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.

Lucy's new skills!

This has been quite a month for Lucy in the skills department! After a month of swim lessons, a few weeks ago she finally got the hang of swimming underwater, and now I can hardly get her out of the lake. Here's a video of her swimming.

Sometime in July, Lucy asked if I would start teaching her piano. We ordered some beginner piano books, and she's been learning notes, rhythm, etc. We visited my grandparents almost every day during swim lessons, so she had lots of opportunities to practice on their piano. Here she is playing a song!

And most recently (today!), Lucy learned to ride her bike without training wheels!! A week ago we moved the training wheels up a setting, so she had to balance more on her own. Today was only the second time she had tried biking without the training wheels, and after a few tries with Matt and I helping, she had it! I am so proud of her, and got all teary watching her bike down the driveway. It feels like a significant rite of passage, somehow.

Next post, I promise to give an update on precious Clara!

Blueberry picking

Ahh, blueberries warmed by the sun, fresh off the bush. We had our summer blueberry picking adventure a few weeks ago with my grandma and cousin (a tradition now- see our 2010 and 2009 expeditions; we went in 2011 too, but I don't seem to have posted about it).

Blueberries this way!

Lucy, Alma and Grandma

Lucy did a great job picking, and exerted impressive self-control at not eating them all.

Grandma enjoying the sun and the berries.

Clara is definitely at the "eat, eat, eat" stage of blueberry picking.

Lucy nibbled a few too (as did I- so good!).



Lucy showing her harvest. 



And the whole gang!

At the beach

Ah, the glorious days of summer. Lucy has swim lessons for 2, 2-week sessions this summer at a nearby lake. It's been great to have a regular schedule (the lessons are every morning), and to get out to the beach so much. Thankfully the weather has been beautiful on the whole. We get to stop by and say hi to my grandparents on the way there and back, and the girls love playing with them. Lucy's been getting more comfortable with putting her head under water, and today she even practiced swimming on her own for a few seconds at a time.

Clara and I have fun playing during Lucy's swim lesson. She's gotten a lot more comfortable in the water and with sand, and will happily sit down and scoop up sand and water with her bucket and shovel. Periodically she says, "ee-see?", asking where Lucy is. It's so cute how she keeps tabs on Lucy.

Our beautiful lake.

Snack time.

I love her little feet!

Lucy practicing a back float.

And here she's swimming with the barbell float.

Hangin' with dolls and bikes

Here are some random shots from the last week or so. We had a week off from swim lessons, and are starting back again on Monday for another 2 weeks. Random highlights from the week: watching the Disney Cinderella movie with Lucy (she was very intent and serious about it, and asked tons of questions, trying to figure it all out!), blueberry picking with the girls, Grandma and my cousin, meeting with my drawing group, and cleaning/organizing the bookshelf in my bedroom (creating peace through a clean and beautiful environment).

Lucy reading next to baby Snowflake.

Clara loves feeding her baby.

Lucy and I made sugar cookies the other day. She did all the rolling and cutting with cookie cutters herself!

I love their smiles.

Lucy snapped this photo of Clara trying to dress baby Snowflake.

My Grandma is so great with the girls, attentive and patient and fun. Here she is helping Clara learn how to ride a tricycle.

Cruising down the driveway!.

Sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's front porch.

Chairs!

The girls received a wonderful surprise from Grandma Judy last week- new chairs for their room! The girls love them. The chairs have their names on them, with a butterfly for Lucy and a flower for Clara.

Lucy helping to put her chair together.

The finished product- hooray!

A favorite place for reading.

We moved the glider chair to the other side of the room, so now the girls have a reading nook all to themselves. The chairs fit perfectly, and go well with the curtains too. :)

Lucy loves her chair so much that sometimes when we check on her at night, we find she's gone to sleep in it. This photo was taken at night (with a flash).

Here they are in Lucy's chair.

And there's a video of Lucy thanking Grandma Judy and generally being very excited.