Last night I connected my iPhone to my laptop to get some photos off it and realized it has been months since I synched it and uploaded the photos from it. Sooooooo, this post is catching up since January. Oops. A lot of this stuff I actually meant to post about but either forgot about or didn't have time or whatever. And a lot of these were on instagram too.
Feeding ducks and geese at a local park.
Half Moon Bay in January can be really cold. We were wearing our winter coats.
There is a place near our home called "The Jungle" with ball pits and arcade games and climbing structures and Clara loves it. On Tuesdays she gets in for half-price, so we have gone a few times and she will literally spend an hour or more in the ball pit just having a blast. She thinks it is even more fun when I get in with her. Especially when I grab her by her ankles and drag her over the balls on her back - that is her favorite.
Flying a helicopter with dad. She obsessed over this thing but I think it finally broke (or maybe Paul hid it) because we haven't done this in a while. But for weeks it was a nightly thing to fly the helicopter around the living room when Paul got home from work.
I am obsessed with the Stanford Dish hike. It is a gorgeous paved trail up some pretty steep hills to this huge satellite dish. It takes about 1 1/2 hours with the stroller and is a good workout to break up my more standard treadmill runs.
Messy pigtails at church. She must have had a really rambunctious day in nursery. But I took the picture because she was carrying around broccoli and carrot sticks at a "linger longer" instead of the cookie I had initially offered her.
When we decided to start potty training, I took Clara to Target and made a big deal about picking out her Minnie Mouse "big girl" panties.
Her reward for sitting on the potty was to watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" episodes on my computer.
Juice and milk at the same time - yum. What a goof.
Apparently Clara is not the only goof in the family. This blackberry face mask is a good look for me, I think.
This is a picture from back when we went to visit Kayli in February. We were at the airport coming home, I think.
Helping mommy roll out Valentine's Day cookies.
Eating the chocolate covered strawberries that daddy brought home for his valentines. They are my favorite treat and apparently Clara loves them too. No surprise there since they are strawberries. Covered in chocolate. I mean, who doesn't love these?
We went to visit Paul at work. This was when we were in the lobby waiting for him to come collect us.
On a walk enjoying the early spring blossoms (in February).
Painted toenails. Clara LOVES getting manicures and pedicures.
I took Clara to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. She stood and threw balls into this water vortex for a long time and watched them spin down and pop out the bottom or the whirlpool.
Clara's impression at the discovery museum. Reminds me of Han Solo in Star Wars.
I just love her mug. Especially when she makes these huge happy faces for the camera, even with food in her mouth.
Painting at the discovery museum. I adore the little blue spot she got on her forehead. She was SO focused and it took a while to convince her to turn around and look at me for a picture.
Hmmm, I have no excuse. I'm just a big nerd.
Whenever Paul or I wear an apron, Clara wants to have one too so she grabs the hand towel that is usually hanging on the dishwasher and wraps it around her waist and explains to us "ape! ape!" so we know she is wearing an apron. I have been meaning to make a real one for her but I also love seeing her be creative and use her imagination to make a towel into an apron for herself.
Fruit Loop necklaces are a special treat. She likes to help me thread them onto the string.
Washing the car with daddy in March.
This was on St. Patrick's Day.
While we were loading the car at Home Depot, a young kid who works there who had obviously just finished his shift approached us to see if we could help jump his car since it wouldn't start. Paul tried helping him.
Clara went through a little phase where she liked taking her clothes off or at least pulling her arms out of her sleeves. She thought she was hilarious.
On a tractor at Emma Prusch Farm a month or so ago.
She doesn't often fall asleep in the car. When I looked back and saw this my heart just melted.
A picture that didn't make it into the zoo post (since I clearly forgot I had it on my camera). This was the hippo that we saw.
Sealing Kayli's birthday card and present with a kiss before taking it to the post office.
At the nursery picking out plants.
I had a regularly scheduled cleaning at the dentist, so I took Clara with me. She liked playing on this chair in the waiting room but didn't love sitting in her stroller while I was actually having my teeth cleaned. Next time I will have to leave her with a sitter.
Celebrating her Kayli's birthday even though we couldn't be there with her by eating a "Pink Lady" cupcake from a favorite local bakery. It is a vanilla cupcake with raspberry filling, berry frosting, and coconut on top.
We had a bunch of dandelions in our front yard (it is a problem we are working on) and Clara was in heaven running around spotting "flowers" and picking them to make bouquets.
Helping to water "mommy's flowers" - the ones she knows she is NOT allowed to pick. It took a few time-outs for her to learn that one, though. After a rough start, she has figured out this rule and now pretty much only picks dandelions and when she sees real flowers she gets a serious voice and says "mommy's flowers." But she loves to help me water them.
I had to get fingerprinted again at the police station since apparently my last set of fingerprints hadn't shown up at our adoption agency.
Paul and I played mini-golf on a date night a few weeks back. I love mini-golf. Especially when I get three holes-in-one and win. Which I did.
On a walk past some beautiful poppies during the day. Clara looks like such a little lady in her bonnet pushing her dolly in the purple stroller.
Petting goats at Happy Hollow.
We went out for dinner in Los Gatos and afterwards went to our favorite candy store where Clara got a butter rum stick and I got old fashioned banana stick taffy.
Playing Angry Birds on a Saturday morning in mom and dad's bed. Clara is a little obsessed with Angry Birds, so when Paul lets her play it on Saturdays while he is "sleeping in" she thinks it is the best.
Getting her first tennis lesson from daddy with grandpa and grandma Nash looking on.
On a walk at Half Moon Bay while waiting for a table at Sam's Chowder House.
Paul mowing the front lawn. It was CRAZY long.
Clara likes to hang out in the back of Paul's truck, especially in the evenings just before bedtime. She was giving him a kiss here.
"Helping" daddy mow the lawn.
Clara and I were playing in puddles made from her splash table the other day and I was teaching her about footprints. This is her footprint next to my footprint. She has massive feet for a not-even-two-year-old. She wears a solid size 8 and is well on her way to size 9 shoes.
