Happy Birthday Kayla!

Happy Halloween!

Some events demand a blog post. Halloween is one of them. There was way too much cuteness going on over here not to share. So without further adieu... This is Halloween!

Leaf party after a long raking session. And yet they still keep falling!

Daddy and his girls.

Kennedy carving her pumpkin. Love the pose.

She insisted that she was old enough to use the giant knife. Luckily all ten digits are still intact.

The finished product. She also wanted to carve the little guy, but I hear pie pumpkins are not the best for carving. So I let her paint it pink. She liked that idea.

Here is Miss Abby sporting her curlers and Halloween outfit in preparation for the big night.

The candy fairies in their natural habitat. Swarming around a bowl of candy. Abby would not continue the photo shoot until she had a sucker safely in her mouth. It least she left the candy on her costume alone most of the night.

Kennedy and her pumpkin friends. Note the lovely pink pumpkin.

The candy fairies about to set off on a candy hunt. And check out that amazing grass in the background. Yup, we grew that from scratch! The Halloween caution tape kept most of the trick-or-treaters off the baby grass. Kennedy was really worried about that.

Another shot of the candy fairies. Too cute!


Happy Halloween!

Random Pictures

Kennedy "getting a tan" at the pool. Seriously she kept insisting she was getting tan. Maybe she was just looking for a face tan???
Abby monster at the pool.
Abby's new hair-do. Tim did this by just twisting her hair.
Kennedy and friends at church. They all ended up with the same exact dress. We had to plan a photo op.

I am sorry I never po

July is the Party Month!

Abby's birthday was on July 10th and Kennedy's was on July 30th. We decided just to party all of July! It was a lot of fun, but I don't need to eat another cupcake for a long time.
Abby's Birthday Breakfast. (Cinnamon Roll)

Kennedy with her cinnamon roll and matching candles. We couldn't let Abby have a birthday without Kennedy insisting it was hers too!

Abby's Birthday Cupcake. I spelled out A-B-C with cupcakes for Abigail Beverly Clawson. We failed to take a picture of the whole cake, but Abby sure thought it tasted good!

With Ryan in town for the week, we decided to have little party for both girls birthdays. I really wanted to make pirate treasure cupcakes so a pirate party it was. Argg! Here are the pirates (and parrot) ready to start on a treasure hunt.

Uncle Ryan made us a sweet treasure map that Kennedy had fun following. The map was pretty authentic with burned edges and dirt smudges. Way to go Ryan!

Kennedy loved finding the little treasure boxes as she followed the clues on the map. Each box had pirate jewelry. You can see she is already sporting three rings in this picture. Note: The parrot costume was left over from Halloween two years ago. When we all got into our pirate costumes for the party Kennedy got real excited and disappeared only to re-emerge as a parrot. She must have remembered parrots go with pirates. Clever girl!

Kennedy the pirate parrot digging for buried treasure in our sand box. We had fun burying all the presents in a tupperware. It was clear and Kennedy got real enthusiastic when she saw what was in the box.

Pirate Treasure Cupcakes. Abby kept trying to grab the candles.

Random left over firework show. It was a party. Why not?

After the pirate party we pitched our tent in the backyard and had a fun sleep over. It was probably cooler in the tent than the house.

Kennedy's birthday eve party with the Dunnigans. We just couldn't stop celebrating.

Abby eating ice cream with Brother Dunnigan.

Kennedy and Shannon.

Kennedy's sweet wooden shoes the Dunnigans got her in Holland, MI. She loves to clomp around the house in them.

More cupcakes! These are gluten free lollipop flower cupcakes. Super yummy!

We celebrated Kennedy's actually birthday with the Howard up at Highland State Park. It was Brenum's birthday too! Ava wanted to blow out a candle as well. Why not? Candles for everyone!

Enjoying the lake in the hot sun.

Kennedy trying to catch a fish.

The birthday girl roasting starbusts over the fire. It doesn't get much better than that. Happy Birthday Kennedy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Mom,

As I reflect about you today Mom, I can’t help but be proud of you. You are such an amazing woman. You are beautiful, giving, talented, understanding, intelligent, patient, selfless, etc, etc, etc. I know you aren’t perfect, but you are about as close to it as any being I know. As I have received compliments for various things I always think, “Yeah I learned that from my mom”. I am such a lucky kid to be trained at the side of such a master. You are amazing! I know I already used that word, but it just fits you.

I can’t imagine embarking on my own parenting adventure without your example. Even though I will still have to learn a lot of things the hard way, making plenty of mothering mistakes, I can look to you and find hope for survival, inspiration, and sometimes just a sympathetic listener. And I know despite my mistakes, if I do the important things, like you always did, that things will work out all right. I know it wasn’t always easy to raise children in the gospel. It took personal commitment. Even if I never had heard you bear your testimony, I would know what you believe because you worked so hard to teach it to us kids. Thank you for being a courageous parent and for showing me how to love and live the gospel.

I could type for another hour and never truly express my love and gratitude for you. I love you so much! I hope that I can honor you with my life and pass on your legacy of faith to my children. Happy Mothers Day Mom!

Love,

Rachel

p.s. Here is a Mother's Day song from the girls. Kennedy will sing it perfect with actions and everything... as long as I don't try to record it. But here it is anyways. There are two takes so between the two of them you should get a feel for the song. They love you!

Kennedy at the Piano

Kennedy Sings the ABC's

Happy Easter!

Easter was a big hit at the Clawson home!

Kennedy was so excited to find her Easter basket and even more excited to open all the eggs and eat them. All in one sitting!

Mommy look what I got!

Abby enjoying her Easter Basket.

The Clawsons in their Easter duds.
We think we look pretty sharp!

Where are the eggs?

Show me your beauty queen wave.

Hooray for Easter!

Who loves Easter? Kennedy!!!

The girls in their Easter dresses from Daddy!

Grandpa and Grandma Clawson visited for Easter!

Easter Kiss!

The girls in their dresses from Grandma Bradshaw.

What a cutie!

Crazy hair Ab!

February 2011

Are you in the Underwear Club? That is the question on everyone's lips the last few weeks in the Clawson home. Kennedy has called off her "potty strike" and is ready to give underwear another chance. I pretty much burned the diaper bridge by telling her diapers are for babies and only big girls get to wear cool underwear. I said underwear is so cool in fact that it has its own club. Kennedy has really bought into the whole club idea and is constantly asking family and friends if they are in the club too. As of March 1st, she has had two 100% successful days and the rest with only small accidents here and there. Go Kennedy!

We got two big snow storms in the month of February. The first resulted in a "snow day" for Tim which meant PJ's, sledding, and junk food. Oh yeah! The only thing the rest of the snow in February has been good for is a sore back (from shoveling the walks) and forced hibernation (we probably left the house less than 20 times the whole month!)

With all the sitting around the house going on in February, Abby has had plenty of time to work on her crawling. She is getting pretty good at moving backwards, but has yet to make much forward progress. With Kennedy chasing her around all day, I'm sure she'll figure it out soon, once those survival instincts kick in.

Kennedy and Abby are pretty good friends right now. Kennedy does love to poke, squish, hit, and carry her poor little sister more than I would like, but the two have their peacful moments as well. Currently, their favorite game involves Abby as the monster chasing Kennedy around the Kitchen-Living room-hall round about inside our house. Of course I have to assist our little monster in her relentless attack, but hey I need a workout too right?


Abby is growing up so quickly. In February she has:

• Started to really eat solid foods. Her favorites are oats, pears, applesauce, carrots, and green beans. She hates peas and isn't a huge fan of peaches.
• Discovered her toes and along with everything else she can get her hands on puts them right in her mouth.
• Learned to play peek-a-boo. She will but her head on the floor or against my chest and then pop pack up when I say "peek-a-boo!" Adorable!
• Grown a crop of crazy red-ish hair. Gotta love the baby fro!

February has also been a good month for Kennedy. Along with the all consuming Underwear Club she has also:

• Loves to play with friends. Every night she wants to know if she can play with so-and-so tomorrow. She looks forward to each new play date and talks of little else until they show up!
• She loves to dance and dress up in her crazy outfits. We don't have real dress-ups yet so she has resorted to swimsuits, Mommy's dresses and shoes, any and all ruffly skirts, bows clipped to everyday apparel, winter gear including scarfs and gloves, etc. I'm afraid she already has my flair for the theatrical.

Tim has stayed really busy with school and work, but still manages to find time to wrestle with the girls and take them out for a weekly daddy daughter date. This February he also served as the MC for the Ford Chinese Association's Chinese New Year Banquet. He did a great job and managed to stay calm despite the 300 plus crowd of FCA members and Ford executives. I think I was more nervous watching him than he was speaking, but he is such a cool character anyway so it's no surprise. Way to go Tim!

There are never many pictures
of the camera woman

As for me, well February has been a slow month. Not a whole lot going on. I did throw an awesome Valentine's dinner for Tim, but in the excitement of the evening forgot to take pictures. I made Tim a nice three course dinner with homemade faccacia bread (so amazing) mushroom basil soup, steak with a balsamic vinegear and red wine sauce, and the most delicious chocolate chip cookie cheesecake. The only hitch was when my wine sauce started to burn and set off the smoke alarm, but Tim said it only added a authentic smoky atmosphere to our dining experience.
I have also been coaching the YW basketball team and supervising a stake womens basketball league. Throw in a few piano lessons Saturday morning and it has made for a busy day. But I love it and am having tons of fun especially coaching. The girls have won two game now and are really looking good.

I don't think I will miss February much. We had some fun, but I am ready for warmer weather and new adventures. Here's to March!