Clara is 7!

Clara didn't just have a birthday, she had a birthday weekend. It started on Saturday with a small party with my parents and sisters families. Then another party with Mark's family on Sunday. And then a friend party today, her actual birthday. At the family parties, we just opened presents and had cake. I made her a carousel cake, as she requested. It actually wasn't that hard. Then we took her and her friends to a salon school here in Provo where they had their hair and nails done. As crazy as it was with 8 girls, it was a pretty easy party to plan. I didn't have to plan any games or have fancy treats. We just opened presents and then went to the salon and went to get ice cream when we were done.
I can't believe Clara is already 7. 7 going on 17 for sure. She's finally coming out of the princess phase and moving onto new things. As glad as I am to be out of that phase, it's a little sad that she's no longer a little girl. I can already see the tween years coming on. Complete with the rolling of the eyes. But she is a sweet girl and her favorite thing to do is to make Collin laugh. Happy Birthday Clara.



Clara opening presents.


The carousel cake.
Opening presents with her friends.
Alyssa getting her hair done.
Clara wanted a bun.

Getting nails done. Everybody wanted the sparkly glitter on top of their color. They only had one bottle so the ladies kept having to pass it around. I don't think it's the hot commodity among the older crowd but it sure was a hit for the girls.


Katelyn and her french braids.
Madeline and Libby and nails.

All 8 girls with hair and nails done. Libby, Aliesha, Austy, Madeline, Clara, Alyssa, Savannah, and Katelyn.

It was bound to happen

At some point we knew that Collin would become the subject of Clara's dress up games. He thought it was pretty fun and even did some ballet twirls for us. He was really getting into it. Notice the bow in his hair, too. Ah, the joys of having a big sister.

The Giver

I just designed the lights for "The Giver" at BYU. It's been probably 5 years since I've done a design by myself. I assist my boss on every show he does but haven't designed since before we moved to Vegas. It's been fun working on the show. Go see it if you get a chance.

Independent

Don't you love 2 year olds and how independent they want to be. Collin is now wanting to do everything by himself. And he always wants to be a helper. Today he insisted on helping carry in the grocery's and happily chanted "helper" the whole time. It's cute but frustrating at the same time. He's big enough to ask for help but then refuses the help when you offer it. Here was a typical conversation we had today.

I opened up the fridge and he saw the cheese sticks and asked for one. "Do you want a cheese stick?" I asked. And went to reach for one. "No" he responded, furiously shaking his head. So I shut the fridge. "Cheese stick" he asked again and we repeated the above conversation. We did this about 4 times. Finally I lifted him up so he could get the cheese stick out himself. He seemed satisfied with that and proceeded to try and open the cheese stick. Obviously he couldn't do it so he said "help you". So I went to try and take it from him to open it and he held it behind his back and screamed no. We repeated this scenario about 4 times as well. So I stop trying to help. By this point he's on the floor crying "open it" over and over again but won't let me help him. I finally just loaded him into the car to go to the store and while I was buckling him in I sneakily opened the cheese stick just enough to start it so he could finish it off and feel like he had done it himself. Well, that didn't fly. He screamed the whole way to Walmart. How dare I even attempt to open the cheese stick. Finally I just finished peeling the cheese stick open, which prompted more screams. I set it on the seat next to him in the cart and told him he could eat it when he wanted. He's still crying "no, open it" over and over again. I do my best to ignore the crying and start my shopping. At some point I guess he decided he was hungry enough because he eventually calmed down and ate it and returned to his normal happy self. Why the drama? I don't remember Clara being this obnoxious about doing things herself. Maybe she was and I've just blocked it.

Clara lost another tooth

Clara lost another tooth. She has now lost one on the bottom and one directly above it on the top. Between my parents, they gave her 16 dollars in payment for loosing the tooth. Grandparents just get to do that, my mom said. I told her to stop trying to upstage the tooth fairy. No way is she bringing that much.

If mom says no, ask grandma

Mark gets back from China tonight. Yay. But I am designing the lights for the Giver at BYU and I had to be at rehearsals every night this last week. So my mom came to stay to help with the kids. My dad also came down part way through. I am so thankful to my mom. She had a hard time getting around because of a hurt back, but she trooped around my house helping with everything. Collin and Clara loved having her here. And my dad also. Collin particularly liked the m & m's he got for a treat everyday. Today just before they left my dad gave Collin some in a bowl. After he ate all those he wanted more. I told him no that we were done with m & m's. Without missing a beat, he turned and yelled "bampa, bampa" and wandered around trying to find my dad. I told him that grandpa had gone outside. Without missing another beat, he turned and yelled, "mamma, mamma" He knew that if I wouldn't give it to him, one of them would. After waving goodbye to them today, I put Collin down for a nap. My mom predicted that where's bampa would be the first words out of his mouth when he woke up. She was right. Where's bumpa. Where's mamma, he asked. They went home I said. No, upstairs, he responed. He was very sad to find that they had really gone. Thanks again mom and dad.

Happy Mother's Day

Clara was so excited for Mother's Day today. She had made a couple of gifts at school for me that she hid in her room and ordered me not to look at. She was up this morning at 7:30 popping into my room with her gifts. It included a coupon book and a book about me. One of her coupons included breakfast in bed. She was so thoughtful bringing me breakfast and my big mug of water. Such a cute, thoughtful girl. She has also been collecting flowers for me. Sorry to the neighbors if she picked your prized petunias.


Clara holding her coupon book.


The Breakfast in Bed coupon. If you'll notice she spelled breakfast, brextfist.

One page from the book about me. If you look really closely you'll notice she said "She has bland hair" I think she was trying to spell blonde but the former is probably true too.


My breakfast, complete with tray. A tangerine because she told me she could reach those. And a hunk of banana bread which she cut herself. She was so proud of herself for putting it all together.


On another note. In an ongoing attempt to spice up my "bland" hair, I got a haircut. I have been toying with cutting it short again for a while now. This is a horrible picture. I could do without the double chin. But Mark is gone so I had to take the picture myself in the mirror. Overall, I like how it looks. The problem with going so short is that I already feel like I need a haircut again and it has only been 2 1/2 weeks.