Swimming at the Spray Park

We have a spray park in our neighborhood and we go almost every day. We took Morgan and Chris a couple of times while they were here visiting. Clare is quite the pro at climbing up to the green slide. She is very methodical in the way she gets there. When she gets to the top, she turns around and lies on her stomach to go feet first. It is so fun to watch. When she gets to the bottom, she sits up and says, "Get out, get out, get out." There is a "tray" and she needs help getting over the side of it.

Another Birthday Celebration

Aunt Morgan and Uncle Chris came to visit and helped us to celebrate Clare's birthday. We had a cookout with our friend, VJ, and her husband, Dan, too. Aunt Mo was behind the camera, so we didn't get any pictures of her.


VJ and Dan gave Clare a new baby doll that plays peek-a-boo. Luckily, it has an off button because otherwise, it starts talking randomly in the middle of the night. It has scare Brian almost to death several times.

Birthday Girl - Clare Turns Two

We cannot believe our baby girl is two already. She is a beautiful and smart little girl. She amazes us everyday with everything she does.

Clare was the Birthday Princess. We skyped with Mimi and Pops and she opened her gifts from them - a purple feather boa, lots of beads and jewelry and a tiara.

I made monkey cupcakes - of course.

She had not intention of sharing with her baby brother, but we did get her to pose.

A great shot of Daddy and Ian...

Cupcake Fakeout

Clare woke up on her big day to me singing Happy Birthday. She was in a great mood and it was all about her for the day. I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said cupcakes. I told her we would have some later - after dinner. She drank her milk and I fixed her some toast and a banana. I put it in front of her on her special birthday plate and she looked at me dumbfounded and pushed the plate away, again saying "Cupcakes". So, I explain I have to make them and we'll have some later - no dice.

I grabbed a muffin from the freezer, tossed it in the microwave and iced it with cream cheese! Clare loved it and didn't know I'd conned her.

She asked for chocolate for lunch! Where does she get this stuff? I let her have a hershey kiss after she ate her PBJ.

More smiles and laughter

Ian started laughing on Clare's birthday. He loves to chat and smile and is now chewing on his fists and drooling. He is the sweetest baby. Here he is in action...

Cheeseburgers!!!

Some of Clare's favorite foods have always been pizza, spaghetti and quesadillas. She'll eat just about anything, but these always garner lots of excitement. We've added one more - cheeseburgers. She loves them, too.

Storytime

While I was getting ready to start our day, Clare woke up and wanted to read a book. I laid her on our bed with Ian and she started "reading" to him. Every now and then she would actually tell him something that was on the page. Too cute!

Chunky Monkey

Ian had his 2 month old checkup today. He is perfectly healthy. He's a great sleeper and eater as evidenced by the fact that he has almost doubled his birth weight - and now weighs 14 lbs. 7 oz. and is 23 inches long. He's grown 1-1/2" in 4 weeks. He is smiling and cooing. Ian is a really happy baby and totally laid back.

Corny girl

Tonight we had barbecued ribs, baked beans and corn on the cob. I cut the corn off for Clare. As soon as we started eating she started repeating "Corn". It took us a minute to realize that she wanted the corn on the cob and not what was cut on her plate. We gave her a piece and I told her that it was still a little hot. She told me, "Alright hot!". Then, proceeded to eat the entire piece and part of another.

Backyard fun

Our backyard is very small, but we have a great spot on the patio - it is covered and perfect amount of space for an early birthday present for Clare. We bought her a sand and water table a few weeks ago. After several instances of her trying to drink the water by putting her face in, it is temporarily a sand only table, but she still enjoys it. At least once each day, she goes to the back door and says in a questioning tone, "Sand and Water Table?".

Butterflies!!!

We went to a local mall to see a butterfly exhibit that was hosted by the Kiwanis Club. Clare loved it. It was a tent that was about 15' X 30' with 500 butterflies.

Goth Girl

Thank goodness for washable markers. I was distracted for a few minutes and turned around to see my little girl covered in black marker. Baby wipes work wonders on Crayola markers - not a new discovery in this house. I think she thought she was putting on makeup.

Another great find...

We discovered a new place to play today. It is called The Grove and it is in Allen, TX - about 20 minutes from our house. There are five playhouses, a maze made from bushes and a real train caboose. Clare had a ball running from one house to the other - there is a bank, a post office, a fire station, a restaurant and an actual house. My friend, Shelley, got a great shot of Ian.

Our Little Texan

Clare has been really good about saying Thank You and says it in appropriate situations. Tonight after dinner, she asked for ice cream. Brian fixed it and put in front of her and said, "What do you say?" She responded with "Yee Haw".

Our big announcement...

A Huge Update!

Our family has been through some exciting changes in the past few months. The biggest and most amazing is our new addition. Ian Robert Piascik was born on March 6th. He is as beautiful as his big sister! He is very laid back and a very content baby.

He wrote the book on sleeping! He loves his swing during the day and is still in the pack and play in our room at night. Which leads us to the next piece of big news... We moved to Dallas on New Year's Eve. We actually live in a town called The Colony. If you are familiar with the DFW area - it borders Frisco, Little Elm and Lewisville. Frisco is 1/2 mile from our house and we are about 3 blocks from Lake Lewisville. We live on a peninsula. We are thrilled with our neighborhood - it has walking/biking trails, a community pool, a spray park, playground and, drum roll in Brian's honor, a golf course! Brian has quite a commute to the office each day, but the tradeoff is golf and the other amenities.

We love our new house. It sits on a postage stamp which is normal for the Dallas area. It takes Brian 20 minutes to cut the grass - front and back. I'm adjusting to having the kids' bedrooms upstairs and our's down - thank goodness for video monitors. The house was under construction when we found it and we moved in 2 weeks before Ian was born. I was on modified bedrest for 4 weeks which means we're still making the house a home. My parents were here for 2 weeks, Brian's sister came for a few days and then his mom came for another long weekend. So, we're getting close - I'll feel better once our walls aren't bare.

Back to the kids... Ian is already smiling and cooing at 8 weeks (smiles started a couple of weeks ago). I've yet to get it on film though. Clare is becoming a big girl. She talks non-stop and is constantly amazing us with her vocabulary - we don't know where most of her words come from. Last night, she looked in the mirror and said, "I'm so cute." Very matter of fact.

We've been doing lots of family activities and Clare has had lots of new experiences. Brian's dad was here yesterday and we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. I told Clare we were going to see the cows and she said, "And horses?". Yes - and horses. Then she said, "Ride a pony." She had her first pony ride a few weeks ago at Nash Farm in Grapevine and remembered. We weren't sure that she would be able to ride one at the Stockyards - we lucked out. Here are pictures of both rides.

Clare also made a new friend at the Stockyards - Big Mike, a 17 year old...

LONGHORN!!! And, yes, he's real. For $3, we could take her picture on his back. She loved it!

We realized that we didn't have a picture of PaPa with Ian, so we took this one this morning before he left. Clare had woken up at 5:00 AM (her usual wake up time is 8) and this was at 7:00, so she was a little tired.

Clare also had her first really good haircut in a long time following this picture. She even used mousse! I'll try to get a picture when she wakes up from her nap.

If you know anything about Texas, you know that you can't be a Texan without taking portraits among the bluebonnets. In an effort to indoctrinate ourselves, we had pictures of Clare and Ian done last weekend. These are the ones that the photographer sent us by email. I'm still waiting on a CD with the rest of them.