Fun with Grandma Grandpa

 Finally some family photos!!

 Fun at the playground while Chloe plays soccer!

a little fun at home.  Grandma and grandpa learned that fun at our house doesn't involve sitting, well to be completely truthful I think they already knew what they were in for :)  "Grandpa flip me, Grandpa chase me, Grandpa spin me, Grandpa lift me, Grandma pretend I am a baby puppy, grandma carry me....repeat X as high as you can count, and then keep counting.  

The girls miss them a lot, and so do we!!

Train to Talkeetna

We have been crazy busy this month- go figure right??  It is summer and we had visitors!  yay!  Grandma and Grandpa were here for almost 3 weeks, and it was still way too short!  We even made it out on a train ride!

Can you tell it was freezing cold and raining while we were there?  The pictures make it look like such a nice day but the truth was that we had to spend much of the day ducking into little gift shops and galleries just to stay out of the rain.  We ate outside under an umbrella in the rain, and hiked along the shoreline.  It turned out to be half fun, half very cold.  By the time we got back to the train we were all soaked, but in good spirits- we knew we would be dry and warm for 3 hours.  What a treat!

The photo booth

We had Chloe's birthday party today and this year we tried something different!  We made a photo booth to capture the moments.  It was a ton of fun!  I am pretty sure we will be doing this again, maybe even for a grown up party!! Some of the other activities we had were face painting, chalk, decorate your own cupcakes and crazy run around the yard time.  Guess which one was unplanned and the favorite :)

Here are some gems from the Photo Booth:

 dont worry, just playing :)

Kid art

Chloe's paintings have really blossomed in the last few months and this is her latest.  I LOVE it!  It is huge too!  (30 x 40) The secret is layer upon layer upon layer.  Also I have discovered she does best if I do not interfere.  Her ideas are awesome!

Nice work Chloe!  She makes me want to get back to painting..... hopefully that will actually happen soon!

Little Madeline

Maddie is growing up so fast (almost 22 months) I really do need to take way more pictures of her!!  We were at the zoo this weekend and I finally got out the camera!

Love you Maddie!

The birthday present!

We decided it was time for a change in the girls room.  Chloe's birthday was the perfect opportunity to introduce a bunk bed!  Yes it is a huge hit!!  

I would say it is a pretty big upgrade from their convertible cribs.  We were looking for something modern and simple, but when we saw this one (which is nether) we knew it was the one.  What is better for two girly girls than a purple and pink playhouse bed?!  It was a bear to put together, as all of the pieces are incredibly heavy, and we had no instructions (because we bought it on craigslist) but when we were done it felt so good!  It is funny what makes us feel like we accomplished something in a weekend.  I am in the process of simplifying their room (and our whole house) and making it easier for them to clean on their own (or in Maddie's case, easier for her to make less of a mess).  So far so good! Don't you wish you had one of these as a little kid?  Awesome!  Love it!

Chloe is 4!!

Our little girl is 4!!  Chloe turned 4 on Wednesday!  It is getting increasingly difficult to get a good photo of her if she doesn't want one, so I tried my best.  Also when I picked her up from pre-school she was the dirtiest I have ever seen.  It was like she came straight from a movie set playing a homeless child in the woods.  Not sure the pics capture the level of dirtiness :)  She got some new chalk and the girls had a great time coloring on the driveway.  Did I mention it was almost 80 degrees on her birthday?!!  Glad the snow is FINALLY gone!!

Chloe is drawing a "rainbow sun"

 We let her choose any restaurant she wanted.  Red robin was the winner because they would sing to her.  The funny thing is when they came to sing she looked at them, and then looked down and started coloring, I guess hoping if she ignored them they would go away....  Thats exactly what I want to do when people sing to me.... :)

 But then when I asked what her very favorite part of her birthday dinner was (fully expecting ice cream), she said "the singing!"

 Close by Grandma made her an adorable cake and we had that back at the house.  

Yay now the party planning for the birthday party begins!!  It isn't until next weekend so I have time to hone in on some good kid party activities before then!  

Chloe's Birthday question list:

Favorite Color:  Pink
Favorite Food: Cake
Best Friend: James
Favorite Song: Handy Manny songs.  I love 2 of them
Favorite Person: James
Favorite Activity: finding things in rice
Favorite TV Show: Johnny Test
Favorite Movie: Lorax
Favorite Drink: ice cream ("yes mom you can drink ice cream when it melts with a straw")
Favorite Book: goodnight on the farm
Favorite Destination: Hawaii
Favorite thing to do: eat
What do you want to be when you grow up?: i don't want to grow up.  I love being in this house.
Favorite Sister: Madeline
Favorite thing to Wear: this beautiful dress
Birthday Wish: "i wished for another cake"