BIG win...and a BIG birthday!

We decided to celebrate my birthday in Bloomington and of course to celebrate a big win sending IU to the Sweet Sixteen.

The girls were ready for a fun day!

Emme loves the bears outside the library.


We were able to walk around campus for hours! (yes, Claire keeps sunglasses on)

and made time for a little dancing!

This is LOVE...pushing a double stroller through Nick's so your wife can have lunch there on her birthday! Yes, people had to get up and move their chairs so he could fit through...more than once. Yes, the waitress did say she was sure this was a first! Oh well. Lunch was great and so is our Daddy for making Mommy so happy on her birthday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We made it home from vacation just in time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Thanks for the green Aunt Margaret.

Claire loves the wagon.

Emmerson doesn't mind pulling it either.

Green all around!

Our week in Virginia

We were lucky enough to spend a week in Charlottesville, Virginia. The weather was PERFECT! We left at 6:00 am the morning after Claire's first birthday party. As we were going to bed the night before Neil and I thought that maybe we were crazy thinking this was a good idea. A 10 hour drive, all 4 of us in one hotel room for a week, eating every meal at a restaurant with two small children for a week, etc. Our kids proved once again that we don't give them enough credit. NO complaints in the car and two happy girls all week long!

One of the best parts of the week was watching the girls enjoy eachother. I have never seen anything like the enjoyment they get from each other. The way they look at each other, the way they laugh at things we don't seem to understand, the way Claire doesn't take her eyes off Emme, etc. Emmerson has said, "I am so happy baby is my little sister" and "I can't wait until baby can tell me she loves me." Safe bet Claire feels the same way about her big sister.




We had picnic lunches almost everyday.

Emme ran all over campus!

Claire did this every time the wind blew her hair.

This baby did not leave Claire's arms!

There were so many fun things to do outside.

Yes, Claire does ask Emmerson to hold her.

We found a childrens museum right by our hotel. It was so fun!

Our little farmers

It was so fun staying on campus. We walked everywhere!

Have we mentioned our girls have fun together?

Emmerson's favorite spot in Virginia...the little horses!

We went to the UVA baseball game one night.

Daddy took Claire swimming.

and took this fish swimming every night.

So Emme found this little bench and this is how the conversation went:

"Mom if I go on a walk by myself I could sit down and rest on this little bench." before I could answer..."Why don't I get to go on walks by myself?" I explained that I would hate for her to get lost. "Mom why do little people not know how to get back home and big people do?" Oh how I love deep thoughts with Emmerson!

Big girl helping pack the car. Though she was not ready to go home.

We left campus after a picnic lunch and stopped for gas 0.3 miles from the hotel. We turned around and found this! Guess that means it was a great trip!

Claire's "real" Birthday

Claire turned one while we were in Virginia. Emmerson was a little confused about the party beign over but us saying it was her birthday. So when anyone asked she said it was her "real" birthday. We had a great day celebrating our sweet Baby. We feel SO lucky that she is ours!

Good Morning birthday girl!

We went out to breakfast to start our day!

Played on UVA's campus.

Happy, Happy Girl!

Climbed on our favorite tree!

Took a special picture. This is the spot we took a family picture the day we found out we were pregant with Claire the year before. See below!

July-2010 (the day we found out we were going to be a family of 4)

Played some more on UVA's campus.

Went out to dinner...

So Claire could have her favorite...guacomole. Then stopped for ice cream on our way back to the hotel. ( I think Mom and Dad's hands were too busy for pictures at that stop)