Clara is 1 year old!

Clara is 1 year old!!!

 Dear Family and Friends,

Clara turned one year old on April 20th. It's really crazy to realize that an entire year has gone by. It's been an incredible year with Clara. She has brought such joy to our lives, and we have enjoyed watching her grow and develop these last 12 months.


We decided to throw a "ballerina" birthday party for Clara last weekend with close friends and family. It was a lot of fun, and Clara enjoyed playing with other babies and children. She also enjoyed trying her first piece of cake! She wasn't quite sure what to do with it at first, but she quickly figured it out and seemed to like the taste. Most of the cake ended up on the floor, but a messy bout with cake seems to be a rite of passage for one-year olds these days. Our friends and family were so kind and generous; Clara received many beautiful gifts, including two hand-made dresses from her two aunts. The party was also special for us because we realized how many new friends we have made here in Connecticut over the past several years. We feel very lucky to have close relationships with such wonderful people.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Clara destroying her cake

Birthday presents!

"What's in here?"

 This past week was also special for us because my brother Steve, and sister-in-law Christy and their three adorable kids Mariana, Madeline and Carson came for a visit from Kenosha, WI. It was their first time to the East Coast, and also the first time they were able to meet Clara. My nieces and nephew were very sweet with Clara, and it was so fun to see them all interacting. It was a great visit, and we hope they can come again in the future.

Family

Carson and Clara

Madeline, Mariana and Clara

Clara is doing quite a bit of walking these days. She is very steady on her feet unless she is tired. It seems everyday she is doing more walking and less crawling. She has figured out how to turn our radio on and off and enjoys turning music on and dancing. Her hair has suddenly gotten longer and is cute, curly and blond. She has a favorite polar bear named "Snuggie" whom she literally snuggles all of the time. It's so sweet. We look forward to watching her transition from a baby to a toddler. We are going to miss the baby stage, but the toddler stage promises to bring a lot of fun and exciting new developments.

Clara's 1 year old Portrait

Happy 1 year old!

I really can't believe that I have been posting this blog for over a year now. It's been a lot of fun and serves as a creative outlet for me. I enjoy writing and taking pictures, and I love getting feedback from those of you who follow it. I have family members who do not use facebook, so this keeps them from feeling left out. Thanks for your interest and support of this blog. I will do my best to keep going with it. The month of May looks to be relatively laid-back, which I think is what we need for a while. It's been a busy month for Joey and we are looking forward to a chance to unwind a bit.

Best wishes to you all!

Joey, Erin and Clara

Spring is in the air!

Dear Family and Friends,

Spring has come to Connecticut these last several weeks. Flowers are blooming, the sun is out and the birds are singing. The weather at night has been cool, but we have reached temperatures in the 50's and 60's during the day. Joey, Clara and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather by trying to get out of the house as much as possible. We discovered the borough playground down by the docks. It's a sweet little playground and is home to an infant swing which has been a thrill for Clara. Just the other day we took a trip to Providence, RI to check out the zoo and ended up spending time on the wonderful carousel located on the park grounds. It's been fun exploring and trying new things with Clara.

Our Clara is growing a mile a minute. She has such a cute little personality. She loves to smile and laugh. Clara has had a few major milestones in the past weeks. She is now able to stand up from the floor without holding on to anything, and even more exciting, she took 10 steps all by herself one evening. It hasn't really happened since, but I think it peaked her curiosity, and I wouldn't be surprise if one of these days she decides crawling is old news. Clara is also starting to understand the meaning of a number of words such as "dancing", "kitty", "moon" and "milk". She loves cats, and when she sees one she tries to say "kitty". Clara turns one year old on April 20th. We have a small birthday party planned at the end of this week. My brother and his wife and children are coming to visit us from Wisconsin. It will be their first trip to the East Coast and also their first time meeting Clara. We are so excited for their visit and glad that they can be here to celebrate her birthday.

Holy week was certainly a busy week for Joey. His services went well, and we had a wonderful first Easter Sunday in our new church home. After church Clara blessed us by taking a three-hour nap which allowed us to rest and recover from a busy week. That evening we enjoyed spending time with some close friends who were kind enough to invite us to their home for Easter dinner. Clara got to wear her Easter dress, a gift from my mom and dad. She looked so sweet in it, and she had fun taking eggs out of her Easter basket and throwing them all over our living room floor. So much has changed since last year. Little Clara was only four days old last Easter Sunday! (See photo)

(Clara, Easter 2011)

We hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Easter weekend. The next few weeks will be busy with visits from family and celebrating Clara's birthday. I promise to include a post all about it. Happy Spring! Let's hope it's here to stay.

Joey, Erin and Clara

Overdue Post!

Clara is 10 moths old!

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm sorry that it has been so long since my last post. It seems the time has been flying by, and as a family we have been extra busy the last few months. I have to admit this time of year is my least favorite. These months tend to be very gray, cold and dry, so I always look forward to Easter and the beginning of Spring. Actually, the winter this year has been quite mild, and we have had a few spring-like days, so I shouldn't complain.

Things have been busy in the Ripka household. Clara is growing and changing by leaps and bounds. She has completely mastered crawling and is able to pull up to a standing position and walk while holding on to something. She can also stand for several seconds without holding on. The most exciting development for me is her love of dancing. She dances every time she hears music, and changes her movements based on the style of music she is listening to. As a child, I was very involved in ballet, and friends used to comment that I never walked anywhere, just danced, so I am thinking Clara may have inherited the dance gene from me. She will be 11 months old on March 20th, and we are starting to think about when we might be able to organize her first birthday party. I think it's incredible that our little girl is going to be a year old soon; she's growing up way too quickly!

Clara's first bath in the tub!

Post-bath cuddle time

Joey is doing well and keeping busy. In February he traveled to the U.K. to perform an organ recital in the chapel of King's College in Cambridge. It was a quick trip, but the recital was very successful and he was excited to play in such a famous venue. The only downside was the unusually cold weather in the U.K. The chapel was freezing, as were his living quarters in the college. He managed to play well in spite of his frozen fingers. He has a couple more recital coming up this month. This Wednesday he will perform a noon recital at First Church in Fairfield, CT. It just so happens the church sits directly across from St. Paul's Episcopal church where Joey was Organ Scholar while attending Yale. We hope to see some familiar faces in the audience.

On March 2nd, Joey and I performed a violin and piano recital at Calvary Church. It was the first major recital that I have given since Clara was born, so I felt a sense of pride in being able to play well in spite of my severely reduced amount of sleep and practice time. I also came down with the stomach flu 5 days before the recital, but somehow managed to pull through and perform. The church was completely filled with people from both our church congregation and the community, and we received a very warm and enthusiastic response. It was great to feel so supported and appreciated. Our program consisted of the Mozart Sonata for Violin and Piano K. 301, Brahms Sonata in G Major for Violin and Piano Opus 78, Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata Opus 24 and Wieniawski's "Polonaise Brilliante" in A major. We performed Meditation from Thais as an encore. It was a challenging program but also such rewarding repertoire to perform. The recital represented a nice combination of both pieces we had performed together before and some new works. My parents from Minnesota and aunt and uncle from Virginia came to CT for the recital, and it was great having them here. Joey's mom was able to visit us from Minnesota for about 10 days prior to the recital, which was a huge help since she was able to watch Clara while Joey and I rehearsed together. Clara really enjoyed spending time with her grandparents and godparents during the last couple of months.

Post-Recital Photo

Well, that's the news for now. Hopefully Spring will arrive sooner than later, and we can start to enjoy the outdoors a bit more. We have yet to visit the beaches in Rhode Island, so we look forward to that. I will try to post more frequently now. We have some fun events coming up in the next few months, and I will certainly make sure to include a "Clara's First Birthday Party" post!

Best wishes from Joey, Erin and Clara!