Happy birthday Claire!

We had a birthday, shout HOORAY!

Our big girl turned TWO on Saturday! Woot woot!

And we had a wonderfully exhausting day. So, just in case you forgot the many faces of Claire, here you go!

Claire LOVED opening her presents! She squealed "Oh my goodness! What is it?" through the whole present opening process. Her favorite present was an Elmo Potty book and Elmo underwear. She's been wearing the underwear over her pants. Guess we'd better start the potty training!

Curious George has been her constant companion since she opened him. He's the first toy Claire has insisted sleep in her bed. She also received a Rapunzel doll from me, but she could care less about it. Her 5-year-old sister was more than happy to adopt her though.

After breakfast, we went to the indoor play area at Bellevue Square. We haven't been in forever and I knew Claire would love it. And she totally did. We picked up McDonalds for lunch and then went up to the play area to let Abby and Claire go crazy.

Abigail helped me make the cake during Claire's nap. We made a yellow cake with white frosting! We had a good time making it, didn't we Abby? Our family has the tradition to put toy figurines on top as a decoration. This year's toys were a set of Tinkerbell fairies. I think there's a picture in here somewhere...

When Claire woke up, we had balloons, streamers, paper lanterns, and bright pink presents out to decorate the kitchen. I could hear the girls at 6:30a.m. squealing with delight. Abby yelled, "Claire, it's your birthday!" Claire responded, "it's my birthday!" And then she came running into my room. "Mom, it's my birthday! Come see! Get up! Come see!" It melted my heart a little.

Claire and her BFF

So, while Claire and Ben napped, the plan was for Jesse to go get a bbq grill from Home Depot. We bought hamburgers and hot dogs and were totally prepared to have an awesome night on the grill. Well, Home Depot ruined our plans. Their forklift was broken so they couldn't get the grill down. I was totally annoyed. Fortunately, Brilliantly Creative friend texted me just minutes after the bad news asking if we wanted to bbq that night. HECK YES we did! So we hauled all our bbq goods and Claire's cake down to her house to finish off the wonderful birthday evening. They had just put up their new swing set that day too so the kids were in HEAVEN. It was awesome. :)

I am so uber jealous of the fort. And the kids LOVED it! Abby and J were having a blast.

Happy birthday, Claire!! We love you!

She had to have a little help from her sister. Good thing big sisters are so helpful.

CAKE.

Claire's dream come true: swings....

Proof that I was there. I promise. And Benny. Jesse was there too... but he managed to escape the camera...

We absolutely love our Bear. She's every bit as hilarious as Abby and so very bright. She really does talk so well. The other day I found her doing dialogue for her toys for the first time. Melted my heart. I love Claire's pudgy soft baby skin. I love that she will cuddle with me after her naps. I love that she gives me hugs. I love to hear her count to twenty. I love to hear her play with Abigail. I love her millions of silly faces. I love her obsession with balloons. I love her little voice. I love that she's two.