Richardson Fire Station

On Tuesday, we hosted a play date for several friends. We were able to visit the brand-new neighborhood fire station - which by the way, was pretty sweet. They are definitely living in style. After the fire station, everyone came back to our house for some playtime and lunch. It was good to see everyone and catch up - several of our friends we haven't seen in months! Enjoy the pictures below.

Clara's First Kite

My parents got Clara a kite for when she comes to visit them. We went on Wednesday and she flew it for the first time. "Wednesday?" you ask. Yes, so what if it was 102 degrees and NO WIND! Clara didn't care. She thought it was the best thing and has talked about it ever since.

Hopscotch

Clara loves to play hopscotch. Not, the REAL hopscotch; usually her own version. Anything she can put together: pillows, carpet squares, books, rocks, towels. We were playing outside the other day and she wanted to play hopscotch so I made up our own version. It was a long and winding hopscotch course that she thought was the coolest thing.

Fort Worth Zoo

Uncle Derek and Aunt Jenn gave Clara tickets to the Fort Worth Zoo for her birthday. I know, her birthday was in March, but it really did take all of us this long to coordinate. We met a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. Clara loved every minute of it. Her favorite part was the Bird and Parrot Paradise. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of it because somebody (me) refused to go in to document. Derek and Jenn also surprised Clara with an extremely cute and soft turtle that she has slept with each nap and each night since our trip to the zoo. Originally, Adam and I were pretty impressed that the turtle's name was "Betsy Lee" but it's name has morphed over time to be simply "Turtle-Loo." We had a great time Jenn and Derek and Clara LOVED her birthday present - a day with you two!

Happy Harvest

Saturday, we were able to enjoy the first fruits (well, really vegetables) of our labor. We feasted on tomatoes and squash at dinner. Unfortunately, our peas are struggling in the heat. We have never tried them before so it really is an experiment. We have only 6 on the vine but that may be all we get.

Both the squash and tomatoes have really taken off. I stopped counting tomatoes when I reached 85. We have over 85 tomatoes on our three vines right now. If you look closely at the pictures above and below you can see big clumps of green tomatoes. Not that they will last long between garden and house, Clara is really loving tomatoes right now. She enjoys picking them right off the vine - mmm...warm tomatoes off the vine - what could be better?

These are my "Why not?" plants. I have two cantaloupe plants that I am trying out for the first time. We will see what happens...

Big Girl Bed

Waking up from her last nap in her crib:

So the time is here. This happened a little sooner than we had anticipated. It all began with Clara's drop down side of her crib breaking. We could not figure out what happened, it just one day stopped functioning. So we bit the bullet and started hyping up a big girl bed. Grandma and Grandpa were very generous in buying Clara's big girl bed. A Jenny Lind bed in antique white from Land of Nod. The only word I can describe it: Sweet. It is very "little girl."

On Friday, I told Clara that when Daddy got home, she would get her big girl bed. She enjoyed one last nap (a beloved 3 1/2 hours) in her crib. The first words out of her mouth when we got her out of bed were "I get big girl bed now!" She was so excited she really couldn't contain herself. She hopped out of her crib and helped us get to work. The bed itself was easy to put together - the safety rails took a bit longer. But we got it all together.

Once we finally got the sheets on and all of her familiar things in the new bed she hopped in and laid down to play her favorite game: night-night. She was just in heaven.

Adam and I almost didn't know what to do with ourselves yesterday afternoon. She spent a LONG time in her room just soaking it all in and reading in bed (she is definitely our child).

So, her room is still a construction zone. We still have to order her comforter. We have lots of rearranging and a lot of furniture to move out as you can see from the picture below - it is wall-to-wall furniture right now. We also have a "new" antique dresser that we have to move in and I also have to figure out what to do with her bookshelf. I will post pictures when I finally get it all together.

I almost forgot, she slept really good last night. I heard her moving around in bed but instead of waking up at 7:30/8:00 we got the wake up call at 5:45. There was definitely lots of coffee drinking in our house this morning. She also took a pretty good nap this afternoon, too. I am hoping for a later wake up call tomorrow morning!

Soccer Tots

Clara has been in Soccer Tots for the last month and has really enjoyed it. It is a soccer skills class that is full following directions and obstacle courses along with lots of kicking! With her age group, the parents are really involved and Adam was able to go today so I was finally able to take a few pictures. Clara is a left footed kicker and has definitely inherited Adam's soccer coordination.

Swimming

On Monday, we went over to Crystal and Kayla's house to play and swim. It was so much fun. The girls played for a while before going outside to the pool. Miss Independent was pretty adamant about being in the pool by herself (which I 100% expected) I even bought her this goofy little floaty swimsuit which fit two weeks ago and obviously does not anymore:

(Don't you just love that ornery little face?)

I am just too paranoid with the swimming pool. Especially since we haven't been in one for nearly 10 months. All she wanted to do was jump in and not let me touch her so after butting heads for a while we finally settled on her sitting in a dragon float and her directing me where to push her. She then got bored and got out. But she did discover Kayla's sand and water table and absolutely loved it. I also had to share this cute little picture of Kayla. Her hair is getting so long, I had to put a ponytail in it.

A Visit to Hideaway

Last weekend, we made a trip to Hideaway to visit Granny, Papa, and GaGa. It was a great time. We had really nice weather and spent a lot of the day, both Saturday and Sunday, outside. Between running through the sprinkler, chasing their dog Gumbo and playing at the park - Clara was definitely worn out when we got in the car to drive home. We heard from the back seat, "I play with Gumbo, I play with Papa, I play with Granny..." and then all of a sudden silence. She passed out mid-sentence.

A Little Light Reading

Hanging out with her Buddy

Ashley and I took the kids to the Trinity park to play, ride the train and have a picnic. Clara had a great time and has talked nonstop about "her buddy Weston." Here are a few of the pictures I took on Wednesday:

How is this Comfortable?

Granny, Papa, and my Little Vaquero

Clara has rediscovered her stick horse since I found a new hat for her. So, it is not exactly a cowboy hat but it was only a dollar. Oh, and out of the blue, her horse now has a name: Lucky.

Granny and Papa came to visit on Monday and Clara was in heaven. They played a few of Clara's favorite games including the ever-popular "Night-Night"

We love ya, Papa!

Child Labor

After getting tired of dragging a dining room chair to the counter several times a day, I finally broke down and bought a step stool for the kitchen. Clara loves to see what I am doing while cooking and since I (normally) prepare three meals a day plus doing the never ending dishes it seems as though at least one chair was always in the kitchen. Clara helped Adam put the step stool together and then she had to try it out by washing her play kitchen dishes.

Check out that wet shirt!