Clara's Dedication

Phil and I dedicated Clara and our parenting to the Lord on Sunday, May 22. It was a beautiful day and we took advantage of everyone being dressed nicely and did a family photo. The only other family picture we have is with me one day post-delivery and in a hospital gown. That one just isn't getting passed around much if you know what I mean. :) This one turned out pretty well - three out of four looking at the camera!

We decided to dedicate Clara along with some of our good friends and their little ones in our Sunday school class for a more personal experience. I'm so glad we did it that way - it was very special. Since Clara's grandparents couldn't make it (we'll be seeing them in about two weeks in MN) some of our close friends attended the dedication to support us. It meant more to us than I can say.

Here is Ray, the leader of our class and an Elder at the church saying some nice things about our family and Clara. He did such a nice job with the ceremony, and Clara even smiled at him at the end when he leaned in and told her how happy he was to have her there that day.

Here is Ray speaking to all of the families dedicating their children. To our right are the Harts, our good friends, and you'll see the T's on our far left (Ray is covering up CT's head). Clara was the youngest one dedicated that day and she was an angel through the whole thing.

Us and the T's. Yay for friends! Obviously the girls weren't terribly interested in having their picture taken. Oh well, they're still cute.

Afterward, we had a few friends over to have cake at our house. This cake needs some explanation. I know they do the lettering for free at the place, but I had both kids with me and thought - whatever, I can totally do the lettering myself.
Well, when I started, the tube of frosting exploded as I was writing "Clara." After that I had such a bad attitude about how it was going to look that I just kind of sped through the rest so it looks like Adam wrote it (no offense, Adam). Her verse is supposed to be 1 Samuel 1: 27-28, but the 28 didn't fit since I didn't think it through beforehand (because of the bad attitude).
The funniest part is that I wouldn't let Phil write on the cake because I was afraid he would screw it up. Yeah, good thing THAT didn't happen.

Here's the girl with her (not so aesthetically pleasing) cake. She is so fascinated with the camera, it's hard to get her to smile!
Phil and I pray that the Lord will touch her heart at a young age and she will grow to love Jesus and experience every joy He has for her.

"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give [her] to the LORD. For [her] whole life [she] will be given over to the LORD.”
1 Samuel 1: 27-28

Showing Her the Ropes

"Now, Clara, pay attention. This is how it is. Don't look at me like that. I know what I'm talking about."

A kiss for his sister.

How much does happiness cost?

Now, normally I would say you can't put a price on happiness, but in this case we got a whole bunch of it for only $5.00 at a garage sale. It came in the form of this little tricycle.

He calls it his bike and he loves it.
He's really good at the steering, but we need to work on pedaling. Going downhill is fine, but he needs some pushing going up the inclines.

Happiness for Clara these days is sucking on her hands, which is free.

Oh Dear...

Could he BE more white trash???

I don't know about you, but we're crackin' up over here.

The Big 3-0

I turned 30 a few weeks ago and am just getting to post the pictures now. Did I mention how amazing my husband is? He is AMAZING. He planned this whole day of relaxation for me and it was wonderful. He gave me a sweet card in the morning with a schedule of events inside. I got to go to the spa BY MYSELF for three hours and get a massage and facial (my first ever). I came home to enjoy the afternoon with my family, and then Phil took me to the French restaurant that we went to for our anniversary last year - probably the best restaurant we have ever been to. It was such a special day.

The celebration didn't end there. Phil watched the kids for me so that I could have dinner out with some girlfriends. I have met another great group of girls here in Virginia - God is good! I am so thankful to have friends like these to spend my birthday with.
Clockwise from me: Tarah, Karina, Katie, Lauren, Anna, and Becka (with her sweet little girl)

We came back to the house after dinner for Dairy Queen cake (my favorite!!!). Phil went to pick it up for me and you can totally tell by the inscription "Happy Birthday Wife!"

Lauren helping me blow out my candles. Yes, I was caught a little off guard and am nursing Clara in the picture.

Thanks, everyone, for making my birthday awesome!

Truckin' Along

I couldn't let a truck event pass without Adam being a part of it, so I decided it was time to venture out to our first EVENT as a party of three (me and the two kids). It went pretty well. It took a bit more planning on my part and I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked, but Adam was super excited and loved it.

We lucked out on the line to sit in this little digger and Adam actually got two turns, which was great since the rest of the lines were really long.

Hard at work.

I didn't get a photo, but he loved touching the tires of the garbage truck, which were taller than him. Then we made our way over to this giant shovel set up for the kids to climb in.
Doin' a little dance in the digger.

This kid cracks me up. He's so social, he has become a professional at barging in and ruining other people's group shots. Here he is, at it again.

He loved it when the other kids cleared out and he had the whole thing to himself for a bit.

He wanted to wear his new hat on the way home. He always wants to wear it backwards, but ran into some trouble here since he couldn't sit back in his carseat.

Thanks, Clara, for being such a good sport (hanging out in the baby bjorn) while Adam and Mama looked at some trucks! I'm sure Adam will be just as cooperative someday when you want to host your tea parties.

Hi! I'm three months old!

Clara is three months old! During this month she had her first ear infection (boo) and slept through the night for the first time (yay!). Hopefully the latter of those will become more frequent and the first not so much. Some other new developments are holding her head up at ninety degrees when on her tummy and her love of sucking on her hands.

I took this photo just a week ago thinking it would be her three-month photo. However, I feel like she has changed so much even in the past week that I had to take new photos. It's still worth sharing, though.

It's a little bright out here for me, but I love chillin' outside with my paci and watching my brother play with his water table.

Oh Mom, you are just so funny.

Lovin' life.