Little Miss Caroline

The Making of "Frosty"

2012-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

There is so much skill to learn while making a snowman! Caroline hasn't had much practice while living in Texas, so Pop Pop made sure to give the girls a lesson! The snow only lasted several days while we were there so we took full advantage!

Caroline placed his hat on top of his head and was just sure that her Frosty would dance around too!

We also go to do some other fun winter activities! We went sledding and ice skating and then Grami had hot chocolate with home made marshallows waiting for us when we were finished!

Grandma's House...

2012-02-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

A Place Where Cousins go to Become

BEST FRIENDS!!

Minute to Win It...

2012-01-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Take 2!! Several years ago on our famiy vacation, Josh and I planned a Minute to Win It game night. It was so much fun and everyone had a great time. After I found this pin on Pinterest, we knew we had to recreate this with a Christmas twist! This is a great way to get everyone involved and really just makes you look silly! There were 11 of us {not including Emma and Caroline} so we only needed several games to last several hours.

1. Balance the Christmas Tree
We started with balancing Christmas ornaments on a yard stick, resting on a paper towel tube. Some made it look easy, but it was harder than you might think.

It was a good thing that Paul and Andy went last, because they broke most of the ornaments!

2. Face the Gingerbread Man
For this game all you need are gingerbread man cookies. You place it on your forehead and, without using your hands, have to get the cookie into your mouth in 60 seconds.

3. Reindeer Nose Dive

The only picture I have of this one is from my phone, but it was pretty funny! One person from each team dips their nose in vaseline. One end of the ribbon has a red puff ball glued to the end, while the other side is placed in the team member's mouth. They had 60 seconds to get the ball to stick to their nose. Let's just say those with bigger noses might have had an advantage!

4. Catch the Ball

Here one person stood behind a certain mark and had to throw a ball into a cup placed on the other person's head. Taylor and Maddy were the ones to beat in pretty much each game! All of the rest of us are just getting old!

Of course Caroline had to test each game out for herself!

5. Pedometer

Of course we could not have played with out this game! The last time proved to be quite entertaining so it was fun to watch everyone again! We put a pedometer on a headband and whoever moved the most within a minute, won!

For the grand finale we let people decide what order they would go in, depending on how they did on each game. Everyone took turns opening a present with ski gloves on. The present was a big box wrapped in wrapping paper with lots of smaller wrapped boxes inside. It was hard to open, but the person who opened the last and smallest box got to keep whatever was inside. We ended with a $20... and I got to keep it! :)

I'm sure this won't be the last time we make fools of ourselves!

Daddy & Daughter DATE

2012-01-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

I still have quite a few more posts I need to write about from Christmas and our trip to Colorado, but I decided to jump to real time to share a sweet moment from this week. {It could be a while before I catch up!}

Beauty and the Beast is Caroline's FAVORITE movie! She retells the story about Belle whenever she gets a chance, so when we heard that they were re-releasing it into theaters and in 3-D, we knew this was the perfect opportunity to take Caroline to her first movie!! Josh and Caroline have a little bonding time each night after we put Cooper to bed and before Caroline goes to bed where they watch a little bit of a movie. So movies are kind of their thing! Caroline asked Josh if he would take her and he gladly accepted! She talked about going for weeks and also talked about how she was going to wear her Belle costume and how daddy was going to be the beast! Well, we couldn't quite find a Beast costume, but Josh did get all dressed up. However, when it came time to put on the pretty yellow Belle dress, Caroline had other plans. So we went a different route and decided that this dress looked like Belle's blue dress.

What special moments! They had a great time at the movies and ended up eating quite a few fruit snacks along the way!

{As a side note... Josh is getting LASIK on Friday so he has had to where his glasses all week. He is SO close to be able to seeing with out anything!!}

Santa Claus came to town!

2012-01-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

We had quite the surprise on Christmas morning... Santa Claus came and visited!! He was so concerned that the kids would think he forgot about them and wanted to make sure to tell them he had filled their stockings and left presents for them both in Pennsylvania and in Texas, so he made an extra stop to the house. What a treat!

Thanks Santa!!

It's CHRISTMAS!!

2012-01-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning started early and everyone raced upstairs to see who had come overnight. It was quite the sight with presents from Santa Claus! The girls raced to their piles and had a blast playing with toys.

There were quite a few presents and Caroline was a little overwhelmed. This year she actually "got" Christmas and so it was more fun to watch her face light up. She got marshmallows and candy canes in her stocking and of course had to eat them right away! Nothing like sugar at 7 in the morning!

Cooper managed to find one of those candy canes and was quite content for the rest of the morning. He just sat and watched as the mess unfolded!

Even with so much going on, the girls still found time to love on Snuffy!

She got her drumsticks! Anything Caroline finds at home she turns into drum sticks and starts banging. So it was only fitting that Uncle Andy got her instruments... that make LOTS of noise!

Cooper wanting Ellie to stay and play with him.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

2012-01-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

Once home from church, we changed into our pajamas and had to get ready for Santa Claus to come!

Caroline and Emma sprinkled the Reindeer food out front and made sure everything was put in the right place.

We got cookies ready for Santa and was sure to put them in two places of the house to make sure he didn't miss them!

The girls looked and listened in awe as Uncle Paul poured the milk and explained to the girls just what Santa likes.

So proud!

GREAT Grandparents

2012-01-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

These kiddos are so lucky! They have quite a few Great Grandparents and we were lucky enough to visit GREAT Grandpa and Grandma Green on Christmas Eve. After church we headed over to their new apartment and got to spend a little time before the busy-ness of Christmas began. It was such a nice time. Now getting all four children {as well as grown ups} looking is quite the challenge! We had many takes!

The Guys!

This next picture is my favorite and pretty much sums up the evening. This was the last picture taken and the kids were done! After a long church service and no dinner, what could we really expect? :)

Christmas Begins

2012-01-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas festivities started off by celebrating with Grandmother and PaPaw. Unfortunately Grandmother was in the hospital, but we did not let that stop us! We took the party to her! Nanny and LC were there too and we all enjoyed watching everyone open presents. We were so thankful that Grandmother felt well and could have us all in her room.

The first gift was Reindeer Food. Grandmother had found very special hay especially for Santa's reindeer. It consisted of hay, red sparkly tinsel and marshmallows. What a delicious combination!! Caroline could not wait to sprinkle this outside on Christmas Eve!

Super Coop got his fair share of fun toys!! Lots of balls and cars and trains. Just what every boy could ask for!

Such Happy Kids!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to All!

From our Family to Yours!

Ho Ho Ho!

2011-12-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it?!! Santa took time out of his busy schedule to make a 2nd visit for these little guys! He came to Daddy's office and they were able to have some time with this guy to themselves! Again, they both loved the opportunity to visit and Caroline could hardly wait her turn. But when it was time, she walked right up to Santa and had a lot to say!

A star is born!

2011-12-17T12:01:00.001-08:00

Caroline had her first Christmas performance at her school. The two and three year olds sang two songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Ring the Bells. They did SO well! It is amazing how those teachers can get that many two year olds to listen and participate! Daddy, Cooper and I all came to watch and Caroline did great!

Cooper did great and stayed up through out the entire thing.

SANTA!

2011-12-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Several weekends ago we got to go and sit on Santa's lap! This was the first time for the year and both kids didn't skip a beat!! Last year was pretty hard for Caroline so we were a little worried. I think it helped that we didn't have to wait in any lines and no other kids were crying. The hard part was getting all three to look at the camera at the same time! Santa wasn't quite ready in the one below!

Happy Thanksgiving... Gobble Gobble!

2011-12-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Newton, TX this year with Josh's extended family. This was Caroline's second trip to see everyone and she definitely had a lot of fun!! She loved having older cousins around and they did so well entertaining her! We had such a great time visiting and catching up with everyone. I didn't get many pictures of this little girl because she was constantly on the go!

Everyone pitched in and was hard at work for the Feast!

Cousin Brett was so excited to play with Caroline and Cooper that he guarded the stairs while they were taking a nap. He made sure he heard them if they happened to get up. :)

Cooper enjoyed every bit of his very first Thanksgiving dinner!

The annual football game was held outside. The weather was so beautiful and Nanny's yard was the perfect place for it! The big trees and open space was so refreshing to see.

Caroline and Kennedy opted out of the football game!

What great friends! Caroline still talks about everyone and asks where Carsyn, Kayla and Kenn-a-di are! It is the cutest thing!

Aunt Rosemary took the kids for rides on the golf cart. Everything was fine and dandy while they were going slow. However, I didn't crop this picture to explain what really happened! With a full cart, everyone was having fun when Caroline got excited and walked across the front. Well she actually stepped on the gas pedal and everyone watched, in what seemed like slow motion, while the golf cart drove directly into the wagon pictured in the background below. The cart crashed and everyone was startled just a bit. It could have been a lot worse, but everyone was okay. Thank goodness!

Caroline and I made cookies for everyone and as she handed them out, she said to every person "Happy Thanksgiving... Gobble Gobble!" It was the cutest thing and she was quite the sight!

Cousin Collin's Wedding

2011-11-30T14:25:00.001-08:00

Several weekends ago we ventured to Austin and then to Kerrville for Josh's cousin Collin's wedding. We were able to stay with his dad for a night and all went to the wedding together. It was quite the whirlwind of a weekend, but so fun to see everyone and get to introduce them to Cooper. We were a little leery on how they would do at a 2 o'clock wedding after a 2 hour drive and no nap. But both kids did pretty well. Unfortunately Josh had to sit with Cooper outside of the sanctuary for most of the service. He just felt like talking more than watching. :)

Caroline and Cooper found ways to entertain themselves before the wedding started.

Aunt Joanna was a big help and was definitely good with all of her Auntly duties! She had her hands full!

Caroline found a friend! Josh's other cousin, Brian's youngest daughter was 7. She was the flower girl and played so well with Caroline. Caroline just can't get enough of bigger kids!

Aunt Mary met Cooper for the first time! She was a beautiful mother of the groom!

So typical!

Cousins!

Our attempt at a family picture.

All Caroline wanted to do was KISS!

And she got one! However we didn't get a picture with everyone looking... And I'm not really surprised! :)

Of course Caroline's all time favorite reason for visiting Austin... Rocky and Bella of course! I'm sure they were relieved to see us go.

Congratulations Collin and Michelle! We had a wonderful time and wish you the best!

little models

2011-11-18T13:48:00.001-08:00

I just love this time of year! We had a fundraiser for the Mom's Club where a photographer took some pictures in a pumpkin patch and the kids were both pretty cooperative. Amazingly, she even got all 4 of us looking at the camera!!

little blessings!

2011-11-14T12:17:00.001-08:00

Two weekends ago we were able to celebrate Lauren and her little one who is SO close to making his appearance! Lauren is such a dear friend and we are so excited to welcome Miles into this world!! We had a small shower with several of her close friends and were able to enjoy lunch and sprinkle her little man with some special gifts.

Lauren was just glowing!

We can't wait to meet this little guy!

H.A.L.L.O.W.E.E.N

2011-11-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Halloween festivities seemed to last quite a while around here. I guess that happens when the actual day lands on a Monday. I was a little Halloween-ed out, but after talking to my mom and her telling me I was no fun, I decided to step it up a notch! Caroline and I made Halloween gifts for some of her friends, ghost pudding dessert cups and went over and played with Cate and Ava. They even got Caroline to put on her Belle costume!! These three make pretty cute princesses! I guess it was worth buying even though this was the only time she wore the costume!

Later that night, Josh came home from work early and we headed to the church where Caroline goes to school for another Fun Festival. She enjoyed another petting zoo and played some carnival games for candy. We came home and were able to visit several homes in our neighborhood to trick or treat.

Twins!!

We got home, put on skeleton pajamas, turned on our front light and waited for trick or treaters. We got quite a few more this year and Caroline {and Beca!} got so excited every time the doorbell rang. All in all, we had a great time with our kiddos!

Silly kisses from my silly girl!

Fall Festival

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Every year our church, Northwest Bible, hosts a HUGE Fall Fun Festival the Wednesday before Halloween. We took Caroline last year even though she was a little small to partcipate in all of the events. This year she had a blast and ran from one game to the next! She went as Olivia the pig and Cooper was Superman. The ears held up pretty well for the first part of the night and then were later taken off and she was pretty much just a girl in a red dress... with a drawn on pig nose of course!

The petting zoo was a huge hit! There were tons of animals walking around that the kids could pet. Caroline of course had to find and touch every single bunny there was!

The bounce houses were so much fun!! She looked like such a big girl climbing up herself and then sliding down the big slides. She did this one over and over several times.

She loved this one! You can only see the foot, but it was a gigantic T-Rex... her favorite!!

The best part of the night... COTTON CANDY!!

And Daddy even had some too!

"Uh oh! Somebody caught me!!"

It's tough being such a SUPER man!! All cuddled up with his monkey!

my pumpkins!

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

We have been able to visit several pumpkin patches this year and have had so much fun running down the rows and rows of pumpkins. Unfortunately, I have quite a few pictures that look just like the next photo! She sure doesn't like to be slowed down by mom and her camera!!

Lots of fun was had in the wagon!

Cooper and his ladies!

Such good friends!

P is for Pumpkin

2011-11-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we carved pumpkins! Well... really Dad carved 1 pumpkin and all of us "helped". Caroline ate her animal crackers and played with some stuffed animals while Cooper had a first rate view from his highchair and I took pictures. Caroline did not want to touch the inside of the pumpkin, but did try some pumpkin seeds.

Caroline picked out the cat face and Daddy did a geat job cutting it out!

Caroline and I did color one of her small pumpkins that we had gotten at a pumpkin patch. We were very careful using the Sharpie markers.

One proud girl!

there are just no words...

2011-10-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

celebrating 4 wonderful years

2011-10-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

What an amazing journey we have had!! 4 years and 2 kids later... here we are! My absolute best friend and husband is the man of my dreams! I could never have imagied someone more perfect to be alongside me for this adventure!! We celebrated each other by taking some time for ourselves. Grandpa and Grandma came up for the weekend and stayed with Caroline and Cooper while we relaxed with massages, a wonderful dinner at Five Sixty in Reunion Tower and a night's stay at the Crescent! Who could have asked for more? Well we had a wonderful time!! We both caught something and got pretty sick in the middle of the night so we were not able to enjoy sleeping in. We came home and just did not feel well at all. It helped having people here for the weekend and we would not have made it with out them! THANK YOU GRANDPA DOUG AND GRANDMA KARLA!!

Caroline had these two wrapped around her finger!

the von Goertz' visit Texas!

2011-10-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Our COUSINS came to visit! We hadn't seen the von Goertz' {my sister and her family} since May and the time was just too much! They came to visit in September and we had such a wonderful time! We were quite busy with four kids under three and didn't get a ton of pictures that I had hoped for, but we tried! We were able to get a lot of shopping in and the boys spent most of the weekend revolving around football!!

Our first activity of the weekend was a TCU game! This was the first home game that we were able to make it to so we loaded up two cars and headed to Fort Worth. Paul and Josh went to the game while Missy and I took the kids home after hanging out on campus. We had a fun time dressing everyone up in purple and playing out on the front lawn.

For some reason there was a longhorn there which you could take pictures with. Josh almost refused to take one because we are TCU of course... not UT! But Caroline hopped right up and loved sitting on the cow!

My little man all decked out in his purple. Josh bought everyone new outfits at the start of the season and made sure we all had enough purple to support our Frogs!

We even got Uncle Paul to sport his purple!! The boys and their babies... yes they got a lot of looks! :)

Miss Amanda even came out to say hi!

Our drive home is definitely something that needs to be documented, however I'm not sure I can quite do it justice!! We do have video to prove it and I am going to have to get it from my sister. We left Fort Worth - me, my sister and four kids! Emma and Caroline were in the third row, Ellie and Cooper in the middle and my sister and I up front. Yes we did fit 4 carseats in there, but it was tight! It was about 2 o'clock and no kids had taken naps for the day. Ellie was just not loving the car ride and was upset when Cooper started getting fussy as well. Well, we couldn't get them to stop and the noise was just too much for Emma. She started crying because it was too loud for her ears. Caroline lasted a little longer, but then dropped her bunny and also started crying because she was too far back and we couldn't get it! All of this happened as we came to stopped traffic!! There was nothing we could do so we exited the highway and stopped at Target. To make a long story {somewhat} short, we spent time walking around with sweaty, upset kids all dressed alike. We shopped a little, drank juice boxes and nursed kids all while in the store. It was quite a hilarious sight! Once everyone had settled down we made it back to the car, buckled all kids in and took a deep breath. Before we even started the car my phone rang and it was Josh saying they were on their way home?! WHAT? We still had at least 25 minutes left to go. Well at least traffic was flowing when we got back on the highway. :) Needless to say the guys got home and Missy and I left and spent the evening shopping!

These boys were destined to be brothers in law! For some strange reason God made Paul {a native Minnesotan} a HUGE Cowboys fan! He has rooted for them since he was young and it just so happened that we live in Dallas! Josh and Paul made a goal to see the Cowboys play in every stadium in the US. So, they have already checked Denver, Philadelphia and the old Cowboys' stadium off of their list, so they decided this year they would come and visit us AND see a game in the new stadium!! It worked out perfectly! They first took a tour of the stadium on Sunday and took both "big" girls with them. They were in complete awe! We hear that the cheerleaders were their favorite part... however we're not sure who's favorite part!! :)

2 loving cousins!

We were so busy that this was one of the only pictures we got of Cooper and Ellie together. They did enjoy each other and will be so fun when they both start moving!

We spent a great morning at the park with great weather!

Miss Ellie was definitely on the move! She is SO close to walking and such a wiggle worm! We just loved seeing how much she has changed and how big she has gotten!

The one thing Emma wanted to do was go swimming!! She had Grami send her water wings to her from Florida just so she could bring them to Texas. We had such a long stretch of over 100 degree weather and then the week before they arrived, temperatures dropped a little. I would definitely have said that the water was too cold to swim, but nothing was stopping Emma! She probably got in the pool at least 3 different times. Caroline and Emma started out playing on the step in their shorts and somehow ended up drenched!

We had some fun play time!

We love our Aunt MiMi!!

Right before we were about to head to the airport, we tried to get a good picture of Caroline and Emma together. Wow! This was quite a feat. The next pictures show just what was going on... Hopefully next time we are together we will be able to get one! :)

Elle just looked on and wasn't sure what was happening!!

We had a wonderful time and hope they come back soon!! We all live too far away!

Beginning to look like FALL

2011-10-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

Despite the HOT temperatures that we have been having, it really IS fall!! We celebrated by making a scarecrow with Grandmother and Papaw! Caroline loved stuffing the scarecrow and of course we had to bring TCU clothes for him to wear!

After we were finished, we had to take full advantage of all the things Grandmother's house has to offer.

We played with goats...

picked and smelled flowers...

and got to ride on the mule!

"I - Dora... You - Boots"

2011-09-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

Caroline has gotten to be so much fun lately! She has always been a joy to play with, but we have entered an entirely new way of play. She has such the imagination and really gets into role-playing. We take her dress up dolls to the "park" located in our living room where they swing, go down slides and even play in the sand. The other day we drove her car to the beach and played in the waves. Of course someone is always "sick" around here and Doctor Caroline has to make them feel better. Usually after checking the heart with her stethoscope, the temperature and blood pressure, everything can usually be made better with a bandaid. The more the better!! While we were playing yesterday she got out the tops of her play pots and pans and said "I Dora, you Boots" and started clapping the tops like cymbals and marching around the room. Cooper was sleeping so this went on for quite a while. She didn't forget and whatever she asked for she kept calling me "Mommy Boots". "Come on Mommy Boots! What you doing Mommy Boots? Let's go Mommy Boots!" Every once in a while she had to remind me {and mainly herself} "I Dora!". She is quite the funny girl and {although bossy at times} makes us consistantly smile!

1st day of S.C.H.O.O.L!!

2011-09-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

2 years old and ready for preschool!! We decided to enroll Caroline in a Mother's Day out program at a local church near by. She started on Tuesday and will go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-2pm. We were a little nervous about her being gone so long, but she did GREAT!! I'm assuming that she was pretty worn out from the weekend so Tuesday morning I had to wake her up at 8:20am. We were a little rushed and had to hurry to get out of the house on time, but we made it and even had a couple minutes to snap a few pictures.

Josh was really busy, but went in to work SUPER early and came home to go with us.

Walking in like such a BIG girl!!

She walked in like a PRO! She went straight through the door and hardly looked back. This was a little bittersweet for us, but just showed us what an independent girl she is.

When I came back to pick Caroline up, this is how I found her!! There were 3 other kids in the classroom running around and playing while my little girl slept in the corner. She was still asleep and it took me getting down and talking to her to wake her up.

I probably could have put Caroline back down when we got home, but instead we opted for celebrating the first day of school with some ICE CREAM! We headed to Chic-fil-a where she got a treat and a chance to play.

What a BIG day!! Caroline did so great and loved telling me all about school! Her teachers said she was the only one to go down the BIG slide and marched right on up and did it all by herself. We are so proud of the strong and independent girl that she has become. It is hard to let her go a little, but she shines in every situation. I wish time would just freeze and both Caroline and Cooper would stay this age forever!! But every time I look up, I like the stage they are in more than the last. They just get more fun!! I love you sweet Caroline!

Horned Frog Football!

2011-09-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night our Frogs opened up their season with their first game against Baylor. Josh was a little nervous going into this saying that all of the odds were against us. It was a Friday night away game, TCU has a new quarterback and of course we just came off of the big Rose Bowl win. Well, they didn't look so good in the first half, but came back and fought hard in the 2nd!! Our poor Frogs just didn't pull it off and lost by 2 points.

Football watching is a little different these days!! We joined all of our other fellow season ticket holders over at the Macha's and everyone brought their kids. (We missed you miss Norah!) All together we had 6 kids and two pregnant ladies! I couldn't even quite tell you a football game was playing, but we had a GREAT time!! It was so much fun to all get together and there was SO much purple in the house!

Sorry Macha's!! I hope you didn't stay up too long cleaning up!

Despite the loss, we are ready for a GREAT season!! GO TCU!!

Growing up is hard to do!

2011-08-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

and possibly even harder for Mom to do!!

One week from today Caroline will start school!! Okay, well its not really school, but it is definitely pre-school and definitely more structure and time than she has ever known! Caroline will start Mother's Day Out at a church down the street. She will go Tuesdays and Thursdays every week from 9am-2pm. They will do arts and crafts, read stories, play, eat lunch and take naps all while they are there! I was pretty hesitant in signing her up for this, but it seems like just about everyone around here sends their kids somewhere. Spaces are pretty limited and you have to sign up in February. So knowing Cooper was on the way, I figured I better do it and would probably need it! Well, the time is actually here!! Caroline has changed so much since I signed her up and I really think she is going to do SO well! She is talking so much, loves playing with other kids, is such a polite little girl with her "please" and "thank you's" and loves talking about going to school! She received a book for her birthday from a friend called "Llama Llama misses Mama". It's about a little boy who goes to school and the whole time misses his mama. Then he starts having fun! Then Mama COMES BACK!! The little boy realizes he loves his mama... and SCHOOL TOO!! She loves reading this and keeps telling me how when she comes to school, I'm going to come back for her.

I got an email from our church last week saying that promotion Sunday was on the 28th and Caroline would now be moved up to the Green A class from the Romper's class. She had only been in romper's for a little over a month and now it was already time for her to move up to the structured class with story time and crafts and such. I was a little nervous with all of these new things coming up and just feeling like I was losing my "baby". Her birthday is so late and she just turned 2 so she is going to be one of the younger kids in her classes. I guess I can't hold on to her forever and have to start thinking of her as a big girl. Well, we dropped her off and she was a little hesitant at first, but once we went to pick her up, she looked at us, smiled and kept on playing! She was not ready to leave!! Of course this made us a little sad, but also made us SO proud! She sure is a BIG girl! {And she'll tell you that too! :)} She also was able to show us the puppet she made and tell us all about Jonah and the whale. She was so into the story and told us how Jonah said "NO" to God so he was swallowed by a big fish! Then he prayed and started to obey God. I can't tell you how much she enjoyed the class!! This put me at ease a little more and I know that she is so ready for school and more social interaction. I just hope that I'm ready too!!

How hot is TOO Hot?!!

2011-08-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

We are SO ready for these HOT HOT temperatures to end! This summer has been miserable and it really has been a challenge to take Caroline and Cooper in and out of the car. Cooper is so big and stuck in that little infant seat so he just cries to be taken out! It seems like 106 degrees is now the new normal and every day the 10 day forecast shows nothing but 3 digits. We are now onto the 64th day of temperatures over 100 for the summer. It's hard to be outside these days but it has been even harder for my flowers! First we had really bad hail in May and all of the plants were stripped and destroyed. Then they somewhat recovered from that and were hit with the high temperatures, leaving most to die. I've had to pull up quite a few and have pretty much just given up. My poor flowers!!

MID MAY

NOW

Visitors

2011-08-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

While everyone came in for Cooper's dedication, Caroline didn't notice at all that they weren't here for her! She loved all of the attention and definitley had a great time playing with everyone. Grami, Pop Pop, Papa John and GG Jean all drove in and stayed Saturday and Sunday at our house. It was such a short visit, but we managed to get quite a few pictures and enjoy every minute together. This was the first time that my grandparents had come and seen our house and a little of our life here in Texas. It was so fun to be able to show them around!

Caroline and Cooper with their Great Grandparents... Papa John and GG Jean!

We went out to dinner and celebrated everyone being here along with my grandparents 54th wedding anniversary! Their 50th was just a month before Josh and I were married. We have a lot to live up to!

Some large animal has been digging BIG holes under our fence. Here Caroline is instructing Josh and Papa John just how to set up the trap!

These two are quite the pair! Caroline and Cooper before the dedication. If you know Caroline, then you know just how special you are when she shares her bunny and rubs her on your face!! The ultimate sign of flattery! What a special guy you are Coop!

Caroline even seemed to think the actual dedication was about her! She couldn't quite seem to be still while the pastor prayed for all of the children. All she wanted to do was run and be with her cousin Sam!

Although the ONLY two days that have not reached 100 this summer happened while everyone was here, we were still able to swim a little Sunday evening. The water wasn't quite as boiling as it has been and Caroline showed off her skills!

Cooper was quite content in GG's arms!

its the little things in life

2011-08-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you've just got to DANCE!!

We had a great night last night right before bath time! Everyone was so happy and awake. Josh turned on some music and we all just joined in on the fun! First Caroline "helped" me do the laundry. I thought she was being so sweet but then her real motive shined through... she wanted the basket! Everyone got basket rides around the house!

Then it was time to DANCE!

Changes...

2011-08-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was great! We had some time as a family and then celebrated Grandmother's birthday after church on Sunday. Caroline and I made cupcakes and Caroline decorated them by coloring on the fondant with edible markers. She was SO proud of her creations!!

Later that day, we decided it was time to take down the crib in Caroline's room. Since Christmas, we have had both the crib and toddler bed in her room. For a while she took her naps in the crib and slept through the night in the toddler bed, but lately she has not gotten in the crib at all. Well, today was the day!

The crib basically just held all of these guys and now they needed a new home!!

Down goes the crib! I have to say that I got a little teary eyed packing up the bedding and untying the bumpers. We spent so long picking out all of the items for her room and they really were only used for a short time. On to the next phase!

We also packed up Cooper's swing and both bouncy seats and put them up in the attic, while taking down the highchair, exersaucer and jumperoo for our little man. He's getting so big!

Grandmother gave Caroline a cradle that we now have room for her in bedroom and now holds all of her stuffed animals and babies. I'm a little reluctant about getting a big bed because her room is small and I've been waiting to see if we sold our house or not. So for now, the toddler bed stays. It does make the room look SO much bigger and gives Caroline room to play. Everything in there is just so tiny and there is no height to it. Kind of silly, but it will work for now. :)

Summer Fun

2011-08-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Having over 30 straight days of high temperatures above 100 degrees has made playing while staying cool very challenging!! Every time we pass the park, Caroline points it out and wants to go play so badly! However there is just no way we can do that! The lows every morning are in the high 80's and it just goes up from there. So we have tried to find different ways to entertain us. Here are some things we have been up to so far:

No More Paci!!

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

You read that right!! It has now been a week and a half that Caroline has NOT used her pacifier!! If you remember that when we moved her into her toddler bed, she kept losing the pacifier in the middle of the night and waking us up because she was upset. So in an effort to get her to sleep better, I got her this little horse stuffed animal that is connected to a pacifier just like hers. This worked for a while, but not too long ago she actually bit through the tip. {Think this means she's too old to be using one? :) } Anyways, she started putting her finger through the hole of the pacifier to suck. Well now, we're over the pacifier... but onto sucking her finger! Not exactly the trade-off I had hoped for. Now we have a bigger problem! The doctor told us not to pay any attention to it and hope she loses interest, but so far, I do not see that happening any time soon! Back to the drawing board...!

On a side note: On the plane ride home from Colorado, Cooper was really fussy. He hadn't gotten a nap and we had just pushed him too far! It was a pretty hilarious scene with Caroline sitting on my lap watching the iPad, Josh laying Cooper down in the middle seat, iPhone stuck in his ear as a noise machine and Josh's finger in his mouth for something to quiet him down. Because he doesn't ever like the pacifier, we didn't have one for him. We actually coaxed Caroline into letting him borrow hers' and handed it over to Cooper! Who would have guessed this would ever happen?!! Such a sweet girl! And you could so tell we are 2nd time parents. Did we sanitize the pacifier? Did we even clean if off? Nope just took it from her mouth and stuck it in his. Anything to make him be quiet! :)

CeCe: Made with LOVE!!

2011-08-04T12:27:00.000-07:00

Grami took Caroline on a special outing while we were visiting. They went to Build-A-Bear where Caroline picked out and made her very own stuffed animal!

She picked out a gray kitty cat, helped stuff her and picked out a noise box where the kitty says "I LOVE YOU!" every time you squeeze her hand.

She had to give her one big hug to make sure the stuffing was just right!

Once stuffed, it was very important to make sure she was given a bath and her hair was combed perfectly!

Then we picked out her outift and shoes! Caroline decided on a butterfly, fairy outfit with hotpink glittery tennis shoes! And the one thing she cared about most was hot pink ROLLER SKATES! Grami made sure we got all of the items!

Here is Caroline carrying her finished kitty home in her house!

MEET CeCe!!!

(minus the roller skates)

Caroline is always worried about where CeCe is when she goes down for a nap or for nighttime. The first night we were home after our trip, she woke up at 4 am just screaming! I went in there and she was so concerned because CeCe's shoe had fallen off of the bed and she couldn't find it.

And then the other day when I was putting Caroline down for a nap, I accidentally layed on CeCe's arm and she said "I love you". Caroline said "LOVE YOU" in response and I answered back "Oh, CeCe loves you?" She said "no no, GIGI {Grami} loves you!" Melted my heart!

COLORADO

2011-07-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

We were able to travel back to Colorado last weekend and see everyone we had not seen in OVER A YEAR! I can not believe so much time had passed since we were last back there, but I can assure you it won't happen again! We have been really lucky this past year to see my parents quite often, but with a new niece and a new child of our own, it was really difficult to find a time to go home. My 10 year highschool reuinon was this year so we planned a trip back to Colorado during this time. It was a quick trip and pretty much a whirlwind, but we were able to see just about everyone. Caroline kept saying that she wanted to see Emma before we went and couldn't quite understand why she wouldn't be there. It was a little sad to miss Missy and her family, but hopefully we will get to see them soon.

Josh wasn't able to take a lot of time off so we decided to do things a little differently this time. When we made the tickets for us to fly up there, we had just gotten back from Florida. Remember that trip?!! How could I ever forget? Well, I wasn't about to fly with the two kids myself, so I left early Wednesday morning and just took Cooper. Suzanne watched Caroline for part of Wednesday and then Josh and her flew out early Thursday morning. Both kids were great and it was nice to have a little one on one time with my little Coopster!

Grami and Pop Pop's house is the place to be! They have more toys than we do and anything a little kid could ever want. Here Caroline is watching a movie and insisted on Mickey sitting next to her.

Thursday night we had all of the family over to meet Cooper for the first time and see Caroline. It was so wonderful to all be together again and catch up on everyone's lives.

Cooper looked so big sitting up in the swing. He loved this new point of view!

Grami took us on a little fieldtrip down the road to a local dairy. It was so fun to see these baby animals up close!

The bunnies were Caroline's favorite of course!

Cady stopped by before all of the craziness of the reunion festivities started and said hi to Cooper. He loved all of the attention!

"Rosie... Where are You??"

2011-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in these bushes, if you look close enough, you will see a tiny baby rabbit!! We've seen several in our backyard lately, but the other day one ran out of the plants while I was watering them. It was so scared that it crunched down next to the fence and did not move. Caroline saw it and was SO excited! She loves bunnies and was even more thrilled to see a real one. With my back turned, she actually got close enough and was just about to pick it up when I was able to stop her. We named her Rosie and all day she kept asking to go and find her. It is so cute how she calls for her. "ROSIE... Where are you???" And then says to me "Find her!" Well, the next night we were out eating popsicles and out she ran from some plants and into another. I'm so glad we actually saw her again! I know these bunnies are probably tearing up the plants and we probably shouldn't want them, but with this heat, everything is pretty much already dead in our backyard. It was so cute to be able to show these bunnies to Caroline and how she talks about Rosie all the time!

Zoo time!

2011-07-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

We spent the actual 4th of July holiday at the Zoo! Josh and Erick planned this all by themselves and thought it would be a great way to get the kids out of the house and have some good family/friend time! We arrived right when the gates opened and had a great time!

She has definitely gotten taller from last year!

Getting so close and feeding the giraffes is the best part!

The girls cooled off in the water area in their swimsuits! What a great play place!!

Relaxing!

2011-07-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

It was so nice to be able to just relax the day after Caroline's birthday party! After going to church we just hung out as a family and enjoyed the nice weather and each other.

While Josh and I were busy doing our own things, this is how we found Cooper and Caroline. She took it upon herself to give Cooper a check up! :)

Cooper and Caroline gave Josh an ice cream maker for Father's Day. This was the perfect time to get it out and test out some great homemade recipes! We made some french vanilla ice cream and even topped them off with gummi bears. A perfect way to end our day!

Birthday PAR-TAY!!

2011-07-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

This year we decided on a 4th of July themed birthday!! I know this will probably happen more than once in Caroline's life with her birthday being on July 1st, but with Cooper being born and time flying so quickly, I really didn't have a lot of time to plan. We were busy on most of the weekends around this time, so we had her party on the Saturday of the fourth of July weekend! She had a blast and enjoyed spending time with all of her friends and family.

YUM!! CAKE!

Caroline's birthday present from Grami and Pop Pop was a BOUNCE HOUSE!! We set it up Friday night for her to "open" and then put it up again for her party. Eventhough it was REALLY hot outside, the kids had a great time jumping and sliding down the slide. It is so easy to put up and has been up quite a few times since! Thank you guys!!

Always a fun time to be had with cousin Sam! Two silly kids!

Sam insisted on getting Caroline a doctor's kit for her present. She LOVES it and insists on "making people feel better". Grandmother was more than willing to partake in the fun! "Caroline sick!"

Birthday DAY!

2011-07-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Caroline's birthday DAY started off great!! Josh waited to leave for work until she woke up and then we had birthday waffles! We let her blow out a candle and then even let her open a few presents to start things off! Unfortunately Cooper was still sleeping and we didn't dare want to wake him up, so he didn't get to share in the morning festivities. We took a lot of pictures, told our little girl just how much we loved her and of course, danced to Sweet Caroline! She had a great time and just loves it when Daddy stays late in the mornings!

Already acting like a teenager!

The Macha's met us for lunch at McDonald's and all of the girls had a wonderful time playing! The second we walked into the play area, Caroline climbed the stairs of the playplace and I didn't see her for quite a while. A great birthday lunch with great friends!

Even Cooper got some attention for the day!

Later that night, we celebrated even more with cake and more presents!

Every great dad needs to wear bows and earrings!

We really did not need to get Caroline so many presents! She still enjoyed the boxes and wrapping just as much! I cannot believe I did not get a picture, but her favorite present of all was a suitcase!! Who would have guessed? We got her her own little pink princess suitcase and that is the toy she plays with the most!

I made a PINK cake at the request of the birthday girl! Because we were having a 4th of July themed party the next day, pink just did not match. So for her actual birthday I made a strawberry cake with pink icing!

Terrific Two Year Old!

2011-07-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

Time sure has flown!! I cannot believe that a little over two years ago Josh and I were newly married and preparing to start our family!! We had no idea what was ahead of us. Who knew things would have changed so quickly? Two years later and we are the proud parents of a 2 year old daughter who has lit up our world. Caroline is so full of energy and definitely keeps us on our toes. She is a girly girl who wakes up asking for a bow, wears high heels around and jewelry, but also is a little girl who loves to run and scream, can name all kinds of balls {basketballs, baseballs, footballs and soccer balls} and even knows which ones you throw and which you kick thanks to her daddy. She will put on my high heels, but gladly change them in for daddy's work boots any day. Life is definitely not dull and each day brings new joys and challenges.

Caroline has changed so much in just the past couple of months. I look at her and no longer see a baby. She is truly a little girl. One that can tell me what she's thinking, throw a temper trantum and then in turn give a big bear hug out of no where. She has come up with some of the funniest things and repeats them over and over. Some of her favorite sayings are:

Here you go Mom
I Gotcha!!
Watch this!
O-Tay
Hello down there!
Oh geez! Oh Man! Oh goodness!

Huff and puff and BLOW HOUSE DOWN

We had Caroline's 2 year wellness visit and found out just how much this girl has grown!

weight: 25lbs 8 oz. (31st percentile)

height: 35.5 inches (85th percentile)

head: 46.5 cm (22nd percentile)

Josh and I were a little surprised by this. I guess Caroline hangs out with tall kids because we have always thought of her as short! However, we knew she had a little head. It is just 2.5 cm bigger than her little brother's!

Caroline, we love you! We've enjoyed watching you grow into the little lady that you have become!! Happy Birthday!!

South Padre

2011-07-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

We were treated to a wonderful vacation to South Padre Island! Grandpa Doug had a water board conference down there a couple weeks ago and they invited us to go with them. We were not able to go last year, so we did not miss the opportunity this go round! We had a large 5 bedroom house that fit all of us perfectly! Doug had meetings during the day, but the rest of us were able to soak up some sun and quality family time!! Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Jo Jo, along with Adam's family all made the trip. I have to be honest and tell you that Josh and I were both dreading the 10 hour drive. We split it up on the way down there and stopped in Austin, 3 1/2 hours in and then did the rest the next day. We were pleasantly surprised and both kids did GREAT!! We bought an iPad right before and loaded it up with tv shows. Probably not the best parenting, but it did the trick and Caroline hardly complained. She slept about an hour total in the car, but did so well!

This is my view from the backseat while holding an iPad in one hand for Caroline, an iPhone in the other for Cooper and Josh doing work on his blackberry from the front. Really?! What did we do before all of this stuff?? :)

The beach was great and we had lots of sunshine!!

Caroline absolutely LOVED spending time with her cousins. She just loves older kids and could not get enough of Jake, Josh and Sam. I'm sure they were ready to be apart, but she could have stayed forever!

Dentist

2011-07-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Caroline had her first dentist appointment at the end of June! We probably should have taken her sooner because her front tooth has still never come in, but we figured that there was not really much you can do while she's two. We went to Dr. Rozas in Coppell and I would HIGHLY recommend this office!! The waiting area was completely geared toward kids with toys and books and Caroline loved sitting in the small chairs. We saw the new dentist to the practice, Dr. Blanton and she was fabulous! Caroline was a little nervous at first, not sure what to think. They were able to check her teeth as well as put a fluoride treatment on them. They were a little concerned about her front tooth not coming in and said that they had never seen this before. It is really rare, but sometimes kids don't get certain teeth. I started asking a lot of questions and they took several x-rays. Caroline had to sit in the chair by herself while they put the x-ray camera in her mouth. She was not really happy, but they did get 3 pictures. They weren't completely clear, but the dentist seemed to think nothing was blocking her tooth and was pretty convinced that it will come in within the next 6 months. I will say that I do feel something poking through. Has anyone ever heard of a 2 year old getting a tooth so late? :) All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that it comes in. Dr. Blanton did tell me that if child doesn't get a baby tooth, chances are the permanent tooth will not come in either.

Firetrucks!!

2011-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

One really neat thing that we were able to do this summer was take a tour of the Coppell Fire Department. It's a little funny, but when we got the invite for going, I wasn't even sure if Caroline knew what a fire truck was! It seemed like all of the parents of little boys knew their kids were going to be in heaven, but I wasn't really sure we had ever talked about a fire truck. Well, she LOVED it! She loved getting in the truck, driving with the big steering wheel and checking out the ambulance. Of course I wasn't able to get out my big camera with both kids, but I did get some great pictures on my phone.

REALLY?!!!

2011-06-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Really?! Basically that's all I'm able to say about this! And yes, it's a good story, but one that wasn't quite so funny in the moment! Two days ago Caroline locked me out of the house!!! Yes, Caroline... my not quite 2 year old who can't even turn a door handle to open it when closed. Well, we had just gotten home from running errands and it was about 5:30pm. Cooper was hungry and screamed the whole way home and Caroline doesn't ever like being in the car, so we were all just ready to be home. I plopped Cooper in the swing and turned the tv on for Caroline. I walked out to the garage to bring some things in and shut the door behind me so Caroline would not run out. Oh no!... she definitely did not run out... but she did lock the door behind me!! WHAT?!! I jiggled the door handle and tried to coax her into turning the lock again, but she just laughed and played with the handle. Well, that idea surely wasn't going to work. I was outside in 100 degree weather with no shoes, no keys and no cell phone! Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to do! I walked to the neighbor's house and asked to borrow their phone. I called Josh but he had left to work out and wasn't answering his cell phone or work phone. The neighbor's {who I had never met} were very nice and let me take their cell phone to keep trying to call Josh. Josh normally gets home around 6:30 and I figured he would call around 6 to tell me he was on his way home. I could see both kids through the windows in the back and neither one of them seemed phased at all that I wasn't there. Cooper just swang and Caroline played with her bunny and watched tv. I hadn't started cooking any dinner so I didn't have to worry about that either, but I did get pretty nervous when I realized that Josh didn't have a key to the house either!! Our house is up for sale and we do have a realtor lock box on the front door, but that can only be opened by a realtor. DJ could open it... but I didn't have his phone number without my cell phone and they live at least 20 minutes away!! I panicked and called my dad's office phone number which has been the same number since I was little. He helped look up some locksmith numbers and finally got ahold of Josh. Josh called DJ and he started our way. But then he called back and our friend had told him that you can open the door with a credit card. Of course the one time I had taken my purse in the house, I needed my credit card. But I managed to have a gift card in the car. I tried it and IT WORKED!!! 45 minutes later and I was in!! Was my daughter crying? Was she wondering where I was? Of course not... I walked in and she held up her sippy cup and said "More Milk Please". I was missed THAT much!

MORALS OF THE STORY!!

*Don't think this can't happen to you! :) Hide a key outside of your house somewhere and don't underestimate what your child can do!

*Try a credit card to pop open a simple door handle lock. It's a little scary how easy it worked, but it did!

*Caroline sure thinks she's funny!

SO Ornery!

SUMMERTIME

2011-06-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

We have had SO much fun this summer! The second the weather got warm, we have been outside! And Caroline has become quite the little fish! Here she is playing in our water sprinkler and she LOVES running straight through. This girl is not afraid of the water at all!!

We have got one active little girl on our hands!! Caroline has definitely found a love for the pool and wants to be in every second. We have got to watch her every second she is outside and make sure she doesn't just jump in the pool... clothes and all! She loves going under the water, loves dunking her head, and just loves splashing around! Our pool is great because of the huge first step that she can stand on, but now she wants to go farther in the pool. I love that she is not afraid and this is just one more glimpse into her personality. Our active and outgoing child sure is tough! {And sometimes that makes our lives just a little bit tougher...} We love you Caroline!!

To Grandmother's house we go!

2011-06-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love puppies?!! Puppies, dogs, horses, goats and FUN are all what can be found at Grandmother's house! Caroline just loves going to visit Grandmother and play with all of her fun animals. She hardly ever sits down and drags Grandmother around with her, hand in hand. Unfortunately for Caroline {and fortunately for me} the puppies have all been sold. I'm sure there will be more and we can always go and play, but for now we are a 1 dog family! :) Right, Grandmother??

A BIG Girl Now!!

2011-06-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived home from our Florida trip and drove back from Houston around 6:30pm. Caroline's bedtime is usually somewhere around 7:30, so we ate a quick dinner, did bathtime and then got ready for bed. It was so strange, but Caroline insisted on sleeping in her toddler bed. Adam and Julie gave us Sam's old bed in December and ever since we have just kept it in the corner of her room. I wasn't very pushy on transitioning her to it because I didn't want to do anything drastic while we were preparing for Cooper's arrival. Caroline loved playing in the bed and reading books, but never really looked at it as a place to sleep. I just figured that we would have to get her a real bed for her to actually stay in it. One morning in Florida, Caroline woke up really early because Cooper was crying and I put her in my bed. She was so tired that she just went right to sleep. When I woke up, I took Cooper downstairs and she slept for about an hour and a half longer. We heard something calling from the top of the 1st floor stairs. She had woke up, climbed down from a tall king size bed on the third floor and come all the way down to the second staircase. My little girl definitely isn't a baby anymore!! So far she has slept 3 full weeks in her bed and doesn't even get out of it in the mornings. She just calls to me and lets me know she is awake. That was much easier than I expected!! Now if only taking the pacifier away will be that easy... :)

She's getting SO big!!

BEACH BABIES!!

2011-05-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

We were able to take a vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida in the beginning of May. The first renters in our house were coming at the end of May, so we all went for a week to get the house ready for our guests and to also celebrate Uncle Andy's graduation! It was great to see everyone and all of the cousins had so much fun!! We had quite the time at the airport. Trust me, travelling with 2 kids is much different than 1!! Josh was with us for the first leg of the trip, but was only able to stay the weekend. Both kids are still under 2, so they were able to fly for free. We made it up to security with no meltdowns, but then both kids broke down. Cooper started getting fussy and Caroline decided she needed attention too. It was a little hectic with all of our stuff and the kids, but Southwest's employees were really helpful and we made it through. Because both kids sat on our laps, we were not able to sit in the same row so we each had to take one kid. Of course I looked to the row behind me and BOTH Josh and Cooper were sound asleep. If only I had it that easy! :)

Two kids means packing A LOT of stuff!!

A great dad wears fuzzy backpacks!

The kids were such troopers after a whole day of travelling!

We sure had FUN at the beach!! Caroline and Emma played every day in the water with their buckets and shovels. These girls are going to have a lot of fun at their beach house!

My camera fell off a chair and the regular lens broke the first day we were there, so I had to use my zoom lens the whole time or my phone, but I did manage to get some from the trip!

Even Cooper hung out in the sun. Covered in his bed, that is!

Finally... EASTER!

2011-05-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful Easter this year and had a great timecelebrating and teaching our kids about JESUS!! We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had come and left behind some eggs and Easter baskets. Caroline helped Cooper hunt for the eggs and found just about all of them! Of course Daddy was right there to help!

Next we headed to church and were met by Grandmother and Pa Paw. Afterwards we had everyone over to our house and hosted lunch. It was a great time to spend together and Caroline had so much fun playing with her older cousins.

Egg Hunt #2

2011-05-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

Our Mom's group hosted an Easter Egg hunt this year as well. Caroline got in some great practice and LOVED hunting for eggs. She had a great time with her friends and loved enjoying all of the candy hidden in the eggs!!

Cooper enjoyed the whole party with his eyes closed. At least he was joined by another little friend, Ian.

TCU Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

This was the first year that we took part in the TCU Easter Egg Hunt!! Josh has been looking forward to this event pretty much since we had Caroline and we were so excited to take part this year! It is always fun to go back to TCU and show our kids where we went to school. Although Josh and I didn't know each other while we were there, it is so neat to both be excited to go back! The weather could not have been more beautiful and Caroline was in heaven {until she met the Easter bunny, that is} :). Eggs were scattered all over the front lawn and once they said GO, it was not even minutes until the eggs were gone. Caroline got good practice in for all the other egg hunts we attended this year.

Amanda came along with us and was such a great babysitter for Cooper!!
We really could not have done it with out her!

It is always fun to share in events with the Macha's! These girls are such good friends and had a wonderful time running around and dancing!

There is a God...

2011-05-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

and He read my last post!! BUNNY HAS BEEN FOUND!! Sunday we started cleaning our entire house and emptying out closets. I started on Cooper's closet and picked up a pile of onesies that I had put on his shelf. As I pulled it out, bunny was in my hand peering out! Josh and I just stared at eachother and weren't quite sure what we should do. Do we give it to her? Do we see if she notices? She ran in the room at that moment and we handed it to her. Her reaction was "Bubbee"! She grabbed it and has pretty much not put her down yet! She was giddy and kept hugging her and playing with her. She picks her up so gently and treats her as a very delicate little baby. It is so funny! She still picks up the other one but now says "2 Bubbees" and will randomly just drop the other one. Three weeks later and Caroline's first love is back!

MISSING

2011-04-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this Bunny???

12 inches tall... WELL LOVED... missing for 2 weeks!

Yes, we have now been missing Bunny for 2 weeks!! She disappeared while Josh and I were out and when we came home, Caroline was still awake around 9:30pm and would not go to bed with out her beloved Bunny! I had bought a "replacement" bunny just in case this ever happened, but she always knew the difference and did not care for it. We were able to calm her down enough and because she was so tired, she took the bunny and slept through the night. She's never really asked for the other bunny, but her sleeping has been affected! Josh and I have looked everywhere and can not find this little rascal. We have had so many good memories with her and need her back!! Please Bunny... come back!!

Bluebonnets

2011-04-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

You know it is spring in Texas when the bluebonnets start popping up all around! They don't last long and as I type this, they are already almost gone for the year. However there is a great place near our house that isn't near a highway and great for taking pictures. We stopped when we were all together and just had to snap a few with both kids. It was really windy and a little past Caroline's nap time, but they are priceless none the less!

It is SO hard to get a picture of Caroline looking these days.
When I tell her to smile, the answer I get is NO! So this is the best we got!

Of course we have to stop and smell ALL flowers!

LOVE these chubby cheeks!!

Sibling Love!

2011-04-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

What amazing moments! I cannot wait until Cooper is a little older and can start reciprocating the love that Caroline shows him. My favorite memory with my little brother was eating lunch every day at our kid size wooden picnic table in the basement. We used to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches there religiously at noon while watching Sesame Street. Perhaps it was my mom's way of getting a little peace during the day, but regardless of the reason, we always had a great time and it left a lasting memory! So far Caroline has been a little reluctant to hold Cooper, but she is always so concerned about him when she wakes up and just loves handing him his paci. When he's laying on the floor, she will cuddle up on the blanket next to him and just smile. She seems to be so proud of him when we are playing with other children and definitely likes to claim him as hers! It has been so hard to drag my camera out, so all of these were taken with my phone. However I love that they are captured so spontaneously!

And lastly, she wouldn't be a big sister with out having to try out some of Cooper's toys! Of course... it was her's first! :)

(Taken after she crawled in all by herself! I just had to get a picture and then get mad at her.)

Spoiled!

2011-04-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Do not think for one second that Caroline was left out in any way while Cooper was born!! With 6 grandparents and lots of friends visiting, this little girl was in no way short of attention!

Here is Caroline's entertainment (and some of my favorite pictures) while at the hospital. I was stuck in bed, but Josh was able to snap a couple pictures of what was going on in the hallway. Here you can just tell that Caroline is scheming and telling her Grandpa and PaPaw just what to do!

Ready... Set...

GO!!!

Pop Pop was not able to make it until the weekend due to tax season, but once he was here, a trip to Toys R Us was definitely in order! They came back with a purple tricycle! Caroline helped Pop Pop put it together and could not wait to ride!!

She rode around like quite the little princess! No need to pedal or push, Caroline just needed to sit and look pretty. She loved it!!

Lots of fun was had by all!

Caroline sure kept Grami busy while we took Cooper on one of his first outings. There was a petting zoo at the Arboretum and you can bet that Caroline made her visit each and every animal... not to mention chase her around the entire place!

NEW!!

2011-04-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well I've debated over how I was going to handle my blog going forward. Now with 2 kids, I first thought I would just continue all Botts' Family happenings on this site. I titled it before Caroline was born and Little Miss Caroline just doesn't fit anymore. If anyone knows me and how I am a 2nd child, they would know that this is just not acceptable! :) I first created a new blog for our entire family, but after ordering Caroline's Blog book, I decided it would be easier if each child has their own blog. That way I will be able to order yearly books and eventually give them to the kids when they get older. I figure it will be better than any baby book would be! So with that said, Cooper has his own blog! You can follow all of his happenings at:

http://supercooperbotts.blogspot.com/

Some posts may be the same on both, but I hope you find my little chubby cheeked boy just as interesting and entertaining as I do!

Caroline's entire life... documented!!

2011-04-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

While reading a friend of a friend's blog, I discovered the Blog2Print website. This is FANTASTIC and definitely the thing for a busy mother of two! I have been meaning to create a photo book for Caroline and document everything, but just never got around to it. My goal was to do one for her whole first year before her birthday. Well, did that happen? Absolutely not! With this site all you have to do is type in your blog address and it automatically pops everything into a book! You don't have much control over what goes where, but you don't have to do anything else. You pick a picture for the front and back and poof you have a book! In total mine came out to about 150 pages and was around $75. I thought this was a little pricey so I became a fan of theirs on facebook and waited a couple weeks and they finally published a coupon code for 15% off. I used that and ended up paying about $60 in total and could not be happier! It looks really nice and professional and didn't take me long at all! Definitely worth every penny!!

Quality Time

2011-04-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

Where to start? SO much has happened in the last month and there just has not been the time to write about it! The week before Cooper arrived, Suzanne and DJ took Caroline and I out to lunch for my birthday. Caroline got to spend some quality time with some of her grandparents and, for the last time, have them all to herself. We went to a feed store and played with some baby ducks and bunnies and then headed to a nearby park in Grapevine. She had such a wonderful time!

our little miracle!

2011-03-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

COOPER FRIES BOTTS

is here!!

We welcomed Cooper into this world on March 15th, 2011 at 2:31pm. He came out weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz and was 19 inches long. What an incredible miracle! I am just amazed once again at how perfectly labor is designed. How can you not believe there is a God when a little one enters this world? He is perfectly healthy and passed all of his newborn tests with flying colors!! We did have him induced and went to the hospital the night before to get everything started. He took his time and came a little later in the day than his big sister did, but this just shows his personality so far. He has been a very relaxed baby and hardly ever cries. Our first couple nights were a little rough, but the last two have been amazing!! I can't tell you how much better I feel with a 6 hour stretch of sleep!!

Caroline welcomed her little brother with such excitement! She arrived at the hospital and I was a little weary of how she would react to me being in the hospital bed. There were so many people around, but she went right to Cooper and was giddy! She was laughing and saying baby and just wanted to hug and kiss him. I hope this enthusiasm lasts as these two grow up. Wishful thinking? :)

a weekend for 3!

2011-03-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was pretty much our last weekend with just the three of us! Grami came Tuesday and Cooper could come any day now. Although I don't feel that different and just really don't see him coming before the 15th, it is still amazing to think that we will go into the hospital SO soon. We had plans of taking Caroline to the zoo, but it turned out to be a little cold Saturday morning. Instead we just hung out, Josh took Caroline for a little while and I was able to get some things done around the house. It was such a relaxing time and filled with a lot of quality family time. We then decided to go out to dinner and have gelato for dinner! We headed to Southlake and were going to go to the Cheesecake Factory since it was 5:30 and figured we wouldn't have to wait. Well, we were wrong! It really wasn't bad and we spent some time reading in Barnes & Nobles and then headed across the street to Snuffers instead. I guess this is what being a parent will do to you. You trade good food and atmosphere for quick and easy! Although I must say, the hamburgers tasted quite good! Caroline got chicken fingers and even tried ranch dressing. After the first taste she said "MORE" and dipped the entire piece in, along with her hand. I think she found a favorite already!! We did use the ipod for videos for a little while, but she did great! Then we even treated ourselves with gelato! Caroline stayed up until about 8 and enjoyed it all! What a lucky girl! All of the pictures were taken with my phone, but at least its something! On Sunday the weather was much better and we got to spend some time at the park! We can't wait to use this last week to prepare for Little Brother!

Daddy and Caroline found lots of books to read! I couldn't quite bend down to join them!

YUM!!

Getting Ready

2011-03-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

We are definitely getting ready around here for Baby Cooper! I'm not sure how Caroline is going to react to the real Baby Cooper, but she sure knows his name, knows he is in Mommy's tummy and knows his room and toys. I'm sure she's getting a little sick of us telling her "No, that is for Baby Cooper" or "Only babies use those" but soon enough they will meet!! Caroline has her own baby which we have named Cooper and we have taken him around quite a bit. She gets excited to play with the doll and is quite the little mommy. We are getting close and have 11 more days... if not less! :)

38 weeks!!

2011-03-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

38 weeks down with 2 more to go!! Cooper is going to be here in no time and we are now in the home stretch! I honestly cannot wait for him to get here, but still really need these last 2 weeks to prepare myself for what is to come. We are getting ready and so far this entire thing has seemed unreal!!

AMAZED!!

2011-02-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

I am absolutely amazed with everyone around us! All of our friends have already showed so much love, support and encouragement for Cooper and we can tell that he is already one blessed child!! We sure appreciate EVERYTHING!! I was pretty adamant about not having yet another shower for us. Yes, we're having a boy but we have done everything so quickly and have already asked so much of our friends. We've had bridal showers, bachelorette/bachelor parties, baby showers, and birthday parties all within the past 3 1/2 years. (Fast, I know!!) I just did not want to ask anyone to come to yet another one! With me being the second child, I have always insisted that my second child will be treated the same, if not better than the first! :) I don't mind spoiling him myself, but I did not want to ask anyone else to get him presents. Well, everyone sure showed me!! Amanda would not take no for an answer and decided to plan a little "sprinkle" anyways! We had a great brunch last weekend at Breadwinners in Dallas and she had so many little details planned perfectly! I was overwhelmed and overjoyed with everyone that came! It was a wonderful morning and great to see everyone who cared.

Then on Monday the Mom's Group that I am a part of also sprinkled Cooper with love! It was so sweet and again I am just so appreciative of everything! I was afraid we would not have enough clothes for this little guy and now his closet is almost completely full!! Even Caroline walked away with several Big Sister presents! What a lucky family!

Thank you to EVERYONE! We appreciate it more than you know and can not wait to show off our little guy! 2 1/2 more weeks!!!

SNOW DAY... how about WEEK?!!

2011-02-08T10:24:00.000-08:00

Last week we were cooped inside ALL week! The ice was pretty bad and it was SO cold outside that we were not able to go anywhere. Josh ended up working from home on Tuesday and also on Friday. There was snow, but it was very crunchy and icey and no way were Caroline and I going out in that! But Friday morning we awoke to find this out our front door:

Josh stayed home and was such a big help with Caroline! He got everything finished by about 2:30 and called it a day! We then got our snow clothes on and headed outside!! Although I was quite cold and mostly kept to taking pictures, Josh and Caroline had a great time! It is so fun re-doing things we did as kids now again as adults! I had a chance to use my zoom lens and took quite a few pictures! We sure had fun!!

After we came in, this is where I kept finding her! She loved watching the snow and looking out the window!

18 months!!

2011-02-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

Okay... so maybe we're already to 19, but a whole lot has gone on in my little girl's life!! We are getting SO close to the day where we will meet our Super Cooper and right now I want to be able to still cherish and look back at my {not so} little Caroline!

So much has changed over the last couple of months, weeks and even days. We definitely do not have a baby anymore!! Caroline has started to really put things together, say words, and be able to communicate her ideas and opinions in so many different ways. This started by her grabbing your hand and taking you to where she wanted to go. Then there was always the "no" response when she didn't want something. Now she is putting thoughts together and remembers when people leave. Although Josh thinks I'm being mean by continually bringing this up, it really is so cute to watch! After seeing my mom last week, I'll ask her "Where did Grami go?" She scrunches up her nose, sticks out her lip, and somewhat fake cries while saying "Bye Bye". And then after cousin Ellie left Florida she would wake up in the morning, say "Shhh, Baby" and then remember she was gone and do the same bye bye cry. So precious and full of love!

Although our doctor does not have a scheduled 18 month appointment, we did get some statistics due to the several sick visits we had. Caroline now weighs in (well a month ago weighed in) at 21 lbs. 4 oz. We can definitely tell she has gotten taller and now all of her 18 month clothes fit! Although there are several difficult transitions with a 1 1/2 year old, this stage is definitely so much fun!! It is fun to see the amazing girl that is emerging and how genuine and sincere her actions are. She shows pure love for everyone and it is so heartwarming to see her light up when Josh and I walk in the room. I just can not wait to see how she is as a big sister!!

LOVES:

Dolls and Bears - she loves carrying them around, rocking them, and feeding them bottles
BECA (our dog)- I'm not sure the feeling is entirely mutual, but Caroline will chase Beca all around the house. She shares her food with her and lets her give her kisses.
When Daddy Comes home - she will run to the door and gets so excited!
Bath Time - splashing around with letters and animals and of course Daddy!
Animal Sounds - Caroline gets SO excited to tell you what sound each animal makes. She is up to quite a few and even acts them out! Sheep and duck are by far her favorite!!
Singing "If you're happy and you know it...", "The wheels on the Bus", and "Ring around the rosies." - Who doesn't love acting songs out and watching mom and dad make fools of themselves?
Spinning around in Dad's office chair
Friends- She gets SO excited when her friends show up!

My little girl is growing up fast and although I would like time to slow down, I would not have changed anything in the last year and a half! I still have one very clumsy little girl with only one front tooth, but she is perfect in every way!!

I have been SO bad about taking pictures lately and really have not gotten my camera out. However, I have taken some random ones of my iPhone. (Trust me, we're not always in our pajamas!!) Here you go...

Not every dad will let their daughter watch Mickey on his computer while trying
to work from home on a snow day! What a lucky girl!!

ROSEBOWL CHAMPIONS!!!

2011-01-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS TCU!!!

TCU was in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day and did a GREAT job!! Although we were quite sad that we were not at the actual game, we still cheered on the frogs as enthusiastically as ever! Everyone made the day SO special for Josh and joined in the festivities! Above is a picture of all of us sporting our PURPLE!! Next year we are FOR SURE going to go and see them play in the National Championship game! :)

Josh and his 3 biggest fans!!

Aunt Missy definitely did a good job entertaining! TCU cookies!!!

Quality time with Grami and Pop Pop!

2011-01-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about going to celebrate Christmas in Pennsylvania was the time that Caroline, Emma, and Ellie got to spend with Grami and Pop Pop! It is so hard living far away, but it makes all of the times that we do get to see them all the more special. Pop Pop's thing is to take the girls for ice cream!! Emma has already learned this quite well and insists every time she's with him. Above is Pop Pop and Grami taking both girls. We didn't go but heard that Caroline had finished her cone before Emma had taken a couple bites. One girl is dainty and one just wants her ice cream!! :)

Even Grami joined in the Ball Pit fun!

Christmas Continues!

2011-01-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

We headed to Pennsylvania several days after Christmas to go and meet Ellie as well as celebrate Christmas with my family. We know that we won't always be able to make it home for the actual holiday, but Josh and I both think it is pretty important to make an attempt to see everyone! We had such a great time and thank my sister and Paul for having us!! It was a little weird not going back to Colorado, but hopefully we can make it there soon. Josh hasn't been to Colorado since last Christmas and the last time I was there was in June. Time sure flies!!

We got in late Wednesday night and of course had to have "Christmas Morning" bright and early! Grami and Pop Pop Santa Claus sure left a lot of presents! Caroline still wasn't feeling great, but she was a little bit more into opening presents this time.

Cooper is already being spoiled!! Aunt Missy found a little boy doll for Caroline to have her own
"Baby Cooper" and Grami found a BLUE bunny for Cooper to be just like his big sister!

They know Josh way too well!! Cooper's first TCU t-shirt!

We were SO blessed!! I got a zoom lens for my camera and LOVE how the pictures turn out!
This is from across the room!! Isn't my husband adorable?:)

We had lots of fun playing together! Josh is such a great uncle!

Grami got the girls all matching pajamas! I can't wait to look back on these pictures
when they're older.

Of course Caroline remembered the ball pit!!
Emma and Ellie are SO lucky to have a basement all for themselves full of toys!
We in Texas are SO jealous!

The whole family joined in playing games! It was so fun to have Uncle Andy with us!

Although it was cold, we had a chance to go to some natural caves.
While everyone else went exploring, we got to play at the petting zoo and playground.
Caroline loved the bunnies!

poor baby!

2011-01-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

I am so far behind and really have a lot to share, but this is going to take some time! From the previous post you can see that Caroline was pretty sick on Christmas. We think she might have had an allergic reaction to the dogs because she was playing so closely with them. She loved the dog bed and loved crawling into their crate. Although it was so cute to watch such excitement on her face, we probably should not have let her do this. She woke up from her nap on Christmas Eve with a red and puffy face. It went down pretty quickly and she seemed to be okay. So we still went to church that night. The next morning she wasn't great, but we decided to still go see everyone for Christmas. This is where we knew it really got bad! She sat on our laps the whole day and did not eat anything. She was so congested that she couldn't sleep and even threw up a couple times because there was so much in her nose. We were pretty worried about her so first thing Monday morning we headed to the doctor.

All they could really tell us is that Caroline had bronchiolitis and was having spasms in her bronchial tube and trouble breathing. This could have been caused by a number of different things and only time will tell if it is something that will continue later on. They gave her an oral steroid there through a nebulizer and had us continue this at home. Luckily we borrowed one from a friend and did not have to purchase a new one!! The above picture shows my poor girl having to breathe in her medicine. It was such a sad sight to see her wearing this. The first time was really hard and we had to hold her arms down while she cried and tried to move. From then on out, she would just sit and let me do it. It helped THAT much!

Although it was hard to watch Caroline be sick, it made it worse that we were leaving for Pennsylvania on Wednesday AND going to be around a newborn. Wednesday morning came and nothing was better! Caroline was so hard to handle and I really wasn't sure what to do. We had to leave for the airport at 2pm and around 10 I just knew something was wrong!! I called the doctor and they did a wonderful job fitting us in and seeing us as soon as they could. I spent an hour in the waiting room and was starting to think I was just over-reacting and making a bigger deal out of things. When we finally saw the doctor, my suspicions were confirmed and we discovered she had a really bad ear infection. GREAT! Just great! We had to fly in 3 hours and were really worried what the plane would do to her. We got some medicine and some numbing drops and she was an angel!! God definitely answered our prayers! She still was not herself until about Saturday of the trip, but thankfully we got everything taken care of! And I can now say that my little girl is FINALLY 100% better!!