Passed down

I rediscovered this doll tucked away in a small beaded box while cleaning the other day.  My Mom gave me this doll when I was around Chloe's age.  Now I will pass it down to my daughter.  She calls it "lil doll". 

The many faces of a Smooshie Guy

We made this Smooshie Guy for Chloe last year before Christmas and never actually finished it.  I decided to hem him (get it hem him, anyway) up and introduce him to Miss Chloe.  She loves her "guy" and is pretty good at making up new faces.  I think she would have been too young last year, so I am glad we waited.  Anyway, I just think he is hilarious and had to post some photos of Mr Smooshie Guy.

Countertops and a sink WITH running water in the kitchen!!!!

We finally got the counter tops done! Once again Doug did an amazing job.  I love the oak trim along the front of the counters, CUSTOM! We also installed the new kitchen sink.  We haven't had a sink in the kitchen for over two months.  I can't get used to it being in there.  I keep going to bathroom to wash my hands :) Miss Chloe welcomed the new sink and took a bath in it on the very first night. It is super, super deep.  She can easily put her head under the faucet.    Oh, and how could I forget.........du-dun-da-da............ A DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!  Doug came skipping through the house with the cutest smile on his face and said to me "can you hear that?  It's doing the dishes for us!"  

We installed the lazy Susans in the lower corner cabinets last night and finished over half of the stainless steel back splash.  

On another note, as you can see Miss Chloe's face is a little swollen in these photos.  She is cutting 8 teeth at once, ouch.  

Proud Parents

Miss Chloe has discovered the joy of Legos.  She played with them all evening. We are in total awe every time she learns something new.  We were so proud of her when she put this stack of Legos together all by herself.  

17 months old

1

Barker's Beauty

Get this girl on The Price Is Right.  She did a great job at modeling our new fridge.   

Happy Birthday Mr.Home Improvement

 The floor is done! 

The appliances are in!!

The lower cabinets are officially installed!!!

It is Doug's Birthday!!!!

Did I overuse the exclamation points?!

And, I'm a dork! 

Old Bill Cosby was right, Kids say the darnedest things

Seriously she is trying to say PENCIL

Our Beautiful Baby Girl on our Beautiful Wood Floor

For the past two days, late nights, and early mornings Doug, Pop, and I have been laying the wood floor in the dining room and kitchen.  Doug stayed up until 4:00 am on Tuesday night working on it and then didn't even go to sleep last night. Like I said before, the guy is a true die-hard.  I unfortunately was up all night too with the flu.  I would have much rather been helping out.  I made him breakfast at 6:30 this morning with some extra, extra strong coffee before he headed off to work.  We will be sanding the floor tomorrow and applying the polyurethane on Saturday.  I cannot believe we are finally to this point in the never-ending kitchen remodel!  I took this photo of Miss Chloe on the new floor around 5:30 this morning.

Question #1: Why can't we all look this great when we roll out of bed every morning?
Question #2:  Why in the heck is she up at 5:30 in the morning?

Circa 1940

Here is a photo of me during the set-up.  We had another flash on the opposite side.  Can you say super Pro-fes-sion-al ? 

My good buddy Brook and I have been dreaming of a vintage, 1940 style photo shoot for awhile now.  So, Sunday night I got a call from Brook suggesting we do it on Monday, but we didn't have any props or clothing.  She made a few calls and got her hands on this suitcase filled with authentic 1940's garb!  We were fa-reaking out to say the least!  We decided to set up shop in the loft of the barn and getting up there was no easy feat.  We had to put a chair on the back of her hubby's boat and climb up through the rafters with all of our gear.  There was a skull and some animal droppings that had to be relocated, but hey, kind of goes with the territory I guess. I would say it was definitely worth it.  I love, love, love the photos.  We took over 300 frames and it was very hard to chose which ones to post.  We had soooo much fun and probably could have stayed in that loft for hours snapping away.  I loaded some new actions to photoshop to get the different effects on the pics. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!!!!

Sundays are for chatting

Dear BearPie,

  You are sound asleep for the night.  I thought it was probably about time that I wrote you another little note, just to tell you how amazing you are.  You were more talkative today than you have ever been.  I was making salad this morning and you wanted to some of the broccoli.  As usual you asked me by saying "hum (that is how you say some) Mommy".  I handed you a broccoli tree and you said "broccoli" for the first time. Then you ran over to Poppa, actually danced, you dance everywhere, and you said "Poppa broccoli".  We have noticed in the last few days that you have been two and three words together.  Then I said to you that I was making a salad, and you said "salad", "salad", salad".  You repeated salad and broccoli over, and over....... and over. As we were eating lunch you said bear, fish, and penguin. Poppa was commenting on how penguin was a new word that you hadn't said before, and I said that you learn a few new words every day it seems.  Poppa said "well of course".  You just blurted out  "of course".  Poppa and I sat there with our chins on the floor and you went on eating your lunch as if nothing happened.   A few hours later Poppa made a trip in from his garage to visit us and he had on his beloved safety glasses.  Don't ask me why your Poppa insists on wearing those silly things in the house.  Anyway, you always want to wear them too.  You call glasses "shassies".  So, Poppa took his "shassies" off and placed them on your face.  You gave us the cheesiest smile and said "cool Poppa".  Your Poppa and I cracked up and you quickly joined us in the laughter party.  As we were wrapping up our evening and Momma was running your bath.  I had undressed you and I was holding your little nakey body.  W e were looking in the mirror and talking about our day, you pointed your finger to my chest and said "Mommy" and then pointed to your own chest and said "baby girl".    I melted right then and there.  You are my baby girl and always will be.  You have made our lives a living dream and I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring and spend another wonderful day with our daughter. You keep us in stitches all day Miss Chloe.  I told your Poppa that you remind me of a butterfly fluttering from flower to flower the way you skip and dance all around the house, and always with a smile on that beautiful little face of yours.  We love you so much Chloe.  You are amazing!

                                                                          Love 

                                                                            Mom 

Chloe has really shown an interest in housework lately.  When we are sweeping the floor, she is always right there with the dust pan helping pick up the dirt.   Here she is helping fold her diapers.  

Video-Mania

Miss Chloe is our Dance Hero!  She doesn't like to dance alone though, well who does anyway?  So, we usually have to join her for a dance off at least 5-6 times a day.  As you can see here in these videos, Doug has been perfecting his moves on the dance floor :)  He has almost got it.........well maybe.  We bought that silly Sit and Spin at the Goodwill for under 2 bucks and it has been well worth every penny.  Oh yeah, and our new kitten, he is the newest find from our latest trip to the Goodwill; also under 2 bucks.  He lost his tail somehow on the trip home, but still works and is as annoying as ever,  but we love him anyway.