Penny, Candy! - Jan 2

Happy New Year! 2015 holy moly where has the time gone? Almost 5 years ago Heather and I were preparing for Chloe's entrance into the world and it's weird to think about. I mean, 5 years ago we didn't quite know Chloe would be making her entrance so soon but it's still crazy to think back to diapers and sleepless nights and all the things we went through. The good news is we have a puppy now to remind us what sleepless nights can feel like and really it's uncanny how many similarities there are in raising a toddler and a puppy. =)

This week we had our most low key New Years celebration ever. Chloe went to bed normal time, Heather and I watched a movie and went to bed shortly after midnight. Party animals we were not. We spent our New Years Day together by first taking Chloe to the park then we took down all of our Christmas stuff. I know, exciting stuff. T minus one week for Chloe's 5th birthday and we have learned in years past it is to much work to deal with coordinating her party and letting the explosion of xmas gifts collide with the explosion of birthday presents. That and if we don't just do it now there is a strong chance we will end up leaving the decorations up all year long. JUST SAYIN.

Also, in other news it appears we have come to an agreement on the puppy's name..area you read for it?!? Penny. After some deliberation and mostly just trying to call her something other than the name the shelter gave her, Penny sort of stuck. Chloe tells me as we are on our way to get a little engraved collar tag: "I think we should name her CANDY!" I'm like HUH? She says "Yeah, Penny can be her last name. CANDY PENNY!". I said "Chloe that would make much more sense if her name were Penny Candy because..." and then I just gave up because I realized there would be no reason to try and explain to a 5 year old why Penny Candy would be funny. LOL.

Hope you all are having a good 2015 and set some kind of attainable resolution goal. I won't tell you what mine is or else it might not come true..or is that wishes..? Hmm.

Santa Got Me Exactly What I Ordered!! - Dec 26

Well we made it through another Christmas! Sort of.

Both Chloe and I have been a little under the weather(again) this week. It figures because there hasn't been a Christmas I can remember where someone wasn't sick for it. This week has not gone to plan AT ALL to say the least. Did I mention we got a dog??

So for those who don't know the story, a quick backtrack. So our previous pup, Abbey, passed away 2 years ago just before Christmas and for the last few months we have been having feelings like maybe we would talk about getting another dog. We didn't know what or when but we kind of felt ready. I always figured we might adopt a dog but again had no clue what kind of dog and all that. Fast forward to last Sunday I went to exchange something at Toys R Us which is in the same parking lot as a "PetsMart" and on any given weekend they have someone out front doing dog and cat adoptions. I don't generally pay attention to it but I know Heather & Chloe have seen and visited in the past. When I drove by I happened to notice two (what looked like) puppies in a pen which I thought was strange because I figured most of the time the adoption events are random mutt/mixed rescue dogs of various ages.

I was starving so I went to this place nearby to get some food and I texted Heather what would turn out to be a truth: "They have the cutest puppy at pet smart. bringing it home." to which she replied "take a pic". Of course I figured I would go back and the puppy would be gone but I ate and drove back over to snap a pic. There was literally a constant stream of people walking into the area asking about this puppy I don't know how she was still there but she was. I started texting Heather and immediately she was in love and headed over to see her in person. The puppies given name by the place is "Kati" which I am hoping we can decide on a new name here soon. She is a Brittany Spaniel/mix (and they don't know exactly the "mixed" part, lol). Long story short, she was ours if we wanted her and we literally had to make a decision because a person that was there earlier and left came back and was ready to take her. Crazy as it was, we pulled the trigger and now once again, we have a dog. 12-13 weeks old and so far aside from working on the overnight sleeping situation and potty training she is a very smart, sweet, gentile little pup. She wants very much to play with our cat but the cat of course wants nothing to do with her. LOL.

So it's been going OK but let me tell you it is freaking STRESSFUL. Literally, just like having another child in the house. Chloe absolutely ADORES this puppy though and she has been really great with her. I know the struggles of having this puppy will be far outweighed by the relationship Chloe will have with her growing up that we were sad to lose when Abbey passed. Chloe was just 2 years old at the time but she still would talk about Abbey as if she was her dog. So certainly an unexpected Christmas surprise this year but when does life ever go as planned anyway, right? =)

Below are some photos of Chloe's Christmas. In her words: "Santa got me exactly what I ordered!!" which I thought was a very funny, "sign of the times" thing to say by this almost 5 year old. The only thing missing would be the reference to the free Amazon Prime 2 day shipping or something. Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Xmas!

-B

He Has BIG FEET! - Dec 19

Last weekend we made our traditional visit to see Santa Claus. Oddly enough, this year Chloe expressed some hesitation about going to see him. Every year so far she has been ignorantly happy to just show up and do whatever we tell her will be fun lol but now that she's almost 5 I guess she suddenly has an opinion. It's okay, we knew she would forget all about it as soon as we got through the door. We were right. =)

We also did a little preparation with her as far as what she was going to tell Santa that she wanted for Christmas(because we knew he would have no idea what she was talking about). She is really interested in the Pixar movie "Wall-E" which if you have never seen it has two main characters that are essentially robots that have very little dialogue. Chloe want's this "Eve" character that talks and moves that we found at Toys R Us a few months back. The movie was released in like 2007 so toys have long since been out of stores but for some reason they re-released some of these toys. Santa would have no idea what she means when she says "I want a talking Eve Robot!". lol. Anyway, it was cute he talked to Chloe for a long time telling her how pretty she was and how she was so much bigger than last year, etc. He must see hundreds if not thousands of kids but I do feel like he probably would remember Chloe specifically because for 5 years she has never once cried and she always wears a "fancy" dress to visit him. It's cute. HE IS SANTA. He made some comment about Chloe's shoes and he pointed out his big boots and asked her "do you know why my boots are so big??" to which she replied, "BECAUSE YOU HAVE REALLY BIG FEET!!". He said she was the first kid to say that when he asked that question and seemed genuinely surprised. LOL. Just a few more shopping days(bleh) left before Christmas. Get on it!! Have a great weekend.

Brian


















and the 5 year spread..

I Already Met You At Disneyland! - Dec 12

Last weekend we went to a birthday party for one of Chloe's classmates which we knew would be a "Frozen" themed party(surprise). What Chloe didn't know was that "Elsa" would actually be there! Well, I mean she was Elsa by the fact that she was there as Elsa..but she didn't have me fooled for one second. =)

I was telling Heather, It's so weird how Chloe (and kids in general) seem to have NO concept of people by face when it comes to charachters. Chloe was being shy when she first saw Elsa but then ten seconds later when that passed she was over chatting away. "I already met you in Disneyland!!" she says. Meanwhile, this "Elsa" looked nothing like the Disneyland Elsa except for the almost the right color dress and blonde wig. This Elsa also knew how to make balloon animals and do generic magic tricks. The kids loved it!! I was not impressed. LOL. Everybody's a critic.

We a busy week that started with Chloe being sick and essentially ends with Heather and I being sick as well. Not the first time, won't be the last. Just a few pics of the Chlo-bomb. Have a great weekend~

B

Still Freezing..er, Frozen! - Dec 5

Yes folks, it has officially been a year(and some change) since the movie "Frozen" took the world of 3 and 4 year old girls by storm last December. This week I had a board meeting for Chloe's school but it was more like a Christmas party thing and with that there was a "white elephant" gift exchange. I drew number 13 (lucky #13?) out of I believe 16 so I got to watch 12 people open gifts before I got to decide weather to steal someones gift or open a new one. I believe the 4th thing opened was this hilarious Elsa hat with a long braid attached to it which I had already seen months ago because my Mom sent me a picture of it at Bed Bath and Beyond. I knew I would need to "steal" this gift and when my turn came, you can bet I did. The gift, oddly enough, was purchased by Chloe's teacher who even said she thought of Chloe when she bought it. With that, nobody would dare steal it from me lol so now we are the proud owners of a weird hat that Chloe LOVES. She wanted to wear it to school on Thursday and show all of her friends...so I let her. LOL. I made her take it off before the class started.

We also spent some time last weekend putting up our Christmas tree. Chloe absolutely LOVES decorating for the holidays. What kid wouldn't? One of these weekends we'll work on our annual visit to see Santa but for now we are rapidly running out of shopping days and before we know it Christmas, New Years, Chloe's birthday BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. =)

Have a great weekend.
-B

I'm A Flag Girl! - Nov 28

Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving when everyone goes out shopping for good deals and cheap stuff. Everyone, except me.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving but I'm sure I didn't have to tell you that. Chloe got dressed in the morning and was so proud of her outfit but when she came to show me the first thing out of my mouth was "hey you look like an American flag!" LOL. So all day long she was telling people she was dressed as a "flag girl". It took a minute to compute but everyone seemed to agree. =)

Being Thanksgiving we of course had the round to make. Last year we ate with my family and in years past we have eaten twice. I think the goal these days is to trade off every year but who knows what the future has in store. We are lucky to have two families to share Thanksgiving with and Chloe is always likes to be the star of the show..or at least she makes a point to be the center of attention, lol. As her little cousin, Peyton, gets older I have a feeling they are going to have to share the title and perhaps Peyton has already started to share that spotlight. We spent a few hours at my parents house with my brother and his family then we went and had Thanksgiving dinner with Heather's family not to far away. Everybody ate to much(I'm sure) and today we will work on getting down our Christmas decorations. Chloe is literally asking me every 5 minutes to get the Christmas tree down...so that's my next move. Happy Thanksgiving!