September Shenanigans

 I'm beginning to realize that September was a busy month. I know this is a major photo dump of some seemingly insignificant moments, but it's the day-to-day that I want to remember. Not every day is memorable, but there are memorable moments in each day.

Like this one for example. If you only watch one of these moments, make sure it's this one of Claire. She is a hoot!

Sof and Claire's new favorite thing at the Jump Park is to lay underneath the swing. They laugh hysterically and it's pretty cute to watch.

Rolls on rolls.

Claire started Dance with Ms. Cherie and takes it very seriously. But in all honesty (and major surprise), Claire is a really good dancer. Who knew she could be as graceful as she is?

The many faces of Claire LaRee

Sitting up so good with Claire close by. Cute Claire surrounded Quincey with these pillows after I left the room.

I mean it every time when I saw this baby is Pure. Joy.

I can't even! 😍

Sometimes I have to poke him to make sure he's not dead.

Greg is a rockstar and man's the Quince each Sunday while I alternate each week between playing the piano in Primary and teaching Sunday School. I love it when he comes and sits by me in Primary.

Someone decided she was big enough to sit in the cart! Grocery Shopping has been so much better since.

Sof made an appearance at the Orthodonist. He told her to come back in 9 months.

Mischevious little things!

Claire's love language is food. You'd think she was escorting the queen with how careful she was bringing the pizza and breadsticks in from the car.

I did a thing ... and chopped 9 inches off my hair. Since, my hair has been super healthy, and I officially look like a Mom. It's double-edge sword, my friends. 

I had a rare moment one morning when I turned around and found myself so happy with this view. These 3 sweet girlies have made me the person I am today - and they bring me so much Joy. I think seeing Quincey sitting there with her sisters for breakfast completed the puzzle for me. She was so hard to get earth-side that I still sometimes have moments where I wonder if she's real and what we went through physically, emotionally and spiritually really even happened. She was 1000% worth it, but I'm not sure I can go through the emotions of it again.

She watches me wherever I go, and it's the cutest thing!

The girls got creative with the towie. It was hilarious to watch!

Babes. And I'm pretty sure this belongs on a magazine somewhere.

I LOVE watching Claire book it to the car every Wednesday from her singing class. The song on the radio fit perfectly as she was flying down that driveway with her sequin headband on like an athlete.

If Quincey was awake on those Wednesday's, we would go play at a park until Claire got too hangry to function.

It was often worth it to catch moment's like this, where she is totally biting her toenail sitting in a tree.

I still have yet to discover where Claire got her posing idea for pictures, but she is still going strong,

 folks!

She even got Greg in on the action.

And I was lucky enough to get him on video 😂

They even got Sofi to join in on the fun.

I really missed my ebike this year, so I loaded the girls up in the bike trailer and hauled them across town to a park. Quincey wasn't loving the trailer, but it was worth it, dangit!

I played hide-and-go-seek with Claire and legit couldn't find her. I can't tell you how many times I walked under this tree until she finally told me where she was. She can climb up it in 5 seconds flat - I know because she showed me. Let's just say, she won that game fair and square.

I can tell being back in school full-time was a bit rough on Sofia. She had a more rigid schedule, and between being a social butterfly, homework, dance, and piano, I felt like I never saw her - which, let's be honest, I really didn't. So, she and I went on a date one night. The crepery in Farmington ended up being closed (of course it was), so we tried to make up for it by going to Ihop. The food may not have been good, but it sure was fun to spend some one-on-one time with Sofi. She is such a great kid and it was good to spend some qualtiy uninterrupted time with her. I'm learning that her language is Quality Time just like me, so it's important to take time to sit and recharge her batteries.

What a month!

Claire turns 5!

 Claire turned 5! Can you believe it?

It's starting to be bittersweet watching Claire grow up. She was a super hard toddler, so each year brought me a sigh of relief, but now that Claire has life kind of figured out, I find myself missing her sweet little moments. She sure is smart and is really good at putting me in my place.

We made a weekend out of it. Friday, Claire was ecstatic to find out I made her an appointment to get her ears pierced. Around here, when you turn 5, that's just what you get to do. So, after Dance, we promptly took her over and she climbed up in the chair like a big kid, picked out her pretty star earrings, and was the center of attention as the lady shot her earrings in and Claire didn't even flinch. She was a rockstar!

She was so brave and hasn't looked back since. She was made for those star earrings!

The next day (Saturday) was her scheduled birthday party. Claire isn't super social, so I take it upon myself to force her to be so on her birthday. She's so lucky. We planned a neighborhood party and invited just about everyone. It was awesome! 

Claire's invitation she helped design. She did a great job!

The weather continued to be beautiful all weekend long, and I was so happy! We invited way too many kids to be able to have a party in our house. We had face painting, lawn games (thanks to Greggy), a scavenger hunt, cupcakes, and presents. It was a fun party and we had a huge turnout! 

We have the cutest neighborhood girls who were so excited to paint faces for me! 

Greg leading lawn games.

He was hilarious!

Teaching the kids toilet tag.

Claire was a bit overwhelmed and found a quiet place to hide. Greg had to go find her when it was time to eat cupcakes. She recovered relatively well from the social shock after that.

Claire's friends! She was swimming in presents. We have the cutest neighborhood kiddo's!

We love Claire!!

My parents arrived a few minutes before the party ended.

After the party, Claire was so excited to eat with cousins at Pizza Pie Cafe. We love that place for birthday's because not only does the birthday girl eat free, but they bring out a free pazookie! And, it's the best pazookie Greg and I have ever tasted - no joke. But, they didn't tell us when they brought the pazookie and Claire's table ate the whole thing!! Oh well, there's always next time ... hopefully.

Claire, her pazookie, and her fancy new Elsa waterbottle.

Sunday morning was Claire's birthday, and it also happened to be our Ward's Primary Program, so that was fun! We made sure to give Claire sufficient time to open and enjoy her presents that morning.

LOL dolls

A Mama Unicorn and Babies from Grandma/Grandpa Mark

A fancy new scooter with lights!

The Primary Program is my favorite Sunday of the year! The girls both memorized their parts and did so well talking into the microphone and singing their songs.

I had to play the piano, so Greg manned the Quincey while he accompanied my parents on the bench. Afterwards, I played the piano again in Primary and Claire was a hoot to watch! We let her bring 1 toy to church and she swam the mermaid through the air the entire singing time. I was dying!

Claire's birthday dinner was just the 5 of us, which was nice. Sometimes Claire is known for saying surprisingly good prayers, and I caught the tale-end of this one. It is so cute watching her pray.

Definitely the least cute cake I've ever made, but Claire didn't care, so neither did I. It tasted good, and that's all that mattered.

Afterwards, we went for a walk around the block to try out Claire's fancy new light-up scooter. It was so much fun and she can be seen from a mile away.

Happy Birthday Claire! We love you and the beautiful little soul that you are!

- You love having Ms. Lindsay Aubree for preschool

- You love unicorns and mermaids

- You love Ms. Karen's singing class

- You love Ms. Cherie's dance class

- You are a fish and love swimming whenever you can

 - You are scary smart and quick to learn

- You say the darndest things

- Mom has yet to beat you at the Memory Game

- You love with all your heart and are the best sister!

Our family wouldn't be near as fun without you!