Just another day in the park

Still loving the swings . .

Memorial Day Weekend

The weekend is not over yet, but we've had a ton of fun. Friday night Craig and I had a date night and we had the sitter (one of Chloe's teachers) come early so we could go to a movie and dinner. What a nice treat. We went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall and then out for Sushi.

Saturday was unexpectedly nice and warm. We went to a BBQ over at our friends Mark & Lizas house. Craig rode there with Chloe and her friend Bea in the burley. I think we'll get a lot more bike rides in this year. Chloe wore her new, very cute outfit from her Grandma along with her new Toms Shoes.







Sunday we went to our friends Maya and Rich's for a BBQ. Here are some pics of the girls and us. . . it is so funny that all the girls have the same color curly hair as all their moms have dark dark brown hair.


Chloe and Bea on the Infamous Elmo Couch


Bea, Chloe and Franny (getting this picture was like herding cats!)

Parties

Chloe went to her first Pump it Up Party. What fun. . she loved going down the big slide and bouncing all around. . .we'll probably have her 3rd birthday party there.






Our friends Liza, Mark and Franny came over for brunch a few weeks ago. Liza read the Elmo "if you are happy and you know it book" to the girls. Since then, Chloe has loved singing that song. My favorite line is "If you are beautiful and you know it shout hooray". . Chloe just says Hooray in the cutest way.



It was wonderfully hot here the latter part of last week and last weekend. . so Chloe got to break out some of her summer wear. We were a little concerned as she previously hated wearing short sleeves, but she didn't seem to mind. It may also be because she had a fever. Hand, Foot and Mouth disease was spreading through her class like wild fire. Luckily, Chloe only ended up getting bumps on her arms and legs and never seemed to bothered by it. Our yard has officially turned into kiddieland. We have this wonderful playhouse given to us by one of our neighbors, and we also found this cool slide set on Craigslist. Next up is filling up the sandbox we got from our neighbors as well and then some sort of water toy and we'll be set!





Other than that, Chloe continues to amuse us. She is really into her 'blankie with balls' which is a purple polka dot blanket. She also loves this doll that my Aunt Arlene gave her. Craig helped Chloe name the doll Emma, and now Emma goes with Chloe to bed at night and to school in the morning.

Waffles and Monkeys

Chloe has the cutest name for monkeys -- mah-mahs. And she loves her waffles too!

Playing at OMSI

Chloe loves OMSI. . and her favorite part is the water. . where she can pour water using the birds nest. .

The future accountant

When I drive Chloe to school in the mornings, she usually spends the better part of the ride saying "upa". . meaning, get me out of my car seat. . so we usually sing songs to pass the time. A favorite of hers is the "Wheels on the Bus" which Craig has adapted to include animals on the bus and animal sounds. Chloe then says the animals sounds on the second verse. Very cute. Another thing I do is teach her new words to repeat, colors, numbers, and just things we see. So a couple times I have asked her if she wanted to count to 10 with me. I would say "one" then she would repeat it and so on until we got to "ten". Yesterday when i started to do this she was not repeating the number after me but rather saying the next number. I couldn't really believe it. When we got home, I asked her in front of Craig and he couldn't believe what he was hearing either. Guess my little girl is a number lover just like her momma!

The Windy City

Chloe running up to Craig because she wants to see the pictures on the camera, which is making it increasingly hard to ever take her picture!

We finally made it to Chicago this past weekend so that my Aunt Arlene and my brother Gary and his family could meet Ms. Chloe. It was a very quick trip -- we got in Thursday night and left early Sunday morning.

Chloe, napping on Craig before we even left for the airport, rather than saving it for the plane. Rats!

Friday the weather was beautiful, so we got to take the beans to 2 very excellent parks in Chicago, complete with big slides and lots of room to run and play. We also got to spend the day with my Aunt Arlene, who I love dearly and having her meet Chloe meant the world to me. She stayed with us the entire day, which was definitely a treat!

Saturday was passover, and we were all looking forward to the sedar. My sister-in-law Anna had been cooking for 2 days, and even Craig is a fan of the traditional passover favorites like chicken soup and gefilte fish.

Chloe with her cousin Jacob. . helping him practice the piano

Unfortunately Ms. Chloe woke up with a stomach bug on Saturday and i spent the better part of the day changing my clothes and doing laundry. Poor Beans! We contemplated staying longer, but decided it would be better to stick with our original plan and head home early early early Sunday morning. Fortunately, the plane ride was entirely uneventful, as Chloe slept on my lap almost the entire time (so glad we bought her a seat!!). As we were getting off the plane, two people sitting near us separately commented on how good Chloe was on the plane. Little did they know she was quietly spreading her stomach flu germs all around!

My friend Maya picked us up from the airport. . fortunately she picked us up in our car, as the poor baby threw up on the way home from the airport. Much better than it happening on the plane.

Craig picked up the bug Sunday night. So far I've escaped it. And Chloe made a miraculous recovery on Monday afternoon. . good enough that she was able to go back to school today.

All in all, still a good trip. Chloe really enjoyed her cousins Jacob and Isaac. She still talks about them. And she would be talking about her cousin Maddy had she been feeling well enough to play with her too.