Stategery

After my Dad and I spent an hour trying every bribe we could pull out of our hat, Chloe finally took her medicine when promised a Barbie and a "talent show shirt."  (The talent show shirt needs to have "a ballerina and lots of sparkles")
I said to myself, I need to come up with a different strategy because I don't have 200 dollars to spend on bribes.
And then I remembered that Don can always trick Chloe into going to bed by telling her that he is going to beat her to her bedroom. 
The girl loves competition. 
And so I said to myself..I wonder...
And so I said to Chloe:
"Chloe. I bet you can't drink this in less than 10 seconds."
And she snatched that medicine right out of my hand and chugged it down.
Hallelujah.
Well played Melissa.

Send in the men with the white jacket.

1. Chelsey has been here all week.  At 6:30 AM she stomped into my room and demanded to know who took her pencil.  Chloe, who was in my bed, and who has been suffering from an ear infection all week, began crying whilst Chelsey went on her rampage, declaring that Chloe was not allowed to use her pencil any longer for any of her "make believe games." 
Then five minutes later Chelsey began a new rampage about her missing white socks.  She told me that if her socks had cartoons on them, she wouldn't be having these problems because there are just too many white socks around here.  And this has been rewound, played back, rewound, played back, rewound played back...the entire day.
2. Chloe has to take antibiotics 3 times a day.  For 10 days.  And it takes an hour every single time for me to convince her that she needs/has to take her medicine.  She thinks it is torture, but I attest the misery is shared.

Chloe was asking me about why one of her friend's parents weren't married anymore...

(uh, help?)

And then she goes, "Well they used to like each other, so why don't they just stay together?"

Oh crap, some of these questions are really hard.

Eavesdropping on Chelsey:

"A 5 year old that doesn't respect me....
A 30 year old that is busy and doesn't respect me...
My family is a bunch of nutcases!!!!"

The 2nd and the 4th and everything in between.

 Today Chloe told me, "Mom, I don't want freckles!!"
And I said, "Well I have freckles, don't you like my freckles?"
And she said, "Yes.  But I don't like freckles on me."
And I said, "Well I think you are beautiful.  With freckles or without freckles." (trying to cover both bases here)
And she said, "Well I just don't like freckles. I don't want freckles!"
And so I said, "Why don't you like freckles?"
And she said, "Well I do like freckles with straight hair. But I just don't like freckles with curly hair."
???
So last week she told me she doesn't want to wear a certain dress because she doesn't want her friends to laugh at her for looking "fat."  And this week she tells me that curly hair and freckles is a lousy combination.
I think I will turn these discussions over to Don to deal with.  He loves talking about these types of things.  He loves to try to understand the female psyche.  And if there is one thing he loves talking about, it is female insecurities, especially when it comes to weight and physical appearance.
(Actually,  Don would rather gauge his eyes out with fingernail clippers.) 

Anyway. This past week we celebrated 1. My Dad's birthday. and 2. The 4th of July.
I basically forced my Dad to come over for dinner on his birthday.  Don suggested we have carne asada tacos.  He told me to get a specific meat from a specific Carneceria.  But I didn't follow his suggestion because it was 100 billion degrees outside and I just couldn't bring myself to traveling to one other store just to get meat.  Instead I got the meat that was on sale and we all wore down our teeth just trying to make it small enough to travel down our throats.  Everyone tried to be polite about it though.  Except for Chelsey.  I can always count on her to tell the truth.  And she told me about 3 billion times that it was "the worst meat I have ever eaten. Steak is the worst meat in the history of the universe.  I am never eating steak again.  I am never eating at another person's house ever again for the rest of my life."  So as you can see, she enjoyed the dinner.

 Chloe took pictures of the birthday card she made. She had me "write down the words that I say."

 The card read:
Dear Grandpa. Hope you have a great birthday.  I hope you like my rainbow.  It has many colors in it.  I made a picture for you.  It's on this card.  Look on the back so you can see it."

 "Steak is the worst meat in the history of the universe." -Chelsey Mott

 Fernanda (brother's girlfriend)

Chloe also had Chelsey be her scribe for a note she left for me on my dresser.  It said:
"Don't take my crouns away this time then all hafe to start all over.  these crowns are for aunt lizzy do not take them away."
Liz, somewhere Chloe has a stash of paper crowns waiting for you. And I DID NOT throw them away.

The 4th of July we went to our Church pancake breakfast.  It was actually a really nice morning because it was overcast.  And it even started to rain.  I can't even remember the last time we had rain here.  Then we headed down to St. David to my in law's house.  Don's brother's, Curtis and Rey, and my Dad and Chelsey also came  We had a BBQ lunch (thankfully there was no steak) and enjoyed more rain.  Ironically the nearby fireworks show was canceled due to the dry conditions.  So we ended up going a little further to Sierra Vista for the fireworks show which was a disappointment for the adults, but the kids loved it, and that is what really matters.
I took my Dad for a little ride around the farm on the Pro Hauler, which probably goes about 15 MPH.  He told me to be careful and that we could break our necks.

Chloe and Macie were in heaven with all the farm animals, including a new batch of kittens.  Macie was so excited that she just put her face right in the kitten's face, and screamed.  I was pretty excited too and almost did the same thing.

 The cuteness factor was off the charts.  I could hardly contain myself.

We had a wonderful time actually being able to go outside and spending time with our family.

Chloe's Dream

"Mom! I had the best dream last night!  I was in the swimming pool holding the hose really high and it made a rainbow that flew around the sky, around the whole city! and everyone saw it, and even Chelsey! "


Also, one night I was asking Chloe why she won't wear the cute pink ruffly dress that I bought her.  And she told  me:
"It is too big.  It makes me look fat.  And I don't want my friends to laugh at me."

?????
Does it SERIOUSLY start this young??!!

 It was another super week.  I was enjoying finally feeling better after my bout with hand, foot, mouth disease, and 2 days later I noticed a tickle in my throat.  I said to myself, surely I am not getting sick again.  But I did.  And why is it that every stage of the cold, is equally awful.  I can't decide which symptom I think is the worst.  First it is the sore throat.  Then it is the stuffy nose.  Then the plugged ears.  And then not being able to smell, (which actually might be the worse being that it ruins my favorite past time:eating).  And finally the phlegm moves into your throat and you spend the next week coughing it out.  I do not think it is fair that you can get a cold when it is 112 degrees outside.  It feels like your head is submerged in a hot tub.  I hate colds.  The end.

And in other news, Macie figured out how to climb onto the bathroom counter via the commode. 

 

Chloe's cousin came to our house this weekend.  They dressed up as Ariel.  Both of them.  They got on their bellies and tried "swimming" on the carpet.  But then they figured out that it was a really slow way to get around, so they turned themselves into the human Ariel.                                     

   And then they took a billion pictures of each other.                                                                                As you can see, they are real tom boys.

 Some of these poses makes me think they got a hold of some People Magazines.  Doesn't this pose look exactly like the way they all pose on the red carpet?    So I was pretty proud.  My greatest dreams and aspirations for my daughters is for them to become Hollywood celebrities.  Because they are the happiest, most well adjusted people on the planet.