Labor Day Weekend

We had a nice, relaxing three day weekend. Sat. morning we went out to breakfast at Lucille's in Ft. Worth then took Claire to the zoo. She had only been once before when she was really little so we were excited to see her reaction this time. She was so excited! She loved the elephants, lions, zebras and flamingos. She also loved getting out of her stroller and running around. The rest of the weekend was mostly spent painting the kitchen, watching football, grilling out and playing rock band. I am still pretty sick...threw up everyday this weekend I think. So ready to start feeling good again!

My Favorite Things

I bought Claire these pots and pans since she is constantly pulling out mine and she loves them!

Claire loves to climb onto her toy box and read.

She loves to brush her teeth.

And take a bath.

Two funny stories this week: Notice our new white, updated kitchen cabinets in the first picture. We are finally updating the kitchen and it looks great. Well while my parents were here last week they bought Claire some crayons and colored pencils. How fun, right? I was making dinner last night (putting a frozen lasagna in the oven) and I heard pencil on wood! Oh no! I ran over and sure enough she was writing on the newly painted white walls with a red pencil. I grabbed the pencil out of her hand and yelled "Did you do this?!" She looked me in the eye and said "Yes." I tried not to laugh and said "You did this?" and again immediately she said "Yeah." Her face was priceless and all I could do was thank her for being honest with me and I told her when her Dad got home he would be very mad. Yeah right. Also let me thank my Dad for teaching her to put the crayons on her lips like lipstick...it took all of 3 seconds for her to start eating the crayons...

Story #2: I stopped at Sonic on the way home from errands and when we got home I took her out of her car seat then grabbed for my slush. I squeezed too hard and it started pouring out all over the place. I'm not going to tell you the words that were coming out of my mouth but the next thing I hear Claire say is "Oh...it's raining!" Of course I started laughing...I wish it rained Sonic slush.

Gymnastics!

Adrien eating bubbles

Liberty catching bubbles

A surprise visit from Carter!

The infamous tub of balls

Joanne is having more fun than the kids! ;)

They are all hers...

Claire is taking a class at Little Gym once a week from now until January. Our friends Liberty, and Adrien are in the class too so that makes it extra fun! She started last week and loved it! I'm so glad she has something to do that wears her out and she has so much fun at the same time. Her favorite thing by far is when the teacher dumps all of the balls out. Once Claire sees the container where the balls are stored all she wants to do is open it and get the balls out! She also enjoys walking across the balance beam, climbing anything she can and the bubbles. I love to watch her play and interact with the other kids...she is getting so big!

Paul, Patrick, Party and Puke

We've had a very busy week and I have zero pictures to show for it! On Wed. night Brad and I went to the Paul McCartney concert at the new Cowboys stadium. It was such a dream come true for me...I was in heaven. If you know me at all you know I am always early, so sure enough I drug Brad to the concert before the doors even opened...and it was HOT outside while we waited. Once we got in we walked around the new stadium (nice) and then sat in our awesome seats an hour and a half before Paul went on stage. I never left my seat the whole time...I didn't want to miss a second. Paul sang non-stop from 8:45 to 11:30 with 2 encores. He sang all of his greats and i sang along with him! Loved, loved, loved it!!!
On Friday night we finally got to meet baby Patrick! We brought food over for Jodie, Brian and carter and I got to hold the baby. i forgot how little they are...he is precious and now I am even more excited about baby #2!
Sat. morning Brad and I left for Austin for Mandy and Austin's wedding. My parents are here watching Claire so we were so excited to have a weekend away. the wedding was beautiful and the bride was gorgeous! I stayed up way too late but it was great hanging out with the crew.
And through out all of this I still am feeling sick. I am 14 weeks and I thought for sure I would be over this by now. It's starting to get really old but I know it will be worth it in the end. It's also helping me to not gain the 50 pounds I gained with Claire....so far.

More Pics

Family Reunion 2009

Another wonderful trip to the Jersey Shore has come and gone. We had such a great time seeing relatives and introducing Claire to them for the first time. Where to start...? Let's see, I threw up before we left for the airport on Sat. morning. It was storming so our flight was delayed, then we had to sit on the runway for an hour to wait our turn to take off. Claire was an angel on the plane. She fell asleep as soon as we took off and watched her DVD player most of the rest of the time. We didn't buy her a seat so she sat on our laps...and my arm fell asleep at one point, but we made it! Then we picked up our rental car and headed to Sea Isle City! We shared a beautiful 3 story beach house with my parents, brother and sister. Claire loved waking up every morning and seeing everyone. On Sunday we walked one block up to the beach and showed Claire the ocean for the first time. She LOVES the beach and that makes me so happy. She liked the sand so much that she would lay in it and make sand angels. The water was freezing but she didn't care. She loved jumping the waves with Daddy. On Monday we went to the boardwalk to eat pizza and take her on some rides. Again, she had a blast. Tuesday was more beach, family and fun. On Wed. some of the family went crabbing (I opted out of that one) and that night my parents watched Claire while Brad and I went to dinner! Thursday was a little rainy, but we still went putt-putt golfing and then headed to Atlantic City! here is my Atlantic City story: We went to the Borgata hotel/casino and my sister and I went straight to the slot machines. We sat down at the 50 cent Wheel of Fortune machine. I inserted a $20, hit the button and instantly made $168!!!! It was so much fun!!! I did lose some other money but I ended up leaving ahead! Friday we rented bikes and rode on the boardwalk and Friday night was awards (yes we give out awards at our family reunion! On Sat we drove back to Philly to spend the day with my Dad's side of the family. I got to meet my cousin's baby Cale! Let me just say how generous and loving all of my family is...they love Claire so much and showered her with gifts (thanks Aunt Judy!) Claire also turned 1 1/2 on vacation. She is so smart and talked the whole trip! My batteries are recharged from this vacation and i can't wait until the next one!