Clive time

Today a dear friend of mine took Chloe home for an afternoon playdate (thank you, dear friend!).

Imagining the extra time I would have this afternoon with one less child to manage, I immediately envisioned myself doing something productive around the house. Maybe I could finally scrub the bathtub, dust away the inch-thick layers of sediment settling in our living room, or begin working on Chloe's halloween costume. Ah, the lovely fantasies and unrealistic expectations of my dreaming mind . . .

What DID end up happening was that I got to spend some super good quality time with Clive. Since he's the middle child, I don't get much alone time with him. He's a crazy fun and unbelievably adorable kiddo. I love him to pieces. But thinking of a special activity for JUST him and me gave me pause. I didn't really want to dig in the sandbox or play cars in the dirt. But I did want him to feel like the center of attention since he's always living in his older sis' shadow.

Clive got pretty sad when his big sis left so I distracted him with smoothie making. He sat on the counter and dumped frozen strawberries and yogurt into the blender eagerly. We ate our lunch on the porch so we could watch for the garbage truck. (Exciting lives we lead, eh?) After some pretend fixing of the porch railing with his tools, we made peanut butter cookies together.

Making cookies with an active 2.6 year old is certainly an interesting experience. He wanted to do EVERYTHING himself. If I wouldn't have been on my toes, we would have ended up with some extremely unique tasting peanut butter cookies (I barely saved the dough from an extra cup of sugar Clive wanted to add). Once we got the ingredients correctly measured and mixed up, Clive's job was to roll the cookie-dough balls into the sugar. And then he took it upon himself to throw the dough onto the baking sheet. Sheesh. Can't blame him though, I DID call them "balls". And my boy knows what do to with a ball!

We had loads of fun and even though no household appliances were scrubbed this afternoon, I made a lasting memory with my dear middle boy.

How do you make your second child feel special?

Summer Joy

"In summer, the song sings itself." [William Carlos Williams]



Hope you're busy enjoying the last bursts of summer!

A smile for your Friday

What a ham my little boy is! He'll stop anything to say "Cheese" and give me a big grin.

In this instance Clive was "fixing" my bike. Please ignore the unidentified substance around his mouth. I'm fairly certain that's not dirt. :)

A very happy Friday to you all!

Grandma is here!

My mom arrived last night for a weekend visit. And we fully enjoyed her today!

We spent the morning walking around our favorite places in Hudson. We nabbed some cute clothes for the kiddos (just wait until you see Clive's dapper Easter get-up), ate yummy cupcakes, and had a memorable time at the local bookstore.

It was in the book shop that Clive encountered a golden retriever for the first time ever. And boy was he in love with that dog! Clive got SO excited about that friendly dog! He even let the dog lick his face and he followed the dog all around the book shop. Don't worry, Clive got a vvvvvvvvvvery thorough bath this evening to cleanse him from the doggie germs.

My mom and I played scrabble this afternoon (what a game - she beat me by a mere 2 points) and then we watched a movie and folded laundry. Tomorrow we head to the zoo for a family + gramma trip.

A lovely weekend to you all!

Calamity Clive and Commando Chloe

Clive has certainly made our lives more interesting! He is an active and curious boy, to say the very least.

Somehow even though I know how curious and quick Clive is I still manage to be two seconds behind him on his messes. At least he's into cleaning things up with me! A definite plus since I have a feeling we'll be doing lots of cleaning up after this boy.

Despite his messiness, Clive is an absolute darling. His smile is infectious and I can't seriously be angry with him for more than 5 seconds. (Unless those 5 seconds include his whiny cry that is. He is already showing us that he's a stubborn boy and often refuses to sign please.)

To round out this alliterated "C" post, I'll tell you about Chloe's first no-undies experience.

We've been attending the local gym lately and it includes a huge kid-friendly pool. It's a blast to finish up our workout time with a swim in the pool! But, taking two small children swimming is also a bit stressful for me when I have to do it alone. The worst part of the swimming time is when we're all finished and I have to change and dry everyone in the family bathroom. Chloe is usually semi-able to dress herself but when she's wet and dripping she can't pull on her pants too well (who can?).

Anyways, I try to dry and dress the kiddos as quickly as possible. I had done a super-speedy dressing job on Chloe and when I went to pack up our belongings I saw it. Chloe's clean pair of pink cupcake undies. Oops! There was NO way I was stripping her down again to put those undies on so Chloe went commando. And then the kicker was she said she liked not wearing undies. Hope I haven't inadvertently started something here!

Tell me I'm not the only mom who has ever done that?

Enjoy the pictures below from recent times in the Horn household. Can you guess which picture Chloe took?

Clive's first haircut

This week we bid farewell to Clive's curls.

I had mixed emotions about Clive's first haircut. At times his curls were incredibly darling and picturesque. But Clive is genetically predisposed to have wavy hair, not curly. Lately his locks have grown beyond the cute curly level and have progressed into scraggly mullet-ness. And have you seen a 13 month old eat? It's beyond messy. Add overgrown hair to the mix and Clive is a disgusting (but still smiling and lovable) sight at meal time.

And so, it was decided. After a few failed attempts with a scissors, Matt opted for the electric clippers. Just like most toddlers, Clive does NOT enjoy appliances that make loud buzzing noises. Blenders, coffee-bean grinders, and automatically flushing toilets are tear-inducing enemies (though strangely he's ok with my hair dryer).

Clive cried and screamed throughout the haircut ordeal. But he soon forgot his woes when he sat at the dinner table and we all praised his new do.

Sigh. He looks way better with his hair trimmed and Matt did a fabulous job. But, I'm afraid my baby has become a little boy. Where does the time fly to?

I don't remember feeling this melancholy for Chloe's first hair cut. Maybe it's a boy-mama thing. Or maybe it's that I was too lazy to cut Chloe's hair until she was 2 1/2 .

Though the process wasn't too pleasant, I love the fact that we can cut Clive's hair at home with a clippers. When he gets older I'd like to buzz his hair short; talk about easy to manage! How many of you cut your kids' hair at home?

The Clive-o-saurus

Just look at those dangerous chompers!

What a crazy face. I'm hoping Clive's resemblance to Calvin (from the infamous Calvin & Hobbes) is only skin deep. :)

Clive: toddler or candy cane?

I realize I've been horribly delinquent at blogging lately. Forgive me! I've had the busiest week ever with my online job. I've had to pull several vvvvvvvery late nights and I'm sorry to say I've used Wonder Pets dvd's as a Chloe-sitter so I can finish all my work tasks.

Matt has been great about watching the kids so I can have some extra working time. That comes with a few quirks though as you'll see from the photos of Clive below. I guess this is Matt's idea of a matching outfit? It certainly does match but it's a dizzying to behold. May I present to you, Clive, the human candy cane!

Has your hubby ever dressed up the kids in peculiar ensembles?

Clive turns 1!

It's hard to believe an entire year has passed since we brought our little Clive Simeon Horn home from the hospital! This healthy active boy seems so different from the tiny (ok, 8 lbs. 14 oz. isn't tiny to most people but compared to his 10 lb. sister he was a peanut!) newborn who had to spend his first few day in an incubator to regulate his temperature.

It's so cool to see how God grew our baby Clive into such a healthy active toddling boy. He's changed in countless ways but he still has those same skinny chicken legs he did as a newborn. He definitely gets those from his daddy.


































Since I was struggling with a wretched cold, we decided to just have a small family shindig to celebrate Clive's 1st birthday. I made a teddy bear cake that was decidedly NOT like the picture on the box. In fact, the chocolate teddy cake was seriously laughable to anyone who knows anything about cake decorating. But, Clive and Chloe both liked it and it was destroyed in less than 30 seconds anyways. Also made some yummy homemade mac-n-cheese and steamed veggies. Then Clive opened some gifts and Chloe quickly snatched them up to play with. :)

Happy Birthday, dear Clive-y! We love you and are so glad God added you to our family!

Smiles for your Friday

Here's a reason to smile today! Isn't his smile contagious? I took Clive out for a quick grocery outing tonight and almost every person we walked past stopped to smile and coo at him.

I don't have a smiley picture of Chloe to share but I have a few anecdotes that should deliver grins. :)

Yesterday morning I was hurriedly getting clothes out to dress Chloe for the day. I chose her adorable denim overalls with embroidered cherries. This was Chloe's response . . . .

"Mommy, I am not happy right now."

Apparently she doesn't like wearing overalls. In fact she told me this morning that she'd rather wear only a shirt and undies. Hmm.

:: :: :: :: ::

While out for lunch with a friend of mine and her kids, Chloe held Bryan's hand as they walked across the parking lot. Here's a snippet of the conversation I overheard . . .

Bryan: "When I hurt myself, my sister laughs at me."
Chloe: "When I hurt myself I pray. I pray to GOD." (said emphatically)

:: :: :: :: ::

Last night Chloe colored while I prepared dinner and we both waited anxiously for Matt to return home from school. Chloe asked where daddy was and then said sincerely . . .

"Mommy, I want my daddy back."

Awww! It's deeply touching to see the sweet relationship Chloe and Matt have.

Hug and cherish the little ones in your life today!

Laundry basket cuties

Wow, I have really been a delinquent blogger as of late! What with working lots of hours at my online job and getting ready to leave home for the weekend (I'll be attending the truewoman08 conference in Chicago), I've not spared much time for blogging.

I snapped the picture at left of Clive a few days back and it reminded me of a similar pose I shot of Chloe when she was a wee babe.

I think it's pretty obvious by comparing these two photos that besides coloring, my two kids look very un-alike. It always makes me chuckle inside when strangers see their similar hair color and automatically coo and comment at their resemblance to each other. What?!? Chloe's face shape is exactly like my square-jawed hubby's. Clive's face is longer and less cheeky. We'll have to see if Clive resembles me more as he grows older.

Who do your kids resemble most?

Some new photos

How do I have a 9 month old baby already?!? Time is flying and Clive is growing. And he's causing trouble.

Why didn't any of you warn me about the activity level of boys? :)

And no one informed me of how completely a baby boy can steal his mama's heart either.

Enjoy these new kiddie photos and a happy Friday to you all!

A picture speaks a thousand words

This picture pretty accurately represents my kids' personalities. Seems like my two are opposite in almost every way!

I feel like a new mom most days because everything that worked easily with Chloe doesn't with Clive. Not sure how much of those differences are just normal between boy and girl babies. Clive certainly is more active, curious, and smiley than Chloe was at his age! I used to think moms were exaggerating when they said I was in for trouble with a boy. I thought to myself, "How different could they be?" Boy was I in for a surprise when Clive entered our family! Have you noticed the activity/energy level difference between boys and girls also?

How about your kids (or nieces/nephews)? Are they fairly similar or different in temperament?