Row, Row, Row Your Boat

or your laundry basket...

Claudia hopped into one of our laundry baskets and said it was a raft and she had to stay out of the water because of the sharks. Then she came back with her Snoopy golf clubs and slid them into the handle openings, and voila she was rowing her raft ashore. Her Auntie Kel was here, so Kel got some exercise by pushing the raft all around the house.

Here's a pic of Kel with both girls. It's still very hard to get Claudia to look at the camera AND smile. Juliet doesn't seem to have that problem so far! It was a good visit with Kel. Eating, shopping, movies - what could be better?!

"Should I call you Kelly?"

Recently, and inexplicably, Claudia has started calling me Mama, rather than Mom or Mommy. I realized that it bugged me, maybe mostly because it comes out like a 2 year old would say it rather than a 4 year old. Well, today while we were out in the playhouse she said "Mama...". I said "why are you calling me Mama?" She paused and then asked "Should I call you Kelly?" After letting out quite a big laugh I told her Mom or Mommy would be just fine. Now she's back to calling me Mommy, but there is a strong emphasis on the last syllable. Mom- EE. Kids are so literal!

Locks of Love

It finally came time to cut Claudia's hair. Except for the routine maintenance of her bangs, Claudia had only had a trim once before. We donated 10 inches to Locks of Love. Claudia understands that some other little girl or boy will get her hair, but she wants to know the name (I told her Suzy) and she was telling me that they were going to have to glue the extra hair onto Suzy's hair.
Here's the before; she had blonde streaks from the sun. MANY people have asked over the years if I highlight her hair. It's just the California sun!

Here's some during; we were at Eileen's (our neighbor who has a salon off the garage) and she was watching Madagascar 2.


And the after; holding her blondilocks.
Cutting her hair was not as traumatic as I had anticipated. She is so stinkin' cute with her long hair, but then it's quite a lot to deal with every morning and every night and all the times in between. She gets food, toothpaste, anything stuck in her long hair. I also got mine cut earlier that day, thinking that might help Claudia in case she didn't want to part with her hair (not because I get food, toothpaste, anything stuck in my hair). Afterward she told me that she liked her hair and that she didn't want it to grow anymore. And she still looks so stinkin' cute, but now she looks older. Maybe 6 instead of 4. :)

Happy Waffle Day!

Earlier in the week Peter had asked what I wanted for breakfast on Mother's Day. I said waffles. So all week long Peter was talking about waffles and mother's day. On Saturday Peter asked Claudia, "Do you know what tomorrow is?" and she said "Waffle Day!" :-)
I got my waffles, we picked up lunch at Panera and had a picnic at the Rose Garden where Claudia and Peter worked on their soccer and t-ball skills. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Then back home where we all 4 took naps. That hasn't happened before! Then we did a little gardengin and then dinner outside on the patio. I couldn't have asked for a better Waffle Day!

Taking every opportunity...

I try to take every opportunity to get pictures of Claudia and Juliet together. Earlier this week we put them in their big sister/little sister shirts in order to take a picture but the stars weren't aligning when we were hoping. Then Claudia asked to hold Juliet and I started snapping pictures.

This one cracks me up because I think they have the same facial expression:

Here's another cute one; they're just not looking at the camera.
little monkeys....!

After 4 months of having visitors, yesterday when I reminded Claudia that Peter's folks were leaving she said "who's coming next?" :-) It's their Auntie Kel, but not till the first weekend in June. We're all on our own for a while!

With a dog and a s'more, look who turned 4!

To celebrate Claudia's 4th birthday, we went camping for the weekend at Big Sur. To my surprise, Claudia chose camping over Disneyland (even after enjoying a trip to DL over Christmastime). Juliet was with us Friday night, but Peter's folks were visiting and they came down Saturday and then took Juliet back with them Saturday night. She had done pretty well on Friday night, but I didn't sleep so well worried that she might break out into crying in the middle of the night.
Our first night we had dogs and s'mores and both mornings Peter cooked sausage and eggs for breakfast, though Claudia chose to have leftover baked beans for breakfast (ewww!). Peter's mom brought us stew for lunch. We enjoyed the views of the coast from Hwy 1, the weather was nice; no fog. And then the 3 of us had dinner out not far from the campground.
There was a play structure nearby which was nice so that Claudia could burn off some energy. I had bought her some kids garden tools at the One Spot (love the One Spot!) and that kept her entertained for some time. She helped water some of the surrounding trees with her new watering pail. And then there was this big log on one side of our campsite that she loved to walk along. She could do that for hours if we let her. Funny the things that keep kids entertained.

The lows were in the 40s so we bundled up for the night. Here's Juliet all bundled up. Snug as a bug!

I pulled together a low-budget Backyardigans decor the week before but we still had some decorating and wrapping to do. By the time we got to the gifts it was almost 9pm! And I totally forgot to light the candles so once the gifts were open we lit the candles and sang again. It's gotta be the lack of sleep.

"Can you sing a little louder, please?"

Photo shoot!

I've been wanting to get more pictures of Claudia & Juliet together but timing was not on my side. That, and trying to get a three year old to agree to sit still for pictures isn't easy. So over the weekend when Claudia asked if she could hold Juliet, I took the opportunity to snap a bunch of pictures. Here are just a couple of the 20 or so that I took. It's also not easy trying to get a good picture of both of them.


This is one of my favorites, as I hadn't noticed right away that Claudia was holding onto Juliet's foot. :-)

This was totally voluntary. Claudia loves to give Juliet kisses. We'll see how long that lasts!








My parents got in on the photo shoot too. They've been visiting since before Christmas and are heading back to Kansas in a week. It's been great having them here.

Go fly a kite!

My Dad took Claudia to the park around the corner to fly the Winnie the Pooh and Tigger kite she picked out. She liked to hold the kite but she also liked to be out trying to catch the tail.

Hey Sistah!

It's certainly tough to get a good picture of both Claudia and Juliet - what with one not always smiling for the camera and the other one having limited neck control. I'll have to keep working on them... This was taken when Juliet was 1 day shy of being 3 weeks old.

Claudia says some funny things about what Juliet does. Last night when she was holding Juliet and Juliet was nearly asleep, she said "When she has one eye open and one eye closed it means she's a pirate."

In the kitchen

Claudia and Peter were trying out some of the new cooking attire that Claudia got for Christmas. At one point they were talking like the Swedish Chef... bork bork bork!

It's not always easy to get Claudia to look right at the camera and smile, so this is now one of my favorite pictures of the two of them.






Then it was time to decorate Valentine's cookies. Yum Yum!

Claudia has a little sister!

Juliet Elizabeth Nelson was born on January 26, at 11:59am; 7 lbs even; 19.5 inches long. Lots of dark hair. Year of the ox.





















We're all doing well, if not a little tired. My parents are staying with us to help out, so Claudia has the run of the house while we're in the hospital. I'll be updating with more pictures. Right now I should really be sleeping while the baby sleeps!


Claudia seems to be pretty cool with the new baby in the house, though she doesn't like to hear her cry. When Juliet cries Claudia covers her ears and tells us she doesn't like her crying and has a look that seems like she's about ready to join in the tears.

Trick or Treat!!

Another fun outing for Halloween. Here's Minnie Mouse. We just went to a handful of houses on our street. At our 2nd stop, our neighbor ran back into the house and brought out a bright shiny new adult-sized harmonica. A couple years ago, they gave Claudia a little stuffed sloth. She seems to be enjoying playing her "monica". Maybe we'll look for some lessons.... :-) And btw, she is practicing in her room right now. Not too bad, but I wish it had a volume button.

We didn't dress up tonight...I had just returned from a week long conference in Vegas so we just had enough time to get her dressed and put our own ears on.

We all dressed up for our halloween party a couple weekends ago. Here's the whole "goofy" family. The wand wasn't part of the costume, but she was borrowing it from "Princess" Alexandra.

Bustin' our chops ;-)

Last night while we were eating dinner, Claudia decided to grab some chop sticks. Up to now she would poke around with them, or we would make kid's chops with a rubber band and folded up paper to help her pinch with them. Peter and I eat with chops probably at least 3 times a week, but we aren't consistent about giving them to Claudia. So last night it was amazing to see her grab a pair from the drawer, then start to grab pieces of chicken with them. One right after the other. It was pretty cute. And we thought it was pretty amazing how well she handled them and figured out the right leverage by how she held them.

So I'm back from my blogging hiatus. I can't believe it's been 3 months since the last posting. I'm finally over the morning sickness now that I'm nearly 6 months pregs. We're all quite excited. Claudia says funny things and has asked funny questions about it. Shortly after we seriously started talking to her about it, about 5 or 6 weeks ago, she pointed at my belly and asked if it was balanced. I paused and said, um ya. She then asked if it had air. I said not yet. She asked if it had helium. I cracked up. Then a couple weeks ago she told me my belly was going to get smaller when Peanut #2 comes out. While I thought that was an astute observation, I told her it was going to get bigger still. She asked how Peanut #2 was going to get out. I said oh you don't wanna know Sistah. She said "I'm not Sistah". Averted for the time being...!

Batter up!

Claudia may not have kept her eye on the ball, but look at that follow through! (I wouldn't have been able to snap a picture with the ball in mid-air if I had actually been trying.)Today was a field trip to a park in Willow Glen. 38 kids all wearing the same shirt - made it kinda hard to pick out your own, but I realized that in that situation, every kid becomes yours. The preschool has a bunch of field trips scheduled this summer. We already took a practice ride on the light rail; the one I'm especially looking forward to is the trip to Safeway. As I understand it, the kids get to roam the aisles trying free samples and then they get a tour of the back. I plan to volunteer or send a grocery list.

Wow... I completely missed the month of June for posting. The reason will become apparent soon... So here are some updates... Mickey Mouse has infiltrated our house. That's the TV show (it's a cartoon - not the live Mousketeers) that she watches everyday. It's pretty cute what she learns from them. On Father's Day we went to Big Basin and as we were walking around the giant Redwoods, Claudia would stop at the base and say "How are we going to get to the top of the tree? I have an idea! Let's use suction cups". Once she said we needed a tool to cut it into pieces and I asked her what tool and she replied with some really really big scissors. Here is a doodle of Mickey Mouse (by Claudia):
She likes all of the characters, but we like to hear her say the Professor's name (Professor Von Drake is a duck). Until just tonight she would call him Papessa on drake. But tonight she said Professa. Peter and I both looked at each other a little sad, because it was so cute to hear her say it her original way. Oh sigh, she's really growing up... About a month ago she started talking about her "new house" and all these things she had at her new house and her friends and family (including the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse gang) that would come visit her. I realized last week that her new house is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Boy has it got some cool stuff!... We start our vacation on Friday morning (the 4th). We're driving (gulp!) to Yellowstone for 4 days to see "big bison (what she also calls Big Basin, incidentally), geysers, and lizards". I'm not entirely certain where the lizards come from, but that's what she tells us. We're lodging it at Yellowstone and are very thrilled that we're staying at the Old Faithful Inn. From there, we drive to the lake in MN to spend 8 or so days with the Nelson fam. All 7 siblings and their families will be there, plus Peter's folks and extended family. We're looking forward to seeing everyone and Claudia and I especially are looking forward to the fishing. After that we head back west making stops at Theodore Roosevelt NP in ND and Grand Tetons in WY. We'll be camping then, so that will be an adventure for sure. I'll try to post pictures along the way. We'll see.

Gone Fishin'

We were back in Kansas last weekend for Erin's graduation. Claudia took her first crack at fishing at the lake behind Gina's house. Gong Gong helped her cast and shortly after that he and Chandler helped reel in a little perch. Many pictures were taken and Dad said there was too much posing, because the fish eventually jumped off the hook and back into the lake before Claudia had a chance to hold the fish. We're heading up to Minnesota this summer to see all of Peter's family, so this was good practice for those fishing outings with Grandpa.

Yippee!! Look who's 3!!!

Here's Claudia on her new bike. Since we didn't get to the gifts until late tonight, we let her ride her new bike with clean tires in the house. THIS ONE TIME ONLY! ;-)
UPDATE on the bike: Claudia told me the other day that her bike had 2 big wheels and 2 little wheels and the 2 little wheels are called training wheels. What a sponge!

We went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo to celebrate. They have Sea World-like shows. Here's an expression while watching Shouka the Orca.
We also saw the dolphin show and the sea lion show which also featured an otter. We were all amazed at how well one of the sea lions balanced a ball on his nose while he swam in the pool, got up on the platform and completely flipped his body. It was crazy!
The birthday tradition of chiffon cake lives on. Peter makes sure of that. Would you believe we didn't even get to the cake? We sang, she blew out the candles and then it was time for gifts. I'm sure we'll get to it tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

Claudia hunted for eggs today around the house and in the backyard. It was another beautiful day in sunny California. While she was looking for the eggs she kept stopping to say "Cheese Easter Bunny" so that Mom and I could take her picture. Later Peter and Claudia played croquet and we had a chance to dine outside. And we enjoyed looking at the veggie and herb gardens that we recently planted. Mom & Dad are leaving tomorrow, so we just hung around the house and they packed up their car. We're all certainly sad to see Mom & Dad go. When I told Claudia that they were leaving to go back to Kansas, she said "and me too?" We'll be heading back to Kansas in May to see my niece, Erin, graduate from high school.

Pajama Day

Friday was pajama day at preschool as the letter of the week was "P". Miss Bean went in her froggy pajamas. The teachers at school said all the kids napped longer than usual and even the kids who don't normally nap took naps. Every day should be pajama day!

Claudia has started giving us choices. The other day she wanted me to play with her in the dining room and I asked her if I could take a little break. She said "you can play with me in the dining room or take a break. Those are your choices." Of course, she didnt' accept my answer to take a break! We'll keep working on that.

Happy Birthday Poh Poh!

Mom & Dad have been here since early February. We got to celebrate Mom's birthday with her this year. Growing up Mom always made us chiffon cakes for our birthdays. Peter is getting pretty good at it and made one for Mom this year. I iced it, Claudia helped put sprinkles on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How to make Valentine's cookies, according to Claudia Nelson.

Steps 1 - 4: Someone else rolls out the dough, cuts out the shapes, bakes 'em and ices them.

Step 5: Pour some sprinkles into a bowl.
Step 6: Put sprinkles on your cookie. Step 7: Dump extra sprinkles back into the bowl.Step 8: Show how the sprinkles stain your hands.
Step 9. Take a bite!