CLAIRE:

It's unfair how fast she is growing and changing, but I love catching new glimpses of her personality. She's cute, she knows it, and she uses it to the best of her advantage.

This tent has an extra opening. Claire likes it because she can get out even when it's zipped shut. But let me tell you the story behind the extra opening.

One day Ella and her friend were playing in the tent when it was set up in the front room. Well, they couldn't get the zipper down and were "paralyzed with fear" that they would be trapped there forever. So they came up with a solution. They rolled the tent into the kitchen, stretched the netting far enough they could reach their 6-year-old hands through, opened a drawer and used a very sharp knife to slice the hole in the tent. They were free!

Where were mom and dad, you ask? Well, mom was at work. As for dad, who knows?!?!?

Claire also got her first haircut. She sat in the chair, watched the sharp scissors move around her face and walked away with a beautiful new do. Too much growing!

Popsicles were a neighborhood favorite among the kids. We'd let them play for hours, sweat in the sun, run in the sprinklers, and annoy the neighbors. But if all the big kids in the neighborhood were sucking on Otter-pops, then you'd better make darn sure Claire had one in her hand or she'd rip one from somebody else. It's only fair, right?

And bicycles. No she's not that big. No she can't reach the pedals on a tricycle. No, she can't even walk a straight line. But put a helmet on the kid's head, and she is just as much a bike pro as the others.

A baby's face covered in ice cream is just too good to pass up.

This is one ride Claire could handle, sort-of. Of course some adult (usually me) would have to do the pushing, and her little feet would drag on the road, but we allowed it she would do it all day. Even just climbing in, and climbing back out is enough to make her happy.

Our Claire-Bear. This smile says it all. She is always happy. Always smiling. Always making us smile. There are just so many things about her I could tell the world: she just learned to kiss, really kiss with smacking her lips. She loves jello. She loves shoes. Her tantrums include hitting, screaming, throwing herself to the floor, but can easily be solved by a tickle. She bites. She adores her sisters. She blows kisses. She sings when I play the piano. She snuggles with a teddy bear when she sleeps at night. She's perfect. We love her.