Our past week

 Claire keeping busy searching for "hidden treasure" in the sandbox. It just doesn't look right to be playing in the sandbox in shorts and a T-shirt in January.

 Here Claire is teaching her baby doll how to select the cartoon they get to watch before bedtime. We are very big into Team Umizoomi right now!

 Claire is busy this morning painting a picture for a good friend of ours who is battling cancer. We hope it helps to brighten her day.

 I just love these two pictures with Claire and her curly Q's. We had gone swimming at the gym and the parts of her hair that got wet turned into spirals when they dried. I love it when her hair does that!

Creativity galore!

 Claire had lots of fun getting her Valentine gift bags ready for her friends at preschool,

 Before heading to gymnastics, Claire had to make sure to build a cage for each little animal. She had to give very detailed instructions to each of her "kids" in the chairs on how to watch over the animals in their cages while we were gone!

 Claire had lots of fun riding bike with her neighborhood friends. The kids all took turns trying out each others bikes in the driveway.

 I love this picture. We put Claire down for the night. When I went to check on her before I went to bed, this is what I found. We had tucked her in and to my surprise, I find that she took the time to make sure her babies were all tucked in before she fell asleep. How sweet is that? It just warms my heart and makes me smile!

Here Claire is working on her hair stylist skills again. Daddy is the lucky customer this time. Watch out Grandpa...Claire is getting lots of practice for when you come visit again!

Claire's tea party

 Yesterday Claire wanted to have a tea party. So, she told Mommy to wait in the other room while she got the room set up. When I was finally invited to come to the party, this is what I walked in on. Claire made sure to let me know that she made a pattern with the silverware. I am amazed every single day with how intelligent Claire is and with the things she comes up with. I was very impressed that she made a pattern on her own without any prompting.

 Once her "friends" got assigned their spots, they were called one at a time to pick out their plate, napkin, and silverware. Then Claire helped them pick out their food and find their way back to their spot.

We finally made it to Claire's last "friend", Rosie. We had a fun tea party even though we never had tea!

Fun at the zoo

 Claire and I went to the zoo the other day. She loves to watch the jelly fish!

 We made it to the zoo in time to go watch the elephants get their baths. Claire was the time keeper and kept stopping to check her watch and let me know what time it was!

 Claire was in the mood to have her picture taken with any statue so here are a few.

Of course, no trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the carousel! Today Claire chose to ride the dolphin!

Claire keeps busy!

 Practicing writing her letters

 Time to play restaurant!

 Circle time at school with Claire as the teacher

Sweeping the floor. 

Happy New Year!

We had some friends over to bring in the new year. It was fun to watch the kids all play together and nice to be able to carry on conversation with our friends while the kids played. We celebrated at 10pm thinking the kids may not make it until 11pm. Well, they made it so we got to celebrate again at 11pm! I think we will be finding confetti around the house for months but it was a great evening! We have so many things to be thankful for, especially our wonderful family and friends. We look forward to the many blessings this new year will bring!