Boonshoft... AGAIN!!

As you can probably tell from my multiple Boonshoft posts... we really enjoy going to Boonshoft! Claire now asks to go and surprisingly she says it perfectly (I think it's a hard word to say!). Last week, Deanna and I took the kids on a rainy day. We thought it was a great day for indoor activities. Claire & Landon had so much fun playing. I am definitely noticing a change in Claire's interests at the museum as she is maturing. It's fun to watch them a they learn and grow!

Claire really likes Lego type toys now. She's always enjoyed stacking and has actually stacked 16 one inch wooden blocks at Grammy's recently! WOW!!

Landon chasing Claire in the tunnel!

Our cute jailbirds! "Let us OUT!!"

The grocery store is one of Claire's favorites! My little shopper!

This Bobcat was very active and Claire & Landon giggled as they watched the "kitty cat"!

Taking a break to talk to Olivia!

And our ALL TIME FAVORITE residents of Boonshoft.... the lovable Otters! They are too cute for words!

Family Pictures

In August we had family pictures taken. Lori Moore was the photographer and she did a great job. I've known Lori since I was a little girl. Her sister, Alexandra, and I have been friends since elementary school. Anyway, the pictures turned out really nice and I definitely plan on using her again!! Thanks Lori!

If you are interested in using Lori for your own pictures her website is... http://www.lorimoorephoto.com/

Also, if want to see all of our proofs.... when you go to the site, go under the "for clients" tab and the password is LMP-CUTTING

Anna's 8 Month Quilt Pictures

Anna was 8 months on August 21st (sorry this is a little late). She FINALLY got some teeth. We were joking that she was going to be walking before she had any teeth! She cut her two bottom teeth a few weeks ago and it looks so cute! It makes her look older to me. She continues to pull herself up on anything and everything and is mastering the cruising thing. I know that she'll be walking anytime and it scares me a little, but we are ready!
Anna is making lots of sounds now and has become quite verbal within the last month. She says ba-ba, da-da, ga-ga, lots of smacking of her lips and thanks to Aunt Beth, she loves to blow raspberries!!
She is such an amazing gift that we are so thankful for. She has added so much love to our family!

This picture is a little blurry, but it's too cute not to post!

Anna has a ridiculous amount of hair and it is so long. I've actually trimmed it a couple of times in the back because she looked like she had a mullet. We can't do mullets around here!

It is getting harder and harder to get these pictures. She just doesn't like to sit still anymore. Thank goodness for Gerber Puffs!

Soooo serious! She is normally so happy and smiling, it's funny to see her without a bright smile on her face!

A "Mommy & Claire" Night Out!

Well, as you can imagine, since Anna's birth life has gotten a bit more hectic and busy. Claire has done great with Anna and "sharing" her mommy with her baby sister!! She is a terrific little girl and I thought it would be fun to have an evening out with just the two of us. We haven't had much "Mommy & Claire" time since Anna was born. I've been on the look out for a fun activity and something we haven't done before. Well, last week I saw an advertisement for the Elmo Live performance and I knew that was it!! My parents watched Anna and I took Claire out to eat and then to see Elmo! It was so much fun and she enjoyed it more than I expected. She was thrilled! She waved to all the Sesame Street characters and danced to the music! I was entertained myself. The performance was really well done and worth every cent! Ben & I decided we liked this idea and want to make Daddy & Me and Mommy & Me dates with our girls often! It's good to get that one-on-one time with your kids! Mommy & Claire at Nuna & Papa's house before we left on our date!

Claire was too busy coloring for pictures!

Hanging out by the stage before the show began!

We were three rows back on the end... perfect seats! The characters came down the aisles often so that was really fun to see them up close & personal!

Bert, Ernie & Big Bird!

Look how close we were to the characters!

This guy got a little too close... he was waving to Claire and she grabbed me and screamed!

ELMO... our favorite! What a great time!!!!

Labor Day

On Labor Day, Grammy & Papa took Claire to the Holiday at Home parade. Claire really liked seeing the marching bands, the "twirlers", all the floats and balloons! When she got home she showed us all of her new marching moves and beauty queen waves! It was so cute!! Later that day, we had an end-of-summer cookout at Grammy & Papa's. It was a great holiday weekend!

Grammy & Claire at the parade!

Lots of excitement!

Claire liked seeing the pretty girls in the Miss Holiday at Home float!

Watching the fire trucks go by!

Papa holding Claire as they watched the floats go by! Claire did a lot of waving, according to Grammy!

It was a VERY hot day and Claire was ready for a nap when she got home!

Labor Day 2008

Here are some pictures from the Labor Day holiday week with family. Shawn & Kristen and kids were in town over the weekend so we spent Sunday with them at my parents house. Shawn, unfortunately, was sick in bed most of the time with what we thought then was a bad migraine. Now we know he has shingles. He is in excruciating pain and nothing is working right now to relieve the pain. He also has them dangerously close to the inside of his eye, which can affect vision, so please pray for him right now.
Otherwise, we had a nice and relaxing long weekend with family!

Ben with his two princesses!

We call my mom a baby hog... here she is holding Catherine!

We are finding out more & more that these two little girls are very mischievous and it is definitely compounded when they are together. Papa was suppose to be watching them, but during that time they found a ball point pen and wrote all over their extremities. Oh boy, watch out...

A close up of their body artwork!!

Scott is a proud Daddy!

The big girl cousins!

Aunt Kristen, Jillian & Lauren

We made two trips to Cedarville in the last week to see my grandparents. My grandpa isn't feeling well so we wanted help him if we could and cheer him up!