What I Love About Claire- by Ben

I love that Claire mouths the words to common phrases such as "I love you" "Bye, Bye" and "Night, Night."

I love that if she is sitting next to you at the dinner table, she will pull on your arm over and over when you are eating to make sure you don't forget that she needs more food. (Okay, it can be really annoying, but very cute.)

I love how cautious she is. She will not attempt to go down the stairs without first looking over the edge, carefully thinking about how to approach them, and then she will lower herself down one step at a time.

I love it when she snuggles with me (needless to say the big boys aren't down with that...although Tyler still is as sweet as ever).

I love that she got her first forehead scar under my watch...not really.

I love the look of terror and adoration that comes over her when Jake is rapidly approaching. She loves Jake (who frequently picks her up in the heimlich maneuver) and Jake looooves her, but she has learned his passion for her is completely unbridled.

I love how much she loves her Mom...and when Mom isn't around....

I love how much she loves her aunt Katie (who has been staying at our house a couple nights a week to go to school, and is a great fill-in when Mom isn't around).

I love how much she loves pizza.

Oh, and I know it's been said, but it's worth mentioning again that I love her sweet brown eyes and big dimples.

Happy Birthday Claire!!!

Claire turned one today! Ben had a class tonight, so we mostly celebrated last night.

We usually let the birthday person decide what to have for dinner, but since I couldn't ask Claire (and I couldn't decide what her favorite food is), I went to Ben. He was pretty certain her favorite food is pizza. To get a second opinion I asked Cameron, who was pretty certain her favorite food is crepes. I know very well that Ben's favorite food is pizza and Cameron's favorite food is crepes, so their responses gave me a good laugh. Nonetheless, we had pizza for dinner last night and crepes for breakfast this morning. I know Claire loves them both too.

Ben's mom made this cute birthday banner for Claire. I think it is so cute!

One thing I have learned from having so many kids, is eating dinner first tends to spoil the fun of a first birthday cake. It's no fun to watch a full baby eat a birthday cake. A hungry baby is much more exciting to watch... so Claire had her cupcake before her pizza.

We had a couple of takes with the birthday candle due to tears over who was supposed to help Claire blow it out.

She had lots of eager helpers.

She even started to eat it once, but we had to blow it out one more time.

Then at last, she dove in. Hands free.

Surprisingly she didn't get any on her clothes.

After we decided we'd taken enough pictures of Claire eating the cake (thank you Randy), we told the boys they could start eating their pizza. As soon as Claire saw the pizza being served, she was done with her cupcake! Her eyes were fixed on the pizza and she started to shriek. Here is a picture of her shoving a piece of pizza in her mouth before I could even wipe the frosting off of her hands.

(I bought princess cupcake holders and sprinkles that were pearls, crowns, and high heels. Ahhh. To have a girl...)

Claire chased down the cupcake and pizza with a bottle of milk. Last week I decided I was sick of her making milk messes with sippy cups. so I gave her a bottle. She absolutely loves it now. Kind of funny to start bottles at age 1. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts packing on the pounds the way she chugs that milk from a bottle.

After dinner she opened her presents. We let her go at by herself for awhile, but she didn't quite know what to do.

So I helped.

Here she is going in for a kiss on her new doll.

And finally, a pose with mom. (Uncle Randy and Aunt Sevann also got her a darling new dress, but I don't have a picture of it.)

This morning she enjoyed her crepe with strawberries and whipped cream in it.

Accompanied by some sort of birthday doll performance by Cameron and Jake.

After her morning nap, I tried to do a one-year-old photo shoot with her, but she wasn't very cooperative.

I managed to get a few good ones...

Here are some things I love about Claire right now...

I love that when she gets excited she kicks her feet. It usually happens when she sees food she wants, but also when she sees someone she's happy to see. She'll be on my hip and I'll feel both of her legs kicking over and over again with excitement. I love it.

I love her goofy grin. She has four teeth on top and two on bottom. The outside ones came in before the inside ones, so she has quite a silly smile.

I love her pretty brown eyes. They turn my heart to mush.

I love that she dances whenever she hears music. It can be a slow hymn at church and Claire will start rocking out the second she hears it.

I love that she loves to eat and she's not picky. When she's awake, she is usually eating non-stop. She'll eat just about anything, including lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, and olives. The only thing I can think of that she doesn't really care for is bananas, although she will eat them if she's hungry enough.

I love that she will leave on headbands, because they are the perfect accessory for her bald head.

I love that she's a girl. It is so fun to shop in the girls section. I love that she smiles when I show her how she looks in the mirror when I get her dressed up cute. Oh, and I love to coordinate my outfits with her on Sundays.

I love that she goes to bed easily. All she needs is her a binkie and her doggie and she's in heaven. She chews on her doggie's ears and rubs them in her hands and against her face.

I love that she's a mommy's girl. People around here might actually think we are connected at the hip because that's usually where she is. Sometimes it get's a little frustrating being the one she always wants, but deep down I really love it.

I love how she brings so much love and happiness to our home. She brings out a much gentler side in all of us. I love to see how sweetly her brothers treat her (usually). When one of the boys is crying or mad, all I have to do is bring Claire in the room and they can't help but smile at her.

Happy Birthday Claire Bear!!!

Indoor Smores

Lately we've been burning lots of fires to warm up the basement. Cameron and Jake can set them up all by themselves for Ben to light. They even carry in all the wood to keep it going. They LOVE to make fires and the LOVE to toast marshmallows in their fires. Indoor smores have become one of our new cold weather traditions.


This is a picture of Ben toasting marshmallows. He is an excellent marshmallow toaster, and luckily for me, Cameron is following in his footsteps. I have a feeling I will have many skilled men to prepare marshmallows for me someday. (I like to eat them, but I don't like to make them).

Here are my future toasters enjoying their family home evening treats.

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Pretty in Pink

It is so fun to finally be able to buy pink! I can't get enough of it!

Randy and Tyler

Randy and Tyler are such good buddies. Tyler is always SO happy when Randy comes over. Here are a few shots I took while Randy was reading him his bedtime stories. Tyler chose the book. He always associates Randy with Darth Vader because Randy dressed up in a Darth Vader costume for Cameron's birthday party. It was a little traumatic for him until he saw it was Randy. Now he loves to talk to Randy about Darth Vader!

Cameron is Six!!!

Today Cameron turned six. Last night I tried the usual, asking him to skip his birthday and just stay little. He didn't go for it. "Oh, yeah right," he said with a giggle. This morning he proudly looked in the mirror and said, "Look how tall I am now, I'm gonna need some new clothes!" He did look a little bigger today...

For breakfast we had his favorite, crepes. For lunch Uncle Randy surprised him at school and brought him a cheeseburger and fries. I brought his class cupcakes in the afternoon, which were a huge hit. The kids were all hugging me and asking me questions. My favorite was a little boy that ran up to me, hugged me and said, "I really like your white van."

When we came home from school, Cameron played outside with friends while the other kids napped. Ben came home so we could all go to Bounce n Play. In true Cameron form, he politely declined because he wanted to stay home and play with his new toys. For dinner he chose pizza and then the boys watched a super hero movie we rented and ate popcorn and Dibs. He had a great day and went to bed with a smile on his face!

I can't believe I have a six year old! I always feel especially sentimental when I think back to the day Cameron was born. That was the day that changed my life completely, the day I became MOM. I was SOOOO excited to finally meet him. He has blessed my life every single day. In honor of his birthday, I'm going to write down some of things I love about Cameron.

He is honest. I completely trust him when he is telling me something. I know that kids go through a normal developmental stage where they tell lies (Jake has been in that stage for awhile), but Cameron seems to have skipped that. He has such a conscience. I love that about him.

He is helpful. While not always cheerfully, he really is helpful. He knows how to clean up and he put things where they really go.

He is smart. My friend Alice once joked that the reason Cameron is so skinny is because all the calories he consumes are going straight to his brain. That always gives me solace when I am worried about how skinny he is.

He has a great laugh. I love when he really cracks up about something. His laugh is so fun.

He loves his brothers and especially baby Claire. He is so sweet and gentle with her.

He is aware about and concerned with other peoples feelings. He doesn't like to make people feel bad. He was really sad when he found out that his good friend at school doesn't have a dad at home. He was almost in tears when he told me about it.

He's good at sharing.

He's doing really well at piano. His teacher thinks he's remarkable. (I wonder how good he would be if he actually practiced more than once or twice a week!)

He's a real homebody. There's nowhere he'd rather be than at home.

He's a funny kid. Cameron wants to be a spy when he grows up and he also wants to build robots. At school his teacher asked the kids to draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up. Cameron drew a trash man. He had such a sly grin when he told me about how he had tricked them. He didn't want them to know he's really going to be a spy. That made my day. I wonder what his teacher thinks about his aspirations. Ha ha.

I also love that he smiles a big genuine smile whenever he sees me after school. He'll walk out of the pick up doors dragging along and looking as tired as can be and as soon as he finally notices me he gets a big cute grin. I love it! I don't know if that will always happen, so I want to remember it.

I'm so happy Cameron is in our family! He's a great blessing in my life!

Duggar Style Laundry

The thing I hate about laundry is that it is never done. It is endless. Just when you think you have every last thing clean, everyone changes into their pj's and you've got the beginnings of three more dirty loads.

You know it's bad when you have to send the kids down to the basement for a pair of clean underwear. To say I was behind was a complete understatement. I had loads and loads and loads of clean laundry piled in baskets and waiting to get folded. This morning I went to work and finally got it all folded. Wow, bless those Duggars' hearts. I can't even keep up with four kids. Imagine twenty!

The laundry in the basement is a real drag. One day, while I was out running, I saw a lady dragging a bag of laundry to the bus stop that honestly looked like it weighed a hundred pounds. I told myself I would never complain about going to the basement to do laundry again. Well, here I go! It is freezing down there, and it's scary at night because the windows don't have coverings, and until last week, only one dim light would turn on because of an electrical problem. So, I always put off going down there.

Today was something else! I can't believe how many clothes we have! You would think from this picture that the closets and drawers would have been empty, but surprisingly, they still had stuff in them (not much though). As embarrassing as this picture is, I want to document this massive undertaking.

Jake and Tyler were just watching cartoons and eating bagels while I worked. Someday, not too far off, they're going to help me, just like the good ol' Duggar kids do. I could sure use their help!