The Elison Family

Christmas bells are ringing...

2011-12-04T23:29:00.003-05:00

I finally have icicle lights! I've always loved these lights and now we have a home to hang them on. Trevor finished up this afternoon. I think we might get a few more boxes and he'll string them up on the very top. We put some lights on a bush out front and our tree gets compliments regularly:)

Chloe cuddling Scarlett. Not two minutes earlier she was making her scream.

Updates

2011-11-30T12:36:00.002-05:00

Trevor and Scarlett on the ferry ride to Seattle. She is such a cheeseball, I love it!

Here they are again looking at something interesting.

Trevor's first night back from sea. Chloe wouldn't let him out of her sight for the first couple of days. She didn't want to go to bed or let him go to the bathroom. She followed his every move. Sweet but sad, she really missed him.

An inside pic of our new van.

Another pic.

I love how easy it is to get the girls in and out of. The automatic doors are great. I also love the backup camera. We drive a Swagger Wagon now, we are really, really cool. If you haven't seen the the youtube videos they are hilarious. Just type in swagger wagon toyota sienna. Hilarious.

Updates

2011-11-30T12:27:00.002-05:00

We bought a new van last week! It's a 2012 Toyota Sienna SE. I will post a couple more pics of the inside. It takes up a good portion of our garage. I love it! I am now a proud minivan mom.

I had some yardwork done while Trevor was gone this last patrol. Here are a couple of after shots. If I'd been thinking ahead I would have the same areas in a before shot.

Here is my girl Chloe. This was on a Seattle trip with Trevor and his parents.

Here we all are at Ivar's. Notice Chloe refusing to look at the camera. That was pretty typical of her behavior during dinner. Ivar's is a great seafood place in Seattle. We took the ferry over and then came back to Bremerton.

Landscaping

2011-08-25T18:35:00.003-04:00

Trevor and I recently went out of town to do a triathlon and we were gone for a couple of days. My mom stayed with the girls. While we were gone she and my neighbor Cathy worked on landscaping our yard! It was a total disaster before. Thank you mom and Cathy. The new yard looks gorgeous!

After:
Before:

Random pics

2011-08-25T18:28:00.003-04:00

Just some random pics from different things we've done.

Here we are at the circus. My mom was here and she stayed home with Scarlett. Trevor and I took Chloe who really enjoyed the cotton candy and snow cone.

Chloe and her lipstick.

Here's Scar with pigtails. I think she looks a lot like her cousin Valencia in this pic.

Scar being silly!

Trevor and I at the change of command ceremony. I wanted a pic because he was in his dress white and doesn't wear them very often. This is the second time in 2 years, the first was at his graduation/commissioning back in May 2009.

Scarlett's 2!!

2011-08-25T17:57:00.003-04:00

Scarlett turned 2 on Tuesday, the 23rd. My pics are kind of backwards on this post.

Here's her cupcake cake.

The water table from me and Trevor. One side is supposed to be sand but that's way too messy for me.

Here's the birthday girl enjoying her cake and ice cream. She has a sweet tooth. After finishing her own bowl she reached for Chloe's. After her bath she got up on the counter and grabbed the bowl to continue what she'd started. Some of these pics are dark because they're from my camera phone.

Here she is at about 1 year old. I can't find any pics from her first birthday. Guess that's what I get for never organizing my pictures. But this one's from 8/1/2010. With daddy's glasses on too!

Here she is brand new!

She has been such a blessing in our lives. I love my Scarlett Rose!

Chloe and Scarlett

2011-04-25T18:31:00.003-04:00

Just had a thought to compare the girls when they're about the same age. Here's Scarlett a few weeks ago, she's about 19 months here.

Here's Chloe when she was 18 months.

Chloe had more hair and lots less teeth at about a year and a half. Scarlett has 16 teeth already!

What do you think? Sisters?

If you haven't read my blog in a while, skim through the older posts. I did a good one about Trevor coming home from his patrol (that's submarine talk for deployment).

Seattle cont.

2011-04-21T01:08:00.003-04:00

More pics. Look closely, I'm in the red sweatshirt slightly left of center. Not sure what I was looking at.

Trevor being merry during our tasty lunch at Ipanema (Brazilian churrasco...foi bom demais!).

Me enjoying my favorite Brazilian soft drink. mmmmmm gostoso.

Strange, real-life tin man just outside the farmer's market.

Trevor posing.

Seattle

2011-04-21T01:02:00.002-04:00

We went to the public market in Seattle. So cool! The famous fish market is there where they throw the fish and yell a lot. I liked this pic of the pretty tulips.

More pretty flowers.

Obviously I did a little shopping at 2 of my favorite stores.

The crossed Gs are Gucci if you didn't know.

You're correct if you guessed that these pictures are as close as I got to designer stuff during my trip to Seattle!

111th Submarine Officer's Ball

2011-04-21T00:53:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday (4/16) was the sub ball. It's not all one big ball like the Marine Corps ball. It's divided up: officers, chiefs and enlisted each have their own ball. So the officer's ball was this past weekend. Since my mom is here (YAY mom!!) she stayed with the kids and we got to celebrate an early anniversary (4/30) and stay overnight in Seattle. Here's a view from our room on the 23rd floor!

Here I am all dolled up.

A close up of the do.

Here's my hunk of burnin' love:) with his Sergeant Trevor face.

We had a great time!

Scarlett's new room

2011-04-21T00:47:00.003-04:00

Okay, so look at the last 2 pics first please. Those are the before pics of Scar's room. The previous owners had a teenage son and this was his room. Fine for a teenage boy, but not acceptable for my baby girl. Trevor and I painted (and primed) her room. I love this color!

House

2011-01-13T15:46:00.002-05:00

My favorite part of the house- the kitchen. Excuse the mess, we just had lunch.

I love this yard. My second favorite thing- the yard. The sellers left their swing set which the girls love!

Our home.

Another shot.

This is the first home we've bought. And I LOVE it! We are so happy we decided to buy a home this time. We'll be here for 3 years. :)

Zoolights

2011-01-13T14:58:00.002-05:00

I just posted 3 different posts. You might want to scroll down my blog to the third and work your way up!

Trevor's crossed over to the dark side and is now reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. :)

Trevor took this picture of me and the girls at Zoolights. During the holidays the Tacoma Zoo has a great display of Christmas lights set up all around the zoo. It's beautiful! I think we will make this a tradition! Poor Scarlett was cut out of the picture:(

Here we are again, but this is a better shot of the rainbow.

This was my favorite part. If you look closely you can see the bridge just to the right of the middle of the picture. It's a replica of one of the bridges here that connects the peninsula to the "mainland". There were even flashing yellow and red lights going in opposite directions to look like cars on the bridge.

2011-01-13T14:50:00.002-05:00

New Year's eve we went to the Tacoma Zoo. We walked around and looked at the animals first and then we went to Zoolights which I'll explain later. After the zoo we went to Sizzler and had a great time. The girls were really good at the zoo and at dinner.

Scarlett and Trevor during our snack/in between time of the zoo closing and zoolights being set up.

Peacocks were walking around the pathways in the zoo. Pretty cool.

Look what's stalking my little girl. I love the look on Chloe's face. I know we were separated by thick glass but I didn't like the way that tiger was looking at Chloe! It was a cub and it approached pretty quickly. Trevor got this great shot.

Mommy and Scarlett checking out the tigers.

Penguins! We got to see them weighed and get a snack. Chloe really likes the penguins.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-13T14:36:00.002-05:00

We celebrated our Christmas this year in our furnished, temporary apartment. We had fun. This was the first year we didn't travel for Christmas. And while we missed our family it was nice to just relax and not worry about travelling. Here are some highlights:

Chloe enjoying Scarlett's crayons and necklace. You may need to click on the pics since I posted small pictures.

Scarlett looking French in her outfit from Grandma Alice and Grandpa Brent.

Go Boise State! And yes, we are both Idaho alumni.

Chloe's Dora doll from Grandpa Brent and Grandma Alice.

Scarlett is excited about her candy cane full of sixlets (which daddy helped her eat).

2010-08-27T14:34:00.005-04:00

Here are some pics of a younger Scar.

4 months.

1 month

Brand, spankin new, August 23, 2009

I tried uploading a video but it's not working. I haven't been having much luck with videos lately so I don't usually bother with them. If I can figure it out I'll put it up. It's of Scarlett opening a present on her bday.

Crystal Lake Tri and Salem, MA

2010-08-27T14:20:00.003-04:00

August 21st Trevor and I did the Crystal Lake Triathlon: .5 mile swim, 18 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. It was a pretty good race. My bike is getting a little faster and my running's getting better. The swim was rough. I was kicked and punched throughout the whole race. There's always the usual flailing at the start but I kept getting hit. Very unsettling. I finished in 2 hours 7 min and Trevor finished in 2 hours. He wasn't really happy with his time. His work schedule makes it almost impossible to get workouts in at all. Our last race will be on September 18, the Lake George Tri (olympic distance).

After our race we went on to Boston, MA. Saturday night we went to the New England Country Music Festival. We saw Sara Evans, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, and Brad Paisley. Pure awesomeness! On Sunday (yes, I know we broke the sabbath) we toured Salem. This is the witch museum. Very interesting. Turns out that Trevor had 2 ancestors who were accused of being witches in Salem in 1692. They died in prison before going to the gallows. I have an ancestor who was burned at the stake for being a witch in Europe.

Here I am in front of the museum. It's undergoing some construction.

Here we are in Salem. I'm quite proud of us. Usually we eat at the same types of places but we had lunch at an Indian place, very tasty.

Grandma's visit and other fun stuff

2010-08-27T14:02:00.004-04:00

Scar opening up her present from grandma Carla and grandpa Larry.

A great doll house that the girls love!

Scar on her scooter toy from mommy and daddy. She likes sitting on it ahd playing with the little toys. Chloe helps her scoot along.

Grandma Alice and grandpa Brent's present- a baby Ariel doll. Notice who has the doll...

My mom came for about a week. It was great! Trevor and I were able to go to our triathlon on the 21st and then off to Boston for the night. She was here for Scar's first birthday, which was great. It was so nice having her here. She helped with the girls and did lots of cooking and cleaning. With Trevor being gone so much it was nice having adult conversation during the day! Thanks mom!!!!

Scarlett's first birthday

2010-08-27T13:45:00.002-04:00

My beautiful baby turned 1 on August 23rd. She's such a ham! Not walking, not even standing at this point. She's really not interested in any of it. She's quite fast as a crawler. She loves her big sister and her daddy. She loves to laugh and play with Chloe. I'm so happy she is part of my family!

Yummmm...this cake is so good I can't stand it!

Chloe helped her scrape the frosting off the cake.

Here's our helper!

Happy birthday Scar! I made 2 round cakes. One was decorated for Scarlett and we shared the other cake.

She looks pretty happy here. The tylenol had kicked in. Little girl had a fever of 101.5 on her big day. I took her to the doctor the day after and she was fine. Slight fever, no infection.

Cute pics

2010-07-23T22:13:00.002-04:00

I want to go to bed but I had to post these pics first. My thought of this one: How'd you like that starin you in the face every mornin? She's precious! Makes me smile:)

Too cute. Chloe loves daddy's work boots. She can kind of walk around in them. I love the head tilt and the "I'm so cute" look.

VA trip

2010-07-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

The girls and I went to VA for a week at the beginning of July. At the end of our trip we went to visit my Grandma Billie (my paternal grandmother) with my sister Dara. Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a while ago and is living in a nursing home. I haven't seen her in a long time. It wasn't an easy visit, it's hard to see her like this and see where she's living. Alzheimer's is a terrible, terrible disease. Chloe was totally freaked the whole time. Scarlett didn't seem to mind it.

Chloe enjoying her ice cream cone. Notice the ice cream on the face and jammies- this is post bath. That's Aunt Jenn in the background (my brother's wife).

Here's my sister, Denise and brother, Aaron with Scarlett in the pool. The girls loved the pool, especially Chloe. As soon as she woke up she grabbed her swim suit and asked to go swimming. We swam in the morning and in the afternoon most days of our trip. It was great!

Chloe and Grandma.

My youngest sister Denise came to visit for a couple of days before we drove to VA. We had a great time together. Chloe and Scarlett love her. Thanks for your help Denise!

Pics

2010-06-29T13:15:00.002-04:00

Here we are on Saturday at the North Country Triathlon in Hague, NY. This pic was right after I finished. It was a really hilly race, much more hilly than I had expected. It was Trevor's first tri. We had a great time!

Here I am with my stuff in the transition area.

Here's Trevor.

The other night Scarlett kept spitting out her food. Okay, fine, she didn't want anymore. Well Chloe took it upon herself to continue feeding Scarlett. It worked, Scarlett ate a little bit more. Cute sisterly bonding.

Trevor's 31st birthday was on June 17th. This was the only shot I could get of the cake. Notice Chloe's in Trevor's arms- as always after work!

2010-06-16T08:23:00.002-04:00

Cute pic I took the other day right after Trevor got home from work. The girls are soooo excited to see him when he gets home. He pretty much can't do anything else (bathroom, eat dinner, say hello to me,.....) because they want all his attention. I think his schedule's really hard on Chloe. She just clings to him as soon as he comes in the door:( I like this pic.

In keeping with tradition...

2010-06-09T20:18:00.002-04:00

I figured it was high time to blog. After all, it's been over a month. Just a quick blurb to let you know what we're doing. Trevor has started prototype and it's no fun. He's been leaving for work about 5am and then returning about 7:30pm. Just in time to see the kids and say "goodnight". And this is before shiftwork!! Yikes. Before he started working like this we were spending most of our time preparing for the North Country Triathlon in Hague, NY. It's June 26th. I'm really excited about it. It's my first of 3 triathlons this season. My big race is an Olympic (.9 mile swim, ~25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) distance on September 18th. I did 2 sprint distance tris (.5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) after Chloe was born so I thought I'd up the anti this time. If we have 2 more kids that means I'll be doing an Ironman someday. Hahaha...I'm pretty sure we won't have 2 more kids. But I might do an Ironman...who knows? Once you've done a tri the "tri bug" bites you and you're addicted. It's a fun, albeit expensive, hobby.

The girlies are doing well. Scar's getting so big and is full of personality. She's pretty resistent to crawling. She's got the longest arms of any baby I've seen. Instead of moving to where the toys are she reaches huge reaches and grabs them.

Chloe's a typical 2 year old. Her latest antic is using her toy box to climb onto the counter and go through the cabinets. Usually snacking on Scar's baby snacks. Potty training's been a huge bust. She had it for like 2 weeks and then decided she didn't want to do it anymore. I'm at a loss. Someday she'll use the potty regularly, maybe she'll be 10, but she'll do it.

I'll write more and post pics eventually. Thing is I'm not a huge fan of blogging. I do it b/c our families are so far away and it's a way to keep people up to date on what we're doing. But if you get the urge and just have to know what's up in between my monthly postings- call me!

Bermuda, Bahamas come on pretty mama...

2010-04-22T18:51:00.008-04:00

Here are some pics from Bermuda! There are still a lot more but I want to go to bed and it's taking forever for the pics to load. They're not in any particular order, I just kind of threw them up here. I tried to caption them the best I could. We had an amazing time! It was so nice to be alone with Trevor and not worry about the kids. Big thanks to mom and Dara for watching the girls!! Thank you so much. Bermuda was great but we both agree that the cruise was waaaayyy cooler. I'll write more about it later, but here are some pics and info to get you started!

Really cool fruit sculptures the chefs did at the midnight buffet. Yes, that's right midnight people. We had amazing chicken fajitas pool side and then followed up with a dance party. Well, I followed up with dancing, Trevor watched.

Sea lion with Trevor's glasses.

Pretty pink flower. This was my attempt at photography.

The hotel we would've lied and said we were staying in had anyone asked. We were on a "members only" beach. Oops.

Walking along Elbow beach. We didn't find out until after the fact that it's a private beach. Oops.

More pretty pics.

Here we are in Hamilton, Bermuda's capital. We thought we would just take the ferry and wander and be our own tour guides. It didn't really work out that well. We walked all over Hamilton and I was a little scared. There were lots of people and buses and cars. They drive on the other side of the road so crossing the street scared the bejeezus out of me.

Here's Trevor.

A nice scene from our balcony when we were docked in Bermuda.

Trevor in an empty phone booth.

Look how blue the water is! I've never seen anything like it. Crystal blue water and white sand beaches. Gorgeous!

Pretty pic.

This building with the clock towers used to be the Royal Navy yard. Now it's a mall with great shopping!

Each night Putu folded a towel animal and put out or Compass for the next day. The Cruise Compass told us everything that was going on for that day, where we would be the next day, and weather and stuff like that. It was a very handy little packet.

Here I am eating duck for the first time ever. I loved it!

Here we are at formal dinner night. People confused Trevor with an employee of the cruiseline wearing that uniform.

I love this shot. The pool deck. People still swam and hot tubbed even though it was about 60 degrees and very windy the whole time.

We opted for lounge chairs. It was so relaxing to just sit and read or sleep and watch the water. There were waiters who walked around taking drink orders. There was a drink of the day too. They were all very festive (and alcoholic so we didn't have any) looking.

If you look really hard in the middle of the picture you can see a blueish-green thing. That's the Statue of Liberty. Pretty cool.

A couple of pics of our room. We had a suite which was saweeeettt. The private balcony was my very favorite part!

Trevor relaxing. We had just gotten into our room and he was reading our itinerary. This little sitting area was nice too.

The view from our balcony in Bayonne, NJ. If you really strain you can see Trev's pick up in the way back corner of the lot;)

So much to say...

2010-04-09T09:17:00.002-04:00

Hello folks. It's only been about a month since my last post. I desperately need to blog about my sister's wedding. They might celebrate their first anniversary before I post!!

I am enjoying a couple of days alone with Trevor. He graduates submarine school in Connecticut in less than an hour! My mom's home with the girls:) We leave tomorrow for our cruise!!! I am soooo excited to have time alone with Trevor and to go to Bermuda:) Pictures will follow...granted it might take me 5 months or so...

Chloe and I aren't seeing eye to eye with potty training. It's miserable. Such a power struggle. Any bright ideas out there!?! Words of advice/comfort?

Scarlett has cut her second tooth. What misery. Chloe was cranky when she cut teeth but she didn't really lose teeth. She didn't get teeth until she was almost 1 so maybe that's why. Scarlett's up multiple times at night, the poor thing. I know it's hard for her to not sleep well, but it's hard to think about that when my own eyes and brain are clouded over due to not sleeping. Thanks to my mom, the last week and a half I've slept like a non-teething baby. My poor, tired mom. MANY THANKS MOM!!!

My own news- I have registered for two sprint triathlons: my first is June 26th and my second is August 21st. Both before Scarlett turns 1:) I am considering registering for an Olympic distance tri in September. Just something to challenge myself. I might be crazy. That's a summer full of training. But on the up side it means getting my pre-baby body back:) I am working at the YMCA in Saratoga teaching yoga once a week and spinning once a week. I love it! I am so happy to have a place to teach and do what I love.

Cruisin'

2010-03-18T16:00:00.003-04:00

Yes, that's right, I have the best husband ever! He informed me recently that we are going on a cruise to Bermuda April 10-15th. YAAAYYYY!!!! It's a combined anniversary/honeymoon. I am so excited. It's my dream vacation! I figured we'd go on one someday, I just didn't think it would be so soon. He graduates from sub school April 9th and we'll leave the next morning. I am so, so, soooo excited!

Heck no, we're not taking the kids:) My mom's coming into town to watch them:) :)

Trevor's Power school graduation

2010-03-04T09:23:00.006-05:00

Trevor graduated from power school on January 22nd. Too bad the guy who took this pic didn't zoom in. The girls were so cute in their matching dresses. The dresses served 2 purposes: Trev's graduation and Denise's wedding. Her colors were orange and yellow so the dresses were perfect. It was a cold and wet day I'm surprised the ceremony wasn't inside. It was nice seeing him graduate. I enjoy these military functions. It's great to see everyone dressed up and see them praised for their hard work.

Where's Trevor? (Third row, slightly off-center to the right)

Here's a video clip of him walking across the stage. You can't really see him and you can barely hear his name but it's the best I could do.

Here we go...

2010-03-04T09:06:00.004-05:00

Here's my chunk of burnin love. Such a happy girl. She babbles a lot now, isn't too keen on rolling over, and loves 2 things: being tickled and watching Chloe. She's quite rotund, I love it!

More of a full body shot. I took these this morning so they're very recent.

Here's daddy and Deucey at Denise and Ian's rehearsal dinner. It was at a Japanese steakhouse- soooo good!

Trevor took this back in SC. I like this picture of the 3 of us.

This is my new Facebook profile pic. We all went to Chuck E. Cheese's when we were at my parent's house. Scarlett doesn't really seem to be enjoying herself...

Not the biggest blogger...

2010-03-03T12:37:00.002-05:00

Obviously I'm not that into blogging. In SC I could barely post every couple of weeks. This move has really disrupted my flow. I'll just fill you in on stuff we've done/are doing. Pictures will come eventually.

After we left SC we went to my sister Denise's wedding. It was great fun. We're really happy for her and Ian. Then we moved on up here. Everything was set so that our movers would come several days before Trevor had to leave. Well the good old military struck once again and the movers came the day he left. Needless to say we had loads of boxes everywhere. It was all I could to (still is all I can do) to just tend to the children, let alone unpack a box. Things are finally settling down and we have most everything unpacked that we need/want to use. I struggle with having Trevor gone during the week. He is in submarine school in CT and is able to come home on the weekends. If we were still in SC I wouldn't see him until he was finished (which is April 9th) so it could be worse. It's hard having him gone for many reasons: I miss him, it's lonely, I'm a single mom and to top it off I'm potty training Chloe! Ugghhh...

I'm not bring this stuff up to complain it's just to let my 9 loyal followers know what's going on. I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. It's just that when I have free time I want to sleep or watch tv.

I'll get pictures up eventually though, don't worry!

Scarlett had her 6 month appointment this morning. She weighs 19 lbs 11 ozs and is 26.5 inches long. That puts her in the 99th% for weight and 75% for height. Her head size is 44 cm or something like that and puts her in the 95th%. That's my big ol' girl!

We have the internet!

2010-02-12T22:23:00.001-05:00

We just got the internet so I'll be able to update my blog. Just wanted to let you know in case you've been chomping at the bit to read my blog!!

Our trip to Charleston

2010-01-18T17:33:00.003-05:00

We finally made it on a tour of downtown Charleston. Not just any tour, but a horse-drawn carriage tour. It was great! If you've seen the movie, "The Patriot", you might recognize the above house. This was Aunt Charlotte's first house. It was burning and she ran away from it in the movie. (I think that's what the guide said, it's been a while since I've seen it.)

Just a beautiful house we saw on the tour. There was a socioeconomic dividing line. Most of the houses we saw are selling for about 4 million.

Another gorgeous house.

Look closely at the barbed wire on this fence. This was a slave owner's house. The owner had this fence designed especially to keep the slaves from escaping.

These are single-story houses. They're called that, not b/c there aren't any stairs, but because they are only 1 room wide. There was one house that was only 12 feet wide (not this one in the picture). It's amazing how "skinny" the houses are and how deep. They go back probably 5 or 6 rooms.

One happy family. Chloe really liked the horses. It was a cold, rainy Saturday but we still had fun.

Here we are again with Smokey, the horse who gave us our tour.

Chloe, before our tour.

Scarlett, before our tour.

Children's Museum of the Low Country

2010-01-18T17:25:00.003-05:00

Once we got orders to New York, I decided it was high time to do some of the things I've been putting off for the last few months. Last week we went to the Children's Museum of the Low Country (the area we live in is known as the low country b/c it's pretty much at sea level). We had a great time. Above is what Deucey did most of our trip- hang out in the stroller!

There was a grocery store in the museum. Chloe LOVED it! Here she is ringing up her purchases. That's her friend Andy in the background, and his mommy's arms helping Chloe!

Here are the goods.

There was a pirate ship the kids could play on. They had shirts and boots the kids could wear. It was all I could do to just get her to stay in the ship for a picture. Marcene wrestled her into this jacket for me!

Chloe's 2 favorite rooms were the grocery store and then the water room. There was tons of stuff in this room. They also had smocks for the kids so they wouldn't go soaked (though, when we left Chloe's sweater was dripping). This part of the room was a slide where you could race boats down.

Yes, she did just write her name.

Chloe and Andy enjoying the water room.

Chloe

2010-01-18T17:16:00.003-05:00

Here's our girl making a bed out of my wrapping paper holder.

Maybe Santa should have given this toy mat to Chloe and the toy kitchen to Scarlett??

She loves my ceramic Santa. Of course, I hold my breath every time she gets near it. My mom made it for me when I was 2!!

Here are the cuties in matching sweaters from Aunt Sharon. Below is Chloe riding her tricycle. She's pretty good at it around the house (my ankles will attest to that). The weather was really nice so we took it outside today!

So funny!

2010-01-05T16:29:00.002-05:00

I was watching Dr. Phil and Chloe was playing. She decides to take her shirt off. Whatever, we're inside, no biggie. Then she picks up her doll (actually it was Scarlett's doll but she's not big enough to do anything about it yet) and walks down the hall. She comes back into the family room nursing her baby! It was so funny! She kept saying "boob, boob". Then she switched sides so that the baby could get a full tummy. Hilarious! She's a smart little girl because I stopped nursing Scarlett months ago.

Anywho...funny story and I thought I'd share!

New York

2010-01-02T22:34:00.002-05:00

I mentioned this on Facebook, but I know some of you don't do Facebook. Trevor got orders to New York so we'll be moving in 3 weeks. I'm excited to move somewhere new. Not thrilled about the moving part, but I'm glad we're going somewhere new. We'll (probably) be living in Ballston Spa. It's a rural town about an hour north of Albany. I've already googled it and we're 3.5 hours from New York City.

I've got pics from Christmas I need to get up. Look forward to those!

More pics

2009-12-20T16:59:00.004-05:00

Here's our family pic. We had it taken at our ward party. Might look vaguely familiar to those of you who got our Christmas card!

Daddy and Scarlett sleeping on our new recliner.

Scarlett fearing that we might take her bottle away. She's got a death grip on that thing!

Here's Chloe showing off our new chair. The base had a huge tent sale with lots of furniture marked down. We kept debating about getting the chair and finally decided to do it. Deucey likes to be rocked and I prefer this chair to walking round and round the house.

Chloe jumped up next to Scarlett and wanted their picture taken. I like this one because you can see Scar looking at Chloe. She LOVES her big sister. Anytime Chloe comes around Scarlett's in awe. Chloe even gave Scarlett her baby doll.

Funny girl!

Chloe loves Santa. As long as she doesn't have to sit on his lap she's fine. She enjoys kissing and sitting next to my ceramic Santa.

Strike a pose!

Accessories part Deux

2009-12-20T16:25:00.002-05:00

Here's our girl with her new earrings! You'll probably need to click on the picture to get a good look.

Chunky bling

2009-12-20T11:27:00.001-05:00

My sister, Dara, entered this contest on chunkybling.com. She's trying to win a watch and would love your vote. Please vote for her: http://chunkybling.com/contests/name-that-bling/vote-on-names

You should be able to just click on the link and vote for Dara! Thanks:)

Accessories...

2009-12-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

I got Scarlett's ears pierced this morning! I took the girls to the mall just for something to do and got the bright idea to stop at Claire's. I thought Trevor and I might take the kids last weekend and get her ears done, but it never happened. Anywho...the girls were both being good and I thought "why not?". She totally freaked! So much more than Chloe did. Chloe was 9 months when we got her ears pierced. I'll get some pics up shortly, but I wanted to let you know! She's so cute. I picked her birthstone, Peridot (it's light green). So sparkly!!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T20:35:00.007-05:00

We just got got back from my family's in VA. We had a great time! Below are tons of photos. Instead of doing separate posts I just threw all the pictures up on my blog and I'll put individual captions with them.
I have to say that the highlight of our trip was going to the temple and doing work for my ancestors. I got to stand as proxy for my grandma Dottie. I was named after her: Dorothy Lillian Ellerbusch was my grandma. I got to go through an endowment session on her behalf and seal her to her husband. The best part of the temple trip was acting as my grandma and having my mom sealed to her parents. That was really special. I'll have to scan a picture of my grandma in the computer so that I can post it on my blog. I'm so thankful for the temple work that we can do and that our families can be together forever. Not only do my grandma and I share the same name but we both married Naval Officers! Actually, I married a Marine who turned into a Naval officer, but still.

Aunt Denise and Deucey.

Sweet, sweet Deucey.

She was having so much fun playing with my brother.

Again, lots of fun with uncle Aaron.

Aunt Dara carrying a naked Deucey in her sweatshirt to keep her warm! Dara was practicing a Guatemalan custom. I think it's called a "sute" (pronounced- sootay). How moms carry their babies in Guatemala.

Cute pic of my mom and her grandbabies!

Grandma and Scarlett.

My mom helping Chloe paint a matchbox. She did a great job too!

I just like this pic of her.

Such a sad girl! I was outside with my sisters and Trevor was taking our picture. We looked up and this is what we saw! She had woken up from her nap and was very sad that she was inside and we were outside. Poor thing. Click on the pic to get a better look at her sad face.

Uncle Ryan made Chloe some playdough glasses. She was walking around the house with her head tilted back to keep them on her nose. Cute!

Chloe doin her thing on the sit and spin.

This wasn't on our vacation but it's one of her favorite things to do. Open the stereo cabinet and lick the inside of the glass.

GQ! This pic's out of order. I took it when Aaron, my bro, was playing with Deucey. Cute, huh?!! Sorry ladies, he's taken!

Here's the pic that made Chloe so upset! Me, Denise, and Dara- the Shreffler women in action! This was right before Denise's bridal shower. She's getting married February 6th.

Me and Dara finishing the 5-mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day in Alexandria, Va. Trevor and Ryan had long since finished! Trevor had enough time to finish, walk to the car, get the camera and wait for me!

We had a picture of all of us that a nice passerby took, but this one was funnier. Trevor held the camera and we all crammed in. That's us and Dara and her husband, Ryan (the playdough-glasses maker).

Me and Denise before church.

Cutest girls (and boy) in the world

2009-11-14T15:29:00.003-05:00

My 3 favorite people...

Look at Chloe's cute smile.

I love this pic of the 3 of us.

Look at Chloe's tongue hanging out.

"Open wide sis!" The other day I found Chloe trying to shove Honey Nut Cheerios in her sister's mouth. Scarlett was a little confused. She kept spitting them out!

Cute Deucey

2009-11-14T15:20:00.002-05:00

Here's our star's debut! I swear she was laughing for a few seconds before I got the camera. I wasn't fast enough! That kept happening too, everytime I got the camera she got straight-faced, the little stinker. She makes you work for a smile but when you get one it's heart-melting!!

Coastal Carolina Fair

2009-11-14T15:09:00.005-05:00

It's been almost 2 weeks since the fair, I know that I'm posting about it a little late. Better late than never, right?! We went to the Costal Carolina Fair while Alice was here. It was nice to have extra hands with the kiddies. Chloe loved the carousel. Here's a pic and a little movie clip. It was really hard to take pictures while it was moving so I took a video instead. Trevor and I got to go on the Ferris Wheel! We ate good food and had fun.

Here's Chloe and daddy riding the carousel.

Thank you Alice!

2009-11-14T14:58:00.004-05:00

We recently had Trevor's mom stay with us for about a week and a half. We had a great time! Grandma has a knack for getting Deucey to sleep. We've missed that since she's gone home! I'll post pictures later. Thank you Alice!!

Marine Corps Birthday

2009-11-10T19:57:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to the Marine Corps! As Trevor would say "Not as mean, not as lean, still a Marine". (I wish I could say I made that up but we saw it on a bumper sticker! Totally funny.)

On an unrelated note: Trevor saw an alligator at school today. It was meandering down the sidewalk. The security guards were keeping it from going inside the school with brooms! This is the second loose gator close to home since we moved here in June!! I think Trevor's taking the trash out now and doing anything else that needs done when it's dark outside! A gator could be waiting...

MOOoooove over Elsie!!

2009-11-02T21:00:00.004-05:00

Chloe won these glasses at the bean bag toss. Correction, she did great at the toss and got to pick a prize. Professor Chloe chose these!! Her very own BCGs:)

Notice the bum on this costume! So funny:) It's called a "big belly" costume.

Here's Chloe best bud Andy. He's our neighbor and Chloe just loves him. Every time we drive by his house she says "Andy, Andy". Anytime I say "guess who's coming over?" it's always "Andy, Andy" even if it's grandma or grandpa!

Here's our girl, ready to trunk or treat!

Chloe and Deucey riding Chloe's little horsey. With Grandma Shreffler's help of course!

How'd you like that starin you in the face??? What a cute cow!

Fam's visit

2009-11-02T20:53:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd make an appearance...after all it's my blog...Please notice the lollipop sticks hanging out of my pocket. When Chloe saw a lollipop dropped in her bag all she wanted was to eat them right then and there. I had quite a sucker collection by the time we finished trunk or treating!

Here's Deucey with Grandma and Grandpa Elison. Isn't she the cutest leopard ever??

Here's my mom, Carla, with Deucey.

Aunt Dara and Deucey doing what Deucey does best...eating. She just had her 2 month check up. She's 12 lbs 15 ozs!! Chloe was 10 lbs (barely) at her 2 month check up. Deucey's in the 95-97th %ile!! What a chunk:)

Trevor did a great job on Scarlett's blessing. It was so nice having so much family here. I'm so thankful for them and their support. We had a great time:)

Who says men can't multi-task?

2009-11-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

Halloween

2009-11-01T21:52:00.002-05:00

It's been a while! We had a great time at the ward's Trunk or Treat. I'll post pics later. Chloe was the cutest cow you've ever seen and Deucey was a leopard. Chloe's costume was a "big belly" costume which means that the belly and bum were padded. Soooo cute.

Trevor blessed Scarlett today. I can't believe we've just blessed our second baby. My mom, sister and her hubby, brother and his wife, and my in-laws came to participate in the blessing. It was so nice having so much family here. My mother-in-law is staying for a little over a week to hang out and have fun with us. I'm sooo looking forward to catching up on sleep!

I'll post pics later!

Who says you need the beach to play in the sand??

2009-10-11T12:49:00.005-04:00

Here she is right before Trevor hosed her down.

Chloe and Gianna taking turns chucking wet sand at each other.

We went to a barbeque at a friend's last night. It's been fun watching Chloe's personality develop. She's just like her parents- a homebody. She's very happly playing alone and doesn't need to be around lots of other kids to have a good time. That being said, she does enjoy occasional company of a friend. Above are pictures of such a moment. Our friends have this sandbox. Chloe had a great time playing with Giana. At one point I looked over and they were taking turns throwing sand at each other. It was hilarious! Instead of stopping it I laughed and took pictures. Besides, the damage had been done. (Thankfully they didn't get sand in each other's eyes. But we'll be getting it out of Chloe's hair for the next week or so!) We let the girls get it out of their system and then they both got hosed off. I should've taken a video of that- Chloe freaked out. She didn't like that part at all.

Please note that these pics were taken from my cel phone! Thank you technology.

My little girl's 2!!

2009-10-03T21:46:00.002-04:00

I bought these ADORABLE matching shirts at gymboree right before Deucey was born. They are so cute! I had already snapped a couple of shots before this one and poor Chloe was tired of the photo shoot. I love the look on her face. As if to say, "mom, I'm sooooo bored".

Here we are enjoying her Elmo cake. Chloe scarfed that cake. It went better than her first birthday cake. (She burned herself on the candle wax and wanted nothing more to do with it.)

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for her birthday, which was Tuesday, Sept. 29th. She had a great time. She really enjoyed feeding the tokens into the machines. Here's her favorite ride "Monner"...that means Barney in Chloe language. I think she's trying to say Monster...

Oh, the happy little girl. I thought it would be fun to get a pic with Chuck. Nope. Notice how far away from him I had to stand and she still wouldn't even look at him. She was clinging to me for dear life the poor thing!

Little girl like helping me play skee ball. After a while she started trying to help strangers play their game. She'd run up and try to take their balls out of their lane. Kind of funny.

I can't believe she's 2. Makes me a little sad, like "where'd the time go?" She's such a fun little person. I love her personality. She has enriched our family and we are so happy to have her forever! We love you Chloe!

Speaking of bdays...I just turned 29. Holy Cow! Talk about "where'd the time go?". I guess that means I'm a grown up now...

I have an interview on Monday at the YMCA...wish me luck!!

Cake boss

2009-09-29T11:10:00.003-04:00

Here's Chloe's Elmo cake. I'm quite proud of myself. Just call me the "cake boss"...okay so maybe not, but I think it looks great. Especially considering the fact that before I was married I wanted nothing to do with the kitchen except to eat in it. I rarely helped my mom cook or bake or decorate and when I did I was just in the way. I showed it to Chloe and she said "Elmo". At least it looks like him. I showed it to her before it was finished and asked her who it was and she didn't say anything.

I learned 2 things:
1) Make the frosting thicker
2) Use lots of food coloring to get a richer red color.

Feel free to leave your admiration in my comment box ;)

Trip to the zoo

2009-09-28T18:33:00.005-04:00

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia on Friday. The zoo itself was fun. Taking 2 little kids was an experience. It would've gone better if Chloe had a nap. I thought she would sleep on the way there (it's about a 90 minute drive). But no, she was wide awake, screaming and everything. Actually, these first few pics are at the end of the trip when she was having a better time. She liked this carousel ride. At first she was freaked out but then she like it and wanted to go again. When it ended she said "nee, nee". That's "again" in Chloe language. I liked the animal she was on, a babboon eating a banana. Funny. The above pic looks like he's looking right at you.

Just another shot of the babboon and the red-faced animal and moi... :)

Here I am right as it started trying to convince Chloe that she'd really have a good time.

This face pretty much sums up our whole day at the zoo. They had animal statues around the whole place and I wanted to get a pic of her on one. It didn't go well. Click on the pic to get a good look at that lower lip.

Here's a gator just like the one that was wandering around our neighbors yard about a month ago.

Here we are on the train ride. She really hated that. She was frozen still on my lap the whole time.

Pretty flamingoes. I've always liked these animals. FYI: They sound just like geese.

Chloe loved the bears. There were a few of them but this one in particular kept running back and forth. It was funny because the one on the other side of the den (or whatever it's called where they are) was fast asleep. So asleep he had sleep twitches! Cute!

I should've gotten a picture of all 4 of us but I didn't even think about it! Sorry!

Since you're already reading about my life, wish me luck. I'm venturing to make an Elmo cake for the little girl's 2nd birthday tomorrow. I've never decorated a cake on my own before. Hopefully it turns out. Don't worry, I'll post pics of it!

Woo Hoo!!!

2009-09-26T18:30:00.001-04:00

We went out to run a couple of errands and I decided to take Chloe out in her big girl panties. I am very happy to report that we had NO accidents! I'm sure some day we will, but I am relishing in this right now!

We went to the zoo yesterday. I have pics and stories and I'll write about that later. Let's just say that I'm still recovering...

Potty training update and funny story

2009-09-20T09:43:00.003-04:00

Potty Training update:
For the past couple of days Chloe's been dry after her nap. We're very proud of her. Then last night we went out to dinner and then grocery shopping. At the restaurant she peed in the big potty. The pull up was dry when we got home. She held it for our whole trip! Finally, the piece de resistance (sp?) she was totally dry this morning and peed a lot in the potty! She's doing a great job and we're sooo proud of her!

Funny Story:
We went out for Chinese last night. An older couple walked in and their t-shirts read the following:
His- This isn't a beer belly, it's a fuel tank for a sex machine.
Hers- This is what a sexy grandma looks like.

Trevor and I will walk around in shirts like that in about 40 years!

Aunt Denise's visit and cute pics

2009-09-19T16:38:00.005-04:00

So cute! Yesterday I laid Scarlett down on the couch on this blanket. Chloe climbed up next to her to lay down too! You can't see it in the pic but she's in her big girl panties. Potty training is coming right along. I'm really proud of Chloe. She has the occasional accident, but for the most part she tells us when she has to go. Now I just need to work up the courage to: a) keep her in undies during her nap- she currently wears a pull up. However, the past 2 days the pull up's been dry the whole 2 hours! and b) keep her in undies when we go out- she also wears a pull up when we go out.

I don't know why Chloe's freaking out. I put them in their sister outfits and their hair was done. Chloe suddenly decided she didn't want her picture taken. I had to snap the photo quickly b/c she was about to throw Scarlett off of herself!

At first glance you'd think this was just a cute picture of the little girl. Look closely at what's in her hands. The little stinker grabbed Scar's pacifier and took off, that's why she looks so happy and proud of herself.

My youngest sister Denise came to visit for a few days last weekend. We had fun. It's always nice to have extra hands around to help and let me take a nap! Thanks Denise! Just before she left she wanted some watermelon. So here she is. Why use a fork when you can use a large carving knife!?

Here's a better shot of the knife.

Denise and Scarlett. She'd probably like me to point out the ring on her left hand. She's getting married in February!

Aunt Dara's and Uncle Ryan's visit and cute pics

2009-09-11T19:31:00.006-04:00

Deucey was hungry enough to suck on daddy's nose!!

Sweet, sweet Scarlett Rose...

Chloe giving Deucey a bottle. I love this!!

My sister Dara and her husband Ryan came to visit us over the Labor Day weekend. We had a great time! It was sooo nice to have extra hands and extra help! Thank you both:)

Little Deucey update

2009-09-08T19:16:00.002-04:00

I took Scarlett to the doctor's today and she's growing well. She's 20 3/4 inches and weighs 8 lbs 14 ozs. That puts her in the 75th %ile for both height and weight. Her head measurement puts her in the 50th%ile. She's a really good eater so I'm pleased to see that she's put on about a pound and a half since birth. She's starting to make these cute "cooing" sounds. I love it! I guess you could call it cooing. It's a cute sound. She spends a lot of time alert during the day. Chloe didn't do that. When she was awake she was wailing.

Chloe is starting to talk in sentences. I can't always understand each word she says. Her newest and most favorite sentence is "blah, blah, blah, pretty baby". She's usually pretty good with Scarlett, always loving on her and kissing her. She did hit her right in the belly today though! I love having these 2 little girls. I know it will get better and better.

Grandma's present

2009-09-01T21:53:00.005-04:00

Here's her new princess shirt.

Grandma Alice sent Chloe a baby doll with a blankie (which Chloe calls "mimi"), cute dress up shoes and a princess shirt that tweets (pictured at the top).

Chloe with her baby and her baby's mimi.

I love this! She was strutting all around the house in her new shoes.

Little Deucey fast asleep.

So cute.

More cute pics

2009-09-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

Chloe loves holding her little sister. She walks up to me with her hands out and says "hold her, hold her". It's so cute! I love this pic because they're both in their jammies.

Ha, ha, ha...I've stolen Scarlett's pacifier. Chloe always takes her sissy's pacifier. I don't really know what to do about it. If I make to big of a reaction she likes the attention, if I don't do anything she thinks it's okay. Just for the record, daddy took this pic, not me.

Little Scarlett's sooo tired. Be nice if she'd sleep like this between 11pm and 6am...

I like this pic of Trevor with Chloe and Scarlett.

This pic melts my heart. Chloe wanted to hold her so I got her set up. Then she wanted to hug her, so I adjusted Scarlett. She kept bending down and kissing her. I got all teary. It's so cute watching Chloe cuddle her sister. But then in an instant she can haul off and hit Scarlett right on the head. She's usually good with her though.

Little Gym clips and Grandma's visit

2009-08-31T11:11:00.008-04:00

My mom was able to come visit us for about a week and a half. She and Chloe are great buds. Here they are in the kitchen. My mom was making breakfast and Chloe was hoarding the cheese. We all really enjoyed my mom's visit. Thanks mom!! We love you:) Chloe looks at the chair where you sat during dinner and says "poppa, poppa". (That means grandma and grandpa.)

Daddy with his girls.

Cute big sissy pic. We have about 20 seconds or so when Chloe holds Deuce until she loses interest and tries to throw her off...

Grandma Carla and her girls! Chloe was being squirmy.

Here we all are at The Little Gym right before my mom had to leave.

Here are a couple of quick clips. In the first one, Chloe's being chased around the gym by daddy. The second Chloe's showing off her skills on the balance beam.

Details

2009-08-25T18:10:00.003-04:00

Chloe, daddy and little Deuce. Chloe kept trying to give Scarlett the balloon...by give I mean hit on the head.

Chloe looks like such a young lady in this picture. I know I'm her mommy but she is really a beautiful little girl. Daddy's not too bad looking either...

Little Scar about an hour or 2 after she was born.

I look like I've been put through the ringer. Oh wait, I had just finished 17 hours of back labor. I debated putting a pic of myself on this blog, but we're all friends, right?!

Just a cute pic of Scarlett after her bath under the warmer.

Thanks for all your comments! I got to pick the name. Trevor was gone at work and I had the papers in front of me. It was the name I liked the best, though I don't know if she quite looks like a Scarlett. She can grow into I guess.

So for all of you who are interested, here are the details. Trevor and I went out to eat at Yamato Japanese Steakhouse on Saturday night. We both joked that I'd probably go into labor since I had such a full stomach. Well about 11:30 that night I did. I'd been asleep for about an hour and woke up with a start. Thought it might be gas, but it was more, much more. After monitoring them for a couple of hours I called the doctor's office. The doctor on call told me to come in b/c the contractions were 2-4 min apart and lasting about a minute each. We got to the hospital around 2:30am and they hooked me up to monitors and stuff. My whole labor was back labor so when we got to the hospital I was asking for medicine. They gave me a shot of something which slowed my labor so the contractions were 6-7 min apart. Since the labor slowed and I hadn't dilated anymore they SENT ME HOME!! I was so angry. I was in a lot of pain and I knew I was in labor. I was afraid I wouldn't make it back in time once I got home. We got home around 6am and I continued to labor. I was in so much pain. Back labor is rough. Finally, I called again and said I had to come back and "I couldn't do it anymore". (Those were my exact words.) I went back and was 7cm dilated in full blown labor. I was like "yeah, duh"!! They had to admit me and give me so many fluids before the epidural. Trevor thinks I broke his hand during my contractions. Oops! When my water broke there was some meconium staining which scared me. It didn't cost any problems so we were grateful for that. I got the epidural around 2:30- it worked wonders. About an hour after that I was 10cm. They turned me on my side so that she could drop down. I pushed for about 15 minutes and Scarlett was born! I was so thankful for the epidural. My total labor was about 17 hours- all of it was back labor. After that experience I don't know if there will be a child #3. The most painful experience of my life to date.

So there it is. I have to thank Jade for her post about me being past my due date! That in combination with the Japanese steakhouse must have been what did it!!

Scarlett Rose is Here

2009-08-24T21:52:00.002-04:00

Scarlett was born on Sunday, August 23, at 4:46 pm. She weighed 7lb 7oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. We're both doing well and I'll write more later. Just wanted to let you know.

Pool

2009-08-21T20:00:00.006-04:00

Here's a cute pic of the little girl and her daddy. We went to the pool today with daddy and grandma. What fun! Chloe loves the water. The aquatic center on base has this portable slide thing that Chloe loves. My mom and I went Tuesday and they pulled it out. Here's a video clip of Chloe using the slide. I have to say that she was more daring on Tuesday and didn't need as much help. But atleast you get an idea of what she was doing.

Silly buddha

2009-08-16T19:21:00.004-04:00

Just when you think they can't pull the wool over your eyes anymore they get smarter. It was awfully quiet in the kitchen earlier today and I just figured she was wandering around under the table like usual. Nope, she had crawled up on the chair and then onto the table. Lovely. We bought a new table recently and it's a high table. One advantage of such a high table was that she wouldn't be able to climb up on it like our old one. Yeah, right! She's been climbing up on to the chairs recently but today was the first day she actually climbed up on to the table. Scary. She doesn't know how to get down off either the table or the chair. Crazy little girl!

Here she is lounging in Deuce's swing. In all fairness I guess it was Chloe's swing first. I looked over one minute and she was pushing her baby dolls in it. The next minute she had climbed into the swing and was playing with the fish mobile. She was actually able to get out of the swing on her own. I was impressed, I thought she might tip it over. Please take notice of her new sandals. Those are one of the pair we got at Sears yesterday. She thinks she's so big wearing them. Trevor says she's too young for platform sandals. I say you're never too young for heels!!

Criminal in our midst

2009-08-15T22:03:00.004-04:00

Yes, sadly it's true. We have a criminal in our midst. She's really cute though, about 2.5 feet tall, 28 pounds, blonde hair, and brown eyes. That's right, little Chloe committed her first misdemeanor today. We went to the mall to look for shoes for her (she's recently had a growth spurt and none of her sandals fit- plus any excuse to buy her clothes/shoes and I'm all for it). We were at Sears just looking around and they had some good prices, but I had a Payless coupon so we continued on to that store. While we were at Sears Chloe helped herself to the shoes trying them on while I looked around. Trevor and I both thought all the shoes had been put back in their places. It wasn't until we were across the mall leaving Payless (not a good selection) that I saw a fancy, black dress shoe tucked in under Chloe's leg! I was so embarrassed. I was actually looking behind us thinking a guard would come running and arrest us. She must've liked that particular model and not wanted to put it back. We were going back to Sears anyway and we surreptiously placed it back on the display rack with none the wiser. I guess until now with this post...

Chopsticks??

2009-08-15T18:59:00.003-04:00

We went to the China Palace for dinner tonight. Apparently my darling husband never learned how to hold a pencil correctly. This little informational nugget will be important later. He had just finished bragging to me about how he can eat so well with chopsticks, when one of the waitresses came over and gave him a lesson. He wasn't using them right! She wouldn't let it go either. She must have stood over our table for a good 5 minutes trying to show/tell him how to use the dang things. Since he can't hold a pen/pencil I guess he can't hold chopsticks. Chloe was so freaked out that this lady was standing over her and using her food as a demonstration. She wouldn't move a muscle. Literally, she was holding her watermelon in her hand and just staring at me, as if to say "mommy, make this lady go away". What made it even funnier was that the lady spoke NO English. Trevor was good about it though. He tried doing what she said. Finally she left us alone to eat in peace. I don't get what the big deal was in the first place because he was succeeding at getting the food to his mouth. And I didn't see what the difference was in what she showed him to what he was already doing. It was pretty funny.

As for how to hold a pen or pencil. What difference does that make? They try to teach us the correct way in grade school, but if you can write- who cares how the letters get on the page? Remember those gummy things they used to have us put on pencils so we'd hold them correctly? Apparently they never worked for Trevor and his teachers got really upset about it. I'm sorry- holding a pencil incorrectly doesn't look like it's harmed him academically. I'd say a 3.6 in Mechanical Engineering from a top engineering school isn't too shabby. Nor is currently being enrolled at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Center where he's learning to control billion-dollar equipment!! I think his teachers would eat their words, or pencils for that matter, if they could see him now!

The Little Gym

2009-08-12T12:38:00.006-04:00

Okay, so fair warning that there are lots and lots of pics to follow! We enrolled Chloe in a summer session at The Little Gym in Summerville. It's like Gymboree if you're familiar with that program. She absolutely loved it! We went on Wednesday mornings and then went to lunch with Chloe's friend Grace and her mom Tara. I've loved Wednesdays this summer! I brought my camera today since it was the last day of summer session. She's going to go on Thursdays this fall. (I'll either leave Deuce in the car seat in the corner or carry her around in a sling. Hopefully it works out so Chloe and I can play a little!)

Chloe tracking a bubble with her finger. All the kids love the bubbles. Notice AJ standing on his mom in the background...funny.

Bubbles, bubbles everywhere!!!

I'm thinking mom, can I have a minute?

They got to play with sticks and balls today. Usually it's just balls, but today they got the sticks too. A little dangerous in my opinion, but the kids love them! Chloe was more interested in hoarding the sticks!

Here she is swinging, her favorite thing! To the left is her friend Grace.

Chloe loves jumping. Here is a great action shot of her jumping onto the mat.

More swinging.

She loves the rings too.

Attempting a somersault. She's really good at them, I need to get a video clip of her doing one.

Being silly with the scarf.

Below is a short video clip of the bye-bye song. Tuesdays when I ask Chloe what we're doing tomorrow, she'll start banging on the floor singing "bye-bye". I missed out on the first part of the song, so this is just the last little bit. Notice after we're finished singing Chloe is frantically signing "again". And saying it too "nee, nee". That's her "again".

Random pics

2009-08-07T19:23:00.003-04:00

This didn't turn out to be the best pic of our new stroller. I'm sure I'll post other pics of it. I'm really excited about using it. It's a double jogger. The thing's a monster! It was one thing to run 3-4 miles while pushing a single jogger, but a double??? Yikes.

Little girl just loves daddy's glasses.

The Monster

2009-08-06T10:11:00.005-04:00

Okay, she's not the monster, well sometimes... But this one's just a cute pic of the little girl.

These jammies are a riot! They came with a tutu which Chloe loves. She's such a shoe girl! She really enjoys putting my flip flops on and walking around.

To the untrained eye this looks like a normal corner. To an almost 2 year old this is the perfect hiding place from The Monster, aka the vaccuum. Poor thing, she is terrified of the vaccuum. I so much as pull it out of the closet and she runs. I hurried to vaccuum our family and living areas and she was nowhere to be seen. I saw a little pink satin from her nightgown sticking out and she had crunched herself into this corner. She was squatting in here with her hands over her face. Poor thing! I would have snapped a picture but I felt so bad for her I picked her up instead. She was absolutely terrified :(

For those who are interested...

2009-08-05T21:21:00.005-04:00

I had my weekly appointment today. Things look pretty much like last week. My blood pressure's still really good. Still 1 cm dilated. Getting checked was quite uncomfortable. I could have sworn the midwife was trying to tickle my ribcage! Ouch. I know that's TMI, but it's my blog :) Further along the line of TMI let me just tell you what the midwife told me. I'm pretty uncomfortable as can be understood seeing as how I'm 38 weeks pregnant. She told me what to do to bring on labor. Here's the list:
1) Sex
2) Walk around on all-fours...like a dog
3) Drink red raspberry tea
4) Evening (I think that's what the word is, I can't read her writing) primrose oil- I'm supposed to pop the capsule with a safety pin and rub the oil in my vaj.

She writes this down and hands it to me. I thought it was funny. Items 2-4 seem quite ridiculous to me so I thought I'd share. Maybe they've worked for some of you... C'mon- rub oil in my vaj???

Let me say that she is not the midwife I prefer to see. The one I really liked moved to Costa Rica. Hopefully this one I saw yesterday isn't on duty when I go into labor!!

70% off

2009-07-31T19:55:00.002-04:00

We went to the JC Penney's 70% off sale this evening. I didn't even know it was going on but it was WONDERFUL! Chloe got new jammies, which she is sporting in these pics, and Trevor got new shorts and a shirt. "It's too hot here to wear jeans," he says. I would have loved to buy some exercise clothes or some kind of clothes for myself but maybe next year when I'm not HUGE and pregnant!

Update

2009-07-29T21:33:00.002-04:00

I had a weekly check-up today. I'm really excited because I'm 1 cm dilated! This is HUGE for me. With Chloe I was induced and I didn't do anything on my own, everything was drug-induced. I was feeling some pressure last night and the midwife said that's what dilated my cervix. My blood pressure's been great the whole pregnancy. I'm thrilled that it looks like I'll be going into labor on my own!

On a side-note: Chloe has 2 blankets made by grandma Alice. She loves them, absolutely loves them and is quite possessive of them. If anyone, me or Trevor or one of her friends, touches them she isn't having it. She calls her blanket "mimi". So cute!!

Fun Saturday, first haircut and uma padaria!

2009-07-27T12:39:00.006-04:00

Little girl was so tired on Sunday. Church starts at 1pm so she goes down earlier for her nap and usually doesn't fall asleep for about an hour. It was really quiet in her room for over an hour and when it was time to wake her up to get ready I slowly opened the door. The bed was empty so I wondered where she'd fallen asleep. Here she is all balled up and snoozing. I'm sure her neck was sore when she woke up!

We went to the stake's Pioneer Day activity on Saturday. Trevor took Chloe for a ride in one of the handcarts that was there. He started running around with her and she loved it! The faster he went the more other kids, big kids, wanted to ride too. He must have had about 8 kids in there after a while. It was HOT that day! Probably close to 100 and very humid as always. Poor Trevor, he was drenched!

This last pic is great. She's actually smiling! So cute. I took her to Walmart to get her very first hair cut. There's a closeup and somewhat of a back shot of her new do! Soooo cute!!

We were coming home from Saturday's activity and Trevor noticed a sign in Portuguese and he asked me what it meant. It was a Brazilian bakery (padaria brasileira)!! I was so excited! Chloe and I went there this morning. I think it is my new favorite place. There are quite a few Brazilian stores around here. Amo Brasil!

Isle of Palms, SC

2009-07-18T21:49:00.000-04:00

Chloe had a great time today! She loved playing in the sand. There was this little tidal pool that served as a great kiddie pool. She enjoyed filling up her cup and bucket and pouring water all over herself and us.

I'm so happy Trevor got a picture of me 8 months pregnant, in a bathing suit noless! Oh well, I posted it so those who are curious now know just how big my belly is! It was a fun couple of hours at the beach. The weather was nice, not too hot. It was pretty windy, as you can hear in the video clip.

We took Chloe to the Outer Banks in North Carolina last summer, so this wasn't her first trip to the beach. However, she enjoyed today's trip MUCH more than last year's. The waves still freaked her out a little, but she got in the water.

Sassafras and the cutest tricycle ever

2009-07-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

When we got home from church on Sunday I quickly changed and started working on dinner. Chloe helped herself to my closet and came out with my heels on. I like how her hand's on the wall. She's always posing for something. So sassy, that's why I call her sassafras. She is also in her favorite shirt: John Cena (thank you Aunt Dara)!

Trevor and I went to Babies R Us to look at double strollers. I just wanted to check out what they had. Did we leave with a stroller? Nope, but we left with a cute pink and purple tricycle. While I was looking at the strollers and asking the associate some questions, Trevor entertained little girl by looking in the toy section. She was just too cute on this thing to resist, so we caved and bought it. She is still trying to figure out how to pedal it. This is the best shot we could get of her attempting to pedal her toy.

Swim lessons

2009-07-14T12:38:00.001-04:00

Chloe loves her swim lessons. I enjoy taking her because she loves the water so much. She's pretty cute. It is hard to take her to the pool by myself. She's quick and doesn't always wait for mommy before she jumps in the pool. She is an active little girl and I can't keep up with her. That's okay, she's in for a rude awakening when I have her little sister and get myself back into shape again!

On a side note: if we were rich I'd hire a nanny for the sole purpose of potty-training the little girl. What a pain potty training is! Geez. Or I'd hire somebody to do everything else that needs done and I'd potty train the little darling. I had high hopes of having it done before Deuce gets here but I don't know if that will work. She goes sometimes in the potty but doesn't tell me everytime she needs to go. Wouldn't it be great if people still made that big a fuss about us going potty? We pee in the potty and get a treat?! There'd be clapping and cheering each time we exited the latrine. That wouldn't be so bad...

So cute

2009-07-09T14:22:00.001-04:00

This morning I spilled milk all over the counter and floor while I was trying to pour it into Chloe's cup. I grabbed a towel and started cleaning it up. She grabbed another towel and started helping! So cute! My little helper. She loves it when she gets to help.

Bedtime, shananigans, and camping

2009-07-06T20:04:00.000-04:00

Big girl bed! Chloe loves it. Trevor took this the other day while she was napping. She looks so comfy!!

Chloe playing in the blow up playground at Riverfront Park on July 4th.

Cool looking bridge we could see while we were at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston on Friday.

Chloe's acrobatics. She loves hanging and swinging. The couple next to me starting roaring with laughter when she jumped up on the bars and swung back and forth. I think she'll be a gymnast.

Okay, so we went camping for Father's Day. Complete nightmare! It was the hottest weekend ever and the place we went to was sub-par to say the least. We made it through dinner (below) and then came home and had our smores! I'll try camping again, but not at the campsite and defninitely not when I'm 8 months pregnant!!

Here are our tin foil dinners. Chicken and veggies with BBQ sauce. I'm quite proud of myself actually.

Look at those rosey, red cheeks!! Very hot outside.

Chloe's hat and daddy's new sunglasses!

I just love eating dirt!! Chloe could have cared less that it was so hot.

Cute as always.

Chillin

Sporting her sun hat and shades.

Independence Day in the projects

2009-07-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

We went to Riverfront Park for their July 4th celebration. There were games and lots of good food. Funny thing: the park is really known as the Noisette project. In other words, the ghetto. It's on the old Naval base about 20 minutes from here. Good thing the Naval hospital's closed because I don't think I'd want to deliver at that place. Anywho...we celebrated our Independence Day in the projects.

2009-07-03T21:52:00.000-04:00

Here's a video clip of our girl dancing. She's a riot!! Wonder where she gets those moves from. Notice the little bit of salsa at the end...

I know, I know

2009-07-02T21:02:00.001-04:00

I know the format's all weird with my pics and comments. Just read it and look at the pics. I'll figure this blog out yet! At least they're up!

A month and a half later...

2009-07-02T20:42:00.000-04:00

Finally, I'm posting pics from Trevor's graduation and commissioning. Here he is with mom and dad on graduation day (May 16th I think). He was (is) so cute in his uniform.

Look at him in his whites, he's just beaming! He loves wearing the Navy uniforms. Personally, I miss the Marine Corps uniforms but don't tell him that ;)

Kind of hard to see him, but that's the best I could do after he walked across the stage.

Here are a couple of pics of his ring ceremony for engineering. BTW, he passed his FE exam!! Yay:) Now he can work as a professional engineer- in another 12 years when he's out of the navy.

Wedding

2009-07-02T14:57:00.000-04:00

Chloe and I returned on Tuesday from visiting my family in VA for my bro's wedding. We had a great time. Chloe loves the pool! She loves jumping in the pool from the edge, even if no one's there to catch her! Kind of scary. I can't turn around for one second when I'm with her. Perhaps #2 will be a little less rambonxious. Chloe also loved dancing at the reception. I tried downloading a video clip of her but it didn't work. I'll keep trying b/c it's too cute. Here are some pics of my bro and his new wife Jenn and also of Chloe.

30...and question

2009-06-17T21:39:00.000-04:00

My hubby turned 30 today! Wow. That means it'll be my turn soon.

So, out of curiosity I'm going to throw this out there. Which name do you all like better- Corina or Scarlett? Leave a comment and tell me what you think. I just want to know what you all have to say about it. It won't make up my mind for me, but I'd like to know ;)

And to top it all off...

2009-06-08T10:14:00.001-04:00

Well, isn't this nice. I was already having a hard enough time without furniture and in a new place when I sprained my ankle! We were taking Chloe to the playground last week and I stepped in a hole...oops. I heard a loud pop, it was pretty gross. This happened 2 days after we got here. It's much better now but I forgot to post anything about it. I was pretty upset. Trevor thought I broke my foot because the pop was so loud. He tried taking me to the hospital but we couldn't find it. The guy gave us bad, really bad directions and we ended up driving round and round with my foot propped up on the dash.

Things are much better now though. Just a tad swollen and funky colored. I'm awaiting the movers with my precious, precious couch and bed. I'm done with air mattresses and camp chairs for now. Eventually I'll get some pics up on this thing. I'd like to wait until our stuff's here and organized so it looks like a home!

Iowa

2009-05-27T14:28:00.000-04:00

We are in Iowa visiting Trevor's sister and her family. I thought we were making pretty good progress and then I looked at the map. We have another 19 hours left of driving! I'm pretty sick of the car and sleeping in hotels and eating out. Usually I love restaurants, but I'm ready for home cooking. Chloe's doing really well on the trip. Much better than we expected. However, she doesn't really know what to think of hotel rooms and spends most of the night in bed with us. The time changes aren't helping much, so the 2 of us are tired. I think I fixed the "comment" problem, so hopefully you all can make witty comments now!!

The big move

2009-05-24T19:41:00.000-04:00

We are in the midst of our loooong cross country drive to Goose Creek, South Carolina. After a 12.5 hour trip from Moscow to Blackfoot we are now visiting with Trevor's family. The travel break's been great. I'm not looking forward to start driving again tomorrow. We're hoping to get into SC on Friday. We'll be stopping in Iowa to visit Trevor's sister and her family.

My first blog...

2008-11-30T18:43:00.001-05:00

I'm excited to have a blog! I've been thinking about starting one for a while now and the time has arrived. There will be so many interesting things to read about. Interesting to me anyways. We just got back from a long trip to southeast Idaho to visit Trevor's family. Chloe did surprisingly well on our trip. She's busy playing with her toys at the moment. I've got to add some pictures to my blog now.