We Adore our 4-year-old!

Chloe turned the big 4 Years Old!

I cannot believe it! Chloe is such a great kid. Here are a few reasons why we love Chloe:

She's a healthy eater: She thinks vegetables are candy, and steals brussels sprouts off my plate. And when I gave her plain yoghurt with wheat germ and sugar the other day, her reaction was, "Wow! Nice. Mmmm! That's one yummy yoghurt!"

She tries to get along with her little sister: When prompted by her parents to just ignore Ellie's taunting in the car, she told her, "Stop! I'm ignoring you!" And when Ellie kept on, Chloe yelled, exasperated, "Ahh! She's not letting me ignore her!"

She works on her vocabulary skills: I had explained to her that if she didn't eat her cereal quickly it would get soggy. Then at lunch she told me, "Mom, my water's a little soggy."

She's a problem solver: When one of her aunts was fussing about getting home late, as she was waiting for someone to get back with her car, Chloe told her everything would be alright, and that we have a car she could have.

She's frugal: She got her hands on the Toys R Us catalog, which scared me a little. But I told her she could look through it and see if there was something that she wanted for her birthday. After perusing for a while, she asked, "Can I get this for my birthday?" I looked at what she was pointing at: a plastic water bottle. I told her that would be just fine. ('Course after a little more searching she asked if she could get the $600 playground set.)

And she's a great helper and gets disappointed if I forget to ask her to help unload the dishwasher. She's tidy and will clean up her room by herself without us asking. (Okay, she may be a little OC.) She's a good gymnast, and follows her teacher's instructions carefully. She's a budding little artist and loves drawing all of her cousins. She has a tender heart, misses her May-May, and loves her teachers. She gives wonderful hugs and kisses - We love our Chloe!!

So here's the Birthday Day Run-down:

Chillin' before the Bird Show at the Zoo

Sam, the American Eagle. Chloe started asking if we could go ride the carousel. But she endured to the end, and when I asked her how she liked the show, she mustered an unconvincing grin and said, "Great."

Finally! The Carousel!Watching the ElephantsRiding the ElephantRiding the Train. Just before it started going, (and though we've ridden it many times before,) Chloe said, "Oh - this is going to be so awesome!"She wanted to play in the playground. (But it was naptime! Yes, I'm a nap-nazi.)New Birthday Tinkerbell Hat

(which she chose herself)Helping mom wash-up after making cupcakes

(which she chose herself)Finally! The Playground!

Their Joy is Complete!

Testing her 4-year old lung strengthShe did it!

New Birthday Magic Princess Mirror

(which she chose herself) and which incidentally spews compliments at you.

I need to get myself one of those.New Dora PJs

(Yes, she chose them herself. Shopping for her birthday was really easy this year.)

In her new Dora PJs,

which she has worn day and night since except for occasional Sundays and washings.

Chloe kept saying, "I just love my birthday!" and "This is the best birthday I've ever had!" (Here comes the pressure for the next birthdays! It's easy when she's only had four, and can only remember two of them.) It was a fun day for all. Happy Birthday, Sweet Chloe!

I'm Back!

Long break from the blog! I guess I was all blogged out there for a while. I even have intentionally not brought my camera with me places because I didn't want to feel like I was doing it for the blog. Oh, and I have lots of excuses, too. Like, we're almost getting ready to move - and just thinking about moving makes me too exhausted to blog. And, I have two kids. I know, you have five. But I'm way less organized than you! I'm sure there are more and better excuses I could list, but I'm just too lazy to come up with them now. I love summer, but maybe it's bad for me. So anyway, here we go again!