The Cutting Family

Friday, July 23, 2010

Claire's Ice Cream Social

For Claire's 4th birthday, I hosted an ice cream social! It was a HOT day so it was perfect for the cool treat! We all had a fun day celebrating our big four year old!

I had so much fun with the ice cream decorations!

My mom made ice cream cone cupcakes to go along with the ice cream theme! They turned out even cuter than I anticipated!!

I LOVE planning birthday parties!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Birthday Dress

Claire was so excited to wear her birthday dress to church on Sunday morning! She looked so sweet in her pretty dress! My four year old! How old are you, Claire?

Some sweet photos of the birthday girl with her baby sis!

~Kisses~

Yeah, they love each other!

On July 16th, Claire turned FOUR! It's hard to believe that my baby is a big four year old! I have to admit that I was a bit nostalgic when I put her to bed the night before her birthday. I am so thankful for a healthy, smart, growing girl, but there is definitely a part of me that wants her to stay little forever! The moment she was born my life changed in ways I could've never imagined. Motherhood is AMAZING, a roller coaster at times, but amazing nonetheless!! I woke up five minutes before the time of her birth (no alarm clock... a mama just knows!!), so I took a picture of my sleeping girl at 3:40am on July 16th (the date and time she was born four years ago!).

I had a couple gifts for her to open when she woke up!

She was so excited from the moment she got up!

When Daddy got home, we gave Claire her big gift! A princess bike!!! She was beyond excited to get a big girl bicycle!

This picture is precious! Claire was running to me to hug me right after she saw her bike!

Such a great little bike rider! She picked it up quickly!

Daddy coaching Claire! As a side note: She does have a helmet!

7.16.10

Part two of C's Birthday:Claire has become a pro at posing!!

I had to add this sweet picture of my Anna! She said "Happy Birthday, Sister" at least one hundred times that day!

Opening up a gift from Grammy & Papa!

At the restaurant, Grammy let Claire open up a special gift. It was a book about horses and a certificate for her to go ride a horse. Not a pony... a HORSE! She was so excited!

Claire had the option to invite Anna along for the horse riding. She is telling Anna that she can come along (after a little coaxing!). The girls are going to LOVE this adventure!

The waitresses singing Happy Birthday to Claire! I love her face! Pure joy!!!

I can't imagine our family without Claire. She adds so much joy, excitement, energy, and love to our home. She has truly made me a better person and I thank God constantly for the gift of Claire! Happy 4th Birthday, Claire Bear!

Cinderella

To celebrate Claire's 4th birthday, I took her to go see the Rodgers & Hammerstein production of Cinderella at La Comedia! Nuna and Aunt Kristen were able to come with us. I bought the birthday package that included a Happy Birthday balloon, a yummy birthday cake, and they even announced it was her 4th birthday on stage! How FUN! We all had a really great time eating and watching Cinderella! I was kind of surprised at how engrossed Claire was with the show. She was mesmerized by all the music, dancing and beautiful costumes! What a fun way to celebrate my own little princess!

Claire being silly and modeling the princess crown that Nuna & Aunt Kristen got for her in the gift shop!

Claire with her balloon! She thought all the special treatment was great! You can kind of see the elderly gentleman seated below Claire. He was so sweet to her and chatted with her most of the afternoon! It was very sweet!!!

Fun at our table!

We had great seats right by the stage!

Posing!

Claire's special birthday cake! It was delicious!!

So excited!!

Cinderella's enchanted carriage!

We really weren't supposed to be taking pictures, but I had to sneak a few! This is from Cinderella's wedding!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Grandma & Aunt Flo

The girls and I visited with my Grandma McDowell for our monthly lunch date. Today we had a couple extra visitors! My Dad and Great Aunt Flo (my Grandma's sister) joined us! Flo was up from Kentucky and will be staying with my Grandma for awhile. We had a very nice visit! Papa & the girls!