Country fair and new favorite hike

Here are a few highlights from the last month!

Aplayhouse we made from a huge box.

Complete with a window and doors!

Butterfly face painting from the country fair.

We also had fun eating cotten candy, riding on the fire truck, and listening to bluegrass music.

Lucy & Matt at the top of our new favorite hike. It's only about 1 1/2 hours round trip, and at the top there is a gorgeous view of forest and hills.



Matt and the girls enjoying the view.




Snack time with my Clare-bear.



Clara the toddler

Clara seems to have officially graduated from baby to toddler these past few months. She's getting taller, can run pretty fast, and had an explosion of words over the summer.

Here's the list of new words I gathered, starting in mid to late July: book, "sigh"- outside, boots, swimsuit, potty, flush, "ee-see"- Lucy, beach, bye, hi, two, happy, bubbles, hot, up, "pop"- popcorn, "bee-bee"- blankey, truck, light, bath, blueberries, "yah-yoh"- yogurt, "nola"- granola, "pah"- pretzels, blue, blow, feet, toes, "peeze"- please, "tah-too"- thank you, bless you, get you, coffee, soda, treat, cake, shut, loud, tea, bone, salt, out, yellow, peach, "tout"- time out, cup, spoon, in, cat, towel, sad.

A few of the words deserve a bit of explanation. Clara has learned "two", because when we go to my grandparents, she always gets two pretzels. So now if I give her just one of something, she says "two". And just the other day, I gave her two pretzels and she said, "tee" for three. :)

Also this summer, Clara started saying "happy". It took me awhile to realize what she meant, and that she seems to be describing how she feels. Some nights when I'm holding her before putting her down in her crib, she says "happy". And she says it other times during the day too. I'll ask if she's feeling happy and she nods. Then she says, "ee-see" and "Mama", asking if we're happy too. Clara has also learned "sad", and when she hears a baby cry, she makes a point of coming over to me and telling me "sad". Also, whenever Lucy is upset, Clara goes over to her and pats her.

I love seeing her personality develop and come out. On the whole she's a sunshiney girl, easygoing but mischevious, and with a mind of her own. She loves to do anything Lucy is doing, and makes herself quite at home with big kids.

One of my fave pictures of Clara from the summer.

Being silly with a hat over her head.

Clara's eyes are still bright blue!

Putting little people on her fingers; Lucy used to do this all the time too.

In true little sister form, Clara likes to do everything Lucy is doing, including playing piano.

She's so ready to be a big girl, even helping carry the sand toys to the car.