Clothes give-away

It was that time again- to go through all of Chloe's clothes and hand them down to Keiani and Giada. This time was a big give-away. Chloe was very good about purging things she didn't wear or love. She was getting increasingly excited about the girls getting all of her used clothes. The times that shes gotten bags of hand-me-downs, she's really loved it.
She likes her closet with bins and hangers that she can reach easily, and she is in charge of putting her clothes away properly. She said it felt good to clear it all out so now she can see better what she has.

More awards!!

Chloe is really making a name for herself! She continues to get awards for her caring and responsible self!
We've noticed over the past few weeks she has been very thoughtful, and genuinely concerned with people's feelings and wanting to do nice things all the time. She's always been a sweet girl, but she's really stepped it up. She truly melts my heart. Sometimes in our quiet moments she asks me how she will ever answer questions from people if the truth would hurt their feelings.  Its a tough one to explain that sometimes you don't want to tell the whole truth. I think she's starting to understand what it means to spare someone's feelings.
She was away on my birthday this year, so she had made it a point to talk to Abby about when we could celebrate my birthday all together. Then she went upstairs to get my birthday present and came back with a gigantic hug for me she'd been keeping up there. It was so big I'm not even sure how she hid it behind her back. She makes me smile all the way inside.

Math family

We went out to dinner last night to our favorite restaurant. Scotty Browns. They give fun little bendy-waxy sticks to the kids and Chloe always makes something fun for us. This time it was an alien.
At one point while we were waiting for our food, we were all doing math. Chloe asked me to write a bunch of math problems on a paper for her to practice, and Abby and I were working on a trigonometry problem. We talked and bonded over how we all like math and were all good at it. I'm hoping it sticks for Chloe- I believe that mostly people prevent themselves at enjoying math or being any good at it because of early, damaging labels they give themselves or the subject. I told her stories about how I used to ask my mom to write math problems for me at home, too. She got every single problem I gave her correct!

Poop badge!

Chloe got done with camp today and told me she earned the Poop badge!! She is so excited and I am so proud of her!! The poop badge is when you are the absolute best camper of the day! Tomorrow she gets to wear the poop badge all day! It doesn't look like poop, though- it's made with paper and yarn and stickers. She also got a caring reward for helping to clean up when only one other camper remembered to clean up.
She'd talked about the poop badge and making a healthy goal, and then she did it!
I wish I could sneak in to camp and take pictures of her and all her adventures! Yesterday she told me about riding in the front of a canoe and swimming in the lake. She is making friends and asking questions and learning how great it can be to get out there and try new things! More and more she tells me about how things are fun and she enjoys them if she just let's herself get used to it for a minute. I'm proud of her for noticing.

Camp award

Chloe is having so much fun at summer camp. She has stories of new friends, new experiences, camp counselors, and fun times every day.
Today she came home with a CARING award for sharing her bug spray. We are proud to have such a sweet girl.

Family movie with tears

We watched a bit of a tear jerker movie for family movie night.
"A Shine of Rainbows"
Early in the movie we'd wondered aloud what might happen as the story went on. Chloe and I both agreed with Abby's prediction that something sad would happen, and then the boy would find a way to be happy again.
Chloe was sitting next to me. When it started getting real sad I felt her squeeze her cheek into my arm and she started moving her hair in front of her face. I didn't want her to be embarrassed of her feelings, so I said "Wow, this movie makes my heart hurt like the little boys', it makes my tears come out for him." In a tiny little voice I heard Chloe say. "Me too."
Sadly, the little boys' mom was had gotten ill and passed away.
We talked about our feelings and the movie and their feelings as the movie went on.
Near the end, Chloe quietly got up and walked upstairs. My little heart was nearly mush by then seeing her feel so deeply empathetic. It was very touching. We decided to wait for a few minutes until we checked on her. She came back down and silently handed me this note before she finished watching the movie.

Mommy tears are always the hardest to contain. So I didn't even try.

At bedtime, she was so affectionate and emotional an weapy. It was super sweet to see her let her delicate feelings out. We just listened to her and made sure she felt cozy and comforted before saying goodnight.

So happy

The three of us were sitting on the couch when Chloe grabbed both of us for a big huge squeeze. Then she said "I'm so happy that you guys met."

The Cake House

Chloe got to make the annual fourth of July trip to the cake house on Eliza Island with Kris, John- Emily, Theissen, and cousin Jacob. Abby and I had to stay behind and work this year, but the plan is to go as a family later in the summer. She was so excited, the day before she went she was drawing pictures of the water, the beach with grass and the cake house. I love when she draws what shes thinking about. At the island, she found a crab claw treasure she was looking forward to bringing home, but she couldn't find it when it was time to leave. She and Papa John got to read a lot in their Charlottes Web book he got her for her birthday. It really means a lot to me, all the special memories shes making with her Grandpa John- something that never really worked out for Chloe and Grandpa Bill.
She played games with cousin Jacob, and had a good time. Nothing but good reports of her drinking plenty of water and eating good, healthy food. We even heard about a jaunt into Bellingham with a stop at Mallards ice cream! She was one lucky summertime girl when the three of us went to mallards, too when she got home.

Hot summer nights

Chloe really has a hard time being too hot. She always likes to be way cooler than, certainly me, but most everyone.
So when it comes time for bed and her second story bedroom is way too hot- she has her own solution.
An open window, a fan, and a huge ice pack inside a Grandma Kris-made pillow case. She loves it.

Fourth of July!!

We were so excited to see the blue sky's out the window when we woke up! It was bound to be a great day from the start. When I walked into Chloe's room she was sitting on her bed playing with her dolls wearing her favorite dress. It's the long purple one Abby and I got her for out trip to California.
Chloe and I spent the first part of the day hanging out together and catching up on some laundry, gardening and odds and ends around the house. Chloe was such a positive minded sweet helper all day. She helped me fold laundry, and put her clothes away before I asked her to. She helped me pull weeds in the garden and watered for me- that was right before she put on her swimsuit and played in the hose water. While we were picking strawberries, we were sad to find some that had stayed there way too long and had gotten moldy. Chloe said "At least we have these other yummy ones we are finding" She really helped me stay happy while finding one yucky berry after another. We ended up with a decent few handfuls of good ones. We were bummed that Abby had to work, so we decided to make the best of it. We went to the grocery store and picked up what we'd need for our BBQ Dinner. While we were there, we also got some old fashioned sodas for all of us. We agreed that Abby would get first pick.
We were finishing up a fairy house adventure when Abby got home from work.
We had such a wonderful, silly Magical evening together. We all helped put the BBQ together, Chloe shucked the corn, I cut the watermelon and Abby MAGICALLY BBQ'd the chicken and Corn- or as we like to call it "corn-corn".
Meanwhile, Chloe told us all about her powers to smell magic on people and how she is Mother Natures Daughter. (Which makes Abby and I "practically Mother Nature". ) We learned that we all have different types of magic. On us she smelled: Funny magic, Awesome magic, Mom magic, and Smart magic. A good combination, I think. Also, she told Abby that she's "not only the best cooker in the world- but the best cooker in the UNIVERSE!"
We especially got a kick out of how I was pregnant with her even though she was Mother Natures daughter. She started off as a flower, and then she was a bee- then one day when I was just a kid I was walking by and she turned from a bee into a bit of lovely smelling wind. When I smelled the wind, that was when I was going to have her once I was an adult.
She has such a wonderful imagination. I love getting in there and living her stories with her.
We also all practiced our pull-ups on the back pergola. We are a family of super strong women, that's for sure!! At dinner Abby and Chloe took turns taking big bites of watermelon and making funny faces. We were also making up silly songs about our evening together.
After dinner, we went out front to light some of our fireworks. Chloe had the idea to take turns choosing which ones to light off, and offered Abby and I to choose first. She is so thoughtful and inclusive. We all had a good time, and we even got to bed at a decent time. Ready for work and watersides in the morning.

I truly love our little family. I cherish all out time together, and love our silly dynamics. It balances out our super responsible side pretty well. At least I hope so.

We laid down for bed and listened to the sound of all the fireworks going off all across town. I love that sound. It's not quite as beautiful as a downpour and thunderstorm. But close.

Fairy House

Chloe and I walked all around finding supplies for our fairy house- then she decided to give it a try to build on her own. I think she did a great job! She made sure to put plenty of "padding" down so it will be comfortable if they want to take a nap.
I hope to build many more fairy houses with her this summer!
Of course, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of her pretty little face.

Summer Camp and Swimming

Chloe started her summer day camp this week. She is going to the YMCA Adventure Camp. She was nervous to jump in on the first morning, but that apparently that faded quickly. Much quicker than what has been normal for her. I later learned that she was talking a mile a minute to one of the camp leaders on the morning bus ride. After the first day she told me she'd already made a friend! This week she is mostly excited that she got to go swimming at camp today, had swimming lessons tonight AND she gets to go to Birch Bay Waterslides on Thursday! She is so happy to be spending so much time swimming this summer. Her confidence in the water at lessons today have growing exponentially. First, she approached her instructor before class started and was chatting away with him. Then, she was beaming with pride at her successful attempts at splashing hard and fast enough to propel herself through the water. She called it swimming- and while I'm also beaming with pride, I'll reserve my actual claim at her swimming for a little more...technique. She was also successfully back floating for a second or two and just overall going for the gusto at her lesson! She attempted about 15 times to retrieve a toy from the bottom of the pool (one of their challenges) before her instructor called her off. She is going to be so proud when she finally does it. And so will I.
All this ambition and bravery did not come easy for her today, though.
Before her lesson started she was telling me about how she had only gotten a red swimming bracelet at camp... The one that signified the lowest swimming ability and required the most restrictions during swim time. She told me she was a bad swimmer and that was why she'd gotten it. I was trying to help her see that she could "learn" her way to the next level of colored bracelet. The blue one. I explained to her the levels of swim lessons and we read online what she'd have to do to make it to the next level- and potentially be a strong enough swimmer to get the next bracelet. She is at "Youth level 1". During our research, she learned that she would have to -at some point- open her eyes under water. She was immediately not willing to "ever" do that. She again said she was a bad swimmer and was holding onto defeated attitude fairly firmly.
I asked her if she wanted to know what I thought... "Okay". I told her that she wasn't a bad swimmer at all- she was right where she needed to be..."good enough to get better." All she had to do was keep trying hard, push through her little bits of worry, and believe in herself. I told her "I believe in you." She said "I know, Mom."
After moment of thought she said- "You just wait- you are going to see something amazing when it's time for my lesson to start." She'd perked up and had found an excited and brave attitude!!
I'm not sure if it was wanting the blue bracelet, or my pep talk, or maybe both- but it was a winning combination.
I don't think I can truly portray the level of pride I feel when our extraordinarily cautious and worried little Chloe puffs up with ambition and capable attitude. I was beaming at her the entire time.
After we got home she was telling me that she has 3 goals- she wants to pass level 1 at swimming, get the blue bracelet, and get the "poop badge" at camp. (That's the one the kids get when they are the best camper at following the rules). I told her those are very good and healthy goals. We had a talk about what "healthy goals" are, the way she looked at me, I'm sure she thought it had something to do with broccoli- but she caught on pretty quick giving examples of healthy and also some funny un-healthy goals. Like trying to be the worst kid at camp, or like trying to not drink water for a week. "Who would ever want to do that!!??" she laughed.
If things keep going this way at camp and swimming lessons this summer, she's going to be a much more confident and capable little Chloe. I absolutely adore witnessing her moments of growth, and I'm so glad I'm the sort of mom who notices them.