Claire's 4th Birthday Party!

Claire had a wonderful gymnastics party. She loves being 4 and she keeps telling me so! She got lots of great toys and had tons of fun playing with her friends. The first picture with her friend is Kendall and the second one is her friend Jiali. The last picture of Claire with a little girl is of course her sister, Laura! We got her a kitchen and after spending hours putting it together last night, we have been treated to some delicious meals.

More Birthday Pictures!

Claire had a Tinkerbell cake and she was super-excited about blowing out the candles. The cake was chocolate, of course! In the second-from-last picture, Claire is demonstrating the importance of sticking a landing!

Our Birthday Girl!

I can't believe Claire is 4 years old today. She is growing up so fast. She is so mature for her age and she uses words that stop me in my tracks most days. Her vocabulary is so vast! The other day we were driving in the rain and she saw some cows in the fields we were passing and she commented that they were getting wet. I told her that it wasn't raining that hard and the cows probably didn't mind the rain very much or they would go into their barn. She said, "People don't like to get wet in the rain. We wear raincoats and use umbrellas for protection." Huh? Where did she learn the word protection and how did she know to use it in that context?
Her party isn't until Sunday, but I didn't want to wait until then to post and wish our "baby" a "Very Happy Birthday!" She has truly brought so much joy and laughter into our home. She is the most perfect fit that God could have ever engineered for our family. She is truly sent from Heaven.
Here are two pictures of our girl that I took today. In the second one she is showing us how old she is!

Claire Gets Political

James was watching Nickelodeon with Claire (Max and Ruby, her favorite), and their "Kids Pick the President" came on. They first have Obama say a few words and then McCain. When Obama came on Claire said, "That's the one I like. Barack Obama. I don't like John Cain." James and I looked at each other quite shocked at our little political crusader and said "Why, don't you like John McCain, Claire?" She said, "Because he is a BAD man!" (At this point I am wondering what Nick has shown when we aren't watching?!?) James said, "Claire, John McCain isn't a bad man. That isn't a nice thing to say. Why are you saying that?" She said, "He is too a bad man. He killed his brother with a rock!"

Anybody heard of Cain and Able? I heard the campaign was getting nasty, but having 3 year olds stumping with these tales is a little over the top for me!