Watermelon, Anyone?

I already LOVE watermelon, but I ESPECIALLY love THIS sweet variety!!!



Thanks to Aunt Laura and Uncle Matt for the cute pj's!

15 Month Stats

Claire's 15 month stats:

Head circumference - 18 inches - about 50th percentile
Height - 30 inches - slightly less than 50th percentile
Weight - 25 pounds - about 75th percentile

The Toy Dog

I see this so often every day. - Claire is carrying around this dog.

She often has it tucked under her arm.

She loves to give it to me - so that I can then give it back to her. But whatever she chooses to do with it, she loves to have it with her!

6 Years!

Happy Anniversary to us! Jordan and I have been married for 6 wonderful years! I love being married to Jordan! I love how he makes me laugh and takes care of me and plays with Claire, (to name just a few things!)

Tonight we celebrated by going out to eat at Maximo's Italian Grill in New Orleans. - And Claire stayed home with a babysitter! Yay! It was wonderful to get a night out! But I couldn't imagine our lives without Claire at this point.

(Those spots on Jordan's shirt appeared only for the picture; maybe they are just shadows because of the lights in the living room. But they were not actual spots on Jordan's shirt!)

I like the traditional/modern anniversary gifts by year. The traditional gift for year 6 is candy, so I ordered these M&M's for us to enjoy. (And I'm having fun eating them!)

I love you, Jordan! Happy Anniversary!

15 Months

Wow, Claire is now 15 months old. It seems to me that she has gotten a lot older in the past month. I know, I know - 15 months isn't old. But she seems to have grown up a lot recently. With her helping and trying to say so many words, it really seems like she's getting bigger!

It's harder to take pictures of her now because she always wants to see the picture that I take on the camera. So she runs over to me when I get out the camera so that she can see what's on the screen. (That's why this picture is slightly out of focus). It's the same thing with the video camera.

Claire likes to read books. She most often brings them to me so that I can read them to her. If I'm sitting on the ground, she'll back up, by walking backwards, to get to my lap. I love that! We spend a lot of time doing this some days. She doesn't always sit with me for the entire book, but that depends on the book. - She's consistent about which books she'll sit through entirely, and she's even consistent about which page she'll sit through on the books she doesn't sit through entirely. But when she brings me a book when I'm not available to read it to her, I just ask if she can look at it, and she'll sit right down and look at it.

Claire really makes us laugh sometimes. She's just so happy and so funny. She will sometimes try to copy what we say. She loves being outside. She recently started climbing onto chairs and low tables. She's also beginning to learn how to play by herself. She usually prefers to be in the same room as me, but she occasionally will go into her room and play for a few minutes without me in there. (Hooray!!!) She does the best at playing by herself when Jordan and I are both home, but we're in different rooms. Then Claire comfortably goes from one room to the other room, and sometimes she'll take a detour to a room by herself.

We love our sweet little girl!

P.S. She has a doctor appointment on Tuesday, so I'll post the 15 month stats then.

Words, Words, Words

Claire has a good beginning repertoire of words at this point. She can say:

ma ma - mom
da da - dad
mo - more
mih - milk
bir - bird
mo - moon
woo woo - dog (She also smacks her lips when she sees a dog. I don't know where she got that one!)
whoa - whoa! She says this when she falls down, she drops something, she hears a startling noise, or she sees us drop something.

She can tell you what certain animals say:
moo - cow
baa - sheep
rrrra - frog
nah - horse

She makes wet sounds, (which I can somewhat distinguish), for words with s, sh, j, ch, and c in them:
juice
Cheerios
peach
Boudreaux's
star
shoes
orange

But Claire's absolute favorite word at this point is TRASH. She sits in her high chair, points to the trash can, and says trash. She points to her dirty diapers when I change her and says trash. She picks up trash off the floor, gives it to me, and says trash. She says trash ALL the time!



Also, Claire recently started making a deep sounding laugh. She does it a little in the video, but she usually does it much more than this. I don't know where she got this, either, but it certainly makes us laugh!

Being Domestic

My sophomore year of college, I remember going to Aural Skills one morning and telling my friend Dillon, (and I think Josh was there, too), how excited I was because the previous night I was domestic. I proceeded to tell them that I boiled a chicken, took the meat off the bone, and then made King Ranch Casserole, which I love. I doubt that they remember that conversation, but I remember it; I remember being excited about being domestic.

Now that I'm in a different stage of life, where cheese quesadillas or mac & cheese just don't cut it for dinner on a weekly basis, I feel that I certainly AM more domestic. But sometimes I get in the mood to take it a little step further. - Especially if it's easy to be even more domestic.

Blueberries are abundant and cheap in Baton Rouge! One pint of blueberries is one dollar, so Claire and I have been enjoying lots and lots of blueberries. They are delicious!

Yesterday I received my July issue of Real Simple in the mail. I am usually very systematic about how I read a magazine. If I'm going to read the entire thing, I like to start at the beginning and read each page until I get to the end. But the cover story of the July issue was too exciting for me, so I just jumped to the story on 3-ingredient recipes. Then, I continued to look at the rest of the recipes in the issue. I'm planning on making the no-cook meal for dinner tonight, and I'm hoping to make some of the 3-ingredient recipes next week. But the recipe that I've already completed - because it sounds wonderfully yummy, it's right up my alley, it has blueberries in it, and it was, as the magazine said, secretly simple - is blueberry jam.

I have never made any type of jam or jelly before in my life. I have not been that domestic. But today I have crossed over the easy, simple boundary of making jam. And, once again, I enjoyed being domestic!

So here it is, straight from page 183 of the July issue of Real Simple, secretly simple blueberry jam.

Start with 5 cups of blueberries.

Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Mash the berries until they release their juices.

Cook them over medium-high heat, and stir occasionally. Cook until the mixture thickens - about 18-25 minutes.

Put the already-finished-because-it-was -so-easy blueberry jam in containers. Refrigerate for up to a month or freeze for up to a year.

That was fun! I did it while Claire was napping. (Well, she was supposed to be napping; she was awake for much of that half hour, but she was in her crib). It was easy, and I am super excited about the product. I love homemade jams and jellies! Once again, it was fun being domestic!

My Happy Helper

About a month ago, Claire helped me do something that I needed to do. She carried a package of toilet paper from the garage to my bathroom. I gave it to her and asked her to take it to my bathroom, and she went straight there. She was completely willing to help. That was a little eye-opening for me. - Not only does she understand and is she willing, but she's also capable.

During the past couple of weeks, Claire has really enjoyed putting our shoes away. There's a basket of shoes in our bedroom, and if I leave a pair of flip flops in the hall or the living room, she will put them in the basket for me. Sometimes I'm glad she puts them away for me, and other times I wish I had them again, but it's no big deal for me to get them out of the basket again. And I think it's wonderful that Claire is learning to help. It happens step by step, right?




She has also begun to put her books back on the shelf during the day sometimes. Together, we put them on the shelf every night before she goes to bed, but this week she has put them on her shelf a few times in the middle of the day. I love it that I can see her making connections and beginning to understand more about her little world and how it works.

Head to Toe

Claire knows many of the body parts by name. She can currently show you each of these body parts:

head
hair
eye (She especially likes to poke Dad's eye during our evening family prayer).
ear
nose (She sometimes gets confused with this one and points to her ear. But she can point to other people's noses very well!)
mouth
teeth (Well, she likes to touch my teeth, and I tell her they are teeth. I haven't asked her where her teeth are yet. She still only has two!)
belly
arm
hand
fingers
leg
patella (We can thank Jordan for that one!)
foot/feet
toes

Oh, yes! And she can also show you her tongue!!!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Jordan! Claire loves you so, so much! Just look at her smiles in these pictures!

The card that Claire got for Jordan said, "What's a Dad?" "He's a grown-up who never forgot how to play!" That is so, so true of Jordan! - And Claire LOVES it!

To show her love for Dad, Claire puckered up to give him a big kiss!


We've been singing this song about dads this week, and today Claire started adding her own touch - and showing her own comprehension - at the end!




We made homemade pizza for dinner tonight, and both Claire and Jordan loved it. (I did, too, but mine didn't have pizza sauce on it). It was very good!

(See the card on the table? Claire loves the dog on it!)

Happy Father's Day, Love. You're the best! Also, Happy Father's Day to my dad. I'm so glad you're my dad. You can always teach me something and also bring a smile to my face!

New Toy

A new toy is always fun, especially if it's a toy dog! Our 8 year old neighbor gave Claire this dog because she had outgrown it.


She loves to push the buttons that make the dog walk and wag its tail. I loved watching her push the buttons. When she discovered what happened when she pushed the buttons, she looked up with a very excited look on her face! And it was interesting to watch that she always moved the dog bone (with the buttons on it) to the same position before she pushed the buttons. She always had the buttons at the top. If they were at the bottom, she would turn it around until they were at the top.

Can you see the excitement Claire has about this new toy? I love it!

Kisses for Claire

We took this video a few months ago. It's of Claire giving herself kisses in the bathtub.



She's such a loving little one!

ZZZZ

Thanks to a little help,

Claire's getting ready for the OR.

Watch out! Here she comes!

Bubble Bath

Jordan gave Claire a bubble bath tonight. I know Claire had fun, and I am happy for a little reprieve from getting Claire ready for bed. A night off now and then is always good, right?! (Jordan does this more than just "now and then," and I love it every time!)


She splashed for me.

In other bathroom news, Claire and I played a game today while I was folding laundry in my bedroom. She was in the bathroom, and she closed the door. I talked to her through the door, heard her laugh with delight, and then opened the door. She then closed the door, and we did this entire series over and over again! It was all fun and games. But then one time I tried to turn the bathroom doorknob, and the door was locked. Claire had managed to lock the door from the inside! Oops! I will admit that my first thought was, "There's no hole in the doorknob to pick the lock from the outside! We're going to have to bust down the door to get her out of there!" But then I saw the screws on the doorknob, and I knew we could just remove it. So Jordan took it off, and we talked to Claire through the door while he worked on that. She thought we were still playing the game. With the doorknob removed, we got Claire out of the bathroom, and the game was over for the time being!

Sunday Best

Today was Stake Conference, and it started at 10, so it seemed like we had extra time before we had to leave. (Our usual church starts at 9). So we had time for some pictures! Yay! Grandma sent Claire this beautiful dress. Thank you so much!

Such a Girl

Claire is such a girl! Just look at her -- purse, bracelet, two movies. She looks ready to go!

Ham's Orchard

I forgot to post these pictures from our last trip to Dallas. My parents, Marshall, Jennifer, Marcus, Jordan, Claire, and I went to Ham's Orchard the first day that it opened. It was a little cold when we first got there, but that didn't stop the peach and strawberry ice cream from tasting delicious!!

Claire ran around in the field

while the rest of us ate our ice cream.

Claire and Marcus chased each other.

And Claire didn't give up, even though Marcus was so fast!!

She had a great time out in the open.

She also loved sitting in the rocking chair. Once she realized she could make the chair move by moving her body, she happily sat there for a long time!

Some blackberries were ripe, but it wasn't time for the customers to pick them, yet.

We also stopped by the Ham's store and bought some fruit, some bread, and more ice cream! Yum!

Dogs

Claire loves dogs. Actually, I think that's an understatement. She REALLY loves dogs. Back in April, when we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Claire loved being around Maxo. She would sit in front of his cage or sit on the stairs and just look at him and talk to him.


At first, she would make a very high pitched sound and then say "boo boo boo boo" when she pointed at or was looking for Maxo. Then she started making a suction-at-the-dentist-office sound followed by the "boo boo boo" to mean dog. Finally, it turned into a "woo woo woo woo" sound. And she still says that to mean dog.

She was saying her woo woo woo when I snapped this picture, I think!

Here are a few more examples of how much Claire loves dogs. One of our neighbors has a little dog, and sometimes we see them when we're outside. Claire watches with obvious joy as the little dog runs around. Also, we just got a new neighbor who has a big dog, so sometimes we see that dog in the side yard when we are leaving the house or coming home. So now, whenever we are about to leave, Claire points at the door and starts woo woo woo-ing -- making her sound for dog. She wants to see the dog, since we're going outside! This morning I took Claire to the park, and two different families had their dogs with them. Claire pointed, woo woo woo-ed, and tried to go to the dogs. When we read books with dogs in them, she often points at the dogs and says dog, (in her own way, of course). When she sees a dog on TV, she walks to the TV, points, and excitedly says her woo woo woo. She can't seem to get enough of them! Just look at how much she laughs with Maxo! (Thanks for being a good dog, Maxo!)




I'm glad she likes dogs, but as for me and my house, we'll let someone else own the dogs!

Let's Go Mavs!!!

Part 3

Finally, we have the practice court for the Mavericks. Once again, I love the brick!

Donnie Nelson, the guy who made this whole experience possible
(Those boys seemed to have an awesome time, too! It was fun to watch them be excited).

There were only supposed to be 40 people there, but it seems like there were lots more than that. We were split up into groups to visit the different areas. While we were on the court, we got to warm up some and then play a few little games. During the warm-up, when I made a shot, I thought, "Awesome! I made a basket here!" Then I made another one, and I thought, "Cool! I've made 2 baskets here!" I think I stopped thinking that after making 3 baskets. - I realized that I had plenty of time to make some shots, and I was making plenty of shots. It was fun!


The games we played were short and fun. During one, everyone on each team had to dribble across the court (the short direction) and back with only their right hand. In another one, team members had to pair up, hold hands, and they each had to dribble across the court and back. We played some shooting games - with layups, with free throws, and even with granny-style free throws.


I had plenty of opportunities to take pictures!

Marshall at the 3-point line!


We liked this star on the edge of the court.

Marshall with a friend from the rodeo.

Come on, Mavs! We need a win tonight!