Clara - 32 Months

Clara is so much fun right now!  Sadly I forgot to do a monthly photo shoot with her (one where I made her put her hair in a clip or something out of her eyes!).  But since I take photos almost every day, here are several from right around her 32 month birthday. :)
-Her favorite ways to move are twirling, running, and hop-hop-hopping.

-She is starting to LOVE pretend play.  She packs all of her guys in her little truck and tells me they are going downtown to see daddy at work, or visit Grandma Margie.

-Teddy and Baby are still her favorite side-kicks, though we do include puppy, bunny, sheepy, and "pec-a-lin" (pelican) once in a while. We're super creative with names for our stuffed animals (and our real ones...)

-Clara has a ridiculously good memory.  It really amazes me all of the people, songs and events that she remembers.  During "school time" I wanted to help her start memorizing some things and the first poem we tried (Little Things) she had down in a week!

-She has so much energy and is so bright and excited about everything.  I know little ones usually have a lot of energy, but I think her constant enthusiasm is a bit more unique and I just love her for the light it brings to our home.

-Clara's getting more and more independent.  She loves to put her shoes on by herself.  And take them off.  Usually the minute she gets outside, or in the car.  When she puts her shoes on the wrong feet, and if I tell her, she'll quickly take them off and put them on the right feet.  She'll ask me to make sure they're right.

-Clara is always aware of others and eager to heal wounds, offer hugs and kisses, or come up with solutions to make people feel better.

-She's so tuned in to how people are feeling.  When I get frustrated with her or another situation, she'll tilt her head to one side, look at me wide-eyed and say innocently, "Mama, are you a little bit upset?" (she's usually right!)

-We painted Clara's toenails for the first time this month, which she was super excited about (and I think I forgot to take a photo!), but I would not say she's girly about hair or other things.  Do you think she could be my child?  Ha.  She never wants me to do much of anything to her hair and only endures a morning comb through because I've convinced her that it's "just something big girls have to do."

-Clara does NOT like to experiment with trying new foods.  As much as she sings the Daniel Tiger song ("we try new foods 'cause they might taste goo-ood"), she will cover her mouth and protest if we ever attempt to get her to try something new (pretty much everything at dinner every night)

-If her hair is in her eyes and she's refusing a "pretty" (a hair elastic) or a "clippy" (clip), she'll push her hair to both sides of her face with both of her hands and say, "See, now you can see my pretty eyes."

-Has a strong aversion to dinner in general.  When I tell her it's time for dinner, she'll say, "no thank you! I want to have LUNCH!!"  I think it's because I tend to cater lunches towards what I know she'll eat (sandwiches, crackers, smoothies, apples, carrots, cheese, yogurt, etc.)

-She is in love with McDonald's.  YIKES!  How did this happen?  My little vegetarian, who otherwise has never even tasted meat (her call) will gobble down a chicken nugget happy meal in minutes.  If this is not a testament to the fact that those things are not made of meat, I don't know what is.

-Clara loves to wear "tie-tie" clothes... I made her a few shirts at our Bear Lake family reunion in July and they are her favorite "comfy" clothes.  I also did a pair of undies just for fun and they have turned into her favorites!  If she's wearing a tie-dye shirt, I better have those tie-dye undies clean and ready too!

-Still LOVES to sing and learn new songs.  Her favorite right now is "Mother, Tell Me a Story."  We sing it every night.  Multiple times.  And when we get to, "and gently speak," She says, "Stop.  This is my part."  And sings the rest in her darling little voice.

-Loves to build with her blocks and play with her train tracks!  Everyday for a good month we've been doing tracks and blocks and she never gets tired of it.

-Must be growing a lot because she takes 3-4 hour naps every afternoon. :)

-Is so aware of her baby sister and loves her SO much.  She always wants to give her hugs and kisses and make sure she is happy and warm and knows what's happening in the world.

Father's Day 2013

I had seen those cute little interview worksheets all over pinterest and thought it would be fun to do one in video form.  Here are Clara's thoughts on daddy this year.


Father's Day Interview 2013 from Sarah Evans on Vimeo.

The password is: clarajane

Easter Egg Hunt

On the Friday before Easter, we had a fun Easter egg hunt at my parents' house.  My sister Amanda was in town with her kids on Spring Break and they were headed home the next day.  Emma made signs early in the week to let everyone know of the upcoming event.

Before the hunt we enjoyed one of those rare, lovely days in March with a picnic outside.

Before the hunt, each kid was assigned a color.  They could only find eggs of that color.  My mom had cute little containers for the kids to keep their eggs in.

 Clara really enjoyed the hunt and finding all of her pink eggs.

 The of course, they all dug right into the loot after the eggs had been found.

 Clara wasted no time digging out her chocolate. And stuffing it right in her mouth.

 And she loved hanging out with her cousins. She and Josh are good buddies.

Betty Smiles

Even though Betty is a super sweet baby, it is tough to get a smile out of her.  It's getting a little easier, but that first "real" smile didn't come until she was 11.5 weeks old.  Thankfully when I got my camera out a few weeks ago, she obliged.  We just love this little muffin and all of her puffy cheeked expressions!

Betty meets Betty

On Mother's Day we hosted our families for dinner and my Grandma Betty was finally able to come meet our new little Betty.  What a sweet and special day. 

A Few New Posts

I've been working on getting caught up on some posts (I have 70 posts in draft form right now...)

In case you're interested, here are some of the updates (in no particular order):

Clara - 23 Months

Project Life

Clara - 29 Months

Clara - 28 Months

Easter (2013)

Betty - 2 Months

Clara - 27 Months

Clara - 25 Months

Clara's Play Kitchen

Clara - 24 Months

Halloween Recap

Clara's First Big Bug

Clara - 22 Months

California Trip (2011)

Hopefully more to come soon!

Project Life

For a long while I've been trying to come up for a good way to document the life of our family.  I love having a blog, but hate that it's only digital.  I've lost entire chunks of my life that were only recorded in a digital format, so I know that I need something physical too.  I've done old fashioned scrapbooks, but I now cringe at what I've done to my photos with hideous scissors and die-cuts.  Not to mention the fact that it takes me days to put a layout together when I'm cutting and pasting and such. I've done pretty books on blurb and mypublisher, but I feel like they mostly stay on the shelf because I don't want tiny fingers to accidently tear a page - or big fingers to accidently spill a Diet Coke on one. Plus, I feel like it is a huge project to sit down at the end of the year and pull all of that together.  I know it would be easier if I kept up on the blog, but still - there are always more photos I want to add in and it is just a lot of work to do all at once.

Over the past few months I've noticed a few bloggers I like showing off their spreads of a scrapbooking concept called "Project Life." The whole idea is that you do a week at a time (this is how most people tackle it) and use your regular 4x6 photos, pre-printed journaling and title cards, and slip them all into page protectors that are pre-divided into a handsome layout.  Some people do a ton of extra stuff with adding embellishments and cutouts and all that jazz, but I think it kind of goes against the whole concept the system is based on, which is "scrapbooking made simple."  When I really started looking into it, the founder was a few days away from launching a new product that would debut on HSN at a huge discount, so I thought it was a great time to try it out!  I ordered a kit at about 50% off of retail including a binder, 60 page protectors, dividers, and a core kit that includes all of the pre-printed materials I need.  Now I just need to print my photos. Minor detail.

We are in a phase of life that is so fun and I don't want to forget all of the darling things that my kids say and do and all of the silly and sweet moments we share as a family.  I'm really excited for this and I think it will be a great way to record our life.  The big things and the everyday.  I love that.  Hopefully I'll share some of my pages here eventually!

Clara - 29 Months

Clara is at this hilarious, fun (sometimes frustrating) stage right now and I love it.  I love HER!  Here's what's she's up to:

-Whenever she's down to just her undies (or diaper, if she just woke up) or totally nakey, she will sprint out of sight and wrap herself in the closest blanket (preferably fleece).  She loves to be wrapped up and naked.  And I don't really blame her.

-She has started ending sentences with, "so...." for  example, "I need to feed my baby, so...." (mom's cue to leave the room?)

-She's a little fixated on the concept of fear right now.  She's had happy, sad, angry/frustrated down for several months but now she talks about being scared a lot.  And about "scary guys" (like Ronald McDonald).  Whenever she reports a scary dream, frogs are involved.  Sometimes she looks all around her room and in her closet for frogs before she goes to sleep.

-Whenever she has had a happy dream, little owls spent her sleep time saying, "hello, Cla-wa!" Occasionally, a happy dream involves "animals and trains."

-Clara has started to worry when she can't find or see me.  She'll run up to me and say, "I lost me!" and give me a big hug and snuggle.

-Ever since Mother's Day two weeks ago, she's been wishing me a happy mother's day on a daily basis.

-She loves to "ride the gate."

-I've started getting unsolicited, "Thank you for the yummy/delicious breakfast/lunch/dinner, Mama" comments at almost EVERY meal.  I'll take it! It completely removes any pain or annoyance out of meal preparation to have her thank me out of nowhere.

-She understands "privacy" and now tries to give me some when I am in the bathroom.  If ever she runs in to the bathroom and finds me there, she says, "Oh, do you need some privacy?" and shuts the door.

-She has the most expressive face ever.  I love her little concerned face.  The other night after she ended up with a smattering of food on the floor after her dinner, she said, "Who made that mess?! Cla-wa!!!" Then she gave me the sternest upset face she could muster before bursting into laughter.  Several times.  Stern face, laughter, stern face, laughter. I'm so glad that she is such a happy kid with a sense of humor.

-She's obsessed with playing in the bathroom sink.  If I can't find her, I know to look in the upstairs bathroom.  She loves to "do the dishes" and wash her hands and just play in the water.  She can barely reach the water, even when she's on her step stool, but it is still somehow a favorite activity.  I'm just glad it's not the toilet.

-Clara LOVES her baby sister Betty.  I don't think I've ever met a prouder sibling.  She will sometimes get really upset if she wakes from a nap and I tell her that Betty just went down for her nap.  She talks to her in such a sing-songy voice (probably just like I do) and says, "Awww Betty! You're such cute sister! What a cutie pie little sister! Aww Betty."  If Betty's upset or fussy, she'll pat her head gently and say, "It's ok, Betty.  Go back to sleep, go back to sleep."  Soooo darling.  I hope they stay best friends forever!

-She's got the potty training thing down. Well, except for #2.  She still does that in her pants :( But I'm sure she'll figure it out.  We've had a few successes, but for the most part she still runs to a corner and does her business in her undies.

-She loves to play outside, swing, run around (she sings "running, running, running round" to the tune of London Bridge while she runs in circles), go to nursery, sing songs, read books and watch shows (we try to just do one show a day MAX and it's usually Sesame Street, Curious George, Pingu or Shaun the Sheep)

-Clara loves the BYU fight song and asks frequently for "The Cougar Song"

-She loves to smell things.  Flowers, laundry that is "fresh and clean" and today when she saw the wind blowing the trees, she took a deep breath through her nose and (looking out the window) said, "I can smell the fresh spring wind" (not kidding)

-She still is such a curious and enthusiastic learner.  Anxious to know about anything I want to teach her and never gets upset if I correct her or add to her knowledge when she reports back to me (she did not get this from me. As I've observed this trait in her, I've realized that I tend to bristle when corrected... maybe it comes with age? Or is a youngest child thing?) An example, we were observing some bees on a flower and we had just been reading several books about bees.  She said, "Look, the bees are eating the honey!" I said, "Oh yeah, they're slurping the nectar from the flowers." She said, "Oh!  Nectar!?  They're slurping the nectar!? Oh!!"

-She loves to hear stories about Mommy and Daddy... and Clara and Betty and any other family member.

-Whenever she or Betty or her baby have a blanket or towel wrapped so it goes around their head and shows their face, she says, "Look!  A little Mary!"

-She's a super helper and loves to help sweep, spray, wipe up messes, and unload the dishwasher (not just the utensils anymore). She also loves to pour and stir when we're making food in the kitchen. She loves to help and watch me give Betty baths.

-She loves to ask what time it is.  "What time is it?"  And "What time is Mommy?"  I tried to explain to her that people are not time, so she asked, "What time is Daddy's toenail?"

Clara - 28 Months

I think this may have been my most favorite month of Clara's life so far.  She is just soaking up everything in the world around her and exploring so much and making thoughtful, expressive comments about things and I love it so much!  Here's what she is up to:

-Her baby and teddy and her favorite "guys" and she's almost always got them.

-She loves to take care of her baby.  Wrap her in a blanket, snuggle her, take her on walks and feed her. She's a great mama!

-She is starting to understand the concept of time and will say things like, "I got sick yesterday/last week/last month/last year." Rarely accurate, but always exploring the concept of past time.

-She loves to swing again (yay!) and requests a lot of swinging everytime we're outside.  She always says, "BIG one!" -- she loves to go as high as she can!  Many times when she's on the swing she'll say, "back and forth, back and forth." "forward, back, forward, back." or "near, far, near, far" as she swings.

-She loves being a sister and having a sister and is SUCH a great helper with her.  She loves to hold her and teach her things, help change her diapers (we pretend on this part) and wipe her spit up.  She always puts a blanket on Betty so she can stay, "nice and warm."

-Clara loves to take care of her little baby (doll) and keep her wrapped in a blanket, feed her a bottle and give her a bath in her very own kitchen sink.

-She loves to blow bubbles and has gotten quite good at it.

-She gets so excited to see extended family.  She often talks about her cousins and knows who is who and who lives where.  Sometimes out of nowhere she'll look at me with a concerned/sad face and say, "my cousins went home to Colorado." (She's referring to Amanda and her kids, who were here last)

-She calls Amanda "Aunt Manda." So cute!

-Clara LOVES nursery.  When we drop her off, she RUNS in and gives the nearest nursery leader a huge hug.  She has a small group of little friends in there right now, so she gets to play with the leaders a ton too.  She loves them all.

-She loves to play in laundry baskets.  One day she was putting all of her stuffed animals (her "guys") in and tucking them all in, and then she climbed in and snuggled with them.  It was naptime and she protested, saying she wanted to sleep in her "spacket" so I put her in the crib... in her basket.  She fell right asleep and slept the whole time!

-We've been working on her saying, "I hold you."  It has turned into "I hold me." and "I need me." Haha. At least I know what she means.

-She's getting really good at going potty and has even gone on the big potty a few times.

-She loves trains, like her daddy and lately when we see the trains just north of downtown (when driving to my parents house) she'll say, "I ride that potty train."  It cracks me up!

-She gives the cutest little narratives from the back seat while we're driving somewhere.  She always notices helicopters and airplanes, snow on the mountains, birds, trains, big trucks, etc.

-Recently she was singing "I Am a Child of God" and at the end morphed the lyrics into "teach me all that I must do, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."  I was recording it and showed it to so many people (with her around) that she thought it was a cute and clever thing to do and now does it intentionally and laughs.  Oops.  We're trying to teach that it's a reverent phrase...

-We have had Early Intervention child development specialists come to evaluate Betty and help her and Clara is usually around.  They are always astounded at the breadth of her "expressive language."  It's true, she is quite a talker!  I honestly don't feel like there's anything she cannot communicate or express right now.