She and Daddy made me Hawaiian beach scenes in pastels:

Daddy has recreated the Black Sand Beach of Maui, and Claire has also included a beach scene (I can surf! Sweet!) and the stars we can see from the telescope are conveniently hovering right over our beachside condo.

Claire wrote me a poem that says:

When the street lites go out
the stars shine brite
and the moon
glose in the nite!

My heart is full.

But, the truth?

It was Run-Around-Like-A-Crazyperson Theme, with a brand new Rosetta doll making an appearance by the cake and on the Birthday Memory Book.

We had Claire’s party at The Little Gym, where the kids played solid for over an hour (with cool mixture of directed activity and free-play) before being sugared-up with an ice cream cake.

My favorite quote of the party?

A little boy took a bite of the ice cream cake and said with complete amazement, “WOW! THIS CAKE TASTES JUST LIKE ICE CREAM!”

Awesome.

After the ice cream cake, the kids formed a pyramid for me to take photos…

(I always use a group photo as a Thank You Card…it’s a great way to send people a little memento of the party AND an easy way to stay on top of the Thank You process.)

…and then they had a little more free-play before the party came to an end.

This was a Run-Around-Like-A-Crazyperson Theme, after all.

As party favors, we handed out some handwoven bracelets we’d purchased in Mexico, and the kiddos got to take home a balloon.

This year, in stead of gifts, Claire decided she wanted all of her friends to make her a picture. I thought this was a fabulous idea!!

I made a Memory Book for the pictures, and compiled it last night after the party. She has spent so much time looking over each masterpiece and truly cherishes each and every one. Speaking of the artwork, they ARE masterpieces. You can tell each person put so much into his or her picture for Claire, and the smile on Claire’s face when she looks at each one almost brings tears to my eyes.

Getting to run around like a crazyperson AND receiving a treasure like this? It’s the Perfect Birthday Party Theme for our six year old.

Perfect.

Click the photo to read about Claire's birth story.

Almost a week ago. Almost Six.

…and today she IS six!

Happy Birthday, Claire!

This weekend, we all squished in the car and headed up the hill for a weekend of mountain fun for Daddy’s birthday! (Momma got to sit in back with Claire, Baby Rose and the skis, because our friend got to ride shotgun.)

This particular mountain resort had a Claire-sized Robe. We love resorts like this!  The guys skied while Claire and I lounged around in our matching robes and played in the pool.  It was fantastic!

At night, it snowed, and the trees were so pretty from our room. We even watched a beaver make his way over the ski bridge! It was fascinating to watch. It was also nice to see that a place like “Beaver Creek” isn’t based on false-advertising.

It was just what the birthday boy wanted…

…and it was even better when we could leave all the snow in the mountains when we left!

As if naming her and personifying her isn’t the first clue.

She’s never let me down. She was a great introduction into the SmartPhone world.

But, June 2009 was a long time ago. In technology years, Glenda has reached retirement age. Because she IS such a smart phone, as soon as I started researching other options, she started twitching every now and then. When she realized her actions were backfiring and it made me research even MORE, she started acting like a perfect little angel almost all the time.

Still, I could tell it was time.

I’ve wanted an HTC EVO since the day I saw one last year. I even put my name on the wait list at the local Sprint Store and they called me! But, I wasn’t ready for the switch, so I let mine go to the next lucky person in line.

Fast forward to my birthday. Daddy and Claire had cooked up a plan, and Claire was going to give me a new phone for my birthday!

Originally, Claire was very distressed at the mere possibility of letting Glenda go. She was distraught. This way, she got used to the idea of Glenda retiring and someone else taking her spot.

I think the resemblance is uncanny.

Meet Eva.

She’s an EVO.

She also looks like EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) on WALL-E, and he pronounces her name, “Eeeee-vuh,” so that’s why we’ve spelled it with an ‘a.’

She’s not Glenda, but she’s awesome.

So, I’ve got my very first Droid for my 37th birthday. I wonder how old Luke Skywalker was when he got his?

I’m 37 for those of you playing along at home. That means that I’m closer to 40 than 30, but I’m still closer to 35 than 40…not that any of that matters, because in my head I’m 27.  Go figure.

Plus, it’s not the years; it’s the mileage.

Anyway, I’ve had a fantastic Birthday Weekend so far!

Here’s a sneak peek of one of the things we did today:

Yes, we bought a yearly membership to the Butterfly Pavilion at the end of February, and we’ve already gone a few times in the last couple of weeks. I’d have to sit down and do the math, but I’m pretty sure it’s already paid for itself…and we’ve only had it two weeks.

More about my Birthday Weekend later!  I hope you have a great weekend, too!

Claire
Born November 30, 2010 at 1:49 pm

New Momma, New Claire

She’s barely a day old in these photos.

Claire
November 30, 2010
FIVE* YEARS OLD

*I know she’s five, but I question the math. I certainly don’t feel five years older.

This year, we decided to change it up and do something a little different.

As you can see by the photo, we are spiraling toward Claire’s FIFTH birthday. We have this countdown on the fridge, and every day, she chooses a sticker to put on it…taking us one day closer TO THE BIG DAY.

The cool part about having your birthday on the last day of the month is that you get a whole month to use as a countdown.  The challenging part about having your birthday on the last day of the month is that you get a whole month to use as a countdown. 

So far, so good.

Jasper & Merlin are NINE YEARS OLD today!

I can’t believe my first babies are almost a decade old!

It seems like yesterday we were bringing them home. (We had to wait until they were big enough to bring them home. You can read all about that here!) Look how TINY they are!!

October 2001 - Merlin & Jasper

Happy Birthday, guys!

We’ve been on the lookout for a new one, but we just haven’t found one we like yet.

Well, imagine my delight when I got the monthly newsletter from our local pottery painting place, and they announced that they have garden gnomes!

This was going to coincide nicely with Daddy’s birthday, so Claire and I put our plan in place.

We conducted our plan in total secrecy, and Claire nearly burst from all the excitement, but she didn’t spill the beans!  She kept the secret!

We picked out our gnome and got the paint all ready. Claire wrote her name on the table, to make everything official.

We started out with a sponge, but switched to paint brushes. (By the time we did that, I had Glenda safely put away so as not to get paint on her.)

Claire and I painted for two and a half hours, and we worked great as a team!  Yes, I said we painted for two and a half hours!  It was a long process, but one we both thoroughly enjoyed!

When I was painting on some of the detail work, Claire used the paint on our palettes to create her own little picture for the owner of the store. (You can see our garden gnome and Claire’s other handy work on the table.)  I mean, when you’re 4-years old, 2.5 hours is a long time to sit still…but this kept her preoccupied.

I told Claire she could name him, and she decided that “Fred” was the perfect name for Daddy’s Birthday Garden Gnome.

As you can see above, Fred the Garden Gnome turned out really well!  We finished painting, and he posed for a photo, waving to us amidst all the painting aftermath.

…then we had to wait for him to be fired. I hope he can support his family without a job. Ha. Just kidding. Couldn’t resist.

Well, after a week had passed, Fred was ready!  We picked him up today, and it’s really cool to see him all shiny!  The Birthday Boy is thrilled!  Claire and I were so excited to see how Fred turned out, and none of us were disappointed!

Daddy says he looks too nice to put outside, so we’ll just have to see where Fred ends up!