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.
  
  

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!