Claire is Eleven!

Blogging has taken a backseat this summer. It has been a really good summer. We have had a lot of fun and I have had a lot on my mind. Some of it I just can't blog about and some of it is so heavy that by the end of the day I just don't have anything left. I know lots of moms out there can relate to that! One of the heavy things on my mind is Claire and the fact that she is getting older and turning into a young lady...

She is beautiful to me in so many ways. I love her so much. She is a pleaser, a helper, a great big sister, a nurturer to many and smart. While these are great things, there are also hard things about Claire. She is anxious and stuffs many of her emotions inside, she can be difficult to read, I have to work to get her to share deep things with me. As she gets older I am realizing that I need to make a conscious effort to dig deeper with her and not allow her younger and more verbal siblings the chance to take over. If I do not ask, she will not tell, usually. And I am a mom who needs to know, therefore I need to ask.

Claire with her "more verbal" siblings!

August 10th was Claire's 11th birthday. I got a sitter for the other 2 and took her out. The first event was visiting a new pediatrician, followed by 2 shots and talking about the (.)! That proved to not all be so fun, so after that we headed to the cupcake bar for lunch and then some shopping! She got oodles of new earrings, 2 pairs of skinny jeans, new shirts and a jacket. I think she was tired. So tired that she kept saying, "Let's leave now." What?? I know it takes time to create a good shopper and she is not there yet. She is not yet in for finding that just right item, no matter how many stores you have to visit.

We shared the Raspberry Fusion cupcake at Jilly's Cupcake bar. It was one of their cupcakes that recently won on food network's Cupcake Wars. It was de-lish!

When we walked out of the cupcake bar we spotted this and just had to take a picture...
You got it, a coral pink Honda Odyssey! I first thought this must be the van that Jilly's uses to transport cupcakes for catering, etc. But NO, this had a mom and her 4 kids inside and no Jilly magnet attached. Claire and I got a good laugh and she quickly said, "skittles". This is a game she plays when she sees a funny color car, like yellow. We both agreed this was the ultimate skittle and she insisted that I take a picture to show Emma and Sam. I think this is totally the answer to not getting your odyssey lost in the school parking lot. I mean really Honda, come up with some better colors or obviously Maaco will! Kudos to this mom...I love it!

Thanks Claire for laughing with me today. Hopefully it is still fun to hang out with your ol' mom!