Piano Pals

Claire must be taking piano lessons without me knowing about it because every time I say I need to practice, she says she needs to practice, too.

This past week, she's been putting her hand on my back sometimes and giving me a hug while I play. Too sweet.

I love my little piano pal!

Dress Up

Claire loves to play dress-up these days. Her favorites are the crown, (which she calls her sunglasses - I guess because she puts them on in the same way), and the earrings. She's a fun little girl!

Iron Chef: Baton Rouge

Today's secret ingredient was peanut butter!

We had dishes from Chef Amy, Chef Heather, Chef Amanda, and Chef Julia. We also got to share our food with Kristen and Helen!

I forgot to get the exact names of these dishes, so I'll do my best. We had a satay sauce with noodles from Chef Heather, sticky rice with satay sauce from Chef Amy, no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies from Chef Amy, and peanut butter bars from Chef Julia. I ended up winning with the peanut butter bars! (I actually didn't think they had a chance compared to the other dishes there, but that's what the voting determined).

 Claire was very happy to see Sister Uitto again! Claire's been asking where she is ever since she moved.

Finn had fun banging his head and body against the pillow.

- So Claire just had to try it out for herself, too. 

We had a fun time, and I can't wait for our next get together!

New Dress

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Relief Society activity where I made a dress for Claire. It was fun! And the awesome thing is that I was able to do this despite the fact that I don't really sew! (Or maybe I should say that I really don't sew!) But I made it! And it's reversible. Check it out!

It's definitely NOT perfect, but I'm very pleased! Thank you to all who helped me accomplish this!

Now Let's Eat Cake!

Here is one of the strawberry creations I made with all those strawberries. Thankfully, some friends came over and helped me eat it all! Thank you! :-)

Strawberry Fields Forever

Last Friday we went to Mrs. Heather's Strawberry Patch. I loved it! We got to pick berries to fill a clam shell, (the plastic container you see in the store with strawberries in it), and we got to eat as many as we wanted while we went along! - I'd say we got our money's worth!



Claire loved every moment of eating those strawberries!

Claire's dress, hands, and face got dirtier as we went along.


Before:

After:


Just look at those rows of strawberries!

Mrs. Heather also has a petting zoo, a playground, and much, much more. We stuck to the petting zoo and the swings, since there were lots of kids there on a field trip.


We also bought a flat of strawberries, so during the last week, we've eaten a lot of strawberries, I've made 2 batches of strawberry freezer jam, 3 batches of strawberry muffins, and a cake with strawberries, and I've frozen some, too! I LOVE fresh strawberries!

Morning Routine

Here's a glimpse at Claire's morning routine. (Once again, please don't mind the mis-matched pj's. I took these pictures on Easter morning, since I already had the camera with me to capture Easter fun).

Please know that Claire made her own routine. This is how it goes. I walk in her room and say good morning to her. She says, "Mom to sit in the rocking chair." I say, "Please?" She says, "Please." I sit in the rocking chair. Then she hands me Mr. Frog, Mr. Turtle, and Mr. Bunny. She hands me her pillow. And she hands me all of her blankets - usually one at a time. The conversation during the handing-over-of-the-goods varies from day to day. (And as you can see in the picture, the same thing happened with Dad on Easter morning, which is why I was able to capture these photos).


And then she jumps.

And jumps.

And she frequently jumps higher.

She sometimes says, "That was a good jump!" or "I jumping higher" or "There she goes!"

It's best for me to give her plenty of warning before jumping time is over.

I must say, I like her morning routine. It's nice and simple!

Fun with Play-Doh!

Claire has really enjoyed playing with her Play-Doh. And I have REALLY enjoyed the fact that she will stay busy with Play-Doh while I make dinner. Gotta love it!

Just Because!

Claire has really gotten into playing with her stuffed animals lately!

Easter Eggs

We dyed our Easter eggs today! - That's just one day late!



We kept things simple. We have 5 colors, so we made 5 solid colored Easter eggs.

Claire enjoyed it! She wanted to keep dyeing more eggs when we were finished.

Happy Easter!

I am so eternally grateful for Jesus Christ. I know He is my Savior, King, and Redeemer. I know that He lives. And I am so happy to celebrate that today!

On a more secular note, we had a fun Easter morning. Claire found the chocolate in her Easter basket,

and she got some help from Dad in getting to the actual chocolate!


She also went on a search for some Easter eggs. (We dyed some eggs early last week with our neighbors, but I don't have those eggs anymore. I hard boiled some eggs yesterday morning with the intention of dyeing them yesterday with Claire, but that never happened. I guess we'll have a fun activity to do tomorrow! - So that's why she's searching for plastic Easter eggs in these pictures). (Also, I know her pj's don't match; her clean ones (that match) were still in the dryer when she went to bed last night).

She found candy in her eggs!

And Dad helped her with it - once again.

We had a delicious blueberry buttermilk breakfast cake for breakfast, and then we got ready for church. I had a really fun time playing the organ today. I love the Easter hymns, and I got to play them with gusto!

We had some friends come over for dinner, and I'm so glad they came over! I didn't take any pictures, but the food still tasted great! We had ham, a zucchini tart, garlic mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and rolls. For dessert we had a strawberry pie, and our friends brought some cupcakes, too. - The cupcakes were probably Claire's favorite part of dinner, but the blackberries in the fruit salad were a close second!

Once again, I'm so happy to celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ lives! He loves us all!

Pig Tails

It's fun having a little girl! - It's fun in sooooo many ways! One of those ways is pig tails!

Easter Fun

All About Claire

She's loving those new boots she got for her birthday!

I know I'm a week or so late on this, but for the record, here's some info about Claire these days:

Age - 2
Weight - 30 pounds (just over 75th %)
Height -34 inches (75th %)
Head circumference - 19 inches (just over 50th %)
What makes her happy - being outside, playing with (Mardi Gras) necklaces, helping to stir, seeing her friends, blowing bubbles
Favorite animal - frog or turtle (because of her stuffed animals - Mr. Frog and Mr. Turtle)
Favorite thing to eat - Goldfish, sausage (ANY kind), beans &/or rice, and fruit
Least favorite thing to eat - broccoli
Favorite thing to do - JUMP, play outside, play with her kitchen set, swing, sing songs
Favorite song - If You're Happy and You Know It
Best friend - Mom - or maybe Ava and Anna
Favorite color -who knows?!!
Something she's really good at - speaking
Claire and Mom do this together - do laundry
Claire and Dad do this together - take baths
Favorite sport - still up in the air on this one, but she likes to throw a ball outside
Favorite place to go - nursery at church
Favorite book - Go, Dog. Go!