Summer Fun!

Claire loves to get out and go on walks and get ice cream! Here are just a few pictures from a few of our trips this summer!

Claire LOVED her mini ice cream cone so much....

she attempted to shove the whole thing in her mouth!

Saturday we went with Grammy & Grandpa to The Narrows Reserve and took a nice walk along the river! Claire enjoyed looking at the huge trees & the water! We saw several canoes when we were there. We thought Claire would like to take a canoeing trip when she's a little older!

Ben & Sophie along the river! Sophie took several dips in the water!!!

Grammy, Grandpa & Claire!!

Family pictures!!!

Great-Great Grandma's Doll

Grammy brought out her grandmother's doll the other night for Claire to look at. The doll is over 100 years old and Sue has had it since the kids were younger. She is such a neat doll with ceramic hands and face. Claire was very intrigued by her. She kept trying to touch her face and smiled constantly at her. She even waved to her a couple times. I think Claire was waiting for some sort of response from the doll! It was really cute! Ben said he remembers as a boy thinking the doll was like Chuckie from the horror movies and was afraid she would come to life and kill his family. She is a little on the spooky side with her thick, dark painted eyebrows! She didn't seem to scare Claire though!

I found a couple pictures with Claire and Grammy & Grandpa's Maltese Mandy. They had to put Mandy to sleep yesterday after 14 years of companionship. She was truly the sweetest dog ever. She was such a good girl and a huge part of the Cutting family. Ben and I hadn't been dating long when they got Mandy. She has always been around. She will definitely be missed. Mandy will always be in our hearts...
Grammy bought this cute Maltese outfit for Claire so we had to get some pictures of Claire in her outfit with Mandy. I'm so glad we did!

To Grandma's House We Go!!

Yesterday we went to my mom's house and spent the day with Aunt Kristen, Connor, Lauren, Jillian, Nuna & Grandpa. While we were there we went down to great grandma McDowell's house to visit with her! We had a a fun day and Grandpa is on summer break from teaching so he grilled out for lunch! It was delicious! We had a great time with our family!!

Aunt Kristen wasn't feeling well which is why she is wrapped up in a blanket in the middle of June! Hope you're feeling better Kristen!

Lauren was feeding Claire pieces of her popsicle! Claire loved it!!

Lauren took this picture... she enjoys taking pictures!!

Claire & Grandma McDowell (notice Claire's pants are missing... she somehow managed to get them off!!!).

DOUBLE the Fun!!!

Today Claire & I spent the day with my best friend, Maria and her twins Brianna & Bruce. Maria lives in Michigan, but tries to make frequent trips home and we visit whenever possible! Her twins are getting so big and talking so well. They are at such a fun age! Claire enjoyed watching them and they were great about including Claire in their play! They are such sweet kids and Maria is an awesome mother! She is so calm and loving with the twins. I know I can always go to Maria for parenting advise. She is definitely an expert! We love you guys and miss you! Can't wait to see you again SOON!

Bri giving Claire a kiss... what a sweet girl!!

Bri showing us her somersault. She doesn't quite make it over yet!

Claire was of course drawn to the doggie! Windsor is Maria's parents Great Pyrenees. He is a gentle giant!

The gang playing!

Maria with her sweeties! Aren't they too cute!?!?

The Memorial Tournament

Today Ben and his best friend Phil, in from Seattle, went to The Memorial golf tournament in Columbus. They had a great time watching all the big name PGA players and were able to hang out in the Price Waterhouse Coopers hospitality house during the weather delay.

On Monday & Friday Ben & Phil played golf with my two brothers, Shawn & Scott. They always have some sort of elaborate wagering system they use when they play golf and I find it very interesting that every time they play they always come out even... no one owes anybody any money. Seems kind of fishy to me????

Ben & Phil at The Memorial held at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin.

Walk for Strays

Today was the annual SICSA Walk for Strays at Delco Park (http://www.sicsa.org/). It's another walk to benefit neglected, abused and abandoned animal in the area. SICSA is a no-kill shelter that does a great job finding loving homes for these animals and we are always happy to support such a great cause! We try to go to the walk every year. This year Ben went to The Memorial golf tournament in Columbus so I took Claire & Sophie and my mom took her "grand dog", Ollie (my parents Lab is older and not up to the walk!!). I didn't get many pictures, but I will post the couple I did take. It was a little on the warm side, but despite the heat there was an excellent turn out!

My mom was trying to get Ollie to jump in the pool to cool off. He really didn't want anything to do with it!

Sophie with two other Greyhounds we met at the walk!

Play Time with Landon

Today Deanna brought Landon over and he & Claire were able to play for a couple hours. Last night Ben bought a new pool for Claire and we were able to test it out today with Claire & Landon! It passed the kid test.... they both really liked playing in it! It is the cutest baby pool. It's inflatable in the shape of a whale and you can hook the hose up to the whale's spout and it sprays water. It was a warm day today so they had fun cooling off in the water!!

Landon & Claire playing in Claire's crib (just don't tell her daddy!!!:)

I filled Sophie's hard plastic baby pool up for her today as well, but as you can see she was more interested in Claire's inflatable pool. I guess she wanted to be where the action was. I'm just afraid she is going to puncture the pool with her massive claws.

In this picture you can see the whale's spout spraying water! Speaking of whales we are keeping our fingers crossed for the wayward mama humpback whale & her calf in California. They said today they think they may have made it to the open waters of the Pacific! Let's hope!!

Memorial Day w/ Family

We had a great time Memorial Day afternoon spending time with the McDowell clan! It's always fun to get all the McDowell grandkids together. We grilled out and just spent time enjoying the day outside!

Grandpa McDowell with the baby girls! Notice Claire has her arm in the fruit puff container up to her elbow! She LOVES her puffs!

In this picture you can see she is stuffing the puffs in her mouth. Sometimes she manages to get so many in her mouth she can't even chew, thankfully they do dissolve!!
Ollie (Shawn & Kristen's Springer Spaniel) trying to get a drink of Grandpa's Coke.

Here Ollie is trying to steal a fruit puff from Claire! He is in to everything, but he's so sweet and cute! Ollie & Sophie had a great time running laps in my parent's large backyard! Ollie realized quickly that he wasn't fast enough to catch up with a Greyhound so he was clever enough to hide in the bushes with a sneak attack on Sophie as she ran by. It was so funny and smart! We all got quite a laugh out of his antics! Below Sophie is taking a rest in the cool mulch after her run!

Claire & Caroline playing on the blanket. This was before they realized it was much funner to play in the grass and mulch!

Nuna reading to Claire!

Nuna and her girls!

Aren't they just adorable! They are really starting to enjoy being around one another. They play so well together and just gibber jabber. They are both talkers!!

The "cousins" picture! They are so cute! Connor is REALLY hoping that the new baby is a boy. He definitely feels outnumbered with his sister's and girl cousins!

Memorial Day w/ Family

On Memorial Day we spent the day with family. The afternoon was spent with the McDowell side of the family and the evening was spent with the Cutting's. We had a great time just hanging out with our family and enjoying a nice, leisurely day!

We also want to take time to remember family that we have lost. Claire will never get a chance to meet her Great Grandma Shepherd, Great Grandma Cutting, Great Grandpa Cutting or Great Grandpa McDowell. We know how much they would have loved Claire and we will show her lots of pictures and tell her all about her Grandparents that left us too soon!

Claire loved swimming in her baby pool at Grammy & Grandpa Cutting's house. Grammy had big bubbles she blew while Claire was in the pool. Claire enjoyed trying to catch the bubbles and playing with her beach ball and toys! Grammy used warm tap water to fill the pool so she stayed nice and warm!

Daddy playing with Claire in the pool. She kept trying to stand in the pool so Daddy had to remind her to stay seated so she wouldn't slip!

Claire loved watching the bubbles!

Claire was pointing at the bubbles in this picture!


Grammy & Claire!

Aunt Beth watching Claire play in the pool. We wonder now what we did for entertainment before Claire joined our family!!