Not to be left out...

CLAIRE HAS A TWIN TOO!

I guess it worked out perfectly fitting to name my Linda Claire after my sweet mother, since she turned out to be another Linda Palmer clone. I've been told all my life that I look just like my mom. In my early years I hated it...I don't know why, I guess I just wanted to be original. But now that I'm older, I LOVE people to tell me how much I am like her, and not just in looks. Now I have my little Clairey-Boo to carry it on. From the day she was born, I knew she had come straight from her Grandma Linda's arms and brought a piece of her with her. She looked just like her! When we helped my dad clean out the house before he moved, I found this little red and white polka dotted outfit that I remembered from pictures of myself. Of course I snagged it, wanting to take pictures of Claire in it to compare the two. I took the pictures, but never did anything with it...probably because Steve told me our baby looked like I had wrapped her in a loofah!! But now that I put the two together...HOLY TWINNERS!

Look-alikes

In talking with my sister-in-law recently, she noted how much she thought Bode looked like how she remembered Steve as a baby. I had been thinking Bode was a baby boy twinner of Paige's and since she is a clone of her daddy, I guess it all comes full circle. So, compare for yourself...Daddy is the larger photo on the left with Paige in the lavender on the top right and Bode in the navy on the lower right. All babies are around 6 months.

FIVE!

It's hard for me to believe that my baby girl is now 5 years old. Where does the time go?? She started counting down to her birthday around Christmas time, and was anxiously awaiting the day. She got to celebrate at preschool...but due to lack of planning ahead, I forgot to send birthday treats. So instead, Paige, Bode and I waited outside Miss Kathy's house with 10 purple Happy Birthday balloons for all of her friends. She was surprised...and THRILLED!! Especially since there were 2 friends absent from her class that day, so she got to take 3 balloons home. We took her to dinner that night at the Training Table, her choice (have I got her trained well or what??) But it still killed her to wait until Friday when... WE GOT TO GO TO CHUCK E. CHEESE!!! Claire has planned this birthday party since we went there 2 years ago for a cousin's party. She was dying to ride the clock and win a prize. I really was ANTI, but with a winter birthday, your options are limited. I loved the idea of not having a dozen 5 year-olds destroy my house, but did not love the idea of eating cardboard pizza for a hundred bucks. She didn't seem to notice that mom didn't pop for the "Birthday package", which meant we didn't have a happy birthday tablecloth or a balloon. She did want the token crown, but seemed to be satisfied by the light up tiara I had brought.
Claire had such a great time playing with her friends and opening presents. It seemed like the perfect party...everyone had fun!

There was a little drama over the cupcakes. She really wanted a princess cake from Costco, but mom really wanted cupcakes since they were easier. We went to Walmart and poured over the design book for about half an hour. When we went to put in our order, the kid told me I had to give them exactly 24 hours notice...not 21 like I had. So I took a sad and dejected little Boo elsewhere. Luckily, Sam's Club had Valentine cupcakes up the wazoo and everyone got a ring!

The party went on to Sunday where we had raspberry delight ice cream at Grandpa and Grandma's house and even more presents!! Claire was very disappointed the following Monday morning when she woke up asking, "What are we going to do for my birthday today?" Apparently birthdays are now birthweeks.

A little more mobile...

Apparently, Vincents only make stubborn children...I'm sure they don't get it from their mother. They do things in their own time, when they want. All our children have been late bloomers as far as baby milestones are concerned. Paige had a decent excuse (you'd be late walking too if your legs were covered in plaster!) But Claire and Bode are no exception, I guess. So it comes as no surprise that at 15 months, Bode is still not walking. He is perfectly content to crawl around the floor. So for Christmas, Santa brought Bode a little ride-along walker toy to encourage a little more mobility.

It took him a few days to get the hang of it...but he has really got it down! He runs this thing from one end of the house to the other, usually with two giggly little shadows following after him.

He can get it going so fast, that it was hard to capture a decent picture of him doing it! But at least he looks like he is having fun! He particularly enjoys doing laps around the kitchen table and the island. Notice his proud big sister cheering him on! So cute!

Note: He has also mastered pushing the baby doll stroller. No, this does not mean he will grow up with "issues". It means he is going to be a good daddy someday...when he's 40 and I finally decide to let my baby boy out of the house. On second thought...maybe he'll just be a really great uncle!

Such a proud, though kind of goofy, little smile!

P.S. Just yesterday, Bode made a little bit more progress. He stood by himself in the middle of the floor! Just long enough to clap for himself and everyone to scream and yell, but still...

Christmas 2009

WOW!! It's hard to believe that Christmas was already almost a month ago! It seems like December was such a whirlwind, it has taken this long to recoop! I think the most exhausting part was Bode. He caught a horrible cold the first of the month and 3 doctors visits, 2 prescriptions and a nebulizer later it had turned from cold, to strep, to ear infection, to secondary pneumonia! He and I spent a good chunk of Dec. 23rd with Dr. Lash trying to figure out why he was so sick and what we could do to make it better! Luckily, we had caught it in time where his oxygen level was way down, but not low enough to be hospitalized...so Bode got to spend Christmas at home!

We spent our Christmas Eve with the Vincent family, in between nebulizer treatments. Paige, Claire and our cousin Katherine were all so excited to check out NoradSanta and see how close he was getting. Claire was ready to leave and go home to bed the second we got there, he was so afraid we would miss him! Of course, we ended up staying later than we planned...and then by the time we each opened Christmas jammies, this is what Paige left for Santa. He absolutely LOVED it! We know because this Christmas, Steve and I got to meet Santa! It was the most magical Christmas we have ever had! All 5 of us got in our new jammies and snuggled up in our bed to watch Christmas Story for a little bit and we all fell asleep. I felt a tap on my shoulder and awoke to find Santa standing next to me! Steve woke up to the sound of a man's voice in the bedroom (kind of gives a guy a panic attack, you know!) He asked us to follow him into the girls' bedroom. We went in to find a partially made bunkbed. Santa explained to us that the elves had packed the bunkbed so well in the boxes for transport that it took him longer than expected to unpack and assemble. Santa knew our girls had been so good this year and deserved this extra special present they had asked for. But Santa needed to move on to our neighbors, so he asked if Steve and I could finish up for him. We were glad to help. I think Santa's happy "Ho, Ho, Ho's" and jingle bells must have been a little too jovial, because as I was bringing flannel sheets from the basement where Santa had left them by the fireplace, I saw Paige walking out of our room and right across the hall into hers! You should have seen the shock on her face!! It was priceless!! She had asked for the bunk bed, but never in her wildest dreams actually thought they would get it. She knew just how anti-bunk bed her mama is!! I quickly told her how we met Santa, so she and I hurried to check out all the windows to check all the neighbors roofs' while daddy finished putting the final touches on the bunkbed. But that Santa is pretty quick, we could not see him anywhere! Paige was a great help making beds and wanted so badly to wake up Claire to tell her Santa had come and brought them just what they wanted. But we knew she needed her sleep. So we snuggled the girls in their own separate beds and got a little sleep before morning.

We ended up waking Claire up around 8:30 so that we could catch her reaction on video. She opened her eyes, looked up at the bunk bed, and hopped out yelling, "Yes...I knew it!!" Unfortunately, our little "booger boy" didn't wake up quite so bright eyed.

The kids had a great morning. No fighting, taking turns opening gifts...it was a wonderful morning. Even Bode got into opening gifts this year. Although we knew that long before Christmas. For some reason he was drawn to the present under the tree to Paige from Mom and Dad...he opened it 3 or 4 times before Christmas Day. Paige was really sweet about it though, she even re-wrapped it herself!

The girls looked so darling in their Christmas "zippies" and I absolutely LOVED the gingerbread man applique on Bode's cute little bum!

One of Claire's favorite gifts was the Lil' Kins kitty that Paige picked out for Claire by herself. She has not let it go, and named her Whiskers.

Bode was thrilled with his roller coaster toy. It even entertains his big sisters for a while!

Paige was dying for her very own sewing machine. She is becoming quite the domestic diva!

Poor little Bode was such a good sport through the whole morning. You can tell just by looking back at the pictures just how awful he felt, but was still finally able to squeak out a few little smiles.

After the festivities were over, I pulled the bubble bun out of the fridge to rise for a little bit while Steve and I snuggled Bode back in our bed to get him back to sleep. It was pretty comfy in there because the next thing we knew, it was 3 hours later! I was shocked that we had napped for that long! I ran to check on the girls, feeling immediate guilt that I slept through Christmas morning, but was relieved to find the 2 of them with all their new Christmas Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop happily playing on the top bunk! The only real drawback was when I got to the kitchen and found the bubble bun had more than doubled...there were butterscotch covered rolls over the top of the Bundt pan, across the stove, down the front of the oven and onto the floor. So, although Christmas breakfast was kind of a bust, I think the rest of the day more than made up for it!

Claire's Christmas Program

On Claire's last day of preschool in December, she had her Christmas program. It was absolutely darling! Steve and I loved every minute of it! We were so proud of our little Boo!
She and her cute little class of 10 sang several numbers, each with props and actions.
Our personal favorite:
I took a lick of my peppermint stick
And I thought it tasted yummy!
It used to be on my Christmas tree
But I liked it better in my tummy!
The class also played a number with chimes, Christmas Bells are Ringing, with each child having a certain note to play.

And of course, no Christmas program would be complete without Rudolph!

The Christmas program was just a small taste of what's to come in the Spring...so we can't wait!

Christmas Recital

What can I say? I'm a sucker for little girls with curly hair and makeup in dance costumes!

Dance recitals are 2 days of the year that I really look forward too!
We were so impressed with their performances this year! We can see so much growth and improvement in their dance skills.

Claire's costume included a bright red cowboy hat that I was really nervous would fly off. But she danced like a star and it stayed right where it was supposed to. Surprisingly she was not shy at all...happy to share her talent at all family functions the whole month of December and stole the show at the recital.

Paige was so excited to have a new friend in her class this year. Camry was in her kindergarten class last year, but due to boundary changes, she is going to a new elementary this year. They both really look forward to Tuesday nights so that they have at least an hour a week to see each other. Both did a great job "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!"

Claire and her little friend, Ali, are excited to be dancing together again this year. Both little ladies did a darling rendition of "Lasso-ing Santa Claus".