Thankful Christian and/or Expert Staller?

I just had to post this because I think it's too funny not to! I could not contain my laughter tonight at some of the things Claire prayed for. We've prayed with her before bed for a long time now, surely before she understood at ALL what we were doing. We want to raise her in a home where we demonstrate through example a commitment to Christ. (We are still working on this ourselves too!)

As of lately, we've prayed with Claire like usual, thanking God for the special friends and family whom we love, thanking Him for daily activities, and asking Him to be with us and keep us and those around us healthy. Then, Matt or I start the sentence "God, thank you for..." and let her finish it. The last few days it's gotten to be quite the list! She says whomever comes to mind, and then she starts looking around the room for what else to be thankful for, like...Tasche (bag), Kreide (crayons), Fische (fish - in a picture on her wall), etc. (Update: She was really thinking on these...Klo (toilet), andere Klo (other toilet), Daddy's Klo, Dusche (shower), Mami heute geduscht (Mami showered today)!) That's all that comes to mind right now, and it's not nearly as funny when I write it out on here, but believe me, in the middle of it, it's too cute and with such a lovable, thankful to God girl, I just have to have a sense of humor about the fact that she's prolonging the bedtime routine! :)

OKOBOJI 2011

We had a great family and friend vacation last weekend in Okoboji. It was our 4th annual trip (though we've only made it three years now because Claire was about to join us in 2009 and we didn't want to travel)! As we enjoyed reminiscing during a photo slide show Saturday night, we all agreed that we must be getting older - it isn't nearly as crazy anymore as it was the first couple of years. In fact, everyone was in bed by 12:00 both nights I believe. Highlights of the weekend included lots of boating, even more food (and at random times), skiing for Matt and the others, swimming for Claire and Annabelle, and showing up Brian in our diving contest for me!

Claire and I also discovered the public sidewalk that runs along the lake. Although we had lots of fun the whole weekend, it's that simple memory that I think was the best for me. We headed down the path while Daddy, Jeff, and John were skiing on Sunday morning before breakfast. Right away, we spotted lots of sailboats and one sailboat that was away from the rest of them. This started a great conversation about a book we often read, Riese Rick macht sich schick. In it, a goat (one of Claire's favorite animals) is sad because the storm blew away his sail. So, Rick the Giant, who had just gotten stylish new clothes, literally takes the shirt off his back to give it to the goat. The goat uses it as a new sail for his sailboat and everything is better. Rick saves the day! We love this book and Claire especially enjoys noticing the feelings of the animals (sad to happy after Rick helps). Later on our walk, we took note of the 'little buildings' that were by the lake near all of the docks. After a while, I asked Claire what she thought was in the little buildings. She told me "Stroh," which I didn't understand at first. After a few guesses on my part of me repeating her, but saying similar words and her saying "nein" and getting that look on her face like "Mami, you just aren't understanding what I'm saying," she told me "Ziegen fressen Stroh." (Goats eat straw.) (Anybody who knows better can correct me, but that's what it looks like they're eating at the zoo and that's always been what we've said.) This sentence helped clarify that she thought that there was straw in the little buildings by the lake. Oh, how I love her logic! :)

Thank you to Claire's adoptive Okoboji grandma Deb and grandpa John for hosting us again!

(Pictures later!...Jen, can you email those during ALL that free time please?) :) :)

A BIRTHDAY in the Life of a Two Year Old!

With Claire's second birthday on Monday, August 1st, I thought I'd have a little fun as a photojournalist. I wanted this day to be special for her especially because it's probably the first birthday she realized it was HER birthday! We'd been asking her for two weeks "Who has a birthday in two weeks...one week...three days...etc.?" and I'd also been singing "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag" to her many times in conjunction with this question. I'd pause at the "liebe" and let her say her own name, which she thoroughly enjoyed! A song with your own name...how fun is that?!? So, without further ado, here's a glimpse into a two year old's birthDAY!

First Request: What better way start to the day than "Loeffel Erdbutter!"

(Loeffel Erdnussbutter = Spoon (of) Peanut Butter)

Second Request: A walk and playing at the park! We even explored a new kind of pine cone (long and skinny) on our walk, and Claire spotted right away the tall prairie grass with the fuzzy tops, to which she requested "haben" (have). Now we're "arbeiten" (working) with the flowers - watering them and picking off the dead ones. She is actually pretty good at deciphering the dead flowers from the new blooms. Here, Claire is examining how HER flower is doing!

Trying out our new finger paints from Tante! She really liked this (and even requested to paint the next day as well).

We invited Sage over for finger painting, and after that and a bath to clean up, we turned on some music. The girls really liked "1,2,3 im Sauseschritt" (song) and grabbed each others hands without prompting to start dancing together! It was so cute. Then, when Sage wanted a turn dancing with Amber (you're welcome, Amber, for not posting the 'embarrassing' pictures) Claire stood there with her hands out insisting that she have her dance partner back.

(I realized for the sake of anonymity, I should take the picture with the license plate number off the blog. Let me tell you - it was a cute one with Daddy and Claire scrubbing the car!)

When Daddy got home, we put on a suit and washed all three cars (our two and her car) together! Now THAT made for a fun in the sun evening! To top it off, Claire invited the neighbor boys, Jeff and Cory, over to draw with sidewalk chalk.

If that's not a FUN birthday, I don't know what is! :)

If anyone knows how to upload more than five photos to blogger, let me know. I had a lot more, but had to pick and choose because of this darn website! Thanks!