September Randoms (Part 2)

9/20 - Making food deliveries for Heart for the Neighborhood


9/22 - A special serenade for my birthday!


9/22 - While I was waiting on Claire to get ready for me to tuck her in, I caught this shot of Robert putting Will to bed.  Sweet moments.


9/25 - Family ice cream social at Will's school


9/30 - Will and I were shopping at Target, and I realized he was kicked back in the cart.  I asked him what he was doing, and he said "I'm just relaxing!"  Love him!

Claire's Party

Claire and her friends celebrated her birthday on April 13th with a party at Alamo Gymnastics.  Since it's the year of "Frozen", we had a "Frozen" themed party.

The kids had a great time playing on all of the gym equipment.  We also learned that maybe we should be policing the parents a little better - we unfortunately had one injury when our friend Josh hurt his ankle doing a backflip off the trampoline into the foam pit.  At least all of the kids stayed safe!  

We opened presents after we got home, and Claire was thrilled with all of her gifts.  I bought her some note cards, and she got right to work writing thank you notes, putting all.those skills learned in Kindergarten to use!  We had so much fun celebrating our sweet girl.

Claire is 6

Claire turned 6 on April 8th, and we got to celebrate a few times.  :)  We started the day by letting her open her present from Aunt Lala & Uncle Robert - it had come the day before, and I convinced her to wait until her actual birthday to open it.


That afternoon Robert and I took cupcakes to Claire's class.  She initially told us that she didn't want us to come (she is still somewhat bashful when all of the attention is on her!), but we didn't want her to end up being disappointed that she didn't get to celebrate with her class, so we went up there anyway, and she was glad we came.  The class sang "Happy Birthday" to her, and they all enjoyed their treat.


We let Claire pick a place to go out for dinner, and she wanted sausage, so we had a family dinner at Blanco BBQ.  Nana, Grandmommy, and Aunt Carol's family were able to join us.  We had a great time at dinner, and Claire loved all of her presents.

Wii game from Nana & Granddaddy


Trapeze swing from Carol, Jeremy, Grace & Jacob


Robert and I got her the number one thing on her list - a tablet.  She was excited, and she has been very responsible in caring for it.  We were glad we could give her something that she enjoys so much!



We went back home and had cupcakes leftover from the school celebration.  Will shared one with his favorite dragon.


Claire set up her Easy Bake Oven & lots of mixes from Grandmommy & Martin!

Will is 3

Our sweet Will turned 3 on November 11, and we celebrated a couple of days early with friends and family at Little Gym.  Will LOVES dinosaurs - really loves them.  Whenever we go to the library, he heads for the shelf in the kids' area that holds the dinosaur-related books and picks out a couple, and then usually picks a Land Before Time DVD.  He loves all of his dinosaur figures, and he can properly identify most of them.  Almost everything I know about dinosaurs has been learned in the past few months as we read books and look up dinosaur fossil photos online.  :)  So, it was easy to pick a dinosaur theme for Will's party!







The air track is always a hit with this crowd.


Will was so excited to have everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him.  He stood beside his cupcakes with the biggest grin on his face the whole time.  I loved seeing him so happy!


Enjoying pizza and his cupcake of choice - chocolate with chocolate icing.


After the party was over, we went, gave the kids their baths, and Will opened some of his presents (we saved a couple for his actual birthday).  He loved everything!  And...that reminds that I still need to send out thank you notes!

Claire's Date with Daddy

Claire and Daddy had a special date the day before her birthday.  They got dressed up and had dinner at BJ's (including chocolate milk and a Pizookie), then went to Target where she picked out a new toy (a Cars stunt set).





I was so glad that they were able to spend this time together.  I'm not sure who had the best time.  :)

Claire is Five

I gave Claire several location choices for parties this year, and she chose Little Gym. I was glad - I knew from other parties that they would do a great job and it wouldn't require a ton of effort on my part for everyone to have fun.  :)  We had a good mix of family, old friends, church friends, and school friends, and Claire had the best time celebrating her birthday with everyone.

Landon, Claire & Evan


Parachute time


Thrilled to literally be the center of attention!


"Smash the cheese"






Free play with brother


Silly faces


The air track - always a favorite.  Elliot's, too, once he realized that the noise it made was normal.  :)




Sweet birthday girl (As we were leaving the house, she asked about a birthday hat for her party.  We decided a plastic tiara would suffice.)


Claire & Kate - love those frosting faces!


Enjoying pizza & cupcakes


We love our Claire!

Year End Wrap Up - My Birthday

We celebrated my 37th birthday with cupcakes and party hats.  Low key time with family - so nice!







It's not a party until you start the bubble machine!