Mornings at Grandma and Grandpa's house

We just love going to you know who's house, and mornings are sometimes lazy (no bed time at Grandma's until she is ready to go to sleep) So we have late mornings, this morning E and CC slept in for a while, so when they both got up at the same time they were still waking up... I had to take this picture B's and all B's are our taggie blankies, E has got very attached to his already.

BTW our little man is now 7 months and yesterday he was trying to start walking while we were holding him up by his arm! Watch out here comes trouble just around the corner I think!

Christmas Baking afternoon

Chloe's first real baking experience was great! as you can see she had fun tasting the candy.

Here is her contribution! she keept saying moe moe moe (more) as I was handing them to her her attention to detail was minimal... I love it she thought she was doing what mamma was doing!

Rollo Turtles are tricky, they look centered but when they melt in the oven for a couple minutes they move...

After the baking our little miss thought that it would be fun to wear my snow boots, after all who wouldn't want wear my awesome boots? she kept saying tuck tuck tuck (stuck) she wasn't able to walk.... gotta laugh! She also had to wear her apron I made for her, she thinks she's hot stuff in it and will walk around singing and twirling around... She has to grow in to the child's aporn I made for her!


After we made our turtles Chloe thought that it was time for her to get the oven mitts on, so after they were both on she went straight to the oven and tryed to open it don't worry the oven wasn't on and it wasn't hot any more...



here are the Christmas treats I made to give away, mint chocolate stars, supper easy, Thanks Michelle for the easy recipe, I have been using it for the past 4 Christmas's

Long story short: I have a cookie press, and I hate it, it doesn't work at all and I was press for time and didn't want to mess around with it any more so I made thumb print cookies, Since I wasted my time to use the dough as some sort of sugar cookie cut out I thought why not make thumb print cookies? They taste amazing with Raspberry Jelly, these are my new favorite cookies to make during the Christmas season, they are truly delicious.

I have always wanted to make Ginger bread cookies, I had the Molasses from last year that I didn't open so this year this was at the top of my list to make, oh my gosh I love them they taste amazing! the recipe is the mccormic's ginger bread cookie one

http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Desserts/Gingerbread-Men-Cookies.aspx

They taste great! It's always a great time of year to bake, and share your appreciation with those that serve you all year long. These treats are spoken for, After making 5 treat trays, and working on the treats for 3 days (here and there, not a straight 3 days) I am proud to give them away!

On a side note I did get together with friends and decorate them, Chloe liked sprinkling the colored sugar on the cookies for a minute and then decided that N.S toys were more intriguing than what mom was doing It's been a great Christmas to show Chloe all the wonderful magical moments this Christmas season has to offer!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's so fun to have a toddler around Christmas time, I forgot how everything is so magical to them and how full of life and joy they have. We got a new pre lite Christmas tree this year and every time it turns on Chloe say's ohhh weeee and will touch the ornaments, she has her favorite ones, Sleeping Beauty dancing with the prince and if you push a button her dress will light up pink and then blue, and it sings "I know You"


Daddy's little helper trying to help him "fix" her toy.

Chloe is getting so big, Her pig tales are such a great symbol of toddler hood! we had such a great October, Halloween is 3 days away I am excited for her to trick or treat at our local nursing home.


Our local park is awesome! I love it, this october it has been in the 70's all month except this past week. The sun was plentiful and welcoming us everyday. Chloe loves the swings, and goes down the big girl slide with out me helping her! it's so fun to watch her grow up so so fast!



Our park days might be coming to an end, so sad... Chloe will have to find other ways to entertain her self, like sitting on my lap while I am writing this post watching sleeping beauty on you tube, she's an angle sitting on my lap, so cozy on a yukky day like this. What a great night to just cozy up.

our pretty princess

yes, Chloe is going through the princess stage, I thought I had years to prepare for this but nope, every morning she want's to be cinderella, and dance with her princess doll (sleeping Beauty) and either me sing once upon a dream or have it play and dance to it, I love it!

Potty training is slow going, she know what to do and the concept of it but she is too busy to tell me when she has to go and so we are just keep at it and hope that soon she will stop and tell me, however now that she knows that she can have princess panties (huggies girl pull ups) that is all she want's to wear! oh if only i can get her to go into her big girl panties (underwear) that has cinderrella on it it would save us money... Soon I hope

Yes that is what she is going to be for halloween, if I could get her to dress up in anything else I would but what a cute cinderrella she will be!

Something to be proud of

So this is pretty cool, the new station that I usually watch is channel 8's KCCI in Des Moines. They wanted to have their viewers take pictures for them on Wednesday and Friday of last week for their segment the Day In The Life:Iowa. So as a photographer I felt compelled to do so. And guess what Chloe's picture of her on the play ground ready to be "done" got on the segment of Kids Outdoors! how cool is that. For me this is the first time my "work" has ever gotten on any media. I Was thrilled that I was one of the 15,000 pictures they chose from, I must be doing something right, right? anyways I have to brag some how and this is just one of my way of having something to be proud off. I am still on cloud nine! Cheek out the link

http://www.kcci.com/video/23583268/index.html

toddlers mood swings

So my toddler has mood swings maybe it's to prepare me for her teenage years, (not all ready right) Anyways Chloe loves to snuggle hold her when she wants me too, but look out if some one else is in the room she would rather be held by any one else but me here is my example:



Yes taken minutes from each other, and you would think that I was making her mad... Oh the way a grandma can turn her world around!

Yep she is my miss independent (Shh, she gets that from me) I don't like saying that out loud!

busy times

Chloe loves her walks, and being out side, so we have been out side a lot these days... It's great for both of us.
CC is a busy girl, she always wants to play and is learning so much, every day she is either learning a new word or she is learning a new skill!
One of our favorite things to do int he morning is to watch Sesame Street. So Thanks to Aunt K. we got an Elmo Chair and she sits in it with "Adrian" while watching Sesame Street she is so cute when she is being entertained :)
I love this picture, she has such beautiful blue eyes and this picture reminds me of how innocent she really is.. G and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

I love being a Sahm, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the idea of keeping our house in order and cooking and making sure that we are living a bit more healthy. These pictures that I have taken recently has reminded me that the time we have to nurture CC is very important. She already growing up so super duper fast! She is extremly busy and I can't wait for her nap time some days but then I am reminded that she is a growing toddler and after all she is a good girlly.

I hope that our next post will show you more of what we have been doing to the house... it's a new hobby for me Oh OHHH! not another one you say... this time it's worth it!

Easter at G-ma's

I love Easter, I love what it means to me and my family, as part of our beliefs and I love the warm weather and of course the celebrations we have. This year we our first Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house, and it was so great! I filled 9 dozen eggs for the three grandchildren! yes each had 3 dozen eggs, it was the perfect amount! Chloe didn't seem to care after she found one egg that made a lot of noise,(it was silver and had a silver dollar in it) all she wanted was that egg and was done looking, so we um hid that egg again until she was all done! It was a fun time for her! I loved how she walked all over like she has been waiting to do this her whole life it was so cute!

Anyways I hope you all have a great Easter, no matter how you celebrate and what you believe it's a great time of year!

Chloe's one!

Chloe's Birthday Cake was so fun to make, she was able to nap for most of the decorating. It has been a long time since I have decorated a cake, can you tell?

Chloe's Birthday decorations were amazing I love how it all came together nicely. The dot Garlands were by far the most impressive, along with her birthday banner I made.

Here is our Birthday Girl in Action, she played musical hearts with Grandma's help! notice the cheeto in her hand? yep she loves them, and can't get enough of them. I blame Grandma for that, Thanks Gma!

She didn't know what to think about her cake, she wasn't sure is she should just dig into it or not, this was at the end off her cake eating. She was too busy wanting to know what other people were doing when she was stuck in her high chair! in fact, she starting screaming as soon as I left to go get her a wet wash cloth to wash her up. I was really surprised she didn't want much to do with her cake.

this her on her Birthday we didn't go out at all on her Birthday, it snowed all day on Friday!

This is her Birthday Party at Home, Her friends from church came and celebrated with her we are truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to help celebrate her birthday!


Chloe loves her tutu and wants to wear it all the time, she also loves her unicorn she can get off all by her self and is learning to get on it all by her self...she is getting so mobile now!


my Favorite outfit she got from her birthday is this Osh Kosh denim skirt(thanks jd) with the snow boots Gma bought for her! I think she looks like our little rock star... watch out she'll be planing on the piano uncle joe bought her for her birthday soon!

I still can not believe how she is one! now she is wanting to walk, with out my hands, yes she took her first steps on Saturday after the party in Iowa falls! I am still amazed at how fast she is learning. I will have to get some pictures and video's of what she is doing. I taught her the sign for TOUCH DOWN for the super bowl this past week and every time we say yay she throws her hands up in the air and squeals and then claps, it's the cutest thing I have taught her. she is also learning to bang on everything and make noise with everything! we are in for alot of fun this next year!

Thank you to every one who has made Chloe's Birthday so special! It means so much to Gary and I for all your love and support over this first year, this year wouldn't have been so easy and gone by so fast if it wasn't for all your help!

Chloe's First Birthday coming soon

Yes I can't believe it either! all you family members, there will be a special party for you and Chloe on January 30th, you know who you are...

Invites are in the mail, all of our family and friends that live closer to Iowa Falls and don't want to travel to Des Moines we will have her Birthday Party at our house on the 6th! We are so excited!

It seems that this year has gone by so fast and yet it seems that we have always had Chloe in our life and I can't imagine life with out her! it so bitter sweet making/creating this invite, my heart doesn't know what to feel, sad happy booth, just last night daddy was able to rock her to sleep she didn't even want to be nursed! I remember thinking wow I can't wait for these days to be over and now when those nights are ending I am so sad but amazed at the growth she has made this year!

Chloe is crawling all over, she prefers to crawl, and has no desire to walk, even though she is so close to standing and taking that first step. We will see if she will walk in the next couple weeks. Her new game is to "catch Chloe" she LOVES it! she will squeal and look at you and then start crawling fast so you have to catch her... She also is mimicking everything you do, as far as her skill level goes. for example if I have something that I am writing with she will want it and will try to do it, you could see how fun meal times are... It's a skill I am trying to achieve to get her to eat again, she was doing better until she realized that she could do "it"

Really fun times huh? I love it and she is such a good happy baby that loves to sleep in, I love that too!