March Sun & Watermelon!

 

Valentines

 

American Girl Visit

For a special birthday surprise, Grandma Carol treated Clara (and her doll, "Scout") to a trip to the American Girls store!  What an experience for a young girl!   

 

 

The restaurant, while casual, seemed to celebrate everything girls & pink!  Clara was able to have "Scout" sit right next to her during lunch and serve the doll her own food. 

 

Clara got to do all of her own ordering and handled it like a pro.  She selected a berry smoothie, spaghetti & meatballs, and a birthday cake shake for dessert.  Daddy, who loved all his girls more than the Super Bowl, enjoyed his berry sparkler, too!

 

 

Janie was in a bit of a mood at first, but became very happy when Clara shared her spaghetti. 

 

 

After the super-fun meal, Clara got to select something from the store for her doll.  She was completely overwhelmed, but once we helped her narrow it down, she selected a adorable white trundle bed.  Clara had Daddy putting together her doll bed (while watching the rest of the Super Bowl) as soon as we got home and has played with it almost every day since!

 

 

 Thanks, Grandma Carol for a special memory!

Clara's Brave Adventure

For the third year in a row, Clara has become almost obsessed about a certain character/movie and that interest has carried over into both her Halloween costume and her request for a birthday party.  This year that movie was BRAVE with princess Merida.  Mommy had fun running with this adventurous and woodsy theme to create a memorable day for our sweet princess and 11 of her princess friends!

FIVE YEARS {milestones}

Scout is FIVE years old!

 

I know that in general I am a person that struggles with time passing and life changing too quickly.  I must mention some reference to it in just about every milestone post I make, but FIVE YEARS, really!?!  That means that Kevin & I have been parents for FIVE YEARS!  That means that I have been keeping this blog for over FIVE YEARS!  FIVE YEARS we have been able to gaze in awe at this beautifully innocent face with sweet dimples and deep brown eyes!  FIVE YEARS we have been witness to one of the most amazing ADVENTURES God offers as we have gotten to know this amazing child ! 

 

WOW! 

 

At FIVE years old, Clara is such a delight to parent!  While she is finally embracing the "Scout" nick name, the name is now a little comical because she is about the most girly-girl we know.  Right now she loves princesses, fairies, dress-up, frills, wearing dresses (the longer the better) and accessorizing!  She LOVES to read and is drawn to books like Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, and Bernstain Bears.  Within the past few weeks her interest in art has blossomed.  She draws, colors, paints and creates every single day!  Her imagination is incredible, but often inspired by her experiences (family & school activities) and passions (princesses & fairies).  Right now she reports that she wants to grow up and become an actress so that she can perform in plays.  She acts scenes out to her favorite stories and movies often and is delighted when we are willing to play along, (typically as a villain or sidekick).  Clara LOVES to play board games & work puzzles!  Over the past few years has collected quite a few games & puzzles which she loves to play with her Daddy.  While we play a lot as a family, the games and puzzles have kind of become their thing while Clara & Mommy prefer to bake and read chapter books together.

 

We got to have a conference with her preschool teacher lately and Mrs. Colpitts reported that Clara is doing wonderfully academically,  which we are very proud of, but not surprised because she loves to learn!  Clara's teacher really emphasized how mature she is emotionally.  We were elated to hear that Clara is extremely well liked in her classroom because she is really kind and considerate to her peers and instructors.  She helps others with their work, thinks of others feelings and plays well with everyone.  Kevin & I walked out of the conference on cloud nine!  While we get to see much of this sweetness, to know that this is really who she is out in the world, without us and our reminders, feels pretty neat!  It is an understatement to say we are proud of this kid!  Getting to know and learn from her over the past FIVE years has been our absolute pleasure!

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

This year we planned a Manzanita get-a-way to celebrate Kevin's birthday.  We talked Grandma Carol into coming down the same time we were there and with some wonderfully sunny days, we has a great weekend.  Well, except for the little fender bender we got into, but nobody was hurt and the car has been fixed.  It was just the low point of our trip. 

Clara had been working the whole week before on a picture book she created for Daddy.  Here is one of her pages MANY pages.  Wow, our kiddo has been bitten by the art bug and we have seen such progress in her work!  We are very proud and Kevin was extremely touched by her kind gesture. 

Besides getting out on the beach every day, we just really enjoyed relaxing back at the house.  The kids love playing up in the crows nest, or in the kids room with the bunk beds downstairs. 

Clara loves to play in the dunes and when she found her walking stick she was set! 

As always, it was great to have Grandma with us to share in the fun of the beach with the girls.  She even treated Kevin & I to a dinner date at the Terra Cotta café, one of our favs in Manzanita, and stayed home to watch the girls. 

And of course, one of our favorite past times down there is working puzzles.  Both Janie & Clara are quite good at puzzles for their age and sometimes get a little obsessed.  Watching Kevin (and Carol, too) work puzzles I see where they might have inherited that trait from! 

The beach and sunshine was the perfect medicine for the cold, cloudy January we have had!  We can't wait to get back!

Happy Days

After the holidays, something magical seemed to change or maybe even "click" between Janie & Clara and their sweet sister-ship.  It could have been that we were all well rested, or healthy for several straight weeks, or it could have been the plethora of toys these kiddos amassed over the holidays that kept them too busy to argue, but they just have been playing so well together!!  And not just the parallel play, but the truly interactive kind.  Janie loves to join in on whatever kind of play Clara has dreamed up for the particular day and Clara is becoming open/understanding of Janie's style of play which is both two-year old play, and a little more destructive than Clara has ever been.  Mommy & Daddy have been treated to many of those "Ahhh" moments lately.  The stuff that makes parenthood the best job on earth! 

This particular day Clara called me upstairs to show me that she had dressed Janie up and they really did seem to be having a blast together.  I know it wont always be this way, but I sure wish I knew the secret to help them maintain this amazing love throughout their lives.  Since I know of no secret yet, we'll just keep doing our best!