Dear Erin,

Thank you.  I took this little picture just for you to show you my appreciation. I was extremely impressed and giddy when I opened your gift.  If Santa Claus ever decides to retire, I think you should apply for the job. 

I think I got the photo pretty spot on.  I like my background better though.  Has more of a modern industrial look. 
Also, I think my hair looks better.
Thanks again for making all my birthday wishes come true.

Usually I think name brand purses are a big rip off.  Why do people pay astronomical prices for a purse that is basically free advertising?  Obviously I "get it," but I still think it is just silliness.  I hope no loyal Coach fans are offended.  But aren't their purses pretty much the same thing? Brown.  And lot's of the letter "C."  

On the other hand, I wouldn't mind having this Kate Spade purse.  I have seen this purse twice this week.  Once on tv , and once on an actual person, and both times I said to myself, that is a muy bonita purse, I wonder if they sell it at Target?!

Well the answer is "no."  They do not sell it at Target.  It is $318.  It is sure purty though, isn't it?  

Also, I have a food hangover today.  I did my level best to gorge myself on free food for my birthday.  I even got up at 2AM to eat my raspberry filled Krispy Kreme.  

I also had 3 friends have their babies yesterday, which I know they did just for me.  Congratulations Donna, Anona, and Rachelle! It's a great day to be born!

 (A little treasure I found on my camera)

 So update.  I was thinking today that I should try harder on my hair.  I even had a fleeting thought that maybe I should make it my goal to have well kept hair every day.  So my hairdresser friend gave me this link for some cool hair ideas.  I tried a couple today.  One of them is above.  In no way do I think the above picture would inspire increased visits to her site.  she makes it look so easy.  But it seems whenever I try to copy "cute" pulled back hair, I just end up looking like a polygamist.  That is why I steer clear of braids. But I think she has some cute "easy" ideas, had I the patient to learn how to do my hair without looking.

 Also, this week I think I almost finished Chloe's room.  It seems to be that every little girl must have a banner in their room, thus I bring you said banner.

 it's ballet themed in case you can't tell.  I spray painted these old point shoes,  and I also made the duvet covers out of sheets I found with little ballet dancers on it, and I made those big pillows cases to tie the room all together.  I think the room turned out very sweet which was my goal.  it is a happy room for my happy girl.

I have one large wall left that needs something, and when I get the green, this is what I intend to fill it with.  I love these little photographs.    They feel so light and airy, and most importantly, pink.

 Also this week, he** arrived and swimming season arrived.  Chloe showed up like this one evening.  And announce she wanted to go swimming.  we made her take off her stretch pants.  and her socks.  and her sandals.  and her shirt. oh excuse me, I mean dress.

 But man, with that hair, she can pull almost anything off. Almost.

Oh and Monday was our 7 year anniversary.  we celebrated big by a dinner at home.  It looks very romantic, doesn't it?

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am pretty excited because I have 2 friends with a very good chance of having their babies tomorrow.  they are getting induced so it could happen.  I am planning my itinerary for the day, because after many lousy birthdays I have realized, that if you don't make plans for your birthday, no one else will and you will most likely sit at home and feel like a loser.  No I have never done that.  I am  just imagining this could be a very likely scenario.
But here is my itinerary.  (goal: get as much free stuff as possible)
-Free lunch at Joe's farm grill
-Free eye brow wax at Ulta.
-Go get a dozen free donuts from Krispy Kreme.
-Buy myself something cute and tell Don that this is what he got me for my birthday.
-Go out to dinner. and of course get something free.
-Go to Cold Stone and get free ice cream.
-Have Don put me on a stretcher and take me home because by this point I will probably need to be wheeled out.
Rachelle,  I Hope you get that baby!!!!!!

Chloe: "Mom. Do Heavenly Father and Jesus have teeth?"
Me: Yeeeeeees....  Are you asking this because they don't show their teeth in paintings?
Chloe:  Yes.  Their smiles look like this:  (Chloe does a half smile, no teeth.)
Me: That's good question.  Go ask your Dad.

House of Smells

Everything smells around here.
First, milk spilled in my car a couple days ago.  And thanks to the extreme heat, the smell has been amplified to nauseating proportions.   
I sprayed it down with cleaner and propped my windows open a little bit.
And then I left the keys in the ignition and still havent quite figured out how to remedy that situation. 
Hopefully someone will steal my car while we are asleep.  That would kill a few birds with one stone.  
Also, the same day Macie threw up on my carpet.  And after a few cleanings, I still walk by and smell of it's remnants.  Even after borrowing a carpet cleaner.
And then thankfully some "stuff" fell out of her diaper so I got to clean that up as well.
And then today my laundry room flooded and nothing like cleaning your clothes in a room that smells like your milk spoiled car. 
So I am giving up on the smells for today.
I might just give up completely and start spraying bleach everywhere.

Today as we were driving home from church Chloe said,
"Mom you know what? I think I am the prettiest girl in the land!"

(we might need to work on humility with this child).

And I asked, "Do you think I am pretty?" (which as I write this, I think I might be sending my daughter the wrong lesson in my attempt to get a funny response from her, which I did get, by the way.)

And she said, "Yes! You know what Mom? I think that when you wear makeup I think that you're like a Queen!"

And that made me chuckle for a good solid minute. (Don said, "What about without your make up?" Precisely.)
Raising girls is a tricky balance.
On one hand, I want my girls to be confident in their own skin, and so I tell them how beautiful they are. This is in preparation for Junior High. And on the other hand, I don't want to make their beauty the main focus, because obviously their are more important things. Namely: kindness.

Well that's all.

Chloe had us pose for this picture. She instructed me to put my arm around Mo. I think she has a real eye for poses. ; )
Macie fell asleep in her uh..what is this thing called? anyway, I tried to take a picture of just her, but when Chloe sees a camera, she moves like lightening to be in the shot.
I'm so glad to have Chloe back. I really, really missed that girl. She is my comic relief every day. Her and Chelsey. And Macie is just so cute that I want to eat her. Don thinks that is such a weird thing to say-But it is true. Why do you want to eat something that you think is cute? Or hold it really tight and shake it? And no, please don't call CPS. I do NEITHER to my children.

P.S. I just have to say that I love my street. I have a neighbor named Wally. The other day we heard the ice cream man and Chloe and Mo came running in to tell me. Well because I am a sucker, I got out my 20 dollar bill (and almost shed a tear), and walked out to the van playing "Oh Babylon, Oh Babylon." And lo and behold, who came out of nowhere? Wally. And he said to me, "Can I buy them some ice cream?" And Emily and I were dumbfounded and shook our heads yes like we were bewildered bobble heads. So Wally bought Chelsey, Mo, and chloe ice cream and I got to keep my 20 dollar bill. He made all of our day. Wally is a real selling point to this street. If I were selling this house, I would put on the MLS under features: "Friendly neighborhood cop named Wally."

Chloe's back! With a vengeance!
We went and picked her up Saturday night and it was like Christmas morning. Chloe and Macie hugged and giggled and were clearly ecstatic to be back in physical contact. Emphasis on physical contact. Chloe tackled Macie a trillion times, but Macie seemed to love the attention.
Of course my house stayed very clean for the week she was gone, but the chaos and monotony that accompanies motherhood is a very small price to pay for the complete genuine joy and satisfaction my little girls give to me every day.
It was good to have this little break to remind me what matters most.
I know my children won't be children forever, and I want to soak up every second of their sweet innocent, untidy souls.

Other happenings of last week:
Chelsey turned 24, we went out to eat to celebrate. she got an I-Pad. I imagine that will be a source of contention around here being that Chloe will want to play with it and Chelsey, well, she will most definitely not want Chloe to play with it. She thinks 4 year olds are not to be trusted with any of her technical devices.
Also my brother turned in his dissertation and passed his defense, or whatever it is you have to do when you get your PHd. So that is pretty huge for him.
Also we cleaned our garage and got rid of a bunch of crap which totally rocked. We love our street. Every year the street does a big garage sale and there is a huge dumpster parked on the street where everyone can dump their junk. This is the friendliest street I have ever lived on. We actually know our neighbors. And people put out their American flags, not just on holidays.
AND it was actually cold this weekend. Which was super fantastic. And that is all the positive things I can think of to say today. I would say this is a very positive blog post. Good job self. don't worry. My normal posts will return shortly I am sure.

I miss My Chloe!

So by the next morning of Chloe being gone, I was ready to get her back.

Every day I say to myself, "Man, I wish someone would call and invite you to come over and play Chloe, because you are exhausting."

But the truth is, I love my girl. And my day is quite dull without her funny one liners or her entertaining(*tormenting) Macie and Chelsey.

And every time I talk to her on the phone, and then we hang up, I almost cry, because I want to squeeze her and cuddle her. And then I do start to cry when I think about sending her off to college...or kindergarten.

And I really don't know what to do with myself. Which is really stupid, I know. I have plentiful amount of projects to get done, but I weigh them out in my head, and end up watching "Hoarders" instead. Which by the way, is great therapy. The people on that show need therapy, but they are therapy for me. I watch that show, and I start frantically throwing things away and deep cleaning hidden crevices in my house. And if I ever feel bad about myself, I just say, well at least I don't have a rotting pumpkin under my throw pillow in my living room. So I would say, I am doing a pretty darn good job.

Although the show does give me a headache. Just looking at clutter and decaying things messes with my equilibrium. So I am going to go take some tylenol. And then I will tackle Chloe's toy closet.

Today is Easter. And Easter is almost over. And I am pooped. Chloe left this afternoon after our family party to her Grandma and Grandpa's house. I already am missing her. But on the other hand...
So these couple of pictures are of when I found Chloe had put Macie in her retired baby swing because I had put her toys in the garage as punishment. So Chloe just took Macie out to the garage so she could be with her cherished toys. The cherished toys that she didn't care a squat about for the past 6 months.

So the other week Chloe was obsessed with cooking these special treats she found in a strawberry Shortcake pamphlet. The recipe called for really annoying things. Sidenote: I hate kid recipe books and how they call for expensive crap. Like this recipe said I needed "marzipan" and "candy pearls." Basically they wanted you to take an already made poundcake, dip it in chocolate, cover it in marzipan, and then decorate it with expensive specialty candies so it looks "fancy." Chloe kept telling me we needed to buy marzipan. I don't even know where to buy marzipan.

So I did some recipe tweeking. I got a pink cake. And some other cheap stuff and we made this:

Beautiful aren't they? In fact I feel rather nauseous looking at this picture. But ever since we made these, I have not had to hear anymore about needing marzipan, so that's good.

I found this picture on my camera and it makes me chuckle because clearly Chloe is staging this shot. I can just imagine her little mind saying, " I know what would be a great picture! I'll put this red heart lid on my pink flower pillow!"

And here are some pictures from today: We did not get a family picture. Today was insane and I basically was too pooped to make a family picture happen. But here are the girls in their Easter get ups.

Chloe picked out her Easter dress this year. Of course it was pink. She loves it and so do I. It is nice when we agree on clothes. I tried the other day to get her to wear something, and I told her it was "cool." Too which she replied, "Mom I don't like cool things. I only like pretty things."

I picked out her shoes, but she loves them. I knew she would. they are sparkly and pink.

Our other Easter festivities this year were going to our Church Easter picnic. Chloe got a fairy kite. Which needed a lot more wind then we had. But somehow Don got that Kite flying high. Chloe also had a ball dyeing her Easter Eggs. And I am enjoying the fabulous smell of hard boiled eggs in my refrigerator, one of my top 15 least favorite smells. I tried to make deviled eggs today but I ran out of time. And I also put egg in my hair to make it shiny but then I washed it out with hot water which was really dumb because I ended up with cooked egg in my hair. Then I had to pick it all out. And then Don told me my hair smelled bad. So I am kind of over eggs for a little while.

And now for the stories of the week that gave me a chuckle:

Chloe got a game called "Pinkalicious." Yes a game based on the book. I would say they are milking that book for everything they can. Anyway Chloe tried to get Chelsey to play. She pestered her and pestered her. And then pestered her some more.

Chelsey hates a lot of things. One of those things is games.

After countless asking Chelsey finally conceded, "Okay I'll think about it. The answer is NO!!!!!!"

I took Chloe to the mall with me and she went and posed in the store window and then asked me if I wanted to pretend to be fake too.

On the way home from the mall she asked me, "Mom, how is the moon following us?" And I said, "Go ask your father."

While we were dyeing Easter eggs, Macie got a hold of one of the cups filled with vinegar, she took a sip...and then threw a little fit. And then I gave her an egg and she put the yolk right in her mouth and then she threw another fit. She must have been surprised to realize that not all food is manna from heaven.