Moo's and Pat-a-cake

I think every single month I say "this is my favorite age"...it just keeps getting better!! Clare is 10 1/2 months old and she is babbling away about anything and everything to anyone who will listen! She waves at everyone we pass on our walk and at every person we pass at the grocery store. Her latest trick is "moo-ing" when asked what a cow says. The cow is the ONLY animal we know the sound for, but that kind of makes it even funnier. One day Clare and I were playing and I was telling her all the animal sounds and that seemed to be the only one that stuck. If you ask her what a horse or a duck says she just looks at you like your crazy, but we know all about our cows!!

Clare's other new favorite trick is bringing, or should I say throwing books to/at you that she would like to be read. I am trying to teach her that we can read different books but right now as soon as you finish a book she just picks it up and throws it back at you to read again. Cute, but "Five Little Monkey's" is getting old!

One of the cutest things happened today when I went to get Clare up from her afternoon nap. Usually I can hear her chattering away about 20 minutes before she normally gets up. We let her play in her bed until its time for her nap to be over. Today she was pretty quiet after her afternoon nap and I just peeked my head in to see if she was still sleeping. She was laying on her side, with her thumb in her mouth and she didn't jump up or move her body at all. Just she lifted her hand not in her mouth and waved very slowly. It was so precious, but it was obvious she was enjoying her relaxing afternoon!

It's hard to believe next month Clare will be 1!!! How does that happen?!? Here are some end of the summer pics as we've still been enjoying our little pool!

Celebrating 5 years

Our new pool

Celebrating 5 years of marriage :)

It's not very often that I post about LD or I, as most of them are focused on Clare and her growth and changes but last night was a big occassion for us as we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! It is amazing to see the many things God has blessed us with in 5 short years and all the ways we have matured and changed. I asked LD yesterday how I've changed in the past 5 years and among many other things he said I've become a mother, a cook, and thrifty. It made me laugh, but it is so true, I struggled making anything but macaroni and cheese 5 years ago and I loved to shop (which I still do love, but I've learned all about coupons!!).

LD surprised me by taking the day off of work yesterday and we really just had a day of fun and play at home. My parents came for a short visit last week and purchased a patio table and umbrella for our anniversary gift. They also brought a hand me down pool from my aunt, which is about a foot deep, but big enough for all of us to sit in if we wanted. So we spent some of the day playing in the pool. Then we had a babysitter come around 7 and as LD was taking me out to dinner! We both got dressed up and went to dinner at Barrington's in South Park. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but it came highly recommended by a co-worker of LD's. It is a very cute, very small (only about 10 tables) reservation necessary restaurant. LD and I do not eat out at high end places very often, so it was an incredible dinner for us. We had a 2 hour leisurely dinner over a bottle of wine and it was incredible. It was a great, memorable day for the two of us!

I am so blessed God has given me such an amazing partner in life! LD is my best friend, my support system, my encourager and an amazing teammate and father. It is exciting to be able to spend each day with him and I am so thankful for the love he pours into our family! Happy Anniversary love!

Playdates and visitors

Clare has had a happening last few weeks full of lots of fun surprises! Last Monday we met some very dear mommy friends and babies at the Y for swimming. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but here are a few. The greatest thing about the Y pool is that is has a beach-like slope so Clare can crawl in and out of the water herself. She is quite the daredevil and more than once she would be sitting in water up to her shoulders just looking around at the big kids. It was a very fun day for us and she took great naps after that!

On Wednesday we had a few friends over to help with a Give Love Project we have going on at our church where we are filling 600 backpacks with school supplies and giving them to a school in need. We did most of the preparations while Clare slept, but when she woke up her and her friend Levi had a great time crawling through the backpacks, pulling them out of their neat little stacks and finding tiny scraps of paper on the floor! It is so fun to watch two little 10 month old babies interact. They just explore each others face, hair and clothes without any care about personal space or appropriateness...very cute

Then this past weekend I had plans to go with 4 other girlfriends overnight to Greensboro to a Beth Moore women's conference. I was really looking forward for some time as Melissa and not mommy and as my first night away from Clare. LD invited his mom and sister to come visit while I was gone and no one ever passes up an opportunity with their grandchild or niece while mommy is away :) So, it was a great treat to have Grandma Jackson and Aunt Lei down for the weekend to play!!

It's been a fun filled week and tomorrow Grammie and Papa are coming for a visit as well...so we have more playtime in the works!!