Princess Tea Party

The sweetest princesses were at our house yesterday for a tea party in honor of the birthday girl.  

It was adorable and everyone had a wonderful time.

Love

Giggles

The Name Game

Claire (17 months) refuses to say her name.  She often talks in full sentences and has a vocabulary of hundreds of words (including cookie, crayon, cracker, crocodile, and guacamole), but she has never said "Claire."

At first, you would ask her, "What's your name?" and she would always respond "Baby."  This started about eight months ago when we got pregnant with baby #3, so Kate worried Claire didn't want to give up that title.  Now, you can tell it has nothing to do with a title – she wants to keep her favorite running joke going.

Her response to "what is your name?" changes depending on her audience.  When one of her mimis asks her, she looks up pensively, says "Ummmm..." (building the suspense) , and responds with "Papa!" Ask again, and get another answer, "Ummmm... Tessie!" She always follows with a big smile and a giggle. Tess asks her and she recites all of Sesame Street: thoughtful gaze upwards, then "Ummm... Elmo! Ummmm... Big Bird! Ummmm... Cookie!"  until she has Tess on the floor laughing.

Since she could stand, Claire has danced to every song she's heard. We are facinated by her expressive face. And we always laugh when she tells us her name is "Ummm... Mama honey!"

We think our Claire Bear is hilarious, with a big personality in her little bitty peanut body.

Happy birthday, Mimi Mare!

Someone recently asked me if I am overwhelmed with our new baby arriving soon.  I responded, "No, I am not.  I am just really excited."  I don't think I could have that response to having three babies in three years if I didn't have lots of help and a great support system.  And the leader of that pack is my Mom.

My Mom is such an attentive and caring mimi and mom.  Her perspective helps me love my family even more and everything she does for Chris, Tess, Claire, (already baby #3), and I is amazing.  She is such a giving person and we are very lucky to have her in our lives.

Happy birthday to Mimi Mare!

Saturday Morning Art Fun

Our pensive painter:

I grabbed the camera because Claire was doing such a great job painting:

Studying her sister's moves:

Wait, just have to check one thing...

Princesses For A Day

 On Saturday, Princess Grace brought Princess Tess to Disney on Ice.  We waited until last Thursday to tell Tess about it because we knew how excited she would be ... she was even more excited than we could have guessed!  My favorite reaction was when Tess was worried it would be hard to skate while wearing her princess dress!  Yes, she thought she would be skating at the ice show.  Grace said she was so happy and overwhelmed at the show that she didn't mind that she didn't get to skate.  She did cry when Grace dropped her off though - she didn't want her princess day to end. 

Thanks Aunt Gracie!  You're the best!

Our Ballerina

Tess has been doing ballet for the past eight months or so and all of a sudden, while watching her at her last class, she seemed so old.  I decided to look back at the pictures we have of our ballerina. 

Tess' first ballet class - June 2011:

July 2011:

September 2011:

January 2012:

Today:

Wow.