Playful Clara

Clara is very playful and happy in the mornings and after her naps. She loves to play games, and right now, this is one of her favorites. She thinks peekaboo is so funny!

Grandma has buckets of toys for the grandkids to play with, and Clara is LOVING having new toys to play with. Can you see her new tooth?

Clara got to play with some cousins today. She and her cousin Sydney played very nicely together. When Sydney first came over to play, Clara handed her the toy she was playing with, then grabbed another one to play with. She is already learning to share (hopefully that will last!).

My cousins got their wisdom teeth out today. My dad and brother each did one, and they were pretty funny afterwards. They were out most of the day, and Clara thought they were a great jungle gym for her to climb over.

I found Clara by herself playing with all the toys, and I thought what she was doing was really funny:

I don't know how to turn the video, so I didn't even try, just turn your head side ways for a minute and it will be just fine! Clara and Sydney had so much fun playing together with Grandma and cooperated to play with this toy. It was so much fun to watch!

Clara's First Day Swimming

This was Clara's first time in the pool. The crying in the backround is her cousin, Jacob, not her. She LOVES the pool!

Just in the past couple of days, Clara is starting to smile for the camera. The flash still gets her, hence the closed eyes. This is her cheesey smile. Can you see her new tooth on the top? The other one is following right behind it!

Here is another picture of her cheesey smile. She plays so happily on the floor! Clara loves grandma and grandpa's house!

This picture is mostly for Jordan. This is Clara's cousin, Jacob. He is such a happy kid, and such a little guy compared to Clara. They are 5 months apart in age, and about 10lbs apart in weight!

Here is one more video of Clara. In the last month, she has started waving to people. She started waving to grandma while we were in the pool, so we caught that on video. You can hear Jacob blowing raspberries in the backround.

We Made It!

After a long day of airports and flying, Clara and I made it to California for a visit with the family! We had an extra 2 hour layover we weren't planning on, due to some maintenance issues, but we made it here safe and sound and Clara did great. She even made new friends on both flights! I told Jordan I would try and post pictures and videos on our blog while we are gone so he can see what we are up to, so if everyone else gets sick of reading/seeing what we are doing, just tune out for the next 10 days!

I also wanted to share a realaly cool story that happened on our flight. There were a couple of soldiers returning from Iraq who were flying home to Fresno on our flight. Once we were all seated on the plane, preparing for take off, the flight attendant came up to one of them (the one sitting near me) and said "Are you Burke?" and he said yes, then she said "A man in first class would like to switch you seats." The man came back and said that he really appreciated what this soldier did for our country and that he would really like to switch him seats and give him a more comfortable ride home. Another guy in first class did it for the other soldier too. I thought that was so cool! The soldier was so modest about it, and the guy who gave up his seat sounded so grateful. Anyways, it was a cool story! Stay tuned (or not!) to see what me and Clara are up to!

Food and Fun and Food (and Crystal kisses an Indian)

For Clara (and, let's be honest, for her parents, as well) food and fun frequently go together. Today, after I spent my day doing research for my professor, Crystal and Clara came and picked me up and we drove to Krispy Kreme to celebrate National Doughnut Day (which has to be in the Top 20 holidays, easily - somewhere between Bacon Day and International Talk Like A Pirate Day.* We got a delicious dozen at Krispy Kreme and then headed to the nearby Scioto Park for some fun. We had several bites of about four of the delicious flavors and styles of doughnuts we bought, and Clara had one all to herself.
She loved it, of course.
The park was right next to the Scioto River, so we walked down to the water and I skipped some rocks to impress the girls, and then went to the playground were Clara went on the slide (with her parents) and sat in the swing. She didn't love the swing, but she didn't hate it as much as last time, either, so we're making progress. We found a kiddie swing big enough for the both of us! I've never seen one that big, but it was pretty cool.

Then, we walked back up to the car, and checked out the big statute of Leatherlips, an Indian chief who made a treaty with settlers in Ohio allowing them to farm on land that was once claimed by his tribe. The settlers were glad, but the other Indians were mad and sentenced wise old Leatherlips to death by tomahawk. His sentence was carried out a little ways north of the park (and we've seen that monument before), but a while ago this big statue was made to honor the man. Crystal honored Leatherlips with a kiss from her not-so-leather lips.

Finally, a fun random picture from this week. Clara loves spaghetti and meatballs!
*Which reminds me, I still want to see this movie.

Mischief

This is what happens when you think your kid is playing quietly:

Yup, an entire box of Cheerios dumped out. She was so proud of herself!