Yesterday was a big milestone in Chloe's life. She swam across the entire length of the pool. (applause) It took a little bribing, but we can give a little sigh knowing that she is basically pool safe. I was not sure she was going to be able to swim by the end of this summer. She had some issues with putting her head under water and jumping in. Actually, I think she is still opposed to jumping in.

Chelsey was over here yesterday and after dinner we all went swimming.
Chelsey declined at first, "Um Melissa, you aren't supposed to go swimming for an hour after you eat."
Well she put her swimming suit on and came out anyway and put her feet in the pool.
Once again I implored her to get in and once again she told me about her no swimming policy.
So then I explained to her the reason behind that policy and that if you just sit in the pool you won't get a cramp, you have to "exercise" to get a cramp.
So she got in.

Well then I told Chloe that if she could swim across the pool I would buy her the Rapunzel dress she has been lusting over ever since she saw it at Target.
It is pink. It is glittery. And it has Rapunzel on it.
I swore before I had children that I would never buy anything with characters on it.
And now that I have children I am a big sucker because it is so fun to see their reaction.
Plus, I just want her to get dressed.
And the only think she likes are pink skirts and dresses. And that is about it.

So Chelsey was just floating around on her funnoodle and Chloe was practicing for her big event and I asked Chelsey if she could swim with Chloe and show her how to do it.

Chelsey told me she wouldn't because of her no exercising for an hour after eating policy. But I guess she figured floating around on her funnoodle was not dangerous.
Silly me, how could I forget.

Well at any rate Chloe accomplished the feat after a little practice and she won her Rapunzel dress. I had to try 2 different Targets to find it and not a moment too soon. The dress was on the clearance rack and it would have been a tragedy if I could not find that darn dress.
So here it is in all of it's overpriced Disney brand glory:

And well Macie is accomplishing all her goals too. She is almost 7 months : ( and she is doing very well at her tasks: sleeping, pooping, and eating.

Her favorite foods so far are sweet potatoes and mixed fruit puree.

I have to concur. I quite enjoy the mixed fruit puree.

Not as good as the crepes filled with chocolate, banana and coconut I had the other day, but still...not too shabby.

Changing subjects:

Also, the other day Chelsey got me in trouble.

I was telling a friend about how my Dad likes to eat really bland food.

And Chelsey was there.

Well a couple days later my Dad says to me, "Melissa, Chelsey is getting you in trouble. She told me what you said about me."

And then he repeated verbatim what I had told my friend.

Good thing my Dad is good natured and thought it was funny.

Well that night I made my family dinner because my sister was in town.

My Dad went to the store and brought me all the ingredients for the dinner.

And then I see him pull some white chocolate and raspberry frozen yogurt from the bag and says, "Well I thought I would try something a little more exciting."

Moral of the story: Sometimes gossip is productive.

The End.

The Mortensen's Go Camping

So growing up my family didn't really go "Camping." I mean we went trailer camping, but not camping, camping. When I was 17 we took a 3 week trip across the United States in a motor home.
We rented the motor home and the sales guy was good. He told us that travelling with the family in a motor home would bring us closer together and that we would meet lots of great people at the campgrounds and that the fellow motor homers would invite us in for cherry pie.
We never got any cherry pie unfortunately. And as I recall when we returned home none of us talked to each other for the next 2 weeks.

Some families shouldn't go on 3 week motor home trips together.
Probably most families.

Last month we went on a church campout and I helped set up the tent. Something that I am a novice at. I was surprised at how easy it was. And I said to myself, "Hey! We should go camping more often! This tent thing is super fun!"

So this month we had another church campout, this time it was training camp for scouts and the whole family was invited. I was extremely excited to get away from the incessant heat. We had a ball but it rained when it was time to put the tent away and then I said to myself, "Hmmm. Maybe we shouldn't go camping more often."
Or I need to make myself scarce when it is time to clean up.
"Oh sorry Don, I just need to go sit in the car and feed the baby. I can't help. Good luck with the muddy tarp"

Just kidding Don.

Chloe participated in some rocket launching. I knew we had a rocket scientist in the making. As a descendant of 2 brilliant minds, our daughter was sure to be a genious. Wait-how do you spell genoius again?
After our campout we stayed at our friend's cabin. We are sad, it is being sold this week and we will no longer have access to that little piece of paradise. Our friends Richard and Julie came up and we had dinner together and played games. They don't have any kids yet. I think we successfully convinced them not too. They were good sports to hang out with us and our put up with our sporadic conversations.
"So the other day.... PUT THAT DOWN CHLOE....we went to the grocery...CHLOE GET AWAY FROM THE DEAD MOUSE....wait what was I saying?"

Chloe was also introduced to a little something people call "rain." We have been told it is wet and comes from the sky. Turns out the descriptions were true. It was in fact wet and did come from the sky. And she finally got to use her "burella."

And now to my favorite story of the trip. On the way up, we stopped in Payson for dinner. Don made my life and said we should stop at the local Chinese Buffet. Hooray! Every time we go through Payson I tell Don that my family used to eat there as we were travelling through on family trips.

So we get out and there is Chinese woman running the show and she is very, very, VERY friendly, as I find most Chinese people at Chinese restaurants are.

She looks at my baby who was dressed in purple (note to self:purple tends to be a gender confusing color. Too close to blue. Stick to pink.)

and says, "Is a boy, righ?"

And I said, "No, actually a girl."

And she said, "Oh...oh...he have big head! Very smart!"

Um, thank you?

The best memory of the trip was Chloe walking around in a circle and making Macie laugh hysterically. That was the first time I have heard Macie laugh like that. It was pure joy.

Chinese buffet+funny lady+Macie and Chloe laughing+Don= Best night I have had in a long while.

As we left the restaurant, Don said, "Well I could say that is either the best chinese buffet I've ever had in Payson...or the worst Chinese buffet in Phoenix."

Touche.

Just a lot of this and that.

I have no idea how it got to be the end of August. And I have no idea how Macie got to be 6 + months old. My blogging has been greatly deterred by compounding technical difficulties. It seems things mostly work, but the one thing that I need to work doesn't. I am tempted to make my usual lists (I love lists. Not doing the lists. Just making the lists. I am an OCD list maker but an UALD (that is my acronym I just made up for "under achiever list do-er.) But I will spare you the details. Although note to self: Get CD slot fixed, internet working on laptop, camera downloading pictures correctly, and figure out why blogger hates my laptop. Look at how sneaky I was...I still jammed my list in there.

Also, many of you know my continual cell phone issues. My old old old phone finally bit the dust. It worked except for the screen was blank which means it basically was useless. I would hear a little beep that I got a text and then I would sigh to myself and wonder what fascinating piece of information I was missing out on.
Well when my old old old phone finally surrendered the ghost, I was forced to use my old crap razor phone. And you know what, I was getting pretty good with the archaic texting format. But then guess what happened today.
I dropped the phone.
And guess what. Now the screen on my old crap razor phone doesn't work.
And once again I find myself hearing the familiar beeping sound of a lovely text waiting for me in the wings, and I am unable to access it.
So basically now I am out of old crap phones and I have to find one that actually works.
Boo.

But this is neither here nor there, so who cares really?
On to the important things in life.
Me.
Just kidding.
I mean my kids.
My main purpose of this blog is for record keeping for my little ducklings and I feel bad that I have not been putting any pictures of them on here. (Although, not my fault. See first paragraph.)
I just have to say that Macie should be cloned. I do not know where this baby came from. Apparently the quiet and mellow section of heaven. They probably spent their days listening to the angel choir rehearse. I am pretty sure Chloe came from the section where they endlessly bounced on clouds and never ever took a break. And I love and appreciate them both for their uniqueness. It is quite amazing how 2 children with the same parents can be so different.




Chloe is a blossoming photographer. She really knows how to make me look great.
Hmmmm...looks like something is in the bag. I ...wonder...what...it...could...be....

Chloe's all time favorite photo pose.
She has been sleeping in her tent since we moved into our new place. We still don't have our furniture. At first I hated the bareness of it all. But now I am really loving it. In fact I love the minimalness of my house. It is so easy to clean and the simplicity of it is very calming. And I feel like I have so much space. I don't want to ruin it by bringing back my furniture. So when I do get my stuff, I am going to try to really make the space uncluttered and simple. The best part about it is there are no toys in the main part of my house. They forever more are staying in the bedrooms.

So I made these ballet shoes with fake crystals on them for Chloe's ballet themed room. If the ballet themed room ever happens.
Chloe is pretty much obsessed with them.
Well my friend was so kind as to give me some more of these fake craft crystals for my little project and I think Chloe took (and lost) them all.
Chloe told me they were "angels."
She also told Chelsey, "Hey Chelsey! You wanna see my angels?"
And Chelsey said, "No. No, not really."
And I said, "Come on Chelsey...she really wants to show them to you."
And Chelsey said, "grrrr. Fine."
And then she saw them and said, "Those aren't angels! Those are just tiny little plastic things!"

I have soooooo many friends that I think would appreciate this unique gift. First one to comment I will buy and send to you!! Perfect for your nursery!

p.s. No. I am not really going to buy this and send it to you. I think this would scare your baby.

Things that happened this week:
Chloe learned how to swim without her floaties.
I think she saw her friend Teagan do it so she was motivated to be able to do it too.

Macie ate food for the first time.
Rice cereal and pureed bananas.
I think she really, really loved it.
Really. What's not to love?

And that's pretty much it.

The last two days in a row, Chloe has been wearing a pink sweater that she begged me to get out of storage.
Nevermind it is 145 degrees outside.
Today she wanted her ballet shirt to wear underneath, also long sleeved.
So she wore a long sleeved shirt and a sweater.
Nevermind it is 145 degrees outside.

Tonight we took her to DI and I think she found her idea of heaven. The aisle of misfit toys and the row of cheap baskets proved to be her favorites.
Of course she found a pink and flower basket to stash the doll that she instantly fell in love with (and named Chloe, by the way).
Don and I both tried to talk her out of the doll. Visions of germs and boogies racing through our minds.
But she saw a diamond in the rough with Chloe 2.0 and now Chloe 2.0 is getting a thorough wash in my washing machine.
We also came home with a few stellar VHS tapes.
So DI= winning.
I looked at the doll in the backseat as we were driving home, and I told Don that it was like "Toy Story" and that the doll was probably ecstatic that she had a new home and that she was saved from the sad and lonely days at the thrift store.
Don told me that was ridiculous and that dolls don't have souls.
What does he know.
Chloe totally agrees with me.
Both Chloe's (remember, I have 2 now).

Other news:
I watched Dateline last night. Like I usually do on Friday nights. And it did not disappoint. And then this morning I wrote a letter to a man in prison. Who, after watching a 2 hour special, I have determined was falsely accused and imprisoned.
I would make an excellent juror.
I hope he gets out.
Being falsely accused= Losing. Big time.

Also:
Macie turned 6 months yesterday.
: (
and
: )
at the same time.
She is rolling all over the place.
And continues to be the best baby on the planet earth.
I think I am going to start solids soon. If I can find my camera. Because I want to get that on film....which might be a problem because:

Also:
I lost my camera cord.
What else is new. Can't find anything. So can't post any pictures right now.

Also:
I watched "So You Think You Can Dance" with Chloe and she kept asking me questions like:
"Does that girl like that boy?" (because a boy and a girl were dancing together)
"Does that girl not like boys?" (because she was dancing alone)
"That girl shouldn't wear that. It shows her boobies."
And now she keeps asking me to watch the "weird dance." A hip hop number to the song "Dungeon Dragon."
Which means nothing unless you know the "song" or the dance.
But anyway, she tells me often, "Mommy-I wanna watch the dungeon dragon one."
And I think that I can no longer watch SYTYCD with my 4 year old.

So yesterday Chelsey told me she sent in her audition video to be the 5th Wiggle. Apparently the Wiggles are having a contest.

I think I can safely say Chelsey is the Wiggles biggest and most loyal fan. 3 year olds got nothin' on her.