Destination

Hello!
The Cunningham clan is excited to welcome in 2014 in just a few hours. The coming year will no doubt be fun, busy and as challenging as ever. Seeing these babies grow so fast makes me want to slow down the clock sometimes, but then again I am excited for what will come when they are more independent and less demanding of our time and constant attention.

Just yesterday we returned from an incredible week-long vacation on the big island of Hawaii with my parents, sisters and their families. Before we left (at 4 am on Sunday the 22nd), I told Jason "remember, its the journey not the destination..." to help me mentally prepare for the 18 hour travel day that lay ahead. He corrected me and said, "no, in this case its all about the destination!"

The long flights over and back were something I was dreading with the kids, but all of my anticipation and concern turned out to be for nothing. Both of the kids were great and absolute poster children of good travelers. I am quite certain that there were adults on every flight that fussed more than they did put together!

In preparation for the trip, I had been talking to both of them a lot about Hawaii, teaching Olivia to say 'aloha' and telling her about the ocean, whales, turtles and so on. It was absolutely precious when we came in for landing in Kona, she looked out the window and said "Ocean!! Daddy, there it is!" We climbed down the staircase to the tarmac and she started running excitedly and calling for the whales - "whales, I'm here! I'm coming whales!" I believe she expected them to be all around, on land, water, waving and grinning at her like the whales in her books. The airport workers got a good chuckle out of it. We did go whale watching and saw a few splashes off in the distance (btw, I don't recommend taking a 1 YO on a 3 hour whale watching catamaran excursion on high seas). Unfortunately she was a little disappointed on the whale front, but she still really loves whales and doesn't appear to be holding it against them.

We swam in the ocean almost every day we were there. In the evening, I took Olivia to watch the beautiful sunset from "our" spot on the beach. The stars were so bright and she sang 'twinkle twinkle' to them each evening. Honestly BOTH kids had an absolute blast doing island activities and playing with cousins, aunts/uncles, mom/dad, grandma/papa and just about anyone else who would give them attention. Each evening, we all fell into our beds to get rested up for another fun day to come.

On almost every trip we have taken with the Olivia, by the end of it, she is asking to go home. She loves being home, her bed, loveys, dogs, etc. But on the last day in Hawaii, she was asking to go to Hawaii. I think this little one has found a special connection with that island! We will have to save money and plan another trip over there someday.

Quinn is starting to walk some, and on the Hawaii trip, he really turned in to a chatterbox, trying on several new words and phrases. We got the kids some cute Hawaiian outfits and Quinn really rocked his little ensemble. He must be going through a growth spurt too because he has been eating a lot.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Love and blessings to all in 2014 and beyond.

~claire

Thankful

They say time flies when you are having fun.  Time has been flying around here, that is for sure!

I recall that before Olivia was born, I heard all kinds of things from people about how children change your life.  I heard everything in the gamut from good to bad, including how wonderful parenthood is, how you will never sleep again, how your relationship will change, your freedom will be lost, kids are expensive, yadda yadda and on and on.  Only one person nailed it for me though.  He said "You are in for a ton of FUN."

Of course, it's not always fun.  There are challenging times, but, as my brother in law Marc noted, just like everything else, in the end it's about 99% perspective.  When I look back at the past few years and the whirlwind of change for me and Jason, I feel absolutely so blessed and thankful for our family.  When you come from a place of thankfulness, it is hard to not see the fun in it all.

With a brief update here, I can say the kids are doing great.  Quinn is starting with some words now.  My sweet baby doll says "Mama" a lot.  He also says "VEE-a" for Olivia (Olivia calls him "Quinny" which is really cute).  He claps hands and waves now too.  A little tummy tickling will get him started on a funny cackling belly laugh.

Olivia is really into dolls and stuffed animal loveys.  I think she wants to start an orphanage so she can play mommy for all of the babies.  She is talking a lot and is one of my favorite people in general to spend time with and converse with.  She loves singing and music. Some nights instead of reading books before bed, we will rock in the chair and sing songs together.  She is really playful and goofy.  I believe one of her objectives is to stir up fun in any way that she can.  Though she has moods that come and go at times, she is a bright spot in everyone's day that comes into contact with her.

Here are a few recent pictures of everyone.

I'll leave you with an Irish Blessing from the Cunningham family:

May your troubles be less 

And your blessing be more 

And nothing but happiness 

Come through your door

Love, Claire & Family

Halloween Goblins

Hi all!
We're all doing well and staying really busy at work and play. Jason and I are putting together a deal with the bank to purchase the car wash building and land that we have been renting for the business that he operates in Overland Park. Once that closes, hopefully in the next few weeks, it will be a big weight off of our minds! Earlier this month we took a trip to Phoenix for Jason's mom's wedding, and it was great to take the kids on a trip like that.  My dad says that traveling with kids instills flexibility in children (and I think in their parents as well!). The airline accidentally routed our luggage to the opposite coast, but thankfully it caught up with us before the actual wedding; needless to say we got quite a workout in 'flexibility'on the trip!

We took Olivia to the zoo outside of Phoenix again this year and it is funny to note how different the trip was this time. She was so interactive with the animals and really soaking it all in.

We fed the ducks these little pellets that they sell, and there was a pushy swan that insisted on being fed. When I ran out of food trying to lure it away, it actually struck out and bit Olivia on the fingers! There were some tears but she was a real trooper. After that, she then announced that she wanted to feed ALL of the animals, even the alligators, tigers, etc. She had her first carousel ride too which was a really fun experience.

Quinn is very inquisitive, exploring things all the time.  He's particularly interested in the dishwasher and toilet (!).  He's quite a climber, moving swiftly up the stairs and climbing on top of tables, etc.  He is one that we need to keep a very close eye on these days, that is for sure!

For Halloween, Olivia was a white butterfly-angel (butterflies are her favorite!); Quinn was a pumpkin.  Mommy didn't dress up but if she had, she would have been the Tooth Fairy and sprinkled some magic teething powder to help these little ones out (they are both teething a lot now!)

Here are a few pics from a studio photo session that we had a few weeks ago.

 Love all, claire

Lightning McQuinn

Hi all!
I know it has been awhile since my last post but work and home life have been really busy and I don't see any breaks in sight.  Life is good so I have no complaints, but I may be scaling back to one update per month from here on. 

The kids are doing great.  As you can imagine from this blog's name, Quinn has become a quick crawler.  He is very curious and in to everything. We must be really diligent about keeping the baby gates closed now because he is like Houdini trying to escape from rooms these days.  It is a lot of fun to watch him explore things and Olivia and I like to have crawl races with him in the rec room.  He is pulling himself up and standing.  The other day he even let go and balanced on his own standing up.  He started scaling some stairs and made it up 4 or 5 steps before Daddy picked him up.  He was giggling and excited about his new adventure!

On the Olivia front, I thought I would discuss her growing cast of loveys and other favorites.  Olivia has always let us know what she likes and dislikes.  She has a long memory in terms of these things too.

Drink: milk and water
Food: macaroni and cheese, craisins, scrambled eggs, black olives, shrimp, chicken
Movies: Cars and The Lorax
iPad (she calls it her "pa-pad")

I thought for a split second that she was going to start potty training a few weeks ago because she showed interest and actually used the potty a few times, but now the potty is something that she makes her two babies use. She pretty much refuses to use it herself at this point in time.

I've helped her name a few of her loveys, but usually she comes up with the names.  Here is a picture of most of them except for the Froggie who was lost somewhere, but she still asks about him, may he R.I.P.

In the above picture we have Dolly, Baby, the horses who belong in the stable (Nemo, Shadow, and Rob), Flopsy Mopsy (back row), the horses who get a lot of play time Bob (current favorite) and Blanca who are sitting on the green blankie which has been a favorite since she was 3 weeks old, the iPad, Scotty, Froggie (former version), and Sleepy Bear.

I am trying hard to schedule another photo shoot for the entire family so hopefully next time I will have some decent pictures of us to share!

Take care. Love, claire & family

Grocery Getter

Hi All,
We're all doing well and so far have been successful keeping up with our little ones.  As I said last time, Olivia is learning new words all of the time and she loves pointing things out that she knows.  She like to point out "daddy's truck", and when we are driving she points out other trucks on the road too.

The other day Jason taught her to call my car "grocery getter" and she surprised me with it out of the blue one day, and we all had a good laugh.  Now she calls my car that all of the time, and I know she enjoys the giggles that she gets when she does it.

These days Olivia LOVES playing with the play kitchen set that our friends gave to us after their little ones outgrew it. The set contains all kinds of play food, dinnerware, utensils, you name it.  I have been teaching her names of vegetables (corn, tomato, peas, carrots, potato, etc). I figure if we are not going to eat a lot of vegetables these days (she mostly refuses them) then at least we can talk about them!

Speaking of eating habits, Olivia absolutely LOVES eating olives (maybe that counts as a vegetable?). They are the perfect finger food for her as she sticks her little finger right in the center of the olive to pick them up. She also loves shrimp, steak, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, craisins (dried cranberries), eggs and graham crackers.  We are always trying to expand her palate and I know it will come in time but we are not really there yet.  She drinks only milk and water. I got a wonderful juicer and have been making fresh juices at home, but she absolutely refuses to try it.  Something tells me this is only the beginning of that kind of behavior!

Back to my blog series on motherhood, the topic of food and eating habits is very important one for raising little ones as what you do there sets the tone for the family as a whole probably for years to come.  When you have a little sponge (like Olivia) watching your every move, it is important to make good food choices.  While we want to allow desserts and not get crazy about withholding sweets, we are trying to teach moderation with the unhealthy stuff and keep more of the healthy stuff around the house.  Luckily Jason generally leans towards the healthy side and doesn't snack a lot so it is easy for us to be on the same page.  

In the first year of a child's life when you are nursing an infant, a big part of the mom's life revolves around feeding the baby.  I am not complaining though because the benefits by far outweigh any other aspect. Nursing is really incredible for bonding, and the mother-baby bond from nursing is the first 'relationship' that a baby has.  It also keeps me constantly in tune with his needs. At any waking (or probably even semi-conscious) moment I can tell you when he nursed last, when he will be hungry or when I will need to pump.  Sometimes when he is fussy or I can tell he has had a 'rough' day, I will snuggle and nurse him for comfort (then again that's probably a two way street!) :)

Another current benefit of nursing Quinn is that he is my little fat-buster, like a baby personal trainer!  The child is a voracious eater, and nursing is no exception!  It is a great way to burn calories.  With Summer coming to a close soon, I am making a push to exercise more and drop a few more lbs. of baby weigh before Winter sets in and it gets even harder to do.  I am trying to be practical about it and not stress over it either.  Bottom line (no pun intended) is that I need to be able to keep up with these little suckers as they have me outnumbered and are getting smarter by the day!

Here are a few pictures to share.  Olivia wanted to put her butterfly wings on Quinn the other day. He was a good sport about it.

Take care all. xoxo claire

T.G.I.M.

Hello!
I'm getting another July update in just under the wire.  The kids are doing great.  Quinn is growing fast and he is a really strong boy.  He wakes a few times at night to feed which doesn't bother me (I usually have no problem getting right back to sleep), but there are some trying times too when he doesn't go back down and wants to play instead at 3 am.  He's feeding well and still nursing great so that's what counts.  Another habit he has is pulling mommy's long hair... I swear by the time he is done with me I may have no more hair left!

Olivia is learning new tricks, words and phrases by the day.  She now helps feed the dogs.  She knows how to navigate her iPad to watch movies and open/close the applications that she likes.  She loves reading, and we are really big on Dr. Seuss around this household which is really fun and whimsical.  Besides the normal toddler moodiness and rebellion which sometimes rears up, she is really a joy to be around.  She's a happy kid overall and has a lot of fun at daycare with her friends.

Speaking of daycare, I'm going to pick up my series of thoughts on mothering because for me, having really good care for the kids in the form of daycare and babysitters is absolutely key.  I have a ton of respect for the "stay at home" moms and dads of the world, but I know that I personally am much happier and better off working outside of the home.  I titled this post "TGIM" (Thank God It's Monday) because in our household, though we certainly have a blast on weekends and vacations, we all like the swing of things with our regular weekly schedule.  I think that's a really good thing!

I think a big reason for this is because their daycare situation is top notch.

Let me back up a bit now to describe the saga of finding quality infant care back when I was pregnant with Olivia.  I am a planner and I try to be proactive about these things so at about 5 months along, I started seriously looking for a daycare solution for her.  I gathered recommendations from friends and started calling places, both in home daycare and facilities.  I toured a few places, got my name on waiting lists, and even wrote checks for deposits all to no avail.  Months went by and I started getting more nervous.  So I broadened my search (literally a Google search at this point!) and when I called several of the places, the women on the other end of the line sounded rude, frazzled or both. You could hear screaming kids in the background.  I had a few people tell me that I would have to pay them full price from that day on just to hold a spot until the baby was born and I needed care for her.

Then with a stroke of luck, I stumbled across Nina who runs an in home daycare with another lady.  She called me back immediately and we scheduled a tour.  I will never forget in the interview when Nina looked me in the eye and said "We want to be more than daycare providers for these children. We love them and want to be very important in their lives, like part of their family."  It was everything I had hoped we would find.  And these two women have definitely held up their end of the bargain by creating a great environment for kids.

We also have a few wonderful babysitters including Kathryn, Nathalie and Gracie that have come to know the kids well and helped Jason and I get out for a date night every so often.  Kathryn has even traveled with us which was a lot of fun.

I know that parenting it is a constant exercise in letting go as our children's worlds expand and they learn about new things.  I believe that having great care providers, playmates and eventually schools helps to ease our minds as parents with these changes.  Quite frankly, you never really leave your children as your heart always remains wherever they are.  Still we feel really blessed to have these great care providers for our children when we are not with them. 

Signing off for now and leaving you with one recent picture of Quinn. 

Love always, Claire

Night Crawler

Hello all!
Sorry for the delay with this post! We have been really busy around here with work and the business of raising little ones. Things are going well and our big announcement is that Quinn is officially mobile now!

We were out in Colorado on vacation during the first week of July and that is when he started crawling.  Since that day he has gotten progressively faster and has now adapted a "crab crawl" variation to cover ground more quickly.  It is really cute!  Unfortunately we don't have good pictures of him to share this time but we have a few videos for the family archive :)

Along with the newfound mobility, he has started on solid foods which he devours with great gusto.  I think both of these big milestones have made him a happier baby overall.  He was absolutely miserable and crabby when he couldn't sit up (4 months was the height of the misery).  Now he is not only sitting up, he is rolling around, crawling and pulling himself up on things.  He can actually get into that trashcan and start inspecting the contents, not just lay there and wonder what neat things he is missing out on!

It is really cute because the kiddos are starting to play a bit together and even take baths together.  I do believe they have a special bond and Olive has always taken an interest in Quinn.  Since he has gotten a lot more "interactive" now it is even more fun.  In the rec room downstairs, we will play games where Olive and I try to entice Quinn to chase after us. 

Olivia is talking up a storm with new words and phrases every single day.  She is really starting to get interested in things like counting and the ABC's.  She is a huge fan of flowers, butterflies, bumblebees and ladybugs (I anticipate the day when we see a bee and she tries to chase after it!)  We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on our vacation and saw lots of neat animals, especially giraffes which she likes to talk about a lot these days.

That is all for now and I will share a few pictures. And I PROMISE to get more pictures of Quinn for next time.  The boy is growing like a weed now!

Jason and I feel so blessed to get to watch these sweet babies grow in these early days.  Even though it is hard work at times, we are up for it and enjoying the crazy ride too!

Love, claire

Nature vs. Nurture

Hi all,
Last weekend I enjoyed a visit by my sister Chandra and two of her friends from Minneapolis that she met through the Minnetonka Mom's Club.  These ladies all have a lot in common.  They each have three kids, their oldest kids are all girls who are close friends, and they each have two younger boys.  They had all 'escaped' their homes and left the boys with the dads in order to enjoy a road trip together.

Talking and spending time with them spurred some thoughts in me on being a mom.  I think it is neat how motherhood brings women closer together through sharing experiences, advice and support.  Once you become a mother, there is no going back.  You look at the world differently, I believe.  We'll see how this goes but I thought I would try a little series of posts with some of my thoughts on mothering.

First Topic: Is a mother born or made? I believe a mother is made through experience, necessity and  even trial and error.  A person may be born with nurturing qualities and that tendency but until you have something to nurture it is impossible to really know how deep it goes.

Watching my sister and her friends and their easy manner with my kids out at dinner one night, it is clear that the language of soothing a fussy baby is somewhat universal.  I see it in the eyes of people at restaurants; you can pick out the moms and grandmas very easily and almost see the memories of their own kids dancing behind their eyes.

People often say to us "enjoy every minute!" or "that part goes by fast" or even "you do know that this the best part of your life, right?"  Part of me wants to get snarly with them as I'm wiping mashed potatoes out of my hair and signing the check for a dinner I barely had time to chew much less digest.  But I know they are right about it too.  I think with parenthood we are WAY too busy to get nostalgic now but I am sure we will be the ones telling a young couple near us those things too someday.

Another fun thing about moms is that they are all unique and wonderfully imperfect.  Case in point, every impression I make ends up sounding like the Cookie Monster.  I often forget the lines for nursery rhymes and eventually make up my own version.  I have definitely lost some of my inhibitions along the way.  I remember when Olivia was young, it felt awkward to talk to her when she was so little and not talking back to us, but now with Quinn, that is like second nature.

I will sign off now with a few pictures of the little ones.  They are doing well and keeping us busy.  Olivia has a good sense of humor and her vocabulary is growing daily.  Quinn is almost crawling; he still doesn't sleep or nap that much but he is fairly good now about sitting and playing with toys.

Until next time. Love, claire

Pint and 1/2 Pint

Hi Everyone!
Sorry it's been a little while since my last update. We have been having a ton of fun and are staying busy in the Cunningham household, that is for sure.

Quinn is really active and 'training' his little tail off to learn to crawl. We have a big futon mattress on the floor in his room and he loves exercising on it. He squirms and kicks, pushes and pulls himself. And these days, he is covering considerable ground quickly! I figure in a matter of weeks he will have his coordination figured out and really find his legs underneath him.  He's sitting up pretty well now, and when he topples over, he's all smiles and thinks it is exciting and fun.

Olivia is spending a lot of time outside. She loves flowers and also likes to help water the plants. She helps daddy in the garage by taking things to the trash and "organizing" his tools. She's climbing on everything these days. Her verbal skills are coming along great (she is really outgoing and social by nature). She says probably 50+ words regularly, including some phrases and sentences. On weekends if she wakes up early, Jason will get her a milk and sets her on the big comfortable chair in her room with some books. It is really cute because she will sit there for an hour plus sometimes, flipping through her books and playing quietly.

Olivia and Quinn get along really well. I truly believe that it is a blessing to have a sibling... someone of the same generation as you who knows you your whole life and has to deal with the same kooky parents. Quinn came along when Olivia was young enough that she never really showed jealousy, though there was a transition period for sure. Now, she just loves to help, feed, kiss and pet him. He enjoys the attention, I am sure. He is always really interested in what big sis is into.

Size wise, it won't be long before Quinn catches up to Olivia and they they will practically look like twins. I took Olivia to the doctor the other day for her 18 month checkup and she stands at 32" and 24 lbs. She's on the tall side and exactly 50% in weight which is where she has been tracking all along.

See some of the family pictures we got in early May at Quinn's 5 month mark.

 Love always, Claire & Family

E-F-G

Hello!
We're doing well and have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the nice weather. Olivia is talking a lot and especially enjoys singing the ABC song (she likes the "E-F-G" part which she will sing over and over!). She loves being outdoors, picking flowers, "helping" daddy in the garage and riding in the big swing that we have. She often climbs into the stroller when she wants to go for a walk.

Quinn is a very active baby. One of his new nicknames is "Flap Jack" because when you put him on his back, he immediately rolls over to his tummy. He can't be left unattended on a raised surface like a bed or in a bassinet anymore because he will climb out of it. He is trying really hard to crawl. It's just a matter of time before he is off to the races. Sometimes how fast he is developing makes my head spin!

We celebrated Morton's 10th birthday the other day at home with the kids and at the dog park. Here are a few recent pictures of the kiddos.

Olivia using a chopstick:

Morton and Olivia hanging out in the yard:

 Reading a book together:

 Quinn in the tree swing!

Happy Memorial Day! Claire and family

Feet Are Neat

Hello!
Yesterday marked Quinn's 4 Month birthday. Man oh man... how time flies and things change when you're busy and having this much fun!  Read on for a post that is mostly a Quinn update.

Since the day he hit the 3 month mark, Quinn has been a different baby. It is like one day he "woke up" and acquired a tremendous amount of energy. It all started one day in early April on the changing table when he got a good solid grip with both hands, one on each foot. He was kicking his feet into his hands with counter pressure and looking up at me really really excited about his new discovery. A few days later, he caught his big toe in his mouth and that was REALLY NEAT too. This kiddo loves sucking fingers as well... his, mine, dad's, probably yours too if you would let him.

I know it is not best practice to compare your children, but sometimes it's hard not to do so. While the "fog" of parenthood may wipe out some of the "hard times" and make us nostalgic about the past, Jason and I both think Olivia slept a lot more than Quinn. It just seems like this boy just does not need a lot of sleep! I think he is very normal and I know he's growing great but I do wish we could get a little more shut-eye around here.

Quinn is really strong, like physically strong. I swear he does little exercises like sit ups, back extensions, curls, and so on. And he has a crazy-strong grip. Sometimes I get to nurse him when he is sleepy and calm (I love those times!) but just as often, I get to nurse a baby boy with ants in his pants. Quinn growls too. Like "grrrr.... grrrr". Not exactly cute but humorous!

Quinn has a touch of a temper. He has his normal "witching hour" which varies day to day but besides that he is a fairly easy baby, except for the 5% of the time when he turns grizzly bear on you. When this has happened while we are out in public, such as out to dinner, we have cleared out of a few places so fast they might as well have been burning down. At times like this, we affectionately refer to him as "Jack Jack" (the baby from The Incredibles which is one of my favorite kids movies).

Other nicknames for Quinn include Barnacle, Sweet Doll, Love Chunk, and (the most commonly used) Bud. Oh yeah, by the way I am a nick-namer. J and I probably didn't need to agree on what to call our children since I assign and use their nicknames almost as much as their real names!

Here's a picture of Q in the new kids recliner that we got. All he needs to do is trade in his binkie for a beer and the remote control and he will be set to enter manhood.

On the Olive front, she is doing great - we all survived a 6 week patch of teething where she was quite a bear, but at least we have 4 more teeth to show for it. Her taste buds are pretty wonky these days, and she's been a fairly picky eater.  She's been digging a lot on black olives and dried cranberries. And pizza (of course).

We had a family photo shoot yesterday which was quite a production to orchestrate (thanks Catherine!). So we will have some new pictures to share soon.

Take care, claire & family

Reality Check

Hi everyone!

I was reading back through some of my earlier posts and noticed that my tone is always pretty upbeat on this blog. I'm sure that's a good thing as I would not want to come across like a 'Debbie Downer' here (LOL) or leave a negative record of our lives for future reflection. However, I want this to be real, and as such, I must acknowledge that we do have challenging times. Let's take last week, for example...

Jason and I planned a vacation to Colorado to stay at my family's house in Cascade. We both knew going in that we would have to pack "lots of patience and a really long fuse" (Jason's words) for the trip. So we loaded up my little hybrid SUV, complete with luggage rack topper, two dogs, two kids, and two *crazy* parents, for the drive westward.

By the time we reached our destination in Colorado and prepared to set the circus down, everyone was tired. J and I both had a (pipe) dream of margaritas at a fave restaurant and then good long afternoon naps.  Nothing could be farther from the reality that was to come.

Upon arrival, Olive went directly into overdrive, exploring the house, grabbing at everything in sight, including pieces of my mom's kachina art collection, antique pottery, lamp cords, you name it. After Olive would lay claim to one of these items, prying it from her strong grip resulted in wails of disapproval and anger. Complete with two long wooden staircases, antique books and other decor, we had arrived at possibly the least kid-proof place on the planet.

To add injury to insult, Olivia also kept tripping and falling over the thresholds between some of the rooms. Since she's not yet a confident walker, minor elevation changes and slippage of her socked feet on the wood floor were problematic. After doing about 10 face plants, with wails and cries building in intensity each time, she finally got some better negotiating skills (she started doing a "crab walk" over the thresholds which was actually really cute).

Something about the mountain air must have kicked Quinn into a huge growth spurt as after we arrived in CO, and for the next several days, he would nurse about 30 minute out of every hour or two during the day. His fussiness was also in high gear for most of the first few days. Neither of the kids slept well for the first 4 nights or so. Of course that means that mom and dad aren't sleeping either. After the first 3 nights, I could honestly say that I was unable to string more than 2 hours of sleep together at one time. Not exactly a vacation!

After we got past the "hump" (literally Wednesday), everyone calmed down a lot and our (mostly) sweet children returned to us. The best part of the day was the evening when everyone got into pj's, listening to music and playing legos or other puzzles by the fireplace.

I talked with my sis about this and asked what is the secret to traveling with kiddos. She described it as a cost/benefit analysis. When they are this young, vacations are not going to be as traditionally "fun" or relaxing as you are accustomed to so just accept that fact. She recounted a story of a family trip to AZ when their youngest was 6 weeks old that turned into a fiasco where everyone probably wished they were home instead of wrangling their children 2,000 miles from the comforts of home.

I know Jason and I both want to travel with our little ones and explore things with them, however we need to be practical about what is fun for their ages and what is just plain too hard to pull off and/or not worth the time, money or effort. We are definitely up for more Colorado trips, though. And here's to hoping that we will get to enjoy those maragaritas someday after all!

I'll leave you with some pics of our brood from the trip. Wow, I can't believe how fast they are both growing.

Quinn on the yoga wall and after some tummy time on the bolster.  The big boy started rolling over on this trip!

Olive and Daddy at 11 Mile Canyon. She became a much more confident walker on this trip! Getting lots of practice on different terrain.  

Playing with legos at night.  Quinn was too young to play but they made his name out of legos!

Love, claire and family

Easter Bunnies

Hello!

We had a wonderful Easter this past weekend.  The weather on Sunday was perfect for egg hunting and outdoor activities.  It seems that stuffed animal bunny rabbits have multiplied around our house like bunnies will tend to do this time of year.  We may need to thin the herd a bit by donating some toys and other loveys to charity!

Here are a few pictures of Olive on the hunt.  She filled her bag up so full that one of the handle straps actually broke :)

She was not a big fan of the bunny ears so I had to distract her with stickers to get these pictures.

Here is one giving Quinn lots of love.

And another from last night at a fave spot, Louie's, where they have EXCELLENT macaroni and cheese.  It was so good, she decided to wear it.

News flash! Olive sprouted two front middle (top) teeth the other day!  Dad noticed it last night during bathtime. Finally some progress from all of the teething agony she has been going through!

We have a photo shoot scheduled in the coming weeks so we will be getting some good pictures of Quinn. He is almost 3 months old and doing really well.

Love always, claire