Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

April 21st was Chloe's First Birthday! But on Saturday April 18th, we had her Birthday Party!!

Then on her actual birthday we had her pictures taken at Sears and we sang "Happy Birthday" again.

Chloe is becoming a little toddler these days! She is "cruising" all over the place and has even taken a couple little tentative steps, but no walking yet.

She has also been "boob-free" for over three weeks, and you know Mom is happy about that! She drinks on average around 10 ounces of whole milk from a sippy cup each day!


And finally, she has graduated to a Big Girl car seat! Chloe couldn't be happier! She loves sitting forward and seeing out the window when we ride in the car!


And that's it! We had a week long Birthday Celebration! And now I'm off to make another birthday cake for our neighbor Lexie! Have a fabulous weekend!

Getting Caught up...

It has been a while since I blogged...so I need to get caught up, I suppose. Bear with me because this one might be a long one. We've had so much going on in the last few weeks!

First off: EASTER!

We colored Easter eggs:

We made our Jesus Cookies:


We hunted for eggs on Easter Morning:



We tasted our Jesus Cookies:


We got dressed:
I wasn't able to get a picture of Lane and Chloe together in their pretty duds, because Chloe was pretty much a grump the entire day so she got dressed and then went down for a nap. Lane got dressed up and then decided he wanted to go outside, so he changed clothes. Anyway, here are the only two pics I got of the kids in their dress ups:

(She wasn't excited about the shoes!)

We spent a quiet day at home and ate dinner that evening with our neighbors, the Tashmas. We feasted on Ham with a Tangerine Glaze, Scalloped Potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Green Salad and Crusty Bread. We finished our dinner with Lemon Pound Cake and Fresh Spring Berries. It was delicious and VERY filling!


Next on the agenda: Mom (Gigi) and G'ma Rosie come to visit!

On April 15th (which also happens to be our Anniversary, we've been married for 12 years!) my Mom and Grandma Rosie came to visit for a week!

At the Airport, waiting for G&G to arrive:


They are finally here:


Visiting Paul's Work:



Oh yeah, we had a Birthday Party for Chloe!!! (See Separate Post)

Paul and I had an evening out at a local pub for a friend's Surprise Birthday Party:


We drove to Buean Park, CA to Knott's Berry Farm for some lunch at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant and some shopping at the General Store:


We visited the Oceanside Pier, had a picnic on the beach and stopped by a local Bead Shop:



Mom cut my hair:


And on our last day together, we visited the Seals in La Jolla:

(This little baby seal was born the day before)

We were very busy, but we had a lot of fun and we are sad that G&G had to go back home. We did however, need a couple of day to recoup after they were gone!

More Cake Deocrating!

Well this time, I took a class. It was offered by a fellow military spouse FREE of charge! She mostly uses fondant, which I have never used, so this class was very interesting and FUN! I may have to incorporate this in some of my cakes in the future. I hope you enjoy these pics!




I can't bring myself to cut it!!!!

Chloe's Tummy

6: 30 Friday night, Chloe found some little button batteries on the living room floor and she swallowed not one, but TWO of them! Now, I know you're asking how she got them... Well, earlier in the day Lane was playing with a helicopter toy and he admittedly took the batteries out and left them on the floor. So when Chloe came across them, she naturally put them in her mouth and proceeded to eat them! Thank God that I saw her chewing on the 3rd one, or we might have never known she had them.



I rushed her to the ER where they sent us for an X-ray. Sure enough there they were in her little tummy. So at 11:15 pm we are driving to San Diego to Balboa Medical Center because that is where they have pediatric surgeons!

1:30 am we are getting another X-ray and the batteries are still in Chloe's stomach. 2:00 am we are all 4 finally getting to sleep in the tiny little hospital curtain! We were sharing a room with two other babies and so Lane and I slept on the tiny pull out chair and Paul slept on the Cold, Hard floor! We spend the next few hours waiting to talk to doctors and waiting to see if Chloe's batteries are going to pass and trying to nap as much as we can.

Around 11 am we go for another series of X-rays and find that the batteries are still in the stomach and the docotrs decide to take them out! We were told not to feed her anything until after the procedure.

By 4:00 pm, Chloe is fitted with a little tiny baby IV and we are headed to the OR to retrieve these pesky batteries. And 30 minutes later they are out and Chloe is AWAKE! The procedure was pretty straight forward: They put a tube down her throat with a little camera and a little net. They scooped each battery up and brought it out. One if not both batteries were leaking and had left little "scratches" on the lining of her stomach, so she will take Prevacid for the next two weeks to help those erosions heal. She was able to eat immediately after she woke up, in fact, I nursed her as she was waking up.

Around 8 pm we find out that they are discharging us so we pack up and wait for the papers and Chloe's Rx.

By 9 pm we are on the road home...And by 9:30 we are home and Chloe is getting into bed! Whew! Such a long day at the hospital, but we are glad that nothing too serious came from it. We are also very thankful for two healthy kids!!

Below are pics of Chloe's little stomach. I don't have any other pics of her ER or Hospital visit...I wasn't thinking about grabbing my camera at the time, however, I wish I had it with me! (You can enlarge these pics by clicking them.)

Paul's Promotion!

Finally, on Friday, March 20, Paul was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant. Affectionately called "Gunny" now, this is a milestone in his career that is well deserved and very much earned! We are so proud of you, Paul... er...Gunny Jensen!

Cake, Cake and More Cake!

Confession: I decorate cakes!

It all started when I was a kid and my Mom made all the cakes for us kids' birthdays. Next, as an adult when Paul and I lived in Utah I worked at Kencraft Candy, Inc and I decorated Lollipals. Then after Lane came along I made his first little cake and now I make one for him on each birthday. I have also made a cake for my neighbor's son for his last two birthdays and Chloe is next! I even had another neighbor ask me to make her cake for her birthday. I am by no means, a professional, but everyone seems to love the cakes and I get LOTS of compliments. I've been thinking about taking a cake decorating class for a while, so maybe I just need to do that. For now, I just wanted to share some pics of the cakes I have made.

**Lane's 1st Cake(s)...a little rough!



**Eli's Madagascar cake...Mom Frosted it, I decorated it.


**Cameron and William's Caterpillar Cakes...this idea came from their mom, Liz, who baked the cakes and frosted them. I just decorated them.



**Lane's 2nd Cake...this one was ALL my idea! (I made this one standing on one foot...literally. 7 days before Lane's party, I broke my foot!)


**Lane's 3rd Cake-Nemo...Lane wanted Nemo, so I did a little digging online and found a coloring page that I printed and traced to come up with this one. (I did this one while 3 months pregnant and nauseous!)


**Zach's (neighbor) Ratatouille Cake...That's what he wanted! I'm thinking, "A Rat on a Cake, this should be interesting!" This one I also searched online and came up with my own design. I was pretty proud of this one! If you look closely, I forgot to give him a tail. By the time I figured it out, I was too tired to care! (I did this one while 8 months pregnant!)


**Lane's 4th Cake-Bob the Builder...Found a bunch of ideas online and used a couple of them. This is a pull-apart cake, using cupcakes...very neat idea! The only problem I had was finding the Bob the Builder characters!


**Zach's Indiana Jones Cake...Found this idea online, as well. This was my first "stacked" cake and it turned out well. Next time, I will probably wait til the very last minute to decorate, though. I decorated the night before (the party was at 12:30pm) and by the time we cut into the cake, the layers were kind of sagging. I think the weight just became a little too much. It was great and everyone at the party was impressed!


That's it for now...next is Chloe's 1st Cake. I'm thinking I will make her a flower cake with pink and purple icing. And our neighbor Lexie (11) asked if I'd make her an iCarly cake for her birthday on April 26th. I will post those cakes when they are made!