Spring Flowers

Last fall Shaun planted 250 bulbs. These flowers have been so wonderful to look at every day. Our neighbor stopped us on Easter and said, “Thank you for the gift… we all love your flowers.” I thought that was so sweet and so true. Everyone can enjoy them! Claire is getting really good at spotting tulips and daffodils. One afternoon when all the tulips had just opened Shaun said, “Claire, look at the beautiful tulips.” Claire said with excitement… “LOTS of lips.” We got a good kick out of that!

We hope Spring is coming up at your house too!! 

Kate: 4 months old

Kate is 4 months old...

stats: 

Weight: 12 lbs 10 oz (15%) 

length: 23.75 inches (19%)

Kate is such a sweet girl! I feel like she went from newborn to infant over night. She is such a happy and content child as long as I don't eat food with onions, garlic, spices, strawberries, or lemons. Right now I eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, and oatmeal. :) 
Her little digestive system seems to be developing and each week she seems to be gradually doing better. She still spits up a lot and has A TON of burps but I am figuring her out.  

Here is a side by side of Kate (on the left) and Claire (on the right). You can definitely tell that they are sisters but Claire looks a lot more like Shaun and Kate looks a lot more like I did as a baby. When Claire was 4 months old she was only in the 5% for weight (almost 2 lbs lighter) so I am glad that Kate is such a good eater. 

 Kate loves to play with her hands, suck on her fingers and watch what is going on. If she can hear someone talking she will crank her neck as far as possible until she finds the source of the noise. 
She LOVES the bumbo chair and the play mat. She went a couple of weeks with long night stretches (6 hours) and then she caught her first cold so we are back to every 2.5-3 hours eating.  

I love Kate's serious face too. And I love her dark brown eyes. She loves to go on walks and is getting used to her car seat. 

We sure love this sweetness! 

 Now if we can survive the next few days after immunizations we will be good to go. :) 

Spring...& Easter

SPRING! 

 We have been cooped up way too long this winter! Finally things are starting to feel like Spring around here. We took advantage of a Friday evening that was beautiful. We grabbed a $5 pizza and I made Claire a GF mini pizza. We ate at the park and then Claire and Shaun played on the toys. It was so refreshing! (Top picture Claire eating her pizza) Top right is Claire in her car seat for our walk. She was so relaxed! 

Bottom right pic: Claire & Amelia. This year for Easter my entire family (through random events) was going to be in SLC together but us. I was feeling a little lonely. I tried to invite several families over for dinner but everyone had plans. My good friend Abby invited us over to join her big family dinner. It was so nice to celebrate with family even if it wasn't my own family. :) This was Claire's first time sitting at a "kid's table" for a meal. She didn't eat a thing. At least she had fun. 

We had stake conference Easter weekend. Our stake center is about an hour away from us. Shaun attended the Saturday meetings and I stayed home with the girls. Kate was a little under the weather with her first cold (pretty good to make it though flu season as a newborn and not get sick) but still not fun. And Claire got a little too excited when going down the stairs and missed the last step. She sprained her ankle. Thankfully it was not broken, but man was it rough trying to comfort a sick infant and then help Claire settle down. She was so frustrated that she couldn't walk that she wouldn't do anything. 
Sunday was a gorgeous day! SUNSHINE! Stake conference was really nice and we enjoyed the family time in the car. I didn't put Claire in her Easter dress because I knew we would be eating in the car...maybe this Sunday we can take another picture.     

Easter Morning 

Claire not standing on her "hurt foot." Shaun was taking the picture. 

The weekend before Easter was our ward party at the OARDC. It was another beautiful day. We invited our friends (Amelia and her parents) to join us. We have to do missionary work, right? :) They are so sweet and Abby is having her second baby any week now. The girls had a blast picking up the eggs. This was Kate's first time in a big stroller. She was loving it! 

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CLAIRE update 

 Claire is seriously getting so big! She has really been a lot of fun! Here are some things I want to remember about Claire at this stage
                                       
      Age 2.5, weight 27 lbs, height 
      She is wearing 24 month -2T clothes. 
favorite Shows- Curious George & Mickey Mouse Club house 

Favorite "friend" - her monkey...she always says, "don't forget monkey." 

favorite real friend- Amelia (We met her at the library during story time. They are exactly the same age, same birthday too.) 

Favorite things to do: water color, color, bubbles, stickers, take pictures...She pretends her eraser board is a camera. She takes a picture and then draws what she took a picture of on her board. She also loves to "look at pictures" on mom's phone. Shaun got a flower magazine in the mail and she loves to look at it in her crib. She also LOVES to be outside doing chalk, helping Shaun in the garden. She loves to find random sticks and rocks. (just like her papa. jk) Go for walks and play "chase," which is kind of like tag. 

Claire is awesome at playing pretend. The last few months she has decided that her fingers are "friends." She gives them voices, they go down slides, up stairs, need helping getting down from her milk cup, etc. She cracks me up. The only downside is if she remembers these friends in timeout. Most of the time if I even mention timeout she immediately shapes up. :) 

Favorite outing: "Go shopping" and go to the Library. There is not much to do in our town. :) 

Favorite foods: broccoli, casa dia's, sandwich with almond butter and homemade jam, chips, milk, noodles, grapes (like curious george eats) apple slices, and popcorn. She also gets really excited over chocolate chips and M&Ms. 

Favorite treat: smarties. An older man at church gives Claire smarties every Sunday. We have to be to church an hour early because Shaun has meetings and we only have one car. She is so patient and knows she can eat them when church starts. That's a lot of self control. One Sunday she was just sitting there holding them during choir practice. She figured out how to untwist the end. I wish I could've captured the smile of accomplishment she had on her face! She was so excited. I let her sneak one. 

Favorite song: My Favorite Things, from sound of music 

Things she knows: Shapes, colors, numbers 0-20 counting, her letters, some of the letter sounds, how to spell her name, and how to spell mom & dad. She has the first article of faith memorized. She also knows a lot of songs...church songs and fun songs because we sing a lot. She can put on her own shoes and waits patiently on the sidewalk while I get Kate in the car before I get her in the car. 

If I take the time to explain situations to her (which I usually do) she rarely has tantrums or issues. She just says, "okay mom." For example, if she asked for her water in the car. Then I say, "I'm sorry Claire, last time you had your water in the car you spilled it everywhere so you can have your water once we get home." She responds, "okay, mom." Such a sweet girl! 

Funny things she says: 
"mom, make a lap." meaning cross your legs so I can sit on you. 

If we say, "Okay Claire." She says..."not Kate, Claire." She thinks when we say Okay or K we are saying Kate. 

We sure love our sweet and dainty girl!  

Happy 30th Birthday Shaun!

Shaun turned 30! His birthday was on Sunday of General Conference. If we were by family we would've had a big party...but it was just us and it turned out great. Shaun has been SOOOO busy with school, lab work, and applying for jobs we have not seen him much. He was able to take Saturday and Sunday off so we lived it up! Shaun requested that he cook all weekend and make his own birthday "cake." ummmm, definitely not going to argue on that one. 

Shaun made a Hazel & Almond nut crusted chocolate ganache. It was quite the project but so delicious. It was even Gluten Free so Claire enjoyed it too! 

Top pictures...monkey bread & Claire whipping the eggs with Dad
Bottom, Claire tasting the chocolate and Shauns homemade ciabatta bread that we used for sandwiches. So yummy! 

I wanted to do something to surprise him. I contacted all the family and some friends and had them write Shaun a birthday card. Then, I made sure to get the mail everyday leading up to his birthday. So Sunday morning he was VERY surprised to get his bouquet of "Love." I think he had 15 cards to open!! Thank you to everyone who made it so special! 

Top picture...all 4 of us watching conference on the love seat. 

Bottom picture...Claire enjoying the sunshine and drawing with chalk. 

One last picture of this deliciousness!! It was a wonderful day! Happy Birthday honey! We Love you! 

Help Wanted

Hey Friends and Family!

Shaun will be graduating in August with his PhD in molecular biology and plant genetics. He has applied to lots of jobs but it seems you have to "know" someone in the company to get past the interview stage. I am just asking that if you hear of anything in your neck of the woods to please let us know. There are a lot of jobs for Master's students but PhD is a little more difficult. We have and continue to search on the web at universities, companies and USDA jobs. There are a lot of little companies that are not online--which makes it difficult for Shaun to find them... so if there are any in your community please send along the info. Even if it is a long shot we would love to hear about any job opportunities you know about. Thanks so much!