Chloe the fashion diva

Chloe loves to dress up. Whenever we go to a kids clothing store, Chloe will look around excitedly and if I show her something, she says, "Chloe's" or "on, on!". I tried some cute striped shoes on her last week and she got a huge smile on her face and had to contort her body to get her foot up above the stroller tray, so she could examine her new shoe. We didn't buy it, and when I removed the shoe from her foot and returned her old shoe, she cried. One day I showed up at daycare to pick her up and she had this pink scarf tied around her waist. The teachers said that she wanted to wear it and had been wearing it all day.

The third photo down shows Chloe at her jewelry box. We bought her this box from Grandma and Grandpa and filled it with shiny colorful play jewelry. She loves to go through it and try it on and put it on her baby doll. The bottom photo shows her new baby, which we still call, "baby"; we should probably give this doll a name- it looks so real. It was the same size as Hudson was when he was born and is really heavy too. When Chloe first got it for Christmas, she picked it up and carried it around, and soon started crying, saying, "heavy". It was as if she knew that it was her obligation to care for this baby, but it was just so heavy!

Kari

January 2007- what a blur!

What are these photos?

Chloe- celebrating an 18 month birthday. Hey, any excuse to have cake!

Jackson- wearing a bandaid on the top half of his sore from licking his mouth and face excessively in the midwest dry air while on vacation.

Sam- following in Grandma's footsteps as he styles and trims the playdough barbershop guy's hair.

At one point, I thought January would never end and now it's over and I wonder what we did! Chloe is now 18 months old, started talking in sentences and telling her brothers, "NO!". That was satisfying. Jackson has become better at sharing. And Sam is obsessed with getting sick. This comes after being on vacation, I kept saying to him, "you can have one cookie; if you have too many, you'll get sick." Then a day later, we all got the stomach flu and he did get sick. So now he always asks if he has another cookie, cracker, whatever, if he's going to get sick! The boys started swimming lessons for the first time. Within a few lessons, Sam said that he blew bubbles in the water and then the next time, he put his ears under the water. This coming from a boy who screams when one drip of water falls over his face during hair washing- well, that's just great. Chloe just had her 18 month doctor visit. She's 80 percentage for her weight and height and her head circumference is off the charts- in the big end of thing. And just to rub it in, Jackson has been saying a lot lately, "Chloe has a big head!" I don't know why he would notice that. He has a big head too, which I always remind him. Sam has a big head, Jeff has a big head and I have a big head. So of course Chloe has a big head.Kari

Sam loves Kix

Every morning for breakfast Sam eats a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (which he calls Bee Cereal, since there's a bee on the box), followed by a bowl of Kix, followed by a bowl of Life Cereal. These lovely photos are during a desperate snack attack at Grandma & Grandpa Kaufman's house. You'd think he hadn't eaten for days!

Kari

More Christmas Photos

Jackson- in blue, Sam- in black skeleton shirt, celebrating my 35th birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Kaufman's house.

Chloe playing with Elizabeth's and Anna's cat. She couldn't get enough of the "kit-cat".

Jackson and Sam with their brand new Cars Movie cars. They're watching their new DVD in this photo.

Chloe in the pool at the YMCA. She was the only one who sat still long enough the get a good photo.

Christmas Family Photos

What a great idea it was to take family photos. It's interesting to note how different each of the photo shoots went, for each family. The goofiest photo shoot was for the all-adult picture of the Kaufman family. Sue, Jeff and Lynn couldn't resist making rabbit ears over Jack and Myrna's heads and then couldn't contain their laughter afterwards. The Hessner photo shoot was all professional, everyone put on their smiles and sat still. The Conley and Kaufman (Kari & Jeff) photo shoots were a little more wild; not all participants put on their smiles or even sat still or even faced the camera!

Kari

Christmas with the Cousins

A day at the museum- eating lunch and posing at a display

Caley & Chloe / Elizabeth, Jackson, Sam, Chloe & Anna

Molly, Caley, Sam, Ellie, Anna, Jackson, Kate, Elizabeth, Chloe

Christmas 2006. The year of the "cousin"; this was the first year that the boys called their cousins, "cousins". Now cousin is a cool thing. These photos are the boys and Chloe enjoying their cousins- Elizabeth, Caley, Anna, Kate, Ellie and Molly. The girls wanted to babysit the boys and Chloe. Sam and Jackson wanted to be with the girls every waking moment. The day we arrived, we pulled up in our rented minivan and the boys could see Elizabeth and Anna in the window that looks onto the driveway. Sam shimmied in his carseat so hard; he wanted out immediately so he could play with them. They still remembered how the girls would turn on all the ceiling fans for them. One day, Sam waited by the window looking out into the driveway for about an hour, and continued to ask when the girls were going to arrive. Molly and Chloe are only six months apart, and played together or side by side quite well. They got matching baby dolls for Christmas- it's like twin cousins.

Kari

A visit with Great Grandma

We took a day and went to visit Great Grandma. Chloe was extra excited about the dog- that's what she's looking at in this picture. My Grandma is in her late 90's!

Kari

Chloe's haircut

A very serious moment for Chloe; her first real haircut in a salon. A beauty queen must sit still while she is being pampered and sit still she did! She was very excited for this moment as Grandma Marge spritzed and sprayed and snipped away the few strands at the back of Chloe's head that threatened to give Chloe a mullet while the rest of her hair continues to grow in ever so slowly.