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I’m way behind in posting these photos, but they were just too cute not to share. A couple of weekends ago, Denny & Leah came over for dinner and brought their Rock Band video game and guitars. Claire loved “playing” the guitar and the commotion the adults made when trying to play as well. Leah and Eric are pretty dang good. Denny isn’t bad. Me? Let’s just say I improved as the night went on…

We had such a good time - thanks Denny & Leah! We’re now looking into buying a used set on Craigslist so we can do some family rockin’!

Note: If you are reading this in email or on Facebook, you’ll need to visit our website, www.ericandcolleen.com to view the videos. If you’re already here, welcome!

Claire got a package from her LeLe yesterday and was so excited to discover a sequined shamrock t-shirt just for her! It matched perfectly with the pigtail hair bows I had found in the Target $1 section last week. With St. Patrick’s day just around the corner, I just had to dress my little lucky charm in her new duds for church this morning. I used to think purple was her color, but seeing how her beautiful her hair and eyes are in these pictures is making me want to buy a lot more green toddler clothes!

One of my all time favorite pictures of Claire - this expression is priceless!

I didn’t retouch her eyes a bit here - they’re really that blue!

She still adores her dollhouse, and spends a lot of time playing on it in this position

Cute girl smiling at mommy on our way to church

Oh, and just for my own personal trip down memory lane, here’s a picture of Claire in her St. Patty’s day attire from 2009.

Jack turned 3 this past weekend and invited Claire to help him celebrate with a fire truck themed birthday party - so fun! The party started off with a presentation and a tour at a local fire station. Claire’s favorite part by far was seeing the fire trucks! She kept saying “fire truck” over and over again and pointing to them. She wasn’t thrilled about leaving, but the promise of cake and pizza at the party was enough to get her in the car. Ha!

The festivities continued at Jack’s house where all the kiddos enjoyed new-to-them toys, pizza and juice boxes. Claire was especially fond of Jack’s cool train table and puzzles. We had to leave a bit early to put her down for a nap, but not before singing “Happy Birthday” to Jack and eating some yummy (and very well decorated by Jack’s mommy) fire truck cake.

I didn’t take any pictures of part II, but here are some cute ones from the fire station. Thanks again, Jack, for the fun party!

Love this picture of my sweet girl posing in front of the fire truck!

Climbing inside the fire truck with daddy

She was getting really good at posing for pics in front of the trucks…

An attempt to get a group shot…not the greatest.
The birthday boy is on the far right with his super cool firetruck t-shirt!

Honorary firefighter Claire to the rescue!

This past Friday night, we headed back to our old neck of the woods to join friends Dan, Julie and Callie at Brixx, one of our favorite places to eat pizza. Callie and Claire looked so cute in their matching hairstyles, and although it took them a bit to warm up to each other, by the end of dinner, they were the best of friends. Julie and I couldn’t help but think back to the first time they met, and be amazed at how much the interaction between the two of them has changed.

Here are a couple of super cute photos I snapped of the girls playing in the booth after we had finished eating. And the videos….they just make me laugh. You would have thought the pizza was spiked with sugar the way the two of them were carrying on - jumping and giggling like crazy!

 
Pretty girls saying CHEESE!

Striking a pose - too funny!

Note: If you are reading this in email or on Facebook, you’ll need to visit our website, www.ericandcolleen.com to view the videos. If you’re already here, welcome!

I think my sweet girl is starting to look like her mama in her old age…what do you think? Of course, stripping out the color so you can’t see the daddy/daughter matching hair does help…

We finally had an opportunity to build a snowman this year and took full advantage of it!  Last time it snowed, there wasn’t much workable snow (more ice than snow).  We could have built an igloo, but that would’ve been about it.  This time around, the snow was perfect for snowman building so out we went!

Claire did what she could to help out but found playing in her playhouse and flopping around on the ground like a fish to be more useful :)  She did manage to get hit with a few snowballs from daddy though (and mommy too)  hehe!

It was a weird day of weather here in central North Carolina.  We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful coat of bright white snow everywhere.  We went out to breakfast and then came back and started getting bundled up to build our snowman.  We finished with the snowman around 11:30 a.m. and came in to get Claire some “bites” (food) and put her down for her nap.  The sun popped out while she was asleep, and by the time she woke up around 4:00 p.m., all of the snow was gone!  Now it looks (and feels) like Spring outside!  Craziness!

Check out all the pictures that Colleen took in the February 2010 photo gallery.

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Love from our family (including Mr. Elephant) to yours!

Tonight is the Dillard Drive Dragons last basketball game of the 2009-2010 season. We’re hoping for win #3. It would be so nice to end the season with two wins in a row!

It is the third game this week, the other two being held at home. Claire and I attend all the home games to cheer daddy on, but lately there has been something other than basketball catching her attention.

When she’s not sitting in Cami or Cameron’s lap (young sisters of a team member who adore her) and playing with mommy’s iPhone, she’s asking to go see the “da-don” (dragon).

Matthew is the team’s dragon mascot and Claire is absolutely crazy about him (as the dragon, of course). She gives him high-fives, sits on his tails, tickles his toes, looks inside his mouth, and allows for just about anything but being picked up. We have tried for a few weeks now to get a cute picture of the two of them for the yearbook, but the one night she finally decided to cooperate, all I had on me was my camera phone. Nonetheless, here are a few (lower quality) pics of Claire and her new buddy…

We are officially snowed in for the weekend, and I couldn’t be happier! The view out of our front window is beautiful and we’ve been blessed to not experience any power outages or other inconveniences. We’re praying it stays that way!

After bundling her in multiple layers, we took Claire out to play in the snow with the other kids on our cul-de-sac. She seemed a bit shell-shocked and took quite a while to snap out of it, but eventually we got a few smiles out of her. When we came inside, she made a beeline for her dollhouse and played happily for quite a while. I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between her behavior and mine as a little girl. I never was much for outdoor play, instead preferred to play with my dolls or read.

She’s STILL asleep upstairs, going on the fourth hour now. I’m beginning to wish it snowed every day - ha! Here are my fave pics from the wintery festivities this morning. More in the updated January 2010 gallery.

She sure has changed since the last time we took her out in the snow - almost exactly a year ago! Here’s a short video clip of Claire and Daddy playing. If you listen closely, you can hear her say “snow” - we’ve been hearing it ALL morning long!

UPDATE: After Claire finally woke up, we took her back outside and she loved it! She was stomping all over the place and trying to throw snowballs (a bit difficult with this sugar-like snow). Looking forward to more winter wonderland play tomorrow! Here’s a few more pictures…