Chloe, Chloe, Chloe...

My imaginative "princess", "mom", and "vallerina",

whose actions are always justified by whatever "role" she's playing...

My sassy spitfire, who knows all the tricks to getting my blood boiling...

My chatterbox, whose mouth never stops...

My nurturer, who loves to "take care of" her brother,

even when he sometimes doesn't want to be taken care of...

My 3 1/2 going on 16 year old...

My sweet, lovable sunshine girl...

...without whom life just wouldn't be the same.

Here's the latest from the mouth of this darling girl:

"You have to put that on my bed before you get married in a white dress because I'm your mom!" (referring to a pile of freshly folded laundry) - yes, she's still on the "I'm a mom" kick.

"In a second I'm gonna be a mom tomorrow!" - see?

"When I burp at the table, I say 'Excuse me, Mom. I burped at the table!'"

"Do you like crabs on ya? Do you like 'em to pinch your hair?"

After handing Chloe a Kraft single, "Good job for buying these! I'm so happy I have them!"

"So are ya kinda sad I'm not there?" (to Grandma over the phone)

Chloe: “Can I have a string cheese?”
Neil: “No Chloe, you can’t have anything until you finish your cereal!”
Chloe: “But I’m not hungry!”

“If you go near him again you’re gonna get especially a spanking!” (to Neil regarding Ryan)

{I thought this photo was fitting given the last quote}

Valeri: "Chloe do you need to go potty?"
Chloe: "No, I'm just walkin' all over the place!"

“Purple and white are my favorite colors. That’s why I better don’t eat these!”

“I’m sad a little bit that I don’t get ta see ya anymore!” (to Grandma over the phone)

“Mom, why don’t you go away from this house now.”

"Look! It's a box in a jacks!" (referring to Jack in the Box)

Valeri: "Chloe, is it raining?"
Chloe: "No, it's dripping!"

“elegators” (elevators) and “spastacio” (pistachio)

Sunday we had a, well, I'll just say memorable moment. After finishing her lunch, Chloe asked for a piece of leftover cake. As I proceeded to slice a small piece off one end of the cake, Chloe, who up to this point had been cheerful and sweet, suddenly exploded into a rage, and while jumping up and down in tears, screamed that she wanted a piece from the OTHER end of the cake! How dare I offer her the side that was only 80% saturated in sugary frosting! Gosh! Thinking she'd quickly get over it, I slid the piece onto a plate and placed it in front of her. BIG MISTAKE! Her hateful glare said it all, not to mention what she did next. That's right. Without hesitation, she grabbed the cake off her plate and chucked it across the room! I'll admit, she had pretty good aim - hitting the chair across the table, the slide glass door, curtains, and even still managing to get some distance on the floor! I can still see it all in slow motion.

Now she's thrown some pretty impressive tantrums, but I've never seen anything like this! Naturally she spent the next several minutes in time out. And yet even after a lengthy discussion about why she was there and what was going to happen if she ever did anything like that again, she still had the nerve to ask me,
"Can I have more cake?"

Neil and I have recently tried to be better about explaining why certain things aren't okay, rather than just constantly saying, "No, don't do that!" or "That's not okay!" Lately Chloe's been asking, "Does Jesus like it when I...?" I've loved the opportunity to explain small yet useful lessons to her, and only hope at least half of it sticks. These days I feel like quite the broken record, so sometimes it's hard to tell.

Chloe can write her name, can draw a decent stick figure of a person, and loves drawing other various things (spiders, rainbows, flowers, etc). She loves being read to, and is constantly stopping me to ask a question. She's absorbing so much, it scares me!

Can't believe she's 3 1/2! Where, oh where do the days go?