Our Artist

While we’re very proud of Claire’s artistic abilities, we prefer that she color on her coloring book pages and not the walls.

Here her daddy is explaining that she should not color on the walls.

After explaining her naughtiness to her, her daddy handed her a Magic Eraser to wash the walls.

I think she enjoyed cleaning it up as much as she enjoyed coloring it.

Scrub!  Scrub!  Scrub!

PopPop called to wish Claire a happy 22 months just as she was getting in trouble for her artwork.  He reminded me that she comes from a long line of artists who think the world is our canvas, as both PopPop and Mommy were known to color on walls.

Claire is 22-months-old today.  A few things you might not know about our beautiful girl – she can count to 10; she knows the names of most of the animals; she’s very affectionate and will often volunteer an “I lud you!” to her family; she loves to run; she’s started pronouncing the ends of words (i.e. previously she would say “cash” now she says “caTCH” with an emphasis on the end; previously “wa” now “waLK”, again with the emphasis on the end); she loves to sing and knows all of the words to the songs she hears most often; and she loves to dance.  We could not be prouder of her!  She is such a joy!

Happy 22 months to Our Little Artist!

Little Leprechaun

Complete with green toenails!

Happy St. Patty’s!!

“Croquet, Anyone?”

The weather was gorgeous today, so we met some friends at a park and played croquet.  The Memphis Croquet Club has two courts at the park, and we played on one while they played on the other.

And, of course, no day at the park is complete without playing on the slide.

And Daddy and Claire had fun playing airplane.

It was a little windy today.  At one point, Claire’s ball blew off the back of the court, down the hill and across the pond.  Here are some pics of Steve retrieving it.  It was hilarious!  Every time Steve would get close to the ball, it would float just out of his reach.  These pictures are posted in sequential order.

The ball stayed in this position until just before Steve got close enough to pick it up.

Just as he gets there (after running all the way around the pond), it moves out from the shoreline just a little…

Then a little more…

Then downstream a little…

Then closer to the shore…

Then Steve found a stick!

At last!

Our hero!  (All of the other park patrons were cheering him on as well!)

And, for your viewing pleasure, a few pics of Claire.

We had a great time at the park today!  What a gorgeous day!

And for those of you who are not members of Facebook, perhaps you have not heard, but Claire went poo in the loo this morning!  What a big girl!

We decorated for Easter this morning.  When we got home from the park, Claire kept dancing with her bunny.  (Her bunny is flying an airplane.)  Here’s a video.  (And she thinks it’s sneezing, but it’s really saying “Whoo!” not “a-choo!”  Too cute!)  Enjoy!

And last night, my little cookie baked me a cake.  We let her stir up the batter.  She’s quite the messy cook!

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Graceland

Today we partook of the quintessential Memphian icon known as Graceland.  We were expecting it to be really cheesy, but it was actually interesting, entertaining and a lot of fun.  We really enjoyed it.  And I got a free ticket, so it was worth a visit.  Enjoy!

Ready for Graceland!!

First – The Mansion

Steve and Claire in the family room with the music room behind, divided by the peacock stained glass windows.

Elvis promised his parents that he would take care of them, so he moved them into his house.  This is a picture of the walls of their bathroom.  I LOVE the wallpaper.

Here’s a close up of those cute little doggies!  You can just bet that wallpaper like this will exist in my new home if I can find it or something similar.  So cute!!

The jungle room – such strange furniture.  I did, however, like the wall fountain.

Elvis’ media room – notice the wall of mirrors as well as the ceiling of mirrors.

The pool room – Yes, the walls and ceiling are covered in matching fabric.

But Elvis didn’t stop there – he made sure the couches in the room matched the ceiling and walls.  Hmm…

Checking out some of the exhibits

JUMPSUITS!!

Elvis’ final resting place – in the Meditation Garden

Claire in the Meditation Garden

Claire just outside the front gate

the gate

Next up – the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum

THE Pink Cadillac

PopPop’s dream car belonged to Elvis

More exhibits

The Elvis Radio studio

The Lisa Marie – incredible plane – totally the way to travel!

We took the Platinum tour, so we saw the Studio 68 exhibit and the Fashion King exhibit as well; however, I did not take any pictures of those exhibits.

We had a great day today!  We definitely recommend a visit to Graceland for anyone visiting Memphis.

Thank you, Steve, for the taking the day off to hang with your ladies!  We had a marvelous time with you!!

Bye, Matt.

Our roommate, Matt, moved out this morning.  He’s on his way back home to Chicago and is starting his new job with Southwest Airlines in a week and a half.

We’re so proud of you and so excited for you, Matt!  We wish you the best and hope to see you again soon!