It's a wonderful life!

Santa's horse stable. We had a fun and festive time looking at the lights while listening to Christmas music. Chloe loved calling out all the light displays.

The candy cane tunnel:) It went well with our peppermint white chocolate mocha lattes!

Sunday evening we went to Jolly Holiday Lights. 100% of the proceeds go to make A Wish Foundation. It's drive through Christmas light display through Grey's Lake.

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend! On Saturday afternoon Jason took and passed his IA electrician's state licensing exam! We are so proud of him, all of his hard work paid off. Congratulations Jason! Then that afternoon Brigett and Tyler came down for a visit. They are so awesome to make the trip and then babysit Chloe and give Jason and I a date night, thank you so much! The three of them headed to Jordan Creek for some Christmas shopping, smoothies, play land, car strolling, good fun! Jason and I went to dinner, drinks and a movie to help celebrate his accomplishment. We all stayed up late but that didn't stop Brigett and I from hitting the shoe jack pot Sunday morning;)

A long week for us but still some smiles:)

It works as toe nail polish too!

Today Chloe was doing her make up with the purple crayon.

Convincing myself that I have the energy for story time.

Wednesday I put a side pony tail in Chloe's hair and it was sooo cute! A little throw back to my child hood:)

But she made sure to keep her lips nice and hydrated with constant chap stick applications;)

Here is Chloe Tuesday in the height of her fever. All she wanted to do was rest, snuggle with Elmo and watch Sesame Street.

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What a week! Monday Chloe had gymnastics and was the wildest she has ever been! She just wanted to run and do everything the group wasn't doing! But she had fun and a few of the other kids had ants in their pants too;) I think it was the cold weekend and the snow, so the kids had a lot of pent up energy.

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Then she got a fever Monday night and it was gone by Tuesday noon. So we skipped our Tuesday activity but ventured out for Wednesday's story time. And I was a lot more sick than I thought, you know when you go out in public and realize you can't hear, can't breathe, and thinking takes a little longer, that was me! And her fever came back later that afternoon. So Thursday we stayed home and got a lot of movie watching and snuggling time in. .

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Today Chloe seems fine, no fever since Wednesday night. We went to the mall to walk around and of course stopped by to see Santa. Chloe was so excited, she ran up to him, gave him a huge hug, they had a very long conversation, she gave him a hug good bye and Santa gave Chloe a coloring book. It was so sweet, my heart melted.

1st snow of the season!

We switched out Chloe's changing table/dresser with my childhood dresser. My sister and I used this growing up and now Chloe gets to use it. Grandpa is right when he said it was the best furniture out there and Gramma had to have it for us girls:) It's in great condition, so sturdy and so fun to pass it down for Chloe to use!

What a fun morning outside!

And of course Chloe loved to help shovel the patio.

They found some snow drifts along the way to play in.

Daddy took Chloe on a sled ride around the neighborhood:) I think he forgot that we already bought a new, bigger sled this year:) But it's cute to see how much she has grown since last winter.

When we woke up on Sunday there was just enough snow on the ground to play outside for a little while.

It makes a good seat for reading too:)

Talking on the new cell phone that came with it.

Chloe got a vanity and new exactly how to use it!

Friday night we caved and let Chloe open a Christmas present. Not because she was asking, she wasn't, but because we were excited:) We won't be home on actual Christmas, and while she loves Santa she doesn't totally understand that he brings the presents and we thought this way it spreads out the excitement and she can play with her toys over the course of weeks and won't be overwhelmed with all of them at once, at least that's how we're justifying it;)

It's already Friday!

This week went so fast! I can't believe I haven't posted any blogs! We had a fun time at all of our activities. On Monday Chloe enjoyed her Wiggle Bugs gymnastics class. She loves to do the Wiggle Bug cheer at home and continues to practice her summer-solts. Wednesday we had fun at story time and Chloe also likes the good bye song there too:) After story time we also stay for a little while to color pictures, play with the train set, ride the boat and read some more stories, the library is so much fun! Wednesday evening Uncle Rich stopped by for a little bit. Chloe of course asked him to dance and had fun dancing and playing with him. Thursday we hosted our first play date with the moms group we're in:) It went well and everyone had a great time. There were 4 moms and 6 kids total. I think we will host again next month. Then today we went to a play date at our new friend's house, Angie with her two boys Reece and Brennen. There were 5 boys and 2 girls total (including Chloe) and Chloe had a blast playing all rough and tough with the boys. Far from the pretty princess she always plays at home;) And since it was such an amazing December day we headed out for a walk, play time at the park, then some bike time at home and playing in the back yard. It was great for both of us to play outside today. So here are a bunch of pictures from this afternoon to make up for my lack of pictures this week:) Enjoy your weekends!

Winter fun indoors!

At half time Chloe got to open a Christmas present, a new vacuum, it even makes a vacuum noise!

Go Bears! The little cheer leader is getting tired:) It was a rough game.

Sunday we cheered on the Bears to a victory!

Reading her deer princess Christmas stories!

Squeezing her deer to make him talk.

Saturday Chloe didn't want to wear her reindeer headband to see Santa but she did like wearing it at home:) This is her deer in head lights pose;)

Santa!

Our end of the week has been great. Today we took Chloe to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop, they have a really great winter wonderland. Chloe had so much fun! She decorated a snowman ornament, picked out a reindeer and got to sit on Santa's lap! It took a little convincing but once it was her turn, she ran up to Santa, gave him a big hug, climbed up onto his lap and showed him her reindeer! It was so cute! A huge improvement from last year when she cried and I was in the picture with her:/ We all had a fun time!

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Friday, we had a blast at a new friend's play date. Her little girl had about 10 dress up outfits and Chloe was in heaven:) That is until it was time to leave and she had to take off the dress and shoes!

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And Gramma S. came over Thursday evening, after doing some Christmas shopping, to spend the night. She said the she would watch Chloe and let Jason and I go out to dinner by ourselves! We had a great meal and wonderful conversations. It's amazing how our energy can be restored after having a little down time. And of course, Chloe loved playing with gramma!

Wednesday Laughs

Ariel was a god book but she needed a few more! I was laughing and taking her picture but she just kept on doing her thing:)

This afternoon Snow White needed to borrow Mr. Potato Head's glasses to read some books!

We had a great time at the library, her favorite part is the good bye song, she's really getting good at it and knows all the actions:)

This morning we were getting ready for story time and Chloe just looked like a little girl to me. Some days she still feels like a baby but it must have been the pony tail and jeans or something, it just felt different.