Chloe Bean: Summer 2016

WOW!!! I am so so so far behind on posting here. Things have been so crazy this summer. Once school let out, Jeff spent 2 weeks in California. Then my sister & her family came here for a week. Then Kendra & her boyfriend came for a few days. In between all of that, we decided to start homeschooling THIS fall instead of next. So, I've been in a crazy whirlwind trying to get everything ready for that. Decided I should take some time to hit the highlights of the summer before it turns to fall!

Here are a few random facebook posts and photos from the past 3 months.

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On May 8, Kendra went to her senior prom with her friend Logan. He was so sweet and gave her the "promposal" she'd always wanted with a scavenger hunt all over town leading up to meeting him at the high school with a big banner asking her to go to prom. It was super sweet! While they were "just friends" for prom, they started seeing each other exclusively and are now pretty much inseparable.

Funny story about her dress - She'd always wanted to go prom dress shopping with me, but since she lives so far away, that hasn't been possible. So, one day over spring break, we took Chloe to preschool while we went dress shopping. At the time, she didn't have a date and didn't even really have a dress in mind that she wanted. She'd described her perfect dress to me, but who knew if that even existed? So, she tried on lots of dresses, but nothing really jumped out at her. As we were leaving, I suggested that we walk through Von Maur just to see what they had. When we saw this dress on the rack, we knew IMMEDIATELY it was the dress. She tried it on, and it fit beautifully. She was sad to have to walk away from it, but she found the same dress online for about $100 cheaper. So, her grandparents bought it for her!

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Doing some math workbook pages at Chloe's request today. Initially she only colored in one box for butterflies. After she moved on, she said, "oops! There are actually 2 butterflies! I didn't see the other one. He was camouflaged! Cheeky little butterfly!"

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Doing some phonics work with chloe today. She was reading simple CVC words that i spelled out. Then she told me she wanted me to read one that she spelled. "Bucket" Homeschooling is gonna be a trip!

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Posted on May 10, 2016 -

Well, it's official. This girl is FINISHED with high school! She took her last AP Exam today and doesn't have to go back! Graduation is next week!

Seriously... see that little kindergarten grad on the left there? I swear that was just yesterday. Mamas of littles, trust me when I say that it will go by WAY faster than you ever imagined. Those stressful, trying phases that you think will never end... they do.

Don't get me wrong; I'm super proud and excited for her. Just feeling a little melancholy over the idea that my baby isn't a baby anymore.

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May 12 -

Midweek family fun day! Zoo field trip with Chloe's preschool this morning complete with picnic lunch. Then play time at the park & a matinee of Captain America Civil War! Back to real life now. Lol

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Posted by Jeff -

Chloe: "Can I have a piece of gum pwease?"
Mom: "Sure, since you ate your oatmeal."
15 minutes later....
Chloe: "Daddy, can you get the gum out of my hair pwease?"

lol

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Posted May 16 -

This "last day of kindergarten" pic seems like it was just yesterday, and today we prepare to celebrate her high school graduation! Special mom/daughter dinner tonight and graduation tomorrow. I'm gonna need lots of tissues... I'm already crying and the festivities haven't even started yet! So very proud of my Kendra Grace!

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pre-graduation dinner with mom & Chloe at Olive Garden.

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graduation announcements - made by Libby

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May 17 -

My baby is all graduated! I may have cried a little. So very proud of her! Next stop, Belmont University! @kendragracemusic ‪#‎classof2016‬

With her older brother Taylor. He just graduated from college earlier in the month -

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A funny from when we were visiting my sister in Arkansas -

Andria: Chloe, what do you put on your toast?

C: (with a "I can't believe you just asked that" look) ummmm... a little bit of butter?

<pause>

C: Have you never made toast before?

Andria: (laughing) yes, I have.

C: Ooooh! So you just forgot what goes on toast?

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"I don't know what I want to be when I grow up... either a veterinarian or a batective (detective)." <starting to become upset> "I don't know what to choose!" - Chloe, age 4

This was followed by the sweetest bedtime prayer where she asked God to help her clean up her toys without mommy & daddy asking her to AND to help her decide what she wants to be when she grows up.

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C: Mommy, can fabric break?
me: Well, it can tear or rip, but it doesn't really "break"
C: Is Bobby made out of fabric?
me: Yep, he sure is!
C: I am VERY careful with Bobby cause I never want to tear him. I only suck my thumb GENTLY with him. Or sometimes pretend he's a picnic blanket. But I'm gentle.

Oooooooookay then.

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Chloe has been asking for a haircut cause her hair was "too yong." It's a little shorter than i intended, but she is thrilled! She does look pretty darn cute! Also, isn't it a shame that she isn't more expressive?

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Our preschool graduate! We celebrated with her choice for lunch... Hog Wild BBQ (cause she loves their mac & cheese)

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Homemade bubbles & silly selfies with my girl...

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Posted by Jeff -

Chloe and I visited my old hairstylist and friend today at her work. Some people you can not see for 3+ years and still feel close. Oh yeah, they may have had funny glasses at her work. ‪#‎catchingupisfuntodo‬

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Posted June 1 -

For the first mommy & daughter movie night while Daddy is in California, Chloe is choosing the PERFECT film for us. She has no fewer than 30 DVDs spread out on the living room floor. She's narrowed it down to Elf on The Shelf or Mickey's Monster Musical. She doesn't believe in conforming to society's use of a calendar to tell us when to celebrate holidays. LOL

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C: Mommy, how do you spell Wiggles?

Me: W...
C: Uh oh! I accidentally made an M. That's ok! I'll just write "Mom" instead!

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Skyping with daddy tonight. I'm married to a comedian.

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"Hey mama, take my picture! What 'commotion' should I do first? How about 'worried'?"

("emotions" clockwise from top left: worried, happy, scared, silly, sad, angry, surprised)

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Tonight at bedtime, Chloe was super fussy and didn't want to get in bed.

After I got firm with her and told her in no uncertain terms that she WAS going to bed, she snapped, "Oh yeah? Well I don't want to be your friend anymore!"

I told her that made me sad because I loved her and still wanted to be her friend... but she was still going to bed either way.

Fast forward about 5 minutes to when I'm tucking her in. She bursts into tears and gave me a big hug and said, "I'm sorry I said I didn't want to be your friend anymore! I do want to be your friend! I didn't mean it! Can we pray and tell God we're sorry for being mean?"

So she prays...

"Dear God... thank you for today. Please help me have good sleep and not be scared of the fire balloons (long story - Right Jeff?). And please help me be sorry for being mean to mama and let me be her friend again. In Jesus' name, Amen."

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Love this guy...

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Chloe has decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

On Mondays, she will be a veterinarian.
On Tuesdays, she will be a police officer.
On Wednesdays, she will be a detective.
On Thursdays, she will be a teacher ("pet" teacher perhaps).
On Fridays, she will be a chef.
On Saturdays, she will be an artist.

And of course, she'll rest on the Sabbath.

Sounds like a very busy schedule to me!

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Chloe has this little pink plastic bug that she got out of a treasure chest at the hair salon. Tonight, she spent the evening moving the bug from one location to another waiting for us to scream in horror as we discovered it. She'd then laugh hysterically and say, "Haha! I pranked you!" before running off to hide it (in plain sight) of the other parent.

This prompted her to add another job to her weekly line-up (see previous post). She wants to be a "bug take-awayer" because "Bug Take-Awayer Chloe is brave of bugs!" She's the best bug take-awayer in "the whole galaxy."

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We went down to the river and watched the most amazing fireworks display this year for the 4th of July. Chloe was mesmerized! She was SO into all the excitement. This will have to be a new family tradition, for sure!

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Tonight, Chloe wanted to look at a map, and we were talking about people that we know who live in different states. She started asking about "That lady who gave me the purple blanket."

I could not figure out who she was talking about. She went on to say this lady had a puppy and a bird in a cage and a "rocking chair with another rocking chair."

Seriously I had no clue, but she was so serious and insistent. She wouldn't give up until we figured it out.

Finally, Jeff says, "Oh! You mean Debra Higgs!" LOL She knew exactly who she was talking about, but she didn't know her name!

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As we prepare to start our first year of homeschooling, I asked Chloe to tell me 3 things that she wanted to learn this year. Here's her list:

1. to make play-doh
2. to read (specifically "to read a book")
3. about the moon (she loves planets & space stuff)

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Chloe is currently building "a machine to take over the world" out of PVC pipe. She is SO her father's daughter. LOL

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Ok, I have to share this with you guys. This is a card 4 year old Chloe made for our friend Lily's baby shower this evening. She grabbed some paper and her markers and went off of to do her thing. I didn't see her again til she was finished.

At first it looked like she'd made a bunch of random letters underneath the picture of her holding the baby's hand. I asked her what it said. She said, "Well, I made a mistake on my drawing. I was trying to draw my tongue, but I messed up. So, I wrote 'I'm not peeing.' so people wouldn't think it was pee pee."

Upon closer inspection, I saw that she really HAD written "IM NOT PEYEN"

haaaaaaaaa! I can't even make this stuff up. I suppose I should at least be proud of the way she sounded out the words? LOL Isn't motherhood a trip?

Oh and the blue lines at the top are the "shower" on the baby. LOL

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Chloe (4) and I were playing this alphabet bingo game yesterday. We draw a letter from a stack of cards and then we can mark anything on our card that starts with that letter.

So, I called the letter "D."

Chloe: Ummmm... is this (pointing to bottom left corner) a book or a dictionary? Cause I think it's a dictionary, and that starts with D.

You know I had to give it to her with that kind of logic. LOL

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Kendra & Logan (her boyfriend) came to visit us a couple of weeks ago. We had the BEST time doing fun vacationy stuff with them (Logan even declared his love for the game Jeff invented, so Jeff has now offered Kendra's hand in marriage. LOL) Here are a few pics from their visit...