Clara's 2 year well check

Clara had her 2 year well check today.

25 lbs (30th percentile)
32.75 inches (25th percentile)

She has met all the milestones that she should be doing for her age: running, climbing, problem solving, eating variety of foods, using pronouns and having a vocab of more than 50 words. I think we've got everything covered!

Catching up

What you can't see in the photo is that I'm in the same pose - on the
phone, with legs propped up. She kept talking to her nana, pop pop, and
mimi and would close the phone and set it on the arm of her chair.

Little Gym

Some pictures from the Little Gym this week.

Hair days.

It seems that we've now reached the days of "doing" Clara's hair in the morning. Today was picture day for the boys so they each waited in line for me to comb their hair. After Brandon finished, Clara stood in front of me for her turn. She pulled the pony tail holders out of the drawer and stood patiently (sorta) for me to do her hair too. It's time to teach James the joys of pig tails!

Clara's 1st pigtails

The ladies at daycare did Clara's hair. There isn't much hair there but they still managed to get it into pig tails!

rocking the night away

Some pics of Clara being a thrill-seeker in the rocking chair at Dad & Jenny's.

Fun at Dad & Jenny's

Aidan and James were wrestling on the couch. Clara ran over to help and while her back was turned Jenny picked up her camera. When the camera turned on, it made a sound as the flash popped up. Clara, upon hearing the camera turn on, spun around from the waist, put one arm up and said "Cheese".

Little longhorn

Big blue eyes

Cookie monster - we had tons of cookies Saturday night. Aidan was cookie-delivery and kept losing half his cookie to James through various thefts.

Aidan read several books to us Saturday night. He's becoming a very good reader!

Aidan-one minute

Tonight dad told Aidan that you could tell if someone was crazy by pulling on one ear and checking to see if the other ear moved.

Aidan was silent and held up one finger as if to say "one minute" and walked into the bathroom to check for himself. He was hilarious in how serious he was as he walked away.

Woo hoo

Clara was "playing" on Aidan's Nintendo DS and managed to get it to do something. Her reaction follows:

Aidan-ism

We were discussing birthdays and mentioned in front of Aidan that his birthday was July 26th. He looked at me and said, "Again? It's always on the 26th!"

Sound effects at dinner

Clara the carnivore... loves her sound effects while eating

Cinderella.

My reluctant princess

Chillin.

aidan makin' himself at home at the office with me

Me & clara

A pic from the family reunion

Open House

Last night was open house at Rutledge. Brandon and Aidan met their new teachers. Brandons' teacher's name is Ms Greenlee and Aidan's is Ms Rahe (pronounced Ray).

Both were very excited to find that they had good friends in class with them. Brandon & Nathan are together again and Aidan has Mason & Samir from his Kinder class. The three boys were ridiculously excited to see each other and had to be tranquilized to get them to leave :)

Aidan asked me four times last night, "How many days till school starts?"

Batting eyelashes. ...

One day last week Clara demonstrated her eyelash-batting abilities. If this is any indicator, we are in for a very rough time. She completely won us over to whatever she was trying to get. That part has escaped us, all we remember is how cute she looked.

Devlin & Clara

Devlin and Clara clowning for the camera

Post bath neessities.

Towel-check
Cookie monster - check
Pull up- check
Mommys deodorant- check
Cuteness factor-high.

Morning impressions.

Clara goofing off one day last week. The first is her impression of a monkey. The second is her motorcycle sound :)

Laundry!

Devlin has been a busy boy. He's learned how to do laundry and blew through several loads of laundry while he was home this week. Woo hoo!

Walking back.

Aidan and Clara walking back from the track

Knock knock

Knock, knock...anyone there?

Clara and Aidan at the track - he's actually having fun but it was very hot and he had just come off the track.

Food.

Clara wiped this toddler meal out in 1 minute flat; Toddler sized meals are clearly not enough food anymore.

Open wide!

Elmo baby and Pony sharing Clara's cocoa puffs.

Clara is feeding Elmo and her horse some cocoa puffs. Very cute.

Elmo baby

Clara's Elmo Baby wearing a diaper :) it took a lot of effort to get this diaper to stay on

Yep. That's a diaper on elmo.

Aidan, the diplomat

Aidan was sitting behind me tonight and was having fun "spanking" me on my bottom. It was funny until he asked, "Why's your butt so 'move-y'?"

talk, talk, talk

Aidan to Devlin: I'm just not as much of a talker [as you].

Understatement of the week. ;)

Cotton candy!!!!

Aidan enjoying his cotton candy @ Sea World while we wait on the boys to ride their roller coaster.

Cuties

Aidan and Clara posing for the camera

Elmo Baby

Clara has developed an attachment to a stuffed Elmo at home. Elmo has become her baby - she puts it "night-night", changes his diaper, shares her milk with him and just this morning, tried to share her oatmeal with him. I had to quickly find Elmo his own bowl and spoon so that I didn't have to try to find a way to get oatmeal out of Elmo's fur! It's very cute to watch her being Mama to Elmo.

Devlin's Big Trip

Devlin took his first big trip without either of his parents. He went to South Padre with his friend Chase and his family. They were gone for five days and he had a great time. By the end of the week though, he was missing everyone and ready to come

Only four weeks until he's a teenager! OMG!

Hamster dance

Well checks

Today Aidan and Brandon went in for well checks. Here's a summary:

Aidan - 6 years old (almost) - 44" (3" taller than last year) and 42 lbs. He's still in the 25th percentile for both height & weight. Blood Pressure 94/62. I had no idea they did blood pressure now at well checks.

Brandon - 9 years old (+ 4 mos) - 53.5", 61.2 lbs. Brandon is in the 50th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight. BP 98/60.

Nana answer the phone!

When I'm Six

Last night Aidan, Clara, Mom and I went swimming. Afterwards, Aidan was wrapped up in a towel and asked to sit in my lap. He and I sat by the pool rocking in a chair. I asked him, "Will you still sit in my lap when you're six?"

"No," he said. "But I'll sit next to you sometimes."

I guess my little boy is growing up but for the next seven days he’s still ok cuddling with me.

Claras hugs and kisses

Clara's hugs & kisses come with sound effects :0)

Clara makes it better

Last night I caught my fingernail on something and ripped a chunk out of it. My reaction was “OW” and Clara noticed. She reached over and grabbed my finger and kissed it for me. A kiss makes everything better. This little moment made my night.

Video of Clara goofing off

Clara and pop pop

Clara & Dad after lunch this past weekend

Brandon posing at REI

Brandon practicing for his modeling career :)

Kids at REI

The kids LOVE the new REI in Round Rock. They had a great time goofing off on this playscape.

Clara at half price books

Clara made herself comfortable on this stool and had fun pulling books off the shelf and putting them back.

Devlin on the wakeboard

More summer fun

Kids at the lake

Misc fun in June

James, Clara & Mack keeping an eye on the street

Aidan and Clara

Aidan driving the go-carts @ Austin Park and Pizza

Father's Day @ the County Line

we celebrated Father's Day with dinner at the County Line. Clara slept through most of it but still managed to wake up in time for ice cream!

Post-dinner w/ her new clothes

Me and Dad

Aidan w/ bbq sauce on his face (not a busted lip!)

James enjoying his ribs while keeping Clara safe from BBQ sauce

Clara w/ ice cream on her face!

Dad, Jenny & the gang

Swimming

Sometime in May we had the first "official swim" of summertime...

Clara & Nana

Devlin the acrobat

Clara - future triathlete?

Aidan jumping off the hot tub

Brandon trying to surf in the pool

Baseball Championship

Pics from the champsionship game...