Dear Don-

As I know you are aware and anxiously awaiting, we have some gift giving opportunities in the near future. Let's see. There is Easter. And then our Anniversary. And then my Birthday. Now, I know how excited you get when it comes to shopping for gifts for me, but really, no need to go all out this year like you usually do. If you just get me these small little things, I will be humbly grateful and you skip that big diamond tennis bracelet you put on hold last year. You're welcome.

I think this dress is appropriate for my ladies luncheons and my weekly trips to the salon for my deep conditioning.

You could also get me this, or this, or this.

Also I want to try this. I have no idea if it actually works. But who cares! It is only 100 bucks, so it can be a stocking stuffer or something.

Also, I want that outfit in the above picture (and get one for Robyn while you are it at). I also want that field right by our house and a white fence. Oh, and her hair. Thanks.

Well I think that about covers it.

Thanks a million,

Melissa

Chloe said the blessing on the food tonight and then said to me,

"Mom. What about the awful?"

And I said, "Uh...what do you mean?"

And she said, "Mom! WHAT. ABOUT. THE. AWFUL!!"

And I said, "You mean, do we pray for the awful people?"

And she said, "Yes! Do we pray for the awful people?"

And I said, "Yes. We pray for the awful people."

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I have been in search for Chloe's "currency" for awhile and I finally figured out what she cares about: Cailou and her toys.

So today we had the usual interaction and I told her she could not watch Cailou until her bed was made.

And that made her mad. And...well...she kicked me. So then I said, "Well, I am taking some toys away. You will have to earn those back too."

And I hauled a box of toys out to the garage.

4 year old mental breakdown.

10 minutes later I find her in the garage, cheerfully swinging Macie in her retired baby swing.

And then she says to me, "Mom. I'm just going to play with my toys in the garage. I am not going to take them in the house."

And she did. And you know what? I was totally fine with her spending some time in the garage.

But I suppose I am going to have to figure something else out next time because she is very good at finding my loopholes.

Chloe just came in and told me:
"Mom. I want to tell you something. I put toothpaste on my lips. Then I had a really great idea. I put nail polish on my lips."

Apparently she wanted something a little more permanent to give her lips the color she desired.

She said she had to wipe it off because it started to burn.

Sigh.

Yesterday I spent 3 hours supervising Chloe clean her room. That does not include the 2 days before, that I grounded her from watching "Cailloo" on Netflix until her room was clean. She finally got her hiney in gear when I got out a box and started putting toys in it to give away. It is days like this that I find myself looking up to the sky and saying, "I am soooooo sorry Mom." I have decided that 4 year olds should get jobs as interrogators. Just put them in a room with the terrorists-they could break them down faster than water boarding.

Anyway, Chloe has added her own decorations to her room to make it "prettier." The mistletoe hangs year round and she has placed beautiful wrapping paper all around her room. Oh, and also instructions for entering her room.

I also serve as Chloe's scribe. Every day she brings me paper and pen and then says, "Write down the words that I say." And then we write invitations to all her friends for Princess tea parties or lists for things that currently float her boat. I am telling you I have hundreds, HUNDREDS of such papers. I will give you an example:

"Dear Teagan. You are invited to my very special Princess Tea Party. It is going to be so fun. We are going to have apples. And macaroni and cheese. And princess cupcakes. You are invited. You are my best friend. I love you. Your friend Chloe. You are my best friend Teagan. Come to my tea party. Love your best friend, Chloe."

Basically these sentiments are repeated over and over again until the whole piece of paper is filled up with words. I am getting smarter now. I have figured out that if I write in a bigger font, there is significantly less space to have to fill up.

Her decorating is fine with me if it keeps her in her room all night.

But even if they both end up in my bed, they sure are sweet munchkins. And now the gallery of new self taken portraits.

Macie and her little boyfriend. She is getting better and better at walking. Some funny things she has done lately-

*she took my hand, opened up my palm, and stuck her bottle in it for me to hold.

*Don was eating something hot and blowing on it, he put some on a fork to give to Macie, and she then blew on it before eating it.

*She stole a sippy cup from my friend's diaper bag and was enjoying some juice, until the owner came around and snatched it out of Macie's hand, Macie just sat there stunned and then her chin started quivering. Macie does not like her food or drink being taken away. I have already mentioned that I have never seen a baby that enjoys food as much as Macie.

catch up

I am playing catch up with my pictures today. I have had a serious case of Mommy brain lately. It is starting to worry me a little. I mean, what if it is really early dementia? For example last Sunday I showed up late to church. Don was already there and he says to me, "Did you know you were leading the music today?" I said, "No I'm not!" Confident that someone else got it all wrong. And then I sat there for a couple minutes, and in the very dark, very hidden and forgotten recesses of my mind, I found a faint recollection of an email in which I agreed to lead the music on Sunday. My bad.

Well anyway, today is the worst holiday of the year: St. Patrick's Day. Hoorah hoorah. I don't drink. I hate forest green unless it is actually in the forest. And only if I was starving on a desert island would I be excited about finding a stash of corned beef and cabbage. I do not want to eat salty, bright pink meat. My friend Bonnie did have me over for brunch today though, and that was fun.

so here are some random pictures.

Chloe likes to think she is a magician. She performs her magic tricks by telling us to close our eyes and then she disappears. It is very difficult to find her.
She also likes to make Chelsey disappear.
Chelsey does not find it all that amusing. She told Chloe something to the effect of "This is the dumbest magic trick in the history of the entire universe." and Chloe cheerfully responded with, "No it's not. This will work Chelsey." And then she puts a white blanket over her head because Chelsey is too tall to fit the length of her body underneath our coffee table.
Poor Macie is also a reluctant model for Chloe practicing her picture taking skills.

Also, Chelsey.
Sit Boo Boo, Sit. Good Dog. So Macie is so close to walking. She can walk, I think she just chooses not to. she takes a couple steps and then she gently eases herself back down on her knees. Don says she approaches walking like I approach skiing. He is referring to the one time we went skiing where whenever I found myself getting too fast, I would just purposefully make myself fall down. I figured either way I was going to fall, and I preferred to be going at a slower speed when it happened. Apparently Macie got the overly cautious gene. Chloe did not get this gene. Lucky girl. Macie gets more fun every day with all the new skills she is learning. I love this stage. She can feed herself pretty well with her spoon (she is very motivated when it comes to figuring how to get food into her mouth). Today she blew on her food like it was too hot. Once again, very motivated when it comes to figuring out how to get (non hot) food into her mouth. The other day she took my hand, put my palm facing up, and than put her bottle in my hand for me to hold. Kids are smart, aren't they? Macie is not in a hurry to grow up (she still wants to nurse) and I am really okay with that. I am enjoying every second of her babyhood.
This was when Chloe was pretending to be Sleeping Beauty.
I love finding these little things-I found these babies all snuggled and then covered with blankets and pillows.

So last night I sang this song at a Church thing, just for the ladies at my church.

My friend Robyn and I wrote this song.

We had a lot of fun doing it.

By the way, I DO really love my husband and my children.

But sometimes....well just listen.

Sometimes I like to pretend that I can get anything I want. So I google around on the computer pretending like I can choose any kitchen table that best fits my fancy. Currently I am dissatisfied with the amount of space my table takes up in my kitchen. However I like that it can seat 6. I was thinking that perhaps a round table would work better in the space. Like I said, I like to pretend that I have this option. So in my googling, I found this little gem.

I do really appreciate an elegant touch and I don't think it is too over the top at all to have swans as a base and something that resembles an ice sculpture used for weddings circa 1987. Unfortunately the table is 17,000 dollars which is not possible, even in my pretend world of getting everything I want. Daydreams need to be somewhat realistic, in my humble opinion.
But maybe some of my more well to do friends might consider this a quaint option for future dinner parties and political open houses.