To Grammy's...

Claire went trick-or-treating to Grammy's house and a couple of her neighbors. Once again Claire enjoyed getting outside and walking around more than getting treats! I think next year she'll understand the candy aspect of Halloween!

Grammy & Grandpa's favorite trick-or-treater!

Grammy, Daddy, Claire, Mommy & Sophie with two of Grammy's neighbor girls.

Grammy & Claire

Our family from the front and behind!!

Trick-or-Treat!

This year we dressed Claire up as a Care Bear since she is so affectionately known as Claire Bear! She wasn't very happy wearing a costume last year, but this year she tolerated it! I wasn't sure what she would think of trick-or-treating, but she enjoyed walking around outside and it was such a pretty evening. She didn't quite get the whole candy thing. She was more interested in trying to get inside everyone's house when they opened the door. I guess she just assumed we were stopping by for a visit! It was pretty humorous! We only went to the houses in our court and then headed to Grammy & Grandpa's for a quick visit so they could see her in her costume!

Our Claire Bear!

Pumpkin Carving

Just some cute pics of Ben and Claire while he was carving our pumpkin! Sophie actually enjoyed eating the pumpkin pieces. I should've gotten some pictures of that! It was funny to see her beg for raw pumpkin!

NICU Halloween Party

All my friends that I work with got our kids together for the 2nd Annual NICU Halloween party! We all met at Maranda's house for the get together and we had a great time talking and letting all the kids play! Many of us are "with child" and on round two. It's kind of funny that many of us are having our second child so close just like we had our firsts! It so much fun and I am so fortunate to work with people that I can truly call friends and not just co-workers!

Claire playing with Anna and Tessa

Left to Right: Claire, Eli, Addison, Tessa, Landon, Anna, Julia, and Jayda.

The pumpkins didn't make it in the group picture. Above Noah and below an unhappy pumpkin Arilyn. Also, I didn't get a picture of Ava and Carson... sorry guys!

Sam the Giraffe

The highlight of our trip was Sam! We LOVED seeing Sam the Giraffe up close and personal. That is something you do not get to do at the zoo. We actually were very disappointed when we recently went to the Columbus Zoo and they had no giraffe. Well, we definitely got our fill of Giraffe yesterday. We spent a lot of time feeding, petting and just admiring this amazing creature. They are so strange, yet so neat looking. I'd never been so close to such a large animal and it was quite an experience. I am so glad Claire was able to have this experience at such a young age!

Isn't he beautiful! An amazing creation by God!

Look how close we are to him!

Claire feeding Sam!

Claire was able to touch Sam several times! She was very interested in this enormous creature!

I think I had more fun at the ranch than Claire! Everyone knows I am a sucker for animals!

I love this picture of Claire and Sam! You can just see the excitement on her face!

Feeding Sam hay! This is actually on the hayride!

Animal Ranch Fun

Yesterday evening we made a trip to Troy to go to an animal ranch/sanctuary that Grammy heard about. We'd been trying to get there for awhile and finally made it before they closed for the winter. This weekend they had a Fall festival with lots of activities. It was such a beautiful Fall day and we had so much fun seeing all the animals and going on a hayride. Claire loved feeding and petting the animals. In the next post I will post all the Giraffe pictures because Sam the Giraffe was definitely the main attraction and we took a ton of pictures of him!

Claire in the Pumpkin Patch!

All of us on a hayride! Claire loved throwing the hay and playing in it. I was kind of surprised she liked it as much as she did!

They had a moon walk inflatable like we had at Claire's birthday party! She loved jumping in it!

Claire pointing at the goat!

Claire was fascinated by the miniature horse. I think because it was her size!

The pretty horsey!

Grammy & Claire

Claire got to go on a pony ride! I don't think she quite knew what to think about it, but it was so cute to watch!

A group shot... Mommy, Grammy, Claire, Grandpa, Daddy, Aunt Beth and Steven.

A Family Halloween

Tonight we celebrated Halloween with my family because Shawn, Kristen and the kids are in town. Every year my mom has Halloween and all the kids get dressed at her house (she usually makes the costumes). She always makes chili and lots of other good food and we all hang out there for awhile before trick-or-treat. Well this year is a little different because Connor, Lauren & Jillian will be in Illinois. It's kind of sad, but at least we were able to get together, even if it was a little early! It was a pretty Fall evening and we had fun just being together. We even made a little bonfire and roasted marshmallows! Happy Halloween!

Our cutie-patooties! I know I am biased, but they have to be two of the cutest one year olds around!!

I had to get a shot of the back of Claire's Care Bear costume!

Claire: Cheer Bear, Lauren: Super Women, Caroline: Friendly Ghost, Jillian: Nice Witch. NOTE: Connor was at a friends house tonight. He is going to be Darth Vader!

My mom is a pianist and as you can see her grandgirls hope to follow in her footsteps! I think this is such a cute picture!! How cute are they?!?!

Family Outing

Today we went to Columbus to see some of Ben's family from the Akron area. We met at Easton and ate lunch there and hung out with his family for awhile. We don't get to see them often so it was nice to catch up!

Grandpa & Claire

Me & Claire with Ben's Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom


Ben with cousin Kelly, Aunt Diane, Aunt Linda, cousin Ron and his wife Rachel.

Aunt Linda and cousin Kelly. Kelly lives and works as an attorney in Columbus. She is running in the Columbus marathon tomorrow! Good luck Kelly!!!

3 of the 5 Cutting siblings: Diane, Tom (Grandpa) and Linda. Their other brother Bob lives in California and sister Pat in Florida.

Diane & Claire. Claire was very interested in Diane's necklace!

15 Months!

Today Claire turned 15 months old. WOW... it really amazes me how quickly she has grown. It is almost hard to remember her as a little newborn. There is absolutely no question she is no longer a baby, but a full fledged toddler. This is by far my favorite time so far. Everyday is something new. It seems she is using a new word all the time. She has quite a vocabulary and is starting to put two words together. A few of the daily words she uses is... of course mama and dada, plus she says baby(everyone under the age of 4 or so is a baby to her) , bow (yes, meaning hair bow! Is it any wonder that bow is one of her first words!!!), bye-bye, papa (for Grandpa), cookie, thank you (doesn't quite have the "th" sound, but that's a hard one), doggie, ball, bite, more and a couple others that I can't think of right now! We went to see Dr. Denen last week for her well check and he said she is advanced with her speech. Ben commented that with a very verbal mom like me, how could she not! At her Dr. visit she weighed in at 23 pounds (50th percentile) and 32 inches long (90th percentile). She is still continuing on the long & lean side.
We are so thankful for our girl and I truly enjoy staying home with her and just being Claire's mommy right now. There is no place else I would rather be and I understand how important it is to be here for her. This precious time is fleeting and I don't want to miss a thing!

Claire has become very maternal recently and loves to feed her babies a bottle. She is always hugging & kissing her babies. It's so sweet! I hope she is this kind to her baby sister!

Claire was in a very silly mood this afternoon! I love all these pictures! What a silly goose!!!