11 months, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, and more

Happy Easter!  We've just returned from spending a few days in Tennessee with my parents at a cabin they rented.  While it was a rough trip down there, we had a good time.  Claire threw up multiple times on our drive down, in the middle of a torrential thunderstorm.  We would outrun it, she would throw up, and we would stop to clean up, while the storm caught up with us.  We did that 3 times before she finally fell asleep.  While we were there, she recovered while Colin explored the great outdoors, practiced fishing, went for walks, and played with Grandma and Grandpa.

We made it back for church this morning, and we got a few pictures of the kids.  Colin was not interested at first, but he came around.

We spent some time with Colin on our Spring Break, and we took him to the Indianapolis St. Patrick's Day parade with our friends (one of whom grew up very Irish Catholic).  Colin loved the motorcycles and the candy.

Liam, Colin, and Dean

Claire-Bear is 11 months now, and we're planning that first birthday party.  Her 11-month pictures proved more difficult to take, as she is much more mobile.  She likes to cruise and do her version of crawling, though we do occasionally see actual crawling.  She's started pulling up to standing in her bed, which is a first, and it has made her naps at daycare even less frequent than they already were.  She's got almost 6 teeth (waiting on the 6th to push through), and she loves to eat.  I think one of my favorite things that she does is hug her stuffed animals.  She loves her lovie Buzz, and she always gives him a big hug as soon as we give him to her.  She does this with some of the puppets that Grandmom made, as well.  She still thinks Colin is the greatest thing ever, and he likes her pretty well, too.  They're playing together more and more.

I'm getting ready to spend my first few days away from her when I go to my national conference next week, so hopefully Peter will survive on his own for 3 days.  Colin will be starting soccer back up again in a few weeks, then we'll take a break for the summer.  Colin has been going through some behavioral stuff at school, and at bedtime.  Typical 3-year-old stuff, but we've mostly avoided it until now.  He continues to enjoy daycare, playing outside, and most of all pretending and using his imagination.

Details of little miss's birthday will come in just a few short weeks!