Claire turns 3!

We now have a 3 year old and a 5 year old at the Gillespie house!  It's hard to believe.  We had Claire's birthday party last weekend at one of her favorite places... where she goes to Gymnastics!  She absolutely loves gymnastics and was super excited to have her birthday party there.  She has a sweet friend, Mia, and they are just a few days apart so we had a combined birthday party.  Both girls had tons of fun and ran around the gym with each other the whole time.  Part of the time they were just running in circles on the big mat in the middle and were loving it! 

 

Claire has grown so much this year and is such a little girl now.  She told me the other day, "Mama, you can't pick me up anymore, I three years old."  That didn't last too long as Claire loves to be held.  She has a way of working her way into laps or climbing up legs so that she is being held.  She also loves playing with Sadie and making sure she is not missing out on anything that her big sister might be doing.  She makes up laugh everyday and sometimes it is very difficult to keep a straight face when a straight face is needed...and there are many times that a straight face is needed.  Claire is definitely our child that will try to get away with things and Sadie is always right there to tell us about it.  We are blessed more than we can say.  We know that God has big plans for Claire and we are thankful.   

 

 

 

 

 Jumping and jumping.

 

 Claire and Mia taking a rest.

 

 Sadie in the pit. 

 Our attempt at a group picture.  What were we thinking?

 

 After Hannah was thrown in the pit. 

 

 Ready for some cupcakes. 

 Blowing out their candles. 

 

 Mia wanted sprinkle donuts so we had cupcakes and donuts.  Yummm.

 

 Finished with the cupcake.   Gotta love pink icing. 

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Headed home.  Claire took a great 2 hour nap.  Turning 3 took a lot of energy!



Sadie turns 5!



Well, I thought that I was just going to do a fall recap, but I have ended up with too many pictures for one post, so here is the first with Sadie's birthday.  

 

 

 

We had her party at one of her favorite places.  She calls it the "princess store" but the name is really Sweet and Sassy.  It is a dress up store for little girls.  My girls love it and we knew Sadie would love to have her party there.  The girls all dressed up in princess costumes, had their hair and nails done, and then danced on a runway.  It was a great group of girls and they had so much fun!  Claire was old enough to participate and it was fun to see her with the "big girls." 

 

Sadie has started Pre-K and is definitely not our little Sadie anymore.  She is very friendly and very outgoing.  She is loving learning and loves school.  We are so excited for who she is becoming and the plans that God has for her.  I am so thankful that I get to watch her grow and be a part of what God has planned. 



Dressing up!

Getting their hair and nails done.

 



Preston, Sadie, and Kaitlyn. Such sweet friends.

 



Two princesses

 



Dancing on the runway. 

 



Getting ready to dance. 

 



And of course some cupcakes for our big 5 year old. 

 



Claire is 2! (going on 5)

Claire will be turning 2 tomorrow! Whenever we ask her how old she is going to be, she says "two" and then holds up all five fingers and says, "Five! Five!" We celebrated Friday night with an Elmo party. She was so excited about her party and everyday would say, "Elmo party?" I think she is a lot like her mama at social occasions. She likes to sit back and watch more than be the center of attention. We had a lot of fun and Claire warmed up after a while.

Claire has brought so much joy to our family. She has a spunk in her personality that is hard to explain, but everyone sees. She can also be very determined at times. (notice the scratches on her face in the pictures. She was scratched at daycare by a little boy. Something about a toy, but she held her own!) Since she was born, people have said that she always seems to be thinking and that there is a lot going on in her little head. We would agree. She is so sweet with her sister as long as they both don't want the same toy. I love to watch them play together. I love to hear her say, "Duv you, Sadie." I also love that although she may get upset about some things, she gets over it quickly and seems to forgive easily. She loves to play with her Daddy and her laugh is contagious, but I have to admit that one of my favorite things about Claire are the times when she decides that only Mamma will do and says, "I neeeeed Mama. I neeeeeed Mama."

We love you Claire! Happy Birthday!

Enjoying some pizza!

Sadie enjoying the party! She had a great time. She came up to me and said, "Mamma, thank you for inviting my friends to Claire's party."

It was a great group of kids. Here's Jenny helping get Claire settled.

And here is where Claire ended up. She loves Les. She ate a couple bites at her chair and then was off to Les.

Claire didn't know quite what to do when everyone started singing.

Finally got a quick smile!

She did enjoy opening some presents. She would open one and then take it to show to everyone.

Thanks to all of our friends for making it such a great night to celebrate Claire!

Party Time!!!!!

Sadie is turning 4 in a few days and the day of her birthday party had finally arrived. She woke up this morning saying, "Today is my dirthday party! Today is my dirthday party!" After I got her dressed, I was just sitting on the couch looking at her because she just is looking so grown up. She surprises us every day with the new things she is learning. Just today on the way to her party, the cupcakes were between the seats in the car and she said, "Daddy, I have 24 cupcakes." She was right. Anyway, we had a lot of fun at Jumpin Jungle with the Lamms and all of the friends that came to celebrate with us. Sadie chose to have an "Olivia" party. (It's a cartoon pig from Nick Jr.) It was kind of funny to me that when I was looking for party supplies (and Olivia is not easy to find) that all of the Olivia stuff had something to do with a diva party! I just thought that was funny. Hopefully Sadie isn't too much of a diva... yet! I posted more pictures than I usually do, but it is her birthday.

Sadie and Kinley.

Claire didn't know quite what to think when her friend Mia showed up. They are in the same class at daycare and haven't seen each other outside of daycare yet. It was pretty cute.

So the pictures loaded out of order, but here is Sadie counting her cupcakes.

Sadie and all her friends, going through the jump houses.

Les is at the top of the slide and he sent Sadie and Claire down together.

Claire and Mia going down together. More like tumbling down together.

Sadie and her friend Braxtyn.

Just a cute picture of Sadie in the midst of craziness.

On to the party room. Sadie with her cupcake.

Here's Sadie, licking the icing off her cupcake. That's about all she eats of cupcakes.

Claire is trying to figure it out. She got one polka dot of red icing on her hand and it turned into red everywhere.

And some presents.

Again, the pictures loaded out of order, but I just thought this one was so cute of the whole group. We thought it was funny that you could tell that most of the left side is in daycare together. When we told them to sit in a line in front of the slide, they all went to each other and sat down. Again, it was pretty cute.

A princess dress is always a hit.

Les and Hannah loving on Claire

Sadie with her present from Lincoln.