Claire turns FIFTEEN today.
FIFTEEN!
I’m really struggling with this little fact.  Apparently she’s not:

Oh wait, maybe she’ll take this more seriously with me for a minute… 

Nope.

She’s just going to enjoy this thing like nobody’s business.

…and keeps reminding me that she gets her driving permit in six months.

Ok, I’ll be happy about that part of the whole deal.  I LOVE having drivers. 

But my problem is that we’ve been going down memory lane with pictures like this:

…and this:

(That’s why we did the laying down pic. up there to compare.  Yowzas she has grown up!)

And this:

(and that sucker is from only two years ago when she turned thirteen!)
She is growing up before my eyes.  I bet if we had one of those little time warp video cameras going on…and we could get her to stand still for two seconds, we could just watch her grow.  We just measured yesterday and according to the chart she grew one whole inch since December 13th…a little over a month ago.  
Sure, there’s a little room for error on that growth chart, but boy howdy all I can think of right at this moment are those little toothless grins…
…that have morphed into a braces-less young lady.
…with a phone and chipped teenager fingernails.

But oh!  How great that teenager of ours is!

Fifteen things I love about my newest fifteen-year-old:

1)  She can still ham it up.  She doesn’t take herself too seriously.

She embraces being goofy, making funny faces, busting out funny dance moves.  Even when life gets tough.

2)  Speaking of, she has grit.  She has had some tough experiences that she has learned so much from, dusted herself and kept on going. 

3)  She is a continual DJ.  She cannot NOT have music blaring in the car, and is usually full-on dancing to that music, whether at home  or in the car.  Seatbelts don’t stop the dance moves 🙂

4)  Also, she knows all the words to all those songs…

5)  She’s a good friend.  And has gone from being the same height or shorter than all of them to towering over them.

6)  She’s got spunk.  That picture above shows it to a “T.”  When she’s in the mood for it, she can pull us all into the best mood with her moves and her wit.

7)  Claire is a great student.  She takes school seriously not only works her heart out for good grades but strives to really learn.  I love to hear her talking on the phone to her study buddies, talking through things I don’t have a clue about.

8)  She is disciplined.  When she sets a goal you know she’ll do it.  She’s reading two books a month this year for her new resolution and she’s sure scrambling on this first month.  But something tells me she’ll get it done!

9)  She is a good teacher.  Yesterday we had her teach part of our family home evening lesson and she was such a natural whipping up an object lesson and a great explanation of what she was teaching.

10)  I love her love for babies.  Although hidden under a bushel sometimes because perhaps it’s not so “cool” to be ogling over babies amidst a bunch of Freshman friends, it always still comes out when there is a baby in the midst.  This makes her a great babysitter when she makes the time.

11)  She has narrowed down her wide range of sports interests to volleyball.  I love that about her because it makes my life less crazy!  But also it’s fun to see her so focused.  So fun to see her on that court. 

12)  I love that despite the fact she’s narrowed down to lessons on volleyball, she can still pick up a tennis racket and become a human backboard.  So fun to watch her play tennis with her sisters and keep up with the best of them.

13)  She has some good coordination with that lanky body of hers.  She totally takes after her mother on this one.  HA!  Ha ha ha.  I’m so glad Dave’s genes made more of a showing in our kids than mine did in the coordination category.  I love to watch her dance.  Not just the dance moves she busts out in the car, but the longer dances she’ll make up with friends or her sister.  It is actually so beautiful to watch.

14)  But much more important than any of that: she loves her Savior.  She lets His love glow through the tough times as well as the not-so-tough.  She knows how to share that light with others.

15)  She’s a teenager through and through.  She’s perfected the quintessential teenage eye roll.  Yet she loves her mother and she shows it…at least most of the time.

I’m so grateful she’s my friend.  
…and that maybe she’ll catch me in height one of these days!

(Had to show that I had mini heels in these pics…she’s gaining on me quick!)

Love you forever Claire Bear!
Love,
Mom
xoxo

10 Comments

  1. Happy birthday claire!
    My daughter thinks 15 is the worst birthday ever ! ( she turned 15 in November) especially that whole year waiting to date, and drive! with the age change she’s now a laurel.
    Shawni & friends I’d love to hear your thoughts on what the difference is to you between ‘ hanging out’ and ‘ group dating’ and are you strict on the no dating until you are 16?

  2. Happy Belated 5th Birthday to Claire. Hope she had a great day & has a great year.x

    I can't believe how tall Claire is now. She's certainly grown in the past couple of years.

  3. Happy 15th to Claire! (And as the mother to a current 15 year old, a wellspring of patience to you and Dave. Ah, hormones.)

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