Great-Grandma Ficklin's and we were on the road to Great-Grandma Builta's house.

Here is Claire in her adorable little Easter Dress. Here are a couple of my favorites!

A family picture while we're all dressed up!

After lunch we took a walk down to "Aunt" Barb & "Uncle" Larry's house. We knew they would have some pretty flowers for a photo shoot. No flowers in this picture but it's got my two favorite people in it!

Claire had about had it by the time we got to "Aunt" Barb & "Uncle" Larry's. She thought that the flamingos were pretty cool though!

Now it's Monday and we're 1/5th of the week down and headed toward another weekend! We do have a couple of things going on but nothing too exciting.

And, before I save this entry and sign out, our house would like to spend a very special happy birthday toward Tipton, IA! We love you MJ! Enjoy the big 3-0!

Iowa in March

At 1 p.m. on March 19th in Piper City, IL the thermometer sai 64 degrees. When I entered the state of Iowa a few hours later the thermometer on the truck read 52 degrees. By Saturday morning there was a considerable amount of snow and even some sleet.

Last weekend, Claire and I took another roadtrip. This time we headed west toward Tipton, IA to visit one of our favorite families, the Todds.

Jeremiah is my favorite 3 year old. I love playing with Jeremiah and listening to the stories that come out of his mouth. My favvorite was when he told me about his moose slippers. He said "these aren't just any slippers, their MOOSE slippers".

Claire was a good roadtripper, even if she did only sleep for 20 minutes the entire drive out.

Andrew is the baby of the group (for a few more months:). He's got an adorable little smile and his feet move a mile a minute. He's awfully stinking cute too!

Claire thought Andrew had some pretty cool toys. She did a good job being gentle with the baby...most of the time.

Not a bad picture considering the ages of the kids and the fact that there was most likely a Handy Manny episode on the tv!

Like I said, Claire was gentle...most of the time.

Saturday afternoon we took off for the indoor pool. Claire was too cute in her swimsuit. Especially when we put her stocking hat on with it!

Claire LOVED the swimming pool! She loves bathtime so I'm not surprised. She would kick her legs like crazy and giggle! It was a blast

We rushed back Sunday morning so we could make it home for Aunt Phyllis' 85th birthday party. Claire was missing Jeremiah later that afternoon and decided it would be fun to bump her head. She had her first noticeable injury after getting in a fight with the toybox.

We had a great time visiting with John, Marla, Jeremiah and Andrew! We hope we can find time to do it again soon!

Doctor Check-up

Claire went to the doctor yesterday for her 9 month check-up. She weighs 19 pounds 14 ounces and is 28 1/2 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for those stats and her head circumfrence is in the 90th percentile!

She got to spend the rest of the afternoon at home with me and was a wonderful little girl while I spent about an hour and a half on the phone trying to get insurance figured out for her hospital stay last June. So much for an enjoyable afternoon off!

She has also been fighting naptime a lot lately. Until dinner time when she couldn't keep her eyes open! Then she took an hour long nap sometime between 6-8:30 last night! I'm pretty sure mommy and daddy were asleep long before Claire was!

9 months

Claire is 9 months old today! Only 3 more months until we need to have the garage put back together and the yard ready for her 1st BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA! They'll be lion tamers and clowns and elephant rides....just kidding!

We had our 9 month photo session this morning and it's getting harder and harder to catch Claire with the bear. But isn't her little bulldog face adorable?

Claire, Ms. Mary & Ms. Cierra have been working on walking. Claire tends to stand up in the middle of the room, run until she falls, face plant in the carpet and try it again. She'll take quite a few steps before she gives up and crawls. Here are some action pics...

Other things going on...

• Claire loves Rally!
• She gives open mouthed kisses and rubs her bottom teeth on your cheek.
• She loves to swing in the park with the kids from Ms. Mary's house.
• She DOES NOT sit still.
• She'll eat anything including a good portion of my pork burger last night.
• She goes to the doctor Monday afternoon for her 9 month check up!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

February Follow-up

I've been slow at getting updates lately so I'm going to do a photo recap since we last talked. Clarie got lots of goodies in the mail for Valentine's day. We kept putting the money in her piggy bank so she could push it in but instead she took it out! She LOVED her little game as you can tell by the huge expression on her face!

She also got this super cute little outfit from Uncle Steve and Aunt Jeanie. I had almost bought the same outfit for her the week before it came in the mail. Plus, this is just a super cute picture of my almost walking baby.

Last week we went to the Illinois Angus Futurity in Springfield. I'm afraid my little girl is going to be taking after her daddy when it comes to animal loving! She wanted right up there in the heifers face to pet her.

Trever did most of the work but I am pretty proud of myself for what little help I did! (If you didn't know already, I'm TERRIFIED of cows)

Trever is headed to the showring. They only placed the top 2 and we weren't up there but we did get Callie sold to the same family thought bought Dori last year.

Claire dressed the part of a little cowgirl. She had the vest, the bling and the boots!

Isn't she too stinkin' cute! She climbed the fence and then fell sound asleep in time to miss the heifer selling!