Finally, able to upload video

From today:

MJ

Dear Claire,

You are three today. Although time has probably not flown by for you, it seems like just last month that it was snowing in Tucson days before you were born. You are your own little snowflake; beautiful and unique, and everyone loves you. Your smile makes your little brother break out into a grin, and your big sister would rather play with you than with anyone else.

Sometimes you make us crazy. You are still sneaky, and we have learned to keep a close eye on you, as you are likely to get into lotion and rub it on the walls, or color on my nightstand with pens I have mistakenly left within your reach. Even when something is out of reach for you, you have no qualms about finding something to climb on to get to what you want. I have little doubt that you will use this skill in less devious ways in the future. At least I hope so.

You say the funniest things. Last week I told you we were going to fly in an airplane soon to go see Grandma, and your eyes got big. You said, "Really? Are we gonna fly upside down?" You are your father's daughter. And, like him, you are a night owl. You would be happy to stay up until 10pm, if you could sleep in until 10am.

You also remind me of myself when I was little. You are shy when you first meet someone, and you did not at all enjoy being the center of attention at your birthday party. You looked a little scared when everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to you. And yet you have little fear when it comes to physical pursuits. You climb exceptionally well, and you love to run and jump. Your sister talks big, but you actually do big things, often without making a big production of it. You are also extraordinarily stubborn. You like what you like, and you are not inclined to change your mind, once it is set. I am still trying to figure you out.

You have an interesting taste for food. You like to dip your chicken nuggets in caramel sauce, your apples in ketchup, and you will eat almost anything if you can dip it in something. In fact, you have a bit of an obsession with dip. A few weeks ago, you decided you like lettuce, if dunked in ranch dressing. Your dad and I were very impressed, as we were sure none of our children were ever going to like salads. Your favorite food is probably cheese. A year ago, you ate aged bleu cheese and loved it. We often call you our little French girl, as you could live off grapes, cheese and bread. Once you decide you like something, you usually stick with it.

Often, it takes a lot of effort on our parts to 'help' you decide you like something, though. You are very particular about what you wear, for instance. You hate jeans, or anything that is "too tight", as you put it. You have a large closet full of clothes, but will only wear a handful of outfits. Your favorites include stretch pants, your gymnastics t-shirt, and a skirt with an elastic band that you got for your 2nd birthday.

You have recently decided you do not like green, and you have your own slang. You say, "suh like", and I think you mean "it's like" or "so, like...". It's very endearing. You also have some cute phrases we dub "McLarenisms". These include:

"Mommy, can I please have more fruit cottontail?"

"I want to watch Starburst for movie night."

We love you, Claire bear. Happy Birthday!

Oh, Dear.

He's so close. He's up on his knees all the time, and is constantly pushing himself backwards. He gets himself stuck under furniture and then complains about it. His father is encouraging this behavior.

If you listen carefully, you can hear me in the background:

Kate likes to sing

Oh, and our new car, finally clean.

Where do they get this stuff?

Happy Birthday, Claire Bear

Dear Claire,

You are such a joy to be with. You are happy, obstinate, precocious, sweet, and ever cheerful. You love to dance, sing (your favorite song is Once Upon a Dream, or perhaps Baa, Baa, Black Sheep), jump, have tea parties, and help me in the kitchen. You almost always talk in complete sentences, with occasional Claireisms like, "I want all done," and "I sorry, Mommy". You are learning to get what you want by either being exceptionally cute, or accusing your sister of taking 'your' toy. You love Elmo and princesses, playing in the dirt and wearing dress-up shoes. You want to sleep in a 'big-girl bed' all the time, and you sleep well unless you have a bad dream or your sister wakes you up. You get very cuddly at nap time, and suck your thumb and rub your cheek when you are tired. After nap you happily exclaim, "All done nap!" and then you like to watch The Backyardigans or Toot & Puddle.

You want to be a big girl like your sister, and you look up to Kate with great respect. But you also are your own person, and I have seen Kate follow you in your activities from time to time. Your imagination is abundant and I am often amazed by what you come up with. I think you are looking forward to being a big sister, and the songs you sing to the "baby in Mommy's belly" are cherished. You love to read now, and will often sit down by yourself and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? aloud, skipping the colors of the animals. You delight in playing hide and seek with Kate, even though you rarely hide, preferring to count loudly to ten.

We love you very much, Claire, and look forward to seeing you grow up before our eyes.

McLaren at her birthday party, refusing to let the sugar-induced cough stop her from eating more frosting.

Video

Claire counts.

Coloring eggs

Kate misunderstands what I mean about putting the egg in the cup.

Claire LOVES coloring Easter eggs.

And who could, or would want to, forget about last year's coloring of the eggs? It wouldn't be a holiday if there wasn't a mess.

Cute little ones

Claire goes shopping, and makes sure to take her purse (Kate's lunchbox) and her cell phone with her:

Kate is unsure what her cookie is called:

Oh! And the new entryway:

A day in the life of Kate and Claire

Nutella toast.

Also:

• Kate can now say 'ketchup'. She used to say 'teputs'. I have no idea, y'all.
• Kate helped me put away the 'green mangos' today. Also known as 'avocados'.
• Claire's version of 'milk' sounds more like 'Mao'.
• Her 'thank you' is super cute: 'tee tuuu', which for her also means 'please'.
• Claire is saying 'UH! UH!' for everything she must desperately have Right Now.
• She is also a pain in the arse to put into her car seat (arched back, 'uh! uh!', wriggling like crazy, etc.).
• We had our first walk-through for the house this morning, and the house looked pretty good. (Of course, I say this knowing what a mess it looked like last week. I hope the people here today thought it looked good.)

Merry Christmas!

Today was all about the girls: presents, excitement, wrapping paper, bows, candy, stockings, and hyper-activity. They woke up, dutifully, before 7am. We had visions of them sleeping past 8, but to no avail. Tim in his sweats, and I in my fleece, gathered the girls up out of their room and let them run/crawl happily down the hall toward the presents. Santa was good to them: Kate had a very full stocking, and Claire even had a couple of items hidden in hers. We made them wait while we made coffee so we could watch with some enthusiasm as they tore open their gifts (or in Claire's case, tried to eat all the bows). We took a short break in the middle to have some french toast casserole, and then went back to the presents.

The biggest hit of the day was the Playskool Tonka race track, as seen in the video below. Kate is also a big fan of her My Little Pony talking tea set, and Claire especially likes the magic baby bottles that appear to be full of milk or orange juice.

We spoke with family members in Oregon, Michigan, Florida and Brazil. We had a feast with friends, and are now enjoying gin and tonics and desserts. It's been a great day. Merry Christmas to all!

First orange of the season.

Stocking stuffers from Santa.

A teapot!

Claire's first Christmas, and first candy canes.

Chasing Kate

One of our favorite games lately is Chasing Kate. Claire rides the airplane while Tim or I push her down the hall, racing after Kate who is usually pushing her doll stroller or her shopping cart. Both of them love this with a passion. The only thing I missed in this recording is Kate yelling "cuidado!" like she often does. I have no idea how she came up with it (Dora, of course), and it is adorable.

2pm update

We just got back from the mall where Claire and I did a little shopping while Kate was at daycare preschool. Claire and I also enjoyed lunch out at McDonald's where we shared 2 hamburgers, 1 small (medium) fry, 1 fruit and yogurt parfait and 1 small (medium) diet coke. Hey. Claire was hungry.

How cute. Also: for the love of God!

Last night Tim called at dinner time to help ease Kate into her nighttime routine. She talked to him for probably 2-3 minutes. She didn't hang up! She didn't press any buttons! She listened, and had a conversation about the stars and the moon. This video caught the tail end of the conversation when he apparently had hung up, thinking she had put the phone down.

"No screaming, Claire! No!"

Then:

Oh dear. It's 3pm. The girls are still talking. It's a night week, so Tim won't be home to field crabby babies. Crap.

On a positive note: 3 Musketeers Mint Minis with Dark Chocolate. I think I accidentally ate the whole bag.

The weekend in pictures

Claire loves her airplane.
Kate's new favorite.

Totally

Video Update

Kate says 'hi' to her Daddy & tells him she misses him, and swims to the bar during swimming lessons.

Mexico

Awesome. Mexico was fab-u-lous. We spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Casa Blanca resort in Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco to those who think Rocky Point doesn't sound very Mexican), enjoying the sun, pool, beach, margaritas, and Mexican food. It took us about 4.5 hours to drive there from Tucson, including stops for the kids, and we arrived around dinner time on Saturday. Rocky Point is becoming quite a destination for those living in Phoenix and Tucson because it's so close, and I think we've become one of those statistics: we'll be there again (I hope) in August or September for a few more nights of beach life.

The kids did great. I'm amazed at how well Kate adjusted to sleeping in the pack 'n play in a room that was not her own. It probably helped that she didn't nap on Saturday (at all) on the way there. She was out by about 6:45pm that night and slept in until 7:30-8am the next morning. I was afraid that her lack of nap that day would cause all kinds of problems, but she was great. Claire shared a room with her (sleeping on a towel on the floor on the other side of the bed from Kate) and also slept like the proverbial baby. Woohoo! Of course, having 2 sleeping children at 7pm means you can't take walks along the beach at midnight, but let's face it, we were asleep by then anyway.

McLaren & Jen.

Kate loved the pool (it was very kid-friendly, with an area that was about 1.5' deep for her to run around in), and even enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach. She loved running about in the condo and on the deck, but didn't want to walk on the grass. She's still not sure about that stuff.

We went to dinner at La Curva on Monday night in Rocky Point, and Kate got to experience a Mariachi band, burritos, and fried ice cream. I think she was a big fan of all three.

Business Time

Hysterical.

Tantrum

I'm not sure what this tantrum was all about, and it was hard not to laugh, but I know she was frustrated about something.

On another note, our yard is mostly finished. Here are some before and after shots:

Looking out from the back porch.

After a pool, a wall, some plants and a bit of gravel.

Side yard before.

Side yard after.

And let's not forget the bathroom.

I have finished painting, I just can't be bothered to actually take a 'finished' photo right now.

Kate Colors an Easter Egg

Kate colors an egg. And then drops it.

Husky, 10 weeks.