{ 13 Months }

Since I have been so horrible at taking pictures for the last few months, I figured I should make up for it. So I took WAY too many photos over the last couple weeks and some look very similar. So I'm sorry, it's too hard to just pick a couple. So here they are!

Here is a little tidbit about Claire at 13 months.

- She finally decided to start sleeping through the night. ( Thank the heavens! I thought the day would never come)

- She loves mickey mouse club house. She always tries to say "oh toodles".

- She loves jumping around in her crib. Its her way of showing her excitement after waking up.

- She started walking two weeks ago and now she can't stop.

- She loves to clap. Especially when we cheer her on with "yay!".

- According to her last doctor's appointment, she is in the 97th percentile for height! I have no clue where she gets the height from.

- She thinks it is very funny when mom and dad kiss.

- We let her help open and shut the garage door which makes her very happy.

- She still only has two teeth!!!?

- She is a busy body who doesn't like to stay still. It is next to impossible to get her to snuggle for more than 2 seconds. This makes mom a little sad.

- She loves playing with other kids. Other kids make her laugh very easily.

- She loves music! Anytime music comes on the TV, she will stop whatever she is doing and just watch it. She even makes attempts to sing.

- She has dad's long and straight eyelashes. I'm jealous.

- She loves chewing on mom's necklaces.

- And lastly, she is a totally daddy's girl. Who's mom??

So thats our little Claire! We love every bit of her. The cute and the sassy.

{ CHRISTMAS JOY }

Christmas came and went and we had lots of fun. So much fun that I spaced on taking photos. Oops. Our Christmas consisted of a ginger bread house contest, ice skating, movies, puzzles, lots of yummy food, and much needed family time. Claires favorite gifts were her many books, thanks to grandma and grandpa Phelps, her phone from Matt and Karlee, and her Elephant from Parker and Chase. She got too much to just pick one! Brian got some toys of his own. At his request he received a nerf gun, a video game, a remote control helicopter and a trip to Australia. I was a lucky girl and got a new rug and two chairs that I am in love with! Now my entry way is no longer empty, and that makes me a happy girl. Though Claire was spoiled with gifts she was most happy having family around. Claire just loves her grandmas, grandpa, aunts, uncles and Bentley (the family dog. She thinks he is the funniest creature ever). She gets so much love when they are around. Hopefully one day we can be close to family again. But for now holidays will have to do. Until next Christmas!

{ A YEAR OF CLAIRE IN PICTURES }

I am in the process of putting together a tiny prints book with our favorite pictures and memories of Claire from the past year. I think it just might end up being 500 pages, considering the amount of photos I have taken of her. It really is out of control. Anyway, I know this post is going to have way too many photos but these are just a small portion of our favorites. Looking at all these photos remind me just how grateful I am to have such a happy a vibrant little girl in my life. She is the best!

Our Bear turns one!

Claire had her first birthday on December 3rd. It just so happened that Brian had the LSAT that same day (brian is thinking of going back to law school) so we didn't really get to celebrate the way I had hoped. I am still planning to throw a party for her. It's just going to be a very belated birthday party. Better late than never right? So we started out the morning with a living room full of purple balloons. She loved them. She especially liked it when you kicked them at her (go figure). Her uncle chase discovered this, not me. She couldn't stop giggling. After playing with her balloons, I made her, her very first pancakes topped with powdered sugar and a candle. We sang happy birthday and dug into our delicious breakfast. Well I did. Claire just had fun throwing her pancakes on the floor. We then waited for dads six hour test to be over so that we could have some cake, sing happy birthday, and open presents. Just like her pancakes Claire threw her cupcake on the floor, she was a little confused by all the singing, and all she wanted to do was eat the wrapping paper from her gifts. I guess thats how it goes when they are one year old. We loved celebrating our first year with our little gremlin. She is such a happy and loving little thing and we look forward to seeing how she changes throughout the next year.

Family Photos

I know, I know. I have failed miserably at blogging the last few months. I blame instagram. I feel that between instagram, facebook, and blogging it all become so repetitive. But I have some good stuff to share so be prepared for a bunch of catch up posts, and photo overloads.

First off, we headed to California in November for a little family and friend time. While we were there we had our talented friend Jill take our first family photos. They were much needed. However it was a lot harder to get some good pictures of us all together than I thought it would be. We were trying so hard just to get Claire to look at the camera, let alone smile. She had us all working up a sweat. We finally resorted to using the iphone to get her to look in the general direction of the camera. And it paid off. We got one good picture of us all together with Claire looking at the camera. Thats all I could ask for. Hopefully next time around she will be way more cooperative. Otherwise we are doomed to a life time full of a little less than perfect family photos. Here are my favorites.