The Birthday Blues

Last week was Claire's birthday, and unfortunately,

here's how we spent much of last week...

 

 

And then there's also the days that looked like this...

 

Don't let my "smile" fool you.

1 sick kid + 1 sick kid = 2 tired parents!

Thankfully though, it was nothing serious - just some fevers and sniffles. 

And also thankfully, the colds didn't disrupt birthday plans too much. 

 

Our first family birthday party was on my side of the family.  We celebrated a little early since Kelsey and her boyfriend Caleb were in town.  

Claire really wanted a Berenstain Bear Birthday Party, which I was happy to do. 

 

We began with these acorn appetisers.

And for dinner we had "burger bears" (though the ears fell off on the grill), nut and berry salad, goldfish crackers, and a couple other sides that Claire likes.

I found a Berenstain Bear book at a thrift store and cut it up to make decorations.

 

And, of course, the most important element of any party is the family!

Claire wearing the crown her cousins made.

Sylvia helped decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles and extra acorns.

And Honey Buns - a Bear Country delicacy.

 

Caleb's concert made for great after-dinner entertainment.

The kids put on quite a show too! 

 

Claire poses with Grandpa who crafted a beautiful

wooden counting puzzle for her birthday gift.

 

While Claire was healthy for the Sternberg party, she came down with her cold shortly before her party at Grandpa and Grandma Rosen's house.  While she wasn't feeling her best, she was in good company as most other guests were also feeling a bit under the weather. That didn't stop us from having a good time though.

 

A Pretty Party!

 

Grandma made chili for the adults and macaroni and cheese for the kids. 

It hit the spot on a cold winter night.

 

 

A Polly Pocket cake!

Opening gifts from Aunt Melissa and Great Grandma and Grandpa Nash

A big girl bike from Grandpa and Grandma

Henry riding Grandma Rosen's horse.

 

 

A couple days later we celebrated Claire's birthday with the

Puplis family.  Thankfully, she was feeling better by this point.

 

Good ol' "Colonel's Chicken" - a perfect way to celebrate with the family.

Opening gifts from the grandparents.

Some new furniture for the doll house we were giving her for her birthday.

 

Busy with her new lap desk and art supplies. 

She enjoys coloring and crafts of all kinds.

And Henry enjoys Bailey!

Claire's cute cake!

 

Henry could never have too much birthday cake!

 

Great Grandma Puplis, always willing to share her lap.

 

Since we are fortunate enough to have so much wonderful family, we tend to go light on our own birthday celebrations with the kids.  We stayed home for the day as Henry woke up with Claire's hand-me-down cold. In the evening Claire opened a couple presents from us: a "new" doll house (thanks to Africa's Child), and a wooden birthday cake set.

 

Claire was happy to have a home for the new furniture she

received from Grandpa and Grandma Puplis.

(Notice sick Henry lounging in the brown recliner.  Poor kid!)

 

Despite the colds that caused a bit of birthday blues, we still had a great time celebrating Claire's life with all our family.  Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and their help in making her fourth birthday so special.

 

The Mayor

   

 

 

We miss the way you could smile and cry at the same time.

We miss the way you said our names when we walked into the room.

We miss the way you prayed with such rhythm and tone.

We miss the way you made us laugh at your stories and antics.

 

We love you Grandpa and look forward to the day we see you again!

 

Preparing for the funeral, Joe gives Mike a Ted "tatoo",

in honor of Grandpa's own tatoo.

Proud grandsons!

Our Fabulous Four-Year-Old

Happy Birthday, Claire Abigail!

We love you!

 

 

{ Birthday Interview }

 

How old are you?  "Four"

How would you like to celebrate your birthday? "Hang balloons up."

What is your favorite:

Food? "Bread"

Toy? "Stars"

Color? "Blue"

Thing to Wear? "Dresses" 

Song? "Jesus Loves Me"

Game? "Chutes and Ladders"

Book? "The Berenstein Bears"

Animal? "Zebra"

What do you love about Daddy? "He shovels the snow." About Mommy? "She vaccums." About Henry? "He smiles at me."

What do you like to do with our family? "Talk to them."

What makes you happy? "My birthday."

What makes you sad? "When my friends are sad.  And I am sad when my friends aren't playing very nice."

Where do you like to go? "To the store." Which store? "The pumpkin store." (I have no idea what this means :) )

What do you love to learn about? "I love to learn about coloring."

What do you think about before you fall asleep? "Waking up."

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A mommy because I'm not a mommy right now.  I'm still a girl."

 

Omphalocele Awareness Day

Happy Omphalocele Awareness Day everyone!

Today we wear black and white for two reasons: to remember all the little ones born with omphaloceles and to educate others about the rare condition.

I'm sure most people close to us are now fully aware of what an omphalocele is, so I won't take the time to explain it here, but if you're curious you can check out This Website for more information, or of course, you can check out our story Beginning Here.

 

Henry sporting his black and white, and a sticker wishing his family

 and friends a "Happy Omphalocele Awareness Day".

Got the Giggles?

 

Sorry if you're squeemish!  This is Henry shortly after he was born,

with a very good look at his omphalocele. 

Henry about a week after his first surgery.

And here's our good looking guy today. 

He loves showing off his tummy to anyone who will tickle it!

Let it Snow

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A fun morning sledding with friends

 

 

Claire and Lily Hart

"Ring Around the Rosie" on the ice skating rink

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The Latest

Some recent pictures of what we've been up to...

 

Claire with her puzzles. 

She's been busy with these every day and is even

 able to do the 60 piece puzzles by herself. 

I'll let you guess.

Was Henry crying over Notre Dame's crushing defeat or

because he was in time out for hitting his sister?

Well, whatever it was, surely a big bag of pretzels all to himself would cheer him up!

   

Saying good-bye to a good friend is sad.

Kelsey is moving to New Mexico.

But moving to be with the man she loves is exciting!

He's a lucky man!

 

Kelsey and Henry say good-bye.

Claire's not ready to see her go. 

Someday you'll understand, Sweetie!

 

Well, that's it.  Not much to report. 

Someday soon, I should post some pictures of Claire's pre-school projects

from the year - but we'll leave that for another day...

 

No Pictures for Paul and Claire Quotes

Today we received an email from our good friend Paul Wagner that simply said:

"I demand more blog pictures... you need to talk to Jen. :-)".

Admittedly, it's been a bit since I last posted pictures, not for lack of cute kid moments.  I suppose I just go in spurts. So in an effort to appease the masses, and by "the masses" I mean Paul, I tried posting a few pictures of the kids... but unfortunately I couldn't get the program to work.  So, sorry Paul, you're out of luck for today.  I did, however, manage to upload a short video of the kids once again dancing in the kitchen:

 



 So hopefully, that will hold Paul over until I figure out why our pictures aren't loading properly!

Also, I don't want to forget some of the funny things Claire's been saying lately, so I posted some of our favorite "Claire Quotes" from the last couple months:

 

I was recently in the kitchen and overheard Claire in the living room trying to give Henry a time out for some unknown reason.  I called to her, "Claire, what are you doing?" She pranced into the kitchen and ever so sweetly said, "Nothing...I'm just smiling!" Yeah, right!

Leaving for church Sunday morning, she yelled out, "Has anyone seen my car keys?" She must have heard that a time or two!

Claire sings A LOT.  Sometimes they're songs she's learned.  Other times they're songs she's made up, like the one I overheard her singing a while back: "Daddy knows how to do anything.  We love him so much.  We need him to come home.  We trust him."  She really loves her daddy.  Can you tell?

Joe had his hammer and nails out to hang a picture for me.  Claire walked in and asked, "Dad, what did you ham?"  So update your dictionary: the new verb form for using a hammer is "to ham".

Joe was telling me at dinner about an email we had received detailing some of my sister Kelsey's adventures in Israel.  Claire looked up and casually said, "Daddy, that's a boring story."  While a cute comment that made us chuckle, I was a bit concerned where she heard such a phrase.  When I asked her, she said, "D.W. said it to Arthur, and then Arthur said, 'Mom, D.W.'s being a pest.'"  I knew exactly which storybook she was quoting from.  The older Claire gets, the more she amazes me with her ability to quote movies and books, a skill she gets from her father.  Joe quotes movies he saw one time ten years ago! 

I was explaining to her that after she leaves her bedroom she needs to turn off her lights.  She said, "Weelll, I'm not sure about that.  I'll just ask Dad when he gets home."  Apparently I don't have much authority in terms of conserving energy.

And, for those who may be interested, some bonus material from our dance party: