We Love Chuck E Cheese

We can officially add Chuck E Cheese to the list of Claire's favorites places to eat! Anyone who eats out with us knows that Claire definitely has her list of favorites... Luby's, Rudy's, and McDonald's. If you don't want to eat at one of those places, then you better not ask Claire what she wants for dinner. Well, we went to Chuck E Cheese on Wednesday and now it's the only place that she wants to go. I have to admit, we really did have a great time. Timing is everything though... and we went on a Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. on the week when everyone went back to school. Needless to say, there were only a few other people there and they were part of the toddler crowd too. We'll definitely be going back to see the "mouse puppet that sings and talks" (AKA Chuck E) and play with all of the "toys" (as she called them). I can tell you that we won't be taking Claire to Vegas any time soon though. She loved feeding those coins into the machines and watching them spit out the tickets. She kept saying "Mom, I need more money!"

My Little Ballerina

Today was Claire's first day of dance class. I'll tell you, 3 o'clock couldn't come fast enough! Boy was she excited! She looked so grown up in her pink leotard (she insisted that hers had a skirt), tights, and ballet shoes. It's still so hard to believe that my baby is old enough to be taking dance. The class was great though... a very sweet and experienced teacher, four little 3 year old girls (Claire was the youngest), and friendly parents as well. We all came armed with our cameras and the teacher was nice enough to let us take pictures before the class started. Guess it was obvious that we were all excited too! Two of the little ones cried when their parents left the room, but not Claire! She'd been waiting for this day for months and was more than ready. The studio has a viewing room where we can see the girls, but they can't see us. Not sure that they'll let us peek in every week, but it was great getting to be "a fly on the wall" during their first night. Claire and I are both ready to go back next week!

Here are just a few of the many pictures that I took today!

Dressed and ready to go

Already performing and we haven't even left the house!

A Lazy Day at Home

After another busy weekend filled with birthday parties and a nice visit from Mimi (Tommy's mom), we decided to take it easy today and have a nice lazy day at home... just us girls. Plus, my sinuses have been giving me fits lately and I wasn't in the mood to really get dressed today or get out in the heat. So we had a great day of lounging, trying out the new lip gloss and glitter nail polish that Mimi brought, reading lots of books, and coloring. Definitely couldn't have a day like that if I was back at work! We also got to watch the workers pour concrete in the backyard. We've decided to extend and resurface our patio... very exciting! Tomorrow we'll get back into the swing of things. Claire will be back at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays now and Kate and I will get caught up on our errands, grocery shopping, laundry, etc. It's just no fun (and definitely not as easy) doing those things when the three of us are all together.

Two more days until dance lessons start... Claire's definitely counting down!!

Showing off her new lip gloss (can't you see it?)

Pucker up!

Even Kate was lazy today

Watching sister color

Another fun week!

It's been a busy, but fun-filled week! Kate went for her 2 month well check on Monday. She weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. (50th percentile in weight) and was 23 1/4 inches long (75-90th percentile in length)... which seems to be par for the course with our girls. She got 3 shots (ouch!) which probably hurt me more than they hurt her. All in all, a very healthy growing baby girl!

On Friday, my mom and I took the girls to the children's museum. It had been quite a while since we had taken Claire and I wanted Granna to be able to go with us while she was still home for the summer. I thought that people might be getting ready for "back to school" and the crowd might be a little lighter, but boy was I wrong! It was crazy there, but Claire had a great time. She had to try out everything and wasn't even phased by the zillions of other kids around her. Getting her to leave was a challenge, but we'll definitely be going back again after school starts.

The weekend started with a birthday party at Pump-It-Up... and as if Granna hadn't had her fill of little kids already, she came with us to the party. Tommy and Dad were playing golf and Pump-It-Up is tough with the baby, so having Mom there was a huge help. I just wish that I had gotten a picture of Granna and Claire coming down the BIG slide!!

On another note, Claire is gearing up to start working on her career as a prima ballerina. She starts dance class in a couple weeks and is very excited! I'm just not sure whether she realizes that you don't dance to Britney Spears and Lady GaGa in ballet class! Stay tuned for pictures of our little ballerina.

Here are a few pictures from our day at the children's museum...


Claire the cat groomer

Claire the artist

Kate was very patient at the museum

Happy Baby