Pizza Family Night

I love Thursday nights. Why? Because the next day is Friday and that means it's the weekend.

When I was working full-time before we had Chloe, I loved Thursdays too. Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, Friday means we have the whole weekend to spend time together as a family.

Every so often, if we have no plans, we will have pizza and movie night (with the high possibility of ice crea, too). We make pizza's at home and rent a couple Red Box movies, one for Chloe and one for us.

Chloe loves helping in the kitchen. As an adult, it can be annoying to just let her do her make a pizza on her own at her own pace. But, as her parent, it's fun to watch her learn, discover and make choices all from the simple task of making dinner.

Once the pizzas are in the oven we bring out a bunch of blankets and pillows and make a big bed on the floor. It's fun to just lounge around all together, being intentional about spending time with Chloe.

This particular night, we rented the Muppet's Movie. It was really weird to watch something that was apart of my childhood and now apart of Chloe's.

Sweet Love

I feel so blessed to have Cory and Chloe two in my life everyday.

Cory has been traveling a lot over the past few months. I feel like our life is anything but normal and routine. I do like the craziness, but am more than ready for life to calm down so we can settle into a normal rhythm.

I'm thankful for the little moments we get to spend together as a family. I'm thankful for moments like this one while spending a few hours in San Francisco, before another flight to another place.

Being Brave

Chloe is becoming more and more of a brave girl. For the longest time Chloe had a fear of failing, mostly when it came to physical tasks. One area we really saw this was at the park, going down the big slide, climbing something tall, etc.

It's so amazing to watch her conquer her fear and just try. She climbs on the playground, goes down the big slide, and jumps off big things (that are maybe a little too big). She is so proud of herself.

A great reminder to myself, to be brave and just try.

The Many Faces of Chloe

Chloe is becoming a little actress more and more. She is very serious about the roles she plays, whether it be Mulan, a cowgirl, a cat... and we are always the bad person.

Chloe will play pretend with herself or with any child or adult that will give the time of day. It's so fun to watch her imagination grow.

Because of her imaginary play, her facial expressions are becoming so funny.

The Happiest Place on Earth, Part 2

Part 2:

After "rest time" and dinner at the hotel, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

Here's the girls, Taylor, Chloe and Maddie

All of us together, the only group shot we got.

After our pictures, we made our plans:
1. Hit as many rides as possible while others watched the parade
2. See fireworks
3. See the later parade as the park closes
4. Beat the crowd out of the park
5. Get the kids to sleep before 1:00 a.m.

I think Buzz Lightyear was Chloe's favorite ride.
Look at Maddie and Taylor's picture on the bottom, right. Those are some crazy faces. :) 

 

Watching the fireworks over Cinderella's castle was magical. Sounds cheezy, I know. 

Chloe sat on Cory's shoulders to get a better view. She was in awe, as were most of us. It reminded me of the commercials you see on tv of Disney World. Something I wish I would have captured on video or in photos. Next time...

 

Another great moment that I wish I would have caught on camera was during the parade. Chloe was in awe of all the princesses and we saw Snow White. For some reason Snow White wasn't on a float, walking the parade route, she came up to us and gave Chloe a little hug, It was so sweet. I know that Chloe wasn't the only little kid that it happened to, but for Chloe she felt like it was. One of the reasons I love Disney and their intentionality to make everyone feel special.

The next day, we spent at the hotel, mostly poolside. It was awesome to relax in the warm sun and when it got too hot, jump in the pool.

The view from our room.

The weekend we were at the hotel, it was their cupcake wars. One of the activities was for kids to decorate their own cupcake. As you can see, Don is a kid, so he decorated a cupcake too. :)

Part 2, done. Part 3 and 4 are coming soon.

Mulan

Chloe, like any other little girl is obsessed with Disney Princesses. Right now, her current favorite it Mulan.

Here's a little video of her singing.

Looking Back

I love looking back at pictures and seeing how much people have changed, especially Chloe.

The Happiest Place on Earth, Part 1

This June, Cory and I got the amazing opportunity to take Chloe to Disney World with our great friends the Don and Crissie. It was the best trip we have ever been on together as a family. Disney really knows what they are doing when it comes to creating memories and making you feel special. It's magical.


We had a 5:30 a.m. flight, which meant we were up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready and to the airport. Waking a child up at 3:00 a.m. goes against everything I know as a parent. The whole time we were traveling I was praying that "sleep-deprived crazy monster Chloe" wouldn't come out! It almost did come, but thankfully she crashed in the stroller for about an hour during our layover in Houston. Overall, Chloe is a pretty good traveler. In fact, all the kids did great.

Our first full day, we spent at the Magic Kingdom. Our first ride...The Teacups.

See the lovely photo of the Talley's and Maddie's face? Love it! Chloe was a little nervous at first, but in the end loved teacups.

 

We left the park and headed to our hotel around 2:00 p.m., hoping the kids would sleep and be rested up to make it until the park closed. As we were leaving a huge rain/wind storm was rolling through. We covered ourselves in ponchos, holding them down so the wind wouldn't blow them off. I loved the rain storm, others didn't. :)

Chloe never napped at the hotel, but fell asleep at dinner, as shown in the picture above.

Part 2 through who knows what to follow soon!

Jori

Happy Birthday to my youngest sister, Jori!

When Jori was about 5 years old, she had an obsession with the movie 101 Dalmatians.  So, Beth and I would say for her birthday we were going to get her a special dalmatian present...dalmatian poop. I know, original. But, we would get the best reaction from her! It was hilarious...you had to have been there.

So, Happy Birthday, I have a special dalmatian present for you.