Not to be left out...

I have been starting to feel like I have an overload of big sister posts lately and wanted to share some random thoughts about my baby girl. Claire is such a happy little girl, she makes me laugh everyday. I love to see her cute little smile and hear her sweet little laugh. She wants nothing more in life than to follow her sister around and be just like her. True, they fight, but what sisters don't? I am amazed at how different their personalities are.

Claire is a pleaser. She is always quick to do just what we ask and loves to help. One of her favorite things is to put laundry away. She just runs one pile into her room and comes running back for more. (I just wish I could teach her to wash and fold!) The other day, Paige was throwing a fit about having to do "all the chores", so she was threatened with losing the opportunity to play with her cousins until she could get her clothes put away. Claire did not want Paige to be left home alone, so she grabbed sister's clothes and put them in her drawers for her.

Claire is very much a mommy's girl. She is such a good little snuggler and loves to wake up at the sound of my voice early every morning just long enough to hug me and go back to sleep. The relationship Claire and I have makes me so nervous to have another baby. I don't want her to feel like she is being pushed aside to make room or that I don't love her anymore because we have a new brother. I am just going to be very careful about making special time for just the two of us. Which makes me a little excited to send Paige to kindergarten next month. For at least a month or so, Claire and I will have three hours of "mommy and me" time...something she hasn't really had before. Claire is very excited to be a big sister. She likes to climb on my lap eveyday to check the countdown on my blog and is always asking "Is my baby brother awake?" so she can try to feel him kick her hand. She also often reminds me that the baby is naked, something her big sister taught her that they both think is just hilarious.

One more random thought about Claire-Boo: She does not like to go unnoticed. The other night the girls were out front riding bikes while Steve and I cleaned up dinner from the back patio. Our new Primary president walked by with her dog and said "Hi" to Paige. Claire started to grunt, so Kim asked Paige if this was her baby sister. Claire immediately informed her that she was not a baby, she was a big girl because she wore panties. I'm sure that was way more information than poor Sister Richins wanted from her nightly stroll, but Claire wanted to make sure she knew.

My favorite conversation with Claire happens a few times a day.

Mommy: I love you, Boo

Claire: I love you too

Mommy: I love you more

Claire: I love you SOOO much!

Mommy and Claire

Just playing with my new scanner. I haven't quite figured it out completely...installing it added something weird so I can't add photos and text in my blog at the same time. And if I stop typing once, it won't let me keep going. Something I will have to tweak a little. I never intended to be in these pics and really never wanted her "woobie" in them, but she wouldn't stop crying, so Paige handed it to her to make her happy and then she wouldn't put it down. I bought them anyway because it totally expresses her personality. Summer 2007

Moving in...One Room at a Time

By popular demand, meaning three friends have asked, I am starting to post pics of the new house. We are so, so happy here. It really is everything we ever wanted and more! The neighbors were so welcoming and we find ourselves outside talking with them nearly every night while all the kids play together. There is a little boy next door that the girls love and three little sisters across the street that come to play often. The girls are in the backyard all day, wanting to eat meals out there and everything! To avoid being overloaded, this is a gradual tour. Especially since I am not posting pics until I have every room just how I want. So, with that being said, first on the tour is...the kitchen! This was the first room I fell in love with. I have always wanted an island and this one works perfectly! The girls think it is so fun to sit up there for breakfast or to play. I loved the cupboards from the get-go. You can't really tell in the pictures, but they have a wainscoating inset that I just love. And they are so tall! Even I have to get on a step stool to reach the top shelf inside. I can't believe how much room we have in here, we even have empty shelves in some cupboards. The sink is the deepest I have ever seen, which can be dangerous because it holds more than a dishwasher full. To top it all off, it's red! Just like my old kitchen, so I don't even have to paint, which is a good thing because I am stubborn enough to do it, baby belly or not. My one complaint about the kitchen is the floor. When we first saw it we thought, uggh, it's linoleum, but it looks like tile so it will be fine. Now in living with it, yes, I guess it does look like tile, but it looks like filthy tile. I think the idea is to hide dirt, but it looks awful. That will be our first major home improvement project, but not right away.
It was really a bummer for me when we found out that our kitchen table was too big for the dining space. I was so sad that I skipped right over to Gardner Village and picked out a black counter height set complete with bench. In the picture we don't have the leaf in because the dining area really is very small, but it can extend into a true square and I love it!
There was also some drama over the kitchen curtains. After we put in our offer we asked our agent to add in the window treatments in the kitchen and living room. He told us they had said it was no problem. Apparently it was no problem since he never asked them! The seller's agent said he never received that request from Scott. However, I am pretty pleased with myself in making their replacements. Still a work in progress, I have got to figure out how to cover the top of those hideous vertical blinds, or convince Steve to let me rip them down!

Paige on Stage...a recap

Better late than never right? Last month, Paige graduated from Golden Start Preschool! She had a darling program where they sang songs and acted out nursery rhymes. She got to be Old Mother Hubbard with her cute friend Hayden and danced in an Octopus' Garden. Her Grandpa Lynn and Grandma Terry were able to come watch as well as her Aunt Valerie. I can't believe how much she has grown in the past year! She was able to do so many fun things in preschool including a field trip to the fire station and Wheeler Farm, make gingerbread houses, have a pet day, a cowboy day, and a pajama/crazy hair party! She has learned so much and I can't wait for her to start kindergarten and learn even more. She gets so excited bringing home new books to read and new projects to show off. She has been enrolled at Herriman Elementary and will go afternoons on D track. We have been in and met her principal, a high school friend of her daddy's. We don't know her teacher yet because she is brand new, so new she has yet to be hired! Paige is so excited to be a big girl and be a Herriman Hawk!

Better late than never right? Last month, Paige graduated from Golden Start Preschool! She had a darling program where they sang songs and acted out nursery rhymes. Her Grandpa Lynn & Grandma Terry were able to be there along with her Aunt Valerie. I can't believe how much she has grown this year. She reads like a champ and is learning times tables, who knows where she is coming up with that, but let's go with it!

Paige also had a dance recital this month. The day started out pretty hairy. When we got to dress rehearsal, moms were duck-taping off seats in the amphitheatre. It got a little scary, moms were yelling at each other and fighting over seats. After an afternoon of beauty, Paige fell asleep on her way there, so she was not happy to be dropped off with her class and have me follow her around with my camera. The funny part was that Sandy Amphitheatre apparently didn't like people saving seats, so they removed all tape and blankets before people started showing up. So when these families showed up five minutes before the show, expecting the two rows they saved, and they ended up on the grass, they were not happy! Paige did a great job! Such a cute dancer! We have been so thrilled with her dance group. Paige's teacher Tiffany is really the best and her student teacher Kayla is so cute with Paige. We seem to run into her everywhere and she is always quick to give Paige a hug and make her feel so important! We are so excited to have two little Tiffany Dancers next year.

Soccer

Earlier this spring, my cute friend Melissa called telling me she was going to attempt to coach a SL County Rec Soccer team. Her little girl, Chailyn, was going to play along with another neighbor friend, Kaitlyn. I asked Paige if she was interested, and wanting to grow up to be just like her cousin, the near-Olympian soccer player, Kendyl, Paige said yes! The problem was: she hated it! The first several games were cold, her shorts kept falling off, kids wouldn't pass her the ball. She just didn't quite grasp the concept of playing soccer. We mostly found her "Relief Societing" on an empty corner of the field with Chai. Once they served snacks at half-time, it was all over. Getting her back on the field after that was a waste of breath.
I'm sure other parents thought we were Satan as Steve and I stood on the sidelines screaming for her to get in the game and try to kick the ball. Steve finally threatened to take her soccer shirt to another neighbor girl, Sophie, who he had heard wanted to play. That was enough to do it. She ran right into the middle of the group and kicked the ball as hard as she could and scored a goal! (She calls it "made a score".) Paige was very excited to get shirt #11 because her cousin Brady had that number in baseball. She also loved wearing shin-guards. It was a fight getting them on, but when Steve did a practice kick into her shin she giggled and thought they were the best ever. Unfortunately that got Claire wanting to kick Paige all the time!
The "Red Rockets" had a far from stellar season, partly due to the fact that Paige had mostly three year olds on their team. These three girls towered over them! It also didn't help that even though our games were at noon every Saturday, they rarely had six players to play with! I'm not sure we will sign her up again, but it was a fun eight weeks.

The Blue, Blue Lake

AHHH! A week of total rest and relaxation! My dad owns a timeshare with a friend from the Power Company and he is gracious enough to save up his week for two years so that he can take our entire family on a trip together where we share two condos. This year, we tried something new and went to Bear Lake (which the girls nicknamed the "Blue, Blue Lake".

Bear Lake was a perfect vacation spot for us! The weather was cool, yet warm enough to play outside all day. One of my sister's families and ours rented a boat for a few hours and tubed. The baby belly and I were content just to watch. We had so much fun that day that we rented wave-runners the next day. Paige was too nervous to go with daddy, but Claire just sang at the top of her lungs during her entire ride, "It's the best day ever!" We also managed to hit the pool everyday where Paige got really good at the diving board.

The girls had various favorite moments...it varies from day to day. They were both thrilled to sleep in bunkbeds. Our other option was to all share a double, so Steve and I got the better end of the deal on that one, each having our own bottom bunk. We played miniature golf a few times. Looks like Claire is going pro! She cheated her cute little way through the whole game and on the last hole to return her ball, smacked it right in and got a hole in one. Her prize was a free round of golf!
Grandpa had brought a fun activity for the grandkids and we spent one afternoon making marshmallow guns in the shade. Each family got to take home three guns and a bag of mallows. We planned to take them over to the beach and feed the seagulls, but the picky little buggers don't like marshmallows. They also didn't like stale french fries, cheetos or grapes. But the classic bread ball was a hit!
We went to a cute play one night and went out several times for raspberry shakes. As cheesy as it sounds, the best part was being together. I love my sisters and my dad so much and trips like these only bring us closer. Thanks dad, for a great week!

The Big Move

WE DID IT! The condo finally sold and we really, truly bought our dream house! It was amazing really how it all turned out. After 10 months on the market, our only offer fell through truly as we were walking through "the house". Six weeks later, the same woman made a second offer claiming she had a more stable offer on her end. This house had just come up on the market and I went through it without Steve. It had become too hard to get sitters and arrange everyone's schedule to get three of us together to find a house, so it was easier to separate and narrow down our options. I called Steve from the car and told him this was the one. It is everything we both wanted. An RV pad for Steve, a big kitchen and a craft room for me, a huge backyard and a playroom for the girls and best of all it is completely finished! We will never go through the headache of finishing a basement!
We were able to move in the first week of June. Everything went smoothly except for the new owner of our condo walked in with her boxes, ready to move in 14 hours early. We were still cleaning. So, she was left with crumbs in the cupboards and dusty baseboards but she wanted us out so she could come in! The girls really were helpful in letting me pack. As you can see, we rarely left our pj's the last few weeks, but they were thrilled to make tents and tunnels out of empty boxes.

I also found it was easy to move on to another box to let them decorate our moving boxes. Neither one noticed what I was putting in the next box because they were so busy. Paige used her best penmanship to label the boxes and draw somewhat collaborating pictures (who doesn't think of reindeer and eight-foot flowers when packing their shoes?) while Claire did some of her very best stickering.

We couldn't ask for a better neighborhood. We met more neighbors the night we moved in than we did in a year in our old one. There are little girls everywhere to play with, and I haven't seen the girls in days they are so thrilled with the backyard. However, they are turning into little indian babies with their tanlines! We are sad to leave our friends behind, but we are less than 2 miles away and now we have some room to return all the favors of entertaining guests!

Oh Happy Day!

Yes, I stole that coinphrase from my friend Heather, but it really is the only one that fits here. Yesterday, we bought a new computer!! Which means I have spent the last several hours setting it up, connecting it to the internet and then of course...blog surfing! So now comes the fun part, CATCHUP! I may post several times in the next little bit as I figure out Windows Vista and how to download pics, etc. But I am so excited to be back!