Lately

We continue to explore KC. We took Claire to Winstead's (similar to Steak 'n Shake) a few weeks ago and Claire had her first milkshake. Verdict: she loved it.

On Saturday we went to the Kansas City zoo and got to see two playful polar bears: Nikita and Berlin. Claire seemed more interested in this fake polar bear though:

And the monkeys were really feisty on Saturday morning. See that little guy in the background with the glare?

Exploring our new city

Some of our recent adventures:

Claire gave the french fries at Swagger 2 greasy thumbs up. This is one of the local places featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. It was definitely a dive. She also liked playing the arcade games there. Check the hair. This is definitely a daycare style.

Sesame Street Live!

 On Monday we had fun running around Union Station/Science City gift store and enjoyed participating in Kansas City restaurant week at Lidia's.

The hair

Claire obviously has a lot of hair and she obviously has a mom that just can't figure out how to style it. But  one of her teachers, Miss Malika, has it all figured out. Every day at 5:15PM I can't wait to pick Claire up from school and check out her new hair style :) 

She's 2!

Claire turned 2 on Saturday and we celebrated with a small family party. We went to Fun Run in Liberty, had pizza and Pinkalicious cupcakes & ice cream for the special occasion. She was a happy girl. 

Claire starts at her new "school" on Wednesday. She went in for her 2 year check up last week and she is in the 90th percentile for height/weight. She loves to read, play with the "dog" house (aka doll house @ Nana and Docs), talk about "Santa Closet", Stuart the dog, Mr. Potato Head, color and play with Play-Doh. She is a chatterbox. We love our girl so much! Here is our list of things we wanted to  do before Claire turned 2...we accomplished about half of the items:

1. Oceans of Fun. Thanks to Aunt Peggy and Uncle Roy, we have no excuse. We are going this summer.
2. MLB game. Could be a Cards game, could be a Royals game. Probably will be in the fall when it is cooler out.
3. go to a zoo.
4. go to the beach. We will cross this off in July when we go to Destin, FL. Can't wait.
5. get ice cream @ Sparky's.
6. have burgers @ Booches. 
7. take Claire to her first SEC football game.
8. go to Rock Bridge State Park.
9. go to a concert.
10. Chiefs game. Hope to make this an annual tradition.

Merry Christmas Scenes!

Claire LOVED the gingerbread houses and train exhibit at Crown Center

A quick visit with Ella in Columbia--thanks for the  Potato  Head, pumpkin pie and gifts, Ella!

This was so sweet: Nana and Claire singing Silent Night at church on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve bike assembly. Yes that is a spoon hammer.

Reading new books with Aunt Chelsie and Uncle Ben

Having fun on the new bike and playing with ALL of  the new toys thanks to Nana, Doc, Nani, G, Aunt Meredith, Aunt Chelsie & Uncle Ben, Watkins family, Aunt Gayle & Elizabeth and Grandma & Grandpa Ervin! Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are had a wonderful day with your family and friends!

Lately

We are officially KC residents! We are enjoying time in Liberty before we move to the rental in Waldo in January. Adam, Nancy and Bob (+ 4 movers) worked hard to move our stuff last week.

Our empty house in Columbia! 

  In the last week Claire has baked cookies with Nana, played ski ball at the Landing and gone on a few walks with Stuart. She LOVES to walk Stuart and then drop the leash and watch him go off on his own. Rascal.

patiently waiting for those cookies (photo credit: Nancy)

Fun at the Landing!

Life lately

...has been a bit hectic. Many great changes and new adventures are in store for our family (we are thankful) but because of all of the changes I have obviously let the blog go a bit. I hope to be back to blogging more regularly soon(ish). This is a great way for me to document our little lives and I love to look at posts from the past year. Anyway, since the last post we have sold our house in Columbia and looked a some houses in KC. We plan to rent for at least 4 months and continue looking at this point. Thanks to Nana, Doc and Aunt Mer we were able to spend two weekends in KC looking at houses sans our wiggly almost 2 year old. I don't have many pics of those weekends because we weren't around! Thanks again guys.

We just got back from NC and had a great time resting, spending time with family and eating while there. We have so much to be thankful for. We are excited to welcome a new little babe in May 2013! Thanks for checking in on us. Be back with more updates soon--probably from KC. 

playing with Nana and the cube of awesome

wearing new boots and playing with letters at the library

Claire and Nana doing work

Children's petting zoo in NC

Claire and the "Magic Tree" in Columbia. She squealed with excitement over these lights.