For the Scrapbook

Once again I am too lazy to rearrange these pictures, so we are going to do this Chinese style. Backwards (well, to us). Start at the end of this post, for that shall actually be the beginning. We will see you in a minute up here again. Isn't this fun!So last Monday was Chloe's birthday and then on Wednesday was Don's career expo. I forgot to take many pictures. Chloe kept me pretty busy. She started undressing herself at one point. It was also like Halloween. All of the booths had candy and boy oh boy, did Chloe ever like that. She had a bazillion suckers. Seriously a bazillion. As you can see in the picture. I tried to get her to put them in her trick or treating bag, but she preferred to eat them all on the spot. It was a losing battle. And on this battle, I lost. I admit defeat. Oh well!
And that brings us up to today. And I had better go. Have a great Memorial day everyone!

Chloe and cousins.

Her aunt and uncle gave her some blue Shaka shoes and she loves those. Chloe has a shoe fetish. The other Sunday I found her in nursery wearing another little girl's shoes. The little girl came up and told me that Chloe was wearing her shoes. I told Chloe to put on her own shoes and give the other ones back. And what did Chloe do? She took her own shoes and offered them to the other girl and kept wearing the other girl's shoes. The other little girl looked quite perplexed. And Chloe just kept doing her thing. Chloe is sneaky. And the funniest thing about her is that she can get other kids going and she just gets this look on her face like she has no idea what their problem is.

And I bought her some play dough and a scooter for her birthday. Play dough....mistake. That stuff gets everywhere. Scooter...also maybe a mistake. She prefers her bike and she doesn't seem too enticed by the scooter. Hopefully she will get really good at it and want to ride it. I think Chloe really figured out that the whole birthday song and dance was for her. And she loved the attention. By golly she's cute. Chloe dressed in her birthday attire. I purchased some new summer clothes for her. Ones that would be easily put on and comfortable for her. It was hard to do, but I did it. I bypassed all the button, collared, jean type material, all the really, really cute stuff, and went for the 100 percent cotton stuff. But little Miss Chloe has a mind of her own. She still chose to take her new shorts off, and her diaper for that matter, and I guess put on her own form of underwear, a diaper cover. So I have since been playing a new game. And I will win. I have hid all her clothes that I don't want her wearing and now she has very limited options. She WILL wear her new clothes. And I have transitioned her to pull ups. I am not ready to potty train her yet but she is ready to change herself. I figure we will ease into this potty training thing. I have to mentally prepare myself for public restrooms first.

That evening I had a little family get together for Chloe. Rey, Cicily and kids, Russ, and my family came over for some cake. I made that delicious poppyseed cake that I blogged about a couple weeks ago. I thought we would not have enough, so I made 2 cakes. Not such a great idea. we only ate one cake, and I spent the rest of the week eating the other cake. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And the measure of a good cake is not being sick of it. If someone offered a slice of it to me right now, I would say, sure, bring it on! Seriously you have to make that cake. Have you noticed that I love food yet? I think I have talked about food like 13 times already.

During the day, Charlotte and her boys came over and went swimming. It was a hot day, like 106, so swimming was a great idea. And then we had lunch. The adults ate salad and the kids ate sandwiches. This is the best salad in the entire world. It even had chicken in it. mmmm I am salivating.

On Monday, it was Chloe Jean's 2nd Birthday. I trained her to hold up 2 fingers and say "two" when I asked her how old she was. She held up more like 2 and a half fingers. I think she sort of got that it was in some way a special day for her.We have really missed the Mumfords. They have been in Spain for a few months. Whatever. We spent many a Sundays eating Pizookies and playing Settlers of Cataan...much to the chagrin of Cassie and me. I am sorry for all you Settler fans, but that game...and I thought Monopoly was long.

We also went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant "Manuels" with the Mumfords and the Rays while they were here. Another awesome dinner. And the salsa really helped clear my sinuses. So that was a good choice. And halfway through dinner my ears opened up and I could hear the conversations which was also a huge plus.

My choir concert was on Sunday, after the Mumfords left. Unfortunately I had completely lost my voice and couldn't participate. But I went and watched. And by golly, they were good.

I think you will agree, these are 2 of the cutest red heads this side of the Mississippi. Although Alexa by comparison, makes Chloe's hair look like Dianna Berry's, not Anne's. Kudos to anyone who got and actually understood that lame attempt at a joke.On Saturday our delightful friends, The Mumfords, came to visit because they love us so much. And...oh ya, Brad (in the green) was graduating from law school. I think they would attest it was all an excuse to come stay at the Mortensen Bed and Breakfast, which by the way is open ANYTIME to visitors. Please. Come visit me. I will leave a piece of chocolate on your pillow.
Last weekend, which I am about to document, was quite eventful. Besides being stricken with a nasty cold, it was a superb weekend. I am glad I had so much going on because it sort of helped me forget about the mucus spewing out of all the openings in my head.

First of all, Friday, I went to Olive Garden with my friend Donna and her sister-in-law while Don went on his scout campout. I had a great time. I love the 5 cheese ziti. Which reminds me, I have a recipe that tastes exactly like it. I will have to post that one of these days.