The Cutting Family

Opening Up Presents!

Claire received some great birthday gifts and she has played with all of them non-stop since Saturday! Thanks so much to everyone for their thoughtfulness and generosity!

Claire loves her new baby doll from Grammy! She has already learned that it is a "baby" and gives it hugs and kisses! She carries it all around the house... it is adorable!

Claire was very interested in the big stuffed giraffe that Nuna got for her! I have it in her room and when she walks by it she pets it like it's a dog or something. It's so funny!!

My friend Jeni sent these bloomers to Claire for her birthday. She embroidered "Birthday Princess Claire" with a crown! Thanks Jeni we love the bloomers!!

Cake... What a MESS!

We had a little cake made just for Claire to eat! She dug right in and ate it all! It was a huge mess, but it was too cute and definitley worth the clean up!!

We got some great pictures of Claire with her cousins Connor, Lauren and Jillian! We are so sad that they are going to be moving to Illinois in less than a month! My brother, Shawn, got a wonderful promotion... the only downside is that they have to move :-(
We will visit often! We love you guys so much and will MISS you!

The birthday kids... Connor turned 10 on July 13th. I can't believe he is TEN! I tell him all the time how I would spend the night when he was a newborn and let him fall asleep on my chest and just hold him for hours! He was such a sweet baby and is truly one of the sweetest boys I know! He is a great kid! I love you Connor!

Jilli & Connor watching Claire devour her cake!!

How sweet are these pictures of Lauren & Claire looking at each other??

This is one of my all time favorite cousin pictures! LOVE IT!!

Notice the proud grandparents (& great grandparent) in the background?!?

More Friends and Family!

Great Grandma McDowell & Claire... I love this picture!

Grammy & Claire

Nuna, Grandpa McDowell & Great Grandma McDowell

Isn't he a doll! This is Owen, our friend Jenny & Greg's second son. He slept through the entire party!

Katie & Julia

Another NICU friend and co-worker... Brittney & daughter Anna!

Grandpa & Claire!

Aunt Beth & Claire having fun in the inflatable!

Friends & Family

We had a great turn out for Claire's party! We really appreciate our friends and family taking time out of their schedule to help us celebrate Claire's special day! It meant SO much to have all of you there! THANKS!!!

We rented one of those huge Moon Walk inflatables for entertainment! I think some of the adults enjoyed it as much, or more, than the kids! It really was a lot of fun! We had it all weekend so Ben & I played in it with Claire several times!

Some of my NICU friends and co-workers. Cynetta (son Noah not pictured), Katie & Julia, and Beka & Elise!

Moon Walk fun!

A friend and co-worker since Ben's Arthur Andersen days... Jenny with son Ethan!

Claire's 1st Birthday Party... Decorations!

We had Claire's 1st Birthday party on Saturday. (Today, however, is her actual birthday!) It was a beautiful day for an outdoor party! We had so much fun! We took so many pictures that I am going to have to break up the posts into categories! The theme of the party was Care Bears because Ben started calling Claire, "Claire Bear", right after she was born and the nickname has stuck so the Care Bear theme was perfect!