Brother-Sister Love

Going through the pictures on my phone from the past few weeks, I noticed that in almost all of them Grady and Clara are playing together.  It's been a gradual process, but now that I think about it, they DO play together a lot!  I guess it takes seeing photographic evidence sometimes for it to click.

Daaahg

Look-alikes

Teamwork

It's pretty sweet to see!  Of course, not captured are the 100-time-daily "NO Clara!  I need SPACE!" followed by the 100-time-daily "Nuuuh.  Nuuh," while getting into Grady's space....  Yes, Clara has learned the word "No."  And believe me, she knows how to use it.  Clara, would you like a diaper change? "Nuuh.  Nuuh."  Clara, are you all done?  "Nuuh!"  She has a number of different inflections for it, but my favorite is the shocked, distinctly disbelieving "Nuuuh!"

Clara is also exclusively walking now.  She falls down a fair amount still - and we have been on concussion watch to prove it (she was fine) - but walking is the way to go.  She is fast, too, which accounts for much of the falling.  Her mindset seems to be if Grady can do it, so can she.  And she surprises us often in being able to do it!

We've all been enjoying the outdoors more as the weather starts to turn nice.  Our garden is starting to produce, thanks mainly to Matt's hard work.  Our daily activity is to go out and look for blueberries.  Grady is good at finding the purple ones.  Clara is fine with the green ones so it works out.  But we've also just been having fun watering, playing, and relaxing.

Sitting just quietly

Enlisting help

With the nice weather, we also decided to sign Grady up for his first soccer class.  He was really excited about the idea and the first session was a success.

I feel like I should have more to report after so many weeks, but I guess it's been pretty quiet around here.  Sorry for the lack of information, and hope you enjoy the pictures!

As sent from Grady's school - this is the (posed) photo Grady did for their class roster

The trick to the hair bow is making sure Clara doesn't know it's in

Hard work at the playground

Grady's Father's Day card for Daddy

Happiness is blueberries

And a bagel

Getting into trouble

Learning to use a spoon a.k.a. biggest mess ever

Double blues

Who sleeps like this?

Pretty sure this isn't how you do it

Early summer fun

Just a quick post to share some photos of some of the fun activities we've been enjoying around here, now that the weather is starting to turn nice. 

Since Matt and I returned from our trip to Dundee, I've been having a bit of wanderlust.  So the kids and I have taken a few Friday day trips to the coast.  The first trip was to Seaside.  Seaside is a fun town for kids - it is very walkable, there is a small aquarium, an amusement center, and even a swing set right on the beach.  I may have jumped the gun a bit on this trip though.  It was cold. Can you tell?

I timed the trip poorly too - leaving too early for Clara to nap in the car.  The result was a few all-out tantrums (Clara hanging upside down out of the baby carrier type tantrums).  But she cheered right up when she got to steer the car at the little amusement center - British style.

We enjoyed lunch at a pancake house, during which Grady said, and I quote, "Here's the deal.  We're going to finish our lunch, then we're going to walk to the car and drive home, and I'm going to show you how big the sunflowers have gotten."  3 hours of driving for 2 hours at the beach, but it was still worth it to catch a glimpse of the ocean.

We tried again on Friday, and it went smoother.  It helped that it was much warmer, and that I timed it this time so Clara slept on the way out.  This time we went to Cannon Beach.  Matt and I have been there before, but the kids have not.  It's a beautiful town, great for kids and grown ups.  The beach was gorgeous and not at all crowded.  The kids had lots of fun playing in the sand, eating pizza and ice cream, and exploring the town.  If we hadn't gotten stuck in traffic on the way home, we would have even been at the beach longer than it took for us to get there and back!

Iconic haystack rock in the background

Stop at Dairy Queen to break up the traffic

Still likes her ice cream, that one.  Could take or leave the cone.

Clara especially loved getting a chance to practice her new walking skills out on the beach.  This girl can now move, and she has pretty much given up on crawling in favor of her speed walking.

With the early warm weather, we also have been treated to strawberry season a few weeks early.  We've already made two trips.  The first one just me and the kids, and today with Matt as well.  We picked enough for a large batch of jam and maybe 10 pounds of strawberries for the freezer.  Grady loves it, and would go back again tomorrow.  I, however, am seeing strawberries being de-stemmed and sliced in my dreams, so I need a bit of a break!

Grady carefully picked each strawberry and had me inspect each one

Clara did not

different outfit, same story

You can actually see the mulch going into her mouth in this one

Daddy and Grady strategizing

Found one!

The whole crew

Where's Grady?

My birthday was last weekend.  It started out great - I mean, how can you complain about this?

I'm not quite ready to talk yet about how quickly and horribly it spiraled downhill, but suffice it to say that we spent a good part of it driving around trying to get the kids to fall asleep.  We did succeed about 30 miles into the state of Washington.  Upon waking up when we got home, Grady immediately started crying: "But we didn't GO anywhere!"  Good point.  I do very much appreciate all the thoughtful notes and gifts from you all.  I felt very loved, despite the ill-tempered kiddos.

best birthday present

I told you this one was going to be quick.  Just going to throw in a few cute photos and videos and call it a night.

daddy snuggles/head butts

going to the "tulip festival"

checking out the tractor at "dozer days"

peek-a-boo on the way home

she loves her trucks

Commander in chief