I Love These Little Faces

In talking about Chloe's best friends, I forgot to mention her best brother - Noah!

Here are some pictures of the little faces I love more than any other!

Ready for bed - September 2008

Christmas Oufits - December 2008Noah learning to climb the stairs - February 2009I just can't get enough of their sweet faces - I love them more than I can describe - here are a couple pictures I caught this weekend - Noah's crazy eye smile, Chloe smiling after a snack, Noah with his "mad" face, and Chloe proud of herself for helping vacuum.
I also took a few cute videos this weekend. The first is of Noah. He started saying "Hiiiii" this weekend and I tried to catch it on tape, but he was more interested in walking to me to check out the camera. Still cute though.

Chloe loves to bear her testimony. I go to an exercise group at our chuch building three times a week and it never fails, that when we are leaving, she has to run into the Primary room and bear her testimony. This video was taken at home last night. We had testimony meeting in church and, though she was too shy to get up in front of the whole congregation, she really wanted to share it...


Unfortunately, she got a little shy. Most days she also bears her testimony that she knows that President Monson is the prophet, that she knows Heavenly Father loves her, and that she loves and is grateful for her family. Can you see why I love these little faces?!

Chloe and Friends

One of Chloe's favorite things in the world is to play with her friends - it doesn't matter if they are coming to our house, or if she is going to their's - she LOVES friends. She is a good friend and has developed some close friendships. Chloe said she wanted me to post more pictures of her and she wanted some with friends, so here to remember forever are some of Chloe's first friends.

If you ever ask Chloe who her best friend is, she most always will tell you it's Madeline. Almost daily I hear some reference to her favorite friend, whether it's to ask to play or a pretend phone conversation, Madeline Morales is never far from her mind. "Madeline is my best friend Mom." is one of her favorite phrases and it's one of our favorite things to watch these two play together in a friendship formed pretty much from birth.

Fall 2006 (Look, we can sit up!)

Summer 2007 (Swimming) March 2008 (Playdate)

We've always know who her best friend is but she has also made it clear so far that the race between who she is going to marry someday is between two boys - Cadence is the first. Cadence's family has lived across the street from us. Though Chloe has formed several friendships in our ward and in the neighborhood, we have loved having a friend right outside our door. They are a cute pair. Summer 2007 (Playing house)

March 2008 - Playing super heroes (Cadence's suggestion)

The competition for Chloe's three year old heart is Christian. Christian, being the son of one of my best friends, Kristina, was always destined to be a good friend of Chloe's. Little Mr. Carpenter holds the honor for being Chloe's first friend.

March 2006 (Christian's baby blessing) March 2008 (Family playdate at the park)

Also included in Chloe's favorites are the Sherwood kids (Maddy, Olivia, and Luke - Luke not pictured) who we love to go camping with and who are the purpose of walks around the block in case they are playing outside.

Not to be forgotton are the cousins. While Chloe LOVES to go the grandparent homes, she is always very excited if she know any of her cousins will be there. September 2008 - McBride cousins (a little worn out and wound up after lots of playing outside)Luke, Chloe, Jacob, Abbie, and Aubrey (babies Noah and Caleb not pictured)

January 2009- Hubbard cousins (wearing outfits purchased by Grandpa during his most recent trip to China)

Camden, Riley, Raegan, Chloe, and Noah

We are grateful to have a social little girl who loves making friends with anyone and everyone and we love her little friends she has so far and look forward to these friendships continuing and many more being formed!

Beauty and the Bad Rash

I will let you decide whether Joe falls under the heading "Beauty" or "Bad Rash." Most days I definitely pick beauty, or as he would like me to say, handsome. Hard to believe but, with all four of our birthdays falling in a two month period, we celebrated yet another birthday this week! Joe turned 29 on the 14th and we had a great day! I actually shot a handgun for the first time, a birthday request of Joe's. I didn't enjoy the experience, and made my first, my only time shooting because it scared me so badly, but I think Joe got some entertainment out of it. I was upset I forgot my camera. Anyway, here are a few pics from his year, from hanging out in the snow, to making both funny and happy faces, to looking cute in a uniform, he is our choice for best dad and husband!Now on to the other beauties. Here are some pictures I took this week of Chloe and Noah...

Beautiful Girl......and beautifully handsome boy... ...that is before the rash hit.

How did he go from beautiful to rashilicious? Almost two weeks ago Noah turned one and, to celebrate, a few days later he got to visit the doctor for his year one well child check up. As part of that check up he received some immunization shots. I was told that he might get a fever and have symptoms related to the shots about a week following, but I was in no way prepared for what greeted me Sunday morning. Noah had gotten a bit of a fever and a tiny rash on his nose starting Friday - I assumed it was the shots, or being out in the sun for most of what had been a beautiful week. The rash got a little worse Saturday, but I was still not concerned until Sunday morning when I got him out of bed and he was covered head to toe in bright red rash spots. Most of the damage was to his face, and when I brought him to the doctor I found out he had had a reaction (not allergic) to the measles portion of the immunization. Awesome.

I wish the pictures did it justice, but no picture I took conveyed the horror that was his sweet face. In fact, the doctor told me that, while not contagious, I may not want to take hime out in public much because people might react weirdly. I was very relieved that when Noah woke up this morning the rash has begun to fade. Now I can maybe go to the grocery store without causing people to go screaming from the building or make them fear I am infecting everything inside by having my speckled child there. Rash or not, he is still handsome - I don't care what anyone says!

To finish, here are a few fun Chloe pictures. Last Sunday, Chloe realized we shared similar outfits and made us dress as "twins" for church. I thought it was cute, us in our blue and white stripes. Yesterday, she loved her flower and wanted to take a picture with me and her flower. As for the Joe and Chloe pictures, Joe's brothers and sisters used to make the "bean" face (whatever that means) as children and Joe was trying to get Chloe to do it too. He at least got her to do the hand portion of the look, but she is too beautiful to ever look scary.

Birthday Boy!

How fast does time fly?! I can't believe that one year ago yesterday my second child, and favorite little boy was born. Really it feels closer to yesterday that Noah's birth took place. The year has been so great and it has been fun to watch Noah change from newborn infant to mischevious little boy. Here are some of my favorite pictures from moments in Noah's first year!

Moments after his birth as he was being checked and I was just wanting to hold him again. I couldn't believe all of his dark hair...Chloe's first time holding her baby brother. She was too shy to look at the camera, but so excited to hold her "budtha". He rewarded her with a cute little yawn.


I love these faces! In the first, he seems so concentrated on sleep, I still just want to kiss those cheeks! I am amazed at how much his looks have changed in the year. He was so dark the first couple of monthes and he has become more fair as time has gone on.

I just love the happy little expressions in these pictures. He was always so proud of himself when he first learned to sit and has always been a happy baby with a quick, adorable smile!

Ahh, the first swimming experience! I love this first one of him crying and Chloe's expression, where she is just not quite sure what to do with this screaming thing next to her. Needless to say, at four monthes old, the pool and Noah did not experience love at first try - I am glad that has since changed!

These are two of my favorite pictures from Noah's first year! I love this little expression when he was sitting in his high chair - I just think it is so absolutely adorable that I can not find any other words to describe the cuteness. When Noah was in the six month range, one of his favorite things to do was to scrunch his noise and make little noises through it. Again, so cute - but this pic caught him in the act.

So the year has passed and I have felt so blessed to have this little guy in my life and part of our family! Life would not be the same without him. We were so excited to celebrate Noah's birthday, but he didn't get what all the fuss was about. He enjoyed all of the attention, definitely loved getting new toys, and treats, but had no idea what he did to deserve all of it. Here are some memories from Noah's big day!

Here is Chloe more than happy to help Noah who is unable to grasp the concept of opening presents. I think, in fact I know, that Chloe was more excited about this day than Noah was. Next year he will get it better, this year he is content to let Chloe take charge. I also couldn't resist posting a picture of the cupcakes I made - if I do say so myself, I think they turned out great!

Here are two cute pictures of the birthday boy. He LOVES balls. He was happy to get these and loved walking around with them and throwing them all over the room. The second is of him for the few moments he spent outside - it was a cold day - but he loved it and I love his little face.

Here is Noah's pre cupcake and starting to dig in...

... and here here he is making short work of his first real dessert!

We had a great day and were grateful to have been able to have friends and family share it with us. Noah got visits from grandparents, cousins, and friends and he loved the attention. Here are to many more years and many more birthdays, but there is just nothing like a first one! Happy Birthday Noah! We Love You!

Random Kid Moments

This past little bit has been crazy -a lot of good with some bad mixed in. My kids have been making me laugh though and so finally I am sitting down to record some of the humorous and fun moments that have dotted the last two weeks.

Right before Christmas, Joe decided to take one of the empty boxes we had in storage and make a car for Chloe. That car trumped every other Christmas present she got! We put it away to clean up some clutter when we got ready to sell the house, but pulled it out again last week. Noah has now got the vision as well - if only Chloe would give him a turn! Last night Joe took to the boxes again and made a fun stable for all of Chloe's My Little Pony horses. Little suprise that it was another hit with both!

On Friday, I gave Chloe her first Hostess Cupcake. We were at the grocery store and she saw the box and it had characters from Madagascar 2, which she loves, on the box. She insisted that she had to have this treat and I caved, thinking it would be fun for her to try. She killed me. She broke the cupcake in half, ate the cream out, picked at the frosting on top, played with the remaining cream, ate a couple of actual bites, and called it a day. Humorous experience, won't be repeated often!

My little man knows how to throw a fit, and Noah does too (haha). Lately Noah has figured out how to get emotional, and when he does, he doesn't let back. The other day he climbed onto this little car to get to some of the toys. When he was done he could not figure out how to get back off and freaked out a little bit. Instead of being helpful, I thought it was cute and took a picture. Two days later Chloe and Noah were playing and it was so cute I wanted to take a picture. His attention span had run it's course and he was none to happy that once again, I was picking picture over picking him up. Even with the fits, he is just so cute though!


Chloe turned three a couple of weeks ago and despite our best hopes has been a consistant thumb sucker when she is bored, watching a movie, or tired. Just reminding her to take her thumb out has not been enough and we have decided we finally have to buckle down and help her stop. After going to Google in search of methods, we decided to let her pick out any band-aid and put it on her thumb, so that when it went in her mouth, the feel the of band-aid would remind her to take it out. Treats were also purchased to reward her success. While, not completely kicked yet, I am happy to report that she it doing great with it. I am really am proud of her for not being difficult about it and for being such a big girl!


One of Noah's many favorite activities is to crawl over to the tv and switch from tv to dvd to whatever other input options there are. This drives Chloe crazy when she is watching a movie or PBS in the morning. He thinks he is so hilarious when he does it - and though it can be annoying I love that little expression associated with this little tease he does. I also love his skinny legs when he hangs out in just a onesie!


Chloe the other day told me she had a boyfriend. Good times. I asked if I could meet him and she took me into the living room where she introduced me to Jeff. She followed that statement by saying there was a baby in her tummy. Nice, right? She made me laugh. One that there is a part of her that understands and connects that baby's evolve out of relationships, but also, that she just sounded way too adult. I also worried that this is foreshadowing statements I might hear later in life - let's hope not. I really don't think so either, I just really didn't think that I would have to worry about hearing a statement like that, true or otherwise, so soon. Even in jest, it reminds me that childhood flies by and what a responsibilty I have as a mom to teach my child so that they make the most responsible and wise choices they can.

Back to the funny though. I asked her about babies and she said she is going to have lots of girls and that Jeff is going to come live with us. I asked her how they met and she replied that they met at work and he works at Lowe's. The funny thing is my sister Melissa happens to be dating a guy named Jeff who works at Lowe's. I don't remember telling Chloe more than the guy's name - she really is a sponge - I am amazed at the things she picks up and tells me - one of these days maybe I will devote an entry to that. Anyway, on Sunday, she just looked so cute in her outfit and though you can't see so well, I loved her silver shoes coordinated with the silver in her skirt and for once she loved how cute she was and was actually willing to pose. I think the Jeff's of the world will be lining up someday to be my little girl's boyfriend - let's hope that someday is in like 20 years!


Chloe and I are not the only princesses in the house. Noah last night wanted to be one too. Chloe was playing with all of her stuff and Noah just had to have that tiara on his head! I love it, and the expression kills me too. Also, Chloe has a Disney Princess book where you can flip different sections to change the princess with the outfit and all that fun. The book has become a quick favorite of both of my prince(sses)!

Here are Chloe and Noah this morning playing with Chloe's cash register. Once again, Chloe is taking the lead and Noah is watching. As you can see in the background they are both tornados when it comes to playing with the toys. This cash register is fun though because it has a microphone that you can actually use. Blue light specials beware, Chloe and Noah BOTH use it and love hearing their voices amplified. Chloe has taken to using it to bear her testimony (which is one of the cutest things EVER) and Noah just likes to hear his voice loud. They really are a cute little pair.