Halloween 2012

This year Halloween has been fun because Stella is starting to understand what the holiday involves and also because we've been to not one but two Halloween parties!  This week will be fun trick-or-treating on our street and handing out candy with Grammie and Pa which has sort of become a Halloween tradition!

Party & A Special Walk

This weekend the girls celebrated with their cousin Laila at her first birthday party.  They always have fun playing with their cousins who are close in age!  We also participated in a special walk with Aunt Mary Jane and Logan - the CROP Hunger Walk.  This initiative not only supports individuals in need around the world, but also here in our community as well.   Our girls are too young to really understand the importance of this philanthropic activity but over the years we hope to expose them to lots of things until they find their passions in life!  Thank you to all of the families who sponsored us on our walk this year: The Hooley's, McNamara's, Brown/Reome's, and Grammie & Pa!

Claire had her one-year check-up this week and is doing great!  She weighed in at 20 lbs, 9 oz, and is 29.5 inches long!  Her growth is definitely different than Stella's was but both girls are so very different this is really no surprise to us!

Stella decorating a cookie @ the birthday party.  I used the words 'paint with your finger'
when we were doing the project and then the next day I asked her if she was going
to eat her cookie and she said 'no Mom, there's paint on it!'. 
She reluctantly took a bite after I told her it was frosting.

Claire slept through most of the CROP Walk but woke up at
the end just in time to share a snack with all of the walkers!

Happy Birthday Claire!

To echo Sue's comment from last week, it doesn't seem possible that Claire's already a year old!  We had a fun birthday celebration on Saturday and then relaxed a bit on this rainy, lazy Sunday.  We're all tired out from starting our week out by visiting Rochester to trade our Mountaineer for a Van (through Enterprise Car Sales) paired with all of the excitement from the birthday party.  It was a great week - we are very blessed for all that we have!

It wasn't warm enough to be outdoors so we brought the ball pit in

!

 The big kids making Jungle frames!

 Claire really enjoyed the cake Aunt Mary Jane made for her.  She dug in and when she was done she didn't hesitant to dig her hands in and start playing!  She literally ended up having a quick bath when she was finished!

Sleepover Fun!

Esme loving the swing!

Caleb pitching in once Stella couldn't
walk any further.  He carried BOTH Esme
and Claire to the top!

Auntie Caroline, Caleb, and Esme visited this weekend from Vermont and we had lots of fun!   All the girls enjoyed playtime together and despite being very young for a sleepover all three went to bed like a charm, probably from having such a busy afternoon!

On Sunday mommy and the girls joined them for a hike up Azure Mountain.  It was so wonderful to be out in the crisp fall weather enjoying the fresh air and beautiful surroundings.  Although Stella and I didn't quite make it to the top (we were so very close but just couldn't keep going) Claire-Bear did with Caleb's help, and Caroline and Esme were lucky enough to enjoy the view from the top as well.  We figured with the age of our group 4 out of 6 wasn't bad!  Stella's 15-minute rest about 80% to the top was just what she needed - she walked with Auntie Caroline just about the entire way down!  On the way she stopped to tell her 'this is a BIG walk!'.  She was so tired out she fell asleep before we even pulled off the Blue-Mountain Road!  We all had a terrific time and will definitely take on this adventure again!

We are so very fortunate to still have special friends from Burlington in our lives.  Trey truly still is with us in spirit and weekends like this remind us of how much he has enriched our lives despite not being here in person.


We have another fun-filled weekend ahead of us because Claire-Bear turns 1 this coming Friday!  It's hard to believe another year of our lives has flown by but we are excited about her growth and the energy she adds to our family!