Happy 4th Birthday, Claire!

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks to many of you, Claire had a GREAT birthday!  Between phone calls, text messages, cards, gifts, and a very special visit from Aunt Sara, Claire had a blast.  Her celebration actually started on Thursday when she got to bring cupcakes into school for snack time. Luckily it was my co-op day so I got to be present as her class sang Happy Birthday to her.

On Friday morning Claire came down to see her breakfast chair surrounded by a big bunch of balloons.  She was in awe of all the balloons and gently tapped each one while asking, "Mom, how did you get these balloons here while I was sleeping?" I assured her it was a Mom trick.  We then spent the day playing with play-doh, fielding Happy Birthday phone calls, getting birthday packages in the mail, having fun with our birthday visitors Miss Heather and her friend Madison, and then decorating the house and baking her birthday cake.

My little baker!

Papa Strategier and Nana Dixie got Claire a pet bird!

The bird whistles and chirps and when Claire blows her whistle, it sings her a song.  Claire appropriately named the bird, "Whistle."

Madison came over bearing great gifts and a beautiful card she colored for Claire!

Time to decorate the cake!

And then we decorated the table with Frozen theme tableware and moved her balloon bunch to her dinner chair.  Claire said the room was still missing something and then said, "Streamers for the light!" Of course!

By the time Chris came home from work, Claire was ready to open her stash of presents from Mom and Dad.  She scored pretty big in the princess department and getting a magnifying glass for exploring!

Will and I watch "Sissy" open her presents!

Giggles with Daddy!

Big eyes!

For dinner we had little personal pizzas and smoothies and then it was time for the cake! (If you look closely you'll see that I cut the cake, and as we were eating it I realized we forgot to sing! Oops...better late than never!

After Claire was in bed, I headed out to the airport to pick up my wonderful sister.  I was so excited to see her! Claire was equally excited to see Aunt Sara the next morning when she woke up. After a nice breakfast and presents with Aunt Sara, Claire requested we go to the Natural History Museum in D.C.

I told Claire to look really excited about the turtle paper she was looking at...

Will is always a big fan of crayons. They are his favorite snack...only the good restaurants offer them as appetizers with the menu.

Will: "What?! You can color with these things too?! I'm learning so much about science!"

More magnifying glasses! This is Claire's kind of place!

"Mom! I found Tic-Toc Croc!"

"Run!  T-Rex has some sharp teeth!"

One of my favorite exhibits was the butterfly pavilion.  As soon as we walked in, a butterfly landed on Claire's arm.

It stayed on her for a while until her arm got tired and she asked one of the workers if they could please get it off. 

 The butterflies were really active while we were there. They were playing chase up and down the main walk way. The blue morpho butterfly was my favorite!

Before heading home, I asked Claire if there was one more thing she wanted to do and she said, "I want to climb all of those stairs with Aunt Sara!" (Lucky Aunt Sara!) So they climbed all of those stairs, which led straight to the rock gift shop, and of course we had to spend some time looking at all of the rocks!

This picture is taken from where Will and I got off the elevator.

 The rock bin was Will's favorite place in the whole museum.

"Here!" Will kept trying to give me all the rocks.

My future geologist! He is clearly appreciating the qualities of this purple rock.

The rest of the weekend was filled with bike rides and fun times around the house while playing with lots of new presents!

Claire showed her bike moves off to Sara. 

One of her moves ended in a fall where she landed right on her face. Claire went right to Daddy who has proven to be the family "doctor" and after getting all of her bumps checked out, she requested approval to go back out for more playing on her bike. I said, "Claire! That's what I call being resilient!"

I then proposed we take her first bike ride around the island. Claire was excited and nervous, but felt confident with Dad right at her side!

When a Periwinkle Fairy costume arrived from Nana Barb and Papa Ralph it became her outfit of choice!

And Claire's newest favorite past-time is a stamp and color set from Aunt Kelli and Uncle Kes!

 On Monday afternoon, we were all sad to have to say farewell to Aunt Sara.  We baked some cookies and pumpkin bread for her to take with her on her flight.  Then Claire and I drove Sara to the airport and we all tearfully hugged good-bye.

A quick twin picture!

Last group cuddles before the drive to the airport!

I loved seeing these two share special moments!

 Yesterday, Claire decided to get all dressed up for school.  She said, "I wonder if they will notice how much older I am today?" Claire also asked me if I could straighten her curls! (Now I am realizing how much older she is!)  She has actually been asking me to do this for a while, and I finally agreed to help her style her hair straight.  I didn't realize that people with curls started to wish for straight hair so soon!

Straight hair Claire.

I miss the curls! At least I can still see them on the ends!

I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Bethie