Water Fun

Wow...it is H-O-T! Anytime we are outside, I feel like we should be playing in water....pool, lake, beach, you name it. Once we got back from Florida I thought it would be a good idea to buy Claire a small pool for the backyard. She has a blast in her new pool and always wants us to blow it up. I think this small $15 purchase was well worth it!

Beach Trip 2010

We had a wonderful family trip to the beach this year. James and I decided last minute to book a place to stay before the oil reached the gulf coast and ended up at Seacrest Beach in Florida. (This is the same place we went last year with friends). We had a cute little 2 bedroom house for a long 4 day weekend. The weather was perfect - just a few evening showers, pool wonderful, and no oil. Unfortunately, as of yesterday, I'm sad to say the oil has reached Florida. Claire had a great time playing in the sand this year. She loved moving the sand around from bucket to bucket and making little figures. She still did not like the waves much, but had a great time in the pool. While we were there, we had dinner at the Back Porch, Pompano Joe's and Bud n' Alley's. Of course we also made a visit to the Sugar Shack......ice cream is always a must! We did a little window shopping in Seaside and ended up with a pig stuffed animal for Claire. She had her own $$ from her grandparents for doing so well with her potty training (by the way she is OFFICIALLY POTTY TRAINED - whoo hoo) and insisted on using "her money" to buy the pig stuffed animal. It's the last thing she needed but it was cute and made her happy. We are already looking forward to another beach trip and have decided we may need an entire week next year!

Soaking it all in!

Claire's not getting near those waves unless she's being held.

See...they are fun!

Pool baby!

Getting ready to go eat seafood...yum!

Still waiting for a table...but worth the wait!

Bye Bye beach....hope to see you again soon!

Last night....relaxing on the couch with her new piggies!

End of the Year School Party, Pool Time & Playing at Home

Looks like I have a little blog catching up to do. Claire had her end of the year party at daycare 2 weeks ago and started her new big girl class today. Since she was moving up to the class that potty trains, we decided what better time to get started at home. This past weekend, since we had a 3 day weekend - it was Potty Training 101 at the Creel Residence. Claire went straight to undies and only had a few accidents the entire weekend. We are so proud of her and hope she has a good day at school as well. (So, I realize most of you probably aren't too concerned about Claire's bathroom business - but I just wanted to document since we are so excited).

Now, let's get back to the school party. It started off with all the classes parading out of the building and around to the parking deck. Each class had a decorated t-shirt and sign and all the kids were so cute. Claire walked past us and waved like she knew exactly what she was doing. After the parade, there was a bouncy house, train rides, popsicles, bubbles and lots of running around. We all had a great time. It's sort of bittersweet that this year has ended because while we are happy to see Claire move up and learn new things we LOVE her old teachers, Ms. Cheryl & Ms. Leah. As soon as Ms. Cheryl started teaching Claire's class it was like a flip of a switch. Claire loved going to school and was happy when we picked her up. I know that her new teachers, and everyone at daycare, are wonderful as well; but we will still miss Ms. Cheryl. At least she is just across the hall if Claire ever wants to say hello!

God's Little Sunshines:

mmmm.....cotton candy popsicle (can mommy have that please?)

Claire with her friend, Christopher
Choo Choo!

Claire and Merrill blow bubbles!

After the fun party at school we continued the weekend playing at Granny & Paw Paw's pool and being silly at home. We tried to go swimming this past weekend again for Memorial Day and actually brought our swimsuits this time but it decided to rain all day. We are heading to the beach soon though, so hopefully we will have pretty weather then!

Claire's always gotta have her shades on...

Modeling new PJ's on Daisy's bed

New Princess nightgown for using the potty all day!

Claire has never been too interested in her babydolls until just recently. Yesterday she wanted her baby to go wherever she went....it was pretty cute.

She even got to eat lunch with us.

In between all the rain, we finally got a few things accomplished in the backyard.

Here's a picture of Claire's swingset that daddy finished getting ready at home.