Amazing Agile Awesome -- as the many, many, many "Aussie" t-shirts read

We took the kids to Purina Farms this past weekend. They enjoyed the dog show as well as the petting zoo. There was an All Breed Dog Show and an Australian Shepherd Agility competition going on that day. We were amazed at how serious everyone was taking the competitions. The movie "Best in Show" is more true to life than we had imagined. We witnessed plenty of amusing things. One of them was a lady coloring some of the hair on her dog's ear with a black marker.

Matt's trial run at the Purina Farms Agility practice course as seen on ESPN. He later placed 19th right behind a three legged dachshund.

Easter

It seems as if so much has happened since our last post. Claire is walking around and got her first two teeth. She is working on getting 6 at once right now. I call her our little warrior because other than being fussy in the middle of the night, she has been happy and hasn't shown any other symptoms of teething.

Claire took her first airplane ride over Easter. Natalie was very excited to fly. She was nine months old on our last trip, so to her, this was the first airplane ride.

Natalie and Claire have started playing together. It is so sweet to watch them tickle each other, give each other hugs and kisses and roll around the floor together.

"9 out of 10 one year olds agree that blondes have more fun"

Claire's sitter's daughter got this Hannah Montana wig for her 5th birthday. Claire just had to try it on!

Natalie is always putting her baby dolls down for a nap and patting them to sleep.

Daisy and Stella's Easter baskets.

The dogs' egg hunt.

Can you see Daisy darting around the yard looking for eggs?

We finally have a garden! We planted broccoli, a cherry tomato, a cucumber, and a parsley plant. The girls love watering the plants. We have even started composting.

Birthday Girl

Claire enjoyed her first birthday and especially liked her first cupcake. She didn't have much icing on her face because she managed to shove every crumb into her mouth! I think she has a sweet tooth! Natalie brought home her Valentines yesterday, and Claire grabbed the lollipop out of Natalie's hand and put it in her mouth and started sucking on it. We had such a hard time grabbing it away from her that we caved and gave her her own lollipop.

We were hoping Claire would get her first tooth for her birthday, but she is still full of gummy smiles. She has started saying 'woof woof' and 'moo' when you ask her what the dog and cow say. Whenever we ask her other questions, her response is 'yeah'.

Check out the link to the right, 'Claire Dancing' to see our little dancing queen!

Sesame Street Live - both kids look confused! They perked up when Elmo and the gang came out. Natalie and Claire both enjoyed singing and clapping. Afterwards, Natalie told us that Grover was funny.

Natalie and I toasting with apple juice on NYE. We rang in the new year around 8pm!

Getting Caught Up

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Claire still doesn't have any teeth, and she refuses to eat baby food now. If she sees baby food on the spoon, she tightens her lips and turns her head. If there's "real" food on the spoon, she opens her mouth real wide. It's amazing how she can tell the difference. She is standing and cruising on her own now.
Natalie is beoming very curious about everything. We're not in the "Why" stage but instead the "What are you doing?" stage. She repeatedly asks us that question. After taking some time off, Natalie is back in gymnastics at the Little Gym and loving it.

Claire's 9 Month pictures

My attempts at getting a picture for our Christmas card.

The best we could get with the whole family minus Clark, our fish.

Daisy's 5th birthday.

Stella's 4th birthday. Luckily they have the same birth date, just one year apart, so we don't have to go through the birthday celebration more than once a year. Our dogs are pretty wild and crazy to begin with and when you throw in peanut butter and carrot cupcakes and wrapped presents for them, they get really out of control!

Happy Fall

We had a beautiful night for trick-or-treating this year. We've had an entire week of unusually warm weather and have been taking advantage of it. Natalie got her first round of putt-putt golf in. Claire is really enjoying the swing at the park. Even Daisy and Stella have gotten plenty of exercise at the dog park.

Natalie loves playing hide and seek right now. It's a great way for her to practice counting to 10. She seems to always find us because Daisy gives away our hiding spots by standing next to us and barking. Natalie gives away her own hiding spots. Once we get to ten, she calls out - "in Claire's room" or "under the blanket".

Claire has started playing peek a boo by pulling a blanket over her head and then pulling it off. She loves trying to do anything that Natalie is doing. I can tell already that they are going to be best friends.

Visit with their cousins.

Early trick-or-treating in town with friends.

8 Months Old

Natalie and Claire are all ready for Halloween. Natalie is going to be Elmo and Claire a pumpkin. Claire has started crawling and pulling herself up. She watches Natalie so closely and wants to do everything she does. Claire still doesn't have her first tooth yet, but she is drooling so much that it has to be any day now. She also started saying "Dadda", "Mamma" and "Na-Na" for Natalie.

Natalie's field trip to the pumpkin patch.

This one was a little too heavy!

This one was just right!

Claire is 8 Months Old!

First bites of banana chunks. She feels all grown up!

7 Months Old

Claire is starting to rock on all fours. It won't be long before she will be crawling. She can now pull herself up to a sitting position from lying down.
We went apple picking a few weekends ago. Natalie enjoyed eating the apples and riding the pony.
Natalie's latest accomplishment is wearing underwear throughout the day and going on the big girl potty, but I will spare you those pictures!