Almost Two!

Hard to believe our little Baby Claire will be 2 in less than a week.

Over the last few days she has amazed me at how much she is talking and learning new things everyday. I now hear the dreaded "no" when I ask her questions. She says it so cute though it is hard to get mad. I am still trying to turn it into "no, thank you" instead!

She has also decided that she should be the one in charge of Zoey. She frequently tells Zoey to sit, back-up, hush, and to go into her "ken-ken" (kennel). Poor Zoey takes it like a champ. Claire pays her back by giving her plenty of treats. She also says "Bye-Bye Zoey! See you soon!" every time we leave the house. How cute is that!

I know we are getting into quite a trying time as we hit the terrible twos. Claire definitely keeps us busy and on our toes. But I also think to myself at the end of each day when she runs up to me saying "give mama HUG!" that there are times when it just isn't so terrible!

We are going to celebrate her birthday this weekend with a small family party, and then we are taking Claire to see Yo Gabba Gabba live the weekend after! Lots of pictures to come.

In Memoriam...

This past weekend Clay and I headed to Bedford, Pennsylvania for a memorial service in honor of his father.

It was a long trip for such a short time, but we all take comfort in the fact that his dad can now rest in peace. The service was held at the same church Les was baptized in as a boy. He had family and friends attend the service, including a few he graduated high school with. It was really neat to hear stories about him growing up in that beautiful small town and meet some distant relatives for the first time.

Les was buried in a small private cemetery on the side of a mountain. His mother, grandmother, and other family members are buried there too.

Being out there on a beautiful crisp day was so serene and calm.

Tough Week Ahead...

This week Clay and I will be heading up to Pennsylvania for his dad's memorial service. We have been going through some old pictures, and it is amazing to see the wonderful life Les had.
This Friday Clay's parents would have been married for 50 years. How is that for an accomplishment?

Quite a beautiful couple, don't you think?
We miss you Les. I'm glad we get to honor his memory this weekend.

Alligator Farm

We spent this Veteran's Day at the Alligator Farm! The Mom's Club got a special group deal, so Clay joined us on his day off. We had fun! Claire absolutely loved feeding the alligators. She also enjoyed seeing a little monkey they had... by doing her best impression of a monkey.

Here she is feeding the alligators...

She attracted quite a crowd!

Walk to End Alzheimer's

This past weekend my family did the Walk to End Alzheimer's in support of the Alzheimer's Association.

Unfortunately, this is a disease that has had a very big impact on my family. My grandfather, better know as Bepaw, was diagnosed with this disease fairly close to his passing 2 years ago. Clay's father was also struggling with dementia prior to his passing last month. It is such a quiet disease, and isn't talked about very much.

My entire family came together as a team called Bepaw's Beauties. We also had two of our very good friends on the team as well. As a team we raised $1000! I am very proud of that, and happy to support this cause.

We all can't wait to do it again next year!