CHLOEE'S CONCOCTIONS

I made Chloee a "pallet" in my floor this morning so she could stay in my room and watch Curious George while I made my bed. I mean she does have her own TV in her own bedroom mounted to the wall? BUT....whatever makes her happy.

The small pink "pieces of silk" to the right of her? That would be a "night gown" that I cut up for her when her other silky blankets were in the wash.....The other night she had a fit because they were in the wash and she didn't have them to go to bed. So I thought about my silky "night gowns" and got 2 of them out to lay on top of her and then put her other blankets on top of that..worked like a charm!! And she FELL IN LOVE WITH THEM..so the next morning she wanted to take one to daycare...haaa, Of course I couldn't let her take the night gown to daycare looking like a night gown....So....I took one that didn't look all "fancy" and cut it up into 2 squares...TAAADAAA!! Chloee now calls them her "SILKIES". She loveees them.

My Sweet Spoiled Rotten Coconut

Chloee had to take a bath this morning..So I started her water & went to wake her up {luckily she was in a good mood waking up}...WELL, when I woke her up and told her it's time to take a bath I heard her mumble something. I couldn't understand, so I said "Chloee what"?? And she said "CARRY ME IN THERE"..I smiled, picked her up like "a baby" {that's a thing we usually do when I get her OUT of the bath..she always wants me to carry her like a baby in her towel to her bedroom...like I did when she WAS A BABY}. I looked at her and said "YOU ARE SPOILED ROTTEN!!" && She just smiled. Everyday I realize more and more how quickly she is growing and it brings a semi-sweet-sadness to my heart. I love you Coconut, more than you will EVER understand.

La La Ladies Charleston Beach Trip 2010 RECAP

{TACO BOY} {BEACH ON SATURDAY}

{PEOPLE BOYCOTTING OFF SHORE OIL DRILLING ON SATURDAY}

{ANNA @ HENRY'S}


{JESSICA @ HENRY'S}

{@ HENRY'S}

So a great weekend with some wonderful friends in Charleston {Holiday Inn Folly Beach}..Friday when we got there, we laid out a little on the beach and then went inside to get ready for the evening. Friday night we stayed around our hotel and the vicinities in the area {Folly Beach} We ate at Taco Boy and then went to a little bar called the Surf Bar. We got up at 7:30 AM on Saturday {some were struggling as I was too..me and the other "mother" were doing a little better though..we're used to it, haa.} We went to our restaurant in the hotel and had breakfast...After breakfast we headed straight to the beach. We were on the beach by 9AM..We laid out until 12:30, had lunch @ Rita's & then went back to the beach. We laid out until about 4:30, went inside & showered and then that night we traveled into downtown. We had dinner at Mad River & then went to Henry's. What a great weekend. We were up by 8AM to head home. I was excited to get home early, that way I could go with Bill to get Chloee {Chloee didn't know I would be with him to pick her up}..Can't wait for next year!

What happened? I dunno??

So yesterday evening I get home....and as I go to put my phone on the charger, I hear a whistling noise outside, like a tractor trailer just zoomed by {that doesn't happen often on our road} Well, me not thinking ANYTHING about that and the fact the power went out AT THE SAME TIME...I just call Bill and tell him the power went out..thinking nothing other than maybe the breaker or something caused it. So Bill gets home, works in the building on the golf carts, we ride them down the road to make sure they run okay {still not paying any attention to the power line down} and it gets ahhhhh, say about 9ish and Bill decides to finally take a look at what's caused the power to go out..taaaaadaaaaaa..power line is found, lightbulb goes off in my head {finally} and REA Power is called out at about 9:30PM. We watch them work until 10PM and finally get to go inside to eat and go to bed..now only if I had thought about the connection of the power and big truck earlier?? Leave that kind of "smart" to me...

P.S. I also thought I could "half way flush" the toilet and get an "extra flush out of it"...lol.lol. Bill said, "Jessica, it doesn't work that way"...who knew?

Last Night..

Last night.....when Chloee and I went to bed {and Daddy had already tucked us in} Chloee turns to me and says..."um, Momma...um, tomorrow, um, um, Can you take me to daycare??"..and I said yes, as long as you promise to get up early enough. And she agreed. So I took her to daycare this AM.

By the way, Chloee slept in her room until the "big girl bed" came along...now Daddy sleeps in it and Chloee and I sleep in my bed. We have slowly approached this situation with "when you turn 4, you are going to start sleeping in your bed"...We'll see. I love sleeping with her though. It won't be long and she won't want to anymore, so I see it as I'm just taking in as much love from my baby as I can right now!

Also, Chloee and I have a schedule at night..we 1st say Bedtime Prayers as follows:

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take..God Bless everybody in the world and please bless Beverly..{then she tells me..."now say your words Mommy"..and my words right now are about Beverly and her family}


And then we sing Jesus Loves Me...some nights we are tired and forget {to do either}, but we've done a pretty good job remembering.

**She has stopped doing this but a year or so ago when we would sing Jesus Loves Me..we would have to say "Yes, Jesus Love Mommy and Daddy and Chloee and LuLu"...haaa, can't forget that!!

STEAL OF A DEAL.

Dress/Coverup...I can wear you both ways {oh yeah}..

Stylish Party Attender Dress..some say tacky, I say beachy. HA..

My newest purchases..thought I would share. Great sale on these at A&F. 1st two were like orig. $50 and got them for $30. And the last one was orig. $70 and got it for $30. I heart sales.

CHARLESTON IN 3DAYS WITH THE LALALADIES!

Beach, Sun & Gossip

Necessities for Charleston have been purchased. {Thank you Ross - Dress For Less}

BIG, floppy straw hat - check. {$6.99}

silver thongs {flip flops..of course} - check. {Reef brand...really really skinny thong, $9.99}

new shades - check. {$5.99}

And an extra Thank YOU to Initial Impressions in Gastonia for supplying me with a cute little "J" sticker AND a bag tag to match that says "Drama Queen". This will embellish my personal igloo cooler...I needed something girly since I would not be in attendance with the hubs!

SOOO excited for our Charleston Girls Trip 2010!!!

6.17.10

Horrible news this morning. One of our best friends and neighbors..Heath Brown's house caught fire this morning. Not only has he lost "needed" things, but also a lot of memorabilia. He had many old things that belonged to his family, pictures, etc..just so hard to understand why things like this happen. I know this is a very tough time and will be tough for a while for him. He's such a good hearted fellow and I hate to see him having to deal with it. But he will prevail, I know it.

Just to give a background, Heath's father was good friends with Bill's father, Benji. Benji wrote to Heath's father while fighting Vietnam. Luckily Heath had given that letter to Bill a while ago so it's at our house and Heath had given me two old pictures of his family and Bill's together too..so it's saved as well.

Hopefully more things will be pulled from the home that can be saved...let's just hope.

Sweet Girl

Just wanted to share a cute little convo Chloee and I had yesterday....Chloee was playing down at the building {Bill was down there with her} and I was up on the back deck...she yells across the yard, "Mommy!!" "Can I come give you a hug and come back down here?" I said well of course you can!! A lot of times I tell her that if she's coming inside {when it's later} that we are going to take a bath and stay inside...so I guess that's where THAT came from...The smallest things MELT my heart.

MOTHER~DAUGHTER WEEKEND 6.11.10 - 6.13.10

Just a PREVIEW...The two middle pictures will be 16x20's {The 3rd one over with her sitting down, she actually has our wedding rings on her toe...beautiful picture!!} The 2nd one with her standing, holding LuLu...really "captures" a day to day moment of her and LuLu. And that is what I was going for. If Chloee is holding LuLu, it normally looks JUST like that.

Chloee with Melissa at her graduation party Saturday..

Chloee sleeping Friday afternoon, on the way home from having pictures made of her and LuLu..{outfit has already been changed..thank goodness..note blue face and blue sucker}

Mine and Chloee's weekend began EARLY! Friday, I took Chloee and LuLu to have their pictures made. Saturday...Melissa {the absolute best babysitter ever} graduated from Cherryville High. We went to her graduation party Saturday afternoon. Daddy had left Friday evening for his annual boat poker run trip in Santee, so he missed the festivities at home. Chloee and I went Sunday to Hickory && shopped at the new TJ MAX..we got LuLu a "posh" new bed..{leopard print} oohlaalaa. AND Chloee some nail polishes {that we fought about that evening because she wanted to paint her nails herself}...Then we trollied to Old Navy where I found Chloee a terry cloth bathing suit cover up & she found herself and $10.00 soccer ball {which was on sale for $5.99 when we rang out, yesss.} And THENN, because Chloee insisted on having biscuits and "taters" as she calls them, and I correct her with potatoes...lol...we went and ate at Cracker Barrel. I would have hit up KFC, but we had that the day before because she wanted "taters" and biscuits...Cracker Barrel was nice, enjoyed that a lot with just Chloee. As we left, I let her buy candy as promised. None other than Pez and Pez refills {something about Pez, it always pops up...Easter, Valentine's, Christmas, Mother-Daughter Weekends} I think it might be more MY infatuation with PEZ? Because I DID point them out to her...and she agreed...I would have to say that my weekend was great. A great weekend with total focus on my daughter. Although we did miss DADDY and we were glad to see him come home!

P.S. **GIRLS TRIP TO CHARLESTON JUNE 25TH - 27TH**....We'll see if Bill has as much excitement as we did on his Father-Daughter Weekend!!

SWEET PARKER

Amanda's youngest....Parker will be turning 1 soon!

Maddie's recital is the same day...soo we can't make the party..bummer..But I'm sure we will see him soon after if not before!! Congratulations Parker, you cute little thing!

Mommy's getting old..

So, Chloee has been practicing her toe touch {and has it very good to be 3 1/2}..Well she wanted me to dance with her to this Chick-fil-A dvd that she got that plays a song, Between The Lions {I believe that's the name}..So... I was to follow her direction and do what she did..Of course she threw in her fabulous toe touch, which hasn't been done by me for quite a few years, uhhumm. I would have to say so myself that I did a pretty good job considering I'm 10 years older now and no longer practicing these moves....but it didn't feel too good. SO, I decided I would practice it a couple more times after our "dance" was over, and every time it hurt just the same. So me laughing and telling Chloee that it hurt Mommy, Chloee decides to critique me..She's like "Mommy, you have to do it like this"...Ohhh and it only begins...

RANDOM SNAP SHOTS

These two pictures below look like I posed her to sit there {and she is fake smiling}...But I didn't pose her.....She was dressed for the day and was sitting at the table, turned around to look out the window and I thought it would be a cute picture..so I grabbed my phone. So yes, fake smiles..but no Mommy did not pose you. {for once anyway}

PICTURES FROM EASTER 2010

These are from Easter..I didn't blog at all in April. Chloee and Dayne are dyeing Easter Eggs at Amanda's.....Easter Basket is Chloee's very 1st REAL Easter Basket... {from the Easter Bunny at our house}...Since she was so young before, The Easter Bunny waited to do a real Easter Basket for this year. She got stuffed animals and stuff like that the past 3 yrs. We did the whole wake up and find what the Easter Bunny left for the 1st time this year..so sweet. The Easter Bunny left it right at her doorway....and Mommy couldn't wait to wake her up.

This Past Weekend's Extravaganzas

Well Friday, wasn't much of anything going on in the Stroupe household...went to Ross' for a bit so Bill could play cornhole with the guys. Me, Chloee and Treva talked for a while..and then we went on home.

Saturday was Mother Daughter Day {like EVERY Saturday is} Chloee and I had breakfast at Subway in Walmart {since I thought it was still a Dunkin Donuts?} I bought Chloee a donut from the bakery and I had Subway..and then we trollied to Da-Vi to have our nails painted...

After Daddy got off work we went over to Jennifer and Robbie's and let Chloee swim for a while. Melissa got Chloee around 5, and Bill and I went on a mini vacay to Hickory. We got a room at the Hampton Inn and a taxi driver to our destination {to and from}..It was a good evening. Heather and Sebastian met us out.

Sunday, we went to TuTu's. Had BBQ, homemade icecream cake, etc... {Chloee had cereal and graham crackers..such a picky child..lol..} The kids played on the slippin slide, in the little pool, with water balloons & super soakers..and I about had a panic attack from trying to stay dry. HA.


HELLO MONDAY!

Dance Girl, Dance

Chloee's new favorite thing to do is to be counted off and let her make up her own dance moves...so we start with 5678...1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8, etc..etc..over and over again. Well now I've gotten her to do 5678...and then I sing the Boom Boom Pow, Boom Boom Pow over and over...Of course that entices her to do the inevitable "Booty Shake"...you know the hold your hands out, turn around and shake ONLY the rump? Yeah that would be the one. She also does the lay on her side, lift a leg, get up, squat w/her elbows on her knees and pose, etc.....you get the picture..

Oh and she got a new soft pink bat w/ball yesterday too..Daddy broke the other one.

INTERESTING..

UNUSUAL USES FOR APRIRIN (LIKE BAYER {REAL ASPIRIN}):

Fresh Cut Flowers...in a vase...crush up aspirin and put in water...helps water stay clear and free of flower damaging bacteria.

Protein Stains...such as sweat stains, antiperspirants, and egg..crush aspririn, mix with water. Soak affected area for a couple hours and wash in laundry {for sweat}. For eggs, scrape off as much as you can, make a paste with asprin and water. Use toothbrush to spread and scrub BACK SIDE of fabric...launder afterward. Can work on other stains also.

Insect Bites...wet aspirin and set on bite for instant relief.

Where Is Thumb Kin?

Thought of another one, and had to Google/post the link...This one came home with Chloee a while back though..like winter time I believe?

Where Is Thumb Kin??
http://www.sqedunk.com/FingerPlays/NurseryRhymes/thumb-kin.htm

CHLOEE'S NEWEST RHYME

Chloee came home excited to sing a new song that she learned yesterday!! {And I Googled it}:

Have you ever gone fishing {pretend to fish} on a hot, sunny day {make a sun with your arms}
With all the little fishies swimming up and down the bay {put hands together and move like fish}
With your hands in your pockets {slap pockets}
And your pockets in your pants {slap hips}
All the little fishies doing the hokey pokey dance {twist and dance}

[She didn't do this next part {or all the motions other than slapping her pants and the hokey pokey dancing part..but the end goes like this}]

BaDa DaDa Da BaDa DaDa Da BaDa Da DaDa BaDa Da DaDa {clap while singing}
With your hands in your pockets {slap pockets}
And your pockets in your pants {slap hips}
All the little fishies doing the hokey pokey dance {twist and dance}

Sunday, 5.30.2010 {Memorial Weekend}

Getting ready to leave the house for Victoria's wedding..

Saturday, 5.29.2010 {Memorial Weekend}

Me & Chloee

Chloee, Bill & Dayne

Dayne & Chloee {Summer Fun 2010!!}