Beach day

As promised, here is the rest of the beach blog I told you about. We went to Morro Bay, and it was warm and sunny. It wasn't even very windy - it's often so much nicer there in the winter. One of the boys' favorite things to do is run down the sand dunes. We had fun taking pictures of their big jumps... 

Enjoying the awesome view.

 

Spencer, rolling down the dunes.

 

I tried taking a picture of all 5 boys, but they kept rolling down the hill. It didn't work out!

 We liked the polka-dotted feathers.

 Cute beach flowers.

Making sand angels. 

We started to walk up the beach, but there was a surprise wave that soaked Levi. I took him back to the car to warm up while Dave and the other kids continued the walk. We also got a big bag of salt water taffy to eat in the car. It was a fun day at the beach!

More pictures of Chloe

 

I'm sorry I keeping posting so many pictures of Chloe. It really is a bit rediculous, and I promise to do blogs about my other children soon. She's just at such a great age for pictures. She sits still for me and smiles so great. Here she is on her birthday, right after church.

 

After 2 1/2 months of trying to go to the beach (we were always sick or busy, or it was cold and rainy), we finally made it. This was Chloe's first time there in which she really knew we were in a very different place. She kept looking all around in amazement. She especially loved the seagulls and the sand.

 

Some days I get her dressed and think she looks so cute and happy that I have to take pictures. Levi was late for preschool this day.

The name Chloe means "blooming," which is really cool because our town erupts in blossoms right around her birthday. Here's the plum tree in our front yard. I took pictures of all the kids climbing it last week, but I didn't get any great ones of Chloe because she was so distracted by the flowers. She's sitting on Spencer's shoulders so I can see the flowers all around her. Oh well, there's always next year.

 

She is looking more and more like Dave's mom and sisters.

 

Okay, I'm done now. On to pictures of pinewood derbies and big boys jumping off sand dunes.

12 Months and On the Go!

I think Chloe has changed more this month than any other. She loves her rocking horse, which we got from a lady at Dave's work. She has also started waving bye-bye with her whole arm and clapping hands. And remember how I said she was immobile? Well not any more!

One day she got up on her hands and knees and started crawling everywhere. She skipped the whole army crawl thing.  We've had to work a lot harder to keep the floors picked up, and that's no easy task with 5 boys.

Another day she just pulled herself up, and she has been walking along all the furniture ever since. This opens up a whole new world to her, and she loves it!

She can look out the window and pull books off the shelf.



Then of course there's the dishwasher - every baby's favorite appliance. She pulls all the silverware out and throws it on the floor. Then she continues to pick it up and drop it over and over, making a really fun noise.

She can play the piano and stand up in her high chair. 

She practically needs a bath after every meal. It's a good thing she likes baths.

Sometimes she walks behind her riding toy, but mostly she likes her brothers to push her up and down the hall really fast. I keep telling them to slow down, but she just laughs hysterically .

She loves climbing up the stairs, but she hasn't figured out how to go down yet. She has even stood on her own for a few seconds and taken a couple of tiny steps. I'm thinking walking isn't as far away as we thought.

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Chloe turned ONE last week! This was my first time making fondant, and I loved how it turned out.

 

When she woke up from her morning nap, we had everything all set up for her party. She totally knew something exciting was going on.

 

 

We had my family over for lunch - all finger foods.

 

We had flower and butterfly-shaped sandwiches, hot dogs, deviled eggs,

 

And fruit with dip. Seriously, this is the easiest, yummiest stuff! I forgot to buy marshmallow cream, so I had to make it. That made this a little less easy, but still not too bad.

 She has the best birthday - right after Valentine's Day, so all the candy is on sale.

 She even kept her party hat on for a little bit!

After lunch she opened presents. She really enjoyed pulling things out of gift bags. 

 She loves her super soft bunny from Kristen! She hugs it all the time. It's so cute!

I love how animated she was about all her presents!

 

This is one adored little girl.

 

 Daddy gave her a little help blowing out her candle. I love that Braden was holding her - so sweet!

 She ate her cake super fast. Luckily I managed to get a few pictures.

I made strawberry cake because it's pink. Then I doctored it up with some tips I saw on Pinterest: use butter instead of oil, doubling the amount; use milk instead of water; add an extra egg. It made it really moist and dense - more like homemade.

Then someone turned on her new bubble machine from grandma. That was a hit!

I love this picture!

 

She played happily all day. Brothers and cousins took turns pushing her around in her new riding toy. She LOVES it! And isn't she cute in her new ladybug outfit from Kristen? It's so flouncy and fun.