Claire's Birthday Celebration

I realize I could have just waited until we had celebrated Claire's birthday to do one post, rather than two...but too bad, I didn't.

So here are pictures of the little celebration we had the night of Claire's birthday.  She was SO spoiled, and we are so super grateful for all the wonderful presents sent by family members.  

She had a FANTASTIC day!

Getting ready to open the presents.
(I don't know why the pictures seem blurry...if you click on them you can see them bigger and more clearly.)

 

"Okay, you can stop taking pictures now mom."

Card from Great Grandma and Grandpa Campbell.

"I'm RICH!" 

(She had gotten a couple other cards with money, she couldn't believe it!)

Quick pause to talk to Grandma Davis

New princess dress 

"It's like Barbie Fashion Fairy!"

 

Her haul...it was AWESOME!

Time for cake!

Whoa...easy there daddy!

Claire sure is one wonderful, and spoiled 4 year old!

Happy Birthday Claire!

Has it really been 4 years since we brought this spunky red-head into the world? 

Where has the time gone?

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

We love Claire SO much, without her our life wouldn't be nearly as exciting!

 Some things about Claire I want to remember as she turns 4:

Claire: 

- Has an AMAZING memory.  She hears something once and it's there for good.  We have to be very careful about what music we listen to, what we watch on TV, say or do around her. (For instance in her video I ask her to sing "Jar of Hearts"...and she knows all the words to the chorus without blinking.  I don't even know all the words.)

- Is the most eclectic little kid I've ever known.  Her birthday wish list was: A Batman Crystal Ball, A Chickenbot (which we think must be a chicken robot), a Toy Story cake and she added yesterday The Don't Touch Hand Soap System for the bathroom...because it would sure make washing her hands so much easier.  

- Is usually off in her own little world, but is also very meticulous with little things.  She will try writing words, sounding them out, and will carefully sit and color a picture for an hour making sure she is inside all the lines.  She pays very close attention to details. 

- Has suddenly decided she's a "fashion girl".  An example, yesterday she wore a blue and yellow dress paired with purple sweat pants, a white and pink sweater and a green headband.  She is SURE that wearing pants under a dress makes her look older, even if it is sweat pants.  For her birthday she is getting pink cowboy boots and a pink superhero cape...I'm sure some interesting outfits will be coming.

- Is looking forward to growing up so she can clean faster....which won't be hard to do. 

- Needs at least a 10 minute warning that we're leaving the house so she can get shoes and a sweater, plus you will have to remind her at least 10 times that is what she's supposed to be doing. 

And here is the 4 year old video.  Keep in mind we had both just woken up...but there are a few gems in there.  And yes, it's long.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!

We kicked off our Easter celebration today, because tomorrow Marty has a 24 hour shift and will be gone (plus, we can focus on the REAL meaning of Easter tomorrow).

After breakfast, the girls all went to the library with Marty (it's become a Saturday tradition we all look forward to).  While they were gone the Easter Bunny came and left eggs in the backyard.  Isn't that so convenient?

The girls were SO excited!

And they're off...

Addison's first Easter Egg hunt.

I have more eggs than you do...

Poor girl isn't feeling the best, so she wasn't 100% into it.

 

She is lucky she's so cute though, her sisters made sure to leave eggs for her and helped her find them as well.

"Show me your baskets!"

Addison sees an opportunity while Claire is distracted to snatch an egg.

Claire gets her cool moves from Marty....and her sense of style.

When Addison went down for her nap, we dyed some eggs. We considered doing this while she was awake.  But since we don't really like catastrophic disasters, we opted for her waiting another year (or two...or three) to partake in this.

 

 

It has been such a great Saturday!  It really surprises me that the longer we've been away from "home", the more I've been able to really enjoy and appreciate these quiet holiday celebrations with just our little family....not saying a nice big celebration wouldn't be enjoyable as well!

I hope you ALL have a fantastic Easter weekend!

Spring Has SPRUNG!

It has FINALLY been beautiful, sunny and warm around here the last few days.  The girls are in heaven, and the trampoline has proven to be the BEST INVESTMENT EVER!

Here are some of the joys of spring...

Static Hair

 "Jeep" Rides

(Our neighbor was SO generous and gave us this because their daughter outgrew it.  The girls LOVE it!)

 

Hiding from the Jeepers (it's safest under there)

 

LOTS of smiles!

 

 

And most importantly, FUN!

Thank GOODNESS for Spring!

(I hope I didn't just jinx us to a month of rain and gloom...)

300th Post/Groundhog Limbo Day

Wow...this is my 300th post on this here blog!  CRAZY! Hard to believe I kept this thing going clear back from 2007 when Claire was just a baby. 

Who says I can't finish something I started?

As much as I wish I had something fun/witty/hilarious to share for this momentous occasion, I do not, life is pretty much in a constant state of limbo for us right now and my brain is tired.  Well, it's either limbo or Groundhog's Day, I can't really be too certain.  Maybe a combination, while I wait in limbo for things to happen, I live the same day over and over and over.  So maybe it's Groundhog Limbo Day around here?

 The worst part about Groundhog Limbo Day is there's NOTHING to talk about, because there is nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing entertaining, nothing figured out, nothing decided, nothing confirmed. Get my drift?

Does this make any sense at all?

Probably not.

See what I said about my brain being tired?

****************
So my kids, they're cute...maybe we should see what they've been up to?

The older girls wanted to play "baby".  So I swaddled them up and put them on the couch.

Best. 20 minutes. EVER!


They asked me to do it again a few days later, but added "please sit me up so I can at least watch my show." Apparently all aspects of being a baby weren't so appealing to them.

As for Addison, she is getting WAY too big.

I realize this picture is fuzzy, and it looks like a mug shot...but look how big she is!
And as a side note - her speech is really improving lately.  She is babbling a ton more, and really getting her point across.  Too bad her point is that she just wants to eat candy all day...don't worry, I don't give in. 



So I guess the lesson we can learn here, is that if I have to be stuck in Groundhog Limbo Day...at least I have some super cute company.