A walk in the park....

The weather has been teasing us with early summer-like temperatures, so we have taken full advantage. We headed to a local park on Sunday to have a picnic with some good friends. We hiked (and I use the term "hike" loosely, because I doubt the pace Claire was keeping would constitute hiking) one of the trails to be reminded of why we love Boise so much. We live in a beautiful city!! It was a great day that made me long for summer.

Speaking of summer, because it is just around the corner and knowing myself so well, I am fairly certain my plans to get up to date on my daughter's memory books will go out the window with the first smell of Waterbabies sunscreen (perhaps my favorite smell of all time!). So I will take the next few paragraphs to hold onto their memories until I either begin attending Procrastinators Anonymous or hire someone to scrapbook their lives for me.

I'll start with my youngest. Claire will be 2 in August. She enjoys flushing objects down the toilet, screaming "CORA" at the top of her lungs, swinging, playing in and eating dirt, taking bubble baths, cuddling with daddy, being naughty, pretending to "sleep," jumping, singing, eating toilet paper, playing chase, climbing onto her changing table and leaping off, coloring on her hands, belly and face, pulling her ponytails out, taking her clothes off, filling up cups of water from the fridge dispenser that mommy forgot to lock and dumping the water all over the floor, reading books and playing with the digital camera. She is in the 75th percentile for weight and about the 85th percentile for height. Although she is 26 months younger than Cora, she is wearing Cora's summer clothes from last year. She is a bright, observant child who has recently learned to count to 5. She can repeat any word she hears and has started talking in short sentences (ie. "I go pee in potty,"and "I want down,"). She has also begun potty training herself. She tells us when she has to go and gets angry if we won't take her to the potty. She is less independent than Cora and enjoys being held, hugged and played with. I always had fears that when Claire was born, Cora would be jealous and hurtful towards her new sister. That was never the case. If anything, Claire is more abusive to Cora as she learns to hit, bite, pinch and pull hair. Cora is not one to usually take a passive role, but she rarely fights back. They play very well together and, as Claire is becoming more aware of make-believe, Cora is more willing to involve her sister when she plays. Overall, Claire is a handful and has jumped head-first (literally) into her terrible twos, but she is also so expressive and so fun to be around.

Cora will be 4 in June. She started preschool last fall and loves it. Although she has been able to write her name for a few months, she has recently taken an interest in writing all of her letters and will "write you an invitation" if you ask (if she ever does hand you an invitation, just smile, nod and tell her that you understand MMNOLKMNHCCNI perfectly and you will be there @ 4:00). She also enjoys rhyming. Please do not attempt to tell her nothing rhymes with orange, because porange and corange do. "They really, really do." If I was not so easily distracted, I could tell you how high she can count, but I know it is at least as high as 44. And she is as funny as she is smart. She says the most random things. I guess random is a good word to describe Cora. She is the most active child and would invent things to play with from sun up to sun down. She is hyper and loud and silly and constantly on the go. If I have trouble getting her to go to bed, all I have to to is race her to her room and that battle is solved. But she likes downtime as well. She loves watching movies (Alvin and the "Chickmunks" is her most recent favorite) and also loves to color, draw, paint and read books. Although she is easily distracted, she is acutely aware of her surrounding and has an amazing memory. We noticed it at an early age. When she was about 18 months old we were on our way to Costco but hadn't told her where we were going. We turned onto a road that eventually intersects with the road Costco is on and she got excited and said, "Oh, Costco." So we asked her which way to turn when we got to the next stop light and she correctly said left. She also remembers people and events from over 2 years ago, which is amazing to me because I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday. Oh and she loves music too. She makes up words to familiar tunes and sings for hours. Her current favorite song is the Commercial Tire jingle on the radio. Yep, she is a weird one, I know! But she is such a joyful, adventurous child and she blesses us with laughter daily!

We love you Brynner and Claire-bear!

ps. I know, I know. Too many blog template changes. Mark decided he liked this one better, so we are back to this one for awhile!