April

Easter, Ma's Memorial Service, chasing a two year old, working, keeping the house together, etc....has left little time for the blog....just a few pictures from our family time this spring!! The best news ever in our family too....Claire is going to be a cousin and I am going to be an AUNT!! I am so excited for Emily and Josh, who will become parents in the wonderful month of October!!! I can't wait for Baby Richardson to arrive....Claire is going to have jealously overdrive having to share Emme and Mimi! Mimi and her girls

Just can't act right!!! all you can do is laugh!

Sweet Claire

Penick cousins minus Ash & Erica :(

Grannie and Grandpa with the Great grands!!!

Love these girls so much!

Claire with a basket full of eggs

Love this picture of CC with Iggy and Aunt Lana

Just us Miles Girls....always

Funnies by Claire

Turn the corner and guess who is watching a movie; Claire and Stella...and Stella's stroller. As Claire says "that's silly"!

Claire, do you want to go to Sonic and get a Sprite? "You go to Sonic and get me a Sprite, I will stay here, just be right back? You can't stay by yourself...."Yes, r can. Go Momma, be right back."

The blessing at the table; "Thank you for our food, um, Thank you for our bread stick, um, Thank you for our home, um, Thank you for our Jesus" .....at least she was eating a bread stick!

Easter Time Playdate

Last weekend Claire and I went on a playdate at a friends house and had so much fun!!! This Momma wasn't thinking much about toddlers dying easter eggs so let's just say the MJ dress came off the instant we got there....hence the white tee and bloomers! The Caldwells backyard is a child's paradise, Claire's could have played for hours and hours! Claire and Sophie

Three smiling at one time....never going to happen....have to laugh at Titus' shirt, Maggie dressed him in Polo, which lasted as long as the MJ dress!

Claire and Titus

Playing with bubbles....

then the sandbox....

...painting and dying easter eggs....

...such the little artist...

...off to the tire swing again...

...then the rock wall...

...this little redneck girl just hopped in the back...

....we all laughed so hard because Titus could not drive to save his life, they were running into trees, chairs, playground, people....just better get out of the way, little Sophie had a death grip holding on!

....and of course the swing, an all time favorite!!!

Can't wait until we all get together again!!!

Birthday Bash

Several of our friends have March birthdays so we all got together and celebrated...redneck style!! Probably the best kind if you ask me! Comfy clothes, plenty to drink, fried fish with all the fixins and plenty of beds in the cabin for everyone to crash! Some even watched the sun raise while others were raising with the sun; I guess that's what happens when you mix the youngsters and well the not-so-youngsters! This is the only pictures we took all night....don't get to see these girls near enough!!

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!