Clara and her Mac.

Not an apple Mac, her dog MacTarnahans.  Mac is ALWAYS trying to lay on the couches.  He thinks he deserves it, his life is so hard!  So he was up there one day and Clara kept trying to climb up there to be with him.  So I picked her up and plopped her down on the couch with Mac.  They sat on the couch like this for probably 10 minutes, which is a long time to sit still (for both of them). 

The look on Clara's face was hilarious.  She was completely stoic.  She didn't crack a smile.  Just looked at me with serious eyes, as if telling me she really needed to spend some quality time with Mac and I should just leave them alone!

Classic!

water in the ears.

In the bath, Clara has started doing this crazy thing!  She lays back in the water and just relaxes for what seems like FOREVER!  The first time she did it, she layed back and made silly noises.  I think she found out that noises sound funny when your ears are under water. 

Each time she does this, all I can think about is when I was young and my parents first got their pool.  I got terrible cases of Swimmers' Ear.  I keep worrying that all that water in her ears will make her sick.  But then I remember that we bobbed in the deep end over and over and over, and that the water combined with the depth is probably what gave us the infection.  I think she's probably ok in a couple inches of water!

She's very content laying in the bath like this!  Silly girl!

 There she is with her favorite letter L again!

cousins playing at Oma and Opa's.

While the Kaufmans were here, we spent a ton of time just hanging out at Oma and Opa's house. 

Here are Uncle Steve and Clara reading.

 Here' Oma with Will.  Clara is "helping".

 The front door is always exciting.  Those babies just love to look out the window that is just their height!  They've been on the verge of escaping many times, so now we keep the screen door locked!

 Clara just looks at Ben and starts to giggle. 

 I love this pic of Ben.  He's got his boots, his giraffe, and his lip out!  He's ready for anything!

 Auntie Em always knows how to get those babies riled up!

 Ben and I with cheesy smiles!

 Clara is just exhausted after a few minutes of play with Ben. She's so used to being the only little one around, that playing with other littles wears her little body out! 

wild turkeys.

My Dad spent a Saturday at Cabela's to give info at a National Wild Turkey Federation booth.  We went to visit him, and to see the cool animals and fish at Cabela's. 

We were quite the herd.  Not only Kurtis, Clara, and I went to visit my dad.  We met Teenie, Steve, Ben, Will, and Emily there, too.  We also met Kurtis' parents Jeff and Janet there.  It was great!  And the best part is that Cabela's is so big, I don't even think we felt overwhelming to anyone else while we were there!  Maybe?  Here's hoping this is one place we aren't overwhelming!

Dad: "Now, try to get Clara and I and the whole banner in the picture..."
Me: "Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I knew you were going to say that!"

 So cute!

 A guy at the booth next to my Dad was making a super loud turkey sound.  Clara made this face for a long time because of that scary sound.  She's been a little lot sensitive to scary animal sounds lately.

 Great pic of Clara and her Dad!

 Clara and Grandpa Brooks.  I think that scary sound must have still been going at this point based on the look on Clara's face.

men, rainbows, and babies...

not in that order!

I love these pictures!  My Dad feeds the ducks on the hill behind their house.  Being at my parents' house at the right time sometimes feels like "The Birds"  because of the swarms of ducks that fly in.  This was the first day Steve and Teenie were in town for their most recent visit, and my Dad went out to feed the ducks and everyone else went with him.

 Watch where you step! 

 Later, this incredible and complete rainbow adorned the skies. 

cousins in Sunday best.

Teenie and Steve came to visit with the boys, and Teenie bought them the cutest Easter outfits.  So we decided to try them on for size and snap some pics.  So we found a dress in Clara's closet and got to work!

 Ben was tired.  Poor guy.  Clara just watched in amazement, because Ben is never in a sad/bad mood.

 Even though he was tired, he tried his best to make the adults around happy by saying "cheese"!  Sweet boy!

 Life is a little better with a "bobby" in your mouth.  Here we added Will to the pics.

 Vests are the only way to go for little boys!  Could these two be any cuter?

 Clara just looked back and forth at her cousins.

 Then started crying herself!  She really knows how to let loose!

 Will looks a little worried, right?

 He's just a beautiful little baby boy.  Yep Steve...I just called your baby boy beautiful!  He is!

 Clara and Ben both love this little red rocker that belonged to my Mom when she was little.  They were fighting over it, so we finally plopped Ben in first, and sat Clara on his lap.  It worked for about a second!

 We finished off this shoot by sucking on some bullets.  Yep, we live in Idaho!