Why Hawaii is a GREAT Place

It's January and the best part of living in Hawaii is getting to play outside in your bathing suit all day long. Claire has been taking advantage of the warm weather by playing on the back lanai, also known as the back porch. She loves the water table and just running back and forth between inside and out. We went to the splash pad with friends the other day. Claire was not the biggest fan of the water spraying out at her. This happened at the Disney resort too, so I kind of expected it. Hopefully if we keep taking her back she will enjoy it more because it is super cute.

Who knows what will happen when we have to move from this perfect every single day, 88 degree every single day, and usually not a cloud in the sky weather. Our beach bum baby will have a shock :) For now we will eat popsicles, run around in our bathing suits, and enjoy the sun and water.

18 Months

Claire,

You were 18 months old yesterday. We went to the doctor today for your checkup. I thought we would have to get shots, but you didn't! You weighed in at 25.5 pounds (75%) are 32.5 inches long (right below 50%). The doctor said you were tall and skinny. I miss my chubby baby. You keep getting a cute round tummy and then you stretch out! She said your words and actions are advanced. HA!

These days you:

• Talk: no, yep, belly, baby, stop it, whats that, mine are just some of your favorite words. You are saying well over the recommended amount of words for this point.
• Love to dance and sing.
• You love your baby dolls. You got a couple new ones for Christmas. We need to name these dolls ASAP.
• You go right in at daycare without crying.
• EAT! You will eat just about anything put in front of you. 
• Look at books. You will get out book after book for us to read to you. Lucky for you, mommy has a billion books from teaching little people in school.
• Go on walks in your bike around the block.
• Play in your water table. Lucky for us we can just open the door and you can run in and out all day.

You are wearing 18 months clothes but still some in 12 months. You enjoy putting on layers of clothes while I do the laundry, even if it's not yours. You are becoming such a big girl! You talk all the time and we are starting to understand what you want and need. You have had to sit in timeout a few times and you know if we say go to the stairs you walk right over there and sit. You are showing us the many sides of Claire and we LOVE you for all of them, even the really special ones :)

We love you little stinker,

Mommy and Daddy

First Day of School

Yesterday we relaxed on our final day off of school and work. We stayed in our pajamas and cleaned up around the house. Claire loves her some paint so I got out her finger paints and a canvas. She quickly went to work and made a masterpiece.

It got later in the day and I realized what was coming...work. We were in the routine of going to be late and not waking up until almost 8 every morning. I thought this morning would be difficult seeing we have had two whole weeks of sleeping in! It wasn't too bad...except Claire was screaming at 4 this morning (I'm blaming the teeth coming in)...Justin went in and snuggled with her because his job isn't crazy right now :) and I had to be awake to teach our future. HA! So we all got up and ready to go by 6:45. Claire did a great job of going right in and not crying at daycare today. Big surprise because she is usually screaming when she hasn't gone for a few days.

Today was a good day with my kiddos. This morning I had a lot of sleepy looking faces and voices telling me they wished break was just a little bit longer...me too...but spring break will be here soon!

Starting the Year off Blogging...again!

Apparently the blog has been neglected due to me going back to work! This all changes today and our life will be more documented so that I can compile all this information into a book/journal at the end of the year...each year. We will see how it goes.

We have been busy the past two weeks off of school and work. Claire has enjoyed staying home and playing with her toys, Justin hasn't had to go in very much, and I've been pretty lazy around the house. I haven't touched work at all until today which is huge for me. I think I'm still in denial we are going back in two days.

We had a good Christmas this year and got to stay put. No one was in the mood to travel and with Justin's work schedule it wasn't very likely he would get off enough time to go anywhere for very long. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with several of our friends who didn't go home either. There was food, drinks, and toys everywhere. It's really great to have such a fun group of friends here. I can't imagine not ever liking it out here and actually wanting to move. We spent Christmas at our house and just hung out in our pajamas all day. I made Christmas dinner, still in pajamas, and enjoyed time with our family of 6 (including Jeremy, Nikki, and Bryson) and our friends Luke and Derek.

Claire was spoiled with gifts from us, Santa, China, California, and Texas. She sure is one loved little person. Her favorite gift has to be her kitchen and all the fun things she can cook up in there. She's also really into her babies and everything that goes along with them! I can't believe she will be 18 months this week! Crazy how time has flown.

I'll leave with a few pictures of our last two weeks!