Backyard Adventure

We set Clara up her own "Back yard Adventure" this weekend! She LOVED it! We got her a sandbox for her Birthday and I bought this pool at the end of the summer last year on big time clearance! I think I paid like 3 dollars for it! It is so adorable! This is the whole set up!

I think she liked the hose the best....

She is smiling.....

This is the first day that I have been able to fit her hair into a pony tail! I think it looks so cute!

We had a great weekend. We took Clara to the zoo on Saturday morning, one of our favorite places! Then we spent the rest of the weekend around here. Robby and I have been working really hard in the yard and this is the first weekend that I looked around and saw great progress! I have finished my rose bed, and am starting to win over the bugs who were eating them! We have cut down almost all of the woods in the back, and we cut the grass.... There is still a list longer than forever to do, but we are making great strides... Robby has worked so hard! I was very impressed with him! During the week, I try to cut down things in the back and drag them to the road while Clara naps. Last week I was bit by a spider and the bite got pretty nasty. I ended up going to the doctor.... It was a Brown Recluse and I had to get a shot and am taking medicine..... It is looking a little better now, but I have been scared to cut things down! I sprayed the whole back yard with bug spray last night.... :) Robby called it my revenge!! Hopefully by next summer we will be able to have people over to party in the yardy (teehee)

SD Cards...

Well, thankfully it is not my camera that is broken, it was the SD card. I am still hoping to get the Austin's pictures. I found an old SD card and it worked just fine in the camera. There were some pictures still on the old card from Hawaii! This one in particular made me happy. I have always loved Robby's hair, especially long. I think he looks very handsome in this picture! I started thinking how much our lives have changed since then. We no longer fall into the double income no kids category, we no longer live in California, we don't really ever go on bizarre trips anymore..... it made me kind of sad. But we DO have a house, Robby has been blessed with work since we moved, I have a good part time job, we are close to family, and most importantly we have Clara. Life in no worse, it is certainly not boring, it is just different and different is ok. I spent 30 minutes in Target this morning letting Clara pick out her first pair of "Big Girl Panties", who knew it was such an ordeal! She had her heart set on a pair of boys boxer briefs with Sponge Bob on them..... I kept trying to show her the Princesses and Dora, but nooooo she wanted Sponge Bob!!! So, finally, in the $9 packs I found not only Sponge Bob, but Dora, Wonderpets, and Ni Hao Kai-lan, all in the same pack!! She was so thrilled she pulled them all out of the packs and started putting them on her head! (This is her daddy's humor...) So, I spent way more on underwear then I wanted... but we are set to potty train..... these are the little joys that fill up my day... forget Hawaii... I'd take Clara any day!

Disney World!

Last week we went to Disney World with Robby's family! It was "magical"! Clara loved every minute of it and did really well. For some reason I can't get my camera to give me all 300 pictures that I took while we were there. I am hoping that it will fix, but I am worried that I will not have any pictures of the trip. This picture was taken by someone else at the park. I bought the rights to it from DisneyPhotoPass.com.... sad, but I LOVE the picture, Clara was so excited to see Mickey... she just ran up to him and hugged him! And look, Mickey signed it!

Children's and Infant's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl RECALL!!

IMPORTANT!!! Ok, so maybe I am way behind on finding this out, and forgive me if I am, but I find this very disturbing and I thought I would share it with everyone... just in case someone else is as busy as I am and missed the whole press release thing! So, here is what they are saying about these products, "Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles"...... Seriously, these are things we give to our CHILDREN, our BABIES... from name brands we trust..... thankfully, it is being taken care of and there is a website where you can request a refund or a high value coupon for these products if you have purchased them. As a mother who is VERY careful with medications because I have seen what the smallest overdose can do, I am really scared and mad that McNeil (or whoever) let this happen. So, I am posting a website here where you can go and type in the lot number of any of these meds that you have and they will tell you if they are safe or not.

http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/index.jhtml

This is a big deal to me.. Tell everyone.... I will be stoping mothers in the street! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARA!!!!

These are such a bad pictures of us both, but they were taken at 7am this morning about the time Clara was born 2 years ago!!! Note: the blanket and pillow.... these are Clara's security items.... she won't sleep or hardly do anything without them! The blanket was mine when I was a baby, which is sweet, but also very hard because we don't have a duplicate! She didn't have it the other night and it was so hard.... if Robby had been home I would have driven out to get it at midnight!!! We are safe with the pillow... it came from Ikea... and yes, we will get some more!

I-Jump!

I love the look of pure excitement in her face!

The ball pit, it was fun until a snotty kid sneezed in it.... then we left!

Cheese!

Thanks again Aunt Gigi for another adorable outfit!!! This was Clara's favorite room, she called it the "Princess Room"! She and Jack played together really well in it..... except for once when she put him in a head lock....... sorry, Jack Jack!

Clara LOVED this slide. Johnny and Tara left a little before we did and Clara and I somehow ended up getting this bouncy house all to ourselves! She went up it all by herself and slid down... she was worn out when we left!!!

Hmmmm. which way to go???

Jack is nonstop!!! It is great fun!!!!

Today my baby girl turned 2 years old!!! We had a fun day! I took Clara to the park in the morning, and then after her nap we met Tara, Johnny, and Jack at I-jump on 280 and had a blast! I wasn't sure how Clara was going to do at first, but she loved it! She jumped and climbed and ran around... it was great and I think she really thought that place was just one big Birthday party! Clara told the girl at the window "PHankyou for my Birthday party" and the girl gave her 2 free slices of pizza! So we took the pizza over to Mumzy and Poppie's house and spent a little time with them before we went home to meet daddy for dinner. I love how close we live to my parents!!! (Rob has had to work all weekend except for her party on Saturday... but I am so thankful that he has a job... it could be worse)

Clara's turning 2!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY GIRL!!!

Cookie decoration station! She was a lot more into this than I thought she would be!

The grown ups had fun too!

CHHEESEE!

Tara, Johnny, and Jack! I love how serious they look!

She worked so hard on decorating her "C" cookie!

Good cookie Johnny!

Dora needed some sprinkles.....

Clara had a blast!!!

The sandbox, one of the single greatest inventions of all times!!!

Peek-a-boo Harrison!

Peek-a-boo Hudson!

An awesome gift from Harrison, Hudson, and Thomas! Note: The adorable Birthday outfit is from my sister! She gets Clara the best outfits! She is the greatest!

seesaw!

Thomas was so great today!! He helped so much, he even got drinks for his brothers!

This is an ugly picture of her, but she is blowing out the candles!!

The pink princess suitcase is from the Austin's! It is for the Disney World trip!! We leave Tuesday! I am so excited! I LOVE the suitcase! The wheels light up when you pull it!! Thomas was such a great helper when we were opening gifts!

Nana and Pooh gave her this pretty Madame Alexander doll to add to her collection!

Clara is very into Dora right now! Thanks for all the great Dora gifts! She was so excited about them!!!

Hide and seek... one of our favorite games! Clara always hides behind this bush!

We had a little party for Clara at my Mom and dad's house today! It was great! Clara was so excited about her party that she could hardly take her nap this afternoon! She kept saying " Clara's party time"? Over and over! I would say, " No, Clara, first nap, then party" and she would lay her head down, close her eyes for a second, and then jump up and say, " Wake up! Clara's party time"!!! It was so precious for the first 10 minutes, then I just wanted her to take her nap so I could finish getting things ready! Eventually, she took a great nap and had a great party! Thanks to everyone who came and who loves my baby. I can't believe that she is 2, she is our world, and it is hard for me to believe that there was ever a time that she wasn't there. I didn't get to take pictures today, I was mostly running after Clara! The people who took pictures for me did a great job, but I was sad that I didn't get any pictures of the people at the party! But, I suppose the day was all about Clara anyways!!

Thomas, the artist!

This is the beautiful picture that Thomas drew of Clara last week when he was playing at our house! Isn't it great! She was even wearing a purple shirt!

BUBBLES!!!!

Birmingham Art Show

Robby worked with kids, building these houses and decorating them with newspaper during the Birmingham Art show last weekend. Clara and I went and had a great time at Corks and Chefs and seeing what daddy had done!

Big girl on the playground!

Clara is getting so big! She loves to play on the playground. Her favorite is Spain Park! We go there at least twice a week. We would probably go more than that if I did not have to work. She will go up the steps and down the slides and through the tunnels and everywhere all by herself! Well, I am still right there to catch her, but for the most part she is doing it alone! :)