Claire Turns Seven!!!

I cannot believe my little Claire Bear is seven years old. I am not sure if she is just so much bigger than her little sister (who reminds me so much of her when she was a baby) or if I just feel time slipping by. Either way, knowing she is now seven and saying it out loud is crazy! Claire is doing so well these days. She is loving first grade, so happy to have made some new friendships while cultivating those she made last year, and just growing by leaps and bounds in so many different ways. She is so confident, more outspoken, more of a jokester, finding her way to enjoying being the center of attention, smart, loving, and basically just everything I could ask for in a daughter. She has adjusted so well to being an older sister again and her ability to mother her siblings is just out of this world! Not only is she wonderful to Emily, she is so sensitive to the needs of Matthew, too. She can sense when I am really involved with Emily and when Matthew needs attention and she'll give it to him. She knows how to be patient with Michael and make him happy, too. She is just the best. I am so proud of her.

Knowing her birthday was fast approaching and that I am so busy these days, I started about a month early asking her what she wanted to do for her BIG DAY! She told me she wanted to have her party at home (so did I when I was her age) and that she wanted to invite both 1st grade classes of girls at St. Chris. I was completely supportive of this choice because I know how great it would be to get all the girls together and also know that since I was having the party at home- it wouldn't impact me financially to have them all here. Now managing them would be a different deal but we got a plan in place and set forth to have the very best Littlest Pet Shop Birthday Party Ever!

I knew that if I was going to invite all 42 girls, I had better have a lot to keep them busy during the party! Would you believe that only a hand full of girls couldn't make it? We planned to have 37 girls at our house for two hours and really hoped it would go well! We had ordered a bouncy house (as a surprise to Claire), I had necklace kits for all the girls to make necklaces, I had Littlest Pet Shop coloring pages, we had a huge game of Simon Says planned (led by Damien), I had name tags, cupcakes to frost, and a backyard full of toys to keep them occupied and would you know that it worked . . . for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The last fifteen minutes turned into pure chaos as the sugar made it's way into the girls bloodstream and Michael and his friend decided to chase the girls through the already crowded house. I knew I had to keep it together because I didn't want the parents showing up and thinking that I couldn't handle it because I could . . . at least for 1 hour and 45 minutes. All in all, the girls had an absolute blast! Most importantly, Claire felt so special and loved by all these sweet six and seven year old girls who will accompany her through school for at least the next seven years of her life.

Happy Birthday Clairey! I love you so much and am truly so proud of everything that you are, everything that you do, and love what a wonderful little lady you are turning into. While I am sad to see you growing so big so fast- I also celebrate the thought of watching you grow throughout your life. I love you sweet girl. Love- Mom.