Go Texan Sunday!

This past Sunday our church had Go Texan Sunday where we celebrated Texas. The church was decked out in fun western-themed photo booths so of course we had to get a few fun shots. In church Claire got to be part of the kid's choir and they sang a song called Wild Wild, West! Such a fun time!

February fun

I require Claire to let us take a selfie each time I have lunch with her. This time it was a silly selfie!

 Claire participated in Name That Book competition for the third year in a row. This year her team didn't make it to the finals, but they all worked really hard and ended up tying for 2nd place.

 We did no candy this year for Valentine's day...I know, mean mom! Claire loved her gift anyway. She got a squishy lion and a super soft blanket with avocado figures on it. She LOVES avocados and was super excited when she opened this!

 We got to spend 24 hours with MeMaw and PawPaw in Tyler. Of course Claire packed a bunch of games to play!

 The following weekend we had a swim meet and got to spend time with some great friends!

 When we have a day where we can actually stay at home, Claire usually finds something to bake or cook. Here she is trying a new recipe of blonde brownies. They turned out really well. Then again, anything that has the word brownie in is a sure win for Mom!

Eva's birthday party

Claire went to her friend's birthday party a few weekends ago and she had a blast!

The girls have their "click" and all but one of them was able to make it. They got to decorate a piece of wood to take home.

 Eva, Averi, Taylor, and Claire...looks like a fun bunch!

 Of course we had to get a silly picture after the girls finished painting!

 Claire and Averi...these two live 10 houses apart and spend many days after school riding bike and laughing!

 Eva and Claire. Eva moved here from California at the beginning of the school year and she and Claire became friends almost immediately.

 Claire did a great job on her sign! I hope she never forgets how beautiful she is!

 The girls and their finished projects (along with Eva's brother and cousin)!

CHOPPED...the Naustdal edition!

It is always so much fun when we can get these three girls together! They have been besties since kindergarten and I love watching their friendship grow! Little did they know, they were coming over to be part of a competition!

 We decided to do a version of the show Chopped. We challenged the girls to make an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. They were up for the challenge!

For the appetizer, they had to use mushrooms, black beans, and oranges....

                     Here are their appetizer creations! It was so fun to see the different ideas come alive!                   

                                    

 The main dish had to include chicken, avocado, peppers, tator tots, and soy sauce...they wrote down what they were going to make and then went to work cooking!

 Karsen made a chicken sandwich with pepper and guacamole, Addisyn made a teriyaki and soy sauce chicken breast with cheesy tator tots and guacamole. Claire made a seasoned chicken breast with cinnamon flavored chopped peppers (surprisingly, very delicious) and guacamole (which included cinnamon- thought it was going to be really gross but it actually tasted pretty good). 

 Their final challenge was making a dessert which included strawberries, nerd candy, and jalapeno.

Again, they amazed us with their creativity! So much fun!

Feeding the ducks with friends

Now that Claire is a pro at feeding the ducks, she wanted to get her friends to be comfortable feeding them too! It was another beautiful day so we went to the pond to feed the ducks. Addisyn was very timid and took some coaxing but finally she gave into her fear and fed them with Claire's help and encouragement!

 Mom, why do you ALWAYS have to take so many pictures? Besides, we are looking right into the sun. Geez....!