C Bear's Hula Party

I'm still not sure what possesses us parents to throw birthday parties for our kids. We invite small children over to our homes and practically beg them to make a mess with the frosting and punch. We see the birthday child feel special and loved, and the other parents are thrilled that their kids are running around like little maniacs in someone else's house. In the end, it's worth it because we all end up having a blast- even with food ground into the carpets.

This year for Claire's second birthday we had a Hawaiian themed party. The menu consisted of sweet chicken tacos, saffron rice, chips & salsa, pineapple punch and brownie cupcakes for dessert. To use the words of a certain TV food chef who drives us bonkers- YUM O! We dressed up for the occasion and had every guest take a picture under the fake palm tree wearing the big straw hat and a lei... lots of fun!

she loves the fact that it's all about her!

everybody hula!

Birthday Girl

shy

that cupcake didn't last 30 seconds!

of course, by the next morning, baby had no clothes on...

gimme the candy and no one gets hurt!

even Deacon wore a Hawaiian romper

Claire Elizabeth Garcia

On Thursday, April 16, our baby Claire turned two years old. She has grown from a sweet, happy baby to a beautiful little girl who loves to laugh and play and sing and dance. We all adore her....

April 16, 2007- just born

April 2007

August 2007- 4 months old

February 2008- 10 months old

March 2009

March 2009

Baby Dedication

We had forgotten just how difficult it is to keep up with life when one has 1 preschooler, 1 toddler and 1 newborn and 0 hours of sleep, so we have been in survival mode for 3 months. Deacon is starting to sleep through the night now, so we're beginning to come out of our sleep deprived stupor. In the three months that have passed, Gigi has become little lady (and such a little mommy!), Claire has passed from a toddler to a little girl and Deacon is a smiling, laid-back baby.

In March our church had Baby Dedications, and we were able to have our entire family stand up and dedicate Deacon. What a sweet moment... well, it would have been if Gigi hadn't decided to tee-tee in her pants in front of the congregation right before the dedications started. Ahh, the joys of parenthood.

right after the tee-tee episode (it even got all over her shoes!)

Deacon being given his first Bible

Introducing...

DEACON NELSON GARCIA

After a week of on/off contractions, they finally settled into a pattern on January 2nd- and they were really painful really fast! Since they were about 5 minutes apart right from the beginning and this was our third child, we were told to hurry to the hospital. We got there and were admitted around 4 pm, and Deacon made his appearance at 2:58 am. We were surprised at how long this labor was compared to Claire's, but it was a fairly easy labor and delivery.

Deacon weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces- much larger than his two sisters. Gigi was born at 6 pounds, 5 ounces, and Claire at 6 pounds, 15 ounces. At first we thought he resembled Claire, but as he loses his newborn squishiness, he is starting to have some of Gigi's looks. Now we think he looks a little like each of his sisters. He's going to be a heartbreaker!

and for comparison:

Deacon

Gigi

Claire

Christmas 2008

Christmas this year was wonderful! We woke up early with Gigi and Claire to open presents, and boy, do they LOVE opening presents! Afterward we went to have the big Christmas dinner with many of our friends and their children. We've usually stayed by ourselves on Christmas day, so it was really nice to be around so many that we love. We were also very excited when contractions started. It seems like this pregnancy is lasting forever, so we were hoping that Baby Love might be born on Christmas or soon after. Unfortunately, no luck, but we had a great day anyway!

Gigi and Claire can't wait to open presents with Daddy

Gigi already has a purse obsession

opening presents is hard work

the big gift- a jeep!

Random Pictures

In a moment of boredom, I decided that Gigi and Claire needed to have some girlie time with their Mommy. I pulled out the flat-iron, and decided to see if the girls could get any cuter (as if!). These are the results...

I was also finally able to get the kids' bedrooms mostly decorated. I was beginning to feel like the poor kids would be in plain rooms forever, since I know there won't be much energy to spare once the new baby arrives. Now my girls are sleeping in surroundings that are pretty just like they are! There are still a few things left to do, such as pulling out the anchors that the previous owners left in the wall and patching the small holes, but that can wait until a more convenient time- maybe in a few months when we're not suffering from sleep deprivation!

I'm dreaming of...

In years past, we have either never found it necessary to decorate to exterior of our home, or when we wanted to, it was too darn difficult to get to the top of the house. Now that we have moved to a smaller street and most of our neighbors take pride in decorating for every holiday or season, we thought, "why not!" Here is our first ever attempt at showing the world our Christmas spirit, and we kind of like the way it turned out.

A day of firsts

Yesterday was a record day of firsts for Claire. We had been holding off on cutting her hair, because the curls were just too pretty to shear off, but with the way the sides were growing longer than the back, it was starting to look kind of weird. So, I bit the bullet and trimmed the sides to match the back. She now has a curly bob that is so cute!

Before

After

While were in the process of making ourselves pretty, I decided it was time for Claire's first pedicure as well. She was totally delighted by her pretty pink toes!

Sigh...

Has any other parent ever felt this way? You try and try, and this is what you get for your effort...