Hi!

I realized as I was looking over the past month of pictures that there were no up close and personal shots of my cutie's face! The main reason is probably that she's in near-constant motion, so it's hard to get a good shot of her face. But for anyone who's been waiting, here's one from today. Not the best ever, but I think her personality shines through. This was as we were getting ready to head to the grocery store this afternoon.

Speaking of the grocery store, one of the terrific things about my kiddo is that she is a great errand-runner. She is usually happy in the car, loves shopping at any store and doesn't mind making multiple stops. In fact, whenever we leave a store her first question is usually, "We go 'nuther grocery store Mama?" It is a joy to be out and about with her and I am blessed that the grocery store is one of her favorite places.

I am also blessed that she is doing so well with potty learning. We have been going super slow and I have held way back from pushing her in any way. She loves to have no diaper and for the past week has had zero accidents although she has been 100% diaper free at home. She is great about finding the potty on her own, holding her skirt up and calling me when she's done. Today, at her request, she wore pants for the first time (we've been in skirts and dresses a LOT lately!). No underwear, but pants. She went all morning with no accidents! I was so proud of her! This afternoon she was in diapers for our errands and then diaper free for the evening. She is turning into such a big girl and taking so much responsibility. I think she was proud of herself this morning, too, because she kept saying to me, "My pants still dry, Mama! I no go potty in my pants. My pants still all dry!"

Too Cool For...

This was Clara at her "grocery store" with Daddy after dinner. Oh my!

Sorry this post is late! We were processing close to 40 lbs of tomatoes last night and posting slipped my mind... so this is actually for Thursday, the 29th.

Farmer Girl

Clara was a big helper at the "tomato farm" today! We went and picked tomatoes at a local farm since ours didn't do quite as well as we had hoped. We had a great time and came home with an overflowing bushel of tomatoes! I will be busy the next few days getting them all put up.

This morning Clara came over, hugged me and said, "You're nice, Mommy." Oh how I love that little farmer girl!

This is the life...

... finding a comfy place to "hang out" while listening to Gustav mole and trying on winter clothes. Things don't get much better than that!

Favorite moments: braiding Clara's hair for the first time this morning, lots of spontaneous hugs while rocking together in the recliner this evening. This little girl's enthusiasm in everything she does can be exhausting but it's also such a joy and blessing to watch and experience!

Botany

We spent not enough time outside today; the mosquitoes are still horrendous and we both get eaten alive in no time flat! Despite the bugs we enjoyed a little sunshine and Clara enjoyed a little botany.

Doesn't she look tall and skinny?? Compare to a picture from 13 months ago:

She wasn't talking much and couldn't walk without someone holding both her hands. Watching this little girl grow and blossom is one of the greatest blessing I can imagine!

She also had fun today riding her truck and going shopping. :)

Late Sunday

Sunday we spent the day again with our friends (and got home late, hence the late post). Clara slowly woke up from her nap while blowing bubbles with Annabelle.

Then she got to ride Paladin!

I was so proud of her at church, she was great during Sunday School - she played quietly some, remembered to whisper when she wanted things and did a great job. Despite being really tired and having a longer time to sit than usual, she was good during church as well. She is getting so grown up!

My favorite moment, though, was getting to watch her sleep for a few moments before waking her up to take her home. She looks so sweet, peaceful and utterly at rest when she's sleeping.

Fun with Friends

We have extra girlies today! Can you tell Clara is enjoying them??

Rainy Day Fun

Today was Friday, which is usually Luke's shoeing day. But, he didn't have any horses scheduled. A blessing for him, because it was rainy all day. A blessing for us, too, because he got to be home with us most of the day! Can you tell that he and Clara had fun?

Dinner conversation, picked up in the middle of talking about her friends coming tomorrow:
"Uncle Scott and Miss Kristen have to go to a wedding, somebody is getting married, so you friends are going to come here."
"Gustav Mole getting married??"

That girl sure loves her Gustav mole book!

Mama's Helper

Clara has such a helping spirit, which is a real blessing to me. Today she was insistent on helping me put dinner together (which we actually did before lunch - it makes our evenings so much nicer when I plan ahead and do this!). She tried her best to peel the carrots, which is hard work for a 2 year old!

More blessings: the past few days Clara has really fallen in love with reading her Bible. I've been more intentional about it as well; we've read a little at every mealtime, both from her children's Bible and from my ESV. We've also spent lots of time reading Bible stories at her request and talking about God. "Mommy, where is God?"
"He's here with us baby, right now."
"He's here in our house?"
"Uh huh."
"He come to my house?"
"Yes sweetie, God is always here with us even though we can't see Him."
"Mommy, where God go??"
"God is everywhere, sweetheart. He is here in our house, He is in heaven, He is with Daddy at work..."

We had this conversation several times over today. Clara was very concerned with God's whereabouts. She also regularly tells me, "God gave us moon, Mama," which is something our dear friend Kristen told her when we had a campfire at their house and the moon was near full. It's so precious and also so terrifying to be having these conversations with my little girl! I'm so touched at how tender and open her heart is towards God and I want to teach her well!

Bubbles!

Clara and I got out to enjoy the sunshine again today (yay! We had more sunshine! There is none in the foreseeable forecast.) and had a great time blowing bubbles in the driveway. We would have preferred the backyard, but the driveway in the sun was the only place the swarms of mosquitoes spawned by Irene mostly left us alone. Clara has loved bubbles for a long time but has just recently gotten down the technique of blowing them herself. She's quite an aficionado now!

 

Not sure if my favorite moment of the day was snuggling with Clara in bed this morning (which is always one of my favorite parts of the day!), playing tag with her in the yard, hearing her "chase elephants" with Luke after he got home or hearing her happily say, "OKAY!" when I asked her to pick up her play food and brush her teeth. They were all wonderful and we really had a terrific day today! Hooray for terrific twos!

"...So we thank Him for our food."

It is a daily grace to me that Clara is, for the most part, a great eater. She tries new things with gusto and usually likes them. Although we've heard, "I no like that!" more often in our house in the past couple of months, in general she is an adventurous eater and enjoys a wide variety of foods. Tonight she couldn't get enough of the roasted beets (as evidenced by there being none on her plate here!) or the quinoa and millet "pilaf," of which she had three huge helpings! "May I have more quinoa, please?!" is music to a mother's ears! As you can see, she couldn't shovel it in fast enough!

Favorite tender moment: standing by her crib as she settled in for the night and hearing her little voice singing "Love You Forever" with me. Singing together is a huge joy for us. Current favorites are: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the ABCs, and This Little Light of Mine.

Playground!

Although this morning was supposed to be all about unpacking and cleaning at home, it was so nice outside we just couldn't resist the sunshine. Plus, it's supposed to be rainy the rest of the week, so I wanted to get out while we had the chance. We went for a walk in town (Clara in her stroller, which she loves) and then had a snack and played on the little playground next to the town pool. It is a great little place and Clara loves it there! Today she enjoyed the tunnels for the first time.

Weekend Fun

I took LOTS of pictures this weekend, but had no way to get them from my camera to our friends' computer, which is very slow anyway so I never even bothered getting on it. Nice to have a weekend "away." So here are weekend pictures!

On Saturday, we had a great time with the animals and enjoyed just hanging out at our friends' house. Here's Clara, heading out to the pasture to see the horses and chickens.

On Sunday, we met some friends in Saratoga for dinner. Afterward the girls had a great time dancing to the loud outdoor music from the pizza place next door. There were some serious moves going on!

Here's a bonus picture from Friday, since I didn't get to wait until the end of the day. Clara, in her element - riding Daddy's horse while surrounded by all the others.

Washing Dishes?

Clara was helping me wash dishes this morning - otherwise known as playing in the water and drinking from a measuring cup. :) Posting this early since we're heading out in another hour or so for our friends' house.

"Daddy, TICKLE ME!!"

This is what Clara was yelling to Luke tonight after dinner. There were cascades of giggles coming from her bedroom, so of course I had to investigate. After one tickling session, he covered her face with his hands and they played peek-a-boo. I had a better shot of her eyes, but loved the way his hands were cupped around her face in this one. That little girl just adores her Daddy!

Favorite moment from today: Clara "reading" an old Bible study book to me which I told her was about the Holy Spirit. She would turn the pages, reading "Holy Spirit.... Holy Spirit... purple Holy Spirit..."

Editorial note: We will be house sitting for some friends tomorrow through Sunday, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update while we're there. If not, I'll have pictures for each day when we return!

Tea Party

Clara got lots of play food for her birthday and she loves playing with all of it! One of her favorite things to do is dump her whole bucket of play food on the floor and then call, "Mama, play food with me!" We pretend to eat all sorts of things, share bites and have a grand time. Today we included Lucy the Moose in the fun and Clara made sure to find Lucy her own plate and utensils.

Unphotographed terrificness: We really had a great day today. We didn't do much that was too exciting, but we had lots of fun! We made Clara a new apron and she had lots of fun helping. We listened to music and had impromptu dance parties. We had tea parties on the floor. Clara was happy and cooperative, had lovely manners, picked up her toys when asked and was generally easy going; several times when I asked her to do something she said, "Okay, Mommy!" Makes my heart happy. But my two favorite moments were at mealtimes. At lunch, I lit a candle and Clara said, "For my birthday!"
Me: "No, it's to remind us about the Holy Spirit and that God is always with us."
Clara (looking around): "Mommy, where'd God go???"
Me: God is here with us right now (Clara looks uncertain) - we can't see God, but He's always with us.
Clara (emphatically): "MmmmHHMMMM!"

At dinner, Clara pointed to me repeatedly and told Luke, "That's my Mommy! That's my Mommy!" After awhile she started pointing to Luke as well and telling me, "That's my Daddy!" It was so sweet!

Puppy Love

Our poor Sadie pup has a pulled muscle or something in her leg and is feeling pretty gimpy and sorry for herself. Tonight when we got home from grocery shopping Sadie wimpered at us and plastered herself to my leg while I was trying to get some dinner ready, so I made her go lie down in the living room. Clara immediately wanted to go "rest" with Sadie, so she got her own blanket to give Sadie a little room. She sure loves that puppy dog!

Favorite non-photographed moment: When we first got home and Sadie was "crying" about her leg, Clara went to the diaper bag, got a tissue and said, "I wipe her eyes for her, Mama? Come here Sadie, I wipe your eyes for you!" Which she proceeded to do very gently. So sweet!

Concentration

First thing this morning, Clara wanted to write on paper with a pen (her very specific request). Just the past couple of days she has started trying to hold utensils (pens, markers, spoons, forks) correctly all on her own. Not once have I mentioned anything about how to hold a pen or a fork, but she is changing her grip! This has led to a bit of frustration and some messiness at mealtimes that we haven't had in awhile as she figures out how to maneuver her fingers and it obviously takes a lot of concentration!

More terrific things about my 2-year-old: Pleases and thank yous are becoming more and more habitual. She still demands things or whines a bit at times but really, probably 80% of the time she asks politely for what she wants. This is SUCH a blessing in my day!

Sandbox and Extra Moments

This afternoon Clara got to spend time at another one of her favorite places - our dear friends' house where our horses live. Clara always has a blast there playing with her friends; today she had a great time with Annabelle and Kristen in the sandbox! Clara and Annabelle were very busy making "cakes." :)

Two favorite moments without pictures (since I haven't shared any lately): walking next to Clara while she rode my horse, Paladin. She LOVES to ride and it's so cute to see her up there on my big guy (he's 17 hands tall!). She kept saying, "I'm riding this horse!" She didn't want to get off and whenever he would stop she would start bouncing a little, trying to get him to go and saying, "I ride him MORE!"

Later, after dinner, we had a campfire with our friends; it was the first time Clara has stayed up for one this year and she loved it. She was super snuggly, cuddling with me and also with Sadie, who was snuggling more than usual as well. Clara was loving the moon, which was full; watching it peek in and out of clouds and saying, "It's not scary, Mom. It's pretty!" "God gave us the moon, Mom." She would go visit her friends on their blanket and then tell them, "I go see my Mommy now," and come marching back over to cuddle some more. Such sweet memories!

Grandma Pat's

Clara loooooves Grandma Pat's house. We house sat there for the first time almost a year ago and have stayed 3 more times since. Grandma Pat and Mr. Roger have 5 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats and a gorgeous home. Not to mention that they are two of the sweetest people you'd ever hope to meet. Whenever Luke goes over there to shoe horses, Clara always wants to go with him. What a blessing to have such sweet friends who treat Clara as their own grand-daughter! Luke asked Clara last night if she would like to go with him today and she woke up this morning saying, "I ready go to Grandma Pat's house!!" She had a blast helping Daddy and Grandma Pat work on Mercy's feet.

We love you Grandma Pat!

A Natural

"Daddy, I ride horsey!"

Mommy's Helper

Clara loves to help. She loves to help in the kitchen - baking, cooking, peeling vegetables, washing dishes. Stirring is her favorite. Yesterday she informed me, while attempting to peel carrots, "I working hard. I helping Mama!" She loves to help clean and will carry a bottle of vinegar-water and a rag all around the house, spraying anything and everything and wiping it down. Today she got a special treat - she got to help me sew! She thought it was the coolest thing that we were drawing on my jeans and she had a blast helping.

Favorite un-photographed moment of the day: Snuggling in bed with Clara after she slept in til 9:30 (and I still had to wake her up!). She was so happy and sweet, patting me and stroking my arm, snuggling and just being cuddly in general. I love when my crazy kiddo takes time to be a snuggle bug!

Reading Snuggles

Tonight, just before bedtime, Clara and I snuggled on the couch and read Love You Forever. A friend gave it to Clara for her birthday and she loves it. If you've never read it, you should. It is super sweet and makes me choke up almost every time, especially now that Clara is learning it and has started singing the song with me. My wonderful husband, who is slowly getting better about taking pictures of Clara and I (which is great! I appreciate it sooo much!), snapped a few shots. Ahhh, this was what we needed after a long doctor's visit this afternoon.

For anyone curious, here are the 2-year stats: 34 1/2 inches (+2 1/2 inches since March), 26 lbs (+ 2 lbs, 4oz since March) - my girlie's done some growing this summer!

Kisses for Daddy

I am double-posting tonight because this was such a sweet moment. I almost posted a different picture of Clara daintily drinking tea at breakfast here, since this picture is also over at Stirrup to Stirrup, but it's so sweet I had to put it here too. I'm sure we'll have another chance at a tea-drinking picture here, since Clara is obsessed with tea these days!

This was tonight at dinner. Love the way these two love each other!

Favorite non-photographed moment of the day: Clara dancing with her hands in the air to the music from her new magnetic fridge farm while Gramma watched and laughed over skype.

Puddle Stomping

After some severe thunderstorms last night, we had lots of puddles and a mini river running through our backyard! During a break in the rain this morning (it's raining steadily again now), Clara had a blast stomping in the puddles and getting thoroughly wet and dirty. Thankfully, she had picked an older hand-me-down dress to wear this morning and had decided, all on her own, to wear her boots when she went outside with Daddy.

Favorite non-photographed moment of the day: Clara lying on the floor at our friends' house tonight with her head on a "pillow," pretending to sleep while her friend Ana (2 1/2) sang "Rock-a-bye Baby" to her.

Birthday Party Day

Today we had a small Birthday Tea Party with a few dear friends. Clara and her best friend Annabelle had a great time hiding under a blanket and reading books to "stay safe from the thunder."

More pictures from the party (including today's runner-up: blowing out her candles) over at Stirrup to Stirrup.

Now We Are Two

While I anticipate always having a hard time picking a picture to post (ask my mother about my "optimizing" tendencies and my husband about what a terrible time I have making almost any decision), today there really was a tie between two pictures - a super cute one and one that typified our day. We're going with the second (also chosen because you probably won't see me in many shots this year!): "Mama, hang me upside down!" while stirring a boiling pot of tomato jam on the stove. Multitasking, anyone?

Favorite moment I don't have a picture of: Clara rolling over in bed this morning and gently caressing her Daddy's face and arm while saying, "That's my Daddy, Mama!" Talk about melt my heart...

Happy Birthday Clara!

Clara and I had a sweet, sweet day today. Sure, there were the not-so-great moments too, but all in all I think she had a wonderful birthday. Here is my baby girl/big two-year-old looking into the year ahead (actually at the neighbor baling hay in the field next door, buy hey...).

Favorite moment of the day I don't have a picture of: Clara lying on her belly on the kitchen floor, head in hands and feet kicking in the air, looking through my college yearbook as I chopped and seeded tomatoes for tomato paste. It was so fun to hear her talk to herself about all the pictures and be able to work in the kitchen with her happily there too.

For more pictures of the day's festivities, see here.

Two years ago...

Two years ago right now I was on my way to the hospital to have my sweet baby girl. It would still be ten hours before I would meet her. This is what she looked like - wasn't she just beautiful?

Terrific Twos

When I was a little girl I remember people asking my dad (father of six) about the “terrible twos.” Each time, without fail, he would respond something along the lines of, “They’re not terrible, they’re terrific!” I remember being impressed at the importance of expectation and focus on reality, even at such a young age.

Tomorrow, my own little girl turns two. I can’t believe the terrific twos are already here! To help keep my focus in the right direction, look for the grace in daily life, and enjoy how terrific the twos can be, I will be taking (at least) one picture each day throughout this next year and sharing it here in a celebration of the terrific twos. I know each day will not be easy, but I also know that there will be small moments worth celebrating each day and that is what I will be looking for. Care to join me? Here we go!