Easter 2011

Happy Easter everyone; I know I'm a little late. I have two excuses: #1 I left the disk with all the pictures at my in-laws house and had to ask my friend to burn me another (she did so in record time) #2 My computer is a living dinosaur (something we hope to remedy in July) and several attempts to upload pictures were thwarted due to time or my computer refusing to cooperate.

This was not Clara's first Easter, but it was her first year to hunt for Easter eggs. I hid 12 of them but after about 6 she was done. She was much more interested in the egg's contents and totally lost interest in hunting for them. She is officially 18 months old (19 months now). She is becoming such a little jabber-er (?). She will pat me on the shoulder and say "dis is momma" and then patting herself, "Caca." She is trying to say CLARA - "L"s and "R"s are tricky I guess - I just wish she would include one of them so that it doesn't sound like she is speaking Spanish.

My dear friend took these pictures as a Mother's Day gift. Visit her blog at tashataylorphotography.blogspot.com; I think she did a beautiful job and goodness knows it takes a special person to coax a smile out of my Clara (she's kind of stingy with them). This was Clara's easter dress!

ARIZONA

In February Clara and I took a trip to Arizona so that I could reunite with my dear college roomies. We had a great time letting our girls play while we got caught up. Clara had a great time at the park playing in the sand box and riding the train and carousel. We also enjoyed swimming (don't you love AZ, swimming in February), and the children's museum. Since Mommy is terrible at remembering to take pictures I only have a few to share. These were taking at the park.

She is getting so big. We were having so much fun that we were just too excited to sleep - Clara was anyway (Mommy WOULD have slept just fine). After four days of excitement and very little zzz's Clara was tuckered-out. This video was taken in the airport. She fell asleep in Momma's arms 5 minutes later -poor baby.

Snow No-Likey

Snow no-likey. I guess when both parents are brought up in the South, it's just not in the genes. She wanted nothing to do with the freezing white stuff that Mommy and Daddy were trying to sell her. Wouldn't even stand in it. Part of the problem might be the snow gear. It greatly hinders ones movement and balance and when you are new to those things anyway . . . well see for yourself. Clark looks about as thrilled as Clara.

Oh well, at least the pink leopard coat is cute, right?

Funny Face

Clara just recently added this facial expression to her repertoire; I'm not sure if she is concentrating or what but I had to get it on film.

Thanksgiving 2010

It has been over a month since my last post. Shameful; especially since I have so many pictures to post. Our Thanksgiving weekend was so much fun. We were actually home alone on Thanksgiving and so I had the chance to make my first ever Thanksgiving feast (turkey and all). Everything turned out beautiful and totally edible - delicious actually. I was so proud I took a picture . . . tilt your head because I can't figure out how to flip this thing righ-side-up. The Friday after Thanksgiving we made our way down to West Virginia to see our "Mountain Momma" and the rest of the Rogers. A nice neighbor came by and took lots of family photos.

I think my favorite series of photos was with the little girls . . . Clara is still not smiling even though Mommy is in front of her making a fool of herself.

WHACK!!!!

Sad and yet, so hilarious.

We got a nice photo of our little family - expect to see it in our Christmas card (if I ever get to Christmas cards).
Grandma bought her three granddaughters matching dresses and on Sunday we dolled-up the cousins and tried again with the pictures. There was no whacking or crying or smiling (at least from Clara) but they all looked pretty and festive in their sweet little dresses.

I just love this precious little girl!

Trick-or-Treat

We didn't take our little fairy trick-or-treating but we did have a lot of fun dressing her up for our ward Halloween party. Isn't she the prettiest little fairy you've ever seen? (Yeeeeessss!!!)

Missy also dressed up and felt completely ridiculous for two reasons:

1) Apparently Halloween, like Trix, is for kids and therefore she was one of the few adults in costume - even Clark chickened out.

2) "What are you supposed to be?" Actually most were too polite to ask, or maybe they thought my Jersey-shore, Bump-it hair was a new style I was experimenting with. Obviously, I watch too much TV. But seriously? Can you guess who I am? I'll give you a hint - my apron says PROGRESSIVE . . . ?

Flo, I'm supposed to be Flo from the Progressive car insurance commercials; ring a bell? Oh well. Next year I will probably be one of the adults NOT feeling ridiculous because I am wearing my boring, every-day clothing. We also took Clara to the Zoo. The Indianapolis Zoo has a crazy-crowded event called ZooBoo and Clark got free tickets. I did not take any animal pictures . . . which is weird . . . but here are the other pictures we took at the zoo. Clara was so cute pointing at the animals and saying "datdatdat."

I love this face.

We hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

And we're done with pictures.
Goblin Eggs.

Happy Birthday to Clara

It was fun celebrating Clara's birthday week. I say WEEK because we had three separate little celebrations for her. At Mimi and Granddad's house we opened a few presents. She got some pretty clothes and her first 'laptop' - why yes, she IS a computer genius; thank you for asking.

Party #2 was a small celebration with just Clara, Momma (that's me) and Daddy. I did not bake a cake but I bought little cupcakes that we found most disappointing. One taste made Clara stick out her tongue with the yucky, bitter, pink icing and cry. In fact she cried when we put on her party hat, she cried when we lit the cupcake, and she cried when we would not let her touch the flame on the lit cupcake, and lastly she cried when she tasted the cupcake. Sheesh! We were lucky to get one photo.

On to presents. Everyone likes getting presents and Clara is no exception. Ripping paper is always fun and the toys Mommy and Daddy picked out were a huge success.

Party #3 took place with the whole Rogers clan at Grandma and Papa's house. I baked Clara's first birthday cake and was very proud of myself and my Halloween decorations. We sung, opened presents and then we ate cake!

Clara was much more impressed with Mommy's cake; though, she was not a fan of the feeling of frosting between her fingers. Daddy fed her instead.

And lastly a few pictures that were taken earlier that day. Our cousin, Madison and Aunt Andria raked up a nice pile of leaves and Clara and Madison had lots of fun playing.


Won't eat pink icing cupcakes but cannot stop eating dried crunchy leaves . . . go figure.