A very busy few days

In an effort to get out of the house to give Matt his needed quiet study time (he's only got 2.5 more weeks left of school for the semester and has several papers due), Chloe and I have been living it up! Seems like every day recently we've been going here and there and everywhere.

The craziness started on Thursday (when Chloe wore the red outfit at left - isn't that darling?) when we attended my weekly women's Bible study and then I tutored afterwards. Friday we went to the park with my pal Melinda and her tribe of fun-loving children and then out to lunch. We soaked up the warm 70 degree sunshine and Chloe attempted to go down the slide backwards on her tummy - not such a good idea but no major injuries.

Saturday Chloe and I spent the day walking around my favorite little nearby town - Hudson. It's a very walkable and unique town and we discovered it has the most AMAZING library ever!!!! The building itself is astounding more nearly resembling a state capitol building than a library. While in Hudson we also feasted on a yummy red velvet cupcake (there's a whole shop just devoted to creating neat cupcakes on main street!), did some window shopping, saw a train (that Chloe could NOT stop talking about when we got home), and rummaged through several sale bins at Gymboree (I think this is the first time EVER that I found a 99 cent bin there).

Today was a whirlwind of activity as we hustled to get ready for church in time. How do people do this with more than one child?!? It didn't help matters that I was inspired to cook banana pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I think I need to resort to cereal for Sundays if I can't get up early enough. Any secrets for a less stressful Sunday morning?

We enjoyed a lovely Sunday morning of worship and teaching though my mind wasn't focusing very well. When we're running late I have a difficult time settling down my mind to listen.

Anywho, our day isn't over yet! Later this afternoon Chloe and I will be attending a birthday for a little girlfriend of hers from her weekly library storytime. Kylea is turning two and we'll be there to help celebrate. I'm excited for Chloe but also a little nervous as this is her first real birthday party to attend and I don't know what to expect. It's another sunny gorgeous day here so I'm sure most of the time will be spent with the kids playing outside and the parents gabbing.

That's what we've been up to lately. How have you and your family been enjoying the recent spring weather?





















Chloe's cute little outfit for our Saturday morning out on the town.


















Smoothie, anyone?

Chloe cooks

Yesterday as I was getting supper together, Chloe decided (through no prompting of mine) to prepare some vittles for her beloved panda. She got out a pan, some dishes she deemed appropriate and proceeded to whip up some alphabet soup. We're talking literal alphabet soup here. Panda didn't say much, but he seemed to enjoy the meal.

The bonus cute-thing with this cooking experience was that Chloe was SO into it! She is usually a camera magnet and as soon as she hears the camera's turning-on-noise she runs to my side to see the display on the back. But while she cooked she was completely serious and focused.

Do your kiddos enjoy pretending to cook? Or is this just a copying mommy thing?







Chloe and her pot of soup. Look closely to see the letter magnets she swiped from the fridge to use for her alphabet soup.

















Chloe and getting everything ready for panda. She asked me for a napkin for him too. He must be a messy eater. And he likes to eat out of a coffee filter. Strange bear.


















The place setting complete with cup, fork, napkin and spoon.

New gadgets

I've come across some neat new-to-me internet gadgets this past week. Take a gander below. Hope some of them can be helpful to you!

1. Google homepage gadget: This is a very cool tool from the geniuses at google. I love this one. It's a personalized homepage where you can in one glance see your google reader (to see which blogs you subscribe to have been updated), the weather(a must for me as a stay-at-home mom who likes to take walks), your gmail account, and anything else interesting you'd like to add. On my personalized homepage I also have top news stories, a national geographic photo of the day, and a daily comic from dilbert. It's saved me loads of time already in blogging. Check it out at on the google blog.
   
2. Facebook: Ok, I realize I'm a bit behind the time with this one. Seems like everyone has already discovered the glories of facebook. I admit, I've become addicted to it since I'm a newbie. It's so much easier to connect with folks on facebook than on blogging and it seems to be a much safer system than myspace. How many of you do facebook? My only concern is that I'll have to prioritize my time between blogging and facebook-ing so that I don't waste time on the computer. Any thoughts on how to do so?
3. Gmail: Again, I'm slow here. I realize gmail has been around for awhile and since its inception I've been dragging my feet about switching. And that's largely because I couldn't find a nice easy user name for gmail. But after a few more tries, I came up with a user name that wasn't taken - YAY! Anyways, for what seems like years now I've been wanting to ditch my hotmail account. I abhor the continual advertisements from victoria's secret and singles websites which plaster photos of scantily clad women (why would a women subject herself to so much ogling and debase herself to a mere body?!? that's a topic for another post). I have also noticed lately that I've been getting more junk mail in my junk mail folder through hotmail. Even though I have my hotmail account set to the strictest settings, junk is floating through. My other reservation about switching is that I dread the idea of contacting everyone who emails me and notifying them of my new email address. Sigh. So far, I am very pleased with gmail and highly recommend it!
   

Headwear

I don't have anything thrilling to blog about today, so I thought I'd post some new photos of Chloe. I've been putting my homemade headbands on Chloe a lot lately. She's been great about leaving them in and not messing with them. And she looks so darling! Plus, it's much quicker to slap a headband on her than to deal with barrettes and ponytail holders.

How do you like to fashion your little one's hair?













Chloe's getting all her necessities together for Bible study.


















Green headband. Not too sure about putting the bow in front. (Check out those cheeks!)

















Mom, I just love wearing my new headband!






















Headbands are great for most activities but gardening with daddy requires a hat, shovel, and my green purse.

Be careful with bubbles

Boy, am I thanking the Lord that today is Friday! Honestly, last night I didn't think I could face today. The weather has been so horribly crummy that it's house-bound Chloe and I all week long. We don't have a car to escape the stir-crazy doldrums of our home, so our activities have been limited.

Thankfully, I got a nap in before Matt left for school (thanks, dear!) and Chloe and I even got some much needed fresh air this morning. We bundled up and went out on the porch to play with the football and to blow some bubbles. Chloe became interested in our plastic watering can, so I sifted through the mail and enjoyed the bright sunshine. Fifteen minutes later I start gathering our things up to go inside and as I do so Chloe says (emphatically), "Bubbles, bubbles!" I had set the bubbles on our porch railing because though Chloe is tall, I didn't think she'd be able to reach it there. The next thing I hear (this all happens in seconds, mind you) is SPLASH as the bubble container opens and comes tumbling down on top of Chloe's head. And then the crying and screaming began. Poor little girl had bubble solution drenching her head, face and it had gotten into her eyes! I scooped her up and raced upstairs to the shower. I didn't even strip her clothes (or mine for that matter) as I let the warm water wash away the bubbly mess. After all the suds were rinsed away, I cuddled Chloe in a towel and told her how she needs to be careful with bubbles and to always let mommy get them down for her. She wimpered and said pathetically, "bubbles . . . careful". It was so cute the way she said it that I laughed, cried, and hugged her tighter to my wet self.

The Lord is certainly keeping me hopping with Chloe today! Probably so that I don't dwell in the mire of self-pitying thoughts. We've been through 3 outfits so far, one extremely messy poopy diaper (why do I use cloth diapers again?), and the day isn't over yet. Matt's going to cut short his class tonight so he can be home early and then we're off for a family date night on the town. Yeehaw!

Hope you and yours have a swell weekend and watch out for those dangerous bubbles!

Chloe goes old-school

My grandma picked-up this bunny sweater for Chloe some time last year and I finally pulled it out of the deep recesses of Chloe's closet yesterday. It's a 3T, but a vvvvvvvvvvvery tight 3T. We had quite a time getting it over Chloe's massive head.

It's a cute little sweater on her but it's totally old-school. I kept flashbacking to days of childhood whenever I looked at her! Something about the color and style of it reminds me of the 1980's. Am I mad? What do you think of her sweater?




























Chloe styles her retro sweater and sports a hip untucked-onesie look.

God's creative provision

God has lavished His goodness on us lately! He's been so creative about it too. It makes me smile. :) Here are some of the ways He's provided for our needs and wants . . .

• A new-to-us queen sized bed!! Complete with mattress, frame, headboard and boxspring. We've been praying and planning to buy a new queen sized bed since our full size has been giving us sleeping fits. God provided this bed through some friends free of charge!
• Medical insurance coverage through the state of Ohio. Our case worker finally got her act together and realized that we do indeed qualify for state health coverage. We'll be scheduling lots of doctor and dentist appointments this spring!
• A lovely supply of Easter chocolates and goodies in a spring care package from family members. What an unexpected blessing!

Chloe loves markers

Chloe has been asking to color with markers a lot lately. I think it's because she discovered she can color on things other than paper . . . .



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Easter Sunday celebrations

Yup, you guessed it. I tried ragging Chloe's hair again for church. And THIS time I wisely aired a portion of the Curious George movie to keep her still while I worked slowly and carefully on her head.

The result was Shirley-Templesque! Chloe's curls mind you weren't the beautifully perfect springy spirals of little Shirley, but in my opinion she looked cuter in her slightly-wild curly hair. Add a well-placed pink bow, her homemade dress from abuela and Chloe was a vision of Easter cuteness!

I tried REALLY hard to get a cute photo of Chloe at church, but it was a wild morning. We served in the nursery for the 2nd and 3rd services plus it was our turn to bring snacks for the workers and we also packed a lunch since we knew we'd be at church for so long. As you can imagine, I was one busy whirlwind of preparation this morning.

All that to say I took lots of photos, but none truly captured Chloe's adorableness. After her brief nap this afternoon, I took more shots at home and the curls looked better a bit combed out.

Our Easter service was a celebration of Jesus! It was immensely encouraging and Christ-focused. The music was a special treat to my heart. The Gettys led/organized the music and it was stirring and chocked full of truth. If you have time, I highly recommend you to listen online.

After lots of Masters viewing (bummer about Tiger but we were very impressed with Z. Johnson) we had a family Easter dinner of all the traditional staples - ham, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad and peach cobbler for dessert. Everything turned out yummily!

Hope you greatly enjoyed your Easter Sunday festivities. Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son!






















I couldn't bear to put Chloe in her dress to eat breakfast so I just slapped her tights on with a sweater. I had to include this photo to show my sister that Chloe is not the chub-tart she thinks she is. :) Love you, Shauna.


















Chloe pretending she's a crawling baby.























I know this shot cuts off Chloe's face, but it shows the lovely dress that abuela Horn made. Thank you, abuela!























This was the ONLY photo I took of Chloe at church. Here we're eating our lunch. Our church has such great facilities!

















Chloe's beautiful golden curls.

















Chloe: half girl/half squirrel

















Chloe tried SO HARD to get milk to come out of her baby bottle.

















Daddy and Chloe share a laugh.

Chloe's wins her first major award

[A photo at left of the champion with her loot.] Yesterday we received a phone call declaring that Chloe had won a prize in our local drug store's easter coloring contest. By exhibiting superior coloring for a 19 month old (soon to be 20 month old), Chloe reined in this immense chocolatey bunny award thereby crushing her competitors in the 0-3 age group category.

Nevermind that there were only 2 other competitors in her age group (1 that was disqualified for cheating - seriously!). And nevermind that I think favoritism by the judges might have been a contributing factor to Chloe's win. Chloe is the coloring queen!

Little does Chloe know, her parents plan on making the bunny disappear tonight so that other children may benefit from the bunny's chocolatey goodness. :) Call us meanie-heads, but we're not about to embark on the mess and sugar high that this innocent bunny represents.






















Chloe tried her hardest to release the chocolate bunny from its plastic cage while pleading, "Open, open?"

















A close-up of the prize winning picture. Notice how well she colored that bottom left chick's feet! I know, I'm a dorky proud mama. :)

















This was the best shot we could get of Chloe, her picture and the bunny.






















The monster bunny says, "You will not eat me! I will eat you! Bwua-ha-ha!"

Good Friday thoughts

In preparation for Easter, I've been reading the different gospel accounts of the holy week. (When you read them side by side, it's so interesting to see the difference emphases and perspectives of the writers!)

I was struck last night by two thoughts: 1) the power of Jesus and 2) Jesus' complete trust in God the Father's plan.

John records that when the accusers came to arrest Jesus, He answered, "I am he" and they drew back and fell down at the power of His words. Wow!!! You'd think the accusers would know something was different about Jesus when they reacted that way to His simple declaration of identity.

Jesus also showed His power in restraint. When I read how the mob spat on Him and mocked Him in the book of Mark, I felt my blood boiling. If I were in Jesus' shoes, I would have used all my power to embarrass them or to come down from the cross to show them who was boss. But Jesus showed restraint and allowed Himself to be subject to God the Father's will and ways. His willingness to trust God completely is shown in His subjection to the cross.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. [1 Peter 2:24]

A silly video and headbands

We have COLD SNOWY weather here in northeast Ohio today. Yuck!

Check out this cute (and brief) video of Chloe trying to sing . . .


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The sewing bug has bitten me again! This morning I sewed up the ends of some wide ribbons I'd bought to make cheap headbands for Chloe. I found each ribbon on sale at Jo-Ann's for 25 or 50 cents a yard. As ribbons are known for their unravelling tendencies, I sewed up the ends on a slant with a quick zig-zag stitch. I'm very pleased the outcome. Now I just need the secret to get Chloe to sit still long enough to tie these headbands on her wiggly head! I'm thinking I should put on a body-numbing movie to get her to sit still and then covertly sneak the headband on.

A hodgepodge

Thanks to all who commented on our Chloe Spring Fashion Show! Official results were . . .
White embroidered shirt/Jeans: 5 votes
Denim dress: 2 votes
Green polka dot skirt/Polo shirt: 2 votes
Mint green pants/White sleeveless top: 1 vote

My favorite is (drumroll please) . . . . the green polka dot skirt get-up. It's simply adorable on Chloe! And I'm a total sucker for polka-dots.

We are enjoying a beautiful day here in northeast Ohio. I can hardly believe that our porch thermometer reads above the 60 degree marking and is headed towards 70!!! This calls for a long walk after supper. Speaking of weather, has anyone else heard that our beloved midwest is scheduled for some snow on Easter weekend?!? Our forecast says snow and 30's for Easter Sunday - yucky! Oh well, it will certainly be an Easter to remember! Hiding eggs in the snow will be a new experience. I just hope our tulips will survive the last blast of winter.

What are your plans for Resurrection Sunday? Do you have any special family traditions for Easter? Do you do special dresses/outfits for your little ones? Who do you celebrate with?

After serving in the nursery at church on Easter morning, we'll be celebrating with our pals down the street - the Mack family. We have no family in Ohio, and the Macks have kindly invited us to join their festive tribe (they have 6 fun kiddos) again this year for Easter dinner. Chloe absolutely LOVES going to visit them and playing with all the Mack progeny. She's getting pretty stinkin' good at saying all the kids' names too! Though she often forgets Brittany. Sorry, dear Brittany!

I'm still not sure what Chloe will wear for Easter Sunday. No homemade dresses this year. Her closet is bulging at the seams with cute dresses so there was no need to labor over a sewing machine this year. I'll be sure to post photos of our cutie pie in whatever she ends up wearing!

Here are a few recent photos of our crazy girl . . .


















Chloe and her chocolate pudding beard.

















Yo, my name is Chloe and I'm here to say, toddlers have fun in a majah way! Word to my homies! (Sorry, had to borrow the rap lyrics from the old Flintstone's pebbles commercial - my knowledge of rap is majorly lacking.)























Chloe models her pretty dress made by abuela Horn before church this morning. She looked so lovely and like such a big girl!



















Here's my best kissy-face for the camera, mom!

Spring Fashion Show

My mom spoiled Chloe by sending her some adorable new spring outfits. The outfits are so incredibly cute, we just had to put on a fashion show. And I got to learn how to make an online slide show with music (check out slideroll.com to make your own - I'm warning you, it's addicting!).

Which outfit do you think is the cutest on Chloe? I think they're all lovely but I have a definite favorite. I'll withhold my opinion until I hear from you. (How's that for bribery and motivation?) :)

Enjoy our spring fashion show!

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

Nana has to go home

We've had a wonderful visit with Chloe's nana (my grandma) and the time has flown by at an alarmingly fast rate! I can't believe we have to take her back to the airport tomorrow afternoon already. We've spent an eventful 5 days together and Chloe's had loads of fun with nana.

We love you, nana!

My latest project

It feels like I've not blogged in months! I don't know if anyone even noticed, but I haven't been blogging as much lately since I've been wrapped up in my latest project. I just finished a cross-stitch wedding record for my friends' 10 year wedding anniversary. Whew! This project has given me a new appreciation for cross-stitchery. It turned out beautifully and I thank God for the time and energy to complete such a monstrous thing.

Melinda was so touched by the gift that she started crying! Yay! It feels so wonderful to know that I surprised her that much and that she appreciates all the effort I put into this.

In other news, my vivacious grandma flies in tomorrow morning for a visit so I anticipate a lack of blogging for the next week. Chloe is so pumped about seeing her "nana".

Here are a few pictures of my darling girl to keep you occupied while we're enjoying nana's company. Blog ya later!





Chloe's new favorite seat is the bookshelf even though it's rather crowded.



















A close-up of the project. You would not believe how many shades of purple went into this.














Chloe and her beloved Elmo.

My attempt at rag curls

Tracy Hall inspired me to try rag curling Chloe's hair Saturday night. I'd love for her to be a curly head for Easter Sunday and I thought I'd do a trial run this weekend. Boy, am I glad I did! Because I didn't do a very precise job with the ragging, by Sunday morning half of Chloe's rags had fallen out or come untied. The result was strange looking. The top of her head came out very curly and the entire left side was straight. Kind of a different look. :) So, I salvaged her hair with pigtails and it ended up looking pretty cute.

The jury's still out on whether or not we attempt this for Easter Sunday. What's your vote? Curly or normal?
























This was the best shot I could get of Chloe in her Sunday morning grab. She's looking goony because she's trying to run over to me and see the camera display on the back.

Recipe blog?

Ok, I admit it. I've been lazy about the recipe swappers blog lately. I took January off and then didn't do a thing in February.

Now that it's March, I thought I'd start the recipe swapping up again. I've still got some winter excess to shed so let's do "Healthy Dishes" for our theme for March. Send your healthy recipes to me at aliciahorn@hotmail.com.

I count on your participation to make this recipe swappers blog fly so take a few moments and email me your favorite healthy recipes!

My little girl is growing up!

It has been incredibly difficult to capture Chloe on camera! As soon as she hears the camera's turn-on-noise, she bolts for it so she can see the photos on the back display. I've had to be sneaky and quick-on-the-draw to get any pictures of my not-so-little girl.

Chloe will be 19 months old tomorrow but she looks more like a 2 year old! In fact, today we had some friends over and Chloe was just millimeters shorter than Sue's 2 1/2 year old girl.

At 19 months, Chloe is vvvvvvvery interested in letters, colors and books. She can identify the capital letters of A, B, and C and sometimes D and E. She loves to find the letters she knows on packages or book covers. Because Chloe knows her colors so well now, I've started playing an easy version of "I Spy" with her. She gets so excited when she finds an object of a particular color! I have a feeling books, reading, and letters are her aptitude because she enjoys them so much - I'm not doing any pushing to learn these things. In fact, it's been incredibly easy to do since she's got so much natural interest. Is this weird for her age?

Though Chloe is tall for her age, I wouldn't say she's advanced in motor skills or verbal skills. She's trying to talk more and more but most words are still gobble-dee-gook. She's a huge Elmo fan and aims to point him out whenever she can (on other children's diapers or shoes; on diaper packages in the store). She's also a fan of Curious George (whom she calls "Georgie"), Carl from the Alexandra Day books (of which I highly recommend!), and Curduroy from the Don Freeman book (another classic). Chloe's never really liked Dr. Seuss books but lately she's wanted to hear the Foot book and the ABC book.

Ok, that was probably more information than you ever wanted to know about Chloe . . . . Sorry for the overload. Below are a few recent pictures of Chloe. Does she look older and taller to you? Or is it just me? When will this kid stop growing?!?






















So, then I said to Kayla, "Which do you like better, string cheese or grapes?"























Chloe and daddy out for a real walk (sans stroller) to drug mart.






















Chloe in her spring/summer sun hat. It looks a bit goony here, but it's really cute with some embroidered flowers on the side.

















Chloe on her tricycle! I naively hope she can master tryke riding this summer.

The lifter of my head

Lately I've been struck with the beauty of God's Word in specific phrases from Scripture. Certain phrases paint such colorful visual pictures of our Lord's character. Friday God reminded me that He is the lifter of my head. Isn't it funny how God lifts a phrase out of His Word and then just bombards you with it in various ways? After listening to a sermon online, I heard the following song (this is only a portion of it) . . .

And I will praise the name of Jesus,
Praise the Lord, the Rock,
The Lifter of my head
Praise the God of my salvation,
All my days are in His faithful hands

During an evening game of Scrabble with Matt, God brought the thought to my heart again. I asked Matt where that phrase was found in Scripture, and he immediately replied, "Psalm 3" (I love being married to a fountain of knowledge!). Here's the first part of Psalm 3:

O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
Many are saying of my soul,
"There is no deliverance for him in God." Selah.
But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was crying to the LORD with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

Then God reminded me of one of my all-time favorite hymns, O Love that wilt not let me go. The last verse reads as follows . . .

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Tonight my heart is burdened for a dear sister in Christ, Janelle Johnson and her family's situation. Pray with me that God will lift up her head and draw her close during these hard weeks!

We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave . . .

Yesterday our porch thermometer reached the astounding height of 60 degrees!!!! I couldn't believe my spring-craving eyes. This called for a walk to a nearby park with Chloe. Though the park isn't quite play-ready (mounds of snow blocked most of the slides and mud was everywhere) Chloe and I still had a ball - especially on the swings. It was so delightful to get ready for a walk and to NOT have to bundle my daughter in her various winter trappings. [As a side note: I can't convey to you how excited I am that Chloe is finally of an age to enjoy a playground! Our city has a phenomenal park system (some with kid-friendly wading pools). Hours of entertainment and exercise!]

Ahh. Spring, you're welcome to arrive for good any time now!



















My giggling swinging girl.






















Even though you can't see her smile, I really like the composition of this photo and her laughing eyes. Check out her stylish pink converse hightops. Jealous, aren't you?

Date night for the three of us

It feels like forever since I've blogged! Being sick really takes a toll on a family.

Anyways, now that we're all back to normal (except for Chloe who keeps trying to be queen of the universe) we're celebrating our health with a date night for our whole family. We never did use our Red Lobster gift card when my mom was here last month (the place had an hour long wait!) so we're going to try it tonight. We're planning to leave at 4 p.m. so there's no waiting. Who knew Red Lobster was such a popular place?!? I've heard lots of wonderful things about their cheesy biscuits. Can't wait to try them for myself!

Do you and your family have any special outings planned for this weekend?

Mostly healthy and back online!

Well, it happened. Chloe's flu bug passed to me on Friday. WAH! I hate throwing up (like anyone out there likes it?!) and yesterday I pretty much slept all day or laid on the couch like a limp dishrag. Thankfully, Matt was superstar daddy/hubby of the year and cooked all the meals, fed Chloe, changed all of her diapers, took her for a walk, and watched her all day long. Thank you, Matt!

After 13 more hours of sleep last night, I'm feeling much better this morning. Not sure if we'll brave church or not - probably not. We'll most likely lay low again today.

Chloe is really into blogging lately! She LOVES watching videos of little ones displaying their antics. Lately she's been climbing up on the computer chair and saying "Babies! Babies!". So, because I have no recent sick photos or videos, I thought I'd post a video I took a few weeks ago but never got around to posting. I call it, "The Inspiration of Folk Music". :) Chloe just cracked me up with her elbow-in-the-air dance moves. Enjoy!




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