Watching & Waiting

Claire and I watched the storm blow in out the window yesterday while we waited for Bryce to get home from work.  It was gray, cloudy, and very windy which made for good watching.  Leaves and petals from our blossomed fruit trees swirled around and around in miniature cyclones.  Claire kept saying "Oh!" and "Wassat?" every time something blew past the window.  After we had watched the oncoming storm for a while we played hide and seek in the curtains, one of Claire's favorite games.  Finally we heard Bryce come home and Claire ran as fast as she could to greet him in the kitchen.  I love these quiet and calm days.  I know they won't always be like this, especially once we have more children, but for now I am soaking them all up as much as I can. 

Matching

There's a short window of opportunity where you can get away with matching your daughter and I am taking full advantage of it as long as I can.  Claire & I both wore striped shirts and our matching saltwater sandals today.  Then we spent our day eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches outside in the sunshine and blowing bubbles to our heart's content.  It was a good day with my little sidekick.

Cloudy Days are for tea parties and cuddling

Yesterday was a cold & cloudy day that called for a tea party to keep us entertained.  We introduced Claire's new bunny "Juliette Rabbit" to her other animals and had a tea party where we served mini-cadburry eggs and pretend tea.  After a sufficient amount of candy & pretend tea had been consumed Claire decided all of her animals need a good dose of cuddling.  Life with a little girl is the very best.  

Portrait 14.52

Claire's portrait this week is from pictures I took of her on Easter in her new Easter dress.  Bryce taught her how to make this face a few months ago and I haven't been able to get a picture of it until now.  She makes this face and says "Oh" excitedly whenever she is surprised by something (I think a car drove by when I took this picture).  It is my favorite face of hers.  I am so glad I was able to finally capture it.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Easter 2015

We had such a great Easter celebration this year.  It was also General Conference, so it made the whole weekend extra special.  Sunday morning after Claire woke up and had eaten breakfast I snuck her Easter basket into her room so she would find it when we took her back in there.

The first thing she went for in her basket was the bag of dried mangos.  They are her favorite.  I probably could have just given her those and she would have been thrilled!  We also filled her Easter basket with a cute little stuffed bunny, the book Guess How Much I Love You?, a leather hairbow, an Easter sippy cup, and eggs filled with jellybeans, fruit snacks, & bunny grahams.  We also gave her an Easter dress and her very first pair of Saltwater Sandals.  I didn't get a picture of mine & Bryce's basket but ours was filled with mini cadburry eggs, jellybeans, homemade Reeses eggs, and the movie Up to add to our Disney collection.

Once she figured out there were treats in the eggs there was no stopping her!
After she had eaten a fair amount of bunny grahams she started looking at the rest of the contents of her basket.  She pulled out her bunny and just started cuddling it.  She was in love with her new bunny.  It was so adorable.  I was dying!
After we finished showing Claire her Easter basket I got her dressed and took her outside to get a few pictures in her new Easter dress.  I took quite a few pictures and tried to only post my favorites but there are too many!  She is so cute, I can hardly stand it.

We spent the rest of the morning listening to conference and then went to my parents for lunch & an Easter Egg hunt.  We ate lunch first and while we were waiting for everyone to finish Rory got lots of cuddling in with everybody.  Claire & her cousin Lydia had an especially fun time crawling all over her.

Claire still hadn't really figured out the whole Easter Egg hunt concept, but with lots of help from us we managed to fill her basket!

Claire & Lydi comparing their Easter haul.

Claire & Lydia with Papa & Nana (my parents).

We listened to the afternoon session of conference with my family and afterwards went to Bryce's parent's for another Easter Egg Hunt & dinner.  Even if it is sometimes hectic we are lucky to live close to both of our families so we get to spend time with both every holiday.  Aside from the fun parties, I tried to really focus on celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The whole reason we even have families & a holiday to celebrate is because of Him & His atoning sacrifice for each of us.  I am SO grateful that because of Him I can live with my family forever, the greatest blessing I could ever hope for!

Claire's First Easter Egg Hunt

We took Claire to her first Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning at a local park.  It was equally hilarious and cute.  She had no idea what was going but she knew something exciting was happening.  As soon as all the commotion started she squealed, waved her arms excitedly, and kept tottering around in circles with the one egg she picked up by herself clutched in her little hands.  We helped her gather up a few more so she didn't have to go home with one lone egg :).  Even though she didn't understand what the Easter Egg hunt really was, she loved getting to be around so many other toddlers her age.  
The Easter Egg Hunt literally lasted less than two minutes so we decided to hang around for a while and played with Claire on the playground.  I think it was a successful first hunt.  It was so fun seeing her excitement and watching her happily play with her eggs & basket the rest of the morning.