Peter Pan

A friend of mine had two extra tickets to see Peter Pan at the Tulsa PAC. So Claire and I went with them and had the best time!! I was a little nervous about Claire having to sit that long plus it started kind of late but she was so enthralled the whole time and really enjoyed it. Her favorite character was Tiger Lily. One of the best part was when it was over Peter Pan walked by as we were leaving and sprinkled Fairy Dust on her and our friend Emmi. Claire thought that was pretty special.

I loved getting to spend time with Claire alone. I plan to do that more often. Such a fun memory was made that night.

 

 

Dance observation day

In December Claire had a dance observation day for her dance class. We were able to go into the classroom and watch them dance and take pictures. They had a Christmas party with gift exchange as well. I will warn you there will be a lot of pictures with this one. Also, I am not all that good taking photos indoors so they are not the best but still so cute because quite frankly, my daughter is a very cute little dancer. See for yourselves.

 

Some of her dancing friends.

Claire's best friend Rachel. (This is who Claire thinks is the coolest person she knows. Seee Claire is 4 post.)

LOVE THIS ONE!!



Claire is 4!

Goodness gracious I can not believe that my baby girl is 4. She is no longer a baby...she isn't even a toddler any more!! (enter tears here) Where has the time gone?

We were able to celebrate her birthday on her birthday, just the 4 of us. We had cake, opened presents , and went to Chuck E Cheese. We only played games then we were off to Mazzios to have real pizza. For her birthday she got Princess Yahtzee Jr. (a favorite game of us all), Tinker Toys (did you know they make them in pink? Claire loves to build things.) and a big girl bible with her name on it.

A little about Claire Bear. She loves to sing and perform. She makes up songs all the time and she loves to have us listen to them. Then she asks "Was that a good song?". She enjoys playing mommy and baby with Quinn and you guessed it she likes to be the mommy. She LOVES to draw or color. She is really good at drawing and painting. I wish I could save everything she makes but I get 4-5 drawings a day and there just isn't enough room. She is still a very picky eater. I was hoping this would have changed in the last year but instead it is the same if not worse. Now she tells me she isn't eating what I made even before it is on the table. Uggg! She occasionally will make decisions based on what she is wearing. If I ask what color sucker do you want, she will look down and see what she is wearing. If she is wearing blue then that is the color sucker she wants. Make sense to me, does it you? She loves her friends and she loves church. She knows what days we go and she looks forward with great anticipation. This makes me so happy and I will surely remind her of these times when I am dragging her to church when she is older. "remember when you would cry if you missed church?'.

 

Here are a few questions I asked her and her answers.

 

Favorite Color?- Pink and Purple

Favorite food?- Broccoli and noodles

Favorite drink?- Water and Chocolate milk

Favorite T.V. show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Favorite Princess? Aurora and Rapunzel (her favorite colored princess because they are pink and purple)

Favorite song? Jingle Bells

Favorite person in the Bible? Jesus

Favorite Bible story? Moses

Coolest person you know? Rachel (I just knew she would say me.)

One wish? All my friends could come to my house again

When I grow up I want to be... Cupcake maker

 

Claire, I love you something fierce! You have changed my life and I am so blessed to be called your mama. I pray for you every night as I kiss you while you sleep. I pray you will accept the Lord as your Saviour first and foremost. I pray you will be a girl/woman of faith and strength. I pray you will light this world on fire for the Lord...girl, you can do it!! I pray I can be a loving, encouraging, and godly mama to you. I love you, Claire Bear! Happy Birthday!!

 

This picture cracks me up. This is will be Jared again in 12 years! Ack!!

 

 

 

Dance Dance Dance

Claire had her first dance recital with Jenks Dance Academy. It was like a mini one. They only danced one song, tap. It was held outside at the Riverwalk. Thankfully it wasn't too cold. Claire did awesome!! She didn't seem nervous at all but I was nervous enough for her. I wasn't sure what she would do but I should have guessed that she would be great. She loves to sing in front of people so I'm not sure why I thought dancing would be any different. I was so proud and I realized I am for sure one of those mamas that cry when they are proud of their children. I already know that Claire will one day be embarrassed by her emotional mama. The big recital is in May. We have been measured for and ordered the costume. They will dance one ballet and one tap number. I am so excited!! So proud of my little ballerina.

 

Such a big girl!

With her friend Kaitlyn that also danced that night.



Claire's Artwork

Claire loves to draw. She gives Jared and I pictures that she draws or colors every day. It KILLS me to throw them away but I honestly don't have anywhere to put them all. I decided to take pictures of them and put them on here. I am so proud of her.

Giraffe

This is a picture of me. Is my hiney really that big?

Horse

Riding a bike.

Eyelashes for Days

I was watching Claire play outside and every time she looked down I was admiring her eyelashes. So I did the sensible thing and got my camera and tried to capture them. I wouldn't call it a success but it was still fun. Claire said she didn't like any of the pictures because her eyes were closed in all of them.

 



Puzzler

I love puzzles and Claire has recently discovered them. Not the kiddie puzzles but the real ones, as I like to call them. I bought her a 24 piece puzzle last week and she and Jared put it together once and then she put it together by herself several times after that. So we got her a 48 piece one and she put it together all on her own. I remember putting puzzles together with my mom growing up. Those are such fond memories that I have. I look forward to putting many puzzles together with Claire and creating memories with her as well.



Claire Tries Something New

There is a difference between Jared and I when it comes to trying new things to eat. I will try them and he won't. He can be pretty picky. He doesn't like many fruits and not many vegetables either. He is a texture person so a lot of things taste good but he doesn't like how they feel. For instance he doesn't mind tomatoes in salsa or spaghetti sauce if it is not chunky. So I will pour the salsa or sauce into a food processor and grind it up to where there are no more chunks. By the way, I don't mind doing this. I love him and it helps me get to eat more of the things I like. :) No feeling sorry for me and no giving him a hard time.

Anyway, all of this to say Claire is his non trying something new, if it looks gross or if it's green I am not eating it clone. I have always made sure to not let Jared get away with not eating something because he needs to set a good example. And yet Claire will not try anything new! Is this a genetic thing?!?! She likes pasta (with no tomato chunks in the sauce. Hmmmm), beans, crispy chicken, and cheese. I am not a short order cook at our house so you eat what I make or you don't eat.

A friend of mine was having trouble with her child eating as so she made a sticker chart and he liked that idea and would eat new things. I decided to try it. I even made it to where if she tried 5 new things she can get a prize. In order to get a sticker she has to try something new and she has to chew and swallow it, no spitting it out. The first day she was excited! I was so pumped that this just might work!! It did end up taking her 2 weeks to get to her first prize goal. She picked out a barbie doll and even picked out the one she wants next time she gets a prize. She only needs 3 more stickers to get to her second prize. She has tried a banana, strawberry, steak, corn, rice, sunflower seed, and a pumpkin seed. She says she has liked them all but the strawberry. She still refuses some things and we will see if she will continue to eat the things she tried. I don't know how long we will do this or if it is really even working but for now she has tried more things in 3 1/2 weeks than she has in the last year or so.

Quinn wanted a chart too so I made her one. She has to try 10 things before she gets a prize because she is like her mama and will try anything. It is not hard for her to get stickers at all.

I hope this helps Claire to not be afraid to try new things and if nothing else at least she gets new toys out of the deal. ;)

 



*Picture of the week*

This may be one of my favorites. She loves to dance.

Let's Dance

Claire started dance lessons this last Thursday at Jenks Dance Academy. She is taking a class where she learns ballet, tap, and tumbling. We had to buy the leotard, tights, skirt, and tap and ballet shoes and I have to admit it made me a little giddy inside. It was so fun buying those things for her! I always wanted to dance and I am excited we can give Claire the opportunity to try it out. I think Jared secretly hopes she wants to play basketball or soccer but once he sees her dancing he may change his mind. It may have been one of the cutest things I have ever seen her do. She concentrated on getting the moves right but she laughed and she smiled and she had fun! She is in the class with one of her friends from church, Rachel. I think that makes it even better for her. It was so fun to watch them interact. When I asked her what style she liked the best she said she liked tap. She also told us that it was so loud when everyone was tapping their shoes at the same time. She looks forward to next Thursday but she did say "I want to meet my real teacher next time." I said "Miss. Casey is your real teacher." "No, she is not the real teacher her hair was long and curly and not in a bun." Haha! She has been watching Bella Dancerella and that teacher has her hair in a bun, too funny!
We only signed her up for one semester to see how she likes it but after only one class I think we will be signing her up again.

 



Claire the Brave

Flowers for mommy

Claire wanted to make me some flowers so she drew and colored a few on paper. I helped cut them out and then she put them on colorful pipe cleaners. They were so beautiful I had to put them in a vase. They brighten up my day every time I see them.



Smarty pants

Claire loves to learn. She loves it when I give her "school work" to do. She has known how to write her name and capital letters for awhile and is just now starting to write her numbers. (her own initiative) The other day she was bored so I gave her some work sheets for her to practice writing her first and last name. Also it helps her to learn how to write her lower case letters. She doesn't have those down yet. She concentrates hard and wants to make sure everything is just right. One of the many things I love about her until we are in a hurry and I want her to be less of a perfectionist. ;) She is excited about starting school especially since her friends will be starting this year. One more year...thank goodness for mommy's sake.

www.kidzone.ws

 P.S. Quinn wants nothing to do with learning her letters She is not in the least bit interested. I am not surprised...little stinker.



The things they say.

While we were getting ready to go to the park the girls were on their step stools in the bathroom in front of the mirror. They were waiting to get their hair fixed and were brushing their teeth. While I was fixing Quinn's hair Claire suddenly jumped off her step and headed toward the potty. When she realized the step wasn't in front of the potty, she had just hopped off of it in front of the mirror, she looked up at me with panic in her eyes. She had waited till the last minute to go and she was worried that she didn't have time to move the step over. So I rushed into action but as I did I said "Dear God, please don't pee pee your panties!" Normally I do not talk this way but she was fully dressed and we were running late. I did not want to have to change clothes and clean up a mess. Excuses, I know. Anyway, we made it in time...in case you were wondering. Once everything was fine I went back to fixing Quinn's hair but not before Claire said "Mommy, you said dear God please don't pee pee your panties." "Yes, I did say that." "But mommy, I am not God I am Claire." She was absolutely right.

You are my Sunshine!

Quinn's favorite song is You are my Sunshine or as she calls it Sunshine. I love to hear her sing it...precious!! Every night once she is in bed and before I kiss her goodnight I lay next to her and we sing this song. It is such a special time. I I asked her the other day if I could make a video of her singing and thankfully she obliged. I thought I would share. Claire of course wanted to be involved also so there is a video of both girls singing it as well.

I couldn't help but put his one of Claire getting to sing a solo of the song. She cracks me up!

Curly Sue

Claire wanted her hair like Tinkerbells the other day so I twisted it up in a bun. Later when we took it out Claire's hair was wavy. She called it her curly hair and loved it! She asked if she could have curly hair again so I twisted her hair up on Saturday night and let her sleep in the twists. She woke up at least 6 times through out the night and I am convinced it was because I did not place the hair twists in the right spot and they were waking her up. I asked her each time she got up if the hair woke her up and if she wanted me to take them out. She insisted to keep them in. Sunday morning came and she was ready to untwist the moment she woke up. The result was curly hair. She walked around swinging her hair and running her hands through it. Jared said that was the girliest thing he has ever seen her do. She looked pretty cute. Who knew that even at three you want hair you don't have.