Things got a little more interesting as the night progressed.

Pop's old leather coat from the 80's.......$75.00

Pair of aviator sunglasses...... $4.99

Scarf.............................$25.00

Family having way too much fun on Christmas eve......Priceless- Enough said!

The Exchange

We did our usual name exchange this year.  All the gifts had to be homemade with a $25 limit on supplies.  We had a blast this year.  I think the pictures show how much fun we had. We had a dim-sum dinner again this year with mango creme brulee and black forest cookies for dessert (yum)!! 

Levi made Doug this awesome painting.  It has already found a home in our hallway.  Looks great!

 

Mom made Aly this scarf and hat.  Of course she looks absolutely adorable in it.

Doug made my mom this 3-D  picture of Chloe with a tiny bit of help from me.  We stayed up until 3 O'clock in the morning cutting out flowers.  Some of the flowers have three or four layers.  We are pretty proud of it.  And as you can see in the pic Mom and Pop were thrilled!!!!

I made this 3-D Geisha for Levi. I need a better picture of it without a glare.  I will add that later.

Aly made this shadow box for Pop.  It is really neat.  She used some of his Vietnam memorabilia.  

For some reason I had to be blindfolded to receive my gift.  

As you can tell by Pop and Doug's faces I was very surprised.

Pops made me a bottle tree.  He had the stage set.  He had a pondfogger going and probably at least 30 sticks of  incense burning all over the tree.  It's all in the presentation!!!

Christmas Eve 2009

Chloe is 6 months old, so we decided it was probably time for her to have her first bath :)

Saturday = picture day!

Posing for pictures

Baby loves to give Lex a big face hug, lucky momma

I can't believe how much character and emotion Chloe has already. She is definitely in love with Lex and shows it by giving her face hugs all the time. She likes to grab Lex by her hair on both sides of her face and then pull herself into Lex and kiss her face all over. Lex of course just loves it and can't get enough. So far Chloe is only doing this with momma so they have their own special way of saying I LOVE YOU!
I love to watch these two girls together and how much affection they show each other. Chloe seems to learn new ways of showing her affection all the time. She has learned to look at you with a sideways grin and raise one eyebrow when she gets tickled with you. It is soooooo much fun watching her grow in size and in spirit. We are just amazed at how much she changes every day and week. She is learning so much all the time, she watches every move we make and tries to mimic everything we do. It is really fun when she finds something that makes her laugh because we keep doing it and get some good laughs from her. I don't know who laughs more, us or her.

Walk like an egyptian

Yeahyah! I walked/ran 30 miles this week on my treadmill! Working on getting those last, stubborn 10 pounds off!!

Ok, we totally don't want to be those kinda parents that think our kid learned everything early and this could be a total fluke, but last night Chloe was partying like was 1999. She was in a great mood and was talking up a storm (what does that mean anyway?). Doug, Mamaw, and I got into the laughing gas and were cracking up all evening, mostly over things that aren't usually funny. I am always game for a good laughing fit, especially ones like last night, the kind you can't control, no matter how hard you try. I am not sure what was going on, but it was a great time. Anyway, Chloe joined in. We have never heard her laugh like that. It was hilarious. Later on Mamaw was trying to get Chloe to say Mama ( I have been saying Mama to her a lot lately, never thinking that she would actually say it). Believe it or not, she said Mama TWICE! So, this morning I thought okay, last night was just a fluke, she probably won't say it again. I gave it a try anyhow, and Chloe said Mama again!! Oh no, it has happened to us, we are those kinda parents :0

Happy Birthday Levi

Levi and Aly

Levi turned 26 years old today. We had a nice dinner and gave him a hot stone massage. We heat up stones, oil, and towels on the woodstove. It is heavenly!

Chloe discovered the joy of yarn today. I think she might like as much as I do! We had a really great day together. We played all day and laughed all day. She is always in a pleasant mood and almost never cries. She has been talking to us like crazy and it is so funny, becuase she draws it out as long as she can. We call it her wheel of fortune song. She is also starting to cuddle a lot more lately. She likes to rub her face all over mine and of course give me a big slobbery kiss (sort of). Another thing I noticed in the last few days, is that when she gets excited she raises her right eyebrow. It is really cute. I know, believe it or not, I think something that Chloe does is cute, no way!!!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Chloe rolled over yesterday!!! She has been working on this for quite some time, but she has definitely got it now. She is also sitting up really well. She can reach down and pick up her toys without falling over. Oh yeah, she has figured out the dropsy game (lucky us), she drops, we pick up, repeat.

Favs from the first day of the rest of our life

Lily almost 2 months and Chloe less than 24 hours old