happy birthday clara!

Clara is two today!  These years have flown by, but we've immensely enjoyed watching Clara grow.  She is a fun and spunky little girl.  And even though she can be challenging at times, we adore her  

Here are a few pics from last night in the bath.  Clara has figured out (with Daddy's help) that listening to sounds while your ears are under water is pretty strange sounding.  She's a quirky little one!

Happy birthday little girl!  Mommy and Daddy love you!

Happy Birthday Opa!

I hope you had a fantastic day!

Love, Clara

clara's first dance class.

Oh my...I haven't seen anything as precious as Clara's 2-3 year-old dance class.  Most of the little girls were in dance class in the fall, so they knew what was up!  Clara was one of four newbies.  And it showed...we couldn't stop laughing.  There were times when she just stood and took everything in.  Then other times she dove in and watched her teacher and followed each direction to a T!

The girls will be spending the next 12 weeks (you heard me right, 12) preparing for a spring recital.  They'll perform on stage at a local middle school, and they'll also perform their two numbers at local nursing homes.  Love it!  Now I just need to find some itty-bitty tap shoes!

Anyway, she made a fast friend.  They kept trading scarves during the scarf dance, and then later while they were supposed to be learning their tap number, they held both hands and just danced together.  And they may or may not have forgotten to stand on their yellow dots!  Friendship was calling!  At the end, their teacher asked if they were cousins or something, and the other little girl's parents and Kurtis and I just cracked up.  Our children were just the clingy new friends!  Ha!

Every once in a while, Clara would turn around and say, "Daddy!  Mommy!" and then turn back to dancing.  It was hilarious.

By the end of 30 minutes, she was seriously exhausted.  She had to come off the floor for a little milk break.  It was so great!

Oh, and did I mention I lied to get her into this class?  The first day was today, and in order to register, the children had to be 2 by today...and Clara turns 2 tomorrow!  So I lied and said her birthday was today!  Oops!

Here are a few pictures from class.  Enjoy...I seriously laughed 'till I cried tonight!

 She needed quite a bit of support to do a somersault, even though she can do them just fine at home.  Funny girl.

 She kept taking social cues from all the little girls around her.  Here, she was done with her turn, found a book to look at, and sat down next to a little girl who was laying on her belly.  Before we knew it, she was laying on her belly too!  So funny!

 Two fast friends...they may be the two youngest ones in the class!

 I swear she's saying "cheese" in this pic, but she looks like she's crying or something.

a baseball player?

The other evening, we strolled around the neighborhood and ended up at the park.  Kurtis decided to change things up, and instead of spending tons of time on the swings and slides, he taught Clara how to run the bases of the baseball field.  She loved it.  Perhaps baseball is in her future?

ocd...

Often, I walk into a room after Clara has been playing and find something similar to this...

McCall winter carnival.

We had a wonderful weekend in McCall.  Winter Carnival was in full swing, and my friend Lee from work hadn't seen Idaho's mountains yet (she's on an exchange in the US from Scotland...coolest thing ever!).  So it was a must!

We drove up Saturday morning and headed straight to Brian and Christianne's place.  Clara was thrilled to see them both.  We ate a little lunch, and then headed to Moss where Brian works.  He pulled some snowshoes and a sled out for us to borrow, and we headed down to march across the lake.  Yes, you heard me right.  I allowed my almost two-year-old to be pulled across the ice on top of Payette Lake.  I was freaked out the entire time (I am who I am...a nervous Nelly!).

We waltzed across the lake for a while, and then headed up to snowshoe through Ponderosa State Park.    It was a gorgeous day.  After what has seemed like months of being shielded from the sun from our nasty inversion down here in the valley, it was fantastic to see blue skies!  So we spent the afternoon wandering through the woods at a toddler's pace...literally.  Clara refused to get in the backpack.  And she preferred walking in her snow gear over being pulled in the sled, too.  So we wandered through the majestic woods at a snail's pace.  But it was a ball.  And in the end, she fell asleep in the backpack.  But she honestly walked a good part of the way.  We were all a little shocked!

Later that night, we walked down to the beach for a pretty great fireworks display.  Clara HATED the fireworks!  The second they began, she started to cry and just kept repeating, "too loud".  Poor thing.  So we headed out a little early and had to weave in between all the people standing and looking up at the sky.  Maybe by the 4th of July she'll like fireworks!

On Sunday, we hit up the Pancake House (we're such tourists!) and then took a little drive around town to show Lee other parts of McCall.  She got a few great pictures, and then we started home.

It really was a whirlwind weekend.   But it was so much fun!  Thanks Brian and Christianne for letting us stay with you.  And thanks Lee for joining Kurtis, Clara and I!  It was so much fun to show you around!

Here are some pics from the day!  I stole some from Lee (thanks, Lee!).  Sorry they aren't in perfect order!

Here are Clara and Christianne sledding.

Here is Clara pulling her sled.  I told you she wanted to pull her sled more than ride in it!  Here's the proof!

 Here we are climbing up from the lake to the park.

 Here is Clara, all tuckered out after marching around all afternoon!

 Here is a cinnamon roll from the pancake house.  The size was a little outrageous!  (Just a little).

 Here are Lee and I on the lake.

 Clara had fun climbing in and out of snow caves that some people made on Moss' campus.

 Here are Clara and Uncle Brian inside a snow cave.  Cool pic!  Nice shot Lee!

 Here we are in front of one of the ice sculptures in McCall.  Clara is completely eyeballing the buffalo.