San Antonio Visit

I just got this picture from my aunt, so I had to post it! I went to San Antonio a week and a half ago to help my friend Katie move, and to visit with my aunt and uncle! We had a lot of fun. They took me to dinner on the river walk and we did a lot of catching up. We hadn't seen each other in 8 years! Crazy. We had a great time and will definitely see each other more often now that they live closer.

The rest of my weekend was spent helping Katie move. Now, usually moving isn't a fun process, but we had a really good time! I friend who can make moving fun is a true friend indeed!

Look Who's Walking!

Go, Chloe!!

Random Update Time!

It's been awhile since I've posted, so it's time for some random updating!

I'll start with Chloe. She is now eating "people food" and LOVES it. She rarely turns anything away.  Her favorite foods are yogurt and Cheerios (if they are anywhere around her she will beg for them), but she loves just about everything else I give her, too. We experiment with the spoon sometimes and she has lots of fun with that, too:

Chase also LOVES to feed her. He wants to share all his food with her (and she doesn't mind)! It's so cute:

She took her first steps a couple weeks ago, on her 13 month "birthday" (July 30th). She hasn't done a lot of venturing out on her own since then, but she'll take a couple steps here and there if you prompt her. She says "Uh, oh," "Night Night" (occasionally), "Mama" and "Dada," and she's working on "All done." "Uh oh" is by far my favorite!

Chase has been enjoying daycare and had lots of fun during "Pirate Week!"

Today he got a wonderful surprise. Grandma made him an amazing quilt and pillowcase set. I cried when I got it, and Chase loved it, too!

Both kids took swim lessons this summer.  I had a video to show you but for some reason it doesn't play all the way through.  It must be corrupt or something.  Bummer!  Chloe LOVES the water.  Chase took awhile to get comfortable, but by the end he was almost swimming on his own!

I feel like I've been all over the place this summer.  Besides the trips to New York and Idaho I blogged about, I spent several weekends in Houston visiting my dear friend Katie (before she moved to San Antonio), saw friends Don and Julie in Austin, went to a Theatre Educators conference in Waco, and saw my aunt and uncle in San Antonio (while I was there helping Katie move)!  When I wasn't traveling I spent quality time with new friends and took up running (well, training to become a runner... we'll see how that goes)!  It's been a great summer, but now it's time to get back to the "real world."  I go back to school Monday!  I'm ready.

Idaho Family Visit

This post is long overdue, but I was waiting to get photos from my mom and then I had to organize them all (over 200)! So, to make up for my lateness, you'll be getting lots of pictures! Ready? Here goes!

The week of the 4th of July Chase, Chloe and I flew to Idaho, where my brother and his family live, and my parents drove over from Michigan so we could all visit together! It was a heck of a week. Here are some highlights.

First of all, Chloe fell in LOVE with her Uncle Jeff, right off the bat.  She is normally not great with strangers, and takes awhile to warm up to them.  We were there for maybe an hour and I was holding her because she wouldn't go to anyone else, when all of a sudden she lunged herself out of my arms and into Jeff's!  She was all about her Uncle Jeff from that moment on, still taking the majority of the week to warm up to the rest of the family:

She was NOT, however, a fan of the grass:

Every time I bent down to put her in the grass she threw her legs up like that.  I find this hilarious. When I was little I HATED the grass. My mom said if I started to fall I would throw my hands up in the air instead of catching myself because I didn't want to touch the grass. I still don't like the feel of grass today. Who knew something like that could be hereditary? Ha ha!

We started celebrating the 4th of July with some fun little fireworks in the yard:

Here we are with Aunt Julia (Jeff's wife) and all the cousins! I love this picture... the moms and all their kids!

After that we went down to the river to see the fireworks, up close and personal:

We were so close that ash actually fell into my hair, and we had a couple close calls with falling sparks. I looked over at Chase after one particular close call and he was about to cry. I said, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you," and he said a worried, "Mom, will you save me?" and made me keep my hand on him the rest of the show.

While at Jeff and Julia's the big kids also spent time in the pool...

...while the babies watched!

After a couple days we went to Julia's family cabin, which was beautiful and full of adventure!

Chase got to ride with Uncle Jeff on a dirt bike and a 4-wheeler. I was too terrified to watch, so my mom took photos for me:

We also had a couple campfires and roasted marshmallows.  Chase was fascinated with the fire.  He loved to watch the sparks fly out of it.  My mom snapped this picture right after he told me to watch for the sparks, and very seriously informed to "be patient, Mommy:"

We drove to Yellowstone one day. Rhianna rode with us and shared her iPod with Chase. I love this picture of them sharing headphones on the drive:

We went to the Bear and Wolf Museum, and the grandparents ended up adopting Chase for awhile, because, well.... I needed a break!  (The Yellowstone trip was not Chase's shining moment.)

We had some amazing thunderstorms at the cabin, which Chase and Grandma and I all share a deep love for. Chase and Alex had fun sticking their feet outside into the pouring rain:

Then we took the kids fishing...

...but it didn't last long, because apparently Chase had forgotten that virtue of patience he preached to me earlier in the week while watching the fire! He had fun playing by the water, though:

It was a week full of adventure, for sure! The flight home was an adventure in itself, but I think I'll save that for another post. At the end of the day, family is family. You gotta love 'em!

Lots more photos are in our Photo Album if you're interested!

Chloe's 1st Haircut

I took Chloe to get her first haircut yesterday. She loved it:

She literally screamed bloody murder from the second I put her in the chair until I was finally able to pick her up when she was finished. By the end she was completely folded over on top of herself, face down on the seat between her legs, reaching for me. She's a pretty easygoing child, but when she's upset she definitely gets her drama from her mama!

Anyway, this is the best picture we could get of the final product:

It isn't much shorter, but it is cleaned up and that makes mommy very happy!

This is my second post of the day. Check out the previous post if you haven't already!

Chloe Videos

In celebration of Chloe's first birthday this week, I thought I'd post a couple cute video clips taken within the last couple weeks. Click the 4 arrows in the bottom right corner to see it full screen (some of her expressions are priceless)!  Enjoy!

Happy First Birthday, Chloe!

Yesterday was Chloe's first birthday! I can hardly believe she is a year old already. We had a super fun day. First, we all went to the water park:

Chloe had so much fun...

...as did Chase!

(It is a huge deal that he can put his face in the water now, so we took several of these underwater pictures to encourage it!)

After the water park Daddy had to go to work and we had to take NAPS!  For Chloe's birthday dinner we had spaghetti.  She didn't want to eat it, just play in it:

Chase liked it, though!

When Daddy got done teaching he came over for cake and presents.  Chloe opened presents first.  Well, Chase opened presents for her... and he LOVED what she got!

You remember the amazing cupcakes I made, right? Well, we used a birthday candle for one of her arms. Ha ha!

Daddy got Chloe a birthday crown...

...but she wanted nothing to do with it:

She did enjoy the cake, though!

...so much so, that she went right into the bathtub afterward!

She had her 12 month doctor's appointment this morning. She is now 29" long (25-50%) and 23 pounds (75%).

I'm not even going to attempt the last "growth chart bear" picture. Can you blame me?

All the pictures from our day are in our Photo Album if you're interested.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!