Claire Catch Up

Earlier this month I had to work in Little Rock and it just so happened "Give a Pig a Pancake" was playing at the Children's Art Center! This was a favorite past time from my childhood so taking Claire was a little surreal! Pop pop and Mimi got us tickets and off we went!

Claire was making it a night of silly faces!

Me and my girl....my big girl!

The play was an hour long and she paid attention the entire time....I was a little surprised. The play only had 2 characters, the pig and a girl. Claire told us that she did not like the pig just the girl.

Claire has these amazing "conversations" with us and I find myself wanting to write them all down...of course I don't, but here are just a few that come to mind:

At the dinner table she informed me and Nick that "she had to hurry up and eat her salad because she had to go exercise"!!! Exercise, where did she get this?? I wish I could say from us but exercising is not part of our daily routine.

This week I crossed over from "my young twenties, to my not so young thirties" I think I am ok with this but then again I am just trying not to think that much about it...denial, maybe??

Anyway, at my birthday dinner, Anna said we need to sing Happy Birthday...without hesitation Claire busted out "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Mommy and me"...I guess it really was her birthday since she opened all my gifts.

Last night, Claire told us that me and her were girls and daddy was a boy and only us girls were going to play in her playroom and not boys!! come on, Mommy let's play in my playroom.........we fell out laughing!!

Silly or Sassy, I am not real sure!! But for now it sure makes a good laugh!

Look at Me!

Claire walked in living room last night and announced her hair was no longer in her face. She has found a head band! We laughed so hard!!... she had been running a low fever and been wanting to do nothing all afternoon but watch movies (the reason she has her pap pap). When this emerged from the bedroom I couldn't help but grab the camera!
One at first then she back a minute later and had found another! Not just one headband but two!

Telling me to stop taking her picture:)

The bow from church still in tact!

Claire has such a personality...she makes us laugh, smile, and have to get a little bit of an attitude with her too! It's been awhile since I have "documented" who she is these days. Yesterday was her first day in the pre-school Sunday school class. She came home singing Sunday School songs and it just made us smile. Her vocabulary is incredible for her age...I am not just being a proud Momma but several people have commented on how well she can speak. Claire knows most of her letters and could use some help with the numbers...we are working on those. As for colors, everything is pink, so we are working on those too.

• Knows how to push our buttons....and she does frequently
• Favorite foods: salad, raw carrots, crackers, fruit snacks, popcorn, hamburger, oranges, strawberries, bacon, yogurt
• Daytime Potty trained, Diaper at Night
• Says the blessing at dinnertime
• Has the best memory
• Can tell you certain buildings in town
• Loves animals....especially her cat
• Makes friends very easy, loves playing with kids
• Puzzles and books are her favorite toys
• Covers things with hand towels...lays all her baby dolls on the floor then completely covers them up
• Loves helping....she will take clothes from the laundry and go put them where they go
• Listening requires some work sometimes
• Loves playing outside
• When you ask Claire if she wants to talk with someone on the phone she says no and covers both ears with her hands....then the second you hang up she wants to talk to them
• Tells me how many ponytails she wants
• Tells me what shoes she wants to wear...and I pick my battles, this is not one of them
• Loves watching movies, she will watch the same movie for a week then will be onto a new one....currently I think we are making a transition for Mickey Christmas to Charlotte's Web
• If we put our shoes on she says "Where you going?"
• One second she is a complete sweetheart and the next second I say she is a little "mean", she has such an attitude...but you can't help but love it!
• Wearing a size 7 shoe, size 2 clothes
• Can't believe she is 29 months old today!!!

Claire's Blessing

Um, thank you for our home....
Um, thank you our house...

Um, thank you for our food...

AMEN!

With eyes tightly shut!!!A couple of nights ago we jokingly asked Claire is she wanted to say the blessing....and this is what came out! They really do listen to you! I have to figure out how to upload a video, it is too cute! She gets on to me and Nick if we don't have our eyes closed!

"Close your eyes, Momma"! "Close your eyes, Daddy"!

Not only does she say this blessing at dinner time but she has said it the last two days on the way to school. One morning we called Aunt Emme so she could hear....so the next morning Claire said "her blessing" and after Amen "now call Aunt Emme"! This girl has got one heck of a memory!

Cows & Fish

Last weekend we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside....come on Spring!! Get here and stay!
Our neighbors have a pond so we grab the fishing poles and hopped on the four-wheeler....

not sure if it gets more country than this....

"come here, cow"....'I want to pet the cow"...

A little bit of "sas" in this country girl

.....oh! how I love those pig tails....

Throwing rocks in the pond

She got one!

Excited! Not scared a bit!

Miss Priss...110%

But she is our Miss Priss and we love her more than anything in the world!!!

Claire & Girlfriend

A beautiful day, means we open the windows and let all the fresh air in......Claire and Girlfriend decided it was time for them to visit and chat a minute! She loves this cat!!!

The Cross

Take a short walk with me
Through the 80s

the and 90s ....

the holidays....

the vacations....

....the fun, daily nights

...the special days

This morning our beloved, Ma Miles, went to meet Jesus. This is one of those joyfully sad days. Expected, given the morphine drip was started last Friday but still feeling a little lost. She has battled Alzheimer's for 10+ years. The last 8 years she been under the everyday care of our dear Aunt Lana....an angel on Earth that serves the Lord without even knowing it!!!...She took her home with her (back to Las Vegas) to care for her. For the last 30 years my aunt has taught at a special school for the mentally challenged....imagine teaching 18-20 year olds that think like 2 year olds. For about the last year we have all been awaiting the phone call that Ma has gone to meet our Maker. We even took a quick trip out in January 2010 to make sure Ma met Claire. My sisters and I were our Ma's world....we lived in the same town with her until 1992. There are so many things I would just love and sit and talk with her about.....now that I am a grown up and all.

please keep reading I promise this is not her obituary it is an incredible chill bumps, only God could do this story......

Our Ma worked hard and generally worked two or three different jobs at one time....jewelry store, wedding coordinator, dress shop, etc. She was very much a southern belle, always properly and beautifully "put together". She still lived in the 800 sq. ft. house they purchased when my dad was in the sixth grade.

One of the last things our grandmother purchased herself was a beautiful, very nice, diamond cross necklace...there is no telling how long she saved to purchase this necklace. She loved beautiful things! About 3 years before she moved to Las Vegas she lost this necklace!! Every time anyone would visit she would have us search the house high and low looking for the cross....imagine your whole house looking like that "one closet" that is not to be opened....although her home was always very well kept, every corner, closet, dresser was packed full. She even had my dad crawl under the house because she was convinced it fell through the walls! Then she started thinking someone must have stolen it....after years of searching...seriously years of looking for the cross we concluded she accidentally threw it away....she had a habit of wrapping things up in paper towels...so pretty easy to throw out.

My dad travels through her hometown regularly and stops by to get a car load from the house. We have very slowly been cleaning out her home for the past 8 years. My dad is a sentimental person so he has just been taking his time walking down memory lane though the stuff stored away at Ma's house. So a box that takes the normal person 5 minutes to go through takes him 5 hours, if not 5 days....but I love this about my father!

You have probably already guessed what happened.....Kathi was helping Dad go through a box and found The Cross.........Last night at around 5....Last night!!!!........the cross was found!!! We all KNEW that second she would pass away last night!

Today is my Aunt's birthday, some view this as a bad thing, but we view it as a gift, a final "thank you" for caring for me and loving me. Now she has left this beautiful cross she cherished for her daughter.

Ma is dancing is Heaven today, with her daughter, Ann Marie, she gave back to the Lord when she was only 9 days old, our Pa whom she let go of nearly 30 years ago, her parents and 11 of her 13 siblings!

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE CROSS....the one Your Son died on and the one that brought a peace as we knew our Ma was taking your hand!!!