Happy 30th

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, the father of my girls, the man God knew fit me best. My very own Superman.  I don't know why God saw fit to bless me so greatly. 

Happy 30th, Bryan. I love you.

Happy Birthday Party

I spent a silly amount of time collecting schedules from all of Chloë's grandparents, aunts, and uncles, trying to find the perfect day where everyone would be available.  I just needed to find ONE DAY in the month of June so I could throw a birthday party for Chloë.  Well.  No such luck.  So I settled on having two parties.  Plus a little party on her actual birthday.  So three parties for the three-year-old, we decided.  She didn't seem too torn up about it.

So a couple of weeks ago we had the Blakey Chloë Birthday Party.  It was still a week before her birthday, but she understood that she wasn't actually 3 yet.  If someone wished her a happy birthday, she was quick to correct them.  "It's not my birthday," she would say, very seriously.  So we started wishing her a happy birthday party, which went over much better.

The weather was perfect, so we had a BBQ outside.  At the last minute, I decided to go with a  sprinkles theme.  She had, after all, asked for a cake with sprinkles.  So I pulled out every color streamer and balloon that I had in my party box.

Her birthday outfit just happened to work perfectly.

Elaina is already tired of hotdogs and hamburgers.

So excited about her princess balllon. 

Happy Birthday Party!

(I even put sprinkles on the vanilla ice cream.)

Besides the cake with sprinkles, she wanted "dress-ups" for her birthday.  She got lots of good dress ups, but she especially had a lot of fun trying on the different hats and accessories.

Elaina worked on her cake for a long time.  This kid loves sugar.

I think it was a success.

3rd Birthday

We drove to the Oregon coast the day before Chloë's 3rd birthday.  We joined the Beckers at a beach house, and had a wonderful birthday for my big three-year-old girl.

The last night she was 2.  She tried to do her first slumber party with Bella and Eva, but ended up in our room half way through the night.

Eating chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast, and proudly declaring her new age.

Elaina and Aaron eating some Cheerios for a snack. They are a little bit bigger than they were last year.

A little post breakfast color session with Eva.

I made tasty fish tacos for dinner for the adults, but we made Kraft mac-n-cheese for the kids.  It was a huge hit.

Opening a few presents.

I made her a pink tutu. 

She was pretty pleased.  The tongue-out-of-her-mouth thing mean she's excited.

One of the few things she requested for her birthday: A cake with sprinkles.

Samuel just happened to be in Oregon on his own little vacation from Denver, so he and his girlfriend Alexis joined us for the evening.  Chloë loved the bubbles he brought her.

The kids all loved the bubbles.

Samuel helped Chloë with the 100 piece princess puzzel he gave her.

After the kids were in bed, we stayed up for a little late night Carcassonne. Good times, even though I didn't win.

It's fun looking at pictures from our trip with the Beckers from last summer. 

Sixteen Months Old

Elaina's biggest accomplishment this month is lots of fancy new teeth.  Sadly, that means the poor child has been constantly teething for over a month now.  Sometimes she'll tell me she's "uhng-gee," and then whimper when I offer her food that isn't soft, because she knows it will hurt to chew.  She's also had some sort of mild stomach bug for a week now, so her appetite is pretty lousy.  We've gotten creative with finding things she will eat.  Like applesauce in a cup with a straw.

She likes her carbs.  She usually wants breakfast immediately upon waking, saying "Uhng-gee! Uhng-gee! Chee-yohs, poon, mihk!"  She talks a lot now, especially about food.

I'm always amazed at what she tries to immitate.  Anything that she sees us do, it seems.  She likes to smell my coffee, sigh, and say "hot."  And she likes the dipping process.  Especially if it's chips and salsa.


She tries to use eating utensils, but bless her heart, she's not very good at it.

But she doesn't seem to mind the mess.

She does pretty well with textures like refried beans, but it's still quite the mess when she's done.  When she's all done with her meal, we have her ask politely to be excused. 


Any time we pull a shirt or sweater over her head, we give her a little warning count to three.  I think it helps her anticipate what is happening, and reminds her that we aren't just trying to torture her.  In the last couple of months she sometimes counts with us, but last week she started counting any time she sees anyone else getting dressed.  It's usually "two, tee, TWO, TEE!"  Very helpful and encouraging.

Elaina has shown a surprising amount of interest in the toilet.  She sees her big sister use it, and I guess she figured out what's going on.  After her bath a few weeks ago, she made it clear that she wanted to sit on the potty.  Bryan and I thought it was silly, but went ahead and let her sit on the thing.  Well weren't we surprised when we heard the sound of liquid hitting liquid.  A fluke, maybe, we thought.  But she has requested to use the toilet occasionally in the last couple of weeks, and never disappoints us.  I'm not quite sure what to think.  Maybe it'll help later when we decide to start potty training.  Or maybe she'll be confused and not know what to do.  I suppose time will tell.

It seems that her mommy instincts kicked into high gear this month.  She loves to carry baby dolls or stuffed animals around the house, and certainly prefers to sleep with one or two tucked under her arm.  She's so sweet and gentle.

I like to snuggle with my baby while she snuggles her baby.

She also loves baby Miriam.  Or "Baby Myeh-myum," as she affectionately calls her new friend. 


She loves going to the little park up the street.  The swings are always the favorite for both of the girls. 

The poor kid had quite the scare a couple of weeks ago.  It was one of those horrifying moments where your stomach feels like it just drops onto the floor.  I was in the basement starting a load of laundry.  The girls were playing upstairs, and I don't worry about the stairs, because I know they are both very capable of using them.  I suddenly heard the awful sound of something heavy thumping down the stairs, and looked out of the laundry room just in time to Chloë somersault down the last few stairs, and her tricycle landed right on top of her. I rushed over, and realized Elaina was sitting halfway up the staircase.  She and Chloë were both crying, but I couldn't find any broken bones, blood, or even a bruise.  Later that evening, I realized she had just a little bit of a shiner.  I was afraid it would turn into an awful black eye, but it was totally gone the next day.  I explained to Chloë very thoroughly the danger of wheels and staircases, and she was eager to chime in.  I don't think it was an intentional trip down the stairs with the tricycle, but hopefully she won't have that thing anywhere near stairs ever again.

Her favorite new activity is drawing.  Well, scribbling I guess.  She likes seeing the color appear on the paper with her strokes of a colored pencil.

It's fun to see the similarities and differences to Chloë when she was this age.