Birthday Girl!!

And just that fast, we zoomed from 1 to 2. In the throws of parenthood, it’s often said that the days are long, but the years are short. Whoever said that, a thousand AMENs!

Last night we celebrated Clare’s 2nd birthday (although the official day is today!), just a few weeks after moving into the new digs. If memory serves me correctly, we celebrated Master Will’s second birthday just a week after moving into our last house. Surely that doesn’t mean that in 8 years, we’ll have 8 kids and be celebrating another 2-year-old’s big day? I really shouldn’t joke about things like that. God does like to prove his sense of humor. Why give him more fodder?

Finally, a family member who loves birthdays as much as her momma! She was singing along with us, clapping and basking in the attention. It was the cutest dern thing. I mean, that’s a totally unbiased observation, of course.

Look at the delish factor on that cake! Repeat after me, lemon blueberry filling from Polkadot. We may have started a new girl birthday tradition.

We’re thinking that she’s missing some meals, no?

It was a nice, small family gathering. My parents took the boys to see “Up!” while Scott and put the girls down for a nap and madly tried to paint, get a few more boxes unpacked and get settled. This moving thing is totally kicking our tail. Dad, the burgers you and Daniel whipped up were fab and the guac that Scott made was out of this world – must’ve been those “homemade tomatoes” Mom brought.

After a full day of swimming, playing outside, scarfing down dinner, eating cake and wearing out Uncle Daniel’s puppy, Buster, Clare took a bath and opened a few presents – with the willing help of her siblings.

Said birthday girl this morning at breakfast.

Clare, you are a unique and totally lovable member of our family. You love to dance – complete with head shaking and booty moving – talk, giggle and climb. You are a willing accomplice to any trouble your siblings cook up, which I think might be their most favorite trait about you. You love to scream out “bye” with a huge hand wave and then double over in giggles. I’ve never met a child that loves to give squeezes and hugs as readily as you do. So much to love, so much to cherish.

While you might not be the “baby” for long, you are an amazing addition to our family. To those who scoff and shake their heads at our growing brood, I tell them that they should spend one hour with you and there might be a few more households of 6 ’round these parts.

We can’t imagine life without you.

God bless you on your special day, Clare Bear!