Easter 2013

Here is a photo post of our Easter. Better late than never.

(by the way, I hate that Blogger has stopped letting me put captions on my photos. It works on my Mac but not my PC. That just means the comments are under the photos in a sloppy way. )




 Decorating Easter eggs



New Scooter from the Easter Bunny.

Going to hunt eggs. 

She just spotted her first egg. 

She has not stopped talking about hunting eggs since this day. 

 

Just so pretty.

Another one.

Love this photo. She is so happy about her finds.

Family photo.

DonDon (Mark's Dad) and Chloe

Shorty (my mom) and Chloe

Sweet Berry Farm 2012

In keeping with our family tradition, we visited Sweet Berry Farm a few weekends ago. I'm pretty sure I rave about it every year. It's a fantastic place and if you live in Central Texas you must make a trip out there.

Now that Chloe is getting older, we are able to stay longer and participate in more activities. This year we tried to take a horse ride. However, Chloe was a little skeptical of the situation so we had our tickets refunded. She did cry about not getting to ride the horse once we arrived back at our house. Maybe next year?

We didn't let the missed horse ride ruin our fun...we fed goats, painted a pumpkin, had an adventure in the corn maze and rolled in the grass. This is one of my favorite days of the year for our family.

So happy she found a "baby pumpkin"

Enjoy this little video clip of Chloe feeding the goats! I honestly thought she would be more hesitant to feed them. This girl always surprises me.

Links to the past Sweet Berry Farm trips:

2011

2010

Reflecting and Projecting

It's 2011. 2010 will be a hard year to top. As I posted on Facebook New Year's Eve, the number one event of the year was the birth of Chloe. That event ranks number two to the day I married her father. Mark is the pole that holds this freak show's tent up.

We had a low key evening. We stayed at the house, played Michael Jackson Experience on the Wii and enjoyed some vino. One thing Mark and I did this year was write out some resolutions. It's normally not my thing but we both wanted to make some changes this year.

I don't want to share Mark's list...that is for him to share. I will share some of mine. A few of these cross the line into our shared resolutions.

1. No more cursing. I developed some bad habits in college and choice explicit words are not the exception. As Jamie Lee Curtis put it, (paraphrasing here) a curse word here and there from an adult is one thing, but there is nothing endearing about a child using curse words. I would hate Chloe's first word to be dammit.
2. Read the Bible everyday. It lays by my bed but sometimes (a lot of times) I just don't pick it up.
3. Pray everyday. I'm pretty good about this. I pray periodically throughout the day. But what I really mean here is: I want to spend time everyday meditating in prayer.
4. Find a church home. We have been going to a Methodist church by our house. I like it but I don't think it's where we need to be. I want to put more effort in to finding a church home. It's hard to do it a city the size of Austin. And, as I learned in Amarillo...sometimes churches are not very accepting of outsiders. I learned this when our family switched to Paramount Baptist in Amarillo from our community church in Lake Tanglewood. We are going to push past this hurdle this year.
5. Lose 10 pounds. I'm already below my pre-pregnancy weight but the balance has shifted. I think 10 pounds will do the trick.
6. Run a 10k. It's time.
7. Run a 1/2 marathon. Marathon next year?
8. Make Chloe 1 outfit. The real goal here is to work on my sewing skills. I love how good my mom is at that stuff and I want to learn.
9. Travel more. 2010 is the first year we didn't take a vacation. Mark and I are thinking of taking a cruise this year but I want to take a family road trip, too.
10. Implement the 15 minute rule. I can't remember where I read this (Kelly's Korner?). Before Mark and I go to bed, we will take 15 minutes to tidy up the house. This should help us keep a more orderly house. Our house is clean but cluttered and it wears on me.

I leave you with this. My number one goal is to do one thing every week to make someone's day better, easier or happier. (i.e. roll the neighbors trash to up their driveway after pickup, pay for the meal for the person behind me, etc.). I want Chloe to have a good world to live in and I've become increasingly cynical since I had her. Nobody ever made a positive change with negative thoughts or actions.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

-Mahatma Gandhi

2 Days until Christmas

No pictures today.

Chloe is pooped and I'm busy loading the car. Chloe had a playdate with Gaél today . We went to the library for storytime and then we went to the park to swing. It made a happy mom and a tired baby. She's taking a nap before our first Christmas roadtrip!

Merry Christmas.

5 Days until Christmas

Saturday was one of our favorite days of the year! It was Stephanie's (Aunt Fannie) annual Christmas party. We only stayed until 10 p.m., an impressive 3 hours later than Chloe's bedtime! It was great to see everyone. Hopefully, as Chloe gets older, we can stay later.

Some great girls!

Family photo. Yes, my daughter glows!

Chloe and Maxine (a super babysitter!)

I didn't get to take pictures but I made these yummy treats and my traditional pigs in a blanket for the party. The pretzel kiss m&m's were so good! I am soooo making them again. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Ms. Emily Ann!

Also, totally ripped these photos off of Jessica via Facebook! Thanks, Jess!

14 Days until Christmas

12.5.10

Please note that Santa wears cowboy boots here in Texas!

19 Days until Christmas

Do you think Chloe is holding this candy cane upside down? Read on...

don't worry...the wrapper is still on the candy. No sugar highs for this kiddo.

I remember my mom telling us this story when we were little. I believe it came with a Candy Cane and a note card with the following story printed on it. I love this story because it helps remind me of the true meaning of Christmas. Every time I see a candy cane I remember this story (and I think of my mom).

A candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would remind people of the true meaning of Christmas; so he made the candy cane to incorporate several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church, and the firmness of the promises of God.


The candymaker then shaped his cane into the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to the earth as Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down to to reclaim the fallen lambs who, like sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

source

20 Days until Christmas

Dear, Santa...
...Love, Chloe

We are off to go get pictures with Santa! They are sure to be cute since I'm wearing this jumper that Shorty made me.

22 Days until Christmas

Well, again my plans were thwarted by destiny. My original post was going to be on the Candy Cane. Maybe I'll do that one later...

Who needs Snow? We make our own!

A box from Personal Creations arrived at my door around noon. That wonderful box made my day! More on them in a moment. This is the second of two packages that I've received from that company and they LOVE to send packing peanuts. We don't get much snow in Austin (twice since I've moved here and it's too warm to stick). So upon seeing all these Styrofoam peanuts, I thought to myself that Chloe would have a white Christmas after all!

Now more on Personal Creations...they are affiliated with Proflowers which is where I ordered my wedding flowers. That's right! My wedding flowers were mailed to my door by a catalog/Internet company and they were amazing! Totally recommend them and Personal Creations, both. No, they are not paying me to say this...I just think you should check them out. I found a few good things from Personal Creations for Christmas gifts and it's also where I found my awesome Christmas stockings.

New stockings...hung by the chimney with care...

23 Days until Christmas

You get two pictures today! The feature is our Christmas tree. The past two years we have chosen to go with a real tree. I think next year we will move to fake. I will miss the smell but I will not miss stringing lights.

One tradition we keep in our house is the eclectic tree 'theme.' We all get a new ornament each year that represents us in a unique way. For example, I got a car ornament when I was 16 and I had a runner ornament in 2000. Mark and I chose to hold on to that concept/tradition rather than buy matchy theme ornaments. It's fun to reminisce when you are hanging up the old ornaments.

This year Chloe got her 'Baby's First Christmas' ornament. I bought Mark a lacrosse player ornament and we all got our initials for the tree, including a 'G' for the family ornament. The Texas Tech ornament in the middle is old, but it's where Mark and I met so I featured it. The picture ornaments are a new tradition that Mark and I started when we married. Every year we buy a frame ornament and put a picture from that year in it. In 20 years, we'll have a tree full of pictures! I'm sure you've noticed that this year's frame still has the 'hallmark' family in it. I'll change it soon.