Is it just me or does one of the kids look like they’re glowing in this performance? Yeah, over there on the top right?
Yep, that’s my girl.
Man oh man was she ever excited about this one!
It seems like a good time to have Claire be our “star of the month” since she recently got the first black eye our family ever had. Ever. Even Dave when he was little didn’t get a black eye. 
So Claire wins the “black eye” award for our family and wow, is that ever an honor. She’s pretty darn excited about it I must say.
And the great thing about it is that she fell off her bike to get it. I’m not sure how you fall on your EYE when you fall off your bike, but Claire managed it.
Claire loves her pre school.
Claire loves her friends. She is SO social.
Claire does such a good job of putting up with continual cold sores. This pictures shows the beginnings of some tiny ones…usually they’re all black and scabby though. Poor girl.
Claire is the best therapist we could ever ask for for Lucy. And I’m not saying that just to be nice. I honestly think Lu would be worlds more behind if it wasn’t for her big sister. Claire wraps her little arm around that sister of hers and coddles her like nobody’s business. Plus she shows Lucy how to do everything her therapists want her to do. And if Claire does it, boy howdy Lucy wants to too. (note the great cold sores)
Not only is Lucy’s enamor-ment with Claire good to get her to try new things in therapy, but I’m convinced that watching Claire’s example has made Lucy relatively nice. I mean, she is two…through and through (which means, of course, that she has her moments), but since Claire’s rubbed off on her she’s pretty good at sharing and being kind. This is especially noteworthy since it would be pretty easy in Claire’s case to get bugged and mad that Lucy takes so much attention away from her at times.
Just as Lu adores Claire, Claire adores her big sisters (and brother too). Claire’s expression in this picture kinda captures what she thinks of Elle.
Claire comes up with some wing-dinger outfits. She loves to wear dresses. And I’m talkin’ LOVES. But the thing is, she likes to wear jeans under them.
All the time.
It’s her little fashion statement.
Love you Claire Bear. With all my heart.
This is the sweetest post and the cutest girl…EVER..that is until you do the next one. You are blessed.
This is such a sweet tribute to Claire!! I’m sure she will cherish it!! I may have missed the explanation, but is there a reason why Claire gets the cold sores? My daughter gets them and they take a long time to heal. Do you recommend anything to shorten the healing time?
Claire will always be one of our favorite stars! Charlotte loves that girls!
She does have such a great style! So cute! I have to add that she has the warmest, sweetest smile I have ever seen! Love all the pictures!
What a sweet tribute to Claire…. she is a doll! You are a great mom Shawni & I just finished your book. It was awesome.
P.S. Sophie wears jeans under all her dresses also – it must be the age or stage. Pretty funny:)
Shawni, since I’ve been reading your blog, I’ve felt complete empathy for Claire (I, too, get cold sores). Well, I thought about her while our family was on spring break. All 4 of my kids picked up gingivostomatitis while at Disney. They had mouths, throats F-U-L-L of canker sores and lips, chins, etc. swollen with cold sores. And there’s nothing I could do. The docs said that from now on all my kids are open to get cold sores. They now carry whatever it is that will cause recurring flare ups. I remembered in your great pics of Claire that she almost always had a smile on her face whenever she had one!! Woo hoo! What a cutie. I sure hope my kids are as good natured about it in the future. 🙂 Take care…
That was such a sweet post! You have such a beautiful way with words! Love it!!! 🙂
What sweet girls.
it’s gonna take me a while to read all your blogs…but i will because they are sweet as. we’ve been here a month and w/o internet we’ve got a lot of sleep.
I love your blog! I stumbled across it a while ago and checked back a few times. I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea who you were. Then my husband got me this great book (A Mother’s Book of Secrets – you may have heard of it) for our anniversary last month. As I read, I thought, “These cute kids looks so familiar!”
And then it dawned on me!
Love the book!!
Anyway, I have to say that your sweet Claire reminds me so much of my daughter, Avonleigh. Same age, similar personalities, same taste in fashion (she goes NO WHERE without a dress and pants underneath). Also – we battle cold sores and THE BEST thing I have found is ABREVA. It has really helped with the burning/itching and also with shortening the life of the outbreak.
Sorry for the novel. You have a beautiful family and a wonderful outlook on life. Thank you for sharing.
Stephanie
Wow Shawni, I am from Las Vegas and picked your book up at Deseret Book. I just finished reading it and it is one of my favorite books! I liked it so much because it was light and positive and REAL. I feel like so many parenting books are written by early childhood PHDs or from mothers at their very best, which is so hard to compare myself to. The whole time I read and looked at your photos I just admired your families so much and felt like I was getting to know you. I thought, "I would love to be Linda and Shawni's friend!" I also have a special needs child and really appreciated your words because he's just different than other children and no one quite understands unless they have the same experience. Thanks so much and I'll be keeping up with you. You're a shining example to me and this could be life-changing in my motherhood. :>
Cute post.
BTW, I LOVED your book. I’m buying one for my sisters and sister-in-law for mother’s day. I was laughing, crying and loving every minute of it. I especially loved how short the chapters were being a really busy mom and having many interruptions when I read. Anyway, I’m going to be doing a post about your book on my blog soon.
You continue to inspire and uplift me. Thank you, thank you!
I like to wear jean under dresses to! Your family sat right in front of us in sacrament on sunday and I was just noticing how pretty Claire is.