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.