The Bounce House

This entire post is dedicated to the new bounce house. Chloe's Nana and Nano sent her a Bounce House for Christmas and she has been a bouncing machine. She likes it so much that even when it started snowing we put it up, we just moved it into the garage. We probably bounce 2 hrs a day on average. She just loves it. Chloe has managed to get both Ryan and Caitlin to play with her in the house and of course Doug and I have spent our fare share of time bouncing. It is rated to 100lbs per person and 300 lbs total so we are careful but, you can definitely run around with her in there and as you can see it can easily manage two bigger guys if they are both sitting and playing with her.

ChristmasParty

We went to a Christmas Party for the PTA and if you look closely at Santa you might recognize him. Chloe obviously still wasn't a fan :). She is a tad scared of Santa but did love that he delivers candy canes. She really did have a ball despite what her face looks like in this picture.
This is a picture of the moment Santa entered the room. He was mobbed by the kids and as you can see Chloe wanted to check him out. Santa did a great job. The kids loved him.
Chloe with her friends; Hayden, Emma and Alex. This is the crew that meets up each week for a play date.

Below is Chloe climbing up a ladder all by herself. The Christmas party was at this place that is a warehouse full of bounce houses, this one in particular the kids have to get through a maze and then climb up a ladder and then they go down a slide. Chloe made it up once and she was hooked. She kept going round and round and round. I was surprised she could climb up the ladder it was a tough one but, she did awesome. The second video is of Chloe and Hayden doing their favorite thing, chasing each other. Ok, Chloe always chases Hayden but they both seem to enjoy it that way :).

Dec09

Chloe received a great hand me down tricycle from some friends so, of course we had to try it out. For the first few days it was at the house we did laps with it inside but, alas it had to make its move to the garage to save the Christmas Tree and/or Chloe from distruction.

Chloe and I met up with some of her friends for a ride on the Polar Express. It was a super cold morning so although the kids were decked out in pajamas they were hidden under all of their winter gear. The train ride was quite fun but unfortunately Chloe wasn't a big fan of Santa so, as he made his way through the car she hid. Maybe we will have better luck at the next party. She does now say: "Santa is Ok" and "He is a good guy." There is hope for the jolly fellow yet.

Chloe getting geared up for our Polar Express outing. I absolutely adore this picture of her. She just looks so dang cute.

For Chloe's actual Birthday her school let me bring in Birthday Cupcakes which Chloe insisted should be blue. Why? I have no idea, not even sure she knows what color blue is. But, I made blue cupcakes anyway. The kids sang her Happy Birthday and Chloe ate the cupcake and the candles on top. I know. What? Yes before we could light the candle she had it in her mouth munching on the wax, it was pretty so maybe it looked tasty.

Below is Chloe playing with the puzzles her Aunt Megan sent her. Boy, were these ever a hit, she plays with them every night after dinner right now and most mornings. She knows all the shapes and likes to lay all of the puzzles out and fill them in by shape. So they all get circles, then ovals, then rectangles and so on. She also likes to take the shapes and just turn them into interesting shapes by putting them together. It is great fun.

2nd Birthday

Oh so once again I have posted the pics out of order, sorry. Here Doug is showing Chloe the benefits of leftover Birthday Cake. He put the box on the floor and the two of them had a great time eating all that remained of the cake. It was quite cute.

Chloe's friend Emma came to her party and since Nana and Nano had brought their piano to give to Chloe, Em and Chloe had a place to show off their musical talents. Kids just love to bang away on pianos. We are all learning how to play a few tunes it is fun. Trivia: Did you know Doug can actually read piano music and play tunes? No. Neither did I.

I thought Chloe's Birthday Cake was absolutely beautiful. One of Dylan's friends made it for her. Yes, a 17yr old did all of that work. I was really impressed and everyone said it tasted good too.

Here we are listening to Miss Allison read us a good book.

I love this picture because Chloe just lit up when she saw the baby and the stroller she got from her friend Hayden and his mom Miss Meghann.

Below is a video of Chloe dancing getting ready for her party. Nothing like a little dance to get you going.

November

So I figured before the Christmas festivities got underway and I had even more pictures to post I better get the ones up from Chloe's Birthday and then I realized I hadn't posted since Halloween. Sorry. So I will play a little catch up here. Chloe is doing great. She has her 2 yr Check up tomorrow. She can now count to 11 with no mistakes, she is pretty great with numbers, colors are a different story :). She really can pretty much verbalize anything and everything which is pretty great. She is just so much fun. The top picture is from a few days after Thanksgiving when Nana and Nano were visiting. She has just opened up her presents from them and is playing with a ball.

This picture is from Thanksgiving. Meg and Art were able to make it here to see us. Ryan and Janet came up and Doug by some miracle got a day off in the middle of his stretch and was able to come home for 24hrs. It was perfect. We had a great dinner and afterwards Chloe played and played and played with Ryan and Janet. They were just awesome with her, it was so wonderful to see.

Chloe and I went to her first performance. We went to see a performance at Casa Mana in Ft Worth. It is kid friendly and we went with a group of other kids her age. Here she is all dressed up and waiting to go into the theatre. She did great during the performance but I think she would have enjoyed it more had there been more singing and dancing and less dialogue.

Chloe and I went on a Nature Scavenger Hunt with one of her play groups. Along the way the awesome trail guide and prepositioned artifacts for the kids to find and then she allowed them to pick them up and really explore them. It was awesome. However have to say that maybe a 1 mile loop was a bit much for the little ones especially in the crazy cold wind they have in these parts. Chloe held up like a champ and really seemed to enjoy the experience we would definitely do it again. But I would pack a lunch for her :)

Halloween/HalloweenParty

Ahh so this year I thought it would be a "great" idea to have all of Chloe's friends over for a costume party before Halloween. And actually it turned out to be quite fun. Nana came for the Party and Doug was in town so our child to adult ratio was awesome :). I made Chloe a Flower Princess or Fairy costume and we did get her to wear half of it in the end. Boy was she ever scared of that tutu so it was no small feat to get her in the thing. She wouldn't put on the top or the wings in the end but, hey 50% isn't bad. I just love this picture of her, after we had her all dressed she was dancing around with her marocas (see video at end of post).

We had a craft station at the party where the kids could glue felt cutouts onto pumkins to make jack-o-laterns. You should see how much toddlers love glue :). We were chasing one littlle girl around the living room as she gathered up every bottle she could find and was squeezing with all of her might. Not to worry there were no casualties and we did eventually corner her.

Watch out LadyBug and Princess there is a Monster coming after you!

Just a group shot of most of the kids who were at the pary. Well actually I think three are missing from this shot.

Chloe and myself after I got her into her costume. Yes she got to have her first sucker. You would be suprised how much more willing she was to get in her costume once she was sucking away on sugar. I know not my best mommy moment but, hey a girl has to do what a girl has to do. Lesson learned is probably not to put so much effort into her next costume so I don't care if she wears it or not, ha/ha.


Below is Chloe getting her groove on before the party. Nana is dancing with her and I am the obnoxious one in the background talking, sorry, didn't realize how loud I was until I played back the movie but, Chloe was so dang cute I had to post anyway. In the words of Kiwi "It is what it is"

Halloween 09

Chloe all dressed up for her Schools Fall Festival. My Mom and I got to volunteer at the event and it was great fun to have the opportunity to interact with Chloe and all of her peers.

Here Chloe is at the Fall Festival. Once she realized her Mommy and Nana were at the Party she had a tough time moving away from out stations to do other activities.

Chloe and I met up with some friends at the Pumpkin Patch again this year. The highlight for Chloe was by far and away the bouncy house. That girl can jump and jump and jump, she doesn't care if other kids are landing on her head, knocking her down, what not she just gets back up and jumps. Who knew one kid could enjoy something so much. This picture is of Chloe with her playgroup. She adores all of the kids in her group and usually asks for each of them at least once a day so it is always a treat when we can meet up.

This is Chloe getting her Bounce On.

And of course I couldn't post about a Pumpkin Patch and not include a pumpkin picture. We were trying to round up all of the kids to sit on pumpkins for the picture but well you can imagine that didn't go as planned so :).

Mystic

Chloe all dressed up for the wedding. Sorry no photos yet of the whole family dressed up, of course I didn't get any of those but, bet we will get one from someone else and I will post when we do. She has on a coat, it was rainy and a bit chilly. She was such a trooper. She didn't get the greatest sleep because the hotel was loud and she stayed up late the two nights in a row and yet she still had a great time. She is such a happy kid. We had a great time.

In this picture you can see a Beluga Whale in the aquarium behind Chloe. She is pointing at the rain hitting the surface of the tank. We had a great time at the Mystic Aquarium and I totally recommend it for anyone heading that way.

Chloe and I are checking out some waterbugs and a frog which, Doug tried to catch for us. We had a great hike on a trail in the woods in Mystic. Chloe loved playing on the rocks, picking up the acorns and leaves. It was a great fun.

Here is Chloe running on the trail in the woods. Love the look on her face and her green sneakers.

Couldn't go to Mystic without checking out the Mystic Pizza joint. And finally the video is of the hike in the woods and I apologize for it being sideways but, I just loved the video and well don't know how to rotate a video so there you go, hope know one gets a crook in their neck watching it.

Boston - Oct09

Doug, Chloe and I headed to Boston for the wedding of Todd and Kelly Bracher (in Stonington,CT). We had a wonderful time. On the first day we got into Boston early enough to get Chloe her afternoon nap and then head on down to the Charles to check out some rowing. I just adore that area. Here you can see Chloe found something to climb in Cambridge, sure it was a light pole but what can you do? The kid loves to play.

Here you see Chloe and I in a courtyard at Harvard. There were all of these awesome chairs of various colors so, Chloe just kept moving from chair to chair to see if the color made a difference in the feel of the chair. She settled on this pink chair which, coincidentally matched her jacket.

If in the future she decides she wants to go to Harvard, do you think we can count this as her tour of the campus?

Love the arch over their heads. Doug made us walk all the way around the campus looking for this arch in particular, apparently he had taken Caitlin through it at some point in the past and really wanted Chloe to go through it as well.

I am absolutely positive Chloe is beaming in this picture due to the boats and the boathouse. Come on who wouldn't love this view. She had a great time running up and down the trail along the Charles and only got run over by a handful of crew teams :). There were a lot of teams running that day. Below is a video I shot of all of us playing on the trail. She is becoming quite the runner.

Sept09

Just adding some photos and movies from the month so far. Chloe continues to pick up a handful of new words everyday, it is amazing. She will always count to 2 but, so far not having any luck with getting her to continue on to 3, I think she might just like that 2 is the only even prime number and she recoginizes its true beauty :). She can say and recognize the colors: black, blue and yellow. And she can say and recognize a circle. She still loves a good boogie and especially likes the Laurie Berkner Band right now. In the mornings lately she has been putting on necklaces and sunglasses. Apparently she likes accessories. Not to worry I have captured some of her "get ups" on camera.

Here Chloe is trying to do some tummy work with her Daddy. She will also try and do pushups if Doug or I are doing them, it is so dang cute. P.S. Don't tell Doug I posted a half naked picture of him.

Here Chloe is doing her usual lap around the downstairs, I had to be quick to get in front of her and get the picture. She can really move if she wants to.

Below: Is a movie of Chloe on a normal morning. She decided to take care of her baby doll. I thought it was cute that she put on her beads and then got out all of the gear to make baby a bed and feed her from a bottle.

Second Movie: I put this short clip in so everyone could see Chloe's new train set. She loved playing with trains and cars at her Aunties house and she is drawn to them at stores so, I got her a small set to see how she liked it. So far her favorite thing to do is to drive the tractor on the tracks. I think this is some sort of influence from her Uncle Joey.

Third Movie: Is a short clip of Chloe one morning after we had been coloring. She loves coloring and putting stickers on paper. But, on this morning she found she needed a shoe, her necklaces and sunglasses to really get in the mood. I thought her outfit was so funny I tried to sneak away to get the camera but, as you can see she followed me. These moments with her are priceless. She really is a sweet, happy girl.

Aug 09

Chloe seems to change so much and so fast these days. She has really shot up in heigth. And she now runs around and has a ton of words. I am constantly suprised by all of the words she knows. She absolutely adores water. Lately we have been painting and playing with playdoh, she is a huge fan of anything that makes a mess (wait I think that defines all kids, ha/ha). And of course she is still a huge fan of the outdoors.

The First Picture: Chloe is visiting with my Cousin Stacie and her baby Max. Chloe was fascinated by Max. She enjoyed helping him with his pacifier, not sure how much help she was.
I think she was trying to stick his pacifier in, in this picture.

Below: Is a movie of Chloe dancing with her Dad. We spend a ton of time dancing around here. I keep trying to get some of it on video but, it is tough because she stops dancing most of the time if I tape it. She has some great moves.

VT Aug 09

Chloe and I ventured to VT this summer and had a great time. Chloe adored her time with her Cousins. She also helped train their new dog, Oscar, she is great at saying "sit" and "down." Doesn't matter to her if he is already lying down the command still seems appropriate, :). She loved their backyard pool. She was so tired that she increased her sleep by about 2 hrs each day. Here you see her playing on a lake beach with Joe and Bridget. She absolutey loved the beach. So maybe the move to Miami will be great for us :). I love the picture of Joe and Chloe sitting at the waters edge. We all worked as a team to make a huge pool and the picture is of the both of them sitting in their pool. It was great.

Here Chloe is getting a lift from her Auntie. She was a huge fan of their pool and of her Auntie.

AlbuquerqueJuly09

Ok so we all know I am not the greatest at remembering to take pictures. So until family sends pictures of the trip all I have are pictures of us playing at Joey's house on his construction equipment. The kids thought this was a blast. Chloe as it turns out loves, adores, really likes riding in a Bobcat (skidstear?). It was awesome. Not only did they get to dig holes in Uncle Joey's backyard (sorry Aunt Nga) but they also got to tear up his front yard. Joe now refers to Uncle Joey as Uncle Dirt Clod, how cute is that. He said he would never see dirt clods that big again.

The kids climbing around on the equipment before Uncle Joey was ready to tear the place up.

Bridget and Chloe checking out the joy stick (controller, heck not sure what you call the thing, one side drives the thing and the other joy stick makes the bucket move, I know this because Joey once made me break up a slab with the bobcat and then drive it down the street to get gas, oh the memories).

Below is the video of Joey giving Chloe a ride. You can hear Joe telling Joey not to do tricks with Chloe in the Bobcat, he wasn't so fond of that and was looking out for his little cousin.

The last video is of all the kids loading into the Digger with Joey. They dug a huge hole in his backyard with it and you would have thought it was Christmas they were so excited. It was truly a kids dream come true. Needless to say, Uncle Joey is a fan favorite in the Tosta family.