Birthday Celebrations!

I can't believe my baby turned 6 on Tuesday!! We had her birthday party on Saturday and what a fun celebration! She wanted to invite all the girls from her class and some of her closest girlfriends from church so we had 11 little girls running around the house in their pajamas!! That's right - a complete girly pajama party with fingernail painting, bracelet making, being silly, playing a stuffed animal/toy game, eating cake and pizza and watching Tangled for those who could stay for the after party. It was just what Claire wanted and I know she had a great time having her friends here to celebrate with her!

I got this balloon wreath idea off of pintrest and it is something I can use for any other birthday celebration! Well worth the time and effort as I over heard Claire telling some people at school about it before they came to the party. She thought it was pretty special =)
Here's my sweet girl! We planned on doing sponge rollers in all the girl's hair so I rolled Claire's hair. But after she looked at it she was in tears wanting me to take it out...I told her I needed atleast one picture of her! 3 other girls at the party rolled their hair along with this mommy so it was worth having out!

The grandparents from both sides were there as the designated adult helpers! Thanks mom for all your fruit/dips and extra help and to Elaine for bringing the yummy bread! Made these yummy s'mores treats off of pintrest and put it together with stickers and a bog of popcorn to go with the pajama party theme! "Thanks for poppin' in and makin' my party s'more fun!" They were SUPER yummy and I've already made them two more times since!
Claire picked out a couple baby pics of her to have out with the flower cupcakes!
Making bracelets! They couldn't get enough of it... some of them made 3 or 4 of them! Beads on pipe cleaner
Most of the girls in the hallway
Here they all are!! Loving their time in Claire' room and hanging out on the bunk bed
Each kiddo brought their favorite stuffed animal/toy and dropped it in a designated bag outside the front door to keep it a secret. Then we all guessed who brought what... I wasn't' sure if they would like this game but they loved it!
Singing happy birthday! Ever since I made Eden's Snow White cake Claire has wanted a Rapunzel cake. This one was a little more challenging with her hair being so long and with the different colors of the skirt.
Guess who enjoyed it?
Thank you to everyone who blessed Claire with such thoughtful gifts! This was one of her favorites - the Rapunzel Hair!
We LOVE you Claire - our favorite 6 year old!! You have changed our world for the better and we are so honored to be your parents!
If you want to see more pics you can click on this site and go to Claire's 6th birthday! http://neilkathrynclaire.shutterfly.com/

Claire's birthday was actually Tuesday so Neil and I gave her our gifts that morning. She loved her "foo foo skirt" outfit and really liked her feather hair clips. I also finished her birthday scrapbook up to her 5th birthday and she was really excited to look through it... now I get to do the 6th birthday! I love this picture of her...she just looks so cute!
I couldn't believe all the attention she got at school! It's amazing that at a large school they can still make a student feel special. She was on the BSN news announcements in front of the whole school, wore this special hat all day, got sang to a few times and got free ice cream at lunch time! I was able to take her lunch and celebrate a little with her in the cafeteria... funny story... I asked her what she wanted me to bring her for lunch thinking McDonald's or Chick-fil-a but with big, bright eyes she said "Chocolate pudding and Cheetos!" So that's what she got =) That and a bowl of her favorite minestrone that I make. What a sweetheart that she felt like that was the way she wanted to celebrate!
After school we went to see grandpa and he had a special snack for the girls including a candle in the oatmeal pie!

After gymnastics, we met my parents, Billy and Neil's parents out for chinese to celebrate my Mom's birthday on the 8th. Happy Birthday Mom and my Grandma Ann!!

Can't wait to see what this year will bring!

Gymnastics

Claire has always loved "bring a friend" night at the Little Gym - she has been Abbey's friend to her gymnastics class a number of times! Thank you Kate for always thinking of her =) Her favorite was always the balance beam and she was really good at it.

About 8 months ago Claire came home from school and said "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a gymnastics teacher. You need to put me in gymnastics so I know what to do!" Oooo...she's smart and sneaky isn't she!? Well, after she started going across the monkey bars in seconds flat over and over again with callouses on her little hands, Neil and I decided that this would be a good activity to encourage what we've seen in her interests and strengths. She was elated when I surprised her on Valentine's Day with a leotard and her first class that evening! She was even more surprised to see Abbey was in her class along with two other classmates from her kinder class - two of her favorite friends from school! She now counts the days to Tuesday!

Blading

Look who's learning how to blade!

This girl is surprising me left and right...just goes to show that you shouldn't pigeon hole your children =) As little as a few months ago Claire was leary of trying new things, easily gave up when she didn't do something right the first time, couldn't lose a game without tears, cried at the drop of a hat, was easily embarassed but the past month I've seen her change and grow. She's gotten more self confident. She's trying new things. She's going all the way across the monkey bars at school and when she falls off the "hard" one at the park, she tries and tries again (a few tears after about the twentieth time of not getting the higher bar in the middle) But the next day she was back on and did it all by herself!

It's been really amazing to see her grow up since she started school. To evolve more into the person God has created and intended her to be. As she continues to learn, grow, change and become her own person I look forward to being right there for her. Of course, she didn't want me to even touch her to help her on the monkey bars (but she did let me hold her up while trying out the blades). It wasn't easy to see her hanging there and not touch her... I had to sit far away but was always watching =)

Although it's hard to see your baby grow up, it's really amazing to be part of it.

Claire's

Today was a VERY special day I don't want to soon forget!! Claire got her ears pierced!! About a year ago she asked about it but quickly said she didn't want to to do it so I told her when she was ready to let me know. Honestly, I didn't think she would come back to me so soon but the last day of school she asked if she could get her ears pierced. Neil about flipped out!! After we talked about it we decided that Claire could get them pierced after she earned 7 stars on a chart we made together - Claire made her own boxes! We've been dealing with a lot of whining so it has been a great incentive for her to work on her self control - now to make sure she keeps it up!

So here is our momentous occasion in pictures! She was so brave - I could tell she was nervous but she just got up there, relaxed when they told her to, got a little teary after the count down, let me pick her up and then said she was fine! She didn't even cry and a lot of the other people commented on how brave and good she was.
She thought it was great to see her name everywhere in the store!
Before...
After!! She chose little pink stones - any surprise?
My baby is growing up! So fun to have this special day together just the two of us!
And of course we had to get a sweet treat to celebrate the occasion - this picture is just beautiful. Claire, sometimes you just take my breath away

One of the things I want to remember most about this day is that after driving around the mall parking lot literally for 20 minutes, Claire and I got out of the car and I savored holding my little girl's hand. Without hesitation she still takes my hand. She took it as we walked along the busy sidewalks of the mall and again as we walked back to the car after she braved her ear piercing. As cheesy as it sounds, I don't want to forget how her sweet, small hand fits into mine and how she proudly walks hand in hand with me. She seems to be growing up right before my eyes so I know it won't be long until it doesn't happen as often or even at all. No matter what, she will always be my baby.

Santa

With all the Christmas decorations up and the anticipation of visiting Santa tomorrow at our church's annual Breakfast with Santa, he has been talked about a lot this week. Tonight Claire wanted to write him a letter she can take to him. This is what she wrote:







And a picture for him too =)

She was so excited to write it for him and has it sitting right by her door so she won't forget to deliver it to him. It's a childhood memory I'll never forget!

Honestly, I've struggled with this whole Santa thing. Of course you will hear Claire quickly say "but he's not the most important... Jesus is!" and "we're celebrating Jesus' birthday". Everyday we point back to the birth of our Savior so that our focus is on HIM and not the consumerism of Christmas. But when it's all around you, it's such a challenge to escape. We keep things simple with gifts - one thing from Santa and one or two things from us (then of course they get things from grandparents, uncles, aunts) but agian, it's not all about the gifts. I think our main focus is to be on others - loving people we know and those we don't know. Serving everywhere we are and being intentional. Spending time in the word by doing Advent readings. Caroling and praising Him with the songs of the season in the car, at home, at church.

I pray that the joy, magic, celebration and anticipation of this season is about our Lord Jesus Christ....that I can not only teach my girls with words but as an example of what is the number on priority in my life.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!! Two days ago I started listing the blessings and gifts of my days and will continue my list until I get to 1,000... and then maybe I'll start over again =) This is inspired by a few friends who have done this while reading "One Thousand Gifts" which I still need to read. I shared my last couple of days with Claire and this morning while talking about Thanksgiving and singing "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good" she said she wanted to make her own list. So I pray the heart of my little girl gives you the smile and joy it gave me.



Just in case you couldn't read it:
1. Lord
2. Mom and Dad
3. Cat
4. Eden (not sure how Rollo got ahead of sister!)
5. God's Word
6. Aunts and Uncles
7. Mrs. Lopez
8. Grandparents and Cousins

1. Baby Brother
2. Neighbors
3. Food
4. TV
5. Markers
6. Friends
7. Squinkies (a toy that she's been wanting and hopes to get for Christmas)
8. Amber (one of the girls we are praying for who is in foster care waiting for her forever family)
9. Rainbow
10. Heart (her heart)
11. Whole World

A Princess Surprise

Back in July, Kate called and asked if Claire and I wanted to go to a Disney Princess show at one of the large theaters downtown. I knew it would be something really special for Claire and I to do together so we got tickets. The best part is I kept it a secret until I picked Claire up two Fridays ago (Sept. 9th) and got to surprise her!! Her expression was priceless and she was SO excited! Of course the girls had to dress up for the occasion as most of the other little girls at the show had. Claire wore her "queen" dress that she got from Heather Adams last year(thanks Heather - it's our Halloween costume this year too!)
We sat on the first row on the first balcony which was a great spot because the girls could stand the whole time. They had the Mickey mouse characters introduce the princess stories - Snow White, Beauty n the Beast and Cinderella.

What a fun evening to share with our best friends!! I love this girl!
Had to take a pic with the chandelier =)

GO!!!

This week was Claire's first week of kinder and it couldn't have gone any better!! She as had a wonderful week - loving her teacher (we really like her too!!), making new friends, playing games in PE, singing songs in music, reading a new story every day and what does she say is her favorite? Playing with Layla on the playground and Snack!!

I surprised Claire with a new foo foo outfit for her first day and she was so excited! She's been eyeing it at Costco all summer =) The day before she painted this lovely picture for Mrs. Lopez...

Eden, Neil and I walked her into school and to her classroom.
Do you think she was excited?! She really was fine (and so were we) until we had to say goodbye. We didn't actually get to walk her into the classroom but dropped her off by the door. When we told her we were going to leave, she went and sat next to a couple girls and started talking to them right away. I'll never forget that look on her face when we were leaving... the first look of uncertainty and worry... as soon as we were around the corner Neil and I were teary and just praying the day went well. I was fine until one of the counselors during the parent breakfast read a book to us about the first day of school - I pretty much lost it.
When I picked her up after school (it was a madhouse), she saw me and there was no smile. My heart sank and my eyes stung...again! She was so quiet but the instant we got to the car she started jumping up and down, holding onto her backpack saying "Mom!! My day was AWESOME!" I was so relieved and she just raved to everyone about it.
To celebrate the first day, Eden and I took Claire to get a snow cone and visit grandma and grandpa!

The week actually flew by and although Claire was fussy in the afternoon due to being tired, everything went so smoothly. Here she is on Friday for Spirit Day! Yeah, she wasn't feelin' the picture taking that morning =)
There are a few things we just HAVE to remember =) A lot of funny things - the serious, touchy-feely things are already written down to go in her scrapbook!

- Every.single.day. Claire asked to wear her foo foo dress! She would change into it as soon as she'd get home.

- She told us that she met her Art teacher "Mrs. HotGoose" on Friday!! Holy Cow we couldn't stop laughing!! We had to look up her name to check it out. It has a "goose" in it so she was close =)

- She said "yes dam" to Neil and we were so confused until we understood why she said it =) Women are "yes mam" and since dad starts with "d", it must be "yes dam" lol - we quickly taught her sir!

- This is the best one! Claire is choosing one day a week to buy her lunch. She was so excited to buy on Tuesday (I was nervous) so this was our conversation after school:

M: "How was lunch honey?"

C: "Good but I didn't think the chicken looked good so I change my mind. I got a hamburger. But I didn't like it"

M: "So what did you eat?"

C: "Well, the boss (she meant "principal") told us we had to finish all our food so (she whispers and her eyes get really big)... I tricked him..."

M: "You tricked him? What do you mean?"

C: "I rolled up by hamburger in a ball and stuffed into my napkin!"

It was so funny because she thought she was so sly! Don't worry - I talked to her about how that was being dishonest and that I would ask her teacher that evening if they had a rule that the kids had to eat everything =) She just didn't want to get in trouble but it was good to hear that isn't the rule. I assured Claire that she just needed to eat as much as she could.

Here's to a great second week after a fun, busy weekend! Eden and I had a blast together this past week just the two of us. Even though we miss having Claire around we REALLY enjoy our one on one time that I've never consistently had with her! I'm looking forward to this season of our family's life!

New Hair-Do

Claire's been asking for a few weeks now for a short hair cut "like Leyna" so we took the plunge! It looks super cute but in our eyes, aged her greatly... she just looks like such a big girl now. The first thing she said to me after she got it cut was "Mom, my other hair was so hot" so I think this will be great for our 100 degree weather.



This whole event brought on good conversations about how God has made us special the way we are and we don't need to try and be like others. Such a hard thing to teach because it's a fine line - it's ok to like someone else's hair but I just don't want her to be so easily influenced and for it to lead to wanting what others have. To be happy with YOU and be content. And on the other hand it also gave me an opportunity to teach her that it's just hair, it grows back and what's most important is our heart... not our cute haircut! Amazing how something so simple can turn into so many different life and heart lessons.

Preschool Graduation

Seriously, where does the time go? Neil and I laughed the other day when we realized that all those parents who told us that time would fly when you have kids were right!! And it's seemed to have sped up exponentially since Eden entered our lives.

Our baby is now 5 and we celebrated her preschool graduation today! What a fun program the school put on with all the kids and then each graduate got called in their cap and gown to get their certificate and bible from Mr. David. They also took the time to do a slide show with every child's name and picture. I can't tell you enough how amazing this MDO program is. They truly make the kids feel so loved and special!

Here is a video of Claire being called up front

Untitled from Kathryn Lewis on Vimeo.

We took a ton of video of the songs that Claire and Eden's classes performed for my parents who were out of state visiting my grandma and aunts. So cute and they looked like they had a great time! Here is the graduate!
Such a proud mommy! These roses came from a garden that I was taking care of at the time and she just loved them.
Daddy and his girl

Claire with her wonderful teacher, Ms. Claudia!

Eden on the run =) She was there enjoying all the music!

The graduate with Mimi and Poppa! So glad they could make it to celebrate with us!

Claire chose to go to "I-Pop" for breakfast afterwards as a celebratory treat! What a glorious day to see our sweetheart continue to grow, learn and become all that God has intended for her to be at 5. She is an amazing little girl - yes, she knows all she needs to know to move onto kinder. Her letters, colors, numbers, rhymes, opposites, etc. But that's really not important in the long run. She would learn it eventually anyway. Most importantly, she has a heart of gold - always looking out for others. Who Claire is and is becoming as a young lady just blows me away and in so many ways, well beyond her years. Her character is what is most important as she soon embarks on a whole new world going to school everyday with all kinds of different people. Can't wait to see what all He has in store for her as she continues to grow and seek Him.

We are so proud of you, Claire!!