Happy Birthday Claire

Claire is proud to announce now that she is really 4 years old. She has been counting down for quite a while now. She had a great time at her princess and the frog birthday party (see pictures posted to our shutterfly account, follow the link to the right of the blog or go to www.hammondshappyfamily.shutterfly.com, password claire). Geegy made a princess and the frog cake, Claire and I made frog cupcakes, the kids enjoyed beating a frog pinata, swimming and making princess tiara's and froggy visors. Will post pics here soon.

Rhys is 8 months old!

Rhys is quite the mover and shaker. We can't keep up with our little guy these days and he is proving to have as hard of a head physically as his dad. Little guy is constantly climbing on chairs and stairs, etc... It's hard for me to get a still pic these days so must of my footage is video.

He adores his sister and they love giggling at each other. Claire has no troubles keeping him entertained with singing and dancing.


Rhys continues to have such a sweet laid back disposition and is quite the snuggler. He loves being outside and goes into "chill mode" in his running stroller.

Claire continues to entertain us with her witty remarks. She is growing up so quickly as well. I can't believe she'll be 4 next month.

We are all excited about Hil and Jay coming home in 10 days! We've missed you guys!

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Africa pictures

So after building up the suspense, I decided to finally get some of our Africa pictures posted. You can view them on our shutterfly share site, follow the link to the right and the password is the first name of our firstborn.

I'll post some of the videos here shortly.


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Summer fun

Claire is making big steps with her swimming lessons. She took a month of classes with the Georgetown Rec Center. Then she decided she didn't care to go back. Of course this time coincided perfectly with our departure to Africa. She reported she only wanted mommy to teach her. We've been making progress one step at a time. She loves putting her face under water especially to see her princess dolls and rings.

Our Rhys is quite the water baby. He sits in his float and just "chills out!" he loves to slap the water, stopping only to gasp for air as he soaks himself.






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Happy Birthday Dublin Dr Pepper

Dublin Dr Pepper is 119 years old! Claire enjoyed a glass of some Dublin Dr Pepper on honor of the occasion at Dr Pepper days!












It was fun getting to see Mark's old stomping grounds, visiting with Mike & Sandy Stepp, Grandma and the Grandma ladies and getting some much needed R&R at the ranch with Grandmother and Lonzo.

Claire is such a hoot at Grandma's assisted living. She really hams it up. Talks all the little residents ears off and greets each of them personally. Crawls right up next to them on the bench and just shoots the breeze! I think she would be content spending a weekend there alone.


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And we're off!

On our way to Africa! In DC boarded plane and will be taking off shortly on our 17 trip to Johannesburg! Meet Hil and Jay there then Botswana for 10 days and swaziland for 5. Keep us in your prayers. Updates when we return.


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Roll Rhys Roll

5 months old and he decided to go ahead and get moving (April 13). It was almost effortless and he hasn't stopped since. He's so thick and stout with a lot of upper body and core strength so will probably move on to crawling soon. But of course he's going to wait to do that until his parents return from Africa.

The countdown is here. Mark and I are heading out on this Friday, April 23. Landing in Johannesburg where we will meet up with Hilary and Jay. We will spend one night there then begin our self-drive safari through Botswana for the next 10 days visiting the Kalahari, Okovango Delta, Chobe, Madgadikgadi Pans, Victoria Falls and more. Then we head to Swaziland and spend some time at Hil and Jay's site, where they've been serving in the peace corps. We are VERY excited! We will miss our kiddos a lot but know they are in wonderful care with their two sets of granparents and nanny. We are fortunate to have so much help and support for this to happen! Please keep us in your prayers! We will return May 9th so will have updates then.

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Location:W Hwy 29,Georgetown-Round Rock,United States