Happy Birthday, Claire-Bear!!!

Today was Claire's 4th birthday. We celebrated it early by going to Chuck E. Cheese's on Friday. Today we had cake and presents. Claire also chose the menu. We had donuts for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and Corndog Casserole for dinner. She had a "My Little Pony" Cake, and got a microphone, Hannah Montana dress, a My Little Pony and DVD, and a birthday cake play set. We are so thankful to have Claire in our family!

In honor of her 4th birthday, here are our four favorite things about Claire:

1. Her laughs - she has a giggle, a "he-he-he" cackle, and a really evil laugh
2. She loves to cuddle.
3. She has a sweet little singing voice and remembers many songs.
4. All of her funny pronunciations - like preat, brink, becision and many more!

There are so many things we love about Claire, so here's one more: her sixth sense for treats - I guess you could say she got that from me! When Claire was a toddler, she always kept a stash of crackers, cookies, or cereal hidden away in her purse or inside Darren's fire truck, or other random places. Now, she can hear a candy wrapper opening from upstairs, or smell chocolate on my breath, so it's hard to hide treats from her! What a talented girl!

What's the Latest?

Sorry about the lack of pictures and posts lately! Not much going on lately. I've been enjoying my spare time by painting and finishing up some projects. I am down to just three more rooms in the house to paint - Claire's room, the media room, and our bathroom!!!

Right now I should be preparing a talk for Sunday. With almost five hundred people in our ward, it's going to feel like speaking in Stake Conference, and I'm slightly stressed. Last week, I had to accompany a vocal solo and made the mistake of not taping the five pages of music together. All of my music fell into my lap near the end of the song! The bishop rushed over and picked them up for me and the song continued without interruption.

In other news, Jerry has been working A LOT lately -like 60 hours a week. It's a good opportunity for us to save lots of money right now, but we wouldn't be doing it if we weren't saving to have another baby. (Our insurance does not cover maternity expenses, although we get a discount.)

Miles seems to enjoy the quiet while Darren and Claire are at school. He takes several practice steps on his own each day, but still isn't walking regularly. Darren and Claire like school, although Darren doesn't like going every day, and Claire wishes she could go every day. I will leave you with a recap of our conversation this afternoon when I picked them up from school:

Me: So, Claire, tell me what your favorite part of the day was?
Claire: Umm, lunch!
Me: What did you learn about?
Claire: We learned about the "Bb" - AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU ANYMORE!!!
Me: Darren, what was your favorite thing today?
Darren: Beating the girls in the bathroom!!!

Quote of the Day

"Mom, I really love candy, but I like Jesus even better!" - Darren

First Day of School (Finally!!!)

It's hard to believe that Darren is already in Kindergarten! The time goes by so quickly, and it makes me want to cherish each moment with them!

Darren and Claire picked out their school clothes this year.

Super-stylin' Shoes

Good luck, kids! We love you!