Clara

I thought I would do a little post on my Clara. She is such a sweet little girl. I just love her. Sometimes she really exasperates me though- but I think most people feel that way at times. I am lucky right now because as Edie is transitioning into being a total pain in the neck Clara is just getting easier and easier! Here are some photo's of our little girlie over the past year. I realized I never did a post on her birthday since we were amidst the move and all its craziness- so here we go:

Clara had begged and begged to feed Sam a bottle- but since I nurse he doesn't really know how to take one. Finally one day I gave in and she got to give him a bottle. He had no clue how to drink from it of course- but she was in heaven and that's what counted!

Comfy!

The Classic "Sink Bath" at the cabin. I am pretty sure we couldn't fit her in there now!

Clara LOVES to pose for a photo (or 12...)

A sick baby :(

I tried to upload a video of her "gettin down" (her words- not mine) But being inept with computers I don't think I did it right...

First day with glasses

And her Birthday party! We had it on a Saturday in our backyard. She had always wanted a bouncy house so we went ahead and rented one. She thought she had died and gone to heaven!!

They set it up the night before- so naturally they woke up at six a.m. and ran outside to enjoy a good bounce.

Birthday Cake!!

It was a good day. Bad manners aside- (why does this always happen to kids at Birthday parties?) We all had a great day.

I can't believe Clara is a week away from being 5 1/2! She was only 5 lbs 14 oz. and 18 inches when she was born- she makes up for her small stature with her personality. As her new pre-school teacher up here puts it "Clara oozes personality from every single one of her pores". Yes I would say that sums it up. One of her favorite activities is to put on Disney music and dance. She makes up her own moves, they are very original and quite shocking at times! She is sweet and very sensitive. She tears up very easily and will always be willing to snuggle with me. She loves to curl up on my lap and we read "Ramona and Beezus" and of course, anything Fancy Nancy. She knows all her numbers and letters and is starting to spell out some words. I think I will have a hard time adjusting when she starts Kindergarten next Fall.

Portland and Seaside OR

Last week we took a little girls trip (with ALL of our children) to Seaside OR. I went with two ladies in my ward- Mary and Jaynee. It was alot of fun- or I can imagine that it would have been had we not had 8 children with the three of us ladies. (And we were missing two back home!)
I often wondered whether my pilot could fit six car seats in it. Turns out it can. We had Jimmer, Sam and Edie in the middle row. And in the rear- Clara, Naomi and Malachai. It was a FULL car with the 8 of us. The kids did reasonably well....

Oregon is Beautiful! We didn't actually go down to the beach as it was freezing... But I did get a few pictures.

We drove down to Cannon Beach one day. There is a touristy little town down there and it was a blast. We did a gourmet candy shop with the kids and took turns watching kids and looking in boutiques. And of course took a few trips to the nasty public restroom with all of the children.

It was so beautiful and I loved it, but the whole time I missed John and couldn't help but think how much fun it would be to be with him and no kids! Don't get me wrong- I adore my children. However- they were kind of suffering from a lack of sleep and a sugar high for a great deal of the trip. Which made things exciting....

Edie on time out for running off for the 18th time.

Sam had his first lollipop on our trip. I realize I have no one to blame but myself for the sugar high. But he was screaming- and I just wanted him quiet!!

He liked it! He was one sticky mess though!!

yay for treats!!!!!!

We also had a blast swimming at the hotel pool. Sam was so sweet. He just sacked out in my arms and made these adorable little cooing noises of content the entire time. Then he fell asleep in the stroller on the way back up to the condo. I realize he's wrapped in multi stripe pink towel and in a purple stroller- but he's really quite masculine....

Clara, my sweet little helper and wild adventurer

On the way in and out of seaside we stopped in Portland to hit stores we don't really have in our tiny town in WA. We went to Decorette in Tigard- a cake decorating shop. H&M in the Portland mall (where Clara got a haul of cute new summer clothes), Ikea and Whole Foods. I really miss living so close to a Whole Foods in SLC.

Yay again for Ice Cream!! We were at Ikea late the last night. We didn't get out to the car with our giant crew until 9:30- and then we had a three hour drive ahead of us to be back home. I was so nauseated and had a migraine. I wanted nothing more than to just climb into bed! Thankfully the drive went quick and I never tossed my cookies.

I laid Sam down in the cart and he finally just passed out.

It was a blast- and we've already decided to try doing it again- without our children! All three of us had nursing babies- so we have to wait until late summer when they're all weaned, but I'm already looking forward to it!