Claira's New Smile

Claira smiles so hard that in some photos she looks like she's crying! Her mouth is smiling as wide as those cheeks will allow. Her nose crinkles up. And her eyes squint & gleam. It's a split second of pure happiness personified.

Smiles & Snow

Snow Trip! It was such a beautiful day-perfect weather, perfect snow spots. This was their very first time playing in the snow so it made it extra special. I bundled Claira up with so many clothes that she was irritated at how immoble she was. But eventually she adjusted. She even gave in to the gloves, finally.

A friend brought his daughter, Alissa (age 7) and Ellia glommed onto her very fast. Everything was "Lissa! Lissa! Look at that! Lissa! Come over here!"

Our friend's daughter turned 4 & hosted a party at a really cool indoor play gym Under The Sea. It had tons of stuff for Claira to climb up, slide down (always head first), drive & bounce.

Ellia was enthralled with a real Mermaid! She watched the mermaid's every move, barely moving as she sat there..curious, focused, with an amused smile creeping across her face. It's times like those where I really wonder what she's thinking!

HOME :: HAIRCUTS :: HOMEWORK

Would you look at that belly? WOULD YOU PLEASE LOOK AT THAT BELLY!?
Oh my gosh, I love that belly!

The "twin" girls being silly together...their favorite thing to do together (and mine!)

Last month Claira was introduced to the new freedom of walking out the front door all by herself. Boy oh boy, to say it's the favorite part of her day is an understatement! Let me just say that when she sees I'm trying to get things going out the door & off to school...she picks out my shoes and brings them to me. Yes, it's the sweetest thing in the world. And she's so proud of herself when she does it; I feel a little guilty when they aren't the shoes I need to wear to work.
Ever since I've let her head out for the day 'on her own', I've asked Ellia to help her "because you know what to do & she doesn't..she's little." And so the favorite part of MYday is (above) watching Ellia gently lead her waddling, wildly excited little sister out & into the day.

Haircuts & Lollipops. Claira finally had her 1ST HAIRCUT! Yay! When the cutting began she started crying but I handed her some snacks & she was just fine. Ellia got a quick re-cut of her previous cut. I let them have the salon lollipops even though I was headed next door for our dinner. Oh well, they were patient little tots & lollipops sure made them happy!

Holy crap - HOMEWORK. The day has come. I think I felt more like a parent on this night than when she was born!

Awesome iPhone Photo

Posts might slow down for a bit but I wanted to give you this sweet, sunny, smiley & smirky photo...

Mama Tiger, Baby Tiger

Ellia's Halloween costume has unexpectedly been given a new lease on life. Ellia wore it one day and somehow the dress-up evolved into her new favorite character "Baby Tiger". And somehow I became "Mama Tiger". I put on a different voice (picture Tiny Tim on Vicodin; high-pitched but super-calm). When I put the 'mask' on and change my voice, Ellia immediately becomes Baby Tiger from head to toe: Her face softens and she scrunches up her face ever-so-slightly, tilts her head and stetches out her limp arms as if she's a baby and says "Mamaaaaaa...."
It kinda takes a lot of effort to keep stepping into the Mama Tiger persona. If I say "later" she asks "when it's light out?" or "when it's dark out?" Still, it's cute to see how excited she gets. And I rope Claira into the scene as well. She's been deemed Baby Seal. (We pretend to eat her chubby chubbiness)

Ellia Update

"Stage 5 Clinger"
We all know that Ellia has, for some reason, put Jackson into a catagory all his own.
She shows such a different side of her when she's with him. I think she had envisioned Jackson's birthday party a certain way, in her own little head. And in the beginning things went according to plan: she sat next to him at his party table & then they went to the tunnel crawling maze together. Jackson had lots other friends there and naturally he wound up in another part of the maze with another friend. Well, that was not in the plan
. . .

After that happened, Ellia had a somewhat letdown look to her. And Jackson at times had a held-hostage look to him. These goofy kids are so interesting to watch, as they grapple with 'real world' emotions. And then they squeal and skip off.

Thank goodness for Gramma & Grampa's house! Ellia always looks forward to going there: Picking oranges with Uncle Adam, The Castle Amusement Park with Grampa, grooming Kirby (the doggie), and lots of loving attention!

We had some recent bouts with random illnesses & a few trips to the doc. But both girls did so well waiting in the lobby, then the patient room & then letting the doc figure out what was going on. Plus, on one visit, we didn't have a car to get there so we had to take a loong stroller/trike trip...but we made it fun!

"That's beautiful, Mommy."
I don't think anyone says "beautiful" more beautifully than Ellia. When I sat down with Ellia and started coloring in her book, I suddenly realized that it's the first time since I was an adolescent that I've colored a page in a coloring book! There's quite a few 1970s era photos of myself, head bowed, calmly but intently coloring, coloring, coloring. I hope Ellia & I can do artistic things together throughout the years.

Claira Update

"Sweetie-Pie Clairey" (as big sister Ellia calls her) is such a dramatic chick. But what's cool about her drama is that 2 seconds later she's off to something else. "Action-packed", "Non-stop", "Go-getter" are all nicknames that have sprung to mind as I've watched this little one grow. As you can see from her many expressions, above, she's full of life and can't wait to steam roll through it! (as you can see from her constant climbing over any obstacle)

Ellia & Claira love going to Chuck E Cheese; or as I call it Chuck E coli.
Ugh, how many illnesses are lying in wait on every square inch of that airbrushed, blinking, buzzing "restaurant".

Claira and her soon-to-be suitor Griffin.

Super BAAAAWL Sunday! What a great football game it was! And I actually got to watch a decent amount of it - whaddya know! The Navarro family were kind enough to invite us over. Ellia had a great time playing with Ella (she sweetly gave her random nicknames: Little Cookie and Little Radish) Ella and Claira are 1 month apart in age. Each time we get them together we plop them on the couch and *click*click* document their blossoming friendship! As you can see, above, it was very much bedtime when we took these pictures.

Does someone need a haircut?
Poor little Claira, always looking at this new world through strands and strands of chestnut hair. Well, after taking this photo I realized she really deserved to see where she was going. Claira's "New Look" COMING SOON.