Chloe Jo

Our dog Chloe turned 5 years old today. Max is in love with the idea of a birthday, so we decided to make it a big deal. Started out the day with letting her have waffles for breakfast. Frozen ones are her favorite. Then, she sat in the van while we did a Wal-Mart run and then we took her to the park. I was going to get some pictures of her and the kids in the leaves, but it didn't work out because she was out of control with excitement for being at the park. There was no way I could have let go of the leash even for a second to snap a pic...she would have surely been run over by a car.

Then, this afternoon Max and I baked her a cake in the shape of a bone. It was delicious and Chloe Joanne (CJH) even got a few bites of her birthday cake. Tonight we did our annual trip to PetCo. We have done this every year on her birthday and we let her pick out a toy and a bone. Max and Mya think they're at the zoo when we go to the pet store, so it's a win-win for most everyone. She has been a great dog for us. Sure, there are many many many days I wish I didn't have to deal with her...like when she drinks the urine out of Max's potty, when she takes food out of the kids' hands, when she eats sippy cups, tears apart beanie babies and the insides are everywhere in our house, when she rips up diapers, takes things out of the trash, ahhh the list could go on. (Everyone said the puppy stage would last 5 years with a golden. hmmmm any day now Chloe..) However, there are other times when I couldn't imagine life without her. Here's an example. The other night Max was having some trouble staying in his bed. He was up and reading books, turning on the light, calling out for us, etc. Finally when he had enough, he went over to the door turned off the light, got into bed and said, Good Night Chloe. My heart melted. (Thank goodness for video monitors:) Yes..Chloe does sleep with Max every night. You know how a lot of kids want someone to lay down with them until they fall asleep? Max is no different, but to him Chloe is "someone." It is awesome. We just tell him good night and then bring the dog in to his room. Same thing for naps. Max is also like most kids in that he won't go down to the basement without someone. Chloe again fulfills his "someone" so as long as I can get her down there, he'll play for a long time without me going down too! Mya and Chloe don't have quite the same relationship Max has with her. Mya is infatuated with her tail for some reason and seems to think it's the funniest thing in the world to pull on the tail as hard as she can. She has figured out quite quickly that if she has food in her hand, she can terrorize Chloe like no other. She wants to give Chloe treats all the time, but then when I give her one to give to the dog, she runs around the house laughing while holding the treat in her hand so Chloe can't get it. I think their relationship will get better with time... I hope:) Chris continues to be the only master in this house. Life is much easier when he's around. The other day he e-mailed me a picture of Ron and Maryanne's new puppy Macy. In the e-mail he asked if it made me want another one. I wrote back in all caps...ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Right now my hands are full, but if we are going to have a dog, I'm so happy it's this dog. Finally, I'll leave you with our slightly egocentric 2 year old singing Happy Birthday to Chloe. You'll see what I mean...

I gotta feeling...

DVR is a wonderful thing. One of my favorite features is the ability to lock something so that no one except the person with the secret code can erase it! I have two things under code right now. One is the Office wedding (favorite Office episode of all time for me...perfect mix of romance and comedy in my opinion) and Oprah's season premiere where the Black Eyed Peas and Will.I.am performed the hit song "I gotta feeling" while 20,000 Oprah fans pulled off the biggest flash mob ever. I watch this all the time...so much so that Max now has parts of that song memorized. He told me the other day that he's jealous of how much video time Mya has been getting on the blog lately, so here he is in action singing parts of "I gotta feeling." If you want to see the actual performance, click here.Oprah had no idea this was going to take place, so watching her reaction is pretty cool.

cookie dough

Cookie dough is one of my favorite things in the world! It was a close second behind a glass of wine as the first things I ate/drank when I was not pregnant anymore! Unfortunately, Mya will not be able to experience cookie dough for awhile at least. Today Max and I were making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. When we were done, I gave him a beater and didn't even think about the fact that he might share with Mya. As soon as it hit me...I was already too late. She took a lick or 2 of the beater and seconds later was broken out in hives from the eggs. here's a (not so great)shot of her face about an hour afterwards. Not sure if you can tell, but she's still pretty beat-up. This is also after a generous dose of benedryl. Poor thing. I have never had to deal with allergies...I only hope this is something she out grows sooner rather than later so she can enjoy a cookie dough tornado at the whippy dip someday:)

15 months

Mya turned 15 months today. Wow. I remember when Max turned 15 months old..I was only 6 weeks from having another baby! He seemed so old then and now Mya seems like such a baby to me. She's doing her very best to try to let me know she is not a baby anymore. Her main mission each day is to keep up with her big brother. She has started running/trotting to catch him or get to the toy first. Mya can push Max's buttons like no other. When she knows there is a toy he really wants or loves, she grabs it and runs away! Also, if she sees me coming at her with a diaper or clothes, she runs away and hides behind chairs, under blankets, etc. It's funny, but also really annoying when we're in a hurry! She has started getting into her babies a lot more lately and we've found it's our only way to distract her these days. We think Mya may be the reason the Vikings won today too. With a few seconds remaining in the game, we put on her Vikings cheerleader outfit and they magically won a game they had no business winning. Daddy's girl all the way!!


Here are a few stats and other fun tid-bits for her at 15 months:

--14 teeth total (4 molars)
--wearing size 4 diapers
--Size 4 wide feet
--21 lbs 10 oz (up 3 lbs from 12 months...yippee!!)
--Favorite foods: waffles, noodles, chips, pears, apples, green beans
--Least favorite food: meat
--Most days--1 nap per day. Sleeping 12-13 straight hours at night. hallelujah!!
--Saying lots of new words. A few of my favorites are pretty, monkey, milk, Max, more, potty. (she's very interested in the potty and often runs there to sit down first when she hears me ask Max if he needs to go)
--12 month pants and 18 month tops are fitting best these days.
--no matter who walks through the door, she always greets them with a "daddy!"
--can point to 5 body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth and tummy)
--loves books...just not books being read to her. She'd sit and look at books for hours.
--everything that comes in a cup is milk. She'll drink anything though.

That's all I can think of right now! We had a good weekend here. Chris and I went golfing yesterday. Well...Chris golfed and I attempted a few shots here and there) in a Welcome to Dubuque best shot. Our team took 2nd place and we won a $40 gift card, so it was definitely worth it! Paid for our babysitter at least:) Other than that, we tried to organize our basement and spend some time with the kids. Hope you all had a good weekend too!

You can regularly find Mya wearing Max's underwear on her head.


Max's favorite past-time (playing in the sink) has now because one of Mya's as well. It doesn't buy me as much time as it used to because someone always ends up crying before I finish my task!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Another video for your viewing pleasure. Mya loves to listen to me sing and do actions with the songs. The itsy bitsy spider is a favorite along with Where is Thumbkin, the hippopotamus song and I'm a little tea pot. It's so darn cute to watch. I was not the parent who was in the Luther choir for 2 years, but somehow I get stuck doing all of the singing when we're in the car in order to keep the peace. Sorry you have to hear my voice doing this, but try to drown it out and focus on Mya's actions. After I sing it once, you'll notice her doing her sign for "more" so we do it again and her actions are even better the second time. Enjoy! Also..not sure if you'll notice, but she is sporting a little pony tail in the back. Max loves it and wants one for himself, but his daddy said no:)

Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere...

Tonight I cleaned out our van. I do this on a weekly basis only this week it was incredible. I can usually do it with just one bag for garbage and I can carry the rest of the stuff inside. This week it took a laundry basket to get the stuff in. Here are a couple pictures with a different view of what I brought in the house. This did not include any garbage or our swim bag that was still in there from the night before full of 3 wet towels and 3 wet swimming suits.




In case you're wondering...here's the run down on what was in there: 3 sippy cups, 4 winter hats, 2 coats, 1 sweatshirt, 1 MN Twins hat, 1 Gopher hat, 2 library books, 1 library card, 1 pair of gloves, 1 movie, package of napkins, a toy fishing pole, bowl, a dish rag, bracelet, nalgene water bottle, play phone, my purse, some dinosaur looking creature, a book we somehow took from the Gap, 2 pairs of Max's underwear, a sun hat, a pair of socks, 2 kids cups from a restaurant, an elmo phone, a motorcycle, 2 cars, 1 pair of shoes, some binoculars, 1 package of table toppers for going out to eat, and a half eaten bag of goldfish. That's it.

Everything in this basket had a purpose for being in the van. For example...the dish rag. One day this week I got the kids buckled in their seat and then noticed their faces were dirty. So, I went inside and got a rag and wiped their faces. I didn't take it back in, because I didn't feel like dealing with telling Chloe again that she was not coming with us. I could go on and on about all the rest of the items, but I'll spare you. Anyway...please, you other mommy bloggers and blog readers out there, tell me your car/vans look the same!!

Animal sounds

I love teaching my kids animal sounds. I think it's the cutest thing in the world when they pull out a ruff ruff when they see a puppy across the street or when they call cows "moos" until they can say cow,etc. I have been working on this with Mya for awhile, but she hasn't picked up on it as fast as Max did. I am blaming this 100%on the big brother. Every time I ask her what a puppy says, he jumps in and answers it for her! Same goes when I ask her what her name is, how old she is, how big she is, etc. We have had the talk about how you only answer questions when they're directed at you, but he doesn't get it and absolutely loves to answer for Mya.

However, last night I managed to find a little alone time with Mya and got some of her animal sounds on tape. In true Mya fashion, she was doing something else while I was talking to her. She is one busy little girl. Enjoy!



side note: When I was proofing this post, I had Mya on my lap and she was answering my questions right along with the video. She was so proud of herself. Another side note..today was a big day for her. She made it through MOPS without one tear shed. I got to sit and listen to someone who wasn't very informed talk about H1N1 while she played her little heart out. It's the little things that make me so happy these days.

Your next MN State Representative...

is my father-in-law! David officially announced his candicacy for State Representative from Maple Grove last weekend. He has been talking about it for quite some time and it is now official! We have a lot of the same beliefs, so it won't be hard for me to jump on board. I think it's pretty cool that he is trying to make a difference with the people of MG. Apparently next summer Max, Mya and I are booked for some area parades! (pretty sure Max and Mya are the ones he wants..I'm just the van driver:) I've always wanted a political shirt with my last name on it and now my wishes are coming true! Stay tuned for that:) If you know anyone in Maple Grove, Minnesota...tell them to VOTE FOR HODEN next fall!!

Also, today is David and Linda's 37th anniversary. It's a good thing they've been married for so long before taking on this venture!

Back amongst the living

The blog has been on hiatus this last week because of the dreaded stomach flu!! I came down with it on Tuesday night. It was awful. Chris took the kids up to my parents (THANK GOD for Grandparents with semi-flexible work schedules) and when he came home later that night, he got sick too! 24 pounds lost (and gained back) later, we are finally feeling better. Luckily, the kids did not get this. At least not yet. Keep your fingers crossed. All the door knobs, phones, bedding, bathrooms, etc. have been wiped down with clorox wipes or washed in hot water, so I hope the yucky germs are gone for now. My mom wasn't feeling the best when we left there yesterday, so I hope they don't get this from the kids.

Last night we all got a great night of sleep, so we decided to hit up the pumpkin patch that we recently learned is about 1/2 mile from our house. It is the opposite way that we always drive, so we didn't even know about it! We had a fun time playing in corn, riding the little tractors, going for a hay ride, bouncing in the bouncy house, riding the pony, petting the animals, running through the hay-bale maze and looking at the high-priced pumpkins! Both kids were screaming bloody murder by the end when we had to leave, so you can imagine the time they had. I even asked the parking attendant if we could leave them there and he said sure! Here are a few pictures.