getting creative

We had a very creative day today! Chloe got a new headband handmade by me (the felted flower is from a gallery), and the stretchy ribbon is from the ribbon jar. She doesn't seem to mind wearing it too much. for the most part it stays on pretty well!
We also got creative with Chloe's latest installment of her painting. Today we decided to branch out with cool colors.

The paint was about 50% on the canvas 50% other.
The finished product....for today at least

Chloe also got some exercise with Grandpa Peters. You may say he got the exercise with Chloe :) Both had a good time.

Then to round out the day Chloe tried on my shoes. She also tried on Andrew's shoe but of course we got a picture with the cuter shoes :)
Hope to have more fun soon!

Staycation in the Backyard!

I don't think I ever took a picture of what we got Chloe for her birthday. It is a play tent, and yes it is just as cool as it looks!! It stays inside most of the time, but we did take it out on the deck for some outdoor fun. The tunnel just might be Chloe's favorite part. Notice Lamby is in hand. He is never far away these days. Storky is also in tow. She sure loves her stuffed animals!
On to the next activity!
Play time on the deck with me :)
Donna (aka Grandma Romerdahl) found this old toy from Andrew's childhood and gave it to Chloe to play with. How cute is that? It was an instant hit. She loves pulling this toy around! She loves pushing it too.
She also explored the other wonders of the back yard...lots of rocks...she found a few other pebbles that were not rocks, but petrified dog poop from the winter. Don't worry we got to them first. Andrew soon had the rest of the yard poop free and she was free to wander.
Climbing the stairs to the deck (thanks Mom and Dad for building these for us!)
Chloe wanted to do everything we did (except sit back and relax of course). She is copying everything we do now. It is so adorable.
I mean really, how could you not love a face like this?!
Here is the progress of the daily (more like weekly) painting project. And yes Chloe is on top of a box. She climbs onto everything. We even had to move her toy bin from along the blanket chest because she was getting up on that too! Crazy!
Having a little girl is fun, stressful, exhausting, hilarious, touching and sweet.

Bird to Gird

If you are wondering where the heck we have been....well we have been here, but Chloe has been sick. She is feeling much better now, so I am back on the blog!

I wanted to share one of our recent family adventures! We did the bike trip from Bird Creek to Girdwood and back. I don't think it was too long...maybe 16 miles? Andrew do you know? Anyway it was amazing! The scenery alone was worth the effort. Chloe came along too, and since Andrew is the master cyclist he got the honor of baby duty. Even then he was still faster!
The only trouble we ran into (beside the hills) was the avalanche. Well it was the remnant of an avalanche from this winter. The snow is still there blocking the trail. I think this is the same avalanche that actually blocked the road from Anchorage to Girdwood for a day. There were no sissies in our little group so we climbed right over. We actually had to do it twice, once on the way out and once on the way back.
It was a little challenging but we made it to the other side. A little muddy and wet, but we made it :)
I wanted to show you what we were looking at the whole time on the ride. The mountains were to one side, (ignore my nerdy pose). They just go straight up.
And the inlet on the other side. It was just spectacular! There were lots of waterfalls along the trail too!
Chloe split her time between looking around, and snoozing. If you can't tell, she is out cold here. She sure does love the chariot!When we got back to our starting point we enjoyed a nice well deserved picnic. It was such a beautiful day, we stayed out here for quite a while.
Play time :)
Dad and Chloe
Mom and Chloe
That is a look into our great Alaskan weekend adventure!

Birthday Girl!!

Holy cow, I can't believe I have a one year old!! We celebrated her birthday as a tiny family on her actual birthday (5/29), but this weekend had a HUGE blowout party for all of her friends (and ours too).

Here are the highlights:

A bubble machine, super awesome. I think it is called gazillion bubble machine, and works as advertised!! Chloe loved it, and so did all of the other kids too.

Presents: Fav of the day was a wagon from her Grandma and Grandpa Romerdahl. She will push it back and forth back and forth back and forth for ages. Then she likes to mix it up by getting in it and having other people push her back and forth back and forth back and forth...you get the idea! She LOVES it!

And this is what happens when Andrew took her out of the wagon to do the happy birthday song and cupcakes.....

Don't worry, she was just fine :) She had a special cupcake care of Grandma Romerdahl, coconut with no frosting, and forgot all about the wagon, for a few minutes at least. We took video of the birthday song, but I need to find the cord to the video camera to connect it to the computer. Poor Chloe was a little scared by the singing. There were no tears, but she did have a pretty confused/terrified look on her face.

She then went on to open her mountain of presents. Holy cow, this girl had a lot of presents!! Too many to blog about today! Lets just say she is set. Luckily she had her friends to help her open all of them.

This particular present has a "funny little story" to go with it. You can see Riley and Lily are showing Chloe how to put the wooden balls over the holes and then pound them thru with the hammer.

Well she got the hang of it really quickly. Last night she was playing with it, having a fantastic time then realized the hammer could be used on any surface....here is where the fun begins. she hammered her books, she hammered her blocks, she hammered the floor....then she started toward the big screen TV......this is when Andrew intervened

"Carmen, don't let her hit the TV!"

Of course I go over there at the exact moment she was swinging the hammer back. You guessed it, right in the eye- well actually the eyebrow. Oh my gosh it hurt, and still does. Those tiny little arms are deceiving! She packs a punch! It is a really cool toy, but maybe a tiny hammer for a baby isn't the safest thing.... but it is amazing how she has already learned to use it! We will just have to restrict hammer use to the wooden balls only!

It was a super fun party, and we are so thankful and lucky to have so many friends and family able to share it with us.