Clearly She is Destined to be a Rock Star

A couple of weeks ago we all went to a wedding up in the beautiful hills above the city of Livermore, CA. Afterwards, Clara Mae found a guitar in the house, hopped up on the little stage outside, and began serenading the guests. Below is a little video of it!

If you listen at the end, you can hear Candace exhorting Clara not to swing the guitar around her head. A Rock Star Indeed!!

The Cheetah!

Clara Mae went to her best friend Alana's sixth birthday party this weekend. The party was in Roberts Park here in Oakland. There was food galore, and Gigi The Clown was there to paint faces... and boy did she paint faces! I was there for at least 3 and a half hours and the painting did not stop even one time. Here is ole Clara Mae as a Cheetah!

Toothy!

Over the past couple of weeks, Clara Mae's two front teeth have become VERY wiggly. Yesterday, the right one, was so loose that she pulled it out while she was in school.Unfortunately she IMMEDIATELY dropped it. She wrote the Tooth Fairy this note.

And here is what she looks like now!

Fortunately, the Tooth Fairy came anyway and left her a dollar coin.

Clara Mae On Her Bicycle

Here is a little video of Clara Mae riding her bicycle around her school. She is off the training wheels!

Making Faces

Clearly I need to update this blog more often... jeez... Here is a cute pic of Clara Mae making a face for the camera. Is this girl destined for the movies, or what?

Thanks to Jess Bobier for the pic!

Clara Mae Rocks Out

Here is Clara Mae yesterday rocking out to her favorite song.  Apparently, she loves Queen!

On the Russian River with a buncha clowns

This past weekend, Clara Mae, Candace and I went up to Guerneville with a bunch of our friends.  We had rented a gorgeous river front house with a sloping green lawn and lots of beachfront.  Since all of us were clowns at one time or another, it quickly became a clown weekend.  On Saturday, we all clowned up, and then went out to taste at one winery on our way to the Annual Roshambo tournament hosted by the Roshambo Winery.  Clara Mae allowed Artemis (aka Rugburns the Clown) to paint her face.

Here is the finished project... When we asked what Clara Mae's clown name was, she said it was Lil Snoopy Doo.

In the end, she had a great time, and so did the rest of us!

Thanksgiving In Chicago

A couple of weeks ago, we all packed up from sunny California and headed to the middle of the country to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother, Deron, and his wife, Kelly. Kelly is due to give birth in January, so we thought this would be our last chance to see her big and pregnant! Our mom came up from Texas too.

My brother and I cooked the dinner while the ladies watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. How is that for a twist on tradition? We had turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato pie, and greens... all things Southern. Yum.

The first day we were in Chicago, it was raining and we did a little shopping. Clara Mae had on her cold weather gear, and got to play with a life sized lego Santa.

The next day, Thanksgiving, it actually snowed, and Clara Mae was so excited she ran around in the snow. We had to corral her to get her inside for the dinner.

Dance Along Nutcracker 2007

For the past two years, our friends Molly and Tina have been taking Clara Mae to the Dance Along Nutcracker in San Francisco. This year, however, they were both busy, so we teamed up with one of Clara Mae's best friends, Gigi, and her Dad, Bob for a Sunday morning performance.

If you are not familiar with the concept of the Dance Along Nutcracker, it goes like this: The orchestra and dancers will perform some music and song, and then, at some point, a sign saying DANCE ALONG will appear and the dance floor packs with little girls in tutus, santa hats, tap shoes, etc... Its quite a scene to behold. As you can see, Clara Mae had to have a costume change mid-show.

We all had a great time. Below are some pictures from the event.

Clara Mae's Fourth Birthday

On Saturday, November 3rd (MY BIRTHDAY) , Clara Mae celebrated her fourth spin around the sun in her back yard playhouse. I began building this playhouse this Summer, but it was the deadline of her birthday that got me to finally finish the thing! Here are a couple of pictures of the playhouse. I am very proud of this structure as it is the first thing I have ever built of this magnitude. Special thanks to Edgar Blazona for designing this structure.

Anyway... when we were putting together the guest list for Clara Mae's fourth birthday party, we decided that this was the first party where we would not invite adults... well, at least not adults without children.







So, as a result, we had a far different party than in years past. By Noon, our back yard was crawling with ankle biters, while the adult parents sipped some delicious drinks. As you can see, all the kids were well fed, and Clara Mae had FOUR costume changes during the party. A great time was had by all.