Claire turns 3!

1095 days ago we headed to the hospital to welcome into the world this wonderful little girl of ours! She had quite the celebration time! On July 27 we kicked it off with a time Saturday morning for out of town family to give her gifts at home so she could enjoy those with them. After that and a good solid nap, we headed to phase 2 to a party at PUMP IT UP. She had 12-14 friends from all corners of her life attend - school, church, neighbors, kindermusik and new friends made along the way. So thankful for all who could come celebrate with her! (From a parent's perpective, Pump It Up is as easy as it gets!) The family had dinner after to decompress all the jumping around. Her actual birthday is August 4. Claire had asked for a "Princess Party" and I had no idea how to pull that off. So on her actual birthday we had some girl come over and play dress up and have a "tea party" for some fun on her actual day. It was soooo cute! After that we let her choose where she'd like to eat dinner and she chose her favorite Mexican place, Habaneros ("Angela's house"). THEN, 2 days later we combined with 2 friends, Tristen and Jack, to have a party at her school. Jack shares the same day as Claire and Tristen was on Aug. 6. LOTS of celebrating for sure but so fun! It's hard for me to absorb all the ways she's grown this year. I am writing her a poem each year at her birthday and this one has been tough to pull together. Stay tuned. I'll post it when it's ready. She is an amazing little girl for sure...learning, growing, trying new things and making us proud more and more. I can tell Joel is proud of his big sis too! We took her for her 3 year check up and she's 3 feet tall and weighs 27#; (25% for height and 10% for weight) and predicted to be 5'3" tall (that's 1" taller than mommy!) Enjoy some photos from all the celebrations and indulge me as I choke up at the precious gift in my family God has given me!

Aug 2013 Claire's 3rd Bday - slideshow