Splish Splash

Claire loves to harass her sisters when they are in the tub. She often goes in and talks to them, drops things in the tub, and plays in the water. Last night she went to see Brynn taking a bath. Claire got a little carried away with participating in Brynn's bath. The next things we knew, this happened:Being the good mom I am, I didn't run for Claire or a towel, I ran for the camera. We all couldn't help laughing. After we stripped Claire down, she was happy to be in the tub with sister. Just another typical day with Claire.

New Do's

Our wonderful Aunt Ashley has worked her wonder once again. She gave all three of the girls haircuts today. They all look beautiful! Shawn took them to get the cuts while I had a little sleep-in. (Thanks, babe!) The three girls came home as proud as peacocks, fluffy and preening. It was very cute.
Syd went for a good trim with some layers added in. I think it makes her look very grown-up.
Brynn opted for a A-line. She wanted it cut up to her ears, but Ashley talked her out of that. Brynn is quite proud of her new look. Very cute.
Claire's hair has always amazed us. I have noticed lately that she has a fair amount of damage in the front because I pull it back every day. So Ash trimmed her all up and A-lined her hair also. It looks so cute, and so different. She looks like a big girl now. Claire was absolutely thrilled with her fancy new hair. When she got home she trotted down the hall to where I was and actually struck a pose to show off her look.
So now we have a house full of stylin little ladies. Thanks so much Ash, we love you!

Tae Kwon Do

Syd has been taking Tae Kwon Do since September. When she started out she was what is called a no-belt. Syd had her first belt test on Saturday and she passed! She is now a white-belt. It was pretty cool to watch her testing. She showed all the punches and kicks she knows along with what is called "forms". It is a combination of moves put together. She knows three of these.
There were almost 20 people testing on the same day, ranging from those testing for their white belt, like Syd to two girls testing for their second degree brown belts. It was really fun to watch the different levels. They showed their sparring ability and even got to break boards with their arms and feet. There is something Syd can look forward to!


So Syd is really excited to wear her belt to class now. She looks great! She told me that she couldn't smile for the pictures because that wouldn't be tough, but I got her to smile for one.
We are super proud of Syd and you all better watch out, this is not a girl to be messed with!

More Antics From Claire

The other morning Shawn and I were upstairs. He was getting ready for work and I was cleaning up breakfast. Brynn was sick and home from school. She was downstairs playing computer games, and Claire was watching her. Or so we thought. After about 15 minutes of playing, Brynn came upstairs and said "Mom, Claire is making a mess with conditioner." My mind immediately went all sorts of places, like conditioner squirted in the tub, on the bathroom floor. But I do not give Claire enough credit. She is much more creative than that.



This is what was left of a brand new bottle of conditioner that she squirted on MY COUCH them proceeded to rub in. Saying it was a mess was an understatement. You will be happy to know that my couch is now silky soft and tangle-free.

Naptime is sacred at our house. It is the one time of day that I get a reprieve from the child and don't have to worry about what kind of trouble she is getting into. When I went in yesterday to get Claire from her nap, this is how I found her:


She had reached out of her crib onto the changing table and gotten a tube of diaper rash cream and decided to have a little snack. After her snack she pulled up her pant legs and put "o-shen" all over her legs, and clothes, and blankets.

I am at a loss for words to describe my feelings about all of this. Well, except for one question. Who wants to babysit?

Halloween Happenings

Happy Halloween! We had a fun night full of tricks and treats. Here are some of the most memorable moments:

Brynn brought home a little pumpkin plant from school in the spring. It grew and grew. . . and grew. We ended up with 8 very nice pumpkins! Good job Brynny!
Syd carved her pumpkin all by herself this year. It looked great!
Here are our finished products. Can you guess whose is whose? :)
Here are the girls all dressed up. We had a cheerleader, a pixie/flower/Thumbelina/ and a princess.

We also had some fun trying to get our little princess to hold still long enough to get a good photo.
I told the older girls to just hold the smile. . . keep smiling!
Keep smiling!
And I guess we are done.

Our cheerleader. Rah, rah!
Thunbelina with her candy haul. Not too bad!
The princess eating her dinner. It's a good thing Halloween only comes once a year.

And now for the pieces de resistance: I present Bubba. He is the local mechanic who came by to visit. He had some great conspiracy theories about the moon landing and alien autopsies. He also shared his "oregano" with us.
Shawn got to play a part in the ward murder mystery. He took his role to heart. I think he jst wanted an excuse to grow his beard out for a week. :) You did a great job baby.We had a fun Halloween. Hope you did too!

Sydney the Hobo

Syd came upstairs tonight and announced she had decided to hit the road as a hobo. She had her hobo sack ready and everything. She even took it apart and told me why she had put the things in that she had. Here is what she said:

1. During the day I will use the blanket as a sack and at night it will double as a blanket.
2. I brought paper and a pen so I can keep track of where I have been.
3. I brought a telescope and binoculars, but maybe I only need one of those. I think I will put the telescope away and keep the binoculars.
4. I am taking Mr. Alien with me so he can keep me company. The little red container is his house.
5. I am taking a ball with me because it's important to have some entertainments.
6. This is a fold-down brush. I will need to brush the snarls out of my hair.
Pocket-knife. (I forgot to number that one). You never know when it might come in handy.
Just as a side note: Syd used a curtain rod as her stick in her hobo sack.



So Syd is ready to go. She wanted to be sure that I knew that she wasn't really going to run away but that the hobo sack could also be used as an emergency kit. She just went to bed and the hobo sack is strategically placed at the foot of her bed. In case she needs it in the middle of the night.

In Addition to Yesterday:

This is for all of you who think I might have been exaggerating with yesterday's post. I was in the kitchen today measuring out sugar for making jelly. I thought to myself "This sugar smells like something but I just can't put my finger on it". I shrugged and went back to measuring. A minute later I thought "I know! This sugar smells like baby powder. How weird is that." Then I realized how quiet it had gotten in Claire's room. She had been playing noisily in there for a while, but now there was no sounds to be heard. So I went back to see what she was up to and THIS is what I found:
Claire was having a grand time with an entire bottle of baby powder. She was clapping her hands and sending puffs of powder everywhere. There was a fan on in her room which was adding to the fun. I figure this is why I could smell it all in the way in the kitchen. Darn baby. I couldn't be mad because she was just so excited about the whole thing. She even thought it was fun when I used the vacuum hose to clean her off.

Some Moments With Claire

Claire is 18 months. Having a toddler around the house is interesting to say the least. Maybe I have just forgotten, but Claire seems to have more, ummm, ideas (read: attitude) about the way things should be than the other two did at this age. Syd was and still is so happy-go-lucky and Brynn was so mellow at 18 months considering she was still sitting around with her bucket of toys, not crawling or even rolling over. So with Claire we end up with quite a few funny moments at our house. Here are some that I caught in photos.



Claire loves her blankie. It kind of goes everywhere with her. Shawn took her for a ride in her wagon yesterday. He said they were just walking along when Claire started sobbing like her heart was broken. Shawn stopped and looked back. Blankie had fallen out of the wagon and was about 10 feet back laying forlornly on the sidewalk. Claire was reaching and crying. Very sad. Good thing dad came to the rescue and Blankie made it home.


I took Claire to the doctor for her 18 month check-up yesterday. She got four shots. She cried super-hard until the nurse pulled out a sucker, the the tears stopped instantly. I was trying to get a picture of her little legs with the band-aids on them. I thought the pic above was cute but didn't show the band-aids very well. So I was trying to get a better picture. . .and things quickly deteriorated into this:Claire won that round.



Claire has a bit of a preoccupation with shoes. She loves to put on her "saw" and "sues" and "go, go". She also likes everybody else's shoes. She got one of these boots of Syd's on by herself. I helped her with the other one. What can I say. She definitely is ready to "Go, go".

We love our little girl!

Photo Shoot

Go HERE to see some cute photos of my babies. Thank you so much Danelle for spending some time with us! Love you much.

We went for a walk

Setember 6th-12th

August 31st-September 5th

August 23rd-29th

August 16th-22nd

August 9th-14th

This week was so much fun! It was really great to try something completely different from what I have done.

August 2nd-8th

Lots of pages to post. The first of August seems like a lifetime ago. We had a very busy, very fun summer.

Never Forget

Today I thank God for my country.

Wesley Noel

I am an aunt! Robyn had her third little boy very early this morning. For all the fun details, visit her blog here. He is such a cutie! Congrats to Dave, Robyn, Ian and Miles.

First day of school and other exciting news

So we sent the girls off to school yesterday morning. I had a little song in my head:"Ding dong, school is in, school is in. Ding, dong school is finally in!" Yes, I did do a little happy dance. I love my kids, but you know.


Syd is in 3rd grade and at a new school this year. It was really fun to go walk through Summit with her the other night. It is where I went to elementary and was a great blast from the past. Although I remember the bleachers in the gym being lots, lots taller than there are. Hmmmm. Syd's teacher seem fantastic and I'm sure Syd is in for a great year.


Brynn is in 1st grade and is now gone all day. I asked her what I was going to do without her home in the mornings and she said "I think you will cry lots, and then you can watch Super Why and Word World. It will be okay mom." This was all said while she was patting me on the back. Brynn's teacher seems very nice. We get to go over to the school today and help out, which will be fun. I'm glad I have the chance to get to know their teachers. It makes it easier to gang up on them!
I know this picture is a little blurry but I just thought it was so cute. Off to school they go! Both girls had a great first day of school and couldn't wait to hop out of bed this morning. We will see how long that lasts. As for me and Claire. . . well Claire misses her sisters. When they got home yesterday Claire started squealing and yelling "Hi, hi, hi!" It was pretty cute. As for me, well I got to take a nap yesterday. Yay for school!

As for other news, I updated my food blog. Can you believe it? I didn't mean to take the whole summer off from that, it just happened. So check it out of you are interested. The Orange Apron

I Love My Chewing Gum

So the girls have been playing with the camera again. Apparently they have been very into making movies lately. But sometimes there are things that you should not let your mother see. This counts as one of them, especially if your mom is of the gum-detesting variety:

Brynn's Movie

I was downloading pictures and found this little gem. I guess Brynn got a hold of the camera when I wasn't paying attention and made this little movie. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Hope you enjoy!

Claire Bear's Hair is Everywhere Part III

Uncle Bart and Aunt Katie came to visit a while back. They live in Philadelphia. They also know that having 3 little girls in our house means we are very into hair. What is cute, what is stylish, what are the latest trends in hair fashion. With that in mind, they brought us a present. These little flower barrettes are the latest craze in Philly. But you have to wear them a certain way. So without further ado, I give you Claire, Urban Baby.I know, I know, someday Claire is going to look back on these pictures, and this picture, and the above pictures and just ask, "Why, Mom, why?" And I will say one thing to her, "Because I can, Baby, because I can!"
Thank you Bart and Katie for the fun gift. We are using them lots, although maybe not quite in the urban style. Thank you also for providing a morning full of fun for me. I can't say Claire was thrilled about the whole thing but I definitely was!