Claira’s Birthday Week:

Claira turned 1 year old on Tuesday. I can’t believe it has been a whole year. It has been a crazy, full week. Tuesday morning Claira opened her first round of presents and ate a big birthday breakfast with her mom, dad and best buddy Cousin Carter. They played hard all morning, then we met Brandon and Lloyd for lunch and then a trip to visit our animal friends at the pet store (if you don’t have a zoo, check out the pet store. Claira and Carter love it!). Claira got to spend her birthday evening with her Great Uncle Randy while Brandon and I went to the David Cook concert- I’m not much of a big concert fan, but it was a great show.

Wednesday- my mom and dad came in to continue the celebration. We took a big trip to Wal-Mart to get everything we needed for the big party on Saturday.

Thursday- Claira’s Great, Great Aunt Nancy and her Great Grandmother came in from Mississippi and Florida. Mom and I spent the morning working on Claira’s big birthday cake. We also had a big Uplift meeting Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

Friday- Brandon’s parents got in around lunch. I thought that was the end of the party train, little did I know that there were a few more people coming in. We went to One Stop in Georgetown on Friday night- all of both of our families together. The food was great, and it was so neat to see everyone together for Claira’s birthday.

Saturday-Mom, Brandon and I spent the morning putting up all the decorations and getting everything ready. My dad had spent the night with my Uncle Randy and they secretly went to the airport and picked up my sister and her little foster boy to surprise Claira (and me) for the party. The BIG PARTY. Everything went great. The weather was beautiful, and I think everyone had a great time. Claira got a lot of stuff, mostly some great outdoor toys including: a sandbox, picnic table, swing, wagon, bubble mower, and lots of bubbles. She also got a bunch of books, clothes, and fun girly stuff. It was so great to just relax and enjoy the day with our wonderful family. Claira decided to take a morning nap and slept right up to the time of the party- I was so glad she was well rested and ready for the fun. She was not a big fan of cake for the first time. She ate a few M&Ms off it but kept reaching for the cheetos left over from lunch (apparently she prefers salty to sweet). We took an afternoon nap and then met up with the Tittle family for dinner at a new pizza place in town. We went to the park afterwards and hung out for a little while before returning home to get Claira ready for bed and play cards with all of my family. It was such a great day.

Sunday: Today- Brandon and I left this morning to go on our anniversary trip to Washington D.C. Just incase the week wasn’t crazy enough… we were also getting ready to leave. Brandon’s parents are keeping Claira while we are gone for a few days. Currently we are sitting in the airport waiting for our connection.

I promise I will post pictures when we get back from our trip.

I still can’t believe we have a one year old. She’s growing so much every day. Every time I turn around she has learned a new word. Her new favorite for this week was “door” and then she knocks on the door and says “knock, knock,” and she also learned “star”.

I can’t wait to see what our beautiful little girl is going to do in the next year.

This is the only picture on Brandon's computer- Birthday morning opening presents. What a cute little girl.