Merry Christmas!

Claire Walking

Today we took advantage of the beautiful Colorado weather and went to the zoo with Claire's friend Siddarth. The kids had a great time walking around the zoo, especially the Tropical Discovery indoor area where they enjoyed the fish and the Komodo Dragons.

A quick video of Claire walking around at the zoo

Happy 1st Birthday Claire!!

3 days old

365 days old

We can hardly believe that Claire is already one!

Please feel free to share a birthday wish or memory in a comment below (don't forget to sign your name!)

The first year has brought us:

To eight states: CO, UT, MA, NH, ME, NM, CT, RI

Milestones: smiles, rolling, laughing, sitting, crawling, pulling up, babbling, cruising and walking

Signs: All done, more, milk. Claire also waves and blows kisses

Food: Claire has turned out to be an adventurous eater, but her favorites seem to be cheese, pizza, dal, peas, pumpkin, pears

Favorite Outings: The Zoo (Claire has been to 3 different zoos), My Gym, Swimming Class

Favorite Toys: Miss Emily Doll, Laugh & Learn House, Ride & Push Car

Claire's First Birthday Party at My Gym

On Saturday we held Claire's Birthday Party at one of her favorite places My Gym. Claire had a great time playing with Grant, Alba, Siddarth, Rex, Donovan, Ben, Nellie, and Olivia!

Circle time

Shooting out of the canon

Claire entrance

The Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Claire!

we tried to get a photo of everyone.....

Thank you to our friends and family for coming out to celebrate Claire's Birthday!

Thank you for your donations to Toys for Tots!

Thanksgiving Week

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to head back East to spend it with Melissa's family so that they would get to take part in one of Claire's first holidays and get to celebrate her birthday with her. As usual we crammed it full of visits with friends & family and added two more states to Claire's list.

We began the trip on Saturday with a long day of flying and driving before we reached Stamford, CT. Home to Chip & Kristen! We were able to spend a great (but too quick) few days with them. During our time there we hit up the Stamford Parade which has some of the big balloons like you would see in the Macy's Parade. Claire was mildly interested, but actually paid more attention to the little balloons the cart was selling next to us. We also had the opportunity to go visit with Maureen & Tim to meet their son Benjamin.

On Monday we headed back to Boston with a small detour to Rhode Island along the way for lunch by the capital. With this little detour, Claire visited her 8th state this year.

After that it was off to see Jen & Bill and there new addition Autumn. Claire is already looking forward to Autumn visiting Colorado next year.

We spent the night with Kerry, James & Grace and it was great to see the girls play together. It has been so much fun seeing how the girls interact with one another. We took Grace & Claire to the Sing a long at the local library and they both seemed to have a great time dancing along to the music.

On Tuesday it was off to New Hampshire/Maine for the rest of the week. We stayed with The Borish Family and on Wednesday we took the kids to the Twice the Fun Indoor Play Area where they all had a great time playing. After that we headed over to the farm to make pies with Great Grandma Marion. I think that Claire may be a natural.

Thanksgiving Day was spent at the farm enjoying the parade and Patriots win. Claire was able to meet her great aunt Sue and great uncle Tony for the first time. She seemed to enjoy the meal, gobbling up everything that we gave her including a whole piece of pumpkin pie (I

thought we would split it, I was wrong).

On Saturday we had an East Coast First Birthday Celebration for Claire. We were luckily that we had some special guest as her Great Aunt Kathi & her first cousin once removed Ken were in town from New York so they were able to come along with Great Uncle Ed, first cousin Charlene, and her second cousin Cheyenne. Claire seemed to enjoy the focus being on her and loved the cupcake once she figured out what it was!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for making this week so a great time for our family. We are very thankful for the many amazing people in our lives and are grateful that Claire is so loved by so many.

We have steps!

Today was a big day for Claire! It all started this morning with Claire taking one step without hanging onto anything or lunging for the next piece of furniture. At first I thought that I imagined it, but she repeated this small feat for Dave.

Later on in the day while we were hanging out with Mark watching the Broncos game she decided to go a little further and take multiple steps in the middle of the room. She was focused on playing with a water bottle so I am not sure that she even realized what she was doing. When we celebrated her accomplishment she promptly sat down and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Of course when we tried to capture this moment on video, she refused. We are excited that our East Coast Family and Friends will get to see this milestone in the making when we visit with them next week. We are all looking forward to our third trip to New England that is packed full of visits with friends and family and of course Claire's first Thanksgiving and her Birthday Party with Melissa's family.

11 Months Old

We welcomed in November with a weekend pack with special occasions. On Friday we headed down to Colorado Springs to spend the weekend with the Yoo Family. We spent Saturday celebrating Jessica and Baby Yoo with a Victorian tea at the Miramont Castle. It is crazy to think that this same weekend last year we were at our shower for Claire and now she is 11 months old!

On Sunday we headed over to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, where we spent a few hours checking out the animals, petting a few and even feeding the giraffes!

Feeding crackers to the giraffe, Claire was very brave and loved to give the cracker to the giraffe (we have a video, but are having problems uploading today)

James, Jessica, Baby Yoo, Dave and Claire

James, Jessica, and Baby Yoo in the Large Chair (Don't they just look like GREAT PARENTS!!)

Claire in that same chair

Claire's First Halloween Weekend

Claire's First Halloween has been filled with fun events with her friends! The weekend started off on Friday with Claire's Costume Parade and Party at school. We tried to get a picture of her and her classmates, but it proved to be rather difficult, here is our best effort.

Since using a knife is a little out of Claire's skill set at this point in time we opted to finger paint our white pumpkin instead.

Then it was off to Trick or Treat Street at the Local Rec Center with Olivia and Amy. Here are some photos from the pumpkin patch of our little chef and her friend Tinkerbell.

Next it was off to the Halloween Party hosted by the Todd Family. Claire enjoyed seeing all the kids in their costumes. Here she is with Grant (probably discussing the stock market and such- right Chip?)

We are looking forward to trick or treating tomorrow night and handing out candy!

Claire is 10 Months Old Today!!

Congratulations to Jen & Bill Shapiro who welcomed their daughter Autumn Dorothy Shapiro into the world today!

Pumpkin Harvest Festival at Four Mile Historic Park

On Saturday we headed out to the Pumpkin Patch Festival at Four Mile Historic Park in Denver. We met up with Claire's friends Alba and Siddarth and wandered around for a few hours on a beautiful fall day. We explored the teepee's, checked out the bees, hung out in the pumpkin patch, and took a hayride. We can't wait to return next year as they have lots of things for kids to do!

Yum Yum

Claire trying to feed herself with the spoon. The smile makes the mess worth it!

Jaime's Visit

This weekend we had the pleasure of having our good friend Jaime visit from Charleston, SC. On Friday we had a girls day and checked out the Littleton History Museum, which has two farms (from the 1860's and the 1890's). Claire enjoyed seeing some animals, especially the pigs who decided to take a mud bath while we were watching.

On Saturday we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike to Mill's Lake. It was a beautiful day in Colorado and the 5 mile hike was breathtaking. Claire did great in her backpack and we are really enjoying being able to take her on these great day trips!

9 Month Photos

On the 11th we took Claire to City Park for her 9 Month Photos. It was a beautiful day in Denver, perhaps too sunny for some of the photos. The password is Claire. Enjoy!

http://hasslerphoto.zenfolio.com/claire9months

Claire is cruising and clapping!

Over Labor Day weekend Claire began to cruise around anything that she could stand up at. It has been fun to watch her learn this new form of movement. She will even have her brave moments and let go! Independent standing only lasts a few seconds, but it is easy to see that she is eager to start this walking thing that she sees everyone else doing. Here is a video that Dave captured as she plays at her music table.

Another first for Claire is that she started Clapping on the 11th. We have not been able to capture this one yet, but it is fun to have another action to add to her waving, saying no and signing all done.

Claire Returns to New England

On Thursday we set out for another trip to New England this time to attend the wedding of Chip & Kristen. We felt very lucky to be making the trip as Claire had been sick all week and we did not feel that she would be ready to travel. After two doctors visits and her fever finally breaking the Thursday morning we decided to go ahead with the original travel plans. We arrived late Thursday night and spent a quick 12 hours with the Borish family before packing up and heading to Maine to the Acton Fair to surprise the family! We spent part of the day showing Claire one of Melissa's old 4-H stomping grounds. She seemed to like the animals and we all enjoyed getting to see the family. Unfortunately my dad was away in New York attending the funeral of my uncle and was not able to see Claire this trip.

After the farm we made a quick stop back at the farm and Claire was able to enjoy some additional time with her Grandma Debbie. We took a couple of family photos in the backyard.

On Friday night we headed back to Boston to stay with the Fagans. Claire enjoyed spending time with her friend Grace while her parents enjoyed a girls night and a fantasy football draft. It was great to spend some time with our Boston based friends. On Saturday we took the girls to Boston Commons and they each had their pictures taken with the Make Way for Ducklings statues. It was a beautiful day in Boston and we are grateful to have spent it with such amazing friends.

On Saturday night we attended the long overdue wedding of Chip & Kristen. We were very excited to be there to witness them become husband and wife.

On Sunday we grabbed some sandwiches at the Hi Rise Cafe and headed to MIT for a picnic in front of the dome. We then enjoyed a stroll around campus and some MIT shopping before heading to the airport to begin the journey home.