Cute Nightly Prayer

I found this on another blog and thought I would post it here so I can remember it.
I love the prayer that Jen from Mommay's Mayhem taught her children
I think I am going to try to teach this to Chloe.

Thank you Lord for the day I had
Thank you for my mom & dad.
Help them take good care of me
God bless my friends & family.
Help me sleep well all night long
Guard me with your angels strong
When I wake up, on a brand new day
Help me love & learn & play. Amen.

Poor Sick Baby Girl

Chloe had her first virus yesterday. She woke up early Sunday Morning (3:30 am) throwing up. At first we thought it was food poisoning but we found out that my niece and my Mom had it too. She got in bed with us and pretty much threw up every half hour during the night. It was so sad and pitiful. She ended up getting sick about 25 times before it was all over. By Sunday night she was finally keeping liquids down. Praise Jesus!

She slept last night from 9 until 8:30 this morning! She was tired. Today she is feeling much much better. She still doesn't want to eat but she is keeping lots of liquids down so that is good. I hope and pray that this doesn't happen again for a long time!

Calling Daddy....

Chloe has a new "skill" that I think is quite humorous! The other night I was trying to get Ryan to come into the kitchen with me and Chloe. I was calling his name. Suddenly there was a cute little redhead yelling "RYAN" I almost cracked up. She was going to the back of the house just a calling his name.

Of course we laughed...bad idea. Now she knows that we think it is funny. She does still call him Daddy most of the time but tries to entertain us by calling for her Daddy by name! RYAN....RYAN...RYAN....

Carving a Pumpkin

Just one of the Dolls

Chloe loves dolls.. She is a girl after her Moms own heart! We have lots of them. Several of them were actually mine when I was a little girl. Here are some pictures of here playing with her dolls and watching Little Bear with them.Kissing her baby (this was one of my baby dolls)

Looking at my friends

Watching "Little Bear" on TV

Kiss, Kiss, Kiss

Serious Chloe

Forgive her mismatched clothes. She was only half dressed. We were looking for her matching shirt.

Chloe-Bug the Bumble Bee

I can't believe we haven't posted anything since September. Where did October go? Being a youth pastor has added a bit more to our plates but we are getting into the swing of things quite nicely. Ryan is loving his new job and I am still loving mine. I have started to do a little bit of "school" with Chloe. Yes, I know she is only 17 months old but it is never to early to learn your colors and shapes. She loves art time. I will have to post pictures of some of our projects. She also loves books. She brings me books to read to her all day long. We are having a great time.

Youth ministry is AWESOME! Ryan is a natural. I am really enjoying watching him step into the ministry that God has been preparing him for. The kids love him! We have our first trip coming up this month complete with a lock-in at the church. We will let you know if we survive.

Well we don't get too into the whole Halloween thing but we do enjoy Fall, pumpkins and dressing Chloe up for Oct. 31st. This year she was a bumble bee and she was the cutest one I have ever seen.


Here are some pictures. More to come later.

Big news in Evangelo-Land

No we are not expecting another baby- I know that is what you were all thinking. :-) However, we do have some big changes coming around here. As most of you know, Ryan and I moved to Perry (my hometown) at the beginning of the summer. We have been getting all settled at our new home and Ryan has been working.

We have finally found the right church and we are getting all settled there as well. Here is the big news part of this update- We have been asked to be the new youth pastors at our church and we have accepted their offer! Wow. We are so excited and so humbled that God thinks that we are the right choice for these kids. We will be officially starting in mid October.

In other news, Ryan got on at the base in an internship (full time while he finishes his master's degree) This is a huge answered prayer. He will be making twice as much and working days instead of evenings. Chloe and I were sick of him being on nights. :-(

So as you can see all is going great here. Hope you are all doing well. We love you!

Ryan, Christi, and Chloe

I think she is going to be a talker!

She's got Soul

Chloe's Newest Fascination(s)

It is official- Chloe has her first obsession. About 3 weeks ago I taught her the word flower. It was our word of the week. We looked for flowers, we painted flowers, we sang about flowers and we read books about flowers. By the end of the week she knew exactly what a flower was. It didn't take her long to figure it out either. By the middle of the week the girl was finding flowers everywhere. She found them on her clothes, on the wall, at Wal-Mart, at the farmers market, and in other odd places. I will have to post some of her "flower art" for you all to enjoy. Stay tuned for that.

The reason for me telling you all this is that she has found something in our house that she THINKS is a flower. She constantly points to a little patch of hair on Ryans chest and says "flower...flower...flower". No matter how many times we tell her "no that is hair Chloe" she still says "flower". Too funny.

A few new pictures of Chloe from Sunday

I really enjoy playing with pictures in photoshop and editing them. Here are a few that I have been playing with. The first one is my FAVORITE!

Some New Videos

Chloe "talking"



Lots more of Chloe talking



Making Faces at my Mommy


More funny faces

Mrs Personality. I wonder who she gets that from?

Chloe Reading in a basket... strange title... I know.

Spaghetti Anyone?

We gave Chloe Spaghetti for the first time this week. It was a hit! She enjoyed every last bite. Here are the pictures that prove it!

Learning to put a block over the cap on the coke bottle! Impressive

Wanna see more Wordless Wednesday?

New Scrapbook Page

I just finished the most gourgeous page. I got a couple of new digital scrapbooking kits so you will see lots of these in the coming weeks. I can't wait to have it printed!

I got in!

I just found out that House Party chose us to host a Fisher-Price Play Date house party!

According to the application we will be getting so many great toys to play with and some to share....

"Your amazing FREE party package will include: 1 Laugh & Learn™ Smart Bounce & Spin Pony™ 1 Laugh & Learn™ Fun with Friends™ Musical Table 1 Amazing Animals™ Spinnin’Around Musical Zoo 1 Go Baby Go Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle™ 10 Fisher-Price toys to share with your guests, including Poppity Pop™, Rock-A-Stack®, and Friendly Flip Phone™ 10 Infant Product Guides 10 coupons for the Fisher-Price online store."

Go Baby Go!™ Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle™ Retail Value $66.00


Amazing Animals™ Spinnin’ Around Musical Zoo Retail value $44.00

Laugh & Learn™ Smart Bounce & Spin Pony™ Retail value $70.00
Laugh & Learn™ Fun With Friends™ Musical Table Retail Value $40.00 And more!

Yay for us. Now if I can just find 10 guests with children between the ages of 6-24 months. Wanna come?

Getting Organized

I have been trying to get into the swing of things with this whole stay at home wife and mother thing. I want to be the best that I can be and get everything in perfect (well close to perfect) order here at the house all while being the best mommy ever. I was struggling with this desire when I read a post from a friend at Feels Like Home. Here is a link to her post on housework.

Her post inspired me. I took her ideas and modified them for our life. I usually have 3-6 chores that I need to get done (other than the basic laundry and dishes) and the rest of the time can be spent with my daughter and husband. I have even programmed these chores into my Google Calendar (along with a months worth of menus!!) and they repeat each week. I check my calendar each morning to remind me what I need to get done that day. I love it! Here is my list of chores. Thanks Tara!

Tuesday- (the first day of our week)

Vacuum Floors and Sofa
Dust all living room surfaces - electronics, books, lamps, furniture.
Wipe TV
Wipe pictures.

Wednesday

Wipe all kitchen surfaces - stove hood, fridge, cupboard doors, dishwasher, appliances.
Wipe inside microwave and oven.
Mop kitchen floor.
Scrub sink.
Flush kitchen drains with boiling water.
Dust kitchen and dining room.

Thursday

Change sheets and pillowcases
Launder sheets, pillowcases, bath mat, towels, and washcloths
Dust
Vacuum carpets

Friday

Clean toilet and tub
Wipe mirror
Dust
 Saturday  
Clean out fridge
Check windows and doors, wipe as needed
Take out trash
Wipe inside and outside of trash cans and recycle bin
Dust ceiling fans if needed

Sunday and Monday are our weekends since Ryan is off.  So no extra chores!  :-)

DAILY CHORES

Work on Laundry
Wipe the bathroom counter & sink
Wipe kitchen counter, sink, and stove
Unload dishwasher & put dishes away
Reload dishwasher
Change dish cloth & tea towel

Hope this helps someone else like Tara's post helped me.
Sweep kitchen floor

Chloe Dancing

Click here to see the cutest video EVER!
Chloe can dance. She must get that from her Daddy!

Knock Knock, Anyone home?

Chloe loves to play with her dollhouse! She makes the little people "walk" around everywhere. Here is her new trick.

Digital Scrapbook Pages

I have recently gotten into digital scrapbooking. It is how I got into blog design as well. I thought I would post my digital scrapbook pages here as well so that everyone else can enjoy them. I am also having them all printed out and put into the traditional scrapbook.

Here are a few from the past year. Look at how different she looks!

These are from a book I am making of her first year. I only have 2 pages done.

New Pictures

We went to Picture People a few weeks ago and got Chloe's One Year pictures taken. They turned out so great! I do apologize for the huge word across the pics. These are the preview images that I am uploading for you to see. We ordered copies without the Zazzle! :-)
The first 2 are our favorites! I just want to eat her up in these pics. You can really see her little personality! The other little girl is my niece. (My sister Kelly's little girl Cally)

My Granny

So this post isn't really about Chloe but it is about my family. My Granny passed away last Friday morning. She was 91 and had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. I thought I had prepared myself for her death. However, it has hit me really hard. I have always been very close to my Granny (and she was not always the easiest to get along with) However, she loved me. She loved me unconditionally and without fail. She was such a constant in my life and I am having a hard time realizing that she won't be there anymore. In an effort to help myself deal with her death, I am blogging about her. (You are so lucky to be one of my readers!) I thought I would post some pictures of her. Looking at pictures has been very therapeutic for me. So here goes.

<------This picture is of Granny (Louise) and my PaPa (G.T) soon after they were married. 1940 I think.




<-----This picture is of Granny and PaPa on some vacation. I have no idea what year that was. I think she was around 45 or 50? I just love this pic. You will notice in most of the pictures of them, she lays her head on his shoulder. So sweet!







This is Granny being goofy. I think this was in St. Augustine at the old jail. ------->



This is just a pretty one of her walking down the street. I think this is in Macon in the 50's or maybe the 40's.


She loved Chloe so much and was so proud of her. At her funeral service one of the preachers said that Granny talked about Chloe all the time. She was constantly showing him pictures and telling him all about her. On a side note, that same pastor told my mom before the service that Granny talked about me and Chloe everytime he visited. He said that she was so proud of me, my faith in God, our love story, and our baby Chloe. He said that she often showed him pictures of our wedding or the baby and just talked about us. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. How about a funny Granny story for you all. This used to be so embarassing to me. :-) Many of you who know Ryan and I in real life know that we saved ourselves for marriage. Well, Granny just thought this was wonderful and loved to tell everyone that she knew. I had made this committment many years ago. When I would come to visit Granny at the assistive living homes and nursing home she would always introduce me like this...."Hi Mrs. Whoeveryouare, This is my granddaughter Christi. (in a whispered tone) She is saving herself for marriage" Mind you I am standing there and can hear her. What exactly was I supposed to say. I always just smiled and let her have her fun. She even did this with the old men who lived in the homes. That was really fun! Once Ryan came along she added him to the equation and just told everyone about us both! Ok, enough personal and slightly embarassing stories for today!

Now for my favorites. We were able to have Granny over here at the house twice since moving back to Perry. She came to our Memorial Day cookout and then she was her for Chloe's first b-day. Here are those priceless pictures!





Notice is the last picture where it looks like Chloe is pinching Granny's arm. It looks like that because Chloe was pinching Granny's arm. :-) She was playing with her skin. It was so cute.