Grandpa Joe was so generous to buy the kids a playhouse.  Don had to put the whole thing together from scratch. He said that the directions were one step away from just saying, "Go to Home Depot and buy some wood."  The directions were awful and nothing came preassembled.   But he did a great job.  And the kids love it.  We've turned it into a water slide because well, it is hotter than a stir fry here.   

Macie was looking through a Disney princess book and she saw the villain from Sleeping Beauty, and says, "Yuck!"
And then she turned the page and saw the evil queen from Snow White and said, "Uh oh!!"
The funny part is she has never seen Sleeping Beauty nor Snow White.

Yesterday Chloe said to me out of the blue, "Mom, how come I was the only one in my class that voted for Mitt Romney?"
And I said, "I don't know." (enter own's political affiliation joke here. For example: Republican-  "Because people are dumb."  Democrat- "Because people are smart."  Independent- "Who cares. They both were rotten."
So I asked, "Chloe, why did you vote for Romney?"
She replied, "Because I like the color yellow."
And I replied, "What does yellow have to do with Romney?"
And she replied, "Because! He has yellow hair!"

So...she must have written in Hilary's name.

I made a dress!  Correction. I tried to make a dress...and my friend fixed it.
I don't think I will be getting called by Project Runway anytime soon, but it's not a total lemon.

Chloe had her first two swim meets last week.  One on Thursday, and one on Saturday morning.  We are so proud of her.  She got 3rd place in both meets doing freestyle.  She's been doing that stroke the longest.  The other strokes (backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke)...hey at least she tried! I loved watching her do the butterfly.  It is hilarious watching little kids try to swim the butterfly. She is probably better than I am at it though.
I need to get a picture of her attire before the swim meets.  She looks more like a synchronized swimmer. She wears a pink suit and a pink cap. And she wants her hair in a tight bun, then she adds a couple bows.  And finally she puts on blue eye shadow and blush. She finishes her warm up outfit with a pink, ruffled towel dress and pink flip flops.
And these are the reasons I love Chloe.
Macie loves going to the meets as long as she has her bag of doritos and a bottle of gatorade.  Despite it being 106 degrees outside, she's got her snacks, and she is in heaven.
(P.S. I don't think you can see anything in this video...BUT you can hear me screaming like a psycho for Chloe)

Chloe wanted to make sure that I wrote this down:

In Chloe's words:
"I was looking for some tape and I couldn't find any! So then I said a prayer!  And I heard a voice say, 'go left...then right...then left...then right...now, go into your room!'
And when I went into my room, I found the tape!!!

I didn't hear the voice in my ears (points to ears)! I heard it in my mind (points to mind)!"


Also:
At Chloe's first swim team practice, it was a battle to get her to do it.
It involved quite a bit of bribing.
But she finally agreed.
By the time she finally agreed, the other kids had already lined up and were swimming their very first time across the length of the pool.
One by one they jumped in and raced to the end.
I sat nervously as I watched from the sidelines.  Chloe was very last and all the other kids in the lanes had already finished their swim.
Chloe hesitated (and I cringed a little for her, and felt the hesitation in my own heart)...and then...she jumped in!
I watched her swim that entire lane by herself with everyone watching, with a small pit in my stomach.  I remember being a kid and having moments like that- and I just hoped that this would not be one of those childhood memories (aka peeing your pants in the middle of the media center because you were too freaked out all day to ask your teacher if you could go to the bathroom).
But Chloe did it, and she got out, and she beamed.
I was so proud of her.
I loved seeing her doing something hard and overcoming her fear and seeing her confidence grow.
I also loved watching Macie act like she was also on the swim team.
She just got right in line with the other kids as they waited their turn to jump in the pool. And joined them on their towels for stretching time.
She loves going to the practices with me, and so far she has been too chicken of the water for me to have to worry about her jumping in unexpectedly.
As long as I have a bag full of snacks she is happy as a clam.
Speaking of snacks-she gorged herself on juice and fruit snacks last Thursday, and then threw up all over me as we were leaving practice.
And since Chloe had another one to go to, I just stayed in my throw up clothes.
I really enjoyed that day.

Okay summer...I think I'm over you already.

I was really looking forward to Chloe being out of school so I could have my (lazy) mornings back. 

But that was a silly pipe dream of mine.

I don't know what I like less, having to get her to school by 7:45 AM, or having my entire morning taken up with swim lessons to turn her into:

But here is me having a positive attitude about it:

Chloe is on 2 swim teams.  She practices at one pool from 9 until 10:00 AM.  And then we go to another pool from 10:45-11:30 AM.  She has swim meets Saturday morning and Thursday night.  Oh, and more swim lessons on Tuesday night.

And as you can tell from my skin, I just love the sun and the surf.

But here's me having a positive attitude about it:

                 Don told me that if I am a good Mommy this summer and take Chloe to swim lessons (with a positive attitude), he will take me to Disneyland this summer.  Yes, I am 5. And yes, the incentive is working.  However, he might need to throw in some spending cash for the positive attitude bit. 

So Macie does A LOT of wandering in her bathing suits (what else is new), and I just basically sweat.  I am thinking of getting my own ballerina bathing suit and just wearing that around everywhere.  Like to swim meets and practices and stuff. 

In other news, we went to an Aquarium on Memorial Day with about 2 million other people.  And they had these things that are a closterphobics nightmare (see above). Also the small enclosed hole, smelled strongly of B.O..

And...Macie stood in a big jaw.

Summer is here. Already?

Chloe had her last day of school on Thursday.  This year flew by.  I remember the first day of school.  I was a mess.  I couldn't believe Chloe was already going to school.

And now she is in first grade. What? How does this happen?

Chloe was really sad for the school year to be over.

She cried and said she was going to miss her teacher so much, and that her teacher is moving to a different school.

It made me sad too, but I guess that is part of life, learning to deal with change.

I am glad to have her home for the summer.  I am going to have to keep her entertained though.  And by golly, this summer I am getting out of dodge and escape the heat...once a month! That's my goal.  We'll see.  When it comes down to it, leaving town is a lot of work.  And I change my mind.

Chloe is going to be on swim team.  I am suuuuuuuuper (not) excited about sitting by the pool all summer.

In other news, I went back to my roots.  My hair roots that is.  It looked a lot lighter with all the red highlights I had put in.  But I missed my old hair.

So I dyed it.  It was met with mixed reactions.  Don prefers it really dark.  But Chloe kept telling me I had made a mistake all day.

"Why didn't you like red anymore? I thought you liked red hair?  I thought you wanted to have red hair like me?  Your hair is black now.  I don't like it. Mom, why did you make your hair black?  It looks weird." etc.

In truth I hated it the first couple days too.  I grimaced every time I looked in the mirror because I thought I looked like a member of the Addams family. 

Well this is neither hair nor there. ; )

I am getting used to it again.  It's funny to have to get used to something that you have had your whole life.  I keep asking Don.  Was my hair really this dark before?

 Also, I got to see my "Mom" friends.  One has already moved and the other one is in the process.  I am sad to see them go, but happy for their having new adventures. 

Welcome summer!