Happy Birthday Anna Claire!!!

Well, I know that most of you have thought that we dropped off the face of the earth, and we kind of have for the past month and a half! It's been a very eventful six weeks or so. Just to give you an idea of why I haven't been posting blogs, the past six weeks have included... Cory and I going on a mini-vacation to the beach, Cory turning 30!!,  Ann Marie getting a herniated disc in her back and was on the bed for over a week, Cory having a very successful summer camp at church, Ann Marie getting an ovarian cyst that hemorrhaged and spending the night in the ER, Cory preaching a great sermon at church (the morning after we were in the ER all night!!), Anna Claire having a big birthday party last Saturday, and more!! Whew! It's been nonstop in both good and not-so-good ways! But, hopefully we are getting a little more settled down!

Anyway, I just had to post today because our little peanut turned ONE today!! Yeah! We went to Chucky Cheese tonight and she had a blast. She's so fearless and full of desire to do anything! She loved climbing through the tubes with daddy! Enjoy these pics! 

Our Little Explorer...

This box can keep me busy forever-- I just wish I could climb onto it!

This breakfast room is better than a playground...

Hmm.. I wonder how many times I can walk around this chair...

I love my tunnel!

See ya later!

Anna Claire is walking!

Little Librarian

Anna Claire has developed a strange obsession of books lately. It's so funny. She has always seemed to like books, but the past few weeks she has played with almost nothing else. She has a box of toys and a box of books in our den, and this week she has literally stood up next to the box of books pulling one out after another non-stop. and the funny thing is that she really looks at them-- It cracks me up!  Well, she can't do art projects with me yet, but she sure can turn those pages! Here's some pics of the little librarian in action...

Happy Mother's Day!

Mommy and Anna Claire on their first Mother's Day! She's so sweet!!!!


She loves her Daddy!!

Gigi "practiced walking" with her all weekend long!

Uncle Paul Welch cooked a FABULOUS Mother's Day lunch--maybe he should open a restaurant!

Grammy bought me LOTS of toys for her house. The big rockin' horse is so much fun!!

Just lovin' my Gigi!


I had fun playing the keyboard with Nan-- I love music!

She knows the drill...

One funny thing about Anna Claire (that I have to admit I am slightly embarrassed about!) is the fact that she knows exactly what to do when a camera is pointed at her. I obviously have taken WAY to many pictures of the child, because at the sight of a camera she literally stops and poses for a picture! 

The other night we were at a Senior Banquet for the high schoolers in our youth group, and a girl walked over to our table with a camera hanging down from her hand. Anna Claire was on the floor and evidently thought that the camera was being pointed at her. She stopped crawling around and looked up with a big smile as if she was waiting for the flash any second. It was hilarious! The girl proceeded to take some pics of her, and Anna Claire played the part perfectly. Just like a photo shoot! 

All that to say, here are some of Anna Claire's  best "poses" from her recent "photo shoots"!!

One day...

Although I love--I mean absolutely LOVE-- having a baby and doing all the "baby things" that come along with this season, I also cannot wait until Anna Claire is a little older. As most of you know, I am a teacher at heart, and I am constantly thinking of ways that I can teach Anna Claire. My mind races with art projects, book we can make together, games we can play, etc. There's just one problem--Anna Claire barely even knows her own name and her attention span is about 5 seconds long. So, most of the time I settle for just daydreaming about the special learning experiences that I will to one day create for her. 

BUT, then again sometimes I get a  little ahead of myself and decide that maybe--just maybe-- she is ready for an adventure. For example, in November (when AC was 3 months old) I decided that it would be cute to make a handprint turkey--you know the kind where you paint the palm of the hand brown and the fingers different colors like the feathers? Well, needless to say my attempted turkey looked more like a 2- year-old's finger painting. It was a MESS! 

So, you'd think I'd learn my lesson, but instead I decided to attempt another project to make some really special mother's day presents for the grandmothers.  I go to Michales and buy one of those "Handprint Kits"-- the kind where to capture a child's handprint and make a keepsake. To my defense, the box did say it was for "Infants-12 year olds". So, I figured it may work.  So, last Sunday night when Cory was at youth group, we were bored, and I decided to give it a try. Once again, my dreams of crafty projects with Anna Claire were crushed... It was a DISASTER!! Take a look at this adventure I put Anna Claire through...

   

Here's the "plaster" (non-toxic!!) that I thought I could put Anna Claire's hands in to make a nice print. Instead... 

She thought it was a fun goop to play with. In .2 seconds it was in her hair...

Almost in her eyes... All over ME!!... All over our carpet...

And she was in the bath tub getting clean.

I think I'll take a break from art projects for a while--maybe for a few years!!