Happy 4th Birthday Clementine

My Sweet Clementine,

Words cannot express how much you are loved.  Where do I start? This morning you came in to snuggle with me in my bed and you fell asleep with your hand stroking my face.  You told me how much you loved me and how beautiful I was.  That's just the kind of girl you are.  You are loving and lovable, gentle, kind, patient, and extremely thoughtful for a four year old.

Every day you and Bea play what you call "Sissies".  You consider yourselves to be sissies only when you are dressed totally alike and are agreeing on everything, which happens more often than not.  You don't mind being bossed around by Bea and you generally agree to everything she plans or says. You spend all your days playing with your sisters and sometimes I don't see you for hours on end.  You dress up in layers upon layers of dress up clothing and you ask me sometimes, "do I look fabulous?" Even though you like to play dress up, you're not super prissy and you would wear anything and don't mind getting dirty or messy.  You are my little helper and you do so much to help me on the farm. 

One thing about you is that you love Legos.  When presented with a choice between going to Disneyland or Legoland, you chose Legoland without hesitation. You will stay up very late creating elaborate Lego constructions and most of them are very long and delicate and when they break, you're not very happy about it.  You spend hours in Henry's room using his Legos even though he doesn't want you to touch his things, but you're always so considerate and thoughtful.  You would never ruin anything. 

Clementine's suprisingly symmetrical Lego creation

You talk to yourself and make up conversations between any two objects as long as one is smaller than the other.  The larger one is always the mommy and the small one is the baby.  You do this with ponies, food, sticks, rocks, bugs and wild animals.  On our hike the other day you picked up two box elder bugs and named them Rosie and Mosie.  As we hiked down the stream, I listened to you make up a conversation about the two bugs.  What a treat.  No matter what it is, you always call the smaller one "Sweetie".  I call you all my "Sweetie Pies" so I guess you are copying me.  It's so cute to see you learning to take care of little things through play.  You always tell me that you're a mommy and I don't negate it! You are such a wonderful mommy to everything on this earth.

You dance ballet and will be in your first performance soon...although you're not the most graceful dancer.  You have some very strange dance moves and are quite heavy on your feet, though I love every minute watching you dance because you love it so much.  Although you might not have natural talent, I'm eager to see what a lot of dedication and hard work will do.  I have a feeling you'll do very well as you and your sisters continue to do Ballet. 

You and your sisters usually play dress up every day and we frequently go places with you all in dress up costumes. You are actually the worst sleeper in the world and somehow get by on less than 8 hours of sleep a night.  It's not uncommon for you to be up until 11pm and when I come in to check on you when I go to bed, this is how I find you(see above).  This time when I walked in you said to me, "mommy, do I look fabulous?".  You are just so funny and lovable!  I hugged you and then tucked you in your little fabulous crazy outfit into bed. 

Fairy Dance Move

Strange Dance Move

 That said, you are extremely smart and can almost rival your sister, Bea, who is almost two years older than you.  Last year you went to the same preschool and by the end, you knew everything you needed to know to enter Kindergarten and you were just three years old.  You have even passed your sister up in our reading lessons!  You have even done more than 5 lessons a day without blinking. You have incredible concentration and have been known to color an entire coloring book in one sitting using just one color.  I love your art as well and I feel like I want to frame a lot of it.

You love hiking, camping and skiing.  You can do beautiful parallel turns and I dream of you becoming a world class skier someday, if you don't kill yourself.  You got a non-displaced spiral fracture, which was just barely a crack(and not broken according to Justin), but I know it was a break no matter what your dad says. You scooted on your bum for a week and limped for over a month.  You're so tough and didn't even get a cast!

Sticky hands from marshmallows.  You pretended to be a monster. 

Building "Cactus Castle" with Bea was a highlight of our last Moab camping trip

Your voice is so low that you sing in an adult register and your voice is a little scratchy.   I think you're on tune but I'm not quite sure.  I'm really hoping you'll have a Norah Jones-esque voice and that you'll be a really dynamic addition to our future family folk band.  You have been playing the violin/fiddle for about 5 months now and have enjoyed it, but the progress is painfully slow.  I hope to have one song for the band ready by the fall so we can play something with the Utah Old Tyme Fiddlers or something.  Your best song is "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" which has a grand total of 7 notes.  Twinkle twinkle doesn't sound bad either.

The present and future generations of BYU folk musicians.  My girls will be champion fiddlers! (just like the girls in the background).  They love playing

 You love to laugh and you have a low gutteral laugh that always makes everyone else laugh.  Your sisters are both very funny and they make you laugh all the time.  It's very easy to make you laugh, but it's almost impossible to get you to smile for a photo.  You always look the other way and have the fakest smile on the planet! Along with Bea and her bad teeth, and Vivi who won't sit still, I barely even have a photo of all of you looking at the camera!

Last of all, but most important, you really have a tender spot in your heart for your Savior, Jesus Christ.  You are quick to point out photos of him on our walls and you always tell your brother and sisters to stop fighting over things saying they're "mine" by yelling, "everything is Jesus' and he's just letting us borrow it!".  You love going to church and listening to the messages of the gospel.  As I mentioned earlier, you are very thoughtful and wise. Sometimes you astound me at the depth of understanding and comprehension you have of situations and ideas.  You are a peacemaker and you love all your siblings.  You notice every tiny flower and you always compliment everyone and think the world is just beautiful everywhere you look.  Your sweetness and goodness runs deep in your soul and I know you are a precious spirit of our Father in Heaven.  I wish I could keep you at this age forever.  It's such a wonderful time of life.  You are so loved by all.

Love,
Mommy

Schoolgirl Smiles

 Clementine is the kind of kid who has the patience to sit through anything and has been that way her whole short life.  She has wandered into Primary multiple times and not been noticed because she's so well behaved and calm and she's finally going to preschool!  I'm holding Bea back from going to school because of Chinese Immersion and Clementine already knows all her alphabet and numbers, so I put them in the same class, and she Bea are also in the exact same ballet class this year.  Having kids close together is finally paying off! 

Clementine loves going to school and she's keeping up really well with all the older kids.  She goes to bed easier knowing she gets to go to preschool.  She's so proud to have her own backpack and she loves bringing home the things she makes and showing them to me. 

The girls do not sit next to each other at the tables, but they like to sit on the carpet together, but occasionally they bug each other.  Bea gets jealous that Clementine is interacting with other kids, but she's going to have to get used to it! 

Congratulations Clementine for making it this far!

Jack-n-the box jumping ballerina

Doing her best impression of a "real" ballerina

 Clementine performed in her first ballet as a Jack-n-the box in Pinocchio ballet this last Thursday.  She did so well! Unfortunately Bea danced a different night so we had to go twice and to two rehearsals, but it was nice to focus on each girl on their own special days.  Justin was late and missed her whole performance because he took Henry to the nicklecade even though I told him not to because I knew he would be late, so he didn't get to see her, but I guess unless she reads this someday she will never know.

Happy Ballerina

Happy Daddy Hug

I took the girls to get manicures and pedicures before their performances and they both behaved like princesses and were very polite and glad to have their nails done.  Aunt Kris and Kate showed up for the performance and even though Bea was sick with a fever, she came all dressed up in her outfit for sister photos and did her best to stay awake to watch the entire show.  She was so delirious that 20 minutes after Clementine performed, Bea asked when Clementine was going to dance.  Oh well.  Clementine's dance was probably one of the cutest dances of them all, mainly because she's in one of the youngest groups and because her outfit was so darling.  She didn't know much of the dance so all her actions were delayed until she saw someone else doing the moves and then she would follow along.  I just loved it.

Sister Ballerinas.  I can't wait to get Violette in the production.

The best part of the entire experience was that every single older ballerina I met shrieked with excitement when they found out I was Clementine's mom.  They all said she was their most favorite little ballerina in the entire company and that she was the friendliest and most lovely one in the back room.  She talked and snuggled and laughed with the older ballerinas and danced for them whenever prompted.  It filled my heart with joy to hear them love her like I do.  She truly is a special girl and was a wonderful little ballerina for her first performance.  Good job Clementine!

Flowers!

Aunt Kris and Kate brought a balloon and a rose.  How sweet!

Clementine during the rehearsal

This is my favorite shot of her.  Too bad it has such muted colors!  I need to learn how to use photoshop.

Darlin' Clementine

Happy Birthday My Darling, Darling Clementine

Clementine making Muffin Cakes to pull-ups

Clementine, Happy 3rd Birthday my wonderful little daughter.  How much do I adore you? More than you can ever imagine.  There are so many wonderful things about you.  The first thing that pops into my mind is that I don't think you went through a terrible twos like Henry and Bea, but you might be hitting some terrible threes.  We'll see....Clementine, you are so pleasant to be around.  The best and most adorable thing about you, Clementine, is that you are so obedient and kind.  You are the most mild tempered and well mannered of my children.  You are always quick to forgive and to say sorry.  You are kind and gentle to everyone and share everything you have when asked.  My most favorite trait of yours is that every time I ask you to do something you ALWAYS say, "okay" in really funny voices, like the "okay" that is said with an undertone of "why do I really have to do this?" or the yelling style that denotes you're very serious about doing what I ask of you.  You rarely say no to any logical request and are very capable of accomplishing any task.

Helping mommy in the kitchen...kind of:)

You making cinnamon rolls in a tiny pot wearing my high heels

You are very self motivated, especially in the kitchen.  Every time I'm cooking in the kitchen, there you are right by my side with your cute little apron on, helping me cut up vegetables or pouring ingredients into a bowl for me.  you love cracking eggs open and mixing them up for scrambled eggs in the morning.  You help me with everything when the rest of the kids don't seem interested in the daily life of mom and farm chores.  You help with laundry, you love emptying the dishes from the washer and you just helped us plant plants in the new vegetable garden today.  You really are a big help to me in everything I do. I have to admit that I frequently give you super sharp knives to cut stuff up with because the butter knives literally aren't cuttin' it! I just read an article about Scandinavian and European parents allowing their young children to use knives stating that, "no one has lost a finger yet!" so I'm now not ashamed to say that you use sharp knives on a regular basis!  You have cut your fingers a tiny bit, but I only intervene when you're trying to stab something while holding it  (you should work on that). You also help me a lot because you're an extremely clean child.  You usually keep clean all day long and you never leave your dishes on the table or spill your food all over the floor like your brother and sisters.  You also eat everything I make and you eat it all.  You are a bottomless pit.  Your dad and I always laugh together every time you say, "mommy, I'm hungry" because no matter what you ate 10 minutes ago, you're still hungry.  Your favorite food is anything with a lot of flavor in it like roasted chicken or sausages.  You ask for eggs and sausages and pancakes every morning for breakfast and you eat it all!

Clementine in her ballet outfit.  I can't believe you're 2.5 in this photo.  You look like you're 4!

 Clementine, you just started ballet this year and every time you dance, you have a giant smile on your face.  You run out and announce to the entire audience of mom's, "I do ballet mommy! I do ballet!"  You have such a love for ballet.  You are in a class of slightly older girls but you pay attention very well and you make your teachers laugh because you're not as coordinated as some of the other little girls and you're a little heavy on your feet, but it's just darling to watch you have such a fun time every week.  You also love to ride a bike and your slider rider around our farm.  You could pedal even earlier than Bea did(before 2 1/2) and enjoy zipping around the driveway on your slider rider and Bea's bike. 

Holding the turkey legs that we cut off the turkey we ate for Thanksgiving.  They were nasty..and you may or may not have put one in your mouth.  Just keeping you healthy the real way.

The thing that stresses me out the most in my life right now is our pet rats.  You and Bea have two hairless rats, Pinkie Pie and Muffin Cakes.  They are the most tortured creatures on the planet.  You two smash, slap, squish, squeeze, flip, throw, and lose your rats on an almost daily basis.  I have had to catch Muffin Cakes four times this past week by putting a box outside and praying to heaven that the rat comes back to the box.  Luckily I found it in our yard three times and once in our neighbor's yard.  There are so many predators out, I can't believe she's survived that long.  She was lost for a few days once and I thought she was a goner because she was out in a snowstorm, but somehow she didn't freeze or get eaten by the many cats prowling around our property.  The rats never stop squeaking and sometimes screeching for help every time they are touched because they know they are handled so roughly.  I am so conflicted because you love them so much, like they are your own little squishy babies, and you're both so content and happy when you are holding the rats, but they are so tortured I can almost not bare it any longer. Good thing they live relatively short lives.

Sitting in the sun chairs at The Canyons

Ready to go ski!

After a long day skiing

Clementine, you LOVE to sing and you sing your song, "oh my darlin' Clementine" all the time.  You rarely invite others to sing with you and get really mad when anyone tries to join in.  I took you skiing with the ski trainer maybe 6 times and you would belt it out as you were bombing down the hills.  Other skiers would look behind them and laugh when they saw you singing at the top of your lungs in your one piece ski suit, cute hat and goggles.  You are a good skier and you already have a solid skiing stance.

Chinese New Year is one of our favorite holidays.  You make a cute little Chinese girl!

I can't write about you and not mention your hair.  You have so much hair, way more than Bea or Violette will ever have.  Your head is still a little flat in the back which makes you have a natural "bump it" look and then your hair comes straight forward from the crown of your head down over your face and drapes perfectly over your forehead.  I haven't ever cut it so it's getting really long.  I think Bea is jealous because her hair is about a quarter as thick as yours and since she chopped it off last fall, it's hardly long enough for a pony tail.  I really don't care much about doing your hair all neat and perfect, so it's usually falling in your face and covered with something you just ate.  When you let me French braid it, you look really cute for about an hour before it starts sliding out.  You'll love your thick hair when you're older.

Clementine, you ask if we can go camping every day and now you have your own sleeping bag so you finally won't freeze when your daddy forgets to bring blankets for you to sleep on!

You and your siblings go on hikes every week to find waterfalls and enjoy nature. 

Clementine, you already know all your letters and numbers and you love talking about the ABC's with your sister Bea, who is still learning them.  You also love My Little Ponies and if you're not playing with the rats, your playing with the ponies.  You and Bea fight over them all the time, so hopefully with the new ones I'm getting you for your Birthday, you'll finally have enough! You have a very long attention span and can color and color and color for hours on end.  You use the same marker and color everything on the same page that same color.  So many of our coloring books are completely colored in by you as you just keep turning the pages one by one and you don't care what you color, you just want to finish coloring the book. 

You coming out to help me in the rain to feed the chickens and collect eggs.  You follow me everywhere I go. 

Clementine, you frequently play doggy.  In fact, whenever you're on carpet you have to be on your hands and knees acting like a dog.  You love to lick stuff up from bowls and Bea always acts like your owner and puts food out for you to eat all the time.  I always have to remove really tight leashes from your neck, but recently you found a bungee cord that you just hook around your shirt, and I feel better about that.  You are just like a real dog and will fetch stuff over and over and over.  You're getting pretty fast at running on all fours too.  I'm sure you'll use that talent someday.  Between that and the rats, I think you're making our babysitters wonder what we're doing in this house. 

Your best friend

Every day you ask me if it's Sunday.  You tell me that you love church and you never have a problem going to nursery.  You wandered into primary a couple times and you were so perfect in there that no one noticed you weren't supposed to be in there yet!  You always want to say the prayer at mealtimes and in the morning and evening, but you pout if you don't get to say it.  We frequently have to say communal prayers all together or you have to say another prayer after the first one or else you have a bad attitude for dinner and won't eat.  You fold your arms in front of you and fake pout until you get to say the prayer. I think it's adorable, even though I try not to encourage your behavior.  Your siblings can take a turn you know! You love the second verse of I am a Child of God and you know all the words to "I'm trying to be like Jesus".  I just love singing them to you every night and hearing you sing them back to me in my ear.  You have a beautiful voice.

You in your new moon bed I had made for you

Peaking out the stars

Clementine, basically, I love you with all my heart.  You are my little buddy and my little shadow.  You light up my bad days and you fill my life with joy.  I love being your mother and I know you will do great things with your life because of your obedience and faith and your innate goodness.  I wish you would stay small because I love picking you up and hugging your entire little body. I love tickling you and kissing your still chubby neck.  I love talking to you and looking into your beautiful eyes.  I love watching you run around in your farm dress, with dirt all over your face and hair all a mess, singing and smiling and clutching your baby rat.  What a precious gift you are to me from our Heavenly Father.  I thank him every day that he sent you to me.  I love you my darling daughter.  Happy Birthday.

Love,
Mommy

Ballet Class

Today was Clementine's first day of ballet class.  She was so ready to start dancing.  I didn't even have to help her stay in, she didn't cry, come out, get nervous about being in a group of little girls she didn't know or anything else.  She just listened, followed directions and had a wonderful time skipping and prancing around the room.  When Bea started I remember she cried and had to be convinced the entire year that she wanted to go until she did her performance and then she hasn't complained since, but Clementine shows no signs of complaining and has transitioned beautifully into her own little class.  I am so proud of her and there's nothing cuter than watching chubby Clementine hop and spin around the dance floor.  She really is an angel and I love her very much.  What a blessing she is in my life. 

Chicken Chase

Rock-a-bye Chickie

Clementine is afraid of most bugs, including butterflies, and is pretty timid when meeting new people and in new situations, but one thing she is not afraid of is giant chickens with large talons.  Who would have guessed. She's also very good at catching the chickens when even Henry gets frustrated.  To help Clementine be gentle with the chickens we rock them and sing "Rock-a-bye Chickie".  Someday I'm going to enter her into the Chicken Chase at the Rodeo and maybe she'll be the Chicken Queen. 

Photogeina

Once again, dirty face!

Clementine is the photogenic one of the family.  Bea has her moments where she looks gorgeous, but can easily look quite scraggly, mainly because she has my same hair consistency(fine and thin) which rats into a giant nest after even just sitting in a car seat.  Clementine, on the other hand, wakes up from naps and in the morningwith perfect, slightly wavy tresses that are reminiscent of Rapunzel.  Unless there's a sucker stuck in her hair(happened more than once) I never have to brush it out to make it look nice.  I have some friends who just have that one child that is a natural in front of the camera and I feel that's Clementine.  I can never even decide on what photos to post because they all look totally perfect and she has a slight permasmile. 

Model pose

Easy smiler

Sweet farm girl with popsicles

Got this one on the move.  I wish it was in focus.  Love those dimples!