Is It Spring Yet?

I stopped at Target over the weekend and bought Claire a swimsuit, complete impulse buy. We were there for diapers and wipes, paper towels, that sort of thing. I walked by the baby clothing and reminded myself she does not need any clothes. Then I spotted the swim suit rack. How cute are little girls swimsuits? I couldn't resist. This was Saturday and our snow had melted and spring was on the way, right?

Wrong. We were dumped on again, in true Wisconsin fashion. I believe we got somewhere around 4-6" on Sunday and another 6" on Monday. Lucian happened to escape, spending the weekend snowboarding in Vail with his cousin Matt. This is the kind of snow I like to see. Not in my driveway.

Saturday morning Claire and I had a play date with her friend Sydney. Unfortunately Syd was sick and had to cancel. We were headed to an indoor play place we had heard about. Since we were up and ready to go by the time we got the call, I decided to take her anyway.

The place was great. Lots of rooms with themed play activities; a grocery store, musical instruments, dump trucks with soybeans, a science lab, art supplies, etc. In the center was a giant crawling play gym with slides, tunnels, balls and such. Claire is a little small to do that on her own, so I had to crawl through it with her. We had a lot of fun.

Checking out at the "grocery store"

She loved running with her cart
You can never have too much cow bellUnder the climbing gym
Looking out from the top
A tunnel (yes, I fit too)

Backing up to last week, Claire's daycare was closed, so Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe watched Claire for 3 of the days. They helped with dinner and enjoyed some bonding time. I think they have recovered now. That girl is tiring!

At the dinner table. Papa even got her to eat some vegetables!

We went to Kopps for an ice cream treat on Fri. night

Claire loves milk shakes. Who doesn't?

I watch the show Glee and they recently performed a few Justin Bieber songs on the show. I have managed to avoid hearing any of his music until watching the episode, and I must say they are rather catchy tunes. I found myself singing "Baby", probably his most popular hit, around the house and Claire would sing it too. I wondered what the song actually sounded like, so I looked it up on YouTube. Big mistake. Claire loves to watch the video. She sings along, she dances, she zones out. We have watched it 100 times. I kid you not. She officially has Bieber Fever.

Claire and her sock monkey. She is getting more into stuffed animals and dolls.

Claire toppled over in a small wood rocking chair, hitting her head on her book case. It was a pretty bad accident, you can see the scrape and bruise between her eye brows. We've been calling her Frida Kahlo. And we put the chair away for now.

Claire loves to bring people their shoes. She picked these out for me the other day for work. What do you think?

Be my Valentine

Monday was Valentine's day. I can't say we do much around our house to celebrate. It's kind of a Hallmark holiday, in my opinion. I used to use it as an excuse to plan a date night, but now it's more about a giving a little something to the kids. To my surprise, Lucian stopped by my office with a box of chocolates for me over lunch. I have been enjoying them all week.

Saturday we ate lunch at Dr. Dawg, a hot dog restaurant, as you may have guessed. Lucian's love for Chicago style hot dogs was ignited as we watched a travel channel food show that morning.

In the evening, we met friends at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Claire wasn't a big eater at either place, but she was pretty well behaved.

Poking at Sydney

Ross and the girls

Nana Barb made Claire a quilt for Valentine's day. Its Eric Carle Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See fabric. She likes to lay it on the floor for the dance parties we have regularly.

Books and Kisses

I told Claire it was "night night" time this evening and she went to get a book of hers that ends with the words night night. Here is a video of us reading.

Additionally, while I was getting her jammies on, I told her there was a piggy on her jammies and asked what a pig says. She said "oink, oink." I was floored! We tell her the sounds all the time and she repeats them, but to know the response for the correct animal is totally new. I ask her about a few animals on the video. Enjoy! (still working on the chicken dance footage)

1-Year Olds Don't Care About the Superbowl

Not a lot to report with this post. Claire and I hung out, just us girls, on Friday, Saturday we gathered with friends and Sunday we gathered with family to watch the Superbowl.

The biggest news of the week is about Spencer. He is officially 15-1/2 (as of yesterday) which means he can get his temporary driving license in WI. Lucian is leaving work early to take him. He took the classroom driver's ed over the summer, so he has already passed the written exam. Watch out Wisconsinites, they'll be a new driver on the road.

Claire and I shared a milkshake on Fri. She approved of my choice: Oreo

Doing yoga before bedtime

Claire has become quite attached to some swaddling blankets we have for her. She drags one around everywhere and hugs it as she goes to sleep. She needed to have it in the high chair in this photo. I didn't love this idea.

Cuddling with her blankie

Earlier on Sunday I found a show called Puppy Bowl VII on Animal Planet. I flipped it on to see a quick minute, but Claire was really into watching. She must have sat on my lap for 15 minutes watching puppies on a little football field.

We watched the Superbowl at Nana Kathleen and Papa Dave's. I found myself mostly chasing after Claire or trying to get her to eat something. I also left around halftime to get Claire in the bath tub and to bed on time. I wasn't all that into the game, but I did want to see the ads. Good thing they are all online today so I can catch up!

A rare moment of sitting with Nana and cousin Lydia (her partner in crime)

Her kind of super bowl

Kids in the kitchen

Snowtorious B.I.G.

The title of this post is my favorite name I heard for the storm we just endured. The city is shut down today and Lucian and I are working from home. We managed to dig out this morning but have no plans to leave the house. The winds overnight were very strong creating snow drifts and white outs. I'm happy we didn't have anywhere important to go.