Claire is 7!

I cannot believe that my baby turned 7 years old today. I am blessed beyond words and Claire has been a miracle only God could provide.  I am so honored to be the mother that God chose to raise this amazing child. She is strong-willed, intelligent, hilarious, witty, caring, sweet, independent, and so many more things! Every day she continues to teach me new things and helps me to become a better person. I cannot imagine a more perfect child for Jeff and I and I am thankful every single day for Claire.

Today we started the morning with Claire's favorite breakfast treat..a doughnut with strawberry frosting and sprinkles! Next, we had her yearly doctor appointment which she passed with flying colors. Then we headed to Splashtown with her two best friends to spend the entire day! We stayed until almost closing time and these girls were tired! We had a wonderful day with beautiful weather, lots of laughs, and lots of fun. Definitely counting my blessings tonight!

Splashtown with my besties!

We had another great day at Splashtown with Claire and her best friends, Karsen and Addisyn.

 The Big Kahuna was a huge hit and the girls screamed the entire ride!

 Just hangin' in the lazy river!

 Claire doing a little cliff jumping!

Have to get an underwater shot before leaving the park!

Another pool day!

Claire has gotten pretty brave this year in the pool. She has decided to try riding our pool toys down the slide! 

 She found out that the floating frog doesn't go very fast down the slide.

 Every once in a while Dad needs to take a break and relax...

 and so does Mom!

 We love our neighbors and enjoy their company so much! Claire, Elliot, and Lillian get along so well together!

 Gotta have an underwater shot!

 Peace kids!

Claire was so attentive to Lillian in the pool. She will do so well with a younger sister someday!

Water activities!

Last Wednesday evening our church had a family fun night with water activities for the kiddos. Claire brought her good friends Elliot, Karsen, and Raegan along for the fun. As you can see, Jeff and I had our hands full with TONS of energy on the way to the church!

 Do we HAVE to take a picture before we go play? Really Mom? Ok, fine, but just one!

 This slide was super fast...

 as Claire quickly found out!

 The goal is to make it to the end of this slip and slide and land in the pool. Well, none of the kids in our group made it even half way!

 Then we moved on to a water gun fight and water balloons! They had a blast and went home very tired!

 The following day, I took Claire and her two best friends Karsen and Addisyn to Splashtown. I was a bit nervous going by myself and being in charge of three girls, but they did amazing and we had a blast! So thankful Claire has such wonderful friends that we can do things with!

 Time to go home after a fun day in the sun and water. The girls are putting on their silly faces before heading home!

One fun kiddo!

So, we have been getting hit hard this past month with tons of rain and flooding. A month ago we got 24 inches in 6 hours and many homes flooded and people had to evacuate. Praise God we didn't have any flooding issues but the water did get about half way up our driveway and the streets in our development were flooded. Since then, God has been giving us more and more rain so places continue to flood. I had to share this picture because it makes me laugh! After all of the rain we have had in the past month, and the current rain we are getting when this picture is taken, Claire felt it was necessary to go out with her umbrella to "water" the plants with her spray bottle! Sometimes you just have to let a girl do what a girl wants to do!

 Claire and her dog are so crazy together. Almost every morning while I make Claire breakfast, these two find some goofy position to hang out in!

 Just having some fun in the pool, between the heavy rain of course!

 Such a rough life for this girl!

Claire and Karsen

These two girls are so much fun together! I am so thankful Claire has found such an amazing girl to be great friends with. Mom loves to sit back and just listen to their adorable conversations! If only I could freeze time and keep Claire at 6 years old for about 20 years, I would be so happy! I just want to soak up every single minute I can get with her before she grows up any more!

Celebrating Snuggle Bunny

 Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of the day my Dad went to be with Jesus. It is so hard to believe that he has been gone two years already. Some days it feels like a long time ago and other days it feels like just last week. I cannot wait to see him again one day and wrap my arms around his neck. All we can do until then is keep his memory alive for Claire and do our best to make him proud. 

We did a balloon release while on video call with family from Minnesota. It is hard being away from family, especially during times like this. I am so very thankful for the ability to video call and visit with family until we can be together. Claire wrote on her balloon about her favorite memory of her Snuggle Bunny...it was when he would bake with her and put flour on their noses! I am so glad she remembers so much from the short amount of time she had to spend with Dad. We talk about him daily to help keep her memories of him alive.

The end of First Grade!

On June 2nd, Claire finished first grade. They had a fun luau themed party to celebrate!

Here is Claire with her teacher Mrs. Kissamis. She taught math and science. We LOVED her and pray we get another great teacher for 2nd grade!

Claire's switch teacher was Ms. Hamilton. She taught reading and writing. Claire really enjoyed having her in the afternoons and has excelled in reading. She is reading at a 3rd to 4th grade level!

 Here we have Karsen, Taylor P, Kenzie, Addisyn, and Claire. These girls hung out together a lot during the school year.

 Quite the fun group of kiddos!

 Claire and her good friend Addisyn, acting silly as always!

We got to spend the evening with these lovely people. We are so blessed to have Me Maw and Paw Paw in our lives! They have been such a wonderful support for us and have become a part of our family!