Spring piano recital.

Clara played her two festival pieces at the spring piano recital and did an amazing job!  Oma was proud!

Afterwards, Grandma and Pop took us to fro-yo to celebrate her good work!

We're lucky that both sides of the family turn up to all of Clara's events!  She sure is loved!

Clara's birthday party.

This year, we hosted a birthday party with family AND friends for Clara.  It was pretty exciting to invite friends to our house.  Clara couldn't wait!

These two helped serve the food...I was sick with mono and didn't want to infect anyone!

All the little princesses at the Frozen birthday party.

The men sat on Clara's stage and enjoyed the February sunshine!

We made the kids eat outside, even though it was a little chilly!

Oma got Clara some trick candles that made her giggle!

The girl table...

And the boys...

Piñata time!  We didn't have a clue that now you pull ribbons from the bottom of the piñata.  We made the kids smash it, anyway!

The next day, we went bowling to celebrate Opa's birthday with all the Waldon's.  It was a great time!  The kids just LOVE to bowl!

Pretty cute pic for being taken in the dark with my iPhone!

It was a fun-filled birthday weekend!

selfie central.

Clara at 5.

Here we are getting fro-yo on the night of her 5th birthday.

At five, Clara:

is 44.5 inches tall - 80th percentile
weighs 47.5 pounds - 80th percentile

Favorites according to Clara

color - pink
toy - Ana and Elsa phone
fruit - apples
vegetable - carrots (I'd argue it is the mini sweet peppers that come in colors red, orange, and yellow)
tv show - Sophia the First
food - hot ramen noodles
outfit - dress
game -Headbanz
animal - cat
song -  "Let it Go" - for the second year running, ugh
book - Junie B. Jones books
drink - juice
What is something Mommy says to you - "No!"
What is something Daddy says to you - "No!"
What makes you happy - being at the waterpark
What makes you sad - if nobody ever plays with me and not be my friend
How old is Mommy - 33 - she was right!
How old is Daddy - 34!
How old are you - FIVE
What is your favorite thing to do - go to the park
Who is your best friend - Maci
What are you really good at - soccer
What do you dream about - family
What is your favorite thing to do outside - run
What is your favorite place to go - Fred Meyer
What do you need to take to bed with you at night - snuggly thing
What makes you special - I can do cool things
What is your wish - I wish dad wasn't allergic to bunnies and cats

Quirks at five:

• She still loves her baby dolls, and loves to carry them, feed them, change their clothes, and push them in her stroller
• Clara started piano in earnest this year and played in her 2nd festival last weekend as a new 5-year-old.  She earned her 2nd superior score!  One more and she'll get a gold cup!
• Her imagination is amazing!  She is always talking and singing to herself and her imaginary friends or animals.  
• She knows all of her uppercase letters - except she missed Q and Z on the kindergarten screener
• She knows most lowercase letter names but still needs to practice - d (she called it b), h (she called it n), and t (she called it j)
• She knows many letter sounds, but still needs to practice - e, h, n, f, i, l, o, y, q, r, u, x
• For a few years now, when she colors or paints, she still covers the page with patches of colors and leaves hardly any white space
• The second we get home she removes her shoes and socks and sweater or jacket
• The girl can eat more dead meat than any kid I know - she loves it!  And she usually likes it cooked rare-ish - such sophisticated taste!
• She still only eats when she feels like it, but will eat almost anything (some super spicy foods bother her)
• She ate Life cereal almost every morning for the entire year!  She's just not sick of it STILL!
• She's an outside girl, and feels like she's being tortured if we don't go outside to play each day 
• She loves to help clean and cook and does a pretty good job of cleaning up after herself
• She can dress herself but still sometimes struggles with buttons and zippers.  Her shoes are almost always on the wrong foot which drives family members crazy!
• Mac sleeps on her bed with her each night.
• She can now count to 70, and if I help her with 80 and 90, she gets to 100.  For a while this year, she would count to 30 and then continue to 100 only counting by 10s from 30-100.  We finally have nailed the idea of 31, 32, 33...
• She misses her old house.  Moving was hard for Clara.  She misses her old room and old neighbors, especially if she needs something to be sad about!
• Lucy, our new puppy, has chewed up almost all of Clara's socks.  She is in dire need of new ones!
• Clara can put together puzzles and build structures with her magnetic tiles and legos like nobody's business!  I love watching her focus and create.
• Some cute things Clara says are: Yilbert (for Willbur on Charlotte's Web), she still sometimes says mine for my, but not often anymore, she thinks if Kurtis and I will just TALK about having a baby, she'll get a brother/sister, she says boice for voice, when something is blurry she calls it blurby (Kurtis and I have adopted this one...it is a super descriptive word), when she talks about all the money in her piggy bank, she calls herself expensive instead of rich.
• She's a new reader, and can read books 1 and 2 from the first BOB books set by herself.  This is our big goal for the summer!
• We've read all the Junie B. Jones books we can get ahold of from our library.  And the new series Clara loves is Ivy and Bean.  She also has enjoyed reading about her new American Girl doll, Kit.  We listened to that audio book as well, which worked out great!
• She gets sick of listening to NPR and just wants songs we can sing instead of all the talking on the radio.
• She loves to dig in the dirt!  Our new neighbor always comments on how much Clara loves digging!
• Clara still just loves school and her class and her teacher.  She is extremely responsible, and on her preschool days always makes sure she has her preschool bag without needing a reminder.  
• We pick out her outfits the night before, and Clara is in charge of getting herself dressed in the morning and making her bed.  She then goes to the bathroom and brushes her hair and teeth.  I come in at the end to do the "finishing touches" on her teeth and fix her hair.

January and February fun.

I got giardia from Lucy on Christmas night...that wasn't too fun.  But with a dose of anti-parasite antibiotics, I was good as new.  It only took a few weeks!

We had a playdate with friends.

Clara got another haircut...only her 3rd in her lifetime.

I finished another quilt.

Clara fixed us her famous fruit salad A LOT!  She just loves chopping and is a great chef!

We headed up to Lewiston for Will's 4th birthday in mid-January!

Clara enjoyed playing with her new Kit doll and learning all about her from listening to the audio book, Meet Kit.  It was so fun to enjoy a book in this new way with Clara!

We hiked a few times looking for deer sheds.

Kurtis has been working with Lucy to make her a bird dog.

A coffee date after a north Boise hike.

I was able to attend the Mother's Tea at Clara's preschool.  It was fabulous, except for the fact that I was pretty sick.  But I couldn't miss it!

Clara and I enjoyed a "campfire" outside in the mild February weather.

We went to sushi on Valentine's Day as a family!

Clara just LOVES her california rolls!

A little tree climbing happened in the backyard!

And after feeling sick for a month, I found out I had mononucleosis.  At least I had an answer for why I felt so terrible for SO LONG.  Thankfully, I'm on the mend.

I felt terrible for the first couple months of this new year from the giardia and then the mono.  I'm working hard to take care of myself and boost my immune system.  Hopefully this sickness is behind me.  I'm ready for spring!