Six Years of Claire

Claire celebrated her sixth birthday last week. Time to reminisce for a moment as we look through the archives at pictures from all her birthdays.

First, the first one, in 2004 -

Wonderful one, with Bac (Aunt) Nga -

Turning two -

On to three -

Hitting four - 

Fabulous five -

Now at six, with her friends John David (left) and Ryan -

After all these years and all those parties, a girl needs a relaxing bath, made special with her latest bath toys (since she gave her cousin Jake most of her old ones!) -

The Oil Ranch

The kids had a day off from school one Friday, so we took advantage of the nice weather and drove out to the Oil Ranch. Since most other area schools were in session that day, we had the whole place to ourselves.

First order of business - the pony ride. Claire takes the reins -

Then Emma - 

The girls made new friend -

Cathy shows her prowess with the udder -

Next up - miniature golf. Claire tackles a tough one - 

Emma displays her skills -

Claire mugs for the camera while I line up the shot - 

On to feeding the cows. For an Aggie, about the only thing a longhorn steer is good for is barbecue. For the kid's sake, I let him live another day.

Emma gets down to business - 

All in all, a fun day for the kids (and the grown-ups, too!)

End of Summer Fun

At the end of August, Emma and Claire enjoyed one last day at the swimming pool before the start of school. A little overcast and not very crowded.

After a short summer, they've really perfected their styles.

First Emma -

Then Claire - 

And with that our neighborhood pool closed for the year.

First Day of School

Today was Emma and Claire's first day of school - Emma in 3rd grade and Claire in kindergarten. Here they model the school uniform:

Circus

Last Wednesday the family went to see the Ringling Brothers Circus. This year's show was Zing Zang Zoom.

Claire had to have the hat that came with the cotton candy.

Everyone liked the performing dogs -

Emma liked the horses -

The acrobats were moving fast -

Cathy and I liked these guys -

And you can't have a circus without some elephants -

The kids can't wait 'til next year.

Emma's Soccer Season

Emma had another enjoyable soccer season this spring. She scored her first goal!

This is a year-end summary as I shot three different games.

The glamour shot with her new uniform -

Coming in to strip away the ball, elbow flying!

The next set of pictures was going to be my primary shooting day, but it's Houston, so it rained for most of the game. I had to stop taking pictures at halftime to hold the umbrella for Claire.

Next week was bright and sunny. All the "pro" photographers were out - the fellow on the left is our friend Robert.

Claire Graduates

Back on May 20th (yes, I'm a little behind on my blogging), Claire "graduated" from Kolbe Kids pre-school. Here she is parading in at the head of her class.

Here she is with her certificate.

What you don't see in these pictures is the crush of Moms and Dads taking pictures. Luckily, folks got out of the way when their little one left the stage. I'm always amazed at the variety of cameras, from cell phones to disposables to professional grade equipment. While I was fighting the parents, Cathy was shooting video from the front row. If I ever figure out how to post that kind of stuff I will.