A Day with the Durrs: Claire is 4!!

Claire had her 4th birthday on February 25th!! I can not believe that she is 4!

Let's see, at 4, Claire is such a sweet little girl. She is into so many things!

Some favorite things right now. She loves, loves baby dolls. She loves to take care of all of her babies. Different scenarios everyday. Sometimes she is the mom, sometimes the sister or grandma. She takes them in the car to the beach where they play in the sand and in the ocean and collect seashells. She takes her dolls to the grocery store. They go on walks to the playground. She is always coming up with new and fun things for them to do together. She is always prepared whenever she plays with them. She has a packed diaper bag, sometimes packs them a lunch or snack and has her purse too. It's really cute to watch!

She loves to do arts and crafts! She loves to make things with molding clay. Color and glue! She is getting better at staying in the lines when she is coloring. We are still working on writing her name. She is not the biggest fan of writing letters but she can do her name even if it's not the most clear what every letter is :)

She is taking a weekly gymnastics class!! They do the balance beam, bars, trampoline, rings. She has become so much more confident since she started the class last summer. She is so much more confident on the balance beam for sure! She can do a forward roll with no problem. They are working on cartwheels and back rolls on the roller.

She is in preschool 2 days a week and absolutely loves it! She has music, library and chapel weekly. She is so excited to go each time. She loves her teachers and has some really sweet friends in her class that she loves to play to with. When Anna Kate and I go in to pick her up each time, Claire loves to walk down the hall with her head turned so we are surprised when we see her. She runs up and gives us big hugs!!

Claire is such a great big sister! She is very patient with Anna Kate, most of the time :) And talks to her like she is one of her other 4 year old friends not like she is younger. They are really great friend and play great together!

Claire loves Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins and Sheriff Callie. She loves to play dress up. Pretending to be a ballerina in her tutu and ballet shoes. She loves to dress up as a fairy with her fairy wings and dance around. She loves to dance too! She has quite the rhythm! Very cute to watch her dance.

A typical day she wakes up anytime between 7 and 8. She still stays in bed until we come and get her! She does like to take her time waking up in the morning and likes to stay in bed a bit awake before calling us. She still wears a pull up to bed but 99% of the time it is dry when she wakes up. We head down for breakfast. Some of her favorite breakfast foods are waffles, banana muffins, pancakes and cereal. On a morning where we don't have to rush anywhere the girls like to play downstairs together as I clean up the kitchen and get everything ready for the day. Then we are off for our morning activities! Either gymnastics, preschool, playgroup, storytime, etc! Back home for lunch the girls go straight to their toys to play while I make lunch. Claire's favorite lunch foods are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, quesadillas, variety plates as we call them with crackers, peanuts, cheese, etc. She always has some fruit and veggies with lunch. Some of her favorite fruits are grapes, strawberries, oranges and watermelon. Her favorite veggies are broccoli, cucumbers, carrots, green beans and peppers. She loves her veggies raw, not cooked! After lunch is quiet time! She doesn't nap anymore but lays on our bed and watches a show to recharge! After quiet time, she and I usually try to do something together until Anna Kate wakes up from her nap. Anything from arts and crafts, playing baby dolls together, reading books or helping me bake something! When it's not freezing and snowy outside we all take Molly for an afternoon walk. Playtime until daddy gets home. Claire loves to help set the table for dinner by putting out the napkins. Before dinner she loves to say grace! She isn't the most adventurous eater. She definitely has her favorites though! For dinnertime those are pasta with marinara, potstickers, quesadillas, gnocchi, and pizza!! After dinner the girls get to watch a show and have a dessert...typically a cookie. Then it is bath time! Before bed we read books with Claire, say prayers, tuck her in and she is asleep around 8:15-8:30. She sleeps straight through the night!

Claire loves to talk!! She usually is talking or singing with whatever she is playing with. She has an incredible memory. She is very inquisitive and asks very pertinent questions about things. She has a few close friends and loves being with them. She is very social and asks to have friends over or go over to friends houses quite a bit! She never turns down a chance to see her friends :)

On her birthday she woke up to her room full of balloons all over the floor! She had a special birthday girl chair set up with a birthday girl sign and streamers. Her birthday breakfast was strawberries with sprinkle waffles!! It was a school day so she got to celebrate her birthday with her friends at school! She got a special birthday sticker and Mommy, Daddy and Anna Kate came to school to celebrate her birthday with her class. Daddy read "Turner McWerner and Hooch the Pooch" to her class. We had pink butterfly decorations with balloons! We had pink and purple cupcakes with popcorn! Then the whole class went outside for a walk we got to tag along!

After school we came home for a pizza party! Claire decided she wanted to have pizza at home instead of going to a restaurant for lunch so that is what we did. Daddy got to come home for lunch too! Claire opened up her presents, we ate pizza and had birthday cake!

That afternoon her buddy Alex came over to play and have dinner with us! He was so sweet and brought the birthday girl a flower! Claire had picked the birthday menu and it was twisty noodles with red sauce, strawberries and crescent rolls. Minnie mouse cupcakes for desert! It was a day filled with a lot of sweet treats :)