Sometime this week....

I promise to post pictures sometime this week. Sawyer has strep and a cough and Chloe has an ear infection and is cutting her one-year molars. I'm going to the doctor this morning as I have a sore throat and cough. I wonder where I got that from? We are having quite a time around here! Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated!

Kelly

Chloe's First Haircut

Miss Kit gave Chloe her first haircut. She did so great! She was very cooperative and stayed still for the whole process. That was probably in part because we found out the the day before that she had an ear infection so she was full of antibiotics.

It wasn't quite as dramatic as Sawyer's because she didn't cut off as much hair. We obviously want her to look like a little girl, so she left the hair over her ears so that it can grow. I was glad to have her bangs even so that I can make Pebbles ponytails and pigtails. Kit said that it should start to thicken up more now that it has been cut. If her hair is like mine it will just stay fine and flat. I keep holding out hope that her locks will have some body.

Sawyer got a haircut too and he is an old pro. He loves to go and see Miss Kit and help her sweep the floor when she is finished. He just loves being helpful in general.

Does she look thrilled or what?

The first cut.

I was really excited about getting the back evened out.

She looks much happier now that it is over.

Sawyer's birthday wish list includes a broom, mop, and a feather duster. I just keep thinking that one day he'll be a teenager and I won't be able to get him to clean anything.

Happy Easter

Easter was so much fun this year! The Easter Bunny actually came on Saturday because the weather was supposed to be cold and nasty on Sunday morning. Talk about a bunny who knows how to plan!

This year Sawyer really seemed to have more of a grasp of what was going on. I think that he enjoyed hunting for the eggs. He never quite understood what we were saying when we told him to go inside and hide his eyes and count to ten. He just kind of looked at us like we were crazy and didn't know what we were talking about.

Sawyer and I made Easter sugar cookies earlier in the week.

The Easter Bunny must know how much my kids love playing in the sandbox at the park.

Chloe wanted to get as close to the loot as she could.

That Easter Bunny is one creative fella.

EB leaves a Sawyer and Chloe egg each year.

Last egg pic I promise. They were just too cute this year!

I think Sawyer had more fun using his new watering can.

Sawyer watered Lorne's flowers for the rest of the day.

Easter came at a perfect time for Chloe because she loves to put things in and take them out.

Chloe is One Year Old!

Chloe celebrated her first birthday on Easter this year. This will be the only time in her lifetime that her birthday will be on Easter so it made this birthday even more special.

Miss Chloe is walking exclusively now. We haven't seen her crawl in weeks. She is signing the words more, milk, hat, eat, and she grunts and points for everything else that she wants. It's really pretty amusing.

She has gotten very attached to Georgia, her cuddly bear that Velma made. She drags her all over the place. That reminds me that I need to take a picture of the kids with George and Georgia. That would be a cute one.

She is also climbing all over everything. We just thought Sawyer was a climber! She is still taking two naps a day (thank goodness!) She has actually turned into quite the napper. I would have never thought that based on her first few months on Earth.

She seems to be warming up to Lorne and is less of a Momma's Girl. That is good and bad for me I think. I do love that she is getting closer to Lorne, but I miss that closeness too.

She is still taking her pacifier and is growing more attached to that, much to Lorne's chagrin. I reminded him that Sawyer really began to use his after I weaned him too. I know that she is one year old, but I don't want to take it away from her just yet, especially since she only recently weaned.

I thought we'd take pictures upstairs for a change.

I think that she was flirting with me!

What a sweet baby girl!

Chloe's Birthday, Take Two

I went to Kroger and bought two little cakes so that the kids could celebrate Chloe's birthday on the actual day. I wanted to do something to commemorate the day, but not too much since we had already celebrated in Van Vleck a few weeks before.

Chloe's was a white cake with pink and purple icing that tinted her little face. She looked like The Joker when she was finished, as the pictures will attest! I'll have to be sure to get a cake with lighter icing when I have her pictures made.

Sawyer's was a chocolate cake with yellow and red icing. I was worried that the red icing might make him break out, but I think that he may be outgrowing that contact allergy.

It was so easy to just go to the bakery and pick out a few cakes. It almost makes me want to do that for Sawyer's birthday party on Memorial Day weekend, okay, not really, but almost! I hate to admit it, but I love baking the cakes and making the icing myself!

The before picture.

Gotta love a girl who's not afraid to get her hands dirty.

How can you not love that smile?

The after picture.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Chloe Bug to date...it's Mini Me!

Sawyer loved his chocolate cake.

Easter Weekend

Larry and Velma came to visit for Easter weekend. We took advantage of the nice weather and had a picnic lunch. Sawyer loves to be outside and asked for picnic lunches all winter, so it was nice to be able to spend some time in the out-of-doors.

When did my babies get so big?

My former hambone has become very camera shy.

I thought Chloe would have trouble sitting at the picnic table beside her big brother, but she surprised me as usual.

I got in a fender bender on my way to Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. I was traveling north in the far left lane of a three-lane road and a lady turned right from a private drive and instead of turning into one of the other two lanes she kept coming and ran into me on the passenger side. I couldn't stop in time and ran onto the median after she hit me. She was driving a four-door Lexus and the damage to her drivers' side rear door was pretty bad. The pictures are on my cell phone and I have no idea how to get them from there to here.

It still cost over $2,000 in repairs to the Camry even though it doesn't look like much. I had the car towed to the body shop because something came loose and was rubbing on the passenger side front tire every time I turned left and I could smell rubber burning. I didn't want us to take a chance.

I had them repair a few things I'd done to the Camry. I dropped the dog crate on the hood when I pulled up too far in the garage. Lorne had it stored on a top shelf and I got too close to the shelf and it fell. I also had the rear drivers' door repaired where I kept hitting it with the Tahoe door. I was explaining what I wanted to possibly have done and the guy at the body shop asked me, "You don't like your husband's car too much, do you?" It was pretty funny! What's bad is the rear bumper is also damaged from me not pulling up far enough and closing the garage door on it. We decided not to have that repaired, though. I was actually pretty surprised Lorne agreed to any out of pocket repairs as it was.

The passenger side got banged up the most, but even it wasn't too bad.

The hubcap got dented and scratched when I went up onto the median.

Sawyer's Reward Board

I'm going to try and blog during naptime. We'll see how it goes! I would really like to get back to blogging once a week. There will be more photo ops as the weather gets warmer and it gets darker later.

This time change is really making me crazy! Chloe and Sawyer are sleeping later in the morning which I like. What I don't like is that her morning nap is later which means a later afternoon nap for she and Sawyer. We have had some pretty long days this week!

Lorne and I have been wracking our brains trying to figure out what to do with Sawyer. He isn't following directions and he's pushing Chloe more and more. We've each tried spanking him a few times, but it didn't seem to do any good. A huge part of why I quit teaching was because I just couldn't handle the almost daily dose of disrespect from some of my students. I cannot and will not have that in my own home.

Enter my friend Kristy and her wonderful idea. She said that she used a dry erase board with her oldest daughter Caroline and kept track of her behaviors that way. Lorne thought of something similar around the same time. We looked through magazines last night and cut out pictures of Curious George, Nemo, books, a cookie, and a shower and put them on magnets. Sawyer gets three red X's for each offense and he loses that privilege. The privileges are TV (movies and shows), storytime at naptime and bedtime, dessert after supper, and showering with Lorne.

Today has been pretty rocky. This isn't how it works on Supernanny. Jo suggests that the families do something and *PRESTO* instant compliant children. Lorne said that I have to keep in mind that there's lots of editing and I think that he's right.

I think that it turned out really well. Here's hoping that it works with Sawyer.

Extra Birthday Pics

I got some pictures from Jackie yesterday that I wanted to share. Some of them are pretty funny! She was able to get some shots of the party that I missed.

Here's one more of Chloe with her cake.

I'm glad to have this one of Mom and Dad. Dad got a haircut and beard trim for the occasion which is good because Mom probably would have banned him to the car otherwise.

Poor Jordan! Sawyer ran her ragged that day! She even went into the house to try and take a nap at one point, but he still found her!

This is such a great picture of them. They played and played and played some more that day. Velma found these brimmed, ventilated hats for them which was good because it was so hot.

We kept trying to get them to sit still for a picture with their grandparents, but they were just so busy.

Sawyer needed a time out because he was being mean to Kayla. I chose the fence because it was the most convenient. Kayla decided to join him. I guess she has a guilty conscience! Too funny!

Kayla decided to move closer to Sawyer. It took all I had to not laugh because I was standing right by Sawyer.

I thought the way she was looking in the bag was too cute!

First Days of Spring?

It was a gorgeous day yesterday so we spent some time in the backyard. Chloe was too funny. I put her in her Robeez and stood her on the yard. She just stood in one place the whole time. I'm thinking that the more she is outside the more used to it she will get.

She looked so cute in her butterfly onesie and butterfly sunhat.

Sawyer was being camera shy.

She's smiling at Sawyer in this shot. The only reason she's in another spot is because I moved her.

It's back to yucky and overcast today. I think that the weatherman got it wrong, at least for today. Sawyer was wanting to have a picnic lunch in the backyard today, but it's not looking like today is going to be a good day. There's always tomorrow.

A Lesson in Patience

I thought I'd write a quick note to document that I have officially weaned Chloe just about two weeks short of her first birthday which was my original goal. Today was my first non-breastfeeding day since March 23, 2007. As much as it kills me to stop early I think that she is definitely ready. Mom said it best when I called her for advice and she assured me that this will be the first of probably many times that one of my children do something I don't want them to do!

I'm so frustrated because I know that her crying and being upset when I try to nurse her is due in part to her one-year molars coming in (one down, three to go) and this cold/runny nose that WILL NOT GO AWAY!!! I tried the night feeding Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to no avail. It was the only feeding that was left. Either way, I talked it over with Lorne and ultimately decided to throw in the towel, or I guess the Boppy in this case.

I would be lying if I said that a small part of me isn't excited to be finished and have my body back. The worst part is losing the ten extra Weight Watchers points per day...yikes! I now officially have no excuses for getting rid of this last twenty-two pounds. The kids and I went to Super Target today and I think that I bought every chocolate snack on the shelves! I topped that off by stopping at Sonic for a Diet Vanilla Coke. I was jonesing so badly last night you would have thought that I'd spent the day in a crack house. I haven't had any caffeine since June of 2006 so it's a wonder that I ever went to sleep!

She looks like she's really missing the nursing, doesn't she?

Cabin Fever Day

I did a ton of blogging tonight. Six posts to be exact. I wish that I would do a better job of keeping up with it instead of it taking me four hours once I finally take the time. Anyway, happy reading! I hope that everyone is well! Feel free to comment or send me an e-mail. I'd love to hear from you!

The weather was nasty again today so we were stuck inside. I had the kids bundled up because we keep the heat pretty low to try and keep germs at bay. I wanted to take pictures of Chloe in her cute Elmo outfit because it is quickly getting too small.

Sawyer actually wanted me to take his picture for a change.

It was impossible to get a picture of her without something in her hand.

Winter Wonderland-Texas Style

A winter storm come through Monday night and we awoke to bright white snow on the ground. It was lots of fun to bundle up Sawyer while Chloe napped inside and let him play in the snow. He wanted to sit in the snow which was great because he kept getting more and more wet. He kept trying to remove his mittens, but it was so cold that I wanted him to keep them on his little hands. We were working against the clock, though, because the snow was very quickly melting.

I was getting ready to take this picture and Sawyer said, "Frosty, look at Mommy, Frosty!" I was laughing so hard I was crying. He hears us tell he and Chloe that all the time.

We used gum balls for the eyes, an orange slice for the nose, and Fruit Loops for the mouth. I had to be creative. We Texans don't usually have snowman accessories on hand.

Sawyer didn't want to go back inside. He was sad that the snow was melting.

Happy Faux First Birthday Chloe!

We had a small gathering at Larry and Velma's on Saturday to celebrate Chloe's first birthday a little early. I wanted Dad and Mark to be able to watch Chloe eat her first ever birthday cake. They were both in town this past weekend so it worked out really well. i also thought we'd do something early since her actual birthday falls on Easter this year. We only had our parents and our siblings and their kids at the party and I think that it was a fun time. It was strange to have such a small group, though. I plan on having a big party at our house with everyone for Sawyer's third birthday.

Lorie, Landon, and Blaine stopped by to see us for a few minutes before the party. Lorie was in town for Blaine's baptism. We thought it would be a shame to be so close and not see each other for at least a little while, especially since we live so far apart. Rachael had to work so Lorie had Blaine for the day. I was sad that I didn't get to see Rachael, but at least I got to meet Blaine.

Blaine looks so much like Tommy, but she definitely has Rachael's eyes.

I wish that there had been more time to spend with Lorie.

I found cute invitations and Lorne printed them for me. He was joking with everyone that he shouldn't have made them since everyone got there early. I had the party planned for 3:00, and I think everyone but Mark was there by noon. Mark got there a little later, just in time for cake.

Lorne did a great job on the invite. The scanner didn't quite do it justice. I erased our phone number and e-mail address for some anonymity.

Velma got chicken salad from work. We made sandwiches with croissants for lunch. Mom made stuffed peppers and I made BBQ Crispix mix for appetizers. I did a cupcake theme, and I had anything and everything cupcake. I had so much fun getting ready for her party! I had no idea that there was so much cupcake stuff out there!

I found this plate on birthdayexpress.com. I thought it would be a great way to commemorate the day.

I made cupcakes as party favors for the adults. Lorne and I also made cupcake lollipops for the kids. I also made Chloe's cake in the shape of a cupcake and also a giant cupcake cake for everyone else.

We did pink and purple for Brittany, Jordan, and Kayla, and blue and red for Sawyer and Tyler.

I made these cupcakes to match the one on the plates and napkins.

This giant cupcake is made with a double chocolate pound cake.

Here is Chloe's cake before it was decimated.

I found this dress online and Uncle Mark bought it for her. I'm going to have her pictures made in it too.

Sawyer helped Chloe get started on her cake. I changed her into another outfit for the cake eating which was good since I had to put her in the tub, clothes and all, once she was finished.

I tried to take Chloe's cake away from her because I thought she was through, and she threw a huge fit!

Chloe really took her time eating her cake. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of her cute bib. It has a cupcake with "My First Birthday" on it and is monogrammed with her name in pink.

Chloe wasn't sure what to make of Uncle Mark. It's probably because she felt like she was looking in a mirror.

It was so great to be back with my brothers again.