If you come stay at our house......

You will have a guest room (this room highlights as my sewing/project room)

And best of all an awesome view!!

 This is all our yard!

 You may also get a yummy breakfast with two adorable little munchkins!

This guest situation is so much better than at our other house!  Well pretty much everything is so much better at our new house, but the ability to have guests over comfortably is one thing that makes us really excited!  We can't wait to see you!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day Andrew!  We love you so much!   I dug up newborn photos with the girls so we could really remember what is is that we are celebrating today!  Fatherhood suits you!  As I was looking back on the photos I could really see how young you (actually both of us) looked when we had Chloe.  I suppose we were just 3 years younger, but somehow it looks and feels like 10 years have passed since then!  

Andrew and Chloe

 Andrew and Madeline

The girls love you so much!  This is what they do every morning after you leave for work.  

 Lets not forget the other Dads in our lives!  Happy father's day Dad!!!!!!!  

 Happy father's day Jim!!!!!!

Happy Father's day!!!!!!

Official Soccer Mom!

Chloe had her very first soccer practice last week.  It was pretty adorable.  It is a good thing that we are not taking it very seriously because most of the time Chloe wasn't really into it at all, and both of us had to work pretty hard to keep her interested.  She pretty much just wanted to go swing the whole time (35 minutes).  Maybe she will be more interested next week :)  She did have fun, and I managed to get some good photos of her in the process!

Maybe when she knows what to expect she will like it more!  Also you may have noticed she has a little extra room in her soccer shirt.  They were all out of her size, which we can't complain about since we signed up after the deadline.  It looks like I will be doctoring it up to transform the shirt-dress into a shirt! To my credit though- really, who would think that soccer starts at age 3????  Too adorable.  They had all the parents line the sides of the field and kick the ball back into play when it was kicked out....which was pretty much every time the ball was kicked.  There were a few goals made into the wrong goal, and several kids who just stood on the field, not sure what was going on (yes that was Chloe).  Hopefully she will like it more as the practices go on.... if not oh well, we will do a lot of swinging!!

the Party

We had a BIG party for Chloe's birthday, and SO SO SO many people came!  We were so busy the whole time we barely got to take any pictures!  But I did make sure to get the cake photos.

Elena made the most awesome mini cake for Chloe!  We got the idea from Amber's super colorful cake from her baby shower.  Katie was kind enough to send me an email with her tips and tricks and also linked THIS recipe for the cupcakes that Elena ended up using!  Seriously they were the most amazing things I have ever seen!

When Chloe saw them online it was all that she wanted!

Of course Elena could have made anything look amazing.  Below is the cake she made for Chloe's second birthday.  AMAZING!

 All of the color was so inspiring that we decided to make rainbow cookies!  Chloe chose three colors and I divided the sugar cookie dough into 3 containers and added food coloring to each.  We then chilled the dough then broke it into pieces and laid it out over wax paper.  

 Chloe squished it all up into one sheet

 Then rolled it flat.  (I do not have a rolling pin as I do not bake very often and don't want to give up any prime kitchen real estate to something I seldom use.  A wine bottle always does the trick!)

 We chilled the sheet then cut out shapes and put them on the cookie sheet to decorate!

 They turned out awesome!  Loving the color!

Maddie says hello too! 

 It seems that the girls are changing very quickly now, and I need to take more photos to keep up with it all.  The only problem is that I am too busy trying to keep up with them to take photos!  A catch 22 :)  

3 yrs old!

Chloe turned 3 yesterday!  We started the day out singing happy birthday to her in bed.  Then she got up and saw the banner on her door and the butterfly balloon!  Her expression was awesome.  She was just so happy!!  Everything we did today was her choice, and she loved all of the attention and special care just for her.  I could tell she felt very special.  It makes me think we should do special days more often than just on birthdays.

She had been waiting all week to open the presents that "the mail lady brought" her.  We did let her know they were really from her Great Aunt Emily, although I think she may still be giving the mail lady the credit :)

 Yay we love books!!!

 Maddie even got a present (thanks Emily!)

 She got a special card from Great Grandma and Grandpa.  She is starting to understand money, and wanted to "go to the store and buy food for everyone".  How adorable.  

 croissants for breakfast!

 And a chocolate milk straw :)  

 I let her have skittles after her shower, and she probably only ate two.  The rest she arranged in different patterns.  

Next we were off to the bouncy house place.  

They now have quarter kid rides there too!

 After that I asked her where she want to go to lunch "at a restaurant and have a balloon and ice cream and where they will sing to me".  Red Robin it is!  check check check!  She ordered Mac and cheese and mandarin oranges and orange juice.  Then got a birthday sunday accompanied by a super exciting birthday song! She loved every minute.

 Next she got to pick out her very special present from Mom and Dad.  Which will it be, pink or purple?  "Hmmm let me think about my decision..."

 "I choose Purple!!"

------------------------3 hour nap goes here!!!---------------------------

 Andrew picked up the horn on the way home from work.  Chloe told him she wanted the "blue excuse me horn" we saw last week at REI.  He did even better and found a pink and purple one!  I have to say she might like the horn more than the bike.  

 We tried the method of taking off the pedals so she could practice balance first....but it turned out that the bike was a little too tall for that, so Andrew just pushed her around for a while before he re-installed the pedals and training wheels.

 We gardened and weeded a bit, and walked around the yard.

 Then went inside to decorate her birthday cake that I made while she was napping.  Note to self, next year don't make the cake without Chloe.  Making it is her favorite part!  Of course there were too many sprinkles and Chloe had to "try" a few.  

 Chloe wanted Thai food for dinner, which worked out since Maddie was ready for bed at 7!  She loves  pretty much any food but Thai food is definitely a big favorite of Chloe's.  Usually she eats all of the broccoli (literally all of it to the point where Andrew and I don't get any) but tonight Thai noodles were the star!  

 Happy Birthday song!

It was quite an eventful day and we all loved every minute of it!  Chloe loves being 3 and already tells anyone we see that she is three now.  Very cute!  Also cute- we made a list of questions to ask Chloe with the idea that we will ask the same questions each year (thanks for the idea Amber)!

Favorite Color:  Pink and Purple
Favorite Food: Noodles (she was eating Thai noodles at the time)
Best Friend: Tuesday
Favorite Song: "a lot of different songs"
Favorite Person: Mama (sorry Andrew, I am just super fun!  What can I say?!)
Favorite Activity: painting on my Buddha Board
Favorite TV Show: Diego
Favorite Movie: Cinderella
Favorite Drink: Milk
Favorite Book: Brobee's Birthday (we read that today)
Favorite Destination: "vacation"(when asked further) "on an airplane to vacation to far away places"
Favorite thing to do: Bicycling (got her first bike today)
What do you want to be when you grow up?: "you can't handle the truth when I grow up" AKA a lawyer.
Favorite Sister: "Manny" Her pet name for Maddie
Favorite thing to Wear: "Ppppppppppppppppbbbbpbpbbb"  interview concluded.

Happy Birthday!  We love you lots and lots!

cookies!

Andrew got back last night from another business trip (this time to vegas, and you better believe there was no way I was tagging along there!).  He was gone for 5 days, and I am so glad to have him back!  We even made welcome home cookies!  Chloe wanted to frost them in pink and purple, so that is what we did!  She helped with every step but when it came to decorating that was all her!  

 I had Madeline in the sling most of the time so she could see what we were doing, but when it came time for icing I had to put her down so she didn't get her little fingers in it!  She really likes doing whatever Chloe is doing, especially if it is messy!  I am still trying to give her only healthy foods so icing was not on the menu for Madeline.  Boo.  She did get cantaloupe, oranges and tofu though.  

 All done!  Can we try one?  

Of course I let her have one (even though it was almost bedtime).  It is hilarious to see her metabolize sugar. I have never seen someone on crack, but assume Chloe's reaction is pretty similar....She goes into hyperspeed, and almost shakes with the extra energy.  NO actually I think she does physically shake.... I wish I got that much energy from sugar!  Instead I have to stick to the coffee for my power surges!

Welcome back Andrew!  We missed you SO MUCH!!!