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!

Easter 2013: Part 3

Easter Sunday - I was determined to get a photo of the kids before we left for church.  My silly goofies were not interested in posing for me, but I was happy with what I got.





Our church had an outdoor service, and it was a really special time of worship and testimony.

And for comparison - Easter 2012

Easter 2013: Part 2

On Saturday of Easter weekend, we hosted an Easter egg hunt for several of our friends and neighbors with small children.  Besides being a good motivator for spring cleaning our backyard, it was So. Much. Fun.

Each child brought a dozen filled eggs, and while Robert and some of the other daddies hid the eggs, we had a simple little craft for the kids - decorating a foam egg with stickers.


We managed to get a shot of most of the kids together...


...and then the hunt began!








Enjoying the spoils


Love this shot of Kate & Claire!


And with Elliot


Everything went so smoothly, and we had a blast.  This may have been the first annual egg hunt at our home. :)

Easter 2013: Part 1

We had a wonderful, packed Easter this year!

To lead up to the actual day, my MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) hosted a craft night to make "Resurrection Eggs" - basically like an Advent calendar, but for Easter.  We each brought a dozen plastic eggs, and they provided scriptures and items to put in each egg to teach children the Easter story - Jesus' sacrifice to free us from our sins.  The ones we made were pretty similar to this post.  The kids were excited to open an egg each day, and it helped us make sure that the focus was not just on candy and egg hunts.  :)

Our completed resurrection egg tree


On Friday, we attended an egg hunt at the kids' school.  Although they don't go on Fridays, they were welcome to come.  The weather was beautiful, so we loaded the kids, baskets, eggs, & backpack in the wagon and walked the 1 1/4 miles (up a BIG hill!) to their school.  Will got to hunt with Claire's class - he was excited to play with "the big kids".







We stopped for lunch on our way home and all enjoyed naps that afternoon.

Soccer fun

The kids have both enjoyed taking Soccer Shots (beginning soccer class) at their school.  Last month we got them a net and a couple of balls so they could practice/burn off some of that preschooler energy.  We had so much fun watching them show off what they've learned!

Spring Break at the Gardens

The Botanical Gardens hosted some special kid-focused activities during Spring Break - it was the perfect opportunity to organize a play date.  We made paper leis, dug in a sandbox for shells, saw an amazing sand artist at work, created our own sand art, and did some exploring.

Claire and her two favorite boys - Will and Elliot.  Elliot is a couple of months older than Will.  He and his family are good friends from church, and we see them often.  Every time she sees him, Claire screams "ELLIOT!!!", runs over, and grabs him in a big hug.  He is getting slightly less overwhelmed each time.


Will and his cousin Grace safely contained in their strollers


Playing in the sandbox


Sweet friends (minus baby Jack & Will who was tired just wanted to be carried at this point) - Paige & Kate from Team McCormick, Grace, Claire, and Elliot

Break out the swimsuits!

March 4th - the first day in 2013 the kids put on their swimsuits.  It was a really warm day.  Claire had been asking to play with the hose, so we broke out the new swimsuits!  They had so much fun watering the grass and each other.  We stayed outside until their lips started turning blue.

Faces of Will

A few weeks ago Will was in our room, noticed my camera, and asked me to take his picture.  He was really having fun.



Clockwise from top left:

1. Hamming it up
2. Peek a boo!
3. Cheese smile
4. The face he makes when you ask him to close his eyes.

Claire-isms

From today...

Asking me to peel a hard-boiled egg for her:  "Mommy, would you hatch that egg for me?"

Deleting a photo she just took on my iPhone:  "I'm going to trash can that one."

Love her!

Weekend in Fort Worth

A few weeks ago we spent a weekend in Fort Worth.  We left early on a Saturday morning and were in FW in time to eat lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, the Reata.  With full bellies, we headed over to the Museum of Science and History.  The Stock Show was going on, and since the museum is inside the stock show grounds, we were able to just buy admission to the grounds and visit another museum too.

We all enjoyed checking out the dinosaur exhibit.  There is a dinosaur skeleton that is more than 12 feet high and 60 feet long - we were all impressed.  When we walked in, Will's eyes got big, and he said "It's HUGE!" in an awestruck voice.  The boy loves dinosaurs!


Next door is the National Cowgirl Museum.  Our favorite part was the bucking bronco - the kids each took their turn.


After the ride you get a 20 second "movie" of yourself looking like a real rodeo champion that you can later download.  We loved the resulting videos - Will's little wave was so funny.

Will's ride

Claire's ride

A short nap in the car and dinner at Blue Mesa finished out day 1.

On Sunday we drove to Dallas with Bob and Ma for a final Honor Flight reception at the Frontiers of Flight museum.

Buckled in and ready to take off

Bob, Robert & Will in front of a plane Bob helped design

On Monday we visited the zoo before driving home to San Antonio.

Will snapping like an alligator

Let's Rodeo, San Antonio!

One of the first things we learned when we moved to San Antonio is that the city loves to have a reason to celebrate, and it seems like everyone makes a visit to the rodeo (or at least the fairgrounds) every year.  Robert usually gets tickets through work, and except for last year, we've gone at least once.  I think the four visits I made this year have made up for skipping 2012.  :)

Robert got some great tickets through work this year.  On Friday, our friends Josh & Courtney went with us for a little parents' night out, and we were invited to a suite for Wednesday night.  Since the kids wouldn't have a chance to go to the actual rodeo, we took them to the fairgrounds on Saturday.  We enjoyed checking out the animals in the stock show barns and the Animal Adventures exhibits.  Claire especially enjoyed the "Little Buckaroo Farm", where they got to gather agricultural products in a little basket and turn them in for a bandanna or snack at the end.  Will loved showing off his boots and cowboy hat.  We wanted to take them on a carousel ride, but were shocked when we realized we would need 4 tickets each - a total of $16 - for one ride!  We decided that we would skip it this time, and I would bring them back for Dollar Day.  Claire handled it really well - Will was pretty upset, but we managed to distract him with another exhibit before we left.

Dollar Day was on Monday (Presidents' Day).  Robert had to work, so my mom & dad went with us.  We knew it would get crowded, so we arrived before the exhibits and Midway opened, and we were in the first group for the pony rides.  Will was SO excited - all he had wanted to do on each visit was to ride a horse, and he finally got his chance.

Next we went to the petting zoo.  As I expected, Claire was not into it, and Will was all over the animals.  He pet a donkey, a llama, and lots of pigs, goats, and sheep.  He practically laid down on the goats, petting them vigorously with both hands.  He also tried to feed a goat some straw - and was excited when the goat took a nibble.

Claire wanted to go back to the Little Buckaroo Farm, and a photographer asked her to take a photo with Miss Rodeo Texas Teen and another pageant winner.  She paused long enough for a picture before dashing off to gather her vegetables.

By the time we finished with the farm, the midway rides were opening up.  We got $20 in tickets and rode more than enough rides.  Will hated the bug ride (too bumpy!) but loved both carousels.  Claire liked everything and felt especially big when I let her go on the tea cups by herself.  She got it spinning pretty quickly and just belly laughed the whole time.

We had a great time with the rodeo this year - looking forward to 2014!

Valentine's Day is here!

Overheard Yesterday

Will making up a new song: "I need a boat to go down the river, the river, the river."

Claire after some solid playground time:  "Mommy, I need my water bottle.  I am running out of energy."

Will with microphone in hand:  "Claire, it is time to ROCK!"