Should I go back to work?

Typical Mommy during a day at home.

I have stayed at home almost exclusively for the last 13 years. I love my girls, love my husband and have gotten a lot of joy out of being here for them. But, I do feel a little lost at times. A little unsure of who I am outside of the "mom" role. I started to think about what I'd like to do last year when I was home alone during the days for the first time.

2004 - very focused SAHM

Last year I volunteered teaching English, at the kid's school as much as they'd let me, went to PTO meetings and even briefly volunteered to lead the middle school PTO this year. That was before I realized that was crazy and would totally overwhelm me.

While those things were good, this year I felt I was ready to get back to work and focus more on a career. After trying out teaching last year, I knew that was not the direction for this introvert to head. Did you know that kid's talk to their teachers? Like, ALL DAY? And then the grown ups talk to each other and the parents talk to the teachers.... And then I come home to 3 talkers and then Matt gets home and would like to talk. I love talking - really. Just not all day long. I need some quiet, some "no one is talking to me" time. Anyways, I decided to pursue an accounting focused job and then decide if perhaps adding some accounting classes to my resume would be a good plan.

I found a great position about 20 minutes from home.  Full time with not much flex in the schedule but lots of learning potential and some great people to work with. I interviewed on the phone and then in person twice. I figured that I was either a shoe-in or there was someone more qualified that didn't care about making much money (it didn't pay that well).

Got my "interview" self all ready!

The kids were a little excited for me actually. The youngest was super excited about going to after school daycare and anxiously asked me each day if I had heard about the job. My middle schooler was incensed. Seriously, I was going to make her walk home? And I really didn't like the idea of her home alone each day for the afternoon. She hasn't ever done that so it would be pretty radical.

And me? I was excited and terrified and my self-confidence issues all came racing to the surface of my everyday life while I waited to hear back. The questions of "Can I do this?", "Am I good enough?", "Can I work and still be a Mom?", "What will have to give?" and more.

I emailed the company and found out that I hadn't gotten the position. Queue the relief. Honestly, it would be such a huge change and there would be so many sacrifices - it just didn't feel like the right time. But, I still felt this sort of - What Now? Who am I then? Is being a Mom going to be enough? What else is there to me?

I think a lot of Moms struggle with those questions - if not the first few years, perhaps after about 10 years of staying at home. (So, if you don't think it yet, you just might in a few more years.) I honestly didn't struggle with it nearly as much when I had toddler hugs every few minutes, or a mountain of baby related tasks to conquer just so my kids didn't die. I felt important and definitely needed. I didn't want anyone else to do that job.

Now, it's harder. I don't always feel like doing all those jobs that make me useful to this family. I don't really want to clean the floors again, load the dishwasher, make dinner, wash clothes or make those lovely after school treats.

So - here I should end with some kind of happy, I figured out the solution, moment. Hmmm....

I can say - I volunteered at my girls' school yesterday and I felt better than I have in weeks. I felt useful. The tasks were easy but rewarding. Being in the school lifts my spirits. The kids are happy, the teachers are friendly, the school is awesome. And knowing that my girls can still count on me to bring forgotten tennis shoes to school, take them to Dr's appointments, pick them up for lunch on special days, pray for them throughout the day, pick them up from school, talk to them after school, take them to piano lessons, have playdates at our house and not be too busy for them makes it worth it. This is still my job. It's not time to split my attentions. They still need me and are still learning who they are.

I am choosing to be thankful for the time to devote to them. And acknowledging that some days it is a choice and some days it is the deepest feeling in my soul.

 I'm thankful for the days at home to capture memories like these:

Sisters being silly together.

My sweet Belle.

My bumble bee.

The Water Park Birthday Party

This party was a HUGE hit!  It was a wonderful hot day and our yard was filled with fun water-based activities.

My plan of action for themed parties is to get a couple good ideas, scale them back and then throw in a few original thoughts of my own.

I tried to use Pinterest to help me get started...  I think I am the only 30-something suburban Mom who dislikes Pinterest.  It makes me see what I could do - if only I had a whole lot more skill, time and creativity.  It makes me feel bad, just bad.  Sorry, but that is the truth.  I did use one idea from my Water Party board - I tried the tie-dye shirt (with a bandana).  Let me just say, it didn't look like the picture.  At all.

So, I actually found this link the most useful for an organized, but slightly creatively stunted person like myself.  It's just a long paragraph explaining how they planned their party.  Perfect!  I took a lot of their great ideas and made them work in our much smaller yard and party.

I first made signs for each of the "attractions" and labeled each area.  The Super Jump was our water balloon filled trampoline.  I had planned on 500 water balloons.  I'm not sure we made it to that many, but Matt and the girls worked on filling water balloons for most of the morning before the party.

The party included stations:  trampoline, slip n' slide, water slide, fishing pond, drinks, tattoos and bandana painting.  It was enough to keep the kids moving from one thing to the other and not bored.  We also had pizza and cake, plus popsicles to keep everyone cool.  It was a super fun party!

This photo doesn't capture her catapulting off the end of the slide and almost into the fence.  It was awesome!

I made these cute squirt bottles for the kids to play with at the party and then take home after.  I'll do a quick tutorial next week!  Easy peasy and they were used a ton.

And a few party pictures to show the whole thing in action.

Most of all it was the smile on my brand new 7 year old's face that made it worth it. She got a bit jilted last year since we were moving on her birthday and the years before that she didn't really have enough of her own friends to have a party.  Plus, her birthday is at the end of the summer and a lot of friends are forgotten, have moved or are traveling.  We were so thankful that almost all her closest friends were able to come.

From Goodwill to the garage to her room - a desk REDO

Okay - so this desk is ugly.  Oh, so ugly.  But, the lines were cool and it was definitely the right price at $8.  Score!

Before purchasing this desk I took a look at how I might be able to update it.  My favorite blog, Young House Love, has been inspiring me for years but I have rarely acted on it.

The two shelves on the desk are easily removable and the top had a very distinct line, so I figured I could tape it off and paint it.

First, I took the shelves out and spray painted them with a glossy black.  Then I taped off the feet and top and sprayed the rest of the desk with a metallic silver spray paint.  I used the whole can of metallic paint doing 3 even coats on the desk frame and I didn't really feel it was great coverage.  But, it looks pretty good from a distance - just room for improvement if I decide to do this again.

I had planned to buy chalkboard contact paper online and cut it to fit the desktop but I ran out of time to order it.  So, I purchased a can of chalkboard spray paint and taped off the rest of the desk.  This was after leaving the rest of the paint to dry for a day.  The chalkboard paint took about 3 light, even coats.

It's so fun to see Anna adopt this desk as her own.  I gave her a chalkboard marker to use and she quickly covered the desk in some of her favorite Bible verses.  I think her only complaint is that she wishes the desktop was much larger!  But, it fits her room great.

I went back a few days later and grabbed the matching chair.  I had originally passed it up because I thought it might be too ugly and I wouldn't be able to redo it.  But, I looked more closely and realized that the 60's plastic seat and back could be recovered (I hope), so I'll be attempting that in a few days.  Stay tuned!!

Note:  See the entire room transformation here!

Whoa - my daughter is going GOTH!

Okay - that was me just a few months ago.

I'm not sure the difference between Goth & Emo but we were treading some lines here with our oldest daughter.

First day of 6th grade

She was very into beauty, princesses, fairies and dress-up during her elementary years.  We know she is creative and we have always encouraged her to express it.

Enter Middle School.  The first few weeks were filled with trendy clothes, trying to fit in, requests for athletic shorts (all the kids wear them Mom!) and pleas to wear makeup.

Then a few weeks after that all color disappeared.  We were informed that she was in her "black stage" and all colored clothes were moved out of her drawers and into a storage tub she found in her closet. (Other items in that tub were relocated in a heap to the corner of her closet - Mom cringed.)

Double pierced ears
were a Christmas present.

Feeling this was a phase, we tried to ignore it.  I did more laundry since she only had a handful of all black clothing.  She started spending all her spare money on black clothing.  She went to stay with Grandma and came back with a bright red streak in her hair.  She invested in black lace gloves, black shoes, black jewelry and even adamantly demanded black underwear!

This continued for months and months and all the way to the end of the year. People started to notice. Of course she always looked polished and put together.  Most of her black clothing was x-small women's clothes.  Clothes you might wear to work.  It was like pulling teeth to get her to wear jeans and a t-shirt.

She also began to withdraw more and more - I don't have many pictures of her since she didn't join a lot of our family activities.  She wanted to be included but at the same time just wanted to be left alone. (Can't say we are out of the woods on that one yet.)

Then came summer.  School let out and she decided to take a break from it all.

Analysis:  At this point I really think the black was just an escape from the overwhelming task of deciding what to wear and how to fit in.  It was infinitely easier to choose from a single color palette. And I think it was very important for us to not make a big deal out of it.  It never became an issue for us.  I didn't understand why she was doing it but it seemed to be essential for her to cope with middle school. And now, I am beyond thrilled to see her colorful self again!

So - let your pre-teen express themselves, let them push those boundaries a bit even if it doesn't make sense to you.  Even if you've always picked out their clothes.  Even if they used to explain everything to you.  They  may not even know why they are making these choices.  They are just trying to cope with not knowing who they are yet AND the choices they are making at this age are not necessarily indicative of who they are going to be in the future.

So pretty, creative and ready for 7th grade

Valentine's Day for the NON CRAFTY

All right.

This is practical stuff.  I could not wait to share if with you!

I am not an interior designer (shock I know).  I also am not a crafty, make my own stuff kind of person (more shock - I'll wait).

This is NO excuse to not decorate for the holidays!  Especially if you have kids.  They just love it!  I remember begging my parents to decorate for every holiday.  I mean, aren't there decorations for President's day??

Now, I understand a bit better.  The pressure to either make or buy amazing beautiful decorations is huge.  And it seems easier to do nothing than to try and fail.

So - now you've got it.  A tutorial on how to decorate for next to nothing and with no skills!  I bought a couple cute things a few years ago and then I just add $1-2 worth of cuteness a year.

First, we have my mantel decorations.  There are 2.  One is some kind of wiry heart encrusted garland.  It bends and twists and hearts fall off it every year.  I suppose I've got a couple years left with that one.  Then the other is this year's meager addition.  A small $1 garland I picked up at Target.  Cute and effective and I did NOT make it!

Next we have my table decorations.  Thanks to the hubby for beautiful flowers and then I just added some shiny plastic grape bundles - good colors and a bit of ribbon.  Oh - and some ducks.  More on those later.

Here is what we affectionally call "the black shelf".  I added some more wiry ribbon and a set of cute heart boxes and an amazing, elaborate, totally handmade valentine mailbox that my talented Mother in Law made for us several years ago.  It is truly amazing.  (I can take orders if you want one!)

And the most fun (and easy) tradition I started was our Valentine's ducks. Every year I get these out and hide them all over the house.  I have about 20 and I put some of them in plain sight and others go behind pictures, above door frames and all over the house.  It's fun to see the girls find them gradually and it is SO easy to do! 

Now - get some flowers, add a few valentine's hearts and I consider you to have mastered Normal Person's Decorating 101!

PS:  I also have plenty of room to add the kid's homemade decorations.  They inevitably come home with a few over the course of the week.

Afraid of failure

Shoot.

It happened again.

I started to give up before I'd even started.

I have struggled as long as I can remember with giving up.  I have a list of about 2 things that I've ever stuck with, finished and become good at.  I need to focus on that tiny list and making it larger.  But, my own issues pull me down every time.

I just get started with something.  Let's see, crocheting, accounting, computer programming, piano and on and on and then - bam!  I find someone better than me.  Someone who has either succeeded easily and quickly or who worked hard and is seeing great results - and I give up.  Why bother?  They already did it.

Gets me every time.

I end up in a sad, sad place of disappointment, failure and self pity.

It's totally lame.  Do you ever end up there?

There truly is only one place I can find any relief and promise of true transformation in this area.   My savior.  He is the only one who offers me unconditional acceptance and the energy and power to change this in me.

I have several new things on my plate at the moment.  Things I'm oh so ready to give up and drop.  It would be so much easier, I tell myself.  My life would be so much calmer and I could revert to my introverted, solitary, safe place.  And I'd have….  not much.

So - today I am choosing faith.  We can rely on the power of Christ to keep going.  To persevere. To not give up until we absolutely CANNOT go on.  To pray for doors to close in our face to keep us from going.  I will go.

I will continue.

I will work hard and find success in the process.  Join me?

Booyah!

Mentorship

As I begin a new business venture, I have found once again that a mentor is vital.  I am so thankful for the many mentors I've had over the years.

It all started with my parents.  I found endless advice in my Mom and then a generous listening ear in my Dad.  They each gave me different types of mentorship and I learned to value and use both in my own life.

In college I had an internship at my Dad's office and I learned to listen to those older and wiser but to not be afraid to contribute my own ideas.  I am so thankful that I was treated like a smart individual.  I also learned that I was often wrong and needed to ask more questions in order to learn.

Later in life I struggled to find good mentors.  I had bosses who were distant or quick to tell me how to do everything - leaving me no input and a feeling of no value as well.

More recently I have experienced a great mix of people as mentors in my life.  I learned how to build relationships intentionally at our church and I enjoyed the mentorship of Wes, Amber, and Ashley in the Children's ministry.  I considered myself shy, introverted and unable to reach out and they taught me through encouragement and grace that I could be more than that.  I learned to push myself and to let the fear go - what's the worst thing that would happen?  A smile and an interest in someone's life is never a bad plan.

Molly, me and Becky.
Wonderful times at Weaving Influence!

I also grew through my most recent job.  My boss, Becky, was humble, gracious and kind but never failed to challenge me to work hard and produce results.  Her confidence in my skills and abilities translated into my own confidence, which was seriously lacking.  What a gift that was!

And now, as I start a new business venture, one where I am my own boss and try to help and mentor others, I am finding a personal mentor is vital.  This is someone to calm my newbie fears, push me a bit and also provide structure.  Joline has been a friend and someone I admired for so long, I'm so thankful to have her in this new role.

I find myself at 36 years old, happier to give than to receive and wanting to help others more than ever.

Getting a room settled

Well, of course, the kids are asking for their rooms to be setup.  So - Mom to the rescue.

I consider it a blessing to them that I love to arrange (and rearrange) furniture and it matters to me that their room reflects who they are.

I think a clean room encourages play and creativity more than a pile of clothes, a pile of toys and a continually stinky, unmake bed.

So - since Katherine's room was leaning towards the latter room I described, today was set aside to fix it up.

She has the biggest room of all 3 girls and after only having tiny rooms all these years, this was a bit challenging for me.

With this arrangement she has her bed and other furniture on one end.  I also hung up a blue painting that Matt painted several years back.  She will be so excited that her Daddy's picture is hanging in her room.  I also hung up a cute painting that was in my room when I was little.  I can't wait to show my Mom when she's here tomorrow!  The hardest part of her room was finding a cute way to arrange all her "stuff".  Some of it is cute and decorative and some of it is just scraps of paper.  Hopefully she'll appreciate it! (I know she will.  The look on the kids' faces is half the reason I do this!)

This is the other side of Katherine's room.  We didn't bring desks with us to this house and she was pretty heartbroken.  So - we found a way to make her storage cubes into a desk.  This looked like a war zone before I tackled it today.  Now she has some cute fairy pictures and a picture she made at school.  It's a drawing of herself and says "I like me!".  I thought that was perfect.  In addition she has some spaces for toys, decorations and all her "office supplies".  And it just looks so darn cute.

Making way some new bright whites

Yep - she has at last lost a tooth.  She went through all of Kindergarten, just waiting.

Then the summer.  Still nothing.

Now, at last, one is missing and apparently about 5 are loose.  We expect her teeth just start falling out two at a time!  We'll see.

Help! My 6th grader wants to wear makeup.

I am hereby taking it on myself to give a little advice on the subject of young girls and makeup.

And I'm pretty sure it's not going to be what you expect.

First, a little background.  I was not allowed to wear makeup until I was 15.  Granted, I was a sophomore in high school by then.  I had been the one to sneak lipstick on a regular basis in junior high and even got caught at church wearing, wait for it, previously confiscated bright orange lipstick.  Did I think she wouldn't notice??  I still cringe remembering getting caught in the church lobby by my parents.

So, this year, our dear 11 year old begged and begged for makeup.  She already had quite a supply of lip glosses, Chapstick, sparkle powder, etc.  But, the claim was that it was old, run down and not of the right caliber for a blossoming young woman.  Okay - I added the blossoming young woman part, but the presentation of the case for makeup was pretty close to that.  At least the way I heard it.

So, as any conservative, raised the right way, kind of mother would do, I said NO.

No way.

No how.

I don't think so.

I got tears, screams, glares, the whole nine yards.

And I did falter a bit (not in front of her of course).

So, I brought it to Matt.  He's the Dad and should have some input here.  I'm pretty sure it was my Dad that said no makeup or earrings until I was in high school.  So, I thought getting some reinforcements on my side would really help strengthen my case.  Plus, he probably had an even better argument in my defense.  He is a philosopher/thinker/debater/generally smart guy.

He surprised me.  His argument was, well, let her wear some. Not a ton, but some. So, I took her to Walgreens and steered her towards the ever reasonably priced Wet N' Wild brand.  (Hello, makeup is expensive!)  I also made careful suggestions towards lighter colors and shades.  She ended up with a very sparkly light pink eyeshadow pencil, white eye shadow and 4 different shades of lip gloss.

Lesson learned:  By taking the fight out of it, I was able to have a great mother/daughter experience of picking out makeup in the appropriate tones, helping my daughter feel beautiful and just have fun looking at makeup.

Note: she does still have "dress up makeup" to wear just at home.  This was the case in the picture below.  The girls had a "fashion show" and this time they got a hold of the camera.  She's growing in a beautiful young woman, I just want to keep her close (and acting her age) as long as I can without actually pushing her away.

Now, this isn't the right choice for everyone.  But, if it really becomes a huge issue, consider how major you want it to be.  Teaching her to wear makeup correctly and to enhance her natural features is more important than her exact age or grade in school.

A new home, settling into our Colorado life.

Oh I know.  But, I've been moving.  Okay - so it's been nearly a month since we left beautiful Illinois and headed to also beautiful Colorado and I'm sure you are wondering how things all turned out.

Was God faithful?

Were WE faithful?

I'm happy to say that God was truly faithful.  I continue to struggle with trusting him with major life-altering details, but he worked in spite of me.

We were able to get into our house with all our furniture, boxes, etc 2 days before school started.  While it was crazy, things did go smoothly. The girls were able to start school while I worked to get records, birth certificates, shot histories and the like in on time.

Things have calmed down now, nearly 4 weeks later. The girls really love their schools.  Claire and Katherine are at an elementary school and Annabelle is into middle school.

Anna's first day of 6th grade.

Claire & Katherine - ready for 4th and 1st grade!

The hardest part has been adjusting to the Colorado mentality.  I can't hardly describe it.  People seem the same as anywhere else but in small ways it just has a different feel.  I don't want to criticize (but, I'm so good at it!) because I'm still settling and going through my emotional change-is-good roller coaster.  So I won't.  It's enough to say that we are learning to get out and enjoy life and nature with hikes, a new trampoline, a visit to ProspectEats - a fun gathering of food trucks at a local park, and visits to Estes Park.

Bubble Time at the park.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement.  I'll be back soon with some pictures of the house and my feeble attempts at decoration.

Bring me to my knees

I did pretty much ask for it.

I didn't want to take my life for granted.  I wanted God to be present and for Him to write the story each and every day.  I didn't realize that I would have to be brought to my knees with an invisible force in order for Him to get in and get working.

The last several weeks have been truly hard.  And truly filled with blessings.

We put our house on the market in faith.  I saw a situation that I could not carefully plan out ahead of time, but that I would have to rely on God to coordinate.  I am a total planner, details are essential to my peace of mind.  But, in this case, I could do nothing but wait.  I could do some reasearch and think about what I *might* do but no actual planning can happen when we don't know if or when our house will sell.

So, Matt began his job in Colorado. We continued showing our house about 3 times a day.  Then the showings stopped.  My Mom came to town.  I worried and experienced that face-to-the-ground sensation daily.  God is in control.  He has a better plan than I can even imagine.  He doesn't need to follow our "rules."  I wish it had been more comfortable to rest there.  I was so ashamed of myself and how hard it was to rely on Him 100%.

That weekend, the one of zero showings after our price drop, that was when Matt & I both felt we were just totally drained.  The uncertainty was too much to bear.  That weekend, God showed up to do things his way.

Katherine's sunday school teacher that week was a summer volunteer - only serves a few times over the whole summer.  She heard Katherine talking about moving to Colorado and stopped me after class.  She mentioned that she is an interior designer and wanted to use her gifts as a ministry to me.  To me?  Seriously?  She had never seen my house.  For all she knew, it could already be a gorgeous mansion (not joking, you should come to our area!).  But, God knew.  He knew that my living room has never quite come together.

BEFORE

She came the next day and spent many hours with me. My Mom watched the kids so I could focus on the house.  My new friend transformed my house.  It is beautiful.

AFTER

We got a call for a showing on Monday while we were redecorating. We hurried up and finished just in time. Then after that showing, another showing by the same people.  As I drove my Mom to the airport, I prayed.  I prayed for God's will.  I prayed for my faith to grow.

A few days later, they made an offer.  Someone else also made an offer.  We find ourselves under contract and with a closing date that lines up perfectly with school.

Now, as we work out final details, find a house in Colorado and decide about schooling - I keep coming back to God's faithfulness.  I have no need to worry - no need to try and figure out all the details.  He's already worked it out.  I'm going to rest there.

Letting things go - specifically our piano

We have moved a lot.

8 times in all.  And I purge a lot.  So, we don't have a lot of things that have stuck with us.

But, this one has.

It's a beautiful piano.  Built in 1910 and made to last.  The style is completely us - clean lines, no frills.  I picked out this piano from a shop in Fort Collins, Colorado right before we moved into our new, large-enough-for-a-piano house.  I greeted it with visions of kids someday, kids who would first bang and then actually play the keys.

When we moved out to Chicago, the piano stayed behind.  A friend agreed to keep it for us at their house.  I still think they were pretty surprised when, 3.5 years later, we asked to take it back and we moved it to Chicago.

I was so thankful to have it - it is huge, heavy and loud but you could just as easily say it's grandiose, substantial and vociferous.  This year our 9 yr old, Claire, decided to start lessons.  It's been amazing to hear her play daily.  

But, as we prepare to move back to Colorado, we decided to not bring it with us.

This has been hard for me and for Claire. But we must say farewell.  On to new adventures without the weight of a 100 yr old piano.

 On a separate note, the cats' puffer balls have all been found.

How do you say goodbye?

I am trying to figure out how to process the events of the last few weeks.  In some ways they were planned out long in advance and in other ways they seemed to appear suddenly.  Matt accepted a job in Colorado so we find ourselves putting our house on the market, finishing out summer camps quickly and planning to move there in just a few short months.

We came to live in Chicago when Anna was 2 and Claire was just 4 months old.  We uprooted from suburban life and settled ourselves into a busy, crazy city.  We sometimes lived on ramen noodles and canned carrots, but we were just so happy.  Happy to be on our own, away from our home state for the first time and excited for whatever the future held.  Matt was just starting his graduate degree in Philosophy and all doors seemed open wide.

Fast forward several years to the surprise pregnancy that would become Katherine.  This took us a bit off guard and we decided to head back "home" to Colorado and try to sort out our new life as a family of 5.  It became obvious pretty quickly that Matt wouldn't be able to finish his degree and establish his new consulting business.  So, we found ourselves back in Chicagoland - this time we settled in our favorite, close to Chicago suburb.

Our home in Evanston was beautiful and the neighborhood was almost too perfect to believe.  Our littlest one learned to walk just a few months after we moved in and we felt it was a perfect place to be. A couple of years later things changed dramatically and we ended up deciding to buy our first home since Anna was a baby.

When we arrived in Glenview back in 2011, we hoped and prayed for good neighbors and a quick adjustment.  Wow, were we surprised!  This home has felt the most "home" to me so far, the neighbors have been truly family and being so close to our church we have put down deep roots there - helping out weekly and hosting several different groups at our home.

We will be leaving close friends - friends who would drop everything to help out, friends whom our kids play with every single day.  Friends who have shared hurts and their hearts with us.  While we leave with anticipation of being close enough to see our family more than once a year, we also leave knowing it will be harder to keep in touch with those here.

During this time of transition we are thankful for:
1.  God's clear direction
2.  Our kid's resilience and adaptability
3.  Encouragement
4.  Each other
5.  Family

A candy birthday

I'm not a big party planner but, I do enjoy making each birthday a special day. This year Claire had her party before her actual birthday, so she will have another very small celebration this week.

I decided to turn the living room into Claire's Sweet Shop.  Everyone got a bag and helped themselves to an assortment of candy.  They also were free to eat candy during the party.  Only 3 people had cake. Claire had several friends from school and then our dearest, ever present friend Allie from our old neighborhood.  She holds a special place in each girl's heart and is invited to nearly every party we have.  And she honestly has fun and plays along despite the 6 year age difference with Claire.

Claire shines brightly on her birthday.  She is a bit shy at first but then happily enjoys the attention while still making sure everyone else is having a good time.  She is happy to do most anything on her special day and she was happy from morning until night.  She is sweet, loving and loves candy!