Dear Chloe

You will always be my first born. You will always be my first daughter. You will always be....my Chloe. Today, you are five years old. You are no longer my precious preschooler, but have entered a whole new world; Kindergarten.

Chloe, my beautiful child, you love life. There is not a single day that passes where you are not singing, laughing, loving, playing, and especially talking. You are the greatest little ballerina, the most amazing princess, and your imagination is far greater than I could have envisioned. You have inherited your father's love of literature, and live for the moments at night where he tells you the secret stories of Odysseus. You love church and simply adore your teachers. You speak often of God way up in the sky and are always contemplating on how you can one day reach Him. Your heart is so beautiful, so full, and I am proud that you love me. I hope that your father and I can continue to raise you in such a way, where one day you will find the Love of God and understand the meaning of His sacrifice.

Chloe, you are one great big sister. You love your little brother, you play with your little brother, and you take care of your little brother. Spenser follows you around all day and attempts to do everything you do. He loves you. He adores you. He cannot live without you. Thank you Chloe for sharing your life with Spenser.

In a few short months, you will leave my warm nest at home and enter school for the very first time. You will be a kindergartner, you will be a kid, you will be away from me. My heart aches knowing that you will be away from me. However, my heart is joyful knowing that you so desire this next phase in life. Everyday, you wake up hoping that it is time to begin Kindergarten. Every day you ask if you are big enough to attend kindergarten. Every day, I sadly tell you that you are not old enough yet. However, today is the day. Today, you are old enough.

Chloe, my love, I simply cannot imagine my life without you. You have made me a better mother, a better wife, and a better person. You have guided me, you have taught me, and you have shown me how to love.

Here you are on April 29th, 2005

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Age 5

Our Beautiful Baby Girl

For the past, well almost five months, our darling four year old princess Chloe has been telling anyone who would listen that there is a baby girl in mommy's tummy. Every time Chloe would state this, I would have to explain to her that we just did not know yet. However, the wait is finally over. The sweet anticipation to know the gender of this amazing child growing inside of me has been relieved from my mind and heart. We found out on 4/8/10 that we are going to be blessed with, yet another, beautiful baby girl in September. Joul and I, upon hearing AND seeing this wonderful news, were simply put: overwhelmed with emotion, pride, and joy. I think, deep down inside, we both wanted another girl. Partly for Chloe, and partly because there is just something about baby girls that is indescribable. Now, don't get my wrong, I absolutely love my son and would have been just as excited if we were expecting a boy....we are just really happy with our family and the way God has blessed us.

Several of our friends and family may recall that we had a girls name picked out when we were expecting Spenser. However, this past year, while planning this next pregnancy, we began to waiver on the girls name. For months, we have been searching and deciding, and panicking (okay just me...and maybe my mom), however, we have officially decided on a name. Now, I hate surprises, and I definitely hate waiting on telling others such wonderful news. So, I just cannot be one of those moms who waits the entire nine months to spill the name. So, here she is:

Family Easter 2010

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. This morning Joul taught Sunday School to our class and it was, yet again, simply amazing. He has such a gift of teaching and anyone can determine that teaching Biblical principles is something he has been called to do by God. Joul brought a new perspective on the Resurrection story and really caused everyone to examine their own experience with the story and their own personal call from God.

Anyway, we managed to take one good family picture this morning before we headed out the door at 8am for early service. After church, and a wonderful Easter meal, we gave the kids their Easter baskets from the Easter bunny. I think both kids were excited and thankful for the wonderful items found in their individual baskets.

Spring flowers

We took the kids out to a field of yellow flowers by our church yesterday and tried to snap some cute pictures of them. Chloe was more interested in picking the flowers and Spenser had a runny nose. However, I think we managed to capture some cute pictures of our children.

Easter egg hunts 2010

This year, our kids were able to enjoy three separate Easter egg hunts. At first, I was really excited for them, however, by the end of the third hunt, I was hunted out.

They first began at their Nana and Pappy's church, where Pappy is the pastor. This was our church for three years before we moved to Pasadena, so it was really fun being able to visit with everyone and see family and friends.

On Tuesday mornings, I take both kids to the local library for story time. They held a little Easter egg hunt for the kids and Joul was able to take off work to enjoy the time with us. The kids were allowed to pick up as many eggs as they wanted, but were only able to keep their favorite two, as they were planning on holding three more hunts that week.

Getting snacks from daddy

Finger plays at the beginning of story time

Chloe found a really tiny egg and, of course, it was her favorite one

Spenser loved his two eggs!

Our third and final egg hunt was with our church at South Main. This was their spring event filled with farm animals, egg dying, and jump houses. Everyone was encouraged to bring chairs and picnic blankets and enjoy the free hot dog lunch. My parents came to spend the weekend with us and were able to enjoy watching Chloe and Spenser hunt for Easter eggs.

Spenser saying hi to the animals

Chloe was ready for the hunt!

So was Spenser!