A Full Week!

We often tell "Once upon a time stories" when we are with the girls. The stories are always about two little girls named Claire and Chloe. We usually somehow incorporate into the story their phone number and address. Here Chloe was beginning to tell me a "Once upon a time" story. When I asked her the name of the street they lived on at first she said, "I don't know" but then she quickly responded with "Oleander, California"...if you listen carefully, you can pick that up. Then, she tells me, "Someone's at the door". End of story.

Chloe refers to her doll as her sister. She says she is "holding her sister" responding to Claire's "What's going on?" and Claire discovers her helmet.

Claire with her bike helmet.

Bracelets work as earrings too!

The girls were sure Papa should be coming. Here they are having a look, just to make sure, and also checking out the rain.

We sing "Good Morning Merry Sunshine" often. Claire and I were trying to work on getting the sun out on this, another rainy day. Shortly after we sang, we went to the Mall to get out of the house and get some exercise. The girls enjoyed the Mall toys shown below, even without putting coins in them to make them go. They walked the full length of the Mall and back, with a mission to get some new rain boots. We were not successful that day, but not because Chloe didn't try hard to find some. She asked a lady who had stopped to chat with them if she had any rain boots and then walked up to a jewelry kiosk and asked a young man if he had any rain boots. I was able to find boots the following day but Claire and Chloe were not along. When we dropped them off you would have thought we had brought a boatload of candy. They were so excited to get them.

Mommy went to Costco and the fun came after, when Claire and Chloe enjoyed the box.
Even though Claire weighs a bit more than Chloe, she somehow convinced Chloe that she needed to be the rider most of the time.

Enjoying curly noodles "just like Claire's hair" for lunch.

Below you see the girls loaded up for a weekend trip to Oregon. They had talked all week about seeing the ocean and building sand castles. We had offered to keep the girls so that Mommy & Daddy could get away, but Mike's response was, "Oh no, Mom, the girls haven't seen the Redwoods." :) Hopefully they are putting their boots to good use and having a wonderful time as a family.

Families, Both Real and Imagined!

Early last week Great Grandpa Ove visited Claire and Chloe's house. Here we see Claire talking up a storm with him. I believe he didn't understand everything she was saying, but he kindly acknowledged her conversation by saying things like, "Is that so?" "Really?" Very sweet!

Here is Chloe's precious little face and following that shot you can see her socks. I told her that her feet felt cold and maybe we should put some socks on. She responded by saying, "I'll do it myself." She did do it by herself and here are the socks she picked out and put on.

Claire continued with her gathering and family theme. On this particular day, (actually for a couple of days) she would gather all the little balls. She carried them around in a basket part of the time but also spread them out on surfaces where Chloe would send them sailing off onto the floor. Claire said they were a family and she gave them names, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Jon, Uncle Eric, and Aunt Suzie. Chloe enjoyed her mischievous way to breakup the family. :):)

In the following little film Chloe is making her pin-wheel work. Claire is saying "no, no, no," but I am not sure what her issue was at that moment.

On Wednesday, Papa and Grandma took off on a little adventure. We drove to Medford, Oregon visited with Papa's Aunt Wanda and her husband Linc, enjoying a dinner out with them, as well as a yummy breakfast in their home the following morning. After that we headed to Gold Beach for a stay at Tu Tu Tun Lodge, a beautiful and luxurious place on the Rogue River. We haven't experienced such a serene and quiet place in a long time. We read, relaxed, and enjoyed the beauty of the area and the view from our room.

We also did some exploring in the area and enjoyed a crisp but beautiful day on Friday.

Claire and Chloe are very interested in dinosaurs at the moment. We could not pass up an opportunity to photograph Papa with this dinosaur along Highway 101. We have several other shots that I have printed and will share with the girls tomorrow. I think they will love them.

Our final event for the get away was lunch with our long time and dear friends Bill and Susan in Eureka. It was great to see them and catch up on things. Our drive home over the infamous, and not well traveled Highway 36, was uneventful, although it rained and we watched the temperature go down rapidly as our car climbed over the mountains. I held my breath and prayed that it would not change to snow and fortunately, it did not. We have driven that route many times over the years and never had a real problem, however, you would not want to experience car problems on that road because you are virtually on your own.

We look forward to a new week coming up and time with Claire and Chloe again. There is nothing better for the soul than time with family and friends both near and far.

Easter Week

We had some outdoor time this past week. It was chilly but when the sun is out we just can't resist taking off to the out of doors. Chloe stated this week, "Grandma, I love to play outside."
Here she is doing a little gardening. Part of the time as she moved little bits of dirt she would say, "I'm a nurse". We are clueless to the connection between planting and being a nurse.

We had lots of fun times inside as well, using our imaginations cooking, tasting, shopping, and reading and playing with the toy animals. Claire continues to gather groups of animals and refers to them as a family. Chloe surprised me this week with her knowledge and recognition of letters. The girls have a set of 26 books, each book shaped like a letter of the alphabet and inside are words with pictures of items that begin with that letter. As Chloe was pulling out the books from the case, one by one, she was saying what letter it was. She knew at least two-thirds of the letters. I was amazed.

Easter was a special day, as always, for us. After church the family gathered at Papa and Grandma's house along with one of Uncle Jon's good friends. Our church had three services and the middle service was a "family" service and many children were there. Claire and Chloe did very well for not having been in a church service previously. They had color books and snacks and at one point when we were singing a hymn, Claire was singing her ABC song. Chloe announced when the music was over that she was "ready to go now". All in all, they did very well. The downside to Easter this year, was that Papa was quite sick and didn't even leave his bed. He was very concerned that no one get exposed to whatever he had...that had hit him like a ton of bricks on Saturday. Also the weather was less than beautiful, actually very cold and raining. Below you see the girls in their Easter dresses, playing the piano and then on the couch with Claire giving us her squinty grin.

Here we see the girls examining their Easter baskets.....

And later on an indoor egg hunt....

Lastly, Uncle Jon puts Chloe through the basketball hoop. She was giggling and having such fun. Papa and Grandma had gotten the basketball set as well as a little T-ball set to have lots of fun with outside. The outside part didn't work out for this gathering, but they were able to have a little fun inside. Next visit we will most certainly make use of them.

On to a new week.....

Fancy Gloves and Park Time

Chloe played in her "fancy" gloves for a while one morning this week. She thought she was quite the item. Getting them on her tiny little fingers was interesting, but we finally did it. The girls have a pink pair too, both with very sparkly "diamonds" on them; gifts from their good pal Haley. Pretend, is the name of the game these days. They were pretending to go to the store during one play time, and I would tell them I needed a certain item. Surprisingly, after a while, Claire came to me and told me that she had gotten each of the items and listed them verbally. I thought that was a pretty good memory!

Do you get the idea that maybe Chloe didn't want to be filmed? :)




During our park time one day this week we met up with a darling little boy named Lukka. It turns out that he was the same little guy that I mentioned in a post on December 6th. He and his caretaker had come by Claire and Chloe's house on a walk and had stopped to chat with the girls. He is now 15 months old, and Chloe, in particular, was quite taken by him.

Below, you see Claire contemplating something. She had just come to me and said, "Lukka is looking at me and that isn't very nice.!" I tried not to laugh, and I sure don't know where that came from.... out of the blue. Shortly, she was back at the slides enjoying Lukka's company.

The girls are going for one last run before we leave that day.

"Iffy" weather ahead for this week. I hope the weatherman is wrong!

Spring Fun--- Plus the Dentist

With the great spring weather we were able to get outside quite a bit this past week. We often walk by the fire station a few blocks from Chloe and Claire's home and on this day they were washing the truck. The girls are always interested in what is going on at the fire house.

After the walk it was necessary to check out the neighbor's flowers and then do a little jumping around.

What a difference 6 months makes! The dentist visit for Claire and Chloe this past week was "a piece of cake". Both girls were able to follow the directions given during the exam and were pretty relaxed. They enjoyed the toys in the waiting room to the fullest.

Claire was particularly taken with this dinosaur, notice what beautiful teeth it has. Is that a coincidence? I thought that was pretty funny.

Their rewards came in the form of stickers and little bracelets. They were quite pleased with both.


Chloe loved the doll house and spent quite a bit of time playing with it. She moved the dolls and furniture around and was just chattering away.

Although snacks were part of last week's posting, here is another example of the enjoyment the girls get when Papa arrives with a treat. This time it was vegetable "chips". The girls never fail to say "thank you, Papa" when he gives them something. Their manners are remarkable for two year olds.

Once again, Claire bursts into song.....




We enjoyed two days at two different parks, and are looking forward to beautiful weather again next week. Welcome Spring!

A Variety of Things....

Snacks are an important part of Chloe and Claire's day. Claire has usually been the "eater" of the two girls, but now the roles seem to have reversed a bit. Before lunch, one day last week, Chloe announced that she was "starving". The girls have learned to depend upon Papa to have something in his pocket when he arrives. One of the days this week when we got there, Chloe asked him, "Papa what do you have in your left pocket?" The little cookies you see below come in alphabet letters. Claire decided to look at her name even though she had said to me, "I can't wait to eat my name". Chloe on the other hand, had eaten her name immediately.

The girls are sometimes wanting to have really big girl cups, so in the next two photos you can see they are sharing juice out of a "big girl glass". Daddy's rule, before he left, was that it had to sit on the table and they could drink and set it back down, but not carry it around. They did very well.

Some play times, of course, were recorded by picture. Below the girls play with play dough and with a little toy train that they really enjoy.

The video below is one of several that I have of Claire singing this past week. She sings quite bit, as does Chloe, at times, but this time she sang through the whole song while accompanying herself on her alligator xylophone. Chloe played and sang a little too.



We were not eyewitnesses to the saga of the eggs this week, but apparently the girls got into some mischief. We heard multiple versions of it, Claire declared that "some bad people broke the eggs" and Chloe told us yesterday, later, after filming the egg discussion, that she had only broken "one" egg and held up her one finger. We really don't know what happened, Mommy only told us that all the eggs in the carton got broken and that the girls had opened the refrigerator. Unfortunately, the video will not upload, try as I might, so you will just have to believe me when I tell you it was very cute hearing Claire (mostly) and Chloe tell us about the egg event. In addition, another cute video with Chloe talking about her snacks wouldn't upload either. I tried different browsers and different computers and nothing worked. I'm a bit disenchanted with this blogging site.

The Week Now Gone......

Papa and Grandma were not able to help much with childcare this week because Chloe and Claire were "under the weather". Mommy stayed home to care for the sweet little girls who were coughing and somewhat miserable, especially at night. They are doing much better, for which we are thankful, and we look forward to spending more time with them this week. We did manage to get a couple of pictures of them brushing their teeth one morning and a shot of Claire having lunch another day. I did go with them to the doctor on Monday and after the doctor examined Chloe, she told him to "help Claire, too." Very precious!

When we stopped on this day as the girls were eating lunch, Claire exclaimed, "Oh, Papa didn't have to go to school today!" I asked her, "Claire, what is school?" She replied, "I don't know, Grandma". At the same time, Chloe was asking me, "What's new, Grandma?" Never a dull conversation with these two.

Here's to a healthy upcoming week!!!!