Caroline's 2nd Birthday Party

Caroline's 2nd Birthday party was October 23rd, so I have some serious catching up to do. I'm going to try to get several of the big things in in the next few days!

We had a joint Birthday Party with our friends The Brennan's since the kids were born 3 days apart. It worked out great and in honor of Braegan's Birthday, Halloween, we had a Halloween themed party. Everyone was encouraged to dress up- adults included!

We went as the Flintstones. Caroline was an adorable Pebbles, if I do say so myself;-)

Caroline had a wonderful time at her party, so the final family pictures are deceptive. She was pooped and ready for her nap! She actually ended up leaving her Birthday party a bit early to sleep it off on the way home. Poor thing!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby! You are the best part of our lives! : )

10 Year High School Reunion

The weekend of the Arkansas game we went to Chris' 10 year High School Reunion in Collierville, TN, a suburb of Memphis, while Caroline went to play with Nana in Florence. It was great to go back to his "hometown" and re-visit the place where we spent 6 months of our early married life. Still glad we moved back;-)

On Friday night we went to the obligatory High School Football Game. Chris played in high school so it was nice to get a history lesson in his life, pre-college. Football was a huge part of those crazy high school years for him, so it was great meeting teammates and coaches from his glory days. I actually wore his high school jersey, since he asked me to; ), and was proud to sport the number for Mr. 57... wish I had taken a picture!!!

On Saturday we went to a nice picnic to meet the families of some of his classmates.

Picture from the cocktail party his class had at an awesome loft apartment downtown. Great location, great time!

Ok... this is totally random, but all of the Chris-football talk reminds me of a funny moment about 2 years ago. I'm pretty sure I've never written this here.. I'm sure the family will get a kick out of it!

When I had Caroline a few years ago and we were at the hospital all of the nurses had spread around that Chris was a former Alabama Football player. They were even debating the years that they remembered him playing. My honey just looks like a big ole lineman doesn't he?? haha! Actually, Chris still talks about the fact that he still has 4 years of eligibility left! ;-)

He is so going to kill me for putting this here!! Love ya, honey : )

A Little TJC Time

*She wasn't trying to hit... she was actually going for another "high five", since Chris gave her a high five for climbing up there... teaching bad habits, I tell ya!! They are really cute playing together, though!

Passed out at Daddy's office after a fun day at school. Poor Thing!!! : ) She slept like that for over an hour until I woke her up and put her in her car seat to go home. Not sure how she found that comfortable. ha!

Alabama Football

This weekend is the first weekend that we have spent "at home" in the past 6 weekends.... and I am so ready! Being huge Alabama Football fans we go to every home game and have been to one away game to date. We love going to Tuscaloosa and tailgating with the same group of people every year. My Uncle Bobby, who is currently serving in Afghanistan introduced me to these good people and since he is unable to join us so far this year, I am made him a little sign and took pictures of some of the crew so he would know he was there with us in spirit! The good news is: he will be home very soon! Yay, Uncle B!!

Caroline went with us to the first game. We have a goal of taking her to at least once a year and we got that checked of the list on the first game. She really did fairly well at the game, though I did feel terribly sorry for the kind people sitting in front of us. My bucking bronco kicked and climbed their seats(and ours) for part of the game. She was also a trooper for most of it: )Fortunately, we have made friends with the people sitting around us over the past 5 years that we have been in our seats and they told us to bring her back whenever we can. I think her smile gets 'em every time;-)

Penn State

Duke

Chris and Mal Moore

When we were leaving Durham we ran into Barry Krauss, "Mr. THE Goal Line Stand" in the airport. Chris saw him and had to get a picture. He was super nice and spent about 5 minutes talking football with two very common Alabama Football fans.

Lately...

Since Caroline was starting to school, I just knew I was going to have oodles of free time on my hands. Time to go grocery shopping ALONE, run errands, straighten the house, do the volunteer work I crave, etc. With this in mind, I signed up months ago to organize my neighborhood's fall festival. When I say neighborhood, that may give you the impression of something small... but I live in Birmingham and my neighborhood consists of 1500 homes, 3 parks to choose from, and probably just under a thousand children. I need to get figures on that. ha!

BUT, now I know that 4 hours twice a week seems to fly by when you have big plans. The HL Fall Festival has been a larger undertaking that I ever imagined and my days and the free time that I formerly blogged in have been hijacked by more emails, phone calls, meetings, etc than I dreamed of. I am so lucky to have a couple of awesome ladies that are co-chairing with me and together we are maintaining our sanity! ha! We've all worked our tails off and for the most part, it has been a blast! I'm so glad that I did it, however I'm not necessarily planning to do it again. It has been an experience!

So, now I hope you understand why I've been silent for a bit... I've just been too busy livin life to stop and share it;-) I hope you all are doing just great!!!

First Day of School

Caroline had her first day of Mother's Day Out or "school", as we call it on Sept 9. She had a good first day, but did suffer from a bit of separation anxiety. This is not uncommon for little ones and I'm glad that we are starting her 2 days a week now. She is so attached to me that I know it would just become more and more difficult for her to allow others to keep her. The first day of school was also the first time that someone other than family had kept Caroline in her entire 22 months. I was thrilled when we arrived to realize I had met Caroline's teachers before! I met the two of them when they brought their children to Caroline's Gym.boree class to visit. What luck!!!

Almost a month in, Caroline LOVES the activities that they do during the day, even if she does still occasionally get a bit weepy when Daddy drops her off in the mornings. They do art projects, sing, read, and Caroline's personal favorite- play outside!! She is a "'side!!!" girl! Her teacher told me that of all the children my little princess seems to love outdoor time the most. Makes a Mommy proud;-)

Caroline goes on "fall break" on Monday so we are making a quick jaunt to Florence to get some "hometown playtime" in;-)

Busy, Busy Bees!

We are alive. ha! Barely, but we are making it! After getting a few price quotes on painting our house, we decided we would have to be crazy to pay someone what they were asking for something we could do ourselves. Thus, I have been spending most of my free time on the weekends and most nights painting... Can you say exhausted!? But I'm still smiling, so there! : )

In the midst of all of our housework we did some entertaining with some very forgiving friends who were kind enough to overlook the rolls and rolls of blue painters tape on our walls. Then Caroline went to Florence and on to Nashville for cousin River's 2nd Birthday. I'll post some pictures of these and our painting adventure later.... but for now, I have dishes, laundry, belated emails calling my name! It never ends... thank goodness! ;-)

ANNNDDDD... I would like to send out a very special shout out to my favorite Italian, Mrs. Katrina Iacobelli Stephens! Happy, Happy Birthday K!!!!! Thanks for letting us share it with you... you really are our favorite! : )

Complete Cuteness

I previously mentioned that my BABY will be starting to MDO in September. I have mixed emotions about being apart from her for a few hours during the day, but I am loving getting her ready for "school". Please bear in mind that I am well aware that this is an extremely, amazingly trivial post... I cannot help myself. : )
This is Caroline's new Backpack and lunch box that she will be carrying to school with her everyday. I am in love! Those are pink whales, just in case you cannot tell. I ordered it from The Preppy Princess and loved that both pieces came individually wrapped... Caroline had just as much fun unwrapping her new goodies as she did giving it a "test run" around the living room! And how cute is it that it came with a personalized thank you note?? Thanks Preppy Princess for making this Little Mommy's Day! haha!

Caroline prefers to eat with a table cloth!

Most mornings while Caroline eats breakfast I take advantage of the fact that she is contained in her high chair and do laundry, straighten up, empty the dishwasher, or get wild and crazy and grab a bite myself! Ahhh.... the joys of motherhood;-)

This morning when I was putting her in her high chair she said she was cold, so I put her cuddle blanket across her legs. While I was doing housework she apparently decided that she would prefer to use her blankie as a table cloth while she dined on her pancakes and sausage and bananas. When I noticed what she was doing, she was smoothing it out while showing me her "clofff"(cloth) so I'm preetttyyy sure she knew what she was doing there.
She also decided she wanted her food to-go. Think we go out to eat too often??? : )

Alright Caroline, now you are just playing with... Game Over, baby!!!

Look at what I found...

That feels like a lifetime ago!! Sometimes you never really know what you are missing until you find it. : )

Caroline's Favorites

Yo Gabba Gabba: She loves this show! She loves "yo, ba!" and frequently asks for it by name. They dance, sing, and teach new words through out the show... I'm not even going to comment on the scary guy on the far left. No idea who thought that was a good idea!!

Elmo: We have moved beyond our obsession with all things "Cars" and now it is all about Baby Elmo. Caroline sleeps with him, hugs and kisses him, serves him tea regularly, and takes him out to dinner with the family. He is practically a member of the family at this point!
Thumbprint Cookies: Purchased from Edgar's Bakery in Birmingham... YUM! Mommy is equally obsessed with these bad boys, but Caroline will stand and cry by the island and ask repeatedly for a "coooo keee" if she knows that we have a box up there. She says Yummmm over and over while eating them and savors each bite. Pretty cute stuff! I'm always happy to show her "no more!" once they are gone and she is usually very accepting of this. Until we have another box, that is!

Playing outside: If I would let her, she would play outside all day long! If it wasn't so extremely hot outside I would probably grant her her wish far more often. I am looking forward to fall so we can spend more time outdoors!

Bubbles: enough said:-)

Imitating Mommy: Caroline is absolutely my "mini-me". What I do, she wants to do. I cook, she sits on the floor watching with her own set of pans and spoons mimicking my every action. I read, she goes to get a book and sits in front of me with her face in the book....peeking around the edge to make sure that I haven't changed my position periodically. So sweet! If I try to take the book from her to read it to her, she has a fit. She just wants to be a big girl like Mommy!

The Shred

In May I decided to get on a fitness kick to be the best version of myself. I could feel myself getting older(who wants to do that??) and out of shape and that just wasn't going to fly for me! At the time, "The Sh.red" was the go-to workout and since it only takes about 20 minutes I could totally fit that in. Since uninterrupted time available to devote to things like "my health" are at a minimum these days, the time requirement was a major factor.

Ya know what?? I loved it!!! I'm not going to lie... I was/am so out of shape that I struggled the first few days, even weeks, BUT it does get easier and I love progress. I am NOT a Jilli.an Michaels fan personally, AT ALL. Not that she cares what little miss in Alabama thinks;-) She does annoy the be gees out of me, but the girl gets results so I am still on board. You can't expect to only spend 20ish minutes working out and expect it to be a walk in the park... so if you join in, don't expect it to be easy. It is addicting, though!

I did it for about a month in May and then I got busy with travel and a wild child;-) and seriously relaxed my effort for improved health and fitness. I'm an all or nothing kind of gal so starting today, I'm full out again! I'll let you know how it goes... I think. But don't expect any lb updates... I'm not necessarily trying to lose lbs, but I do like watching my BMI drop on my completely awesome scales. This is more about my energy level and keeping everything in check than pounds. Not that I couldn't stand to shred a few;-)

Playing at Grove Park

Our box of toys...

Caroline's New Camera...

Singing... just like Mommy;-)

Waving Bye-bye to some furry friends!

And blowing kisses!

And on the way home, we found this little guy in the middle of the road. I did my duty and nudged him into a box and put him back into the woods facing AWAY from the street... if he managed to get turned around again, he just had a death wish!!!;-)

Sweet Moments...

Caroline is so sweet and cuddly when she wakes up from her naps. I love this about babies! The picture below really isn't that great, but for me this post isn't about the picture... it's about the moment.

Today after Caroline woke up from her nap she wanted to cuddle; I was happy to oblige. But today was special because while I was quietly talking to her about what we could do for the rest of the day, she looked up at me put her little palm against my face, smiled, and gave me a little kiss.

I melted on the spot. Absolutely lumped up!!!

I do this to her all of the time, it's my job to teach her to be affectionate and trusting, etc... but getting it in return is an entirely different thing. Have I mentioned I adore my daughter?? Just making sure in case that hasn't come across yet! ha! It really is the little moments that make a life. =)
ANNNDDD... I've mentioned Caroline's obsession with my hair. All I can say is thank goodness for the sweet moments, because sometimes the not so sweet ones HURT!!! haha!

Daddy's Day of Fun!

On Sunday I had a meeting for the neighborhood Fall Festival, which I'm co-chairing, and a movie date planned with my other favorite Caroline to see Eat. Pray. Love. Great book, great movie! Go see it, Ladies! Read it first;-)

Since I was out of the house Chris and Caroline had some Daddy/Daughter play time. He was sweet enough to send me this picture while I was running around.... Doesn't she look happy??
Thanks for taking such good care of our girl while I'm out of pocket! Caroline loves Daddy!;-)

Art Work

It's been a few days since I have posted and I know the Grandparents have been getting antsy and going through picture withdrawals! I'll get caught up soon! In the mean time.... Art Work by Caroline:

Hip, Hip Hooray!!! It's a Gymboree Day!

Caroline goes to Gymboree Class once a week and I wanted to give you all a peek at what we do there!
Meet Miss Danielle, Caroline's teacher! She has tons of energy and keeps my little girl running the entire time!

Little Monkey!

Making noise!

Dancing!!!

Caroline loves playing with the other kiddos!

Playing with Bubbles

Singing and Bouncing on Mommy's Lap

Getting Goodbye kisses from Gymbo....