Good Idea In Theory

I saw on Pinteres a  fun idea to make gak.  The boys thought it looked really cool and I actually had all the ingredients on hand!

So, I must have done something wrong because look at this mess!

 It was supposed to be one big blob, not the drippy sticky mess.

 The food coloring also dyed their hands and made a huge mess ALL over!  So, we won't be making this again, but it was fun to try once.

 Claire was smart and stayed out of the mess.

 This is her new "cheese" face!

 We also tried watercolor painting with Claire for the first time.

 Much neater!  Claire loved it.

 I forget how fun it is to paint!  We'll be getting the paint out more often in the future I think!

 Claire and the boys are loving doing this!  She gets on their backs and jumps up and down.

 They are just loving each other!

Cousins and 10 Years!!!!!

Elizabeth and Ben spent the night for the first time since we've had Claire home a few weeks ago.  

 Off came the cushions of course, so I had to try to get a few photos of all the cousins!

 Elizabeth is so sweet with Claire and Claire usually lets her hold her, just not right here. :)

 We have some big bows for Claire once she's a little bit older, and Elizabeth saw them in her closet and was interested in them.  So we decided to put them on the girls and Claire LOVED it!  I tried to take it off of her and she picked it up and handed it to me to put it back on her!   They're a little big for me at this stage but it was fun for a picture! :)

 The girls painted fingernails while the boys watched a movie.

 Claire's first time getting her fingernails painted!  She didn't stay very still so it didn't look great, but it was fun to do!

 Then the next weekend Ryan and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!  He was so sweet and arranged to have Laura come over and watch the kids for us (after Claire went to bed).  It was our first date night since we brought home Claire!  We took the chance to get a few family photos.

 Then the next day we celebrated Ryan's birthday early.  I tried to get a few photos of the four of them but they all turned out like this...

 Oh well, this is real life!

I Don't Stand a Chance!

 This picture doesn't have anything to do with this post but look at this cutie!! :)

So I had no idea what Claire's personality would be like but we are learning more and more about her every day.

One thing is for certain, she is a dare-devil!

 She's not scared of anything!

 We are teaching her safe boundaries every day.

 Can you tell?? :)  (unfortunately her brothers are teaching her all kinds of other things!)

 One thing is for certain...

 I don't stand a chance against these three crazies!

 And I just had to add this-we received this paperwork in the mail just a few weeks ago, and Claire happened to be wearing the same dress.  This photo was taken the day we officially adopted her, the second day we met her.

 What a difference 2 months makes!!!  She looks so much older already (and happier of course! :))

Catching Up

Wow I have had a hard time keeping up with the blog!  Here's just a random assortment of photos from June!

Claire has really been opening up to us! She is now so comfortable with the boys.  She still definitely loves to be by me most of the time, but she will now occasionally play in the playroom with the boys when I'm not there!  Of course they are teaching her how to be a daredevil so I try to make sure I don't stay out of there for too long! :) 

We are already starting teaching her how to do housework!  (don't worry, the boys know how to do this too :))

She loves pushing around baby carriages (this is at my parents' house)

All of the monkey cousins.

Claire's first time in the pool!  ( I think??  First photos at least)  She LOVES the pool.  Loves it.

I wanted a photo to put in a little patriotic vignette I have up and so we did a little photo shoot.  Love this one!

In the beginning of June we went to an info meeting about tiger scouts and they had face painting.

Both boys loved it but we didn't have Claire try it- I think it would have scared her!

She has discovered the phone!  (we strip her to eat usually which is why she's not wearing clothes in a few pictures)

She's started giving the boys kisses!

She really doesn't have any interest in reading and so when she stopped to read a book with us I yelled for Ryan to quick get the camera!

This girl LOVES shoes!  She's started saying "shoes" and she'll go in her closet and get out pairs.  These are shoes that are too big for her but she grabbed them out of the closet for me to put on her and then clomped all around.  It was too cute.

We celebrated G and G's birthdays and mother's/father's day all at once.  This was the best picture-life with kids!

She copies everything the boys do!

Super heroes!

Claire helped me cook brownies one day!

She loves to take the cushions off of the chairs/couch and jump all over them.

This was her first time sitting on Jackson's lap!

Also her first watermelon slice!

And the cutie girl just hanging out.   We are sure having fun with her and are so blessed to have her in our lives!