It is never a dull moment in our house! Christmas was no exception! From the time Chloe was a baby she has never liked Santa. People would ask her what Santa was going to bring her and she would reply with, "Nothing. I don't like him. My Mommy & Daddy will get me presents." At least we don't have to worry about how to break the news to her about Santa! We had to wake her up early enough to play with her toys before we left for Jeremy's parents- and she is not a morning person! But when Jeremy brought her out, her face lit up! Watching her open presents was hilarious. She had to have every piece of paper and tape off the present before she would really look at it. But as soon as it was COMPLETELY unwrapped, there would be a huge gasp and "OHHHH!!!!! Thank you!!!!" It was like every gift was THE gift. She got excited over the new toys, the new clothes, even the new clothes for her dolls! She got to "help" open a gift for Logan and was so excited about his gifts. One had $10 in it and she wanted to keep his dollar - all money is a dollar to her- because he was too little to need it. She got a card with $50 in it and started jumping up and down, "I got a dollar! I got a dollar!"
Even with all the craziness of Christmas, we had such a great time. There were so many parties and family get-togethers. Tuesday morning I even slept in until 8:30am! I never sleep past 6:30. But now I may never get up early again! For "our" gift, Jeremy and I bought a memory foam mattress. It is absolutely amazing! I have woken up with either a shoulder or back ache for the last few months. But now I haven't had any aches. It has been heavenly!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to spend plenty of time with family and friends!

Christmas Pics

Chloe's Christmas was full of fun! She got far more than she could have imagined! I'll write more in a little bit.

Before and After

I now have pictures and can share my next story! We stayed the night at a friend's house when our power went out. I left for a little while to do some shopping and Jeremy stayed at the house with Chloe. She was out of his sight for about 2 minutes, using the bathroom. He thought nothing of it and didn't notice anything. When I came back, Chloe and I were playing a game and she said, "Mommy, I want my hair like yours." This didn't cause bells to go off because we have been talking about getting her hair cut. But when I started looking at her hair, I noticed little spikes where her barrette had been. The closer I looked, I noticed there were LOTS of layers in her hair. While in the bathroom, she had found scissors and started cutting her hair. I went into the bathroom and there was hair EVERYWHERE! I'll be honest, I cried! We have never had her hair cut. She has had trims, but nothing significant enough for her baby book. We had planned to take her to get it cut after the holidays- we had it all planned out. We were going to make a day of it, go out for ice cream, update her babybook together, the works. After a week of her short hair, I have grown use to it and actually like it. The only thing I don't like is that she no longer looks like my little Chloe. She is growing up so fast and looks like a kid. But her hair really suits her well and she likes it. I miss the long ponytails and being able to braid it, though. After I recovered from my shock and emotional outburst (which I have often and Jeremy blames the hormones) we went and bought a ton of cute barrettes and headbands. I'm doing much better now!


Even with as much as we like her hair, we have made such a big deal out of the importance of NEVER EVER EVER cutting your own hair again! I can't imagine what would happen if she thought it would be a good idea to cut it again, especially when it is already so short!

Back to Normal

Thursday night there was quite a wind storm! Most of the Seattle & surrounding areas lost power. Jeremy kept getting up in the night to check on the house because he kept hearing things. When we got up Friday morning, there was still no electricity and we found what had caused most of the noises. Our yard was a mess! We lost most of one side of the backyard fence and there were shingles all over the yard (and my car!). The main crash that had Jeremy worried was caused from the fence hitting the flower box next to the house. It literally was about 1 1/2 feet from crashing into the house. We checked out the other houses around us and found that they were worse off. Most of the houses lost part of their roofs. The shingles in our yard had all come from the neighbors house- the only damage on our property was a few broken limbs on our Japanese maple!

With the power out, we were in a coffee panic! I drove around for over an hour trying to find somewhere with power. Eventually I had to go home and get Jeremy. By the time we got to the open Starbucks, it was so crowded that we didn't stick around. But we did find a stand with great coffee! A friend of ours never lost power so we went to his house to wait. We eventually got our power back on Saturday- we were one of the fortunate ones. The news had reported about 1 million people without power. Can you imagine? One million people without coffee? The malls had power, so I did the only thing available on Friday- I went shopping! It was great fun but very crowded. I didn't have to work Friday or Monday. I almost didn't have to work today but the office regained power around 9am. But I had a nice break and was actually ready to go back to work!

I have one more surprise that came as a result of the power outage, but I'll have to share it in the next blog- I need to get a picture first! But I promise it will be amazing!

I can hardly believe that Christmas is almost here! I had planned to do all these things before the holidays snuck up on us, but still they didn't get done. I have Christmas cards that haven't been addressed or sent out. I have gifts left to buy- usually I'm done by now. Christmas cookies haven't been made. There are still no decorations up outside. Yet none of that really matters. We could all stress over the things we haven't done that we wanted to do or gifts we wanted to buy but never got. Christmas is about so much more! So many people are stressed out this time of year, and for no reason. Christmas isn't about what you get or giving the "perfect" gift. We have worked hard to teach Chloe that, despite the toy commercials, Christmas is about sharing God's love. God gave the truest gift of love- His Son, a Savior that redeemed mankind, allowing us to have right standing with God. Yet most people think of all the things they don't have. Commercials remind us all the time of the new gadgets we have to have right now! Instead of being thankful for all we do have, we become needy, wanting everything we see. I would encourage everyone to not look at the material things, but rather see the value of what you do have- an amazing God, caring family, wonderful friends. Celebrate this season, enjoy your time with family and friends, let your hearts be full of the love of God-sharing it with everyone you meet.

Scenes from the Weekend

Getting out ornaments for Chloe's tree









Showing her how to make popcorn strings









We even did a gingerbread house

















Decorating her tree






I bought this great picture cutout and have been making everyone take pictures in it!


Jeremy & Chloe









Josh & Maddy












Even Steve & Deena joined in on the fun!







I'm running out of room, so I'll post more pictures in the next one!

In the Mind of a 3 Year Old

So Chloe has been having these great moments that I just had to share.
Today we were at the post office getting the mail. The car next to us had a little Pekinese dog in it. In her sweetest little voice, Chloe says, "Oh, Mommy. Look at that cute little monkey!"
This evening I was away from home so Jeremy had Chloe to keep his eyes on. We still had our Monday night dinner with everyone at our house. At one point Chloe needed to be by herself for a few minutes so Jeremy put her in our room. He had a talk with her about her time in the room- she needed to stay on the bed, not get into things, not get into Mommy's make-up or write on anything. She did obey those specific rules. But she found her detangler from this morning and poured it all over her hands and arms so she would smell pretty. Then she found a bottle of water, which of course, she spilled ON THE BED (only Jeremy's side!). After a few minutes, Jeremy went in and found the done damage. When he asked her about their earlier conversation, she answered, "I didn't get into Mommy's make-up. I didn't write on anything. I obeyed."
The story behind her being told not to write on anything is this- over the last two weeks Chloe has been into labeling things for us. The first week, she found a sharpie and decided to write our names on our bedding. Not our black bedding, of course, but our light gray sheets and pillowcases. We even found writing on our big blanket/comforter. So we had a BIG talk about why that was wrong and had to show her that sharpies don't wash out! Then last week she had been in our room again with a sharpie. (We do put them away, but she finds them) We started looking around the room and on the bed for "labels" but were relieved to not find anything. THEN Jeremy went into our bathroom. She had labeled the sink, mirror, toilet seat lid, toilet seat and shower!
Oh the joys of a 3 year old! But with all the trying moments that we go through, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Chloe is such a joy to us and we have been so blessed. Even though she tries my patience at times I still enjoy having stories and memories to laugh about later.