Clara Turns Four

My sweet Clara Lynn turned 4! It breaks my heart that she's so grown up.

On her real birthday, we had a party with cousins. I was planning to make some cool candy ice for her cake but I left the kitchen for two minutes and burnt it so the cake wasn't as fancy as I envisioned it. However, I'm starting to realize that Clara doesn't really like cake. She went with a few helpings of ice cream instead.

On the Saturday after her birthday, we had a party with friends. Clara was a bit of a diva and cried several times when things didn't go her way. I guess she's a firm believer in the "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" mentality.

The girls played pin the kiss on the frog.

They decorated their own crowns.

They went on a princess treasure hunt.

The popped balloons with prizes inside.

The decorated their own cupcakes.

And, they made candy/cereal/pretzel necklaces.

It was a fun party! Hopefully next year Clara will be a slightly more gracious birthday girl.

Valentine's Day 2015

While the big kids were at school, we hosted a Valentines potluck and card exchange for the little ones.

I set up a photobooth for the kiddos to take pictures.

When Abby got home, the kiddos had a mini-photo shoot.

Christmas Festivities 2014

This was our first time having a full-size tree. The kids loved decorating it and Grant only spent the first few days redecorating/throwing ornaments.

We had a great ward Christmas party. Abby, as usual, wasn't interested in visiting Santa.

We were asked to be the nativity family.

Clara was the crowd favorite as the little lamb.

As you can see, Grace thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas.

Grant got all things vehicle related. We had a hard time getting him to stop playing with the first toy he opened to see the other things.

The girls had such a great Christmas, despite Clara being in a cast. That probably deserves its own post but I don't know if I'll get around to it.

Grace's Blessing

While my family was here for Thanksgiving, we had Grace's blessing. This wasn't the best photo shoot but such is life trying to take pictures of four kids.

She was as sweet as can be wearing the dress both of her sisters wore and Sam gave her a beautiful blessing.

Thanksgiving 2014

For Thanksgiving, my family gathered at our home for a weekend of fun. I guess I never got the pictures Merrick took on the big day. She's better at remembering to take pictures than I am but I'll use the excuse that I was busy in the kitchen.

While they were here, we figured we better take them to the ostrich farm. It was a warm, gorgeous day and everyone had a blast feeding the animals.

We also took family pictures while everyone was here so I thought I'd throw this in for good measure.

Grace and Kate's Baby Shower

I'm not usually one to play catch-up on the blog. If more than a couple of weeks have passed, I say good riddance and move on. However, the computer that I keep all of my pictures on miraculously started connecting to the internet again after several months so I took it as a sign to do some blogging. These catch-up posts will probably be picture heavy but that's probably what most people want to see anyway.

My friends Cindy planned a joint baby shower for me and Linda. The shower was actually supposed to be held on the day Grace was born. Linda was due a few weeks after me but ended up having baby Kate the day after I had Grace. The shower was postponed a few weeks to give us (especially Linda from her C-section) time to recover.

There was a delicious ice cream bar, darling decorations and fun conversation. I am so blessed with wonderful friends here in Tucson.