Clara One Year

So we are very far behind on posting… it’s been a busy last few months and we’ve had some blog issues but hopefully we are back now! Only a few months late… Clara turned one!!

Our favorite photographer, Amber Russell of Amber Lea Russell Photography, came all the way up to Phoenix for Clara’s one year pictures.  We love Amber as a person and as a photographer and highly recommend her! We went to downtown Phoenix near Lola Coffee and then headed to Encanto Park.  The day was very hot but all of us managed to hang in there long enough to get some great shots.  We were pleased with the result! Thank you Amber!!

The green rocking chair was Jeff’s as a child and was recently given a makeover with the green paint.  Clara really enjoys it!

We celebrated Clara’s birthday with pictures on the 27th and then lots of family time on her birthday.  Hopefully, we can celebrate with friends next year once we are more established in Tempe. A local restaurant chain gives $10 off for birthdays at each of their restaurants, so we took advantage of this and went to Liberty Market for brunch and then Joe’s Real Barbeque for dinner. We brought Clara’s passport along as the proof required by the restaurants. It is still funny to me that such a young child has a passport and that it will be valid until she is 5.

Clara was walking well by this point, clapping (and even began on her own when singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It”), and imitating motions to songs. I should have been better about blogging at the time or writing things down… so I am kind of lost as to what exactly was going on at the time. She was using several signs at this point for “more”, “all done”, “eat”, and “please”. She started saying “dog” and “book” around this time and could tell you what sound a dog makes.  She was starting to approximate many other words too. She was (and still is) a huge fan of books and was entertained as long as someone would read. She loved the bath and would lay on her belly and kick as if she was swimming.