Happy Birthday Claire!

We got to celebrate Claire's special day today. It was so much fun.

I had this idea to fill a wall with balloons colored by people who care about Claire--but the idea was too late to have people mail anything. So hopefully next year, we'll get some from distant family and friends. But this year, we got a wall-full colored by her school friends and her sister. (I think Claire did a few too.) When she went to bed the night before, Rhett and I hung the pictures up to surprise her. She was sooooo delighted! She usually comes upstairs a little grumpy in the mornings, so when she came up this morning, she had a little frown on her face. Then she saw all the balloons. She just stared at them. Then she got a huge a smile. She asked, "Are my friends here?" I told her no, that I'd gotten the pictures from them at school the day before. Then she asked, "Did they mail them?" I said no, and explained again. She loved it. She looked at them all day--studying each one. Here she is eating her birthday cinnamon roll breakfast with special juice. Goofy smile because her mouth is full. Pip thought we were celebrating for her again--every time we sang Happy Birthday to Claire, Pip beamed as if we were singing it to her. 

We let her say the blessing on the food, and this is what her prayer consisted of: "Thanks for all my presents. Thanks for the cinnamon rolls. And thanks for all the things we have." That was it. :) Love it.

We let her open her presents after breakfast.

All day, every time I said, "Claire! Happy Birthday!" She would respond, "Thanks mom. Happy birthday to you too." I loved it. Such a sweetie.

Instead of taking treats to school, we actually took stickers. She loved it! The moment we opened the door and entered her school, she yelled out, "I GOT STICKERS!" Everyone was so excited and she walked around letting each person choose which sticker they wanted, then she'd put it on their hand. The kids loved it, and the teachers enjoyed it too. But best of all, was seeing Claire's face as she had something special to give to every person in her class.

The "library girl" visited their class today and read stories about snow (a request from Claire's teacher since we've told Claire for so long that her birthday is when it snows--and we have no snow). Teacher Mary said that when they sat down for stories, Claire climbed onto the couch, stuck a pillow under her feet, crossed her ankles, placed a tiny, baby doll blanket over her lap, and put her hands back behind her head. She totally lounged for the story. Everyone thought it was so funny.

For a special treat, I picked the girls up in Rhett's car. (They love riding in his car.) And then we looked at Christmas lights for a little bit. We got home and then ate dinner. While we were eating, I said to Claire, "Claire, I'm so glad you are in our family." Summer responded, "Yeah, because if you weren't in our family, then we would have your birthday, and I would have to blow the candles out!" haha. Pretty good thinking on that one.

And here she is eating her chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberry icecream--all her choice.

For another special treat, we watched "Arthur Christmas"--which was really quite funny and cute.

After the girls were tucked in bed, I sang "Happy Birthday" one more time. Then said goodnight. It was a special day getting to celebrate having Claire in our family. We love her so much. She is a great example to us of kindness, manners, generosity, and gentleness. We love you Claire Bear!