She never ceases to amaze us...

Grandpa cleaned up an little princess bike we found for Claira.  She took one look at it and said, "Can I take it home?...I want the training wheels off?"  

Now keep in mind she normally rides a tricycle at home and has never been on a 'bike'.  After two days of working with her, check her out!  

My little Ballerina

Claira has been asking since she saw the Nutcracker at Lynn Meadows last Christmas if she could be a 'ballerina'.   Her favorite show Max and Ruby also reminds her to nag me about signing her up.  She is finally 3 and old enough! I signed her up and the first day of class you couldn't wipe that smile off her face.  She is natural if you ask me! 

Halloween 2009

We did a lot of Halloween activities this year. I tried to spread out the season and give the kids as many chances to wear their costumes as possible. Come Halloween night Andy looked at me and said, "I think you may have got them a little too excited this year". I didn't know that was possible, I think the kids and I had a WONDERFUL Halloween Season! (Daddy did too)
We began the Season of Candy by attending a function at our local YMCA...it was HUGE, it was LOUD, it was FUN!

Next event was the Zoo Boo. It too was HUGE, it was CROWDED, and it was FUN!

Each kid got to go into the pumpkin patch 

and dig around till they found their perfect pumpkin

Then they got to go to a booth and color/paint it

As for the animals it was a cool 70ish degree day and the animals were out doing their thing.  A special treat that most animals got was a whole pumpkin for them to play with, eat or do what ever they wanted to.

This 8 month old Cougar had never seen a pumpkin before.  Her trainers drilled holes it it, filled it with meat and yummy things she might like and dangled it in her exhibit like a pinata.  She was pacing, swatting, and hissing at it!  

We learned that though the pumpkin was full of stinky mean she didn't really smell it too well.  Cougars use their sense of sight thus the sticky pinata style pumpkin.

Speaking of introducing pumpkins to animals, look at these animal.  The kids and I had a Halloween party to go to so to make my life a bit easier I decided to scoop guts at home.  Here is the neighbors and my monsters getting the first feel of pumpkin guts. (yes, they all did it last year but being as the oldest turned 5 yesterday it was basically a new experience.)

This one cracks me up!

yes, poor Max took one look at the others and said "SCARY!"

William was so proud.  He drew his bat, took his knife and carved it out almost all on his own.  He did get a little tired and let Claira and I help.  When we were all finished he looked around and asked why all his friends weren't carving...ummm Their Daddies are doing it for them.

Thursday night after soccer I took the kids to the Maze they had set up at school.  It was FUN!  This was the one night that they leave the lights on and let the little kids have a turn.  On Halloween they make it more like a hunted house maze, scary!

Friday while William & Claira were at school AbyKate had a Halloween Party.  Here is her and one of her dinosaur friends having a good time!

Finally the long awaited night arrived and after playing in the costumes ALL day they got to go Trick-or-Treating!

They ran, skipped, jumped, and screamed as fast and loud as they could from house to house

"Cinderella, Dressed in....Made a mistake and Kissed a snake. How many Dr will it take?"

I am so happy our new neighborhood seems to love Halloween as much as I do!

and to finish off the night we all gathered on our drive way with friends to give out candy.  It was a wonderful Candy Season.

Happy Halloween!

Claira is 3!

Yahoo! The little Princess turned 3.  She is growing taller, talking more (if that is possible), gaining balance, coordination, knowledge, and does the silliest things.  She loves to ride her bike, play with her babies, Calico Critters, and her siblings.  Claira sings through her days and wears her emotions for all to see. 

Here are a few of my lucky camera moments were I got to catch her being 'Claira'.

Can you believe she put on my wedding dress!

Sticker Face...she does this a lot!
The Intelligent Look
Cowgirl Claira, YEE HAW!
She's not just a princess, she's a night! 
not sure what to say...
Super Claira! (I can just hear the giggles)

Silly Face!

She loves her roller skates 

and swimming is one of her favorite activities

The little princess wanted a Sleeping Beauty Party with her friends from down the street, Spaghetti, Bread and Cake.  They had a great time!

And she couldn't take her eyes off Sleeping Beauty.

We love our little Claira more and more each day...she is singing to me as I am typing :)   I have no idea what song it is...some thing about a light

I GOT IT!   "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."  I'm tell you she sings most of the time, even makes songs up if she can't think of one to sing.

Forgot to Blog this!

How could I forget to blog the first day of school! Since we moved this was not just Claira's first day of School but also William. I was nervous for both of them, but we did everything we could to make the transition smoothly. We went to 'meet the teacher' day and explored the classrooms,

the playground

and left with high hopes for the first day of school.

There was all smiles when we left the house but as it neared the time for devotion to end and for the kids to leave the commons alone with the teachers the two year olds started to cry. Claira didn't cry but she was obviously nervous to see her new friends crying.

She had watched William go to school now for two years and she knew this was going to be fun...and fun she had!
William never even took a look back...he was excited and ready to start school.

Busy, Busy, Birthdays!

My birthday was Sept. 15 and it was so fun.  My Sister, Dad & Mom all came over for a long weekend visit.  It was the first time they have been here to Texas and I wish it could have been longer.  I had a great day, that started with a smiling kids and ended with great gifts, a yummy carrot cake that my Mom and Sister made, and the best Linguine and Clams made by my wonderful Hubby!  What a wonderful surprise that dinner was, he made such a mess!  but it was so delicious nobody minded and the kids enjoyed their first experience with clams.  
During Nana & Papa's visit we were able to visit The Houston Museum of Natural Science.

It was so much fun.  We visited the bug exhibit and butterflies, a must attraction for anyone visiting with with kids.  My dad went into the main exhibit hall and learned about the Terra Cotta Warriors, he said it was very interesting.

We also spend lots of time just hanging out and playing...

Claira learned to roller skate.

and check out William, NO TRAINING WHEELS!!!  

As you can see we have been so busy growing up...I can't believe this is my last year to enjoy my 20's!!

Successful Walk

Thank you to all who supported the girls and I in our walk.  Originally it was to be a family event but life can be crazy sometimes and turns out Wil had a soccer game at 9am.  Daddy took him and the girls and I walked the 5k event.  I would have loved to have some company on my walk but I was blessed with two happy little girls, one of which sang to me most of the time!  AbyKate was so cute, every time I passed someone and picked up my pace to a jog she started clapping for me.  I was able to find some quite time to remember Grandme and all the fun times we had.  Like all the nature walks she and Grandpa would take us on down 'Bunny Trail'.  How she taught me to pick the perfect walking stick and tell my kids to "get out of the kitchen!"  

We finished in under 45 min, making it to soccer game in time for the second half.  We had a great day!  Thank you again for your support, maybe next year we can make it a group event.