getting so big

I cannot believe that Claire will be 1 in 4 days!! This year has truly flown by. Claire is looking less like a baby and more like a toddler. sob, sob. I'm not ready for my baby to grow up.

mmmm....eggs

Claire is a pretty good eater and enjoys a good variety of foods. Although she seems to be a little more picky than Evan at this age, overall she does eat pretty well. Her favorite go to meal *this week* is scrambled eggs. Personally, I think she just likes rubbing them all over her hair once she is finished eating.

Bike Riding

Evan has been riding his bike a lot lately and getting to be so great at it. We need to get some sort of seat for Claire or bike trailer so we can all go out for bike rides while the weather is still perfect. Here he is not so much riding his bike as he is being a ham for the camera while on it. Which is why he does not have a helmet on.

Quality Time with Grandma

While my parents were here, one day my mom, Claire and I snuck out to go shopping. It was such a fun girls day out! Mom found lots of cute clothes and I even got a few things. It was actually really relaxing shopping because when Claire would get restless, my mom took her out of the store and would feed and entertain her. That was the best!! The weather could not have been more perfect for a day of outdoor outlet shopping either!

Of course, I took no pictures while shopping, but here are Claire and her Grandma spending some more quality time together before and after shopping. That ADORABLE dress she is wearing was a gift from my parents and looks beautiful on Claire!

Evan and Claire Heart Their Pillow Pets

Evan and Claire got Pillow Pets for Valentine's Day. I knew that Evan would like his because he had been asking for one. I had no idea how much he would like it. He took it with us for a walk yesterday and brought him along with us to the park today. He went down the slide with him and swung on the swings with him. He is in love. Funniest part, he named his Pillow Pet Evan Joseph Neville. Vanity anyone??

I didn't really think how Claire would react to hers, but she loves it. She keeps diving on hers and hugging it. Looks like Mom and Dad got this one right!! It was a pretty fabulous Valentine's Day at our house.

Basketball

Evan is currently playing basketball at the YMCA. He seems to enjoy it so far. He is a good shooter and can dribble down the court well, but isn't afraid to space out from time to time. He is just 4 and I'm very proud of all he is doing out there! Last weekend he had a big crowd watching him and seemed to love all the attention. He even stopped paying attention to the game to get his picture taken! That's my boy :)

The Ormes came to visit!!

This past week Davis came to visit us! Thankfully Uncle Bryan, Aunt Laura, Grandma and Baba came as well, we miss seeing them all too. We had a great time just hanging out and letting the kids "play" together. Claire was so excited to have Davis here, but is not exactly gentle with him. Or gentle at all in general! Teaching an 11 month old to be gentle doesn't really work, so instead I played referee.

Davis is such a cutie pie, he has those super dark brown eyes like Evan has and loves to smile. It was such a joy having them all here for a few days and we miss them already. He is crawling already and getting places pretty quick. At 7 months, my kids were no where near crawling.

Evan was thrilled to have Uncle Bryan here in our house for a few days too. He LOVES his Uncle Bryan and can't get enough play time with him!

My parents were here too and I think really enjoyed having all the grand children in one location. Six grand kids, 3 of them babies, is a lot of commotion. But they seemed to love the chaos as much as we do (at least for a few days).

Laura and her Godson, Grant

Valentine's Day Photoshoot Attempt

I really wanted to get some cute pics of the kids together for Valentine's Day. And on the day Evan cooperated and smiled like an angel, Claire just wanted to crawl away. At least I got some cute out takes of them.

Happy 2nd Birthday Audrey!

Audrey turned two on Sunday and had a super fun dress up birthday party. All the kids loved putting on the hats, necklaces, boas, etc. Audrey enjoyed every second of the party and it was a joy to watch her having so much fun.

Evan's stats

So, we finally had Evan's 4 year old doctor's appointment yesterday. He had to get 2 shots (polio and chicken pox) and was so brave getting them. He is 41.25 inches (75%) and 38.5 pounds (75%). Apparently, he has grown and gained weight more than the average child his age, meaning they think he'll be bigger then they did originally. Whatever, how do they really know? But last year he was a 50% in height and weight, this year he's a 75%. I'm just excited that he's finally gained some weight, although he's still pretty skinny. I have to take his adjustable waist pants all the way in on both sides for them to stay up still. He is Joe's child for sure!! But he has definitely gotten longer. He needs to wear a size 5 shirt these days as the 4s are just too short.

The doctor said all looks good, which is always reassuring to hear. It's funny, I've been to the doctor so much in the last year with Claire and all her newborn check-ups, but the last time Evan was there, was for his 3 year appointment. I am thankful to have such a healthy little boy!

Hanging out with the Smiths

Yesterday we got to hang out with my friends who live in Portland, Oregon, Todd & Tara and their two adorable kids Molly and Jackson. They were staying at a timeshare close by and we got to go swimming at their pool. Evan was so excited to go swimming since he hadn't been swimming since October or November. He picked right back up where he left off on his swimming skills, I was so happy to see. Claire loved the pool, which is great. Last summer, she would tolerate the pool, but she didn't love it. Perhaps it was because the water was as warm as a bathtub!

The kids even got to enjoy an ice cream sundae while we lounged at the pool. I cannot believe that my 11 month old daughter is obsessed with ice cream. As she was devouring it, I was definitely winning mother of the year award! But she was happy, and sometimes, you just gotta let it go!

My kids sure are good at wearing their food :)

We had such a fun time meeting Jackson and catching up with the Smiths!

Florida in January

For all of you who are sitting in the snow, here's a shout out from Florida, where it was 78 and sunny yesterday!