We caught a bug yesterday and while waiting to show it to Dad, Chloe created a fortress.  I asked her why she put all her bath toys around it, and she said, "to scare it."

 Macie likes to wear Chloe's strawberry bathing suit.  She's pretty good at putting it on herself...except for the part where she puts both legs through the one leg hole. 

 Chloe put a mat by her bedroom door the other day and then made a sign that says "in" and "tot in"  (not in).   So that's helpful.  I always know where she is now. 

Chloe wanted me to do her hair like this today....

Nailed it!

Dogs, God, and Hair

Chloe: "Mom? Do dogs believe in God?"
Me: "Uh....ya, I guess so. What do you think?"
Chloe:  "I don't think they do...because they are too loud to go to church."

Yesterday I was looking pretty shabby.  As in I was wearing the same clothes that I went to bed in the night before.  As I was putting Chloe to bed, she says to me, "Mom, you didn't look very pretty today.  You didn't even do your hair.  And you should have changed your clothes."
(what does the kid expect?  It's not like it's Sunday.)

Chloe also has been lecturing me on not lying to myself.  Like when I say we're leaving, but then I end up jabbering with someone else for another 10 minutes.  So she tells me, "Mom! You need to listen to yourself! You are not telling yourself the truth!  You need to listen to your heart! You said you were leaving, but then you just kept taaaaaalking and taaaaalking!  You need to listen to what your brain is telling you to do!"
She is my own little Jimminy Cricket. 

I can't believe how quickly the summer is going by.  We are pretty much done with Chloe's swim teams for the summer.  She just has one more meet to participate in.  We are really proud of her and the progress she made this summer.  She has gotten really good at the backstroke.  And I love that she still manages to infuse her style into her swimming attire.  As I have mentioned before, she plans out her whole swimming competition look.  We bought her a speedo and she was not to thrilled with it because it was mostly black with just a little pink.  But we tried to convince her it was a great one (because well, it was the only option), so she agreed to try it on.  In the fitting room I heard her say to herself as she looked in the mirror, "Okay...so I'm imagining in my brain, it with my pink swim cap...and my pink and black shoes...and then my swim dress...and my pink goggles...okay, ya it will look good."  Seriously?

Yesterday her friend came over and when she rang the door bell rang, Chloe pops up off the couch and says, "Oh no! She's here! I'm not fancy enough!"
Yesterday she also told me she was feeling "worried" because she was thinking about being a grown up....and she was afraid of whether or not she could take care of a baby.  I see the family worrying gene is being passed down nicely to future generations. (better work on that.)
Also she is very proud of herself that she finally learned how to put her hair in a rubberband.
Chloe is so thoughtful and kind.  And I love that she thinks of other people and how she can surprise them and make them happy with her notes and pictures and gifts.

Macie continues to love shoes.  And still puts them on the wrong feet 98% of the time.  My favorite is when she wears two different shoes...and on the wrong feet.  And I let her do it.  Because you are only 2 once.
And she continues to dance whenever and wherever she hears music.  That includes the grocery store, church, and Doctor's offices.  My favorite was at church when she heard the piano playing "All Creatures of Our God and King."  She made her way out to the aisle to do her dance routine, she just couldn't contain herself. 

Here we are on the last official day of swim practice.  I now hate that shirt.

 Chloe did my hair.  That hair style took about an hour for her to do. 

 She also made a checklist of all of our names and checked them off if we said "thank you" in response to her homemade gifts. 
I don't think she was ever able to check Macie's name, because that ungrateful little 2 year old never said thank you to Chloe's gifts:

 Chloe's gifts lay waiting for when Macie woke up from her nap on the floor.  Chloe said she put out everything that Macie liked.

 And surrounded her with them too....

 As I recall, the only response she got when she finally woke up, was Macie's usual banshee like behavior that usually occurs after a late afternoon nap on the floor.

 But Macie sure is a doll in her unpossessed state.

And also, someone told me that I looked like the Toy story doll.  I thought it was funny, so I took a picture. I think I am a dead ringer for sure. ; )

I found this quote the other day:

“Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different...” -C.S. Lewis

Maybe everyone has already heard this quote besides me.  I heard it for the first time recently, and I really liked it.  Although it was attributed to Calvin and Hobbes in the original post, not C.S. Lewis, so I am not sure if C.S. Lewis really said it.  It doesn't sound like C.S. Lewis to me, it is way too simple.  

At any rate, that's how I feel when I look back at my blog.  I can't believe how much my children have changed and how day by day their growing and changing has been imperceptible.  I watched a home video of Chloe when she was 3 and was dumbfounded.  I had forgotten what she was like at 3. She has grown up so much!  It hurt my heart to see her as a little 3 year old and to realize and quickly it flies by!  

Today is also the 13th Anniversary of the day my Mom left this earth.  It is hard to believe it has been 13 years, but on the other hand, it feels much longer than that.  So I will be thinking of her even more than I usually do today.  And I hope that she knows that.

 

Chloe turned her shopping cart into a bed.  And really intended on sleeping in it last night.  I told her she could, thinking she would quickly realize it was a horrible idea.
She didn't.
so I ended up having to tell her it was a horrible idea.
She still hasn't been able to get the unfortunate poop dream out of her brain...Last night she told me again about her woes, and I told her that when I want to get rid of a bad thought, I just think of something else I want to think about and then I can't even remember the bad dreams anymore.
And she told me , "I can't forget about them. I have a good brain."
Which I am not sure what that that means in relation to my brain.
Also, Chloe recently discovered the movie "Pocahontas." ie. The worst Disney movie ever made. And the kid likes it.  She rewinds the ending and watches it over and over again.  Apparently she likes watching the wounded soul mate of Pocahontas shipping off into the distant colors of the wind, or something like that.
The only way I can even handle the ending, is remembering that the true story of Pocahontas bears pretty much no resemblance to the Disney movie...the real life story is even worse.
The only thing I think weirder than Disney making a cartoon about Pocahontas, is them trying to make a children's movie based on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."
Hopefully they won't try to make a cartoon based on "The Hunger Games."  But I would like to see them try.

4thof July

 

Today at church Chloe whispered to me that she had a really bad dream last night.

She said that in her dream she ate something  really gross.

I asked her what it was.

She whispered almost inaudibly, "poop."

We giggled.

A minute later she whispers to me again, "Mom, I can't stop thinking about.  I feel like I can taste it in my mouth, and I think I am going to throw up."

I look at her and she is dry heaving.

I told her to think of a lollipop.

Once again she repeated that she couldn't get the taste out of her mouth.

 

That it is my potty humor for the day.  I admit, I thought it was funny, even though I normally poo poo potty humor.  Get it, get it?

 

Anyway.  The 4th came and went last week. We went to our annual ward breakfast where they had a huge grown up slip and slide.  I really wished I had worn a swimming suit.  Chloe went on it once. I didn't witness it, I just heard about the aftermath from her, and her feeling guilty that she ran into a "big boy." 

Also last week she told me that after swim practice she failed to receive a donut like the other kids.

"I just sat there on my towel waiting for them to notice me, and they never did.  I just sat there with my hot face."

So disappointments all around for Chloe last week.

 

 

 

I bought the gals some patriotic hair bows for Independence Day because I know how to properly celebrate.

After the breakfast we came home and relaxed before heading over to a BBQ with our friends the Carrs, Wests, and Matrtzs. We all had fun...except for when Macie fell and got a bloody nose, and then fell asleep a few minutes later and we all worried she had a concussion. 
But she didn't.
After that we went to the Sutherland's house to watch our own fireworks.  Too bad our kids fell asleep in the car on the way over there and acted miserable and tired while we tried to watch fireworks.  Also, it was really, really hot. 
and that was our 4th of July.
Also last week we celebrated Adam's and Dad's birthday.  I tried to make my Dad strawberry shortcake but unfortunately there was no flour available that was not crawling with weavils.  So I used pancake mix.
P.S. I really miss the days when chloe was totally fine with bad hair.  But at the time, I just wished she would let me comb it.  But now...I am her personal hair stylist and she is incredibly picky.  If I haven't mentioned it, I shall mention it again. I HATE FLAT IRONING HER HAIR.  I think it is tragic that a person with curly red hair wants her hair  to be bone straight. And, she is 6.  I don't think I cared what my hair looked like when I was 6.  I don't think I even combed it up until 6th grade. 
That is all.