Another {Older} Party!

Because some of the {older} children had/have birthdays soon, we also had a more grown-up style birthday party. We cooked a great meal for dinner, and then we sent the kiddos off to bed. But Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Chris got some photos with their cute nephews, first!




Then the {older} children got to open some presents. Rebecca loved her super soft towels!

And Stephen and Jordan both loved their Cane's gift cards!

{I must admit - I loved Jordan's Cane's gift card, too! Jordan was nice enough to share it with me, so it's already been well used.}

Easter

Happy (late) Easter, everyone! I know that Christ is risen, and I am so thankful for that!

We didn't have a very normal Easter, since we drove back home that day, but we did get to go to part of church. And before church, Claire got to see what the Easter Bunny brought her at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The Easter Bunny was very good to Claire this year! Thanks, Easter Bunny!

Claire liked playing with these carrots all week long, so it was very fitting that she picked them up on Easter morning.

With her basket emptied, and armed with the carrots, she was finally ready to look for some eggs!

We made sure to make time for some family photos before heading off to church.
Grandma and Grandpa

Our little family
Happy Easter!

13 Months

Claire is 13 months old today! And she's such a big girl! She likes to play with clothes, bags, belts, and any other "accessories" that she can pick up, put on, or carry around.

As of tonight, Claire is 21.8 pounds and 30 inches long. She seems to be holding steady at these measurements.


Claire loves her dad, and she lights up when he comes home. I love seeing that! She says "dad" frequently. {But she usually only says "mom" when she's crying!} This morning I went in to get her when she woke up, and, while I was changing her diaper, she pointed to the hallway and said, "Da!" {I just got her up from a full night of sleep, and she doesn't even care! She just wants to see Dad! But that's okay. I don't mind that a bit!} :-)

When Claire says dad, she builds up to it. She has her tongue ready to make a d sound, and after a couple of seconds, she finally says, "Daaaaaaa!"


Claire still loves to point. It seems like she points all the time. She tries to communicate through pointing, and, thankfully, it works sometimes.

Claire loves to be wherever I am. She follows me from room to room. If I leave the room we are in, she looks up with concern until I come back, or she gets up and follows me wherever I go. I don't mind having her as my shadow, {especially because Jordan is so good at letting me have some time to myself when he is able to}.


I love you, Claire-girl!

Treading Carefully

Claire likes to play on the treadmill at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

She'll climb up there and then walk around on it or sit and play on it. She has a really good time on it.
But she doesn't really know how to get off of it! {One time Ryan was on the treadmill with her, and she watched him crawl off of it. She then did the same thing. But without her much more adventurous cousin Ryan, she just doesn't know what to do!!} Just look at how careful she's being!

So she just asks for help - in her own special way. And I'm happy to help this sweet girl!

A B C... 1 2 3

A B C... 1 2 3 - Sounds like a birthday party to me!

Because Claire and Ryan are so close in age, and because we were going to be in town within a few weeks of Claire's birthday, Mel and I decided to have a joint birthday party for the newly-turned one year olds. Mel came up with the theme: A B C... 1 2 3


We had fun decorating, and we scored a great purchase of a "party in a box" for only $10!

For dinner, we served Apples, Bananas, Burgers, Crawfish, Chips, and Cupcakes.

We also got some party hats! Woohoo! Uncle Bando was super excited about the hats! {Kyle was more excited in the store when we got them than he was in the picture}.
The fam enjoyed the hats just fine.

We were all good sports about the hats.

And then we have Claire. From the moment that hat was on her head, she did NOT like it!

And I mean she REALLY didn't like it!!!

Then it was Ryan's turn. He was okay with it at first,

but he had just seen Claire's reaction to her hat... and he decided that he didn't like his hat very much, either.

So we took the hats off the babies!

After dinner, it was present time!

Kyle had fun helping us unwrap Claire's presents.

And Claire and Kyle had fun playing with Ryan's presents!

Ryan got in on the fun, though, too!

Ryan also had fun being entertained by (or maybe he was entertaining?) Uncle Hubba, Aunt Rebecca, and Uncle Bando.
After presents, it was time to get ready for cake!!! Ryan was so excited he danced on the table!! Go Ryan! Go Ryan!

We sang Happy Birthday, and then Stephen and I blew out the candles and left the cakes for the babies.

Ryan started off strong, while Claire kind of watched and kind of explored the cake slowly.

Here's Ryan about half-way through his cake.

Claire did get into it, too.

And by the end, both Ryan and Claire totally demolished their cakes!


Kyle had a good cupcake!

He also had a great time showing us his monkey shirt!!!

Look at that monkey mouth!

After demolishing those cakes, it was bath time for Ryan and Claire! Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Happy Birthday, Claire! I hope you had a fun birthday party! I love you!