Improvisation

I often hear beautiful sounds coming from the basement music studio and sometimes am lucky enough to sneak down to record!!

She loves to make up songs!

Caleb's Birthday

This little guy turned 6 on September 23rd!

Caleb is SO full of life and energy and we love him so much! He is all boy! He loves to pretend fight, make everything into a weapon, ride really fast on his bike, climb and jump on everything, show off for everyone who will pay attention and torment his siblings. : ) He has such a huge heart and is very sensitive behind that "all boy" facade. He does really well with home school and loves Sunday school and Awana. We can't wait to see God's plans for this little guy.

 Caleb loves to do building projects with his dad!

Reading his Bible reader.

First lost tooth! (which he knocked out running along a rock ledge!)

He loves his sisters!!



And brother too of course!

8 months!!!!

Oh my goodness Clara is 8 months old!!!
Some of the things she's been up to....

*Crawling! (started at 7 months)

(And yes- we all use pretty ridiculous voices when talking to Clara!!)

*Eating lots (sweet potatoes, squash, cheerios, bananas, broccoli, spinach, pear, tomatoes.)

*Tummy sleeping....

*Looking cute.....

*Checking out her newly decorated nursery....

*Fun in the bath....

*Making kitchen messes with mommy....

*And croup, which included an overnight hospital stay... : (  Poor baby!

Clara is 17 pounds and growing by the day.  We all love Clara to pieces and feel so blessed to have this little cutie in our family!!

6 Months!

So I had a five month post ready, but by the time I was ready to post it, Clara was already six months! Time is going WAAAAAAAY too fast!  Some glimpse of Clara from the past two months. 

Clara ONLY sleep on her tummy or side. 

 Clara's first trip to Lake Michigan.

 First time in a high chair.  She loves the idea of eating (puts EVERYTHING in her mouth), but hates the texture of food and spits it all out.

 First time swinging....

 First time meeting Grandpa Great

 First time meeting Grandma Great

 Clara loves to sit outside and watch the big kids play.

She also loves to splash in the bath.  By the time her bath is done, most of the water is gone!

 Beautiful girls! This is Clara and her second cousin Sophia.

Clara thinks Caleb is pretty hilarious. 

Fancy girl and her Aunt Laura. 

We love this little munchkin to pieces!

Clara is 4 months old! She is full of personality and already so much fun to be around! She has mastered several skills in the past few months like rolling over, laughing,  and breaking out of her swaddle. : )

Caleb loves to talk to Clara and she thinks he's pretty funny!

Now that Clara has figured out how to roll over, she doesn't spend much time on her back. 

Corinne loves to read to Clara.

We take Clara everywhere and she's really good at napping on the go.  We spent several hours at the pool the other day while she napped poolside. 

She loves baths and usually kicks almost all of the water out of the tub!

Love this quilt that aunt Mary made her!

I found her the other day on her tummy in her crib.

We love her so much!

2 months

Clara's cheeks are growing by the day!!  It's been over 2 months now since we brought this little bundle home and every time we blink she changes!

Clara weighs 12.4 (75th percentile) pounds and is 24 inches long (98th percentile).  I can't get enough of her little rolls.

She is smiling a lot, crying a lot less, and sleeping so well at night! The kids absolutely adore her, especially Calvin who likes to be about 1 inch from her face whenever he talks to her. : )

We're finally getting back into our normal (sort of) routine around here which has been really nice. 

Now if only we can get Clara to take a bottle.  I'm going away on a girls weekend in a few weeks and she wants NOTHING to do with the thing.  Hopefully she'll get it soon or my girls weekend may include an addition girl! 

We love our Clara Elizabeth to pieces!!  

Spring break "staycation"!

We almost took a trip this spring break, but decided that since Clara was only a few weeks old and didn't love the car (she's better now!) that we should probably do something local. We got a hotel a couple towns away and had a great time eating out, swimming in the pool and just hanging out together.  After our evening in the hotel, we headed to the city for a fun day at the Navy Pier Children's museum. 

The kids love Red Robin (and we kind of do too) so that's where we headed for dinner.  I don't think I have many pictures of Caleb with his tongue in his mouth these days.

They swam for hours and gave Glen quite a work out!

Clara did this all weekend. 

 Some very serious building going on here….

 And bubble making…

and dinosaur digging….

I think Cal would have sawed for hours if we'd have let him! 

We had such a fun time!  2 days away with our newly expanded family was just enough.  Maybe next year we'll venture a little further.