Weekends at Home

All good chefs taste as they go...in case adjustments in flavor need to be made.

"Mama, I've got to move it off this burner...it's going to boil over!"

"Stir, stir, stir...these noodles are going to be TAS-TY!"

(Notice that we emptied the diaper bag right before we started this meal.)

Just a typical day with Mama ~ "I don't know if this is going to turn out too well! Everything is an experiment and we definitely didn't follow the recipe! Hopefully Daddy will still eat it."

Matt, Claire, and I have been spending lots of time at home relaxing on the weekends. This time together is just what we need after busy weeks apart!

On Thanksgiving, Omi, Opa, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lori all came to us. It was wonderful! We had so much fun hosting and combining our families for the first holiday at our home. Omi and Grandma both helped out a lot by bringing dishes to share...and Grandma shook, I mean cooked, a tasty gravy! Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lori all stayed overnight. We laughed together playing 'Partini.' Grandma and Grandpa won, but cheated. ;)

Other weekends lately, we've taken a couple walks in the fifty degree weather, had many cozy fires (some all day!), spent a bit of time with friends, decorated the tree, played, danced, sung, cooked (see above pictures), and blahhhh...cleaned.

It's been a wonderful life! :)

Trick or Treat

Claire with the neighbor boys, Cory the monkey and Jeff the giraffe

Daddy's little girl

Mami's goofy little bee

"What do we have here?"

We had LOTS of fun trick or treating on Halloween (or Beggar's Night as it's called here, which is the night before Halloween). Who would think when you move two hours away the traditions change?! Anyway, Claire was a bee. She got to wear her costume at a daycare party on Friday, where they had a parade. I don't know if she knows it, but she was saying 'bee' the whole time at the party. (Pretty sure it was just a sound to her!) Then Grandma and Aunt Lori were here most of the day on Saturday to go shopping and, let's admit, really just to see Claire in her costume and be a part of the fun! :) Mami made the costume Thursday night...nothing like the last minute, which is when I'm the most motivated! I used things we already had around the house because I don't want to get into the habit of fancy, expensive costumes. All it took was an old yellow tank top of mine, some scraps of black fabric from hemmed pants that were too long (good thing I'm short!), two hangers with paint tape and black nylons, and LOTS of safety pins. Oh ya, and also two super cute pigtails sticking straight up for antennae. During trick or treating, we just stayed on our one block. We were fortunate to have such nice weather and not even need jackets! Claire stuck her hand into the candy bowls to pick what she wanted. I tried to influence her to get Snickers and Reese's first, but we ended up with a variety. She also liked watching the kids come to our house and get candy. The best part of the evening though, if you asked Claire, would probably be either A. the animal crackers that Grandma put into a little Halloween container, or B. sorting her candy after the fun. She took it out of her bucket and thought about where to put it down, then eventually put the pieces back in. Slowly, her candy has been disappearing, though she hasn't been allowed any. Maybe she's sneaking it when we're not looking. Or maybe Daddy has something to do with it. I don't know. :)

Claire's News

So many changes! Claire is 15 months old as of November 1st.

• Signs and says 'book!' I've been trying to figure out how to spell the way she says it, but haven't yet. It's a b sound though. :) We were sitting in her rocking chair together before bed a couple nights ago and she looks at her bookshelf, says book, and signs it, too! She adores books! I suppose I can deal with her wanting to read instead of going to bed. ;)
• 'Brushes' her hair with her travel size hairbrush! Just within the past few weeks, I've started putting her hair in little pony tails on top of her head - it's so darn cute! (Not to mention it keeps the hair out of her eyes - it's long!)
• 'Brushes' her teeth! She's 'played' with a toothbrush for a while now, but now she's started putting the brushing side into her mouth. I really think she's trying to imitate us! She also just cut her 7th tooth - lucky number 7! :)
• Dances! Claire has been dancing for over a month, but I can't remember if I've blogged about it. She's too cute just stepping her feet back and forth and walking....I mean dancing...around.
• Says "dis" when she points to things, like she wants me to tell her what it's called that she's seeing. Matt insists she's not saying "das" (German for that), but maybe she's saying "this" in English. She's definitely consistent and even though she's not saying either word perfectly, she is communicating!
• I also think she's saying "bye" now. :)
• Signs 'eat,' which is new - before she's always signed 'more' when she wants food because we only used 'more' at mealtime. Right now, she only signs 'eat' when prompted.
• Enjoys playing outside and 'driving' the car while we're outside. She can be crabby and tired, but if we go outside she's so distracted that she forgets why she's crabby and just loves exploring!
• Wants a spoon when she sees one and tries to use spoons and forks. Usually she needs help scooping the food onto it. Sometimes she tries for a while, then says "to heck with it!" and goes back to the proven hand method.
• Says 'choo-choo' for trains (Daddy's girl) and also for other big trucks. I have to admit we think it's pretty cute, so we don't always tell her otherwise when she 'choo-choos' for big trucks. (Action included!)
• I swear she says "Sage!" At the pumpkin patch in mid-October, she was definitely saying "Saa" and referring to Sage. Our babysitter, Lisa, hasn't heard it yet, but it doesn't surprise me because these girls spend 40 plus hours together a week! (Have I mentioned that I love that they are able to go to daycare together?!?) Lisa claims she hears Claire say lots of other words during the day too, but she'll never do it for me! It goes both ways I guess. :)
• Has begun to differentiate between dogs and other animals. Says 'cat' and usually only signs 'dog' now when it's actually a dog! She LOVES cats and dogs, which I think I've said before. Today at 'Thanksgiving' on the Dodge side, she loved playing with Bailey and even 'took him for a walk' by holding his leash. She learned this at daycare, where she holds Nanny's lease. Nanny however, does not pull her along, while we had to be careful with Bailey because he was REALLY excited to be taking a walk.
• Points to the sky when we hear 'das Flugzeug' (airplane). (This has been for a while!) Tonight we were reading a book with an airplane in it. She pointed to it and asked "dis?" and I told her "Das ist ein Flugzeug.' Then she was pointing up and I had to explain that it was just a picture of a plane. :)
• Many other fun things I'm sure I'm forgetting! Maybe I'll edit this when I think of them. :)

Pumpkin Patch

A beautiful Saturday in October (Hmm...I see a pattern here! We had so many beautiful October days. Thank you Lord for such an awesome fall!), we headed to Patch's Pumpkin Farm in Adel with Amber, Ross, and Sage. After a wrong turn down the interstate (I won't go into details, so as to save embarrassment of the lead driver), we made it there! It was like a small petting zoo. There were llamas, donkeys, cows, goats, chickens, and horses. Claire was apprehensive of getting too close to the animals. She did have a great time playing in the 'straw maze,' which was actually just bale after bale of straw with no rhyme or reason. She was intrigued by the giant blow-up caterpillar, trying to enter the exit (against the force of a strong fan!). She probably wished she was old enough for the bounce house, too! We even got to ride on a tractor-pulled barrel train. I thought it was fun looking at all the pumpkins in the patch as we rode through, but I can't say Claire was too enthused. I think the highlight of her day was the straw bales! Who can blame her?!? ;)

(I've tried three times now to add pictures, and keep getting an 'error' message. Grrrrr....)

Octobulous Fun! - Part 2

At Grandma's, we hauled Grandpa's newly restored pedal tractor outside for a photo shoot. Grandpa gave us permission to use it for 'a minute,' but what he didn't know didn't hurt him. ;) We carried it out and put it in front of the old red bale shed. (Unfortunately Grandpa is taking it down, even though it has so much character!) It made for a great backdrop. It's very difficult to get a good picture of a little girl who is always on the move though! It was still fun trying. We even had a clothes change while we were out there! Aunt Lori was our photo assistant and tried her best to keep Claire on the tractor while Grandma and I were snapping away!

Octobulous Fun! - Part 1

October was a super fun month for us! Matt went home quite a bit to help out on the farm in September and October, even when harvest was over. He and Mark pulled out a fence and worked on getting things in good shape for the winter and next spring. He enjoyed helping out!

Claire and I went home one weekend for just a Saturday and had the best time! We hung out with Omi and Opa in the afternoon, then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for the evening.

It was beautiful weather that day and we spend a lot of time outside. Claire had fun chasing the cats at Omi and Opa's; she especially liked Tuxedo. He tried his best to get away from her for some peace and quiet, but she usually found him again. Claire played on the neighbor's swing set and slide. She had fun going for a paddle boat ride on the pond, where Opa even caught a frog! Claire was hesitant to touch it, but when she saw Mami do it, she decided it might be okay. She also enjoyed the challenge of trying to keep her balance while walking across the rocks. Inside, Opa and Claire took the stair challenge (How many times can we go up and down?) and read books together!

Silly Talker

Claire is so fun at this age! She is a very silly girl. According to Lisa, our daycare lady, she's the goofiest baby she's ever had. We like goofy around here, so that's quite the compliment! ;) We rarely catch her silly moments on camera, but we did manage to get one goofy cutie pie picture.

About two weeks ago, Claire showed me that she's actually been paying very close attention when we've taught her 'more' in sign language. She'd always just clapped her hands together to mean 'more,' when technically she's suppose to touch just her fingertips together. A couple times when she was eating, she just used her fingertips. I'm sure she just didn't have the fine motor skills to do it before, but she was obviously observant with exactly how our hands moved. She hasn't done it since then, so I'm thinking maybe it just takes too much concentration, and when you're hungry, you're impatient!?

I love that she is able to communicate with spoken words now! She's a talker and she sees balls ALL OVER! It may actually be a ball to play with, or a big red concrete ball outside of Target, or a round object in a book. To her, they're all balls and she's thrilled that she can say that word.

She is also loving her big girl toys. She likes her dollhouse from Grandma and Grandpa, and especially likes when Daddy helps her with it! She likes it when we put the 'baby to bed' and sing it the same song that Mami sings her when she goes to bed. She likes me to rock the cradle for the baby too.

Proud Mama

She's off - jetting down the driveway! LOVES going on walks! This was last week. As you can see, she has her swimming sunglasses on. She likes to do everything that we do and Mami had her sunglasses on. So we found Claire's and she handed them to me to put back on anytime they came off. Guess we'd better set a really good example!

Sleeping Beauty - We have to get in some extra cuddle time with Daddy gone. :)

Climbing! A few weeks ago, Claire figured out (or maybe Matt taught her) that she could climb up onto our low retro chairs herself. Then, I got new chair cushions for my birthday. They are thicker and therefore higher. She has yet to climb up with the new cushions, but she's tried. She also tries to climb into the bathtub now. Better watch her on that - could be dangerous!

I've decided I go in spurts when it comes to blogging. :) These are just a few of the things she's doing at 14 months that I wanted to record before it's too late (i.e. I forget)!

• Tonight I asked Claire "Wo sind deine Schuhe?" (Where are your shoes?). We were in the kitchen and she turned around and walked right to the cabinet in her room where we keep her shoes. This makes me especially proud because it shows that she's understanding German! Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth it to speak German to her all the time. It takes a lot more effort on my part and I can't say everything the way I want to. Then, times like this, our choice to raise her non-native bilingually is reaffirmed...she's getting it! Now if only I could make some native German friends around here that have kids. ;)
• Claire can sign some words! She uses milk, more, finished, please, dog, and bath. Some of these are sporadic, but she knows them all. I'm happy that we've done some sign language with her because it helps her communicate. I wish that she knew more, but we're not as consistent with signing (the 30 or so words we know).
• Dog - Claire generalizes this word when we're reading books. She calls horses dogs and even cows. I suppose I can see the resemblance. She'll figure it out I'm sure.
• She definitely says ma, da, hiii (hi), bah (bye), ba (ball), uh-oh, and bu (bitte=please). She just started saying bitte this morning (edited Saturday, October 9th) when she wants something (the telephone) and I ask her to say please, she also signs it at the same time she says it - I was excited. I think she's even combined "hiiii da" and "bah da" when Matt's coming and going. Matt had lots of fun tickling her last night, but tonight we're on our own again...probably through Tuesday.
• Claire loves to take (short) walks and visit the neighbors! Tonight we walked outside and she yelled across the street to say hi to the neighbor who was just arriving home. Cory noticed we were out and yelled across the street to say hi to "Baby Claire." Then we walked down the driveway and to the house next door. She looked at the house and signed 'dog.' Marie and Paul have two dogs and they're usually looking out the window. Tucker especially loves Claire and gets soooo excited whenever he sees her outside. Then we walked a little farther and Claire wanted to cross the street. I helped her do that and once we were on the sidewalk on the other side, she started walking up the driveway to Joe and Jen's. She knows where those fun boys live! I stopped her, but by this time they were all outside inviting us in for pizza. We have the best neighbors!!! Claire had told me "finished" less than 15 minutes prior, but I guess there's always enough room for pizza. We stayed and played with Cory and Jeff until bedtime. :)

Single Mom?

"Mom, the bird looks good! The ladder is safe, too."

Opa's Girl

Ready for bed. Schmusetuch in hand. Smiley girl. :)

"I brought Mommy both my shoes, one by one, and handed them to her to put them on me. Then I snagged her cell phone. I LOVE playing with it and opening and closing it!"

Drinking like a big girl - her favorite. Good thing Mommy only keeps water in her water bottle! We had so much fun with Daddy at the Sculpture Garden! We sure miss him though.

"I got so excited when I heard Mommy say 'Daddy,' and even rushed out to the kitchen to meet him...turns out though she was only asking me if I wanted to call him on the telephone. I was bummed, but I still had fun talking to him. Hopefully he gets home tomorrow before my bedtime, or maybe Mommy will let me stay up late just to see him...I'll have to try to twist her arm."

Since Friday, I've felt like a single mom. Matt's been up north helping his dad farm. He's been having a great time and working really hard! We miss him, but we've been doing well alone. I give all the credit to God on this, because I'm not really an 'alone' type of person. I'm good for a few hours, or even a day (we all need some alone time), but any longer and I am just dying for some company (even if just sitting on the couch together watching TV). Normally this would put me in a bad mood, which makes it not fun for Matt when he does call or come home. Yes, I am admitting my faults and now you all know me a little better than before - at least I know I need to improve. :) Well, this time it's been different - praise God! My attitude is very positive and Claire and I are doing very well on our own. (The house has even been lots neater. I'm not blaming a messy house on Matt, but he's 1/2 the mess and now that it's only me, I have taken more responsibility for keeping it tidy. I'm also trying to help Claire learn not only to 'raeum aus,' but to also 'raeum auf!' (Basically, pick up after herself.))

Here's the run down of Claire and Mommy time...

Friday we spent the whole day together. I had the day off because of conferences Tuesday and Thursday night. This extra day was thoroughly enjoyed! We picked up lunch at a coffeehouse and met Daddy at the new(er) sculpture garden downtown. It was a beautifully warm and sunny day. Claire had fun walking around in the grass and stopped for just a bit to eat her lunch. We also went to visit Daddy's colleagues and had fun rolling, holding, and 'throwing' (probably really dirty) balls that they gave Claire. :) On the way home, we stopped at the library and picked up some German books to read. They had a whopping TWO whole books to check out!

Saturday Omi and Opa came for a visit. We went to Fuddruckers - yum! Claire enjoyed Opa's burger and avacado. She even had some potato wedge fries. Then Opa babysat while we ran errands (ok, so actually it was easy - they both slept while we were gone). Claire took them on a walk and we had fun simply spending time together.

Sunday we started off the day at church. It was an awesome message about 'dreams' God gives us in our lives (not the kind you have when you're asleep). :) There were several things that hit home for me - thank you Lord for using Pastor Mike so often to speak to people and send your message! Check out www.hopewdm.org to hear the sermon or read The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. I have big dreams for our lives (Matt, Claire and I)...check back later, maybe much later, and I'll tell you more. :) All in God's timing! Sunday afternoon Claire helped roast a chicken, make two batches of delicious wheat pancakes (to freeze - convenient!), and mix cookie dough (to keep in the fridge for those "I really need a chocolate chip cookie!" times). She sat at the counter in her high chair to help, watched the chicken roasting in the oven, and even helped out by testing out the step ladder (I think OSHA hired her.)! We had lots of fun together and it felt good to be so productive! (Side Note: We also ran to to grocery store, book store, and toy store and got back home in less than an hour! I felt like super woman. I didn't even know that anyone could do it in that amount of time, let alone pokey me. Matt probably won't even believe it when he reads this. After all, in his experience I am the one who takes 15 minutes in the grocery store to purchase one item...while he's waiting in the car. Opps!)

The last few days we've also been spending lots of time outside enjoying this beautiful fall weather! We've gone to the park to swing, slide, and walk across the bridge twice. I showed Claire how to wiggle on the bridge so that it moves up and down - fun. We took a long walk around the neighborhood. We played cars with Anna yesterday. The fresh air is so nice! Last but not least, I'll leave you with some pictures from our adventures. (No time to rearrange, so they're at the top...grrr.)

Walk This Way

It's official, August 29th - we have a walker on our hands! Claire has been walking while holding onto both of my or Matt's (or whomever will lend them) hands for months, and more recently been able to balance while holding onto only one hand of ours. She's been taking steps too - 4 here, 7 there, 10 even a few times. This afternoon though, she made the full plunge into walking! We were grilling at the neighbors and she was walking down the driveway. At first I counted 15 steps, then 23! Can that be full-fledged walking? Then we came home for nap time. I set her down standing up next to the big exercise ball, went to the bathroom to wash my hands, and I came back out to find her walking over to the other side of the room to get her hands on some pencils. I just watched and stopped her right before she squatted down to pick them up. "C'mon mama, all that work for nothing?!?" I'm sure she was thinking! Later this evening, we went outside again and there was no crawling around - Claire was only walking. If her A. motivation to walk and B. so many steps without falling down, and C. her getting back up to walk when she does fall doesn't mean it's official, I don't know what does?!

(Matt and I took video of her in the neighbor's driveway, so when I figure out how to put that on the blog, I'll add it to this post! But, this is all you get for now because it's a Sunday night, and almost time for bed.)

Okoboji 2010

On the last weekend of the summer, we celebrated! Some Des Moines friends and ourselves all made the trip to Okoboji. Our friend Carli's parents have a place there and generously host a group of us each summer. Thank you John and Deb! We had a great time boating, eating and drinking, and being with friends. Matt got to ski and hasn't lost his touch, even though he only does it about once a year now! Claire especially had fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lori on Friday night (they just happened to be in Boji the same weekend). She missed having ice cream with Grandpa, and she's already asked for a 'rain check.' She also liked playing with Annabelle and Aiden - they shared some quality retro Fisher Price toys at the lake house. She did however, miss her friend Anna - sleeping for four hours while boating and again the next day for a couple?!? C'mon Anna, Claire was practically alone with all the adults! ;) Claire also swam at Gull Point on Saturday! It must have worn her out too (that or she was finally taking cues from Anna), because she fell asleep on my shoulder on the way to Barefoot Bar and slept almost the whole hour+ that we were there. That never happens anymore (but I was glad she got some sleep)! Overall it was a very relaxing weekend and a much needed long weekend - our only vacation all summer! We're already thinking about the annual Okoboji weekend of 2011!!

Pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Claire is walking Deb around the house on Saturday morning. The 'guys' went golfing and the 'girls' and kids hung out at the house. Take note of the fog outside.

Disclaimer: If you visit us and are foolish enough to give Clarie both your hands, you will be stooping over to walk with her for a looooong time. ;)

Out cold at Barefoot. Best of both worlds - sleeping baby against your shoulder and laughing with friends over 'go down in history' happenings.

Claire and Anna - Anna really has the rocking horse down. You should see her lips when she's rocking - so cute!

Dinner on Saturday night - table shots are a tradition in my family that I like to share with everyone!

(l to r) Carli & Spencer, Ben & Amber with Aiden, Laura & Jeff, Brian & Jen

View 2

(l to r) Brian & Jen, Bryan Becker, John & Deb, Carli

'Happy' birthday, Matty!

Matt is the hardest worker I know. On his birthday, August 12th, he worked at work really hard in the morning so he could get everything done to come home. He got home around 1:00, took a short break to eat lunch with us and play with Claire, then went back to work at home. We had a project that needed to get done, and as usual, he sacrificed relaxation or whatever it was he wanted to do, for the good of the family. For those of you who know Matt well, I'm sure this doesn't surprise you. Case in point.

I wanted to show off the fruits of his labor. This is one of those 'not fun' projects. You're not looking forward to doing it and you really have nothing to show for it once it's complete, besides, in this case, a continually dry basement. (This is something you only appreciate once you've had a wet basement and/or had to haul about 100 gallons of water up the basement stairs with your lovely wife one shop vac at a time when it's raining cats and dogs at midnight on a particular Sunday night/Monday morning in August...of 2010.)

(For the record, he did get to enjoy a birthday celebration a little bit. On Wednesday, his birthday eve, he and I went out to eat at a restaurant of his choice to celebrate. We had a fun time, just the two of us, while Omi, Onkel Alex, and Jaclyn babysat Claire.)

30 foot run of tile connected to...

the drainage system around the basement window well. No water filling up in the window well = dry basement! Yay!

Claire has a strategy. Walk Onkel Alex around lots and lots. Then he will mess up his back again. Then he will need an adjustment again. Then he will come back to Des Moines for his appointment. Then he will visit again! :)

Going Out with a Bang!

Claire and I had a wonderful last week of summer! We enjoyed just being with each other and lots of simple things. Matt and I took Claire to the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday evening. It wasn't officially open yet, but Matt knew that all the FFA and 4H kids would be there with their livestock. We thought it would be fun to go and show Claire all the animals. Otherwise, if we waited until the last weekend of the fair to go like we usually do, many of the animals would already be gone. We saw sheep, horses, and cows. Claire would point to each and show us the sign for 'dog,' so I guess she hasn't quite differentiated between dogs and any other four legged mammal at this point in her understanding. :) As we were walking through the sheep barn, we stopped at one of the pens to become acquainted with a particularly friendly sheep. He (or she) greeted us at the gate and I knelt down so that Claire could get a closer look. This friendly ewe really must have scared her, because she shuddered and started crying. If we kept a distance, she was fine and really studied the animals. Later, we went to the new air-conditioned horse arena and watched the horses and cowgirls and cowboys (Western style) maneuver through the barrels. Claire really liked this and kept pointing to each horse as it made its way around the arena. :) After the show, we went back to the horse barn and past the horse stalls. Again, Claire didn't want anything to do with being up close to the horse. Annabelle pet the horses and had lots of fun with them (by this time we'd met up with Schwartzs), but Claire was apprehensive about being near them. I guess she'll watch and enjoy from afar! (And for the record, she LOVES dogs and being very close to them and petting them...so she clearly recognizes a difference in these other mammals.)

Although it's very hard being away from my little girl this first week back (the first day back at 11:00 I thought to myself 'Ok, I'm ready to go pick up Claire now!), I am one of the lucky few who gets summers off! If I have to be away from Claire to work outside the home, I can't think of another job I'd rather do! Here are some pictures of our last week together at home. (Well Matt's at home, so actually they're evening pictures, but oh well!)

Driving with Daddy - "Always be sure to keep your feet up!"

"I need Daddy's help. On my own I can only drive backwards...and get stuck in corners!"

"You heard, huh? Yep, I've got engine problems. Just taking a quick peek under the hood now."

"This is going to require some more detailed diagnostic testing. I need a closer look. I may even have to take the old FP Green Machine to Uncle John for mechanic work. After all, Mama did buy it at a garage sale."

Friday Funday

We started the day by playing on the floor, like we usually do. Claire still has bedhead and her hair is getting so long now! I love that you can see her two chompers coming in on top. And this is a typical face for her, not usually caught on camera. See that little nose scrunch - it's just so cute!

Now we're on to playing 'I'm gonna catch you!" You can see Claire's excitement in her expression as she looks back to make sure Mami is still playing. (Still in our pajamas, so there's no need to button our pants.)

At the splash pool, I couldn't move fast enough for her. She wanted to go, go, go! I think this photo captures that. :)

She sure didn't want to stop for a picture with me! Claire wouldn't even look at the camera at any one of my many attempts at this shot, she was just too interested in the fountains around us.

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Claire and Norah are both one year old! Look at how much changes in a year though - Claire still looks like a baby, and Norah (who will be 2 in October) looks like a little girl. We have a fun year ahead of us!

And that has been Friday, August 6, 2010...Friday Funday! It's definitely the simple things. We left the pool at quarter past noon, Claire fell asleep in the car (which rarely happens on in-town trips), and then again on the way home after a quick stop at the grocery store. Swimming must have worn her out! Those 15 minutes gave her a second wind though, because she was raring to go for another two hours. :) Just looking at these pictures brings a smile to my face. I'm gonna miss days with my little girl when the school year starts - one week of summer left! And boy are we going to enjoy it!

Best Part of the Day

Homemade Carrot Cake - voila!

"Whaaaat? Yes, I already got all the frosting off, but half of it's on my bib...

yes, I have my party hat on."

Daddy, Mami, Claire - August 1st, 2010

August 1st, we celebrated Claire's first birthday! We had family and close friends over for burgers on the grill and cheesy potatoes, among other sides. For dessert, Omi made chocolate cake, Grandma made salted nut roll bars, and Mami made carrot cake, including a little Claire sized cake for our birthday girl. I have to say that my carrot cake was delicious and all from scratch (Yes, Onkel Alex, I even peeled and shredded the carrots. No, I did not grind the flour.). I was impressed by the presentation and will surely make it again! A few people played bags outdoors, but most just stayed in the AC and chatted. We did the traditional birthday song, as well as "Zum Geburtstag viel Glueck!" and everyone watched Claire eat her cake. She didn't smash into it nearly as much this weekend as last weekend, when we had a faux party with Aunt Chris. It was a busyyyyy afternoon, but we had a great time and are happy that many important family members and friends made it to celebrate with us!

The best part of the day was in the evening. Matt, Claire and I were all hanging out in the family room, which was decorated with streamers and balloons and "happy birthday" signs. Claire was so fascinated by each of our party decorations and we had the longest simple conversation about balloons and streamers. We kept pointing them out, Claire leading the conversation by pointing at different things and Mami narrating. "Yes, those are balloons! What colors are the balloons? Green, and purple, and pink. That's right! ... Yes, that's another balloon. That's a big pink balloon. ... Yes, those are streamers! Streamers are fun!" Daddy thought this was silly and told us so, but it didn't bother us. We were enamored with the balloons and streamers. :)

Some things Claire is up to at a year:

• She's totally excited to see Matt whenever he gets home from work! We hear the door rattling and she stops whatever she's doing to pay attention to who's coming. She gets a big smile on her face for Daddy. This has pretty much been all summer! Mami must get a little boring to her all day, every day.
• Claire signs more, milk, and dog. That's thanks to lots of exposure to dogs at Omi and Opa's house! :) Amber and Sage played with Claire yesterday while I worked in my classroom for half a day and said that Claire combined two signs, more and milk! Godmother Amber confirmed that this is possible at 12 months. What a smart girl we have!
• We're still working on the signs eat, please, thank you, bath, outside, inside, and look. We added these later, but I don't think it will take a long time for her to pick them up because she just started signing milk back on her birthday and she's already a pro. Now she asks for milk all the time...hmmm.
• Outside, kisses, no, etc. (I'll fill this in later when I remember more.) Claire understands these words. When I say "outside" she looks right out the window. When I ask for kisses, she sometimes gives them, depending on her mood.
• Matt pointed out this week that Claire has grown particularly fond of her 'Schmusetuch' which she sleeps with. She always grabs for it now and is holding it when she's standing in the crib waiting for us to get her.
• Claire points now all the time! I think she loves this newfound control. She points and we go over to the object and talk about it. This is really neat! I like this especially because it tells me exactly what she's looking at and I'm learning new vocabulary as we go. ("Air snake" is streamer in German, how cool is that! "Colored band" is ribbon. Sometimes German makes so much sense, and then other times the language balances itself out.)
• It's fun to see her personality emerging more and more. She is an excellent talker! When we get together with other friends and their babies who are about the same age, she clearly likes to talk more than most. She also likes to scream to get her point across. This should get interesting as she gets older. ;)
• Claire's entering into the stage of knowing what she wants and this includes letting us know she isn't happy if she doesn't get what she wants. She arches her back and whines or tries to roll over and get away during diaper changes. This has been within the last couple of months.
• She stood up in the high chair for the first time today. I was only three feet away, but was busy trying to get the cheese package closed (complicated I know). I glance up and there she is standing. I firmly told her no and that "we only sit down in our high chair," but she seemed to think this was funny and tried it a couple more times. Lunchtime was over at this point!
• At other times, she is starting to follow directions. For example, she found a pea on the floor and was bringing it to her mouth today, but when I told her no, she stopped and went on to a different activity.
• She loves stairs! At our house, we only have the one step to go up and down, because we don't let her play on the hard basement stairs. The first time she went upstairs was playing at the mall in June, in the kids' section. Then in July, she had fun going up and down at Omi and Opa's and Grandma and Grandpa's. Everytime I've walked with her today (taken her hands while she walks), she's gone straight for OUR stairs too. It doesn't hurt the knees when Mami is holding her hands so you can stand upright.
• There are lots more things I'm forgetting I'm sure, I'll get to those later. :)

Reflecting on this past year, we have so much to be thankful for!

God, thank you for blessing us with a daughter. Thank you for using her to teach me more about how a parent loves his/her child. This has helped me to better understand how you love us. It makes me think about the Bible story when one son returns and they feast on a fattened calf because he's back. The other son doesn't understand why they're celebrating so much for his brother, when he's been there all along. I get it now God. It's like the father is overwhelmed with happiness that the son has returned. I can't really explain it well though, but I realize how a parents loves his/her child. Thank you Lord for making the simple things in life the best - for walks on a summer evening, for trips to the grocery store, for Claire's excitement whenever Matt returns from work, for wet open mouth baby kisses and hugs and loving each other. I ask for your continued guidance in raising Claire. Give us wisdom when making decisions and help us to know when to let go and not worry about the little things. Thank you for deepening our marriage and making us a better wife and husband this past year. Bless us with another joyful year. Help us grow deeper in our relationship with you. We know this is not in our control, but is in your plans for us - plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future. I love you Lord. Be with us, protect us. Amen.