An Early Birthday Gift

Tomorrow is officially Claire’s 1st birthday, but we let her open up a few today.

Here she is opening the one from Grandma and Grandpa. She had a lot of fun tearing the paper. It was a 4-in-1 stroller.

And to go with her stroller ofcourse, her own baby! She loved this! The baby made noises and it was hysterical to see Claire’s reaction.

Here she is taking her baby for a stroll. Look how happy she is!

She also got her own purse from Aunt Joanne, Uncle Marc, and Ryan and Adam. It came complete with keys, lipstick, mirror and cash. Here she is putting on her lipstick…..or rather, eating it!

We can’t wait until the big day tomorrow!

Another Victory!

The West Toronto Cobras just can`t be stopped! Isaac`s team sweeped the Newmarket tournament this weekend winning all 5 games, with a total of 34 goals scored with none against....TRULY AMAZING!!!!! A photo of the winning team.

And Claire enjoying the eye candy.

Daddy Daycare

I had my first day back to work...BOO!!! Here is Claire showing her support.

I assure you, we are both crying inside.

So Anthony had the kids for 2 days. On the first day he took Claire to the zoo with cousins Ryan and Adam. Here are some photos of their day.

Claire pushing the stroller.

Ryan and Claire discussing current events, such as when they last passed gas.

And a lunch break with the whole gang.

On the second day they went to the indoor playground. Here is Claire trying out the big wheeler.

Isaac showing Claire how sweet this ride is.

Fun in the bouncy castle.

Reaching exhaustion in the ball pit.

A Nice Photo

There's nothing like eating like a cow while you're on vacation, to return to attend a 50th wedding anniversary "lunch" - italian style. Oh, the food.........

A nice photo of Claire with her grandparents. It wasn't their 50th, but Anthony's Aunt & Uncle's.

Niagra Falls Vacation

We took some well needed vacation time with the kids. Kind of my last hooray before I head back to work (boo!). We spent 3 days in Niagra Falls at the Embassy Suite. A lovely view of the Falls and surrounding area.

Some of the hotel extras were crazy!!! We enjoyed a buffet breakfast every morning overlooking the falls. And every evening, what's known as the Manager's Reception, which consisted of coupons for alcoholic beverages (6 drinks), unlimited non-alcoholic beverages, a buffet of various snacks such as veggies and dip, nacho's and salsa, pretzels, peanuts and most importantly (and to Anthony's demise), candy!! Let's just say the diets were off for the trip! Isaac posing with the treats.

There was also an arcade and games area. The kids (or just Isaac) enjoying some of the games.



There was lots to do. We spent a day at Clifton hill doing different things. Isaac in the funhouse. This was the crooked room. Everything was sloped downwards. My vertigo didn't agree with this room.

Inside the Adventure Playground.

We also went in the Haunted House but I was too scared to take any photos.

We took walks down the strip (to burn off all the crap we ate!). You can see our hotel in the distance.

Another day we took the kids to Fallsview Indoor Waterpark. This place was amazing. It was completly covered, had lots of waterslides, a wave pool, and a splash pad area for the little ones. Claire having some fun.

After the waterpark, we went to the Hershey Chocolate factory. A photo with the Hershey kiss.

Isaac and Anthony also did a boat ride called Maid of the Mist. This took you up close to the base of the falls.

Some family pictures.

Isaac and I enjoying our post waterpark ice-cream cones.

Daddy and Claire. Anthony and his Dad have this same photo. We tried to mimic it here. When I find their photo I'll post it.

Daddy and the kids. Anthony is on a sugar high and Isaac coming down from his sugar high. Claire just wants to get up and walk around! She did so much of this on her own. She made great progess with this while we were away!

A family photo.

And lastly, the newest family member.....MY NEW COACH PURSE!!

This was such a steal! Original price $398 + tax and I scored it at the Coach outlet for $145 + tax!!!!!!! This truly made the trip worth it. I have the family of my dreams, and now the purse of my dreams!

Annual Clemente BBQ

Some pictures from the annual Clemente Family BBQ.

Claire with the donkey (this is a tradition to have all the children pose with the donkey).
Claire and Zio Marc.

Claire upset that she is no longer the baby and Adam is.

The group shot. I love how Claire is still looking for me!

And I found this old shot from a few years ago. My things have changed!

Happy 5th Bday Thaiana

We celebrated my neice's 5th birthday today at Rainforest Cafe.

Claire enjoyed the scenery. She was scared first of the fish, then she was intrigued and tried to catch them!

Best buddies Thaiana and Mya making silly faces.

We went back to our place afterwards for some yummy melting ice-cream cake!

Indoor Playground

Since today was a rainy day, I decided to take Claire to the indoor playground where we'll be having her upcoming birthday party. It also gave me a good opportunity to "test it out" and see if Claire would enjoy the place. To say she enjoyed it is an understatement. There were a lot of kids there due to the weather so she was overloaded with little people to look at. She was so preoccupied I could hardly get her to look at the camera for pictures. Here she is breaking her neck to get a glimpse at the other kids.

Again, not looking at the camera, in a little pink car.

Inside the ball pit.

Going down the slide. She just loved this!

On the turtle rocker. Check out all those teeth!

And to top it off, she did the most walking I have ever seen. She was so inspired by the other kids and interesting toys to play with that it motivated her to move. She litterally walked across half of the room ALL ON HER OWN! Unfortunately I didn't film it, but it was incredible to see her go!

I ended up buying her a 12 visit play pass so that we can take her some more. We call it her summer gym pass!

3 km

As most of you know, we are doing a biggest loser couple competition against Marc & Joanne. To stay on top of the game, we enlisted the kids help and they took us out for a bike ride. The total distance was about 3km with half of the distance going uphill. My legs were killing afterwards, but it really paid off. Here we are all smiles before our ride.

Claire and Daddy. Claire was feeling a little self-conscious as she thought the helmet made her head look big.

Taking Steps Now

She is making progress!

Wonderland

I took the kids to Wonderland today. It was a beautiful day to be out. Somehow I didn't end up taking many pictures! Of the few I took, here are the kids heating up after some time in the wave pool. Gotta love Claire's new butterfly shades.

And taking a stroller break while waiting for big brother Isaac to come off a roller coaster.

We also had funnel cake and it was still as good as I remember.

We got seasons passes so I'll make sure to take more photos next time.

Strolling

This is her new thing - helping Mommy push the stroller. I let her do it a few nights ago when we went for a walk and now she expects to do this whenever we are out. She looks so cute walking down the street.

11 Month Milestone

I can't believe she's 11 months turning 1!! We are so excited yet sad at the same time. It's going by so quickly and we don't want her to get older. We just love our SWEET little girl so, so much!

Claire is a lover of Karen Katz' books. She loves opening the flaps herself now when we are reading to her. Or tearing them out of the books when she is reading to herself!

Not only do I have a thing for sunglasses on babies, I also have a thing for hats! Here she is in her new sun hat.

In 11 months, Claire never took to crawling but rather scooted about on her bum and shin with her palms just like a little chimp! It makes us laugh. This photo says call of the wild!

Most of all we love her smile and bright eyes. We are so glad she is here!

And the slideshow of months past: