Happy 5th Birthday, Clara!!!

I'm writing this on the morning of our sweet Clara's 5th birthday, and she is at a sleepover!! She told me that she "had a very hard decision" trying to decide if she should spend the night with her cousins, or stay at Nana and Boppa's house to wake up on her birthday with her mommy and daddy.....I guess it is a sign of her growing up that the sleepover won out! When I told her it was okay for her to go, she said "Mommy, you are the best mommy a girl could ever have!" We have seen the changes in Clara in so many ways recently. She changed Eliza from her pjs to clothes the other morning, including a diaper change all by herself! She also took her out to the car and got her buckled into her car seat for me. She has been wanting to be more independent fixing her own breakfast and pouring her own drinks (although she learned this by watching Hannah!) She came into my room the other morning when the girls were just waking up and told me I could sleep longer because she was going to get everyone their breakfast.....I haven't taken her up on it yet, but it gives me hope!! Clara is still our quirky, creative, imaginative little girl who loves anything to do with art, animals, and her family! She makes the funniest faces, usually when she is in trouble for something to make us start laughing. She is starting to really enjoy reading her Bob books and is sounding out words that she sees all over now. She has been counting down the days until this birthday for weeks, and finally it is here!!! Happy Birthday, sweet Clara!!!!!

The girls got a quick visit with Uncle Tommy a couple of weeks ago, and pretty much climbed all over him! He was in town to compete with his Crossfit gym in the regional competition, and they did great, taking second place!! We spent one day at the Puyallup fairgrounds cheering him on, and the girls were amazed at how he could climb the rope at least 50 ft. in the air!!

Clara playing "dress-up"! She moved on from princess dresses and crowns....

Eliza getting in on the fun, trying on all the hats she could find in the closet....

We had a fun time playing with my friend, Katie's, three girls the other day! Six girls under 5 years old!!

After enjoying a few days of warm sunshine, it has been so hard to return to cold, rain again. The girls made the most of it, and like true northwesterners, they bundled up and headed out to play!!

They played a game where they would all run out into the pouring rain and then turn around and run screaming back into their "shelter"!
Dancing in the rain!!

Ring around the rosy...

Trying to catch raindrops...

Shortly after this, Clara and Hannah came inside, stripped down, and headed back out onto the deck to take a "shower"!! I think I'll stick with warm water myself ;)

Another day, another beach...

The weather this past week has been truly amazing! There are so many great outdoor places to play around here, and we finally are able to enjoy them....

The girls had a great time digging, swimming, and splashing with our friends! Hannah is pretty adorable in her new bikini and sunglasses...

Eliza is about to flatten someone's sand castle...oops!

Clara spends most of the time in the water. It is freezing cold, but that doesn't stop her!

We had a yummy picnic lunch of grilled cheese and milkshakes from Kidd Valley and then headed home with tired-out kiddos!

A day at the beach...

Eliza was a little unsure about the sand at first and preferred to stay on the blanket. This was her first trip to the beach this year!

My friend, Karen, and her girls Sammy and Nina met us there to soak up some sunshine!
Clara and Hannah threw their clothes in the stroller and were off to the sand immediately!

And then, straight into the water! These two LOVE the beach!!

Eliza didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she decided the sand was okay :)

But she was still pretty confused by it!

Eliza wasn't sure why Clara and Hannah wanted to keep picking it up!

She loved searching for little rocks, though!

Hannah couldn't be happier!!! I love the look of joy on her face!

Jumping the waves!

Throwing rocks...

Beach, Part 2

Eliza is watching Hannah and wondering if that looks like a good idea!

Sweet Sammy running on the beach! The girls loved chasing the crows and "roaring" at them....this is one of their favorite things to do together, wherever we are playing!

Ready to jump the waves!

Two cute curly-heads!!

These two had a great time together and were crawling like crabs all over the sand

Baby Nina held out on her nap the entire time!! We thought the sound of the ocean might lull her to sleep, but she didn't want to miss anything!

Mermaids in the sand

Picnic lunch of goldfish crackers! Eliza likes to have the entire bag to hold now...

Several trains went by through the trees behind us, and the girls would pause momentarily to take a look, then back to playing!

Bathing beauty!

Goodbye, beach! We'll be back soon!!

Finishing off the outing with some ice cream

How does your garden grow???

Well, we are trying out a garden this summer! We don't really know what we are doing, but thought we would just give it a go. The girls have helped pull weeds, shovel dirt, pick out plants, and finally got to do the actual planting over Mother's Day weekend.

Hannah found this little statue while we were picking out plants. Her absolute favorite animal is an elephant, and I had to agree with her that the little girl riding the elephant looked a lot like her! This cute little statue has found a home in our garden (even though it doubled the cost of the plants we went to buy!!!) She hugs the statue and thanks me daily for buying it....you can't put a price on that! :)

We're hoping to have tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, peppers, strawberries and pea pods in a couple of months!!

Our water park has expanded with a new slide....

I think this is what happens when you live in Seattle and endure VERY LONG, WET winters!!! We are getting creative with indoor play options!!

Most people have that token "baby with the beer" picture...Eliza's is at a whole new level!!

She stayed occupied for quite a while putting the cap on and off...

Then gave it a big hug!

We tried out a new recipe for "baked donuts" yesterday.....

They looked a lot more like donuts than our last try (that were baked in muffin tins and really just looked and tasted like a muffin), but they still didn't come close to the goodness of a real donut! I think the dough would be great for cinnamon rolls, though.....that might be next week's cooking project!

The extra dough was great to play with, and the girls came up with all kinds of creations....some baked goodies and some zoo animals! Eliza enjoyed making little balls of dough and putting them into a container, then putting the lid on, off, on, off ;)

Clara had a reaction on her left arm to her immunization that she got the day before and was sick on the couch for 8 hours watching two rounds of PBS cartoons :( You can see how red and swollen her arm is here. The nurse said it can last a few days...poor thing!

Some cute pictures of our Hannah and her puppies. She has a name for each one and usually carries around 6 or 7 of them at a time!