To Chloe, From Santa! - Dec 29

By the time you are reading this, Christmas is officially over. I know for sure because my neighbors already took down their Christmas lights.

True story.

As usual, Christmas kind of snuck up on us, here today, gone tomorrow. I probably mention it every year but we have pretty much gotten used to the down hill slide into Chloe's birthday starting with Christmas. A week later New Years and a week after that, boom, Chloe's birthday. The way we have learned to handle it year after year is basically one thing at a time. Heading into Christmas Chloe & Heather(with a little help from yours truly) went ahead and made the annual home made sugar cookies(& frosting). Santa has to have his cookies! =)

This year the main thing Chloe really wanted from Santa was a "fitness tracker". Heather got me a Fit-Bit smartwatch last year and I have been using it to track my steps for a while now. Chloe got it in her mind that if she could have one too, she could try to beat my steps every day. Not your typical (almost) 8 year old, I tell you. I think Santa was confused at first but it seems he was able to make good on her request. She's been trying get as many steps as she can but something I learned is that a child half your height takes a lot more steps to cover the same distance! I couldn't figure out how she was getting 4,5,6 thousand steps in but I guess it does make sense that her little legs have to move a lot more! It just means I have to make sure to hit my numbers or I'm never going to hear the end of it. LOL.

Not going to get too long winded here but I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone for your part in making another memorable Christmas in 2017. Just a few photos of Christmas with Chloe to share and I'll sign off by wishing you a happy and safe New Year, folks~

-B

Candy Cane, Chloe! - Dec 22

Today marks the start of Chloe's winter break from school and t-minus a few short days until Christmas. As usual, Christmas falls exactly 1 week before New Years which falls exactly 1 week before Chloe's birthday. It is definitely a very fast downhill slide starting now and pretty soon we'll have an 8 year old child on our hands. LOL.

On Thursday this week Chloe's class had their little class "holiday party". I was lucky enough to see the email right as it came in and signed up to volunteer. It seems as the years go on the opportunities to help in the classroom go down while the parents that want to do it actually goes up. The kids basically had a little more than an hour to do a few fun activities which included "bobbing for candy canes" and decorating their own sugar cookies. Basically, everything involved things made of sugar and ultimately the kids eating said sugary things. By the end of the party we were practically peeling kids off the wall. =P

Just a few pics from the day for this week. Have a great weekend and have a very Merry Christmas. =)

-B

He Asked Me To Trade Glasses, AGAIN! - Dec 15

Last weekend we made our annual trek over to see Santa. Yes, the real Santa and for the first time in 8 years, Chloe practiced what she was going to say before we got there. =)

Last year Chloe was really upset at herself because she basically froze up and couldn't really remember what to tell Santa she wanted. She was worried that she wasn't actually going to get what she really wished for(very "A Christmas Story") but thankfully she left her wish list in the mailbox. This year, she made her little wish list again which we also delivered to the mailbox but she also practiced the 2 things she wanted the most with Heather so when the moment came, she would be ready. =)

We got there and stood in line for what felt like an eternity. By the time we got inside all the fake snow had melted. Not really. Santa lit up with excitement when Chloe appeared and they had a little chat as they always do. Santa complimented Chloe on her glasses and of course asked her if she wanted to trade of which she responded a resounding NOOO! She got out her top 2 wishes and received a candy cane and we were on our way. It won't be long until we get to determine if Santa can fulfill Chloe's wish list. I guess it depends on if she has been naughty, or nice! =)

Have a great weekend, folks~

-B