Happy Birthday!!

Chloe turned two years old on the 26th!!! I cannot believe how big she is getting! On Saturday, her actual birthday, we chose to not really celebrate much. After all the excitement of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Chloe was a bit overwhelmed with all her new toys. So we had a calm, day, playing with her new toys. my parents bought her a Mickey Mouse balloon, which she loves and we had cake and ice cream with the neighbors.

Then on Sunday, we went to Andrew's parents' house to celebrate Chloe's 2nd birthday, and Bill's (Andrew's dad) 70th birthdays. It was fun having all the family back together and Chloe did not cry at all (see Christmas Eve post)!
cute cousins eating pizza together!
reading a card to Daddy

The Rocket ship from Little Einsteins was definitely the hit of the evening. All the kids were gathered around waiting for Andrew to open it up for all to see.

This picture shows how Chloe would just back off and let her cousins play with her new toy. I think she has learned that it is sometimes not worth fighting for it!

found some quiet in the hall to play

Elaine made this amazing ice cream cake for Chloe and Bill.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning Chloe woke up around 7:30 and was very interested in all the presents under the tree and the stockings lining the fireplace. She handed us each our stocking and helped search out the goodies. Here she is reaching into her stocking... favorite item was definitely the fruit leather...

Chloe received many great presents. She loves this Aquadoodle mat
and thinks the paintbrush is also good for shaving!

Chloe also got this neat Radio Flyer scooter. It has two wheels in the front for extra stability. She was super excited when she opened it, and carried it to dad to have him open it.

The hardwood floors throughout our house are perfect for riding!!!

From my brother and his wife, Chloe received a baseball mitt and ball. Chloe called it her "catch" and, although she doesn't really understand how it works, she seems to enjoy it!

Chloe (with gramps in the background) enjoying pigs and blankets for breakfast at her new table, thanks to Granny and Gramps.

Love this smile!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Andrew's parents' house. We started out with a yummy Swedish meal, and then Santa (grandpa) made an appearance with gifts for all the grandkids. Chloe and Ella were not too excited to see Santa there.....They did not leave the protection of their daddies until Santa left the room!

It was fun to see Chloe open all her gifts. Last year she was too young to understand how to open presents, and this year she tore into them!

Her big gift this year from Grandma and Grandpa was a play kitchen! Chloe loves play kitchens at her friends' houses, and I knew she would love having one of her own!

When Chloe saw the picture, she was so excited and kept saying "chicken." Apparently "kitchen" is a word we need to practice!!

Grandma reading books to Devin and Chloe. By this point in the evening, Chloe was over tired and overstimulated and spent much of her time crying and melting down. It took us 30-45 minutes to get her to calm down enough to fall asleep so that the adults could open our presents. It was a fun, but exhausting, evening!!!

Ross (and Nick)

Our friend Ross (Andrew's old roommate and the guy who gets credit for introducing me to Andrew in 2003) decided to spend his Christmas break in California. He has been living and teaching in North Carolina for the past 6 years and it had been 3 years since we had seen him. It was so fun to have him spend a few days with us and see him meet Chloe and interact with her. We had fun playing games and just hanging out, like the good old days!!!

Here Ross is introducing Chloe to the wonders of You Tube videos.....She loved the animals and babies and kept asking for more!

Chloe's favorite thing to do with Ross was to have him spin her around. He would spin in circles, and then gently dump her on the couch. She would stay still for about 5 seconds to make the world stop spinning, and then would slide off the couch, and say "again!" It was so cute!

Another perk of having Ross visit was that our friend Nick came up from the Bay Area to visit. He and Chloe love to build towers and other fun creations with her Legos. It is hard to tell who has more fun playing with her toys, Chloe or Nick!!

Christmas Lights

The weekend before Christmas, Andrew, Chloe, and I travelled to my parents' house in San Rafael for a visit. We went out looking at Christmas lights. Chloe absolutely LOVED the first house--it was all about Mickey Mouse. Chloe loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and would have stood and stared at this house all night if we let her!

all of these stuffed animals and such were in the decorated garage...The second house we went to was a house in Marinwood that I remember going to every year as a child. The house was not decorated for the past 15 years, but this year the family decided to decorate it again as a tribute to their father, who passed away this year. I followed the efforts on FaceBook--trying to decorate the house in a short amount of time using old decorations. It was touching to see how the neighbors came together to make it happen! Chloe's favorite part of this house was the toy train in the front yard, but I did not get a picture of that....
We went to one other house that night--in Novato. The owners decorated both the outside and inside of their house with a crazy amount of lights and decorations. There was a line to get in and lots of people inside. Chloe started crying and saying she wanted to go home, so Andrew and I left early. I think she was a bit overwhelmed with the crowd. Poor baby!

Matching Cousins!!

This picture was taken on Thanksgiving. Chloe was wearing this cute dress, and Elaine saw her in it and went to the back room and came out with the same dress! She thought it was cute, too, and bought one for either Chloe or Ella for Christmas. So, she gave it to Ella that night and Jen changed her into it. Cute cousins!!

Snow in Sacramento!

Earlier this month (Dec. 10th, I think) it snowed in Sacramento. This is so rare, that I had a friend who actually set her alarm for 5 a.m. to try to see it falling!! We woke up around 7:00, and while some of the snow had melted, there was still enough on the ground and on surfaces to make a snowball! Chloe refused to hold the snowball for a picture, and kept pointing at it and saying "cold!!"

this is as close as she got to picking it up!