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Week of January 23

2012-01-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

Well, this week we really didn't do anything exciting or out of the ordinary...........just hanging out with the two children! That's exciting enough!

More nice weather... so more fun in the playhouse. This time, Claire wanted baby Clymer to join her. It's so sweet b/c she is starting to want to include him into her games... .of course she is bossy and has a certain thing she wants him to do...but at least she is including him! We will tackle the bossiness soon! :)

He lights up anytime Claire is around... this is a great picture of his face while watching Claire cook in the playhouse............

For Christmas, Claire got a doctor kit... and she loves to doctor everyone. Here she is playing doctor with daddy...

Clymer looks on while chewing on a princess cup..... little buddy, we don't always let you play with girl stuff .... you just like it b/c it's Claire's :)

Claire including Clymer again... she says "Ok, let's check him." Of course we let Daddy do it b/c Claire would probably gouge out an eyeball with the thermometer!

He like getting his blood pressure taken

Mommy seems to never make it into the pics... here is a picture of the lady behind the camera!

Claire has wanted to play "babies" all week... here she is lying next to her baby before church.

Kissing the baby night night... she told us to "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

She also picked out her clothes for church..........and we need to figure out something to do with our curly hair...any advice from parents with curly headed children is welcome...

Clymer watching Claire play...........

Cooking dinner the other night I looked at Claire while she was eating her sandwich........glad I checked b/c she was about to let Clymer take a bite.

Eating green beans................messy eater.... we've learned to blow bubbles when mommy sticks the food in his mouth.....

We've started going to the Library each week and Claire loves it... we went yesterday and she wanted to sit in the floor as soon as we got home... she sat like this for 45 mins...

See ya next week folks!

Week of January 16-20

2012-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I only have a few pictures for today but hopefully will have time to post some more tomorrow...

Here lately, Claire has been obsessed with doors... locking, pretending to lock... closing, shutting, but mostly, pretending to lock. Here is a picture of my two monkeys and their door adventures. Claire is "locking" the door that goes out to the back porch and Clymer is crawling out of it.

Little buddy has kicked it up a notch this past week :) He is going and climbing everywhere! Just living up to his name I guess!

The weather was finally nice outside this week so Claire was able to play in her playhouse a little bit. She got this from us for her Birthday!

Outside playing, Claire informs me ... "Mama, the farm house is suppose to be red. I said, "What farm house, Claire?" She brings me to the back porch and points to the shed and says, "That farm house. Now go paint it red!"

Silly girl!

Week of Jan 9th

2012-01-17T08:03:00.000-08:00

So, here's an idea that I really want to accomplish this year.......... A lot of my friends are doing the picture a day project, but I don't know if I can locate my camera each day, So I am going to do a revised version and just do each week...... i REALLY am going to try to stick to it!!! So let's see how long it lasts :)

Here are our little adventures from this past week....

Baby Clymer trying prunes for the first time...he ate the whole jar and Claire thought it was hilarious and she also thought at first that he was eating chocolate. She later realized it definitely was not chocolate! :)

No prunes for Claire, she will just stick to the good ol pb sandwhich

Daddy and Claire doing a dance while cutting up some things for dinner... you can't tell they are dancing, but I promise they are. It was really cute!

Claire playing with her vinyl sticker book she got from her sweet friend Payton. This is a GREAT gift idea for any three year old. She sat for 1 hour and 30 minutes without getting up... i know that's hard to believe but i promise she did!! In this sticker book you decorate all the rooms in the house.... here she is decorating the little girl's room.

It was also very cold this week....the high on Thursday was 48... here is little buddy all bundled up. He's really starting to look like a little boy!

He's also starting to get around a lot faster... a LOT faster. He loved Claire's little "fur real pet." It barks and walks around on the floor...they crawled around together the other night and Clymer just kept smiling and smiling :)

He's also starting to pull up on more things................

which means we're bumping our head a lot more too. I forgot about this part of learning to walk with Claire. I feel like they need a helment!

But bumping his head didn't stop him... here he is going at it again!

Mommy also got to do some sewing this week too... here is Claire in one of her new dresses for the Spring/Summer. She is all about "twirling" now and when she puts a dress on, that's the first thing she does...see's if it will twirl. This is a super easy pattern and guess what, it twirls a lot so that meant one happy girl. Here she is demonstrating. :) I know, the colors are a little loud, but she LOVED it! :)

See ya next week!

2012-01-09T06:35:00.000-08:00

Our sweet girl is Three!!!! Here are some pictures of what our little jamboree looked like. We had a pink cowgirl theme!

Daddy grilling up some hotdogs.............

Well, you may say, "I thought you said you had a pink cowgirl theme?" Well, before I could even get a pic of her in her cowgirl outfit that I made for her........she threw the biggest tantrum you ever saw and wanted to put on her pink princess nightgown. Yes, screamed and screamed but she said it was night time and she wanted her pj's. Rob took her upstairs and tried to reason with her but guess what........she came walking down the stairs, happy as can be, in her pink princess nightgown. So, yes people, she wore pj's' at her party!

Anderson wasn't getting out of his cowboy attire...no way! He was ready.hat, boots, jeans and all!

Slade enjoying some food!

Hayden, Ramsey and Claire...all eating the icecream cupcakes. Hayden later sat on Claire's and she thought it was hilarious! :) Silly kiddos!

Sitting on the stairs enjoying her junk food = one happy girl!

Told ya he was ready in his cowboy attire... I think this is my favorite picture from the night! :)

Present time.................

Dana and Kathryn looking at a book. Kathryn now is a big sister too! Baby Jon Davis was born only about 8 weeks ago!

Well, I guess he did eventually trade in the cowboy hat, but he was still ready for a party!

MiMi holding a very tired and overwhelmed baby Clymer

Baby Noah and Joey

Heather and the kiddos.... looks like Claire is still eating junk food!

Pops and Claire playing with her My Little Pony barnyard. They played this for quite a while!

On Sunday, Claire decided to try out her easel..... here are some pictures of her creations. I mean she is only three to the day, but that looks like a big fish to me! I know I'm a little partial, but we may have ourselves a little artist here!

Clymer loved watching his big sister draw.... and check out that tooth!

Now it is time to break out the paints!

She LOVED it!

What color are you eyes going to be little man? For the longest time they have looked a grey/blue...but in pictures and over the past few days, they are are looking different! Probably giving into that dominant Hendrickson gene and changing brown!

After baths and pj's the decided to watch some cartoons together....well, maybe mommy suggested the idea so I could watch them snuggle together! So cute! Clymer has gotten to where he LOVES to lay right next to Claire.....I love my babies!

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire Bear! We love you!!!

PS.. Lesson learned and advice to anyone who has children under the age of three............... Never and I mean NEVER host a three year old's birthday in your own home...........I wish I would have taken an "after" picture of what our house looked like, but I couldn't locate my camera!! But they all had fun and what's a party without a mess ??????????? Next year we will be takin it to Mickey D's or somewhere else that we can destroy that isn't our house :)

2011...bye bye

2012-01-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

January

AU wins the national championship

Claire turns 2

February

We have awesome, warm weather

Claire has her first hair cut

We meet Noah Bennett Hendrickson

March

We head to Panama City for spring break

Mommy is looking very pregnant with Clymer

April

Daddy starts helping out with the cooking

Potty training is in full swing

We celebrate a late April Easter

May

We meet Robert Clymer Hendrickson V

June

We adjust to being a family of four and welcome "Woody" t our family

July

We travel to the Beach

August

Clymer is growing so fast and we travel to Nashville for mini vacation

September

Anderson turns 2 and we enjoy having Tammy over from Germany

October

We enjoy a trip to the pumpkin patch and have a blast at football tailgates.... sorry there are no pictures to document that but we never wanted to lug a camera around campus with all of the baby stuff we already had to take. I do wish we has some pictures now though!

November

We enjoyed my parents coming up for Thanksgiving and Claire experience the art of deer hunting

December

Claire has her first performance, Clymer celebrated his first Christmas, got his first teeth, and also began to crawl

We were blessed beyond measure with a wonderful year. We have faith that 2012 will blessed with even more joy! Can't wait to see what this year has in store!

2012-01-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

So this will be perhaps, the longest post ever.... when you have children.... there are lots, and we mean LOTS of Christmas functions............. here is just a summary of our wonderful Christmas!!!!

We started the fun times off with Claire's party at school. They had pajama day so please do think I sent her to school in her pj's :)

She was tearing up this red Christmas cookie.... and the funny thing is, I have a picture from when she was almost one doing the same thing... I'll try to find it .....what can I say, she loves icing :) and wonder where she gets that from.... hum?

Claire and Anslee....they are great friends and Anslee's big sister was in my first grade class the year I was preg/had Claire! Sweet girls! :)

Claire and Hayden, they have been together since they started First Methodist ......just growing up too fast!

Showing their toys.....trucks, babies and ponies......

After the school party, we spent the next day baking at home... first we made a gingerbread house.... it was SO much fun! Claire also had to wear this special dress, sent by Maw. She insisted on wearing it the entire day! Such a girly girl!

Next on the list..................Making cookies for Santa!

The Next day was Christmas Eve, and we celebrated with everyone coming to our house this year! MiMi and Daddy Daddy had their hands full! Noah and Clymer are exactly three months apart, to the day!

All that good food and guess what Claire Bear wanted to eat? Take a look, yes, that's right...pink cheerios!

And a very special visitor made his way to Overhill Circle.............HoHo himself! Claire wasn't scared this year.. she LOVED him and was so excited to see that he brought presents!

Yup, pretty sure that's chocolate on her mouth........ and can you guess who is Santa???

It's Daddy Daddy of course! Clymer wasn't affected either way.... just happy and along for the ride! Next year may be a little different...we shall just wait and see!

Look at that grin :)

And then finally, the day we had all be waiting for CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!!!! I woke up early to make coffee and cinnamon rolls and Claire was only 5 minutes behind me... I heard her walk into the living room and say, "Hey Mommy? There are presents under the tree." She said it in a voice that was not to excited, just kinda like.....can I be excited? Are they for me?? And when I told her HO HO had brought them for her, she was VERY excited!!!

A doctor kit, which has been doctoring everyone since....

Fun books to read...........

Clymer liked the shot from doctor kit. Hey, I guess this is one thing he knows about!

And this is where we had a complete melt down because we couldn't eat all of the chocolate candy inside the stocking....

This little man wasn't melting down though..........he was SO happy and in the best little mood the whole day! I'm sure Rob will get onto me about his very animated face here so please disregard it :)

Mommy trying to reassure Claire that everything will be ok, even if she can't eat all the chocolate for Breakfast.

Told ya he was in the best mood all day!

Claire didn't ask for that much for Christmas... she asked for candy (explains the meltdown), stickers a babydoll house and more candy. Here she is with all her stickers......

Clymer loved his little radio that HO HO brought him on Christmas Eve.

After we had finished Christmas at our house, we went over to Rob's parents that afternoon for dinner.....check out how much Claire and Heather favor here!

MiMi and Daddy Daddy were very busy preparing dinner for our family... which just seems to keep multiplying!!

Noah's 1st Christmas

Pouty face because she was ready to open gifts

And when she did, she was magically transformed into a happy princess!!

Daddy Daddy trying out the new jacket

Anderson and Claire playing with his workbench....they really are beginning to play so well together! They went through the "that's mine!" phase but now, they are becoming such good little friends :)

The babies and their walker wagons..... these two are going to have many fun Christmas days together!

All the grandkids under the tree.......will we only have four next year or will there be more????

My two little babies under the tree

Clymer's 1st Christmas... check out those teeth! One of his top teeth broke through Christmas morning!

After all of the excitement in Sylacauga, we headed South for Christmas with NaNa and Pops....Ho Ho left her babydoll house there. Surprisingly, she never asked where it was on Christmas day... I guess with all of the other stuff going on, she forgot!

Ok, so there are no words to describe this toy............ you turn it on and it literally jumped and hopped everywhere! It also sang a very fast and crazy song... it was hilarious and Clymer loved it! You may wonder why I'm talking about it in the past tense..... Claire threw it over the balcony in our house yesterday and it no longer hops or jumps. Not sure why she got the idea to throw it over the balcony, but let's just hope this doesn't happen with any other things!

Later that day, we went down to Citronelle, where my grandparents live. Here, we met cousin Ty for the first time...he is two weeks younger than Clymer.

Christopher and Alton... two of my cousins on my mom's side of the family. So good to get to see them. Christopher and his family live in Georgia and Alton in Mississippi. It was wonderful to get together like old times! We laughed about how when we were little, we would go to our great grandparent's house in Meridian, MS and we would get Alton to tie us up, then turn to the weather channel (to look at the time in the top right of the screen) and then we would all take turns challenging one another to see who could get out the fastest! I mean, do children even get that creative anymore? That was SO fun and now that I think of it, did our parents even know what we were doing? Such a fun memory!

Zac probably should win the award for best cousin..... he literally played with Claire the entire time, letting her jump, punch, push, pull.....anything you can imagine. He is SO good with children and Claire loved every minute of it!

Clymer and Maw

Hey! I finally made it into a picture!!! He was still, one happy baby!

Maw and Claire

All of the kids together.... Kate, Christopher, Ty, Eli, April, Trei, Clymer, Claire, Rob, Holly, Alton

The next day, we traveled to Mobile to visit my great aunt and her husband... Claire took right up with Aunt Al.

And..... to finish off the break.... you guessed it...another deer for daddy! This is buck #3 for him.. .which if you didn't know...is the limit for bucks here in Alabama. He was really proud because this is one that he had been tracking on one of those game cameras of his....this buck had been named "Dice." Yes, I have one of those husbands who collects pictures of deer from game cameras, puts them onto the computer, names them, makes a folder for them and then tracks them. Who knew that much could be done with hunting :) It was a very nice deer I must say.... and we also got some cute pictures!

Happy New Year Ya'll! Now to get ready for Claire's Birthday Party this week!

Fun at nana and pops....

2011-12-31T07:24:00.001-08:00

I've recently downloaded a blogger ap so mainly, I'm just trying to see if it works :) here are just a few pics of the kids playing with my old sesame strew house. It's always a favorite when we come to nana and pops house and now Clymer is getting big enough to play too.... They are just too cute....it's been a great Christmas!

Almost 3...

2011-12-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that our little girl is almost three? Well, we can't! Here lately, she has really been talking up a storm and I some of the stuff just needs to be shared... here is a glimpse of our daily conversations.....

riding in the car listening to a Christmas song by the Beach boys
"Mommy, I can't hear those boys, they sounds like crying, they sound scary."
so now when they come on she says, "Not the scaries!" (I guess if you really listen to them they do sound a little scary! haha)

eating yellow rice for dinner
"I want rice. Oh, these taste like boogers"
and she continues to eat them........

this has happened the past 3 days
"Oh, it's Christmas morning mommy! Look outside, it's Christmas Day. (looks at fireplace) Where's santa?"
i explain to her that we still have 5 days before santa and that she won't be able to see him when he comes. She says, "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. ok"

last year claire was scared of santa, this year we talked about it before he visited her school.
"Claire, santa is going to come to see you at school. Even if you friends get sad, you are gonna stay happy right?
"Mommy, i'm gonna be happy. Santa's not a monster! If my friends are scared, we'll pray for them. Angels are there."

When putting up the tree, i showed her several special ornaments. The first one was from my great grandma and so i told claire this. So, every ornament she gets now, or anything new, she says "My grandma gave me these." It's so funny........... because it can be something that we just gave her or is just junk.

Saying prayers at night, we always thank God for everything we have. Claire has taken this to the most literal level.
"Jesus, thank you for my walls, thank you for my curtains, thank you for my windows, thank you for my christmas tree, thank you for my christmas tree lights (opens eyes and looks around room) thank you for my table, thank you for my cup...... and on and on and on. She does end on a loving note... thank you for my baby clymer, my mommy and daddy and thank you for me." (That just has to make you smile!)

These are just a few things that have happened this week.... i'm sure there will be many more stories to tell during Christmas and my goal is to start writing more of this kinda stuff down :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

12 days 'til Christmas!

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm just having the best time taking little Christmas pics this year..... here's one to make you smile! :)

What???!!! Only 15 days 'til Christmas???

2011-12-09T12:57:00.001-08:00

Wonder if she will make it on the naughty or nice list???? hmmmmm......

Community project..............

2011-12-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

Each year, Heather takes her classes and they perform at the community nursing home.... here is Claire, ready to go. She talked about performing for the special people for DAYS!!! But people, when it came showtime, she just stood there, in a trance and never moved... it really was funny to see. They danced to the song "Silver and Gold" and had silver and gold ornaments that they were suppose to hand out to one of the residents during the song... Claire came and just gave it to me and went and stood back in her spot! That's the only time she moved :) I must add, she is the youngest in her class ......:) When we got into the car, I asked her, "Claire, you didn't want to dance?" She just answered and said, "Mommy, I can't know those people." It's hard to believe she is growing up! Hopefully the stage fright will deminish before the May when they will have their spring recital! We love our little Claire Bear.

2011-12-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

This year's Thanksgiving was wonderful! We started the holiday off with my parents arriving on Wednesday night. Claire was sooooo excited that they were coming!!! Well, I guess I should correct myself and say that we started the holiday off with Rob killing a deer.... you can see the last pic for more details... Claire was so funny. We always say, "Daddy is in the woods trying to catch a deer" and she always wonders if he caught one or not. He called that afternoon to tell me that he got one ..... Claire was playing in the playroom and I yelled to her, "Guess what, Claire? Daddy caught a deer!" She just started giggling and saying she wanted to see it. When he brought it to the house she wasn't so sure. He had shot it in his lung .. if you are a hunter you know what this means but if you are unfamiliar with hunting-this means there was bloody foam oozing out of the deer's nose. Yes, yuck! I walked out and said" Rob, don't show her that" and Claire heard me, so when Rob was showing her the deer, she said "No, I can't see that!" He cleaned up the deer and then she looked at it some more. When trying to take a picture we tried to get her to hold the horns, at first she said "I can't... he's got a looooong tounge!" And he did, it was hanging sideways. The whole experience was really funny and if you aren't from the south or don't hunt then you probably think from this post that we are a bunch of hicks!! :) But it was too funny not to share.

Well, here are some more picture of our Thanksgiving week/weekend! We are very Thankful for our blessings... we truly have too many to count. Mostly, I am thankful for my family and the time I get to spend with all of them. Our daily life is pretty crazy, but I am thankful for all of these little children in my life...... we have them everywhere! :)

Sibling love........

loving cousins............... sooooooooooooooooooo sweet!

Wild children.............

Their first Thanksgiving as a family :)

Daddy Daddy, carving the some of the grub.......

Heather coordinated a "Thankful" activity............... inspired by Blue's Clues.... told ya we have kids everywhere! :)
Claire and the deer that daddy "caught"

Fall Pictures

2011-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

We went outside yesterday afternoon and took a few fall pictures.... all went well until Claire threw a pumpkin at Clymer.

our little indian...

2011-11-06T13:34:00.000-08:00

A few Saturdays ago, I found these little pilgrims and indians at a yard sale. I picked them up because I knew they would be a lot of fun for the kids to play with as we deorate for the holidays each year. Rob thought they were hidious! I must say I did have them set on the counter in the kitchen by a candle and it did look a little odd..... but it's for the kids. Here is Claire playing with her new friends.... she loved them by the way!

reading the bible to them in the wagon..............

we've named them all... Henry, Isabella, Pocahontas, Mary and this friend here is Squanto.

She was lining them up and saying, "Here's your food."

we waited so long.....

2011-11-06T13:15:00.000-08:00

Our good friends, Ann and Frank Vigil, gave Claire this umbrella a few weeks ago and the only problem was....we've had NO RAIN! So, she used it in the car, in the house, wherever we went she used it and pretended that there was rain. And then, this week......... RAIN!!!!

a silly face for the camera of course.....

modeling the umbrella.......

They keep me smiling...

2011-10-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

well, when they aren't both crying at the same time they do! :) Here is a single picture that probably best describes our lives right now........................
-Clymer was crying
-Claire says, "I can make him happy, I need Q-tips"
- She runs and gets them out of the drawer
-This was the outcome..... I love them!!!!!!.... and I must say, she made him happy!!

Real Food!

2011-10-16T13:40:00.001-07:00

I think somebody's happy to be eating real food!
Big Sister had to watch and help wipe off his face

he LOVED his food!!

So, we finally have started real foods with Clymer and he loves it of course!!! We started rice cereal and here are some pictures of his first feeding... he ate it to the last drop! Since then, we have tried green peas and carrots.... we'll post pics later of those but he liked them too! Claire's least favorite thing to eat as a baby was green peas, so I decided to give these to Clymer first. I figured if it was the first thing he ate... then how could he not like it! :) I made lots of baby food this summer and have the freezer stocked.... so it has really been a lot of fun seeing him eat the foods... I just can't believe that he is already old enough to eat them. He really is growing up!

First Dance Class

2011-10-09T16:58:00.000-07:00

This September, Claire got to start doing something super special..... taking Dance from Aunt Heather. Not everyone gets to take dance from their own Aunt, but Claire does! Since then, Heather has turned into "Miss Heather" (as the other girls call her.) Claire absoulutely LOVES her class on Thursdays and we look forward to it every week. She says, "I ready for dance! Gonna stand on my number and see the girls!" Each girl has a number to stand on each week and let's just say that the first week, Claire didn't really want to stand on hers :) So we've had to make up a song about standing on our number and minding the girls.... and since then, she's done pretty well!

Thank you, Aunt Heather for providing such a wonderful opportunty for young girls in our community. Not only do they learn the art of dance, but they learn how to worship God through their dance!

Standing in First Position
All smiles!

The beginning of class with the other girls... (Claire is to the rght of Heather)

Anderson's 2 year pics!

2011-08-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

Our Sweet Anderson will be turning two soon! This week, we got together and I took some pictures.... isn't he the perfect baby model? We love you, Anderson!

last minute vacay....

2011-08-31T06:26:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday night we were suppose to be headed to North Carolina for a beach wedding... but a little thing called "Hurricaine Irene" decided to happen! Both of us had already taken the days of from work so we decided, hey, let's just go somewhere else! That night we decided that we would head to Nashville! We went to the Opryland Hotel and that place is wonderful if you have small children. You never even have to leave ..... just put them in the stroller and walk! Plenty of shops, activities and places to eat. Here are a few pics from our fun family time together! :)
For a while we felt weird with such a huge stroller but we finally found someone who had one bigger than us!

We spent one day hanging out at the pool..... so relaxing......

Claire even decided to make a place for a nap....no, she never went to sleep but she did rest...

We went to one of the gardens one morning to take some pictures... taking pictures of a two year old is quite an event! She either does a really big smile or says "cheese"... but I'm pretty sure the person who invented "saying cheese" for a camera meant for you to hold out the cheeeeeeeeeeeese part. When Claire takes pictures she holds out the cccccccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheese party and it results in pokey lips. Oh well! I did get one cute picture w/ a normal smile!

Oh yes, and silly faces are also part of every photo session.....

the result of holding out the "ch" in cheese................

or "big fake smile"..................

on our trip, someone actually said, "Now the baby looks like mommy!"

Rob sporting the double stoller.... aren't we the coolest 28 year olds ever???

Our Sweet Girl.....

Claire called the hotel, "The Big 'ol House" She also said that they had "cool pillows." I guess she is going to like fancy things! :)

We had a great trip and the most important thing is that we survived yet another road trip with two kids. We did NOT take the DVD player this time..... Claire just read books and talked to us. This is much better than getting stuck listening to the same things over and over again in the car! :)

All things pink!

2011-08-24T10:41:00.001-07:00

Well, school has started back and over the summer when I would thing about everything starting up again, I would feel overwhelmed so much! Just the thought of rushing out the door everyday made me twitch a little! Well, it really has been great!!! Claire has loved going to her "new classroom" as she calls it and Rob helps me out SO MUCH in the morning. He takes care of Clymer 100% including dropping him off at MiMi's. Claire has been so cooprative and hasn't thrown any fits lately wanting to wear her snowman leggings in the 95 degree weather... (this happened on several school mornings last year!!!)

Here are some pictures I took this week after school.... she is having a "pink" snack! Just take a look.... everything is pink... even the milk inside her cup is strawberry milk. She is such a girly girl! The top picture is actually the second one I took.... the one on the bottom she was smiling so big her eyes were shut, so I said, let's try again with our eyes open .... and you see what I got! Love this girl!

2 month check-up

2011-08-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Since we were at the beach the week Clymer actually turned 2 months, we went this past Wednesday...... and WOW! He has really done some growing!

weight- 12 lbs 12 ounces
length- 24 inches

I got out Claire's baby book and at her 2 month check-up she was 11 lbs 15 ounces and 24 inches as well.

So, he is about a pound more but came into the world weighing a pound less and an inch shorter than Claire... so lil' man definitely has done some major growing! We love him so much and I'm just trying to squeeze him as much as I can before we go back to school next Tuesday! They just don't stay little long! :(

He is doing better with his eating schedule... it was every three hours to the minute! Now, he is going every four hours.... but he still wakes up at 2 am for that feeding. Every night we go to bed saying, "Maybe tonight will be the night!" Claire spoiled us by sleeping through the night at 2 weeks. We are praying that Clymer will do it soon!!!

You've got a friend in me

2011-07-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

Well if you are at all familiar with children's songs or movies, you know exactly what I'm talking about. About a month ago, we DVR'd (ok, i've never actually written that word so spelling??) the movie Toy Story 3.... Claire has never been one to just sit in front of the TV. We've tried to get her to like shows and movies, but nothing floats her boat.......until now. She didn't move the entire time Toy Story 3 was on. She woke up the next morning talking about "that monkey screamin!" So, I searched and found out when Toy Story 1 and 2 were coming on and I DVR'd those as well. Good idea you may think???????? Good idea if you want the mommy to go CRAZY! Since June 14th, we have watched one of the Toy Story's at least once a day. Thank God there are three of them so we can swap them up.... I don't know how parents do it when their child is addicted to just one movie! Well, everything is Toy Story now..... I mean, I've never seen anything like it! This past Monday, Claire had a dentist app. and Rob and I had talked about getting her a Woody doll.... so, since she was incredible that day behavior wise, we stopped on the way home and got a Woody doll. There are no words to express the smile on her sweet face when she saw him and we took him out of the box. She played with him the entire way home and when we pulled up at the house, she said, "Woody, this my house, this my outside,this my big hill, this my daddy's truck... and daddy's truck red, let's go inside woody! Needless to say, she has a new friend!

Little Picaso

2011-07-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

While little miss was drawing on her magnadoodle, or as she calls it, "Her draw thing" we asked her what she was drawing, she said, " I draw momma!"
Thanks Claire!

Just makin' polka dots...

2011-07-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

I went into the office the other day for no more than a minute... I came back to this.
I say, "Wow, Claire, what are you doing there?"

She says, "Just makin' polka dots mommy."

What are we going to do with her?? :) I love this little girl!

Martha Junior

2011-07-16T08:21:00.001-07:00

We made some homeade chocolate chip cookies this week....

Claire thought Clymer needed to read the lullabible while we cooked.....

And she thought that she couldn't wait until the cookies were done to have a taste.....

The napping house...

2011-07-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

So as a teacher, I love the story, "The Napping House." This is my dream for my own home... to have everything napping at once.... ha! Some unrealistic dream, I know! But, guess what?? It actually happened a few times this week so I had to take a picture to remember this glorious moment. Both children asleep at once for longer than 30 minutes... pure heaven!

family and the 4th........................

2011-07-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Each year, we are so lucky to have some of our family come down from Virginia! The Buchanans, (Grannie's Son) Robert, Karen, Ian, Hannah and Karis all are so much fun to be around! Claire absolutely loved her big cousins and had the BEST time playing with them, or should I say "following them around." We hated to see them go but here are a few quick pics of the week! They spent half of the time at Grannies and the other half at the lake house. We ate huge meals every night....and they were fantastic! I should have taken some pics of all the great food but who has time for that when you are too busy eating it! :)

Claire loved the lake... better than the pool! Strange, but true!

One of the cutest little boys around. Anderson is getting sooooooooo big! Hard to believe he will be turning 2 in 2 months!

These are the BEST cousins! I mean who else allows you to pour cold water over their head, over and over again?!?!?!?

Wiffle Ball tournament........... this was fun to watch!

Yup, that's Grannie playing catcher! Isn't she amazing? We just celebrated her 78th birthday this week. We are so blessed to have her in our lives!

They don't have Piggly Wiggly's in Virginia.............

Can't believe they are big enough for swimmies!! :(

Our precious boy

2011-06-27T19:13:00.001-07:00

Some of my favorite pictures so far....

Going Home

2011-06-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Once again, exuse the appearance! We were so thrilled to be able to go home on time! We were able to leave the hospital around 9:30 a.m. on Friday. With Claire, we had to wait until she pooped, which was 10:30 that night! We can definitely say that poops are not a problem for Clymer! :)

Family of Four

2011-06-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

So now we are a family of four!

Our sweet boy on delivery day..........

This picture looks so much like Claire's hospital picture to me!

We didn't take a good picture of our new family.... I guess another difference with the second child.... and the fact that it all went so quickly! So excuse the roughness of my appearance!

So, here's our delivery story!

It was a normal day, well as normal as you can get when you are 9 months preggo and teach 16 1st graders everday! :) I went and got my hair cut, Claire and I stopped at the pig to grab some groceries.... we definitely didn't think it was a day for going to the hospital! That night we sat down to watch DWTS and my stomach felt really tight.....so I changed out of my jeans thinking I had just gotten so big that I was outgrowing the maternity pants.... so after changing, I didn't feel any better so I decided to go ahead and tell Rob that I thought I may be having some contractions. (and as you know, when I was preggo with Claire, he didn't know until my water broke! So, I gave him a heads up this time :) So, he wanted to go right ahead to the hospital but I wanted to wait and be sure... b/c I was thinking we would drive to b-ham, they would monitor me for a few hours and then send me back home and then I would have to go to work in the morning. So if I went to the hospital, I wanted to make sure I'd be staying. So, after about 2 hours, the contractions didn't lessen, so we decided to go ahead and pack the car and take Claire to his parents' house. As of that day, I hadn't packed one single thing for the hospital. I guess that's the difference with your second child... with Claire, the bags were packed for months. So when we got to St. Vincents, I was only at 1 cm. I was fearing that I would be sent home. So they monitored me for a little while and what do ya know? The next time they checked I was at 4 1/2 and so they moved me to a room! yay! I was so shocked because with this whole pregnancy, I just knew he would come on time or late considering how late Claire was. When I got to the room I was at 6 1/2 and I was starting to get a little scared that I wouldn't have time to get the epidural! Thankfully, they got it in me and that slowed things down. At six that morning they gave me some meds to speed up things and sure enough, I was ready to push at 7:10 and at 7:22 I was holding Robert Clymer Hendrickson V. It was such an easy delivery and we are thankful! There were no complications of any kind and our little boy was perfect from head to toe! Here are just a few pictures from that day.

Transition!

2011-06-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

ok, so it has been a really long time since i've updated this thing..... but guess what??? Having a 2 1/2 year old and a newborn is really hard! I'll be honest, everyone tells you their input about how hard it's going to be and you think, "Oh, we'll be fine!" But, really, it IS hard!! Our first month has been crazy... don't get me wrong...... it's been wonderful and happy, but it definitely is a big change! I guess the thing we didn't prepare ourselves for was how our little princess was going to react. Everyone tells us stories about how their older child did all of these crazy things to their newborn when they brought it home... well so far, Claire has done none of these.................BUT she has started demanding attention from us in any possible way you can think. The toughest time I have with her is when I have the 2 of them by myself and I'm trying to nurse Clymer.... she has figured out that during that time, I can't get up and do anything.... therefore, she has done everything from peeing, yes that's right, peeing on the floor right in front of me... to throwing food everywhere and jumping crazy all over the bed. And, if you know me, these are things that I do not allow! Bless her heart, I know it is a big change for her. Since last Thursday, she's acted normal again for the most part so maybe we are done with all of the crazy behavior. (yeah, right!) But, then in the midst of all the craziness, we stop and think that it really will seem like tomorrow and they both will be in school. :( We know it will all go by so quickly so we are thankful for our new little blessing and can't wait to see what all he adds to our little Hendrickson fam! :) Well, that's all for now because we have a little girl yelling, "Red juice!!!"

Hopefully, over the next few days I can get this thing updated with some pictures... because of course we have tons!!!

Easter Fun

2011-05-10T12:40:00.001-07:00

Well, we started our Easter festivities off this year on Thursday, at Claire school. They had their egg hunt that afternoon and boy were they cute! It is amazaing how much one year makes a difference because all of us parents were talking about how it just seemed like last year that they were all toddling around just trying to find one egg! This year they were running everywhere and knew exactly what to do! They are so cute and I'm so glad she has her little friends to play with each day!

Anna and Claire tearing into the chocolate candies that were inside they eggs.... once they discovered this, there wasn't much egg hunting going on.

Chocolate face=happy face!

yup, I licked the icing off and that's all!

Chocolate bunny!!!

She said, "I happy!"

Claire checking out her Easter Basket.... I love that face!

Annual Easter picture outside by the tree at church.

Claire and her "Jesus Baby" she received in an Easter Basket. ( it says it's prayers so she calls it "Jesus Baby "

Baby Noah taking it all in.

Now, where are those eggs???

Elmo is the most popluar in a crowd... Mrs. Debbie found these adorable Elmo eggs and they were a hit!

Anderson and his adorable faces...it looks like he is upset that is came apart.

All smiles......

Claire, MiMi and Anderson... Claire saying, "I drive it, I drive it!"

Easter Pics!

2011-04-11T09:45:00.001-07:00

So, yesterday we loaded up the kiddos and took a little photo shoot trip down to Pioneer Village (down by Lay Lake) It was a crazy time, but it was worth it! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the afternoon!

*Check out that finger!

Love these lips!!!

These cheeks are too cute!!!

This is what went on behind the scenes..................Joey running with the boppy around his neck...

.......and Heather doing all sorts of things........all sorts...hey you will do anything to get them to look at the camera!

I think this is my favorie of all.... 2 mouths stuffed full of goldfish!

Potty Training........

2011-04-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

So we've said all along that our goal is to have Claire out of diapers by the time the new baby gets here in May. Progress has not been made in this area... although this picture tells me that the knowledge is there; she's just not applying it! She put the turkey on the potty and told him "TT on potty, choc chip and bean" Translated: "If you TT on the potty, you can get a chocolate chip or jelly bean." I love this little girl! :)

Homeade Pizza Night!

2011-04-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I have to brag on Rob because he has been helping a lot this week with dinner! If you didn't know, we spent last Saturday night at St. Vincent's because I was having contractions. I had a couple of doses of a drug that stopped them and I have been fine since, but I'm just taking it a little easier. As a 1st grade teacher, it's not like I can just sit back at work and kick up my feet, so when I get home in the afternoons, I'm trying to rest a little more than ususal. This week has been fine, no contractions...... but my wonderful husband is still helping out a ton! Here are some pictures of Rob and Claire making homeade pizzas.... Claire has gotten to where she thinks she has to sit on the counter and have a "hands on experience" everytime you cook. So here she is, diving into the dough with Dad. They were really cute to watch. :)

Spring Break!

2011-03-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

So every Spring Break, we head down to the condo in PC for some beach fun! This year, we couldn't have asked for nicer weather! Although, it was a dirty trick because it only made me feel like we were out for summer! Anyway, we had the best time. My mom drove and met us there so we had MiMi, NaNa, Heather, Anderson, Claire and I. To be quite honest, I was excited about the trip but having double thoughts. My memory kept taking me back to last year and all of our trips to the beach. They consisted of running after Claire everywhere! Rob and I would take "shifts" to watch her while the other one of us would sit down and actually relax for a few moments. So, I was kinda dreading running up and down the beach after Claire while being 7 months preggo. When we arrived, I had a nice surprise........ the beach was the best thing ever for Claire! She self entertained herself the entire time. She LOVED it... playing in the sand, water, everthing about it. She actually would just sit and play! Wow! That night when I talk to Rob on the phone I asked him, "So, wanna move to the beach?" Seriously, it is the best playground ever for a two year old! Well, enough about that... here are some more pictures. I hate I didn't get out at sunset to take their pics but it just never worked out when the weather and kiddos were all cooperating at the same time. Maybe next time. It was a great trip and the memories will be the greatest.

MiMi and her grandbabies.......
Dear Jesus, please let them never take me home, amen.

They look very sneaky here!

This picture just looks relaxing!

Heather and Anderson having fun!

He looks so much like his mommy!

Chilling with the shades on. No, they are not hers. If they were hers, she would rip them off and throw them. They are Anderson's. Of course she ran and grabbed them when he took them off.

NaNa and Claire

Looking for some seashells... which Claire pretended was chips and the sand was dip. You can tell what I have been eating during this pregnancy! ha!

Last, a belly pic. I did keep on the pants... I just couldn't go there with the bottoms.

Fun at the Park!

2011-03-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Deep conversation... if only we knew what they were saying!

We all had static, but MiMi won the award!!!

What nice weather we have been having here lately! I could really get use to March being like this. We went to the park and here are some pics of Claire, Anderson and MiMi playing. It really is so much fun to see how excited they get when they see one another. Claire claps and just goes crazy and Anderson grins ear to ear! He also says, "Howee" (Holly) extremely cute!

Noah Bennett Hendrickson

2011-03-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

So we have a new little addition to our growing Hendrickson family. This makes baby # 3 in the past 2 years for our growing bunch. Our baby will make #4 in May. Wow!!! Babies everywhere. Cali did a great job delivering this big boy, and when we say big, we mean 9 pounds 8 ounces big! He is a cutie and we can't wait to see him grow. Claire was totally all about Baby Noah. She asked about him for days after we saw him. We know they were be great cousins and make many great memories together! Welcome, baby Noah!

Bath Fun!

2011-03-25T13:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it's been so long since I've blogged and there really is no excuse! I have tons of pictures, and I mean tons.....I should mention they are mostly on my memory card, but hey, I have been taking them! So here are some pictures from Claire in the bath the other day. She really is growing up and these were just too cute not to post! I promise, I really am going to try to be more consistent with the blogging.............. at least that's my goal! ;)

Our little girl is 2!

2011-02-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, this year we skipped the big birthday party and just went for a simpler fun time with family... yes, we know Claire's b-day was a month ago but for our Family, January was very busy so we just stretched it out and celebrated in Feb! Hey, she doesn't know the difference and there will come a day when she does so we are taking advantage of this now! :) Since Claire LOVES Elmo (and anyone else from Sesame Street) we decided to make an Elmo cake (or Elmo Cookie) as Claire called it! She had a great time having everyone come over to her house..she just hated when everyone left.. especially NaNa. We are reaching that age where it leaving can just be traumatic!

All in all, it was a great day.... we just can't get over how much Claire has changed since her last Birthday. It seems just like yesterday that we were bringing her home and now she is talking up a storm and we will soon be bringing another one home in May! ah! But, life is good and we are grateful for the joy that she has brought!! At next year's birthday party will have four little ones running/crawling around instead of two!!! Wow, what a year can bring! Happy Birthday, Claire!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!!

2010-12-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has been wonderful so far!!! Yesterday, we had a great surprise and it actually snowed on Christmas Day.... the day was filled with many presents, laughs and cries of course. It's quite an adventure with two children under the age of 2 running around underneath the tree.... but we wouldn't trade it for anything! Right now, we are at my parents celebrating Christmas and I can't wait to post pics of today as well. Chrismast has been so great and we are very thankful with all with which we have been blessed! Merry Christmas everyone!

Anderson and Claire trying out her new wagon..fun times are ahead!!

Claire and her goodies Santa brought!

Cooking in the kitchen...

Us with the kids

what a cute little face Anderson has!!!

us with Santa (Mr. Rob)

Happy Birthday Jesus!

2010-12-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

So, Claire has begun to REALLY like Playdough... well, and actually anything else that she can stick in or on her nose. Q-tips, pretzel sticks, candy canes... you name it... she's stuffed it! She also tries to eat the playdough occasionally, but mostly, just putting it in her nose at this point makes her happy! I remember a particular cousin, (um, I won't name any names) but she had an incident with silly puddy and I believe was taken to the ER with the puddy in her nose! Seeing Claire doing this reminded me of this, so hopefully she doesn't take after her dear cousin! :) ha!

A little Christmas Fun...

2010-12-13T12:21:00.001-08:00

So, I tried to have a little photoshoot of Claire in front of the tree, but really people, who am I kidding? This kid is 23 months old and hardly sits still... well, here are the best pics of our little Claire Bear! Merry Christmas!

Let's give Thanks!

2010-11-27T13:31:00.001-08:00

I sat here and did the BEST Blog about all we are thankful for and had so many pictures from Thanksgiving day.... but then when I hit post... something happend and it didn't!! Oh well, Claire is up from her nap so my computer time is done.... so here is the short version!!!!

A little Fall!

2010-10-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

After baking some pumpkin cookies for her party at school, here is Claire saying, "Mommie Bite"
"Daddy Bite"

Putting them on the tray... Claire did have a hard time realizing that you need to put them in the oven and then WAIT... she wanted to eat them right then!

The leaves are turning at our house... this tree is much prettier and brighter in person.. the picture just doesn't do it justice, but oh, well!

Our New Addiction....

2010-10-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

So Claire has finally discovered the T.V.... yeah, she did like to watch Yo Gabba Gabba, but I think mainly because it was a little strange and it just put her into a transe! We've discovered Veggie Tales and Claire LOVES them... she loves Bob, Larry and all of the Silly Songs. Here she is watching a video... I got right over her and as you can see, she never moved!

2010-10-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to the Birmingham Zoo and it was such a great day! The weather was great and the kids help up really well! Here are some pics of Anderson, Claire, Heather, MeMe and I!

Anderson and Heather .... we've learned that our "photo shoots" never end well when we try to incorporate the mommies.....

see.... neither one of us were looking at the camera... and this was the best picture!

Claire loves the carousel now!

This is a funny pic of Anderson, it looks like he is saying, "Batman, to the Rescue!" ---or something like that anyway!

A trip to the "Punkin' Patch"

2010-10-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago, we made a little trip to Clanton, AL, where they have Alabama's Grande Ole Pumpkin Patch.... it was really a lot of fun! Of course, I took way too many pictures that day, but here are my top five! Enjoy!

Tailgating on the Plains...

2010-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Claire and NaNa playing with and eating ice.
Claire just thought when the ice dropped, it was hilarious!

Claire and MeMe + Chicken Nugget

Family Picture

Happy Birthday to All!

2010-10-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

The month of September was jammed packed with Birthdays. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the month! I'm definitely going to miss getting to eat cake every weekend... oh well, there will always be next September!

Heather's Birthday Cake, it was as yummy inside as beautiful out!

Anderson getting cleaned up after he dug into his 1st Birthday cake!

Anderson's picture on his real birthday. We actually celebrated Heather's Birthday on this night.

Happy Birthday Kathryn...she's the cutie in the pink dress. She's one!

Happy Birthday Joey or "Jo Jo" as Claire now says. This was the night of the Auburn/MS State game. We had a get together at our house and this caramel cake was one of the best I've ever tasted!!!

Here's a picture from Kathryn's party. Claire loved this wagon and it appears here that she is actually participating in her first game of footsie. The were just giggling at one another!

Little Explorer

2010-10-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

We have truly been enjoying the nice weather we've been having.... well, especially Claire. Everyday when we get home she wants to go "awdide" (outside) If we don't go, she usually pitches a fit being that Jersey gets to go and that's just not fair that he gets to go out and she doesn't. So, most afternoons we end up going out and seeing what we can find......

You can't tell, but she has a rock in her mouth here...

Looking at the rock right before she popped it into her mouth.

This is the flip side of what we do when we're not outside. I have a very versatile little girl. Outside = eating rocks. Inside = cinderella high heels, tu tu, purse, and two babies.

Happy Birthday Anderson!

2010-09-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

This Friday, our nephew, Anderson, will turn 1! It seems just like yesterday that his mom was wondering if he would ever come. Anderson has been such a blessing to our family and we are very thankful for him. He has had such a wonderful first year... he just started walking this weekend, has grown four teeth, and is a very happy baby. These are just a few pictures I have of Anderson from last week. We love you Anderson and can't wait for your "ish" (fish) party!
Anderson and "Ruby."

Just relaxing on the boat...

Anderson and mommy... he LOVES his momma!

little boaters...

2010-09-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

isn't the water so relaxing!!!
They are just wanting to swim!!!

Anderson and Claire have gotten to where they really love seeing one another now. When one spots the other, they just smile and laugh! I love it!

One last bite of cookie before the ride begins!

Our family on the lake.

Claire goes into calm mode when she gets on the boat... she just sits...and if you know Claire, this doesn't happen much!

Auburn Saturdays

2010-09-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

So football season has officially started! Claire went the first Auburn game and she was quite a trooper... here she is w/ daddy during pre-game.

Saying, "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar." We are still working on "Eagle."

Mommy and Claire and the kids corner.

no..the balloon doesn't smell... but she did bite it sometime during third quarter and it burst... she thought it was quite funny though!

Daddy and Claire on the Tiger Transit. This was a big "beep-beep" as Claire says.

Our first Auburn tatoo...she got it airbrushed at the kids corner... what fun!

Today, I'll be like Daddy...

2010-08-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Claire just loves getting into all of our things.... Usually, she's prancing around in my shoes with my purse but here she is, trying on Rob's fly fishing vest along with playing with the rod outside. Today, she just wanted to be like Daddy!

Little Cheerleader!

2010-08-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

With football season right around the corner... we just had to make sure some of our Auburn gear still fit from last year! This turned into a mini-photo shoot... you should see Claire do her "War Eagle!" These pictures just don't do her justice... she is going to be very ready for the first game!

Mommy's New Toy!

2010-08-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Rob surprised me with a back to school present. I thought it was just a book or something, being that I've never gotten a back to school present before. Well, I really have to brag on him because he put a lot of thought into this... he put little notes all around the house and sent me on a scavenger hunt. When I finally

figured out all of the clues, the last place to look was the closet where we keep all of our pictures and photo albums. When I opened the closet, there was a new camera inside! Not just any camera... but a great one. We looked at some this summer but I really didn't think he would break down and buy the one I really liked. He bought a cannon rebel and so far it has taken some great pictures! It's able to snap a shot really quickly...which is the great thing I liked about it since I have a little girl named Claire, who is never still for a moment! I've been playing around with it and so far here are some pictures I've taken. So hopefully, our blog will "kick it up a notch" thanks to the new camera and my wonderful hubby! :)

Teething!

2010-08-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it's been such a long time since the last post... but betwee getting my classroom ready for school and getting Claire ready to go back to school as well, there hasn't been that much computer time! Mainly we have just been hanging around... a few weekends ago, nana and pops came to visit and Claire cut some of her back molars the whole time. Usually, we really haven't had problems with the teeth, but wow we did this time! Claire had never eaten chocolate pudding...until that week and when she tasted it... that's all she wanted. She LOVED it! So, since it was all she would eat... of course we gave it to her. (She hasn't had any since)

Rob's 10 year reunion

2010-07-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

So, it's official...we're getting old! We had Rob's 10 year reunion and I have to say.. it was a lot of fun. He got to see a lot of his friends and I got to meet a lot of people as well! We actually stayed out until 2:30 that next morning... I know! You might wonder what the big deal is, but if you know Rob and I, you know it's impossible for us to hardly even stay up past 10:00!

Fun with Family...

2010-07-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

Claire has decided to go with a new "do"
....I guess she got the idea from her dad, "Rob" Marley... (I told him I wouldn't post this picture... let's see how long it takes him to see it!)

Claire learning about a Gameboy

Karis, Claire, Ian, Anderson and Hannah

Grannie and Hannah

Dance lesson with Aunt Heather... our family is going to be well equipped with all of the latest and hip moves when it comes to the dance floor!

I think this is my favorite picture... Ian and Anderson...aren't they so cute!

Every summer, we are blessed enough to see our family from Virginia. Rob's uncle and his family came down to spend a few days in Sylacauga and we had such a great time.. it's always sad to see them go!

Gulf Shores Beach Trip

2010-07-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

On the way back from the beach, we were able to stop and spend time with my family in Foley.... Claire loved her big cousins! She also loved their trampoline...
Claire and Makayla

She had it with the pictures.....

she loves anything in a costume...

I'm hittin' the beach!

BIRDS!!! She pointed to every bird she saw on this trip!!

Claire and NaNa

Has it really been six years since I've been to Gulf Shores? Wow! I grew up going there all of the time, but since I've been married, we just haven't been to that beach! It was so much fun taking little Claire there and spending time with NaNa... the weather was great and we went just in time before the oil got too bad... here are some memories from the trip!

McWane Center Fun

2010-07-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

Peek-a-boo!

Water Play

Giant Light Bright..... they loved this!

Read Claire's lips.."Whoooooah!"

Meeting Mr Potato Head

Wow, what a big nose!

Hey there!

We had such a fun outing when we went to the McWane Center in B-ham w/ some of our friends, Megan and Emilee Hartsfield. It's the perfect place to go because they can touch everything and you aren't constantly saying, "No! Let's not touch that..." Everything was on the level and totally kid safe so we just let them run wild!! What a fun day!

Atlanta Trip!

2010-07-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Weekend, we took a trip to Atlanta.... we took Claire to the Atlanta Zoo and the Georgia Aquarium! It was a lot of fun and the word of the trip was whooooah.... she loved all of the animals and wasn't afraid of anything we encountered! She's our little explorer!

AU baseball

2010-07-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

My first time meeting Aubie!
More juice please!

Peanut Butter Sandwich!

Poo Poo in the Potty!

2010-05-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this may be the grossest blog post I've ever done, but oh well... we have to celebrate because Claire went poopy in the potty! Every night before her bath I set her on the toilet just to see if anything happens. I talk to her and try to get her to understand that this is where she needs to go to the bathroom. Well, Friday night when I set her on the potty, she pooped!!! We clapped, cheered, sent pictures to NaNa and Pops, called MeMe and Grandad and then clapped some more. We really celebrated and wanted her to know what a big deal it was!! Hopefully, over the next few weeks we can go poopy in the potty some more... but I promise not to post pics of that! :)

Little Things I Love...

2010-04-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

I love this pouty face..... she only wanted bananans WITH peanut butter..

I love how she chews on the giraffe's horns... and the fact that I don't know the correct term for them...

I love how we end up with so many of these type of pictures on our camera.... ha!

I love these two people very much.. :)

I love how she is so versatile.... hairbows or football helments!

Rob chasing Claire with his turkey hunting decoy. She actually likes it! Now, that HAS to make you smile!

I love how she likes to relax with her books! I love the fact that she enjoys books! (can you tell I'm a teacher?!)

I love how Claire STILL finds a way to go up the stairs. If we were only this determined... boy would we accomplish a lot!!

I love how you can never get two babies looking at the camera for the same picture....

see.....................

Even though they may all seem very small... I love all of these things very much. Take a minute and think of all the things in your life you love...... I bet once you start, you won't have enough time to think of them all! We are all so blessed....

Easter

2010-04-06T15:53:00.001-07:00

Claire had the hang of the eggs... but then I think she became a little bored with it. We did make her do it for a week!

Dying her one Easter egg. I wasn't brave enough to let her have at the whole dozen-maybe next year!

MiMi and her two grandbabies.... it's hard to get a still shot when you have these two in the picture!

Anderson hanging out in his swing at the lake.

This Easter was a lot of fun... even though it wasn't Claire's FIRST Easter, we kind of felt like it was in a way. She was old enough to participate and was a lot of fun to watch! It's wonderful to have children at all times of the year, but at this time especially. Having Claire reminds us of what new life is and that our Savior is the only one who gives the new and everlasting life. What a perfect Spring day we had to remind us of the new life that Jesus gives us. He rose again so that our lives could be filled with mercy and grace. We give God all the praise for the many blessings to which he has given life!

Easter Egg Hunt at School

2010-04-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Claire's class at First Methodist had their Easter Egg Hunt. It was so cute to watch! All the kids and their baskets, not really knowing what to do. Claire pulled her basket around like a wagon while previously found eggs bounced out! Then she would bend down and just pick up the eggs very slowly and carefully and then set out again with the exact same thing happening! I think she wound up having three. It was so cute and such a fun time.

***Grannie, this is the dress you gave her last year!

My new favorite toy...outside!

2010-03-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally starting to warm up here, so we have been getting to go outside more! Yay! At school, Claire loves to go on the playground. She has dirt under her nails, in her ears and all over her clothes anytime she gets to go out. She is all play and her new favorite item of the outdoors is guess what?? A stick. The simplest things yet to entertain them the most. We have been going outside everyday when we get home and the first thing she looks for is a stick.... and you guessed it- the bigger the stick is, the more fun mom! Here are some pictures from Sunday afternoon.

Spring Break 2010

2010-03-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

The Whole Gang at the Beach.... Claire, Holly, Cali, Heather, Anderson, Mary Love and Grannie. Each year it has been such a blessing to be able to go and spend time together at the Beach. As you can see... we have multiplied, so our beach trips are a little different than they were a few years ago. With two babies, there'e less time to sit around and relax and of course someone is always ready for a snack or nap... but the change is wonderful! It was great to see the two of them interact together and experience the beach. The next few years will definitely be full of lots of fun for these two little ones as they make and share many memories together.

Claire and mommy experiencing the freezing cold water. Claire loved finding (and tasting) seashells.

This is a perfect picture of what we looked like each night at dinner!!

Claire and Cali outside Uncle Ernie's Restaurant

Maybe I do look like mommy....

2010-02-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

So every since Claire was born, we have heard 99.9% of everyone we know or meet say that Claire looks just like her daddy. She has all of those Hendrickson features and looks very much like Rob. Of course, I love the fact that she looks just like her daddy, but every now and then it would be nice to hear that she looks like me too! Well, here is a picture my uncle posted on Facebook last week of me when I was little....and when I saw it, I actually thought it looked like Claire! Yay!! So for once, she looks like mommy. :) Oh, and the other person in the picture is my 1st cousin and wonderful friend, Christoper.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

2010-02-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well, last Friday, we got a little winter surprise! It seems as if James Spann always talks about snow, but it rarely ever becomes the "winter event" that everyone anticipates. We woke up that morning to a phone call which let us know that school was canceled and later that day around 10:30 or so... it started to snow!! This wasn't Claire's first snow.. it snowed last year on March 1, but she was so tiny that we only ran out just long enough to snap a quick picture. This time, we bundled her up in many clothes (that may be why she didn't really move around a lot!) and took her out into the snow. She just stood there and would bend down and touch it, then stand back up. She never took one step in the snow.. just stood there and grinned. After about 10 minutes, we took her back into the house and she screamed. At only one, she has figured out that whatever that white stuff is, it's fun! So we went back out for just a little while and the had to come in and thaw. Rob threw snowballs at the window as she looked out and she has been peeking out of windows since. I truly hope we will get a snow like this once again in the next few years when she is really old enough to really play in it!

I AM ONE YEAR OLD!!!

2010-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well, little Claire is one! It is really hard to believe, but she is!! We had her a party on Saturday night and it was so much fun! So many of our friends came and lots of them had little ones of their own. It was hilarious to see them all interact! Here are some photos from Claire's big night!!

Bath Time!

2010-01-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

It seems as if you always get the greatest pictures while your kids are in the bathtub! Claire really goes crazy and bathtime has really turned into "play time." She NEVER wants to get out... but why would you wanna get out if you can play with all of your bath toys and throw the wet rag on your dry mom? She's also learned how to squirt water from the bath toys into her mouth and drink it. Of course Rob has a fit because his first response to this is, "What if she peed in there!?!?!?!" Here are our latest bath photos... hope you enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-20T15:38:00.001-08:00

Here are my other 14 childern - my precious 1st graders! This was the picture we used for our Christmas card this year. They each are very special and I know Santa will come to see everyone of them!

Open, Close

2009-12-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

Claire has learned how to open and close many things now! She has also put her teeth to use! She's figured out how to use her two bottom teeth to pop the top off of containers. (like her puff's) Here she is trying to "pop" open a can of Rotel.

Growing up!

2009-12-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

It seems just like last yesterday that I was sitting in my carseat, sleeping whenever mommy and daddy went out to eat... now, I require my own chair and crayons of course!

Good things come in small packages!

2009-12-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

This is Claire playing with one of her favorite toys... a cardboard box!

Christmas Party at Day Care!

2009-12-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

This is what I walked into when I picked up Claire on Friday. They were having their class Christmas party and red icing was everywhere in the room. She was eating cupcakes and cheespuffs... also stealing the other babies cheesepuffs! I saw her swipe about 6! Needless to say... she had a blast eating all of the junk food! She wasn't really use to eating all of this so she didn't poop the whole next day! I know that may be a little too much information but oh well, it's life with a baby!

Sylacauga Christmas Parade

2009-12-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, we went to the town Christmas Parade... it was extrememly cold but Claire hung in there better than Rob! This is her in a little bunting that was mine and Trei's when we were little. She was a little big for it, but we stuffed her legs in anyway... needless to say, she was really warm! We couldn't tell if she liked the Parade or not.... she just stared at all of the lights, loud bands, fire trucks and firemen who were yelling Roll Tide over their fire radios. I'm sure Daddy was happy about that... Now we can say, Claire has been to her first parade!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Our first Thanksgiving with Claire.
Boy, is this Thanksgiving a lot different from the last!

Claire has gotten to where she is starting to pose... look at her making this face.... it is like she is

saying cheese.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year! We spent the day with Rob's family and then my parents came up on Thanksgiving night. We headed to Auburn the next morning for the Iron Bowl. It was great hanging out with everyone and enjoying these days off!!

Daddy's Office

2009-11-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

I bet you didn't know "this" was what was trading your stocks!

We went to visit Dada at work one day and happened to have the camera so we took a few pictures. Claire had a great time pulling out all of Rob's drawers and discovering what was in each one. :)

Little Cousins

2009-11-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

Anderson and Claire.... we tried to get them both looking at the camera. Good job, Anderson! Claire was too occupied playing with the pearls. They go on the Christmas Tree by the way, they are not her jewelry! ha!

Mommy's Christmas Photo Shoot

2009-11-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

So, every mother takes out their own props and tries to create a cute scene for a picture... or at least I do....I guess I'm a little cheesy! Anyway, here are some pictures I attempted to take of Claire. (I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.)

Claire and Anderson

2009-11-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well, we have definitely had a good time having a little cousin around. Little Anderson is 2 months old now and we can't wait until he is big enough to "really" play. Claire just laughs at him and wants to touch his hair. I'm sure they will be chasing each other around before too much longer!

This isn't the best picture.... Claire was doing her fake smile for "cheese" and Anderson was hungry! Oh well, at least we are trying to take pictures :)

Wild Child

2009-11-05T17:10:00.001-08:00

These are some pictures from bathtime this week. No matter what type of mood she is in... as soon as she gets into her bath water, she turns into a wild child. She loves splashing the water and trying to catch it as it comes out of the faucet. We are having so much fun watching her!!!

My First Mischief...

2009-10-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

So, every child has a time when it is his or her first time to do something mischievious. I was in the kitchen cleaning up and knew Claire was plundering in the entertainment center. She became quiet, so, that's when I knew I needed to investigate what exactly she was plundering. Turns out-she was pulling all of the tape out of a cassette ... and having a blast! Luckily, the tape wasn't too important. It was from a Christmas program our church had a few years back.

I have a feeling we will have a lot more of these situations in the future with Claire Bear around!

A glimpse from the past.....

2009-10-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

I found this picture from last year....this was an Auburn game we went to in late October. I can't remember which game it was, but I am so glad that I'm not looking/feeling like this now!!

OLD BAKER FARM

2009-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Claire and NaNa find a perfect pumpkin- well, not perfect... but it would do!

Claire wanting to get down.... she hardly ever wants to be held now unless you are doing something really exciting!

Claire sitting on the pumpkin... I think she weighs a good bit more than it though!

Nana and Claire on the Hayride to the Pumkin Patch.

This weekend, my parents came up to visit so my mom and I took Claire to Old Baker Farm in Harpersville. It was a blast! The weather was so nice and it was just fun to walk around on their farm. We got to see many baby animals, which Claire was unsure of, and also take a hayride to the pumpkin patch. At the patch, we were able to pick out pumpkins to take home. Claire didn't know what to think about all of those orange things on the ground. She liked hitting them and hearing the hollow sound they made. After picking our pumpkins, we had our hands full. We didn't think about carrying Claire + 2 pumpkins. My mom was able to fit her pumkin inside her purse..... yes, big purses are handy! And we made do with the other one and Claire once we got back to our stroller. Old Baker Farm is definitely a place we will visit again next year! Hopefully, Claire will be able to pick her own pumkin and carry it then. :)

Trip to Tennessee

2009-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

This past week, our school system had Fall Break so we decided to take a little family vacation with our friends, Marty and Laci and their two children, Slade (4) and Ramsey (1).