Birthday #2!

On April 8, Claire turned two - how is that possible?!? Robert worked with her all week, and when you ask her how old she is, she'll say "Two!" and flash her fingers - she's having a little trouble holding up just 2, but she tries. :)

Since we were having her party on Saturday, we kept her actual birthday on Thursday pretty low-key. We took cupcakes to school, and her teachers told me that she enjoyed three of them. :) We gave her a couple of small gifts, and she was very excited about her new bath boat and her card from Aunt Sheila that played "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid".

Friday morning we were up bright and early to head to DFW. After lunch at the Reata, we made our annual visit to the Main Street Arts Festival in Fort Worth. We found a couple of small things, visited the Water Gardens, and then fit in a ride on the mini train. The ride was about 45 minutes long, and we weren't sure how Claire would do, but she loved it and didn't get restless until the last 5-10 minutes. We will definitely ride it again.

Afterwards we visited with Robert's Granddaddy and Grandmommy and had dinner with them before heading to Arlington for the night.

Saturday was Party Day. My friend Courtney's son Pierce was born a few days after Claire, so this year we decided to have a joint birthday party for them at the Dallas Children's Museum. We had such a great time!

Someone didn't want to cooperate for a photo of the birthday boy and girl...






A little skeptical


After cake and ice cream, we let them all loose in the museum to run off the sugar

We were able to have lunch with Courtney's family and the French family. Claire was Not Happy when Pierce decided to come sit by me. Check out the look on that little face - so funny!

That evening Ma & Bob had a small get together to celebrate the birthdays of Claire, Robert, Bob, and one of their friends. Ma organized a fun balloon game for Claire, and after dinner Claire was very excited by her Little People Doodle Pro.

It was full weekend, and we had so much fun celebrating sweet Claire's birth!

Easter 2010

This was Claire's first Easter where she was ready to participate in Easter egg hunts. Our church had a cookout and egg hunt the Sunday before Easter, and while the preschool area of the egg hunt was a mad dash, she still had a lot of fun. It took her a little while to figure things out, and in that time she managed to get two eggs and a few rocks, which she found just as enticing.

Sporting her sweet princess shades


On the hunt


It was a little windy...


Her haul

Later that week, her school held another egg hunt. I wasn't able to make it, but Robert got to go. This time she knew what to do and got a basketful of eggs!

I think her favorite part of the day, though, was after school when Daddy picked her up in the wagon.

For Easter weekend, we spent Friday and Saturday in Austin as we were getting family portraits done there on Saturday morning. We had dinner at Z Tejas and followed it up with some Amy's Ice Cream. Claire was in heaven!

Hamming it up at the kiddie table


"Mmmmmmm..." - one of her new favorite words


Showing me where the ice cream goes


Showing off for the other tables

I didn't get any pictures on Easter Sunday, but Claire wore the same dress then as she did for our family photos. We don't have the full gallery yet, but our photographer posted a sneak peek here. This is one of my favorites - our baby has turned into such a beautiful little girl!

Random March Photos

I finally sat down to go through photos from Easter and Claire's birthday and found a few photos I liked but never got around to posting.

When my parents were here in March, Robert and Dad picked up donuts and got Claire an extra special pink donut with sprinkles. She wasn't sure about it at first, but you can easily see that she quickly got over her apprehension. You can also see the nice bruise she had from her face plant at daycare that resulted in a visit from the paramedics.

"Helping Mommy"

The redbud tree in our backyard was so pretty this year!

Carol's Wedding Weekend - Part 2

On Saturday morning, we had a big meal of breakfast tacos (and impressed Clark with our ability to get fresh tortillas and pico from the grocerty store). Claire got her first birthday present - how is it possible that she is almost 2? - and was so excited by it. It was the beginning of a big day for her!

After breakfast, Claire, Robert and I headed out to the Medina River Ranch Resort, the wedding location, for the rehearsal. The flower girl needed to practice! Carol got Claire a wagon for Christmas that we brought along in case it looked like she would need help getting down the aisle, but she did great in her practice runs.

While at the ranch, we saw all kinds of wild game - Claire loved the zebras!

That afternoon we had lunch with Robert's parents, drove around Bandera, and then went back to the resort for naps. I made a quick trip to Boerne for some hair bows (that we didn't end up using) while Claire and Robert napped and visited with family. We managed to get Claire dressed and her hair fixed without too much arguing and stalling and made it to the pre-wedding pictures. Carol gave Claire a silver box with her name engraved on it, and we had to pry it from her hands before the wedding.

I'm happy to say that Claire did an excellent job walking down the aisle. She smiled and stayed on track, and then was very well behaved from her seat with us during the ceremony!

During the group photos, everyone clapped for Claire as she stood in front and smiled. She definitely enjoyed all of the attention. We had a wonderful time at the reception, and since we were staying the night at the resort, Claire got to stay up extra late.

The ever present cup

She loved dancing with Aunt Carol, Granddad Martin, Daddy and Mommy. I love the expressions on her face!

Sunday morning we got to see everyone again at the day after brunch. Everything was so beautiful & fun, and we are incredibly happy for Carol and Jeremy. Congrats again, you two!