Our little photo shoot before church today. Claire was not in the mood to take pictures for very long... but she looked so cute.
This is how Claire acted for most of the day. I guess she knew it was her birthday and she could get away with anything for the day.

Ben and Siena were happy to pose. I love this, it makes me so happy.

Our beautiful blossoming trees.
I never get to be in any pictures.

Happy Birthday Claire!

My baby is 1. We had such a fun day. We decided since the weather has been so nice to have a BBQ. Aunt Karin and Uncle Steve and the Earnests all came over to celebrate. Sundays are pretty busy for us since we have late church so we decided to celebrate a day early. She loved her cake, mostly the frosting.

After she got little bites of it she decided she just wanted to go in head first.

She was mesmorized by the candle. She kept looking around at everyone while we were singing to her. She had no idea what was going on. She tried to grab the lit candle but we blew it out before she could reach it.

YUM

just relaxing and eating cake.

We figured since it was St. Patrick's day we would do a rainbow cake. It turned out more psychodelic than rainbow layers but it was fun. Everyone else had rainbow color cupcakes.

One happy baby.

She likes taking baths but apparently not in the kitchen sink.

present time. We ripped a little of the present to see if she would finish it off but she had no clue what to do. I thought she would like ripping things open.

Siena made her a card.

St. Patrick's Day

The kids had picked out all the green that they were going to wear today. They also made sure to wear green pajamas so they wouldn't be pinched when they first woke up.
The Leprachaun made a mess of breakfast. He brought us Lucky Charm cereal and got all our kid cups and bowls out and made a mess.

We set a trap for Mr. Leprachaun but he gnawed his way out. Tricky tricky. Siena had placed that star toy to prop it up and it would knock over when he went in. Inside it had a celery stick and a clover. Siena was so thoughful. Both Siena and Ben were scared to look in the trap in the morning just in case a Leprachaun would jump out at them. Ben finally checked it.

Then the Leprachaun made it's way to the bathroom where the toilet water was green and then made his way out the window. So sneaky. The kids thought this was so funny.

Siena came home from school Friday so excited for the Leprachaun to come to our house. I guess they celebrated at school all day. I don't ever remember celebrating St. Patrick's day at school or at home growing up but I they have made it into a fun holiday around here. They have made the leprachaun naughty. While the kids were at lunch he came in and made their classroom a mess and made footprints all over the class windows. He did leave them some erasers and gold coins. She told me that a little boy she sits next to and her were talking about how they could catch a Leprachaun in a trap. As soon as she came home from school she made a note for the Leprachaun and went out to find a trap to trap him that night. I was just glad that I had prepared enough that I had something for the Leprachaun to leave them.

The trap looking all nice and comfy for the Leprachaun.

Dear Leprachaun. Please leave some of the things that you left me at school. The Meilstrups. So thoughtful to include us all. She put it at the bottom of the front door because Leprachauns are very small.

making the trap while Claire serenades them.

Siena getting her craft on

Siena got hooked up from her birthday. There are so many cute little girl crafts out there and she got some fun ones. Besides doing multiple shrinky dinks each day she has bracelets to make, collages to make and play mats to keep her entertained. I have never seen these collages before. You put sparkly stickers on the number to make the picture. She loves them so much.

Here is a playmat of all the Tinkerbell fairies. The mat is as big as our kitchen table. Ben and her were entertained for quite a while.

Kennedy gave Siena these cute books all put together and you add stickers and pop outs. She thought these were the best things. I don't completely understand the whole plot of the story but it shows her point of view and thought process.

She really does enjoy all these crafts and I am grateful we have a whole other table/craft area that she can take over and we don't have to clean it up every time we have to eat.
Here is her first book dedicated to Dad. Things our whole Family likes.

Our family likes to ride bikes.

We like big and get things ( I am not really sure what she is trying to say here.) look at the cute family. We love each other.

Our family crosses a bridge. The bridge is a pop-out in the fold of the book. How funny.

And the whold family will sing to Claire.

My family counted to 10.

What a cool frog. (the frog is the pop out in the binding of the book)

It had been a good day. We had Claires birthday and had a walk we had cake what a wonderful day.

Here is the second book she made.

Things I like

Ding ding ding the school bell rings. It was time for school. It's time for sisters school too.

The heart is cute. You might like it.

Look look it's a friend to play with. I have a friend too.

At home big sister and little sister colored. Or the dog will be crazy.

I'm going to fly our kite just so you know where I am.

I'll be playing outside. So I'll be with you.

We will be sisters forever. (O my gosh so cute.)

dedicated to Mom. LOVE IT!

enjoying the sun

We have a lot of yard work to get done at the beginning of Spring. It's fun at first but it gets overwhelming very quickly and I realize how much work our big yard needs. I have big dreams for it someday. I can't really get a lot of work done without Dave. I got the kids all out nicely playing they had food and I found our beach shade for Claire. By the time I got all that done I was tired and ready to back inside. I accomplished a little bit of the weeds and preparing for the garden. I guess little by little I will get there, I just hope our garden will be successful this year.

Claire enjoying her shade.

Give Claire her blanket and her baby and she is happy.