Ugh - Again I Fall Behind

I know, I haven't been blogging.  And I promised you photos of Chloe's birthday and whatnot.  But, I can't always blog when I'm thinking and I've been thinking about a lot of things lately.  Here are the top thoughts currently circling around my head in no particular order:

• Should I go back to work and if so, when?
• Should we have another child?
• Where should we live (more specifically, in which part of Rockville should we buy a home)?
• Can we afford a house in Rockville if I don't go back to work?
• How can I end poverty in the world?

You know, some really small things that I think about when the children are napping.  And, of course I've come to no definitive answers on these things.  Because, as you may recall, I suck at planning my life (I'm actually quite good at planning for work, like I can give you a timeline for designing an e-learning course down to the hours... it's an illness).  And all of the above things require some sort of planning because no one is going to knock on my door and say they are looking for a part time trainer / instructional designer (in classroom or e-learning)... right?  So, I think and then I forget to blog.  And the next think you know it's been two weeks since Chloe's birthday.

So here are some photos:

I gave my in-laws (who came up for the occasion) the honor of picking out the "theme."  They picked Minnnie Mouse - look how adorable the balloons look!

And I had to get Chloe a tu-tu.  This one had little bows at the waist and it was all sparkly.  You can't see here, but I also made her a onesie at CafePress that says "Chloe Bear's First Birthday."

I went all out and made her two types of cupcakes: 1) Chocolate cream cheese cupcakes with chocolate ganache, and 2) Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese icing.  The strawberry ones were killer - the chocolate ones just okay (and I think most people agreed with me since the strawberry ones were gone by the end of the day with chocolate leftover).

These were Chloe's cupcakes (and thankfully someone at the party had a lighter because she almost didn't have anything to blow out).  An yes, I did make her little heart strawberries - they were too cute.

And here is Chloe eating her cupcake. Daddy only had to feed her once because after the first taste she was eating the cupcake without any prodding.

And here is the reason I had 2 cupcakes on Chloe's plate.  I was pretty sure Evan wasn't going to let her have all the attention.  He had to be part of the candle blowing out and the cupcake eating.  I think sugar was his main food group that day.

I still haven't decided if this is eagerness on her face or pure confusion. 

All the lovely ladies (my nieces and Chloe).

It got a little obscene with all the gifts but Chloe LOVES all of her presents.  I think she really likes having her own toys and not having to play with all of Evan's.

And here she is playing in one of her birthday presents.  She took to it right away (even though it took Daddy some frustration and cursing to get the thing put together... poor Daddy - Christmases aren't going to be fun for him). 

Overall I think she had a fabulous birthday.  I still can't believe she is 1.

Oh, and have I told you yet, she is walking.  She's spent the last month holding on to everything (including me) to walk.  And then on Friday she let go.  Each day she's done a little more.  And she is super cute doing it.  We'll see how well Evan takes this new milestone.