A Girl Just Wants To Have Fun

On Chloe and Kim's last visit we had a whirlwind of fun.  



We played in the pool.

Loving the water

So much fun

Are my fingers shribbled yet?

I like splashing my feet.

Don't lay me on my back, MOM!

 Pop hung Chloe a swing.

Pop surprised Chloe with a swing.

Ah...this is perfect

so much fun

Hey you with the camera....back off.

And we spent an evening on the Kemah boardwalk....



Just hanging with the boys

to ride the train,

Waiting to ride the train

Still waiting

If you'll open the gate I'll go find the train

Why won't the train hurry?

Finally!!!!

Away we go

the carousel,

Ok, lets see what this zebra can do.

OK...just 1 photo.

Riding is serious business. 

 the airplanes,

Ok...seriously...just what is the weight limit on this plane.

Checking the controls for take off.

Hold on Pop 'cause here we go.

and the ferris wheel.

Just how did you fit in here Josh.

We're ready

Up, up and away

Don't worry Uncle Josh, it will be Ok.

Chloe's Birthday Suit

Since Chloe's birthday photos are delayed, I'm going to ahead and post the photo of the outfit I made her.



front

back

The photos don't do it justice but she was adorable if I do say so myself.

Sewing for a Bug

I wanted to share a few outfits I've been working on for Chloe.  I started them weeks ago but got detained for various reasons.  As fast as the little bug is growing I just hope they will fit long enough for her to wear at least once.

Retro
for the dainty girl

Hippy chic
 for the carefree girl

Optical illusion
for the "crazy" girl

Denim
for the outdoorsy girl

There's 1 more outfit I made but I'm going to keep you guessing.  It could possibly be used for little Miss Bug's 1st birthday party so I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Dryer Sheet Nightmares

I love the smell of fresh laundry.  Actually I love the fresh smell from a dryer sheet; however, I don't like playing "find the dryer sheet" in the clean laundry.  Needless to say we have a love/hate relationship.  

If they're not in plain site the dryer sheets are usual hiding inside a shirt or pant leg to be found at a later date.  Of course most of the time they are either wadded up in a little ball on the top of the dryer or worse, dropped on the floor so I can practice my skating moves when I unexpectly step on one. 

You might ask why I haven't put a trash can in the laundry room and believe me I've asked myself that same question after every "skating practice".

About a month ago, Kimberly was in town for a visit.  She accompanied me to the grocery store and while there I needed to get laundry stuff which included dryer sheets.  Kimberly noticed Bounce had a dryer bar which secures inside you dryer and suggested I give it a try.  I'm sure she was tired of standing in front of the boxes of dryer sheets while I complained about how much of a mess they make.   At the time I was very skeptical as to how the dryer bar would work but I decided to give it a try and totally expected to be disappointed. 

First thing that happened was the  bar dislodged from the holder and started banging around in the dryer.  Yep...I thought this is not going to work.  I reattached the bar to the holder and...voila'...no more problems.  Gone is the mess of dryer sheets but all the other attributes remain. 

My nightmare is over!!

Keeping up with Chloe

It finally happened!  Craig and I got Chloe all to ourselves for a few days while Kim and Mark went out of town for a long weekend.

I drove over to Austin on Wednesday afternoon so Kim and Mark could get last minute things done before they left on Thursday.

After Chloe and I got back from dropping Kim and Mark off at the airport we just hung out at the house for the rest of the day and took a walk to the park in the evening.

The next day we played "tag".  Crawling is definitely a baby sport.  My knees were raw from crawling in circles around the coffee table but it was worth it.  We had fun and that entertained Chloe until about lunch time.  We headed to Luby's for lunch.  We dined on baked fish, mac & cheese and mashed potatoes.  Just to keep Chloe's mom happy we also got a dish of broccoli (yuck) which Chloe seems to love.  We made a quick trip to HEB for bananas and grapes and headed home for a nap.

Found her Daddy's shoes

Playing chase. 
No shirt because we were spray and washing the carrots out.

Craig aka Pop arrived that evening and Chloe was just as happy to see him as he was to see her. 

Saturday we all took a morning walk to the park then it was back to the house for Chloe and Pop's nap time.  They both went down with no trouble at all.  

Walk to the park

Pop "starting" the swing

Guess Pop's not doing it right.



Now it's better.



Chloe explaining the tree to Pop

After naps Pop decided we needed some ice cream.  We all enjoyed DQ blizzards.  Of course, Chloe had plain vanilla but she didn't care.  And then it was off for 1 more walk before dinner.

I'm ready!!

Open wide

YUM!!

That's good stuff.





After dinner, Chloe introduced Pop to her favorite tv show, The Backyardigans.  They were both mesmerized but Chloe was too tired to see the end of the show.

The Backyardigans

Big yawn

Sunday was a short day for us.  We had breakfast and went to the airport to pick up Kim.  Mark had to fly on to San Fransisco for the day.  Chloe was ready for her Mama to be home.  She had been so good all weekend but on Saturday night she just kept saying Mom..mom..mom...mom. 

Who's that girl behind those Foster Grants?

Craig and I headed home Sunday afternoon.  It was a wonderful weekend.  Chloe was an angel; no fussing or crying.  We can't wait to do it again....hint, hint.

What an angel!

3 GIRLS on a ROAD TRIP

Kim, Chloe and I took a very quick road trip.  And when I say quick I mean quick.  We hit the road to Amarillo from Austin on Sunday at 5 a.m. and were back in Austin on Tuesday at 10 p.m..

We had planned on returning on Wednesday but a situation came up and we had to leave a half day early.

Chloe was a trooper.  Being 10 months old a 8 hour drive can be wearing at best.  It's hard on adults but try being trapped strapped in a car seat for that many hours.  Ugh...talk about stun buns.

We made an important stop in Lubbock, not because I had to eat at Taco Villa but Chloe made her first visit to the Texas Tech campus. 

We walked around campus, stopped for several photo ops and let Chloe play in the grass.  She loved it.

Once in Amarillo, we had a great time seeing family.  Kim and Chloe had not "met" their newest cousin Ansley who is now 7 1/2 months old; plus none of the family other than Chloe's great grandma and her great uncle Danny had seen Chloe in person.

The kids had a great time playing.  I even had a chance to play chase or hide and seek with Landry...I thought we were playing chase but I think he was playing a 2 year old's form of hide and seek.  Regardless, he was laughing and squealing the whole time.

Kim, Chloe and I had a great time but I think Chloe was glad to be back home and sleep in her own bed.

Inching Toward The Finish Line

We have spent every spare minute working on the patio cover and we can now see the finish line.
Craig has put in tons of hard work on getting things "just right".  Unfortunately for Craig his main helper or grunt on this project has been a 50 year old woman. Ugh!  Where are all the young strong backs when you need them!?!

Weekend before last, the rafters were set. With Craig on the "high" side on a 10' ladder and the grunt on the "short" side on a 6' ladder hold things steady Craig nailed the rafter to the beams.

Thankfully as were were getting ready to start hauling 4x8 sheets of plywood decking to the roof 2 able bodies arrived...Josh and Derrick.  (Poor Derrick didn't know coming to visit Josh for a weekend would mean helping with a few hours of patio construction.)  The boys had no problem lifting the plywood to Craig to nail down.  It went so much fast than if would have been just Craig and me!

Last weekend, Craig and I put down tar paper on the roof and shingled.   Craig got really aggravated at me because I put my foot down regarding him carrying bundles of shingles up the ladder to the roof.  Those things weighed about 80# and if Craig got hurt, the patio cover would never get finished.  Craig had already carried 2 bundles of shingles up the ladder so he finally gave in and agreed so I would quit nagging.

I made what seems like hundreds of trips up and down the ladder carrying 4 shingles at a time but it was a very good glute and quad workout!



Yep...it's BIG!

There are still a few things to be done for complete construction; caulk and paint, apply 3' stone veneer facia to corner posts and clean up the mess but hopefully 1 or 2  more hard weekends of work and it will be finished!!!  Keep you fingers crossed.

When all is said and done we will have twice the covered space than the canvas cover we had which will be so nice!