Clara's (current) favorite things. . .

PLAYING THE TRUMPET - Girlfriend is still trying with all her might to make noise with her trumpet. She has come so far (she can pick it up with two hands, bring to mouth and press the buttons) but doesn't quite understand how to blow. She literally did this for 30 minutes one day. 

ROCKING THE PONYTAIL - Since her hair is actually really long on top (well, it's long all over but you just can't tell b/c of all the curls), I tried to pull it together in a top pony tail. It worked. Kind of. Ha! And no - I don't think that ridiculously large bow matches her outfit, I was simply trying to see if her itty bitty ponytail would hold a bow. I do not plan for her to sport that thing in public. No worries.

And here I tried pigtails. Didn't work so well. Her expression says it all.

READING BOOKS WITH DADDY - Once Brandon is home from work, this is her favorite spot. She will crawl over to her book cubby and hit them (her way of showing us what she wants, she cannot yet pull the books out on her own) until Brandon comes over to read with her.

LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW - If I ever walk out of the room for a minute and come back and Clara has moved out of sight, 99.9% of the time I can find here right here.

GOING TO THE BEACH - We took Clara to the beach last weekend to celebrate a friends 30th birthday and she absolutely loved it! (I know you are all super jealous of our breathtaking ocean water. I should have added a filter to these pics for the sake of your eyes.)

 "Mommy, don't expect me to look at the camera when the sun is blaring in my eyes."

We have had A LOT going on since our beach trip last weekend, but all of that is another post for another day. Have a great week!

Weekend on Lake Travis

We spent last Wednesday - Sunday in Spicewood, Texas, on a mini vacation with Brandon's parents. It was wonderful, relaxing and nice to just get out of town for a few days. There is something about getting out of town that just clears your head, no?

Do y'all remember back in February of 2012, when I was pregnant with Clara, and Brandon surprised me with a getaway anniversary + babymoon weekend? Well, we went to the same lake house for this trip and once again, it did not disappoint! I was a little more mobile this time around (Remember last year I had cankles the size of Texas itself. You're welcome for not reposting reminder pics) but with the grandparents there, I was still able to relax quite a bit. We watched Clara swim, played ping pong and ladder ball, ate at several yummy restaurants and got cupcakes at the Austin famous "Hey Cupcake," and visited a local winery. Oh and found a gigantic lizard in the garage. I only heard about the lizard second hand, and was not the one to find it, so lucky for me and unlucky for you, I have no crazy dramatic traumatic lizard experiences to report.

Here are some pics to sum up our trip. . .

(We were so sad that Brandon's bro, wife and kids were not able to join us!)