He is Risen indeed!

This post is definitely belated; it was supposed to go up earlier this week, but I've had a rough week. I'll fill you in sometime.

Easter came! Lent is finished, and we were able to celebrate! I hope each of you had a wonderful day celebrating the work that Jesus accomplished.

I wrote last week about how Holy Week is a pretty busy week for liturgical churches, but then I only ended up being able to participate in part of the week's events. I missed the Maundy Thursday service because of a migraine, which was disappointing. The communion liturgy always begins with "On the night He was betrayed..." so it was a little sad to miss taking communion on the symbolic night that He was betrayed. Brad and Claire went, though, which was good particularly because Claire asked me ALL DAY if she could go to church (we didn't make it to Bible study that morning because I'd had to schedule a doctor's appointment during that time, and I guess Claire needed a church fix. There are way worse things than being hounded by my daughter because she wants to go to church.). 

I did make it to the Good Friday service, though. Guys. Good Friday services are so good and so hard. I thought that Blacknall did a marvelous job with the service. One of the elements of Tenebrae (which mean "darkness," by the way) services that I find to be really moving and significant for reminding me of the weight of the crucifixion is the gradual darkening of the sanctuary as the service progresses. There are several segments of scripture readings (usually called "lessons") that track the timeline of Jesus' betrayal through his crucifixion, punctuated by either choir-led or congregational songs that correlate to the readings. The different churches we've been at over the past few years have all had their own takes on how to go through the process, and they've all been very meaningful. Blacknall did it in, what I thought was, a beautiful way. 

The choir and a group of readers were in the balcony, leaving the front of the sanctuary bare of all distractions, excepting the altar table with 7 candles. Rather than having individuals take turns reading the scripture passages, the readers took more of a "radio theater" approach, with one person reading the "narrating" segments while others voiced particular characters involved in the story. It wasn't a drama, exactly, given that they were going through the actual passages, but it did add dimension to the presentation. In between readings, a little girl would extinguish the candles (one candle per reading) and the overhead lights were dimmed a little more each time. There was also a song between each reading, either performed by the choir or sung by the congregation. After each song was a period of silence, each silence stretching longer than the last. The combination of the darkening sanctuary and the silence did so much to emphasize the heaviness of Jesus journey to the cross. 

One of the most "real" and difficult parts of the service is the passage where Pilate asks the crowds who they would like him to release, and they/we the congregation respond with, "Give us Barabbas!" "Crucify Him!" and "Let His blood be on us and on our children!" It's unbelievably humbling and difficult to interact with that passage. It's hard not to tear up when you hear yourself chanting those things in unison with a roomful of people.

After the final reading (the death of Jesus), there is no official dismissal. Just darkness. All candles extinguished, all lights turned off. Everyone is invited to sit as long as they'd like or leave whenever ready. I imagine the weightiness and sorrow of the evening would last longer if some of us didn't need to make a stop by the nursery for a pick up on the way out the door. :)

For our two years in Boston, we participated in an Easter vigil (an ancient church practice) on Saturday evening, leading into Easter Sunday, and IT WAS OUR FAVORITE THING OF THE WHOLE YEAR. I wish I could take each of you to experience it. Although, the significance of the vigil is definitely heightened by going through the somberness of Lent together. Blacknall doesn't hold a vigil but rather keeps a Silent Saturday, much like Christ Community in Jackson. It was HARD to see posts about Church of the Cross's vigil posted on social media; it's an amazingly and deeply significant element to Easter worship that we miss with ALL OF OUR HEARTS.

But then Easter morning came! And we worshiped joyfully with our new church! Claire was pumped to wear her "beautiful dress!" that my Aunt got for her and join us for the singing parts of big church. She was a doll and thoroughly enjoyed it. New Baby must have been excited, too, because I contracted throughout the. whole. service. Oof. The weather was lousy and gross, but we enjoyed our day nonetheless, including having a couple of friends over to grill that evening (it quit raining long enough for Brad to use the grill, thank goodness).

I could NOT get her to cooperate for a picture. There is just too much to look at in the sanctuary, guys.

With her Easter happies. The balloon was actually given to her by her Sunday School teachers, bless them. Balloons are only her favorite things EVER.

We also finished our Resurrection Eggs! It has been so much fun to watch Claire learn about them and enjoy going through them every day. I'm definitely looking forward to going through them again with her over the next few years and seeing how much she gleans from the process. And, as promised, here's a rundown of what she would say with each egg:

Egg 1 (leaf for Triumphal Entry): It's a leaf means HOSANYA!
Egg 2 (cracker for Last Supper): It's bread. Jesus broke it and ate it and said, "This is my body."
Egg 3 (coins for Judas' payment): It's coins. Jesus had a friend who wasn't good and gave the money back.
Egg 4 (rope for Jesus' beatings): Jesus got a lot of spankings, and it hurt very much.
Egg 5 (cloth and thorns): The thorns hurt Jesus' head very much, and the cloth was for hurt his feelings (the best we could do at explaining mockery).
Egg 6 (paper cross): It's a cross they put on Jesus' back, and it hurt him very much.
Egg 7 (nails): It's nails they put in Jesus' hands and toes. It hurt him very much.
Egg 8 (King of the Jews sign): It's a sign that says "King" and hurt his feelings (again, mockery).
Egg 9 (toothpick and sponge for spear and wine sponge): It's a sponge for him to drink. They poked him in the side.
Egg 10 (small baggie of seasonings for burial spices): They put it on his body when he was dead to smell nice.
Egg 11 (rock for the tomb): They put a rock there. And it hurt very much. (No, Claire, it didn't hurt. It was to keep his body there.)
Egg 12 (empty): Where is it? (That's the point, Bear. Jesus rose again! He wasn't there!) 

Unfortunately, the empty egg isn't terribly exciting for her yet, but hopefully, it soon will be.

Thanks for following along on our Lent and Easter journey! We really enjoyed the process and are already looking forward to next year. He is risen! Indeed.

And, some Easter snapshots for you:

Easter basket made by our lovely friend, Mrs. Romine. Isn't it beautiful? The contents include: lamby and chocolate cross from Nana + "bunny bubbles," glitter glue pens, one of those multi-color clicky pens invented by NASA (but with girly, Easter colors), Anna and Elsa bubble bath, and pipe cleaners for her craft stash. She was thrilled with everything. And I got all of it (minus the Nana items) from the Target dollar spot.

Having an absolute blast chasing her "bunny bubbles."

Her first egg-dyeing experience. She was only "meh" about the process. But she did wear the bunny ears the whole time. :)

Aunt Donna and Uncle JD sent her an Easter package! It included sparkly stickers and Minnie stickers (she looooves stickers), as well as a book about the Littlest Bunny in Tennesse. :) She had a blast practicing her carefully-honed sticker-removing skills. Y'all, this kept her occupied for at least 20 minutes.

And the day after Easter, Baby Sister's Easter basket from Mrs. Romine showed up on our doorstep! Claire was thrilled and insisted on filling it up with items she felt Baby Sister could use.

And then I found this exhibition of Claire's haberdashery skills a few days later. Happy Easter!

Lent with Claire 2016: Holy Week

We're in the midst of Holy Week right now, which is a rather big week for churches observing Lent (*understatement alert*). Holy Week consists of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (the night Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper and was betrayed), and Good Friday, leading up to Easter Sunday. We'll be at church a lot this week. :) 

Palm Sunday was actually cold and rainy here, which was kind of a bummer. However, we had a wonderful time celebrating with our church, especially with Claire. We go to the early service (8:30) at church and then Sunday School, so we usually drop Claire off in nursery before we head into worship. For Palm Sunday, though, we took her in with us for the first part of the service, because liturgical churches do these really great processions into the sanctuary on Palm Sunday. Typically, everyone starts outside (we started in the foyer this time because of the cold and mist) with actual palm branches that everyone waves while singing and walking into the sanctuary. We did this for the very first time while living in Jackson, and man, it felt weird. And cool. But really strange. A friend of ours who had been at Christ Community for a while told us, "Yeah, it's the Sunday that we let our freak flag fly!" and I gotta say...it kind of felt like it that first year. 

However, much like everything else I've come to learn about in liturgical traditions, it's become a really special part of the process for me. My whole life, I've known about Jesus' Triumphal Entry, where the people shouted, "Hosanna!" and waved palm branches for Him. Well, now, my family does the palm branch-waving and hosanna-singing, too. With a sanctuary-ful of other folks, no matter what passers-by may be thinking. We really wanted Claire to participate, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She knows about "hosanya" because of our Resurrection Eggs and our first Easter craft that we did. We've been talking about and singing and waving "Hosanna" for weeks! Basically, she's been training for Palm Sunday. 

Something Blacknall does on Palm Sunday that's really fun is that once you get into the sanctuary with the palm branches, you just drop them wherever you want in the aisles, which leaves it looking like what Jesus probably rode into town on. Brad and I dropped ours, but we let Claire hang onto hers until she left for nursery so that she could flail...I mean, wave...it around during the music. I had to apologize to the folks sitting behind us for the times she pegged them in the heads. Oops. They didn't mind, thankfully.

Little note: in Anglican churches (not yet sure about Presbyterian), the palm branches used for Palm Sunday are burned afterwards, and the ashes then used for the following Ash Wednesday. Isn't that interesting?

On the home front, we're still trucking along with our Resurrection Eggs, and I've really been loving it. I still don't know how much Claire is connecting with the information, but she is doing a fantastic job of remembering what each egg represents and talking about it with us. I'll try to do an update when we finish Lent and let you know what she says about each one as we go through them. I definitely want to record it for posterity because it is just so sweet.

We also finally got started on her Lent scripture memory passage. Spoiler: we won't finish before Easter Sunday. But that's ok. We'll finish it eventually! The goal was to finish up Psalm 23 (what we were working on before Lent) and then move onto her Lent scripture, but we didn't want to move on until she had a firm grip on Psalm 23. Thoroughness was the name of the game. We felt like we accomplished that, so I'm still chalking it up as a victory. However, there's a good chance we'll be working on her "Lent" scriptures into summer.

I have a few crafts/activities planned for this week to help continue building up to Easter. I think she'll really enjoy it, and I'm hoping we can have some good conversations while we work. And, I'm going to be brave and attempt dyeing eggs later in the week. Wish me luck! We'll have church services on Thursday and Friday. The Good Friday service is also called a Tenebrae service, and we're looking forward to seeing how Tenebrae is observed at Blacknall; we're familiar with how Anglican churches do it, and it is really something to be a part of. It's so somber and sad, designed to make you feel the weight of Jesus' sacrifice. It's eerily quiet. Dark. Stripped bare of any finery. You leave with such a sense of sorrow, which I find to be so beneficial in getting my heart and mind in a helpful place leading up to Easter. I find it so helpful to remember that there was SUCH sacrifice and sorrow before the great joy of Easter. I think it's easy to focus on the joy of the resurrection and not feel the intensity of the crucifixion. At least that's the case for me. Because those services are so quiet and contemplative, we'll be putting Claire in nursery, but I'm hoping we can have some good conversations about things at other times during the week.

I usually strongly disapprove of using phones in church, but I NEEDED to get a little shot of Claire with her branch. And also, Brad is giving me the side-eye. Whatever. I love this picture.

One of our "crafts" this week was making a simple lamb garland for our mantle (since she loved the Valentine's Day garland so much). In the Brassart house growing up, Easter always equaled lambs, not bunnies, so we're carrying that over quite a bit in the Boswell house. Jesus: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I had a few packs of die-cut sheep that my mom had sent me a while back that I punched holes in. I then showed Claire how to thread yarn through the holes, which she LOVED doing. 

Finished product! It's been up for less than 48 hours, and she's already asked to look at/touch/talk about "those lambs" a dozen times. Definitely a good "craft" choice! (Even if our living room looks kind of like a preschool Sunday school classroom...)

I'll be back with more updates about Holy Week and Easter over the next few days. And then, we'll buckle down around here and get ready for this baby! 

Babies and their stuff.

I mentioned in this post that, although there are no showers planned, we have registered for baby stuff...so we can get the completion discounts once the baby arrives. And then! My friend, Katie, went and planned a shower for us. She is very dear and lovely.

Here's some stuff I wrote before she had a shower for us:
I am finding registering/planning for baby stuff to be a VASTLY different experience this time around. Far less stressful and far less overwhelming. 

When you register for stuff with your first baby, all of the stores give you these suggestion lists of the stuff that you absolutely must have. And, you have friends or bloggers that you follow who make their own recommendations of stuff you need. All the while, you're sitting in your quite small Boston apartment trying to figure out where in the world all of these must-haves will fit. It's really overwhelming, because you've never had a baby before and have no idea what will actually be beneficial for your family. Since that first round of baby-ing, we've discovered that it is an ongoing process that requires trial and error; it's different for every family and every living situation. Something about that is freeing, I think.

I can't tell you how many times Brad and I have commented about how grateful we are that we had Claire while living in a small apartment in Boston. It curtailed our acquisition of baby paraphernalia quite a lot, due to the small space we lived in and the kind of life we lived (very pedestrian and mobile). Most all of our baby things needed to be smaller or travel-size so that we could fit them into our apartment and could move them around town easily. We had to restrict those non-essentials because we didn't have places to store things, and life itself was so expensive that we had to make specific choices that would save us money long-term. That's why we ended up with:

*a mini-crib, rather than a full-sized crib (which Claire slept in from the day she came home from the hospital until she was 2.5). Totally a must for us in our little apartment; we literally had no floor space anywhere in the apartment to accommodate a full-sized crib. It fit our floor space, and she was really comfortable the whole time. (It had a bassinet setting, so the first few weeks/months weren't too different than folks who do a bassinet/co-sleeper followed by a regular crib.)

*a non-infant-carrier car seat (we went with this one that is approved for infants up through 40 lbs) because a) we were in our car so rarely that we didn't want to have to buy a bigger one after such a short usage and b) there was very little draw in having an infant carrier to have to lug with us when we were walking around Boston. There was never any way to tell how far away you might have to park from your destination, so carrying a bulky carrier might not be a great option. She looked incredibly tiny in that car seat when she was an itty bitty, but she grew into it quickly (and we still use it in the CR-V).

*wearable baby carriers that we used religiously. We used a Baby Bjorn (bought for $10 off Craigslist- in excellent condition) when she was really little and was worn in the front and then an Ergo 360 ($40 off Craigslist) as she got bigger. I carried her in the Ergo until she was almost 2, y'all (on my back). Using our more long-lasting car seat in conjunction with our wearable carriers worked so much better for us than an infant car seat/carrier combo. Brad and I both carried Claire in those wearable carriers comfortably the entire time. We walked all over Boston (including climbing to the top of the Bunker Hill monument), Universal Studios, grocery stores, and even the house when she was little and fussy or when I had to go into the basement to do laundry. I consider them must-haves for our lifestyle.

*a no-fuss, bare bones baby bouncy seat and collapsible, travel-size swing. Neither are our style or particularly cute for little girls, but they were free to us from some friends who were cleaning out their baby stuff. They were Boston friends, so they knew the value of a small footprint. Claire loved the swing and was meh about the bouncy seat. We'll see what New Baby thinks. We're planning to reuse those same hand-me-downs, rather than investing in new ones.

*cloth diapers. I've written about these before on many occasions, so you know how much I love them. They saved us much money. Even better, they will save us much more when used for Boswell Baby, Round 2 (although they most likely will not fit for 3-4 months).

*a Joovy jogging stroller. The sidewalks in Boston + the cobblestones are hard on strollers, so we went with a super sturdy stroller (that Brad could also take with him on his runs over at the reservoir). It also worked for us because we didn't need a stroller that adapted for an infant carrier carseat (see above). We LOVE our stroller. So much. It was such a good baby gear decision. It might be a bit bulkier than other strollers, perhaps, but we consider the bulk worth it. 

*a Blooming Bath. This baby "bath tub" is a) cute b) collapsible/squishable/packaway-able. We used it in our sink in Boston for a looooong time and then used it in a laundry basket in the tub until Bear was big enough to sit up in the laundry basket on her own. We loved it. So much.

For New Baby, we're planning to reuse basically everything we already have. Obviously, we'll buy her a new mattress for the crib (safety before penny-pinching). We also decided that- for this phase/location of our life- we did want an infant-carrier car seat this time (which Brad's aunt so sweetly got for us). And, we're adding a double stroller (this sit-and-stand version), which my parents (in conjunction with my aunt's bargain-hunting superpower) got for us (you know, with future trips to Universal in mind!). And, because I don't want to feel like I'm giving my new baby the shaft just because she happened to be born second, I'm planning to get her a new Wubbanub (assuming she takes a paci) and perhaps her own swaddle blankets that I pick out specifically for her. Other than those things, I primarily registered for very useful things: disposable diapers for the first couple of months (Claire's tiny booty didn't fit into her cloth diapers for almost 4 months, and we always keep disposables on hand even when using cloth because sometimes you just need them), baby wipes (although we use cloth wipes when using cloth diapers, we ALWAYS have baby wipes on hand. They are so valuable.), nursing pads, diaper cream, and a few other incidentals like that. Stuff that we know we'll need for the first few months. 

Maybe we'll add a few more things here and there, but that's the plan currently. We also made sure that one of the registries is at Target, so that we can get Ebates rebates when we order online. ;) We're crafty like that. And don't worry too much about New Baby; she may not be getting lots of new gear and she may not have a name yet, but we have been working on a few special projects just for her. I'll try to keep you posted.

Ok, I wrote that a few weeks ago before we had a baby shower. So, here's some stuff about the shower!

A few weeks ago, my friend, Katie (by the way, I have three good friends named Katie in Durham!), told me she wanted to host a baby shower for me. I had mixed feelings about it BECAUSE a) that is so sweet and kind! and b) I'm the world's most awkward person to host a shower for. Seriously. I am so so awkward at showers. I'm terrible at making guest lists, and I never know how to respond appropriately to people being so kind and generous. It took me a while (combined with lots of stressing and sweating) to compile a guest list. Katie sensed my anxiety and suggested that we make it a couples'/family shower so that Brad could be a part, and we could make it super casual and laidback. She also suggested we do it the Sunday after Claire's birthday party so that our parents could join (she's so thoughtful. I'm super lucky to have her as a friend.). It was a perfect solution, and we were able to knock out a guest list much more easily after that had been decided. WHEW.

Since we don't really need too much stuff (ahem, see allll of the above), we decided to do a diaper/wipes shower (again: we won't be getting into the cloth diapers immediately). And honestly, the shower could not have been a more perfect fit for us at this juncture in our lives.

*Moment of vulnerability: one of the reasons I was SO NERVOUS about this shower is the fact that we don't have as many friends here as we've had in our previous locations. I was so worried that no one would show up or that no one we invited would want to come or things along those lines. And guess what? It turned out to be an incredible moment in which God reminded me so sweetly that He has, indeed, been providing us with friends...even if things don't look exactly like I expect them to.* 

We had such a fun group of folks show up (even two families who originally thought they wouldn't be able to make it), and Katie's planning for the shower was spot on. I told her afterwards how perfect I thought it was, and she said, "You know, every step of the way, I thought to myself, 'Would Erin like this?' and tried to think it through like you would. Which is also probably how I would. I'm glad you liked it." It's so nice to have a friend that knows me. This planning even included a very low-key Opening of the Gifts, so that I didn't have to be Awkward Erin in front of everyone. PERFECT.

She had the cutest picnic/barbecue/cookout decorations, since it was a cookout-type event. So Pinterest-worthy. Two other friends, when invited, had volunteered to contribute (which warmed my heart), so the food spread was beautiful and impressive: hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, veggies, fruit, and dessert. Oh, and we ended up having it at our house, instead of Katie's, because it was her children who ended up with pink eye (see previous post). BLESS. They missed two parties in one weekend. I felt so sad for them. However, it was a perfect back-up situation, seeing as how our house was already party-ready because of Claire's party the day before.

Knowing that we still haven't chosen a name for New Baby, the game that she came up with was hilarious: all of the guests wrote down names (seriously or silly) and put them in a cup. Brad and I then drew out two names at a time, giving us multiple first-middle combination options. It was really funny...and some of the names were legitimately good! 

It ended up being a really wonderful afternoon, filled with fun and friends. Also, we got a nice haul of diapers and wipes (plus a gift card or two). Obviously, we realize that the diapers will last us a few weeks tops, but HEY. Every. Diaper. Counts.

Now, I only have a few pictures from the shower (and I only have them because my mom thought to snap a few- thanks, Mom!), but I hope you get an idea of how thoughtful Katie was in her planning. Enjoy! (And I hope everyone has a friend like Katie in their lives.)

Condiments in mason jars.

So fun and picnic-y. Also, Katie's outfit even coordinated with the decor. It was so cute.

Where guests picked up their plates and utensils.

Claire and a friend at our dining room table.

Name options pulled from the cup. Please notice that someone put it the names Nicaea and Chalcedony. Those were just to give Brad a giggle, given that they're from his wheelhouse. And NO, we are not using them. 

The 3rd birthday PAR-TAY!

Although Claire turned 3 a few weeks ago, we didn't have an actual birthday party until last weekend. My parents and my in-laws were all able to come in for this weekend, so we extended the birthday-ing for all the grandparents to be involved. We had great weather and plenty of food, so I consider birthday party #3 a success!

Ready!

We had invited just a few little friends (and their families) over for the party (which is exactly how we like it!). The morning of, one of the moms texted me with photos of her kids sporting brilliant cases of pink eye. Yikes! They actually ended up driving up to the front of our house for my dad (SUPER PEDIATRICIAN MAN!) to step out and confirm the diagnosis. It was so sad...so we packed up some cupcakes, and I broke into Claire's pinata and pulled out some treats for them (it's a pull pinata, not the kind you have to bust open- no worries). Claire was sad when I told her, but she was happy that two other little friends were able to come by (i.e. no extreme disappointment or meltdown).

Party prepping.

She really enjoys attempting to blow up balloons.

The party was loosely (and I stress LOOSELY) themed on Pixar's Cars movies because they are Claire's favorites. Much like her previous birthday parties (her second birthday and her first birthday), this wasn't Pinterest-worthy, but it did get the job done. I reused the pull pinata that I made for last year's birthday, we had cupcakes and snacks, there were plenty of balloons to be batted around, and Kat had sent a series of pop-up tunnels that were, frankly, the star of the show. We set the tunnels out in our "back yard," and the kids had a blast climbing in and out, pushing balloons and balls through the tunnels, and generally running around. THANK YOU, KAT! All the parents send our thanks.

This is as Pinterest-y as I got, coordinating paper products and serving bowls with the colors of a traffic light (you know...to go with the Cars theme). However, please note the kids' cups on the left side of the picture. They are definitely the cups that come with the kids' meals from Moe's. Although, I did stick festive paper straws in them, so there's that. Our snacks were cupcakes, grapes, and chips with color-coordinating dips: red salsa, yellow queso, and green guac.

The tunnels! And, thankfully, none of the kids bonked heads or anything while crawling through. Whew. We had two doctors on hand, but I'm pretty sure no one had suture supplies.

Doesn't that look like fun? You know...for small children...

Grandpa (Bill) wearing the tunnels and providing hilarious entertainment.

Claire's attempt to wear it. Also hilarious.

My parents' gift to Claire was this awesome, kid-sized picnic table. It's a multi-function table (we can take out a panel, opening up a trough that you can put a little garden in or sand or pea gravel to play with. It's nifty.), and we set it up for the kids to eat their snacks and cupcakes at, which turned out to be the perfect spot. Other than snacks and balloons and tunnels, we didn't really plan anything else (but really...they're 3-year-olds. They don't need lots of programming.), and it worked out marvelously. 

Eating at her new table!

She really likes my dad...this was her "cheese" face. And her, "please leave me alone with my cupcake" face.

Same thing goes for my mom.

We pulled out the pinata from last year and changed the picture on the front from Curious George to Lightening McQueen and stuffed it full of confetti, suckers, toy cars, and crayons. It didn't last long, but it was a hit. Also, Blogger isn't letting me upload the fantastic video I got of Claire talking about her pinata, so if you follow me on Instagram, scroll back a few posts and watch. It's hilarious.

So, this is actually a screen shot of a video my dad took of the pinata, but I think it's a pretty good shot. There are no bats involved in a pull pinata; there's a flap that I cut into the bottom of the box and threaded ribbons through. Only one ribbon is knotted, so the kiddos pull on the ribbons, most of them sliding out easily, and when they pull on the right one, the knot provides enough resistance to open the flap and release the treats. Less messy and less dangerous.

Our mailman is incredible, and when he leaves packages on our front porch, he'll leave little treats for Claire, too. This is definitely a perk of befriending the mail carrier. He often leaves blow pops, which I tend to collect, rather than just give Claire whenever they appear. I like to keep them as legitimate treats so that I can use them to my advantage. I filled up the pinata with several that I had collected, and Claire THOROUGHLY enjoyed going to town on her sucker. Bonus: we saw our mailman pull into our neighborhood during the party and were able to give him one of Claire's cupcakes!

The party invitation clearly said, "no gifts, please," and everyone brought a gift anyway. The best laid plans... It was very sweet and generous, and we're thankful for kind friends. She also opened family gifts, post-party and had quite a big time playing with (read: scattering about) her new treats with her grandparents. Note: the grandparents were all exceptional sports over the weekend, taking her on walks, helping her ride her tricycle, wearing the tunnels as a costume, blowing up balloons, singing countless songs, and watching Curious George and Superbook. Bill and Barbara brought her a cool set of play food for her kitchen that also doubles as a counting game; she and her little girl friends had a blast "cooking" with them and generally scattering them around the house at our baby shower the next day (more on that later). 

One of the presents. The girls were so cute during this exchange.

This is the closest I got to a group shot of the kiddos.

Opening the new kitchen supplies.

So, the verdict on the birthday party is that it was an unqualified success in Claire's book, which was exactly what we wanted. 

Happy Birthday, dear Claire! Happy Birthday to YOU!

And just to keep the fun alive, all the grandparents stayed on Sunday, going to church with us and getting to see where we worship (they all enjoyed it, whew) and staying for our baby shower (I'll blog about that soon). Bill and Barbara headed back home Sunday evening, and my parents stayed until Monday evening. This was a good process so that Claire didn't go into immediate Grandparent Withdrawal Shock. Thanks, Team!

After church with Nana and Poppy.

This is super blurry, but I love this shot of my dad and Claire playing Super Heroes while Claire wears her new Super Girl shirt from Ray Ray (my sister-in-law). I'm telling you- the grandparents are GAME.

Monday morning Home Depot shenanigans. We know how to have FUN around here.

See? How much fun is this?

Closing out the long weekend with a little pre-airport drop off Mexican. 

Tales of Toe

In our household, Toes are important. Not in the "they help us stand up and walk" kind of way but in the "they are basically extra members of the family" kind of way. What? That's not a thing in your house?

I have no idea how it started. Brad and I aren't particularly taken with our feet, so Claire came up with that all by herself. "Toe" was one of the first words that she used correctly on a regular basis, and she loved seeing anybody's toes (flip flop season was a favorite for her). 

Even at 3, she's still quite taken with toes. What I mean by this is that she considers them beings with their own thoughts and personalities and loves to "interact" with them. We all tend to go barefoot at home fairly regularly, so she's able to talk to toes pretty often. Conversations usually revolve around asking Toe questions. Things like, "Do you want to eat Goldfish, Toe?" or "Toe, do you want to watch George?" When she was younger, Brad and I would make Toe "answer" with fake, high-pitched voices. As Claire got older, if we didn't immediately respond on Toe's behalf, she would just use her own fake, high-pitched voice and answer her own question on Toe's behalf. This is still a daily activity, actually.  

Sometimes she tells stories to Toe or shows Toe books or toys. The other day, she took her princess dolls and used them to make "finger" puppets on my toes. She got frustrated when my big toes wouldn't fit. Sorry, kid, but that's just how toes (don't) work. Although, her bath tub finger puppets are just the right size to fit on her own toes, so she takes advantage of that happy coincidence. She also checks in with Toe, making sure that Toe feels ok...which sometimes includes hugging and kissing Toe, if she determines that Toe isn't feeling up to par. How does she come up with this stuff?

Perhaps a very insightful look into how her mind thinks about Toe occurred last fall when we met up with Gran, Grandpa, and Uncle Tim in Charleston for the weekend (Tim was doing an away rotation for medical school), and she introduced the concept of "buddy toes." I was in the very early stages of sicky-sick first trimester and spent the entire time in bed, but Claire and Barbara had a fabulous time playing with Claire's Buddy Toes. I did not know about Buddy Toes until we got home, and I heard her talking about them. I assumed Barbara came up with and introduced the concept. I later asked her about how Buddy Toes came up, and she said she thought it was something that we'd started at home. So, Claire, apparently, decided that she would turn her toes into her buddies and refer to them thusly. 

She even encourages her buddy toes in important endeavors, like getting into her pant legs. When she's putting on her pants (or tights), she spurs her toes on with cheers of, "Go, toes, GO!"

Toe gets praised for good behavior: "Toe, that was SO polite!"

And sometimes, Toe's behavior is less admirable: "Mommy, Toe is disobeying."

When asked to pick items up off the floor, she often responds with, "Toe can do it!" Sometimes Toe can, and sometimes Toe needs to leave it to Hand, if we're being frank.

Although, sometimes Claire realizes that Toe can't do everything: "Toe, I can help you!"

Toe occasionally demonstrates maternal instincts: "Toe, would you kiss my boo-boo?"

Articulation is not always Toe's forte, though, prompting questions like, "What was that, Toe? What ya talkin' 'bout?"

Toe is willing to be a good friend, though: "Here, Toe, hold my hand!"

While Claire sat at her child-sized table for breakfast one morning, Toe was attempting to climb up the table leg so she could sit on the table with Claire's cereal. Brad Dream-Crusher Boswell put an end to Toe's adventuring, unfortunately, explaining that toes do not get to sit on the table. How unfortunate for Toe.

Toe also has ambitions of eating just like the rest of us: "Toe is trying to eat my crackers and Cheerios, Mommy!"

Again, please be reminded that Toe is viewed as a separate entity with her own personality and abilities.
Claire: Toe is ready to get out of the bathtub.
Me: You're ready to get out?
Claire: No, but Toe is.
Alriiiight. Not sure how to pull that one off.

Recently, Claire needed to apologize for something that she really didn't want to, so, she responded with, "Toe can say sorry." As if Toe could be sent to do Claire's bidding. Yeah...that's not going to cut it.

Brad and Claire were in her room, getting her ready for bed one night. Partway through the process, she crawled under her covers and stayed there. Brad asked what she was doing.

Claire: Playing with my family.

Brad: Who?

Claire: My toes!
Claire's interest in her toes and the resulting interactions have become such a normal part of our everyday life that I sometimes forget that other families don't think of appendages as separate personalities. Perhaps it's weird, but we choose to see it as comical and endearing. I'll probably try to discourage it come Kindergarten, but until then, I'll do my best to make sure Toe politely answers inquiries directed her way.

Talking to my toes. I have no idea what they were saying, but I'm sure it was important.

Hugs for Daddy's toes.

Showing Daddy's toes something. Perhaps Duke basketball.

Excuse the crazy hair. Toe is holding Daddy's discarded coffee stirrer. You know, as toes do.

Different day, same crazy hair. Here, she's dressing my toes up with necklaces. My toes are so fancy.