An evening at Ellis Park

 

500 Festival Parade

We decided at the last minute to go to the Parade.  We made it out of the house and downtown in 25 minutes!   Someone downtown gave us tickets, so we ended up getting to sit very close.  Score!!!  We had a great time and Chloe was super stoked about the huge balloon floaty things (what are the those things called anyway?).  She also really liked all the high school bands and was moving her arm and up and down like she was a band conductor (Mamaw taught her that).  Last minute adventures are the best!!!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider and much more

Here is a photo of Chloe doing the itsy-bitsy-spider. She likes to do this all through dinner and wants us to do it with her.   I remember the old days of actually having a conversation over dinner, but this is much more entertaining! 

We have been having so much fun with Chloe. She wants to learn about everything and points constantly.  it is hilarious, sometimes it looks as if she is being led around by her finger. 

Poppa has been teaching Chloe to touch and not grab things.  He takes her all around the house and they touch pictures, the thermostat, lightswitches, etc. It has actually worked very well and she no longer pulls the pictures off the walls (yay). When we were outside the other night and she pointed at the moon and said "sush" (touch). I said to her moon and she said "mooo", but like a cow. She has developed a real liking for the neighbor's cow and she moos at it occasionally.

Her favorite book right now is "Peek-A-Boo Caterpillar" and it asks if you can find the bee, ant, frog, and bird.  She can point to each one and will say bee and ant.  She hasn't mastered frog and bird comes out "burr", which is pretty good we think :) (we are just a little proud of her, if you can't tell).  Okay, one more brag session, and then I'll stop.    Another book she likes is "Yummy Colors", it has pictures of vegetables and fruits and she points to the to the color purple and then says "purple", which sounds so funny, she tucks her little chin under and puckers her lips, not sure why, but it is darn cute. 
 
                                                   Kids are AMAZING!!

11 Months Old

Dear Chloe,

     You are 11 months old today.  It has been the best 11 months of our life.  You have already brought us more joy than can be put into words. Your Poppa and I never imagined that we could be this happy! We have laughed and smiled more in last 11 months, than in the past few years.  I love taking care of you and playing with you all day.  It is even more fun when Poppa gets home from work.  You wait at the front door for him and as soon as you see him you squeal, scream, and stomp your little feet.  He is equally excited to see you and plays with you all evening.  He is totally and completely in LOVE with his LadyPie. 

          You like to be silly and play peek-a-boo.  Even when you are nursing and almost asleep, you will pull the blanket over your face, and wait for us to say "where's Chloe"?, then you peek your half-opened eyes out and smile, then you go right back to nursing.  One of my favorite things you do, is carry your babydoll around on your shoulder and pat her and kiss her, and say "momma, baby".  It is so darn cute, I can hardly stand it.  You learned how to make the kissing sound this week, instead of the opened mouth slobberfest you used to do.  You are super cuddly and give the best hugs. You give Momma the majority of the hugs right now.  You wrap your plump, little arms tightly around my neck and pat my back. In my mind, there is nothing better. 

    You like to flirt with Paw and definitely have special body language when he is around. You look over you shoulder at him and put your hand on your hip and then smile bigger than ever at Paw.  He acts pretty silly when your around too. You two are going to be best buds, that is obvious already. 

   Of course you love your Mamaw and the way you say her name is so cute.  You throw a little southern draw in there.  She is infatuated with her Chloe and hugs and kisses all over you. Mawmaw is having the best time getting you all kinds of little treasures from garage sales and she knows exactly what you like.

   Uncle Levi loves to tease you and you must think he is pretty funny, because you can't look at him without laughing.  He thinks you are so adorable and I think you have made him catch the "baby-bug".  His favorite name for you is "poopy pants" (I know, so endearing, right?). 

    You have a full head of brown, curly hair with one big curl that hangs right in the middle of your forehead. Poppa loves your curls and comments every single day on how he just can't believe we have a brown-eyed, curly-headed baby girl.  You two are quite the pair with your matching "do's".

    You are cruising all around the house now.  It didn't take you long to master walking.  You can even back up now.  You love a challenge and want to climb on everything.  It is so awesome and weird at the same time to have a little one waltzing all over the house and getting into anything and EVERYTHING.   

    You still hardly ever cry, even when you were getting your teeth you didn't fuss much.  You have the funniest little smile with two teeth up top and two on the bottom.  You have such an outgoing personality and make friends everywhere we go.  Life is so much more exciting and fun with you BearPie.  It is like being a child all over again.  I go to bed every night wondering what tommorow will bring and thank God for the most wonderful blessing anyone could ever ask for.  You are our world Little Miss Chloe and we love you more and more every minute. 

                                                         Love

                                                            Momma

My new favorite afternoon snack

I am in love with this tomato stacker.  It is super easy and the presentation is nice.

You just layer tomatoes and fresh mozzarella .  In between each layer is a mixture of chopped fresh parsley and fresh basil with roasted red peppers and a light vinaigrette.  Top with pine nuts and drizzle a little more vinaigrette over the whole deal.  Serve with pita chips.  This will be even better when tomatoes are in season, can't wait!

Chitter Chatter

The floodgates have opened and Chloe is chit-chatting like crazy.  

-Chloe's vocab as of May 17th, 2010-

 "Momma"

"Pop.....Pa" 

(she started saying this on Saturday and said it at least 100 times today)

"Paw"

"Maw.....Maw"

"Fishy"

"Dog"

"Urdee" (Trudee)

"Bath"

I was washing her with a cloth after lunch and she said "bath Momma"!

"Birdie"

"Piggy"

"Balloon"

"Baby"

"Drink"

"Cookie"
"Nana" (banana)
"Bye" 
She started waving bye this weekend and everytime we drain the sink or flush the toilet, she waves bye to the water.
and "Uh-oh".

We'll see what she comes up with tomorrow.  Everyday is so much fun with our little Bear.  She is growing and changing so much (as always).  

Garage sale treasures

We got this horse for $20 at a garage sale!  It will be awhile before Chloe can ride by herself, we couldn't pass it up.  Doug is super happy that I made him wear this cowboy hat for the photo :)

We have been wanting a bike seat for Chloe and I found one at a garage sale for $15.  We went on a short ride because the helmet is way too big on her. but Chloe was squealing and laughing the whole time.

The slide was $10, a great deal!  Of course she doesn't want to go down the slide.  She likes to climb up it and she can do it by herself.  We have already had $10 worth of fun with it! 

Thank You Lisa!!!

Our friend Lisa was sooo kind and gave this cottage to Chloe.  As you can she was beyond thrilled on Sunday morning when Mamaw and Paw brought it over.  It is complete with a kitchen sink, fireplace, doorbell, and patio sitting area.  Chloe loves looking out of the windows and opening and shutting the doors and windows.  I know we will have hours and hours of fun with Chloe's little cottage.  Thank you so much to Lisa, Brad, and Adam. 

Mudder's Day

Doug went to the gym with me for Mother's day.  You better believe Levi and I showed him how it was done, and we are definitely feeling it today (ouch).  We had a really good time and a great workout, thanks to Levi. He is an awesome trainer!   

P.S. we obviously don't bow to corporate sponsors, such as Adidas :)

Love this photo of Mom and Pop in the garden yesterday evening.  I told them to pretend as if they like each other, that got a laugh, perfect opportunity for me to grab a good shot of them. 

Chloe is all about giving hugs now.  Paw felt super special when he was the chosen as the "hugee".  

 Her hair is really straight in these photos, kinda weird, the day before she had a curly little fro.
 

          Poppa is always playing with baby girl.
 

She's a Daisy :)

Hairmania!

 Chloe's TWA (teeny-weeny-afro). 

Chloe's first picnic in the park

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We went to Blanton Woods for a picnic this afternoon. Afterward we took a little hike in the woods, we must have lost poor little Chloe's legs somewhere along the way :)

(The first four photos were taken at Mamaw and Paw's house)

Chloe's first boo-boo

This walking buisness can be dangerous.  Chloe is cruising around everywhere.  She has gotten more confident in the last two or three days and now is trying to walk a lot faster.  She gets ahead of herself and face plants quite often.  Well, unfortunately she took a dive right into the corner of the wall and has a little battle scar on her cheek to prove it.  She gave a good silent cry (you know when they are crying so hard, and the mouth is wide open, but there is no noise coming out) for a short time until I distracted her with a blackberry (they are her favorite right now).  

For dinner tonite we had a spinach salad with strawberries, blackberries, walnuts, and poppy  seed vinnagrette.  I had some leftover thyme from the pancakes I had made over the weekend, so I made sweet potatoes with thyme, roasted red pepper, and garlic.  The combination of cool and sweet salad with the warm and spicy sweet potatoes was el-yummy-o-so.

"I am cornholio" (only you Beavis and Butthead fans will appreciate this)

Hmmmmm........I guess I found this a LOT more amusing than Chloe did. 

Can't get enough of this girl!!!!