Happy Birthday to Me!

Today, June 25, is my 26th Birthday. I'm awake at 3 a.m. because bright and early in the morning I am having my wisdom teeth removed. All 4. Yaaayyy...*insert sarcasm* I should have done it years ago, of course. Since there never seems to be a convenient time(have I mentioned that I like to stay busy??), now is as good as any!
It is amazing how things change when you are a mother. I spent my night, after Caroline went to sleep-ha!, doing dishes, laundry, creating a grocery list that my darling mother is taking care of tomorrow while I sleep it off, activity lists to keep Caroline well occupied while I am indisposed, etc.
I have to admit that I am totally unafraid of the pain. I'm a trooper and I will totally be taking the lovely meds that I'm sent home with... at least for the first few days. I'm more concerned about not being able to take care of my chickens and being forced to depend on others to handle my responsibilities. See, I am a major league mommy... I got called up about 19 months ago and haven't looked back since;-) I am so glad to have my Mom here for the next few days to help pick up the slack!
Now, I'm going to TRY to sleep... And since I'm not celebrating my Birthday this year, feel free to celebrate for me;-) Happy June 25th!!!

Grandmother's Birthday

We celebrated my Grandmother's Birthday on Tuesday, so Caroline and I made a trip to Florence to get in some family time! We took the Grand P's, Mom, and Blake out to dinner at Texas Roa.dhouse, Grandmother's restaurant of choice.

Eating Lemons... she is so my daughter!

Watching the dancing girls...

Clapping along:-)

I have more pictures from our visit that hopefully I can post soon!

Doll Love!

Caroline is such a sweet little mommy to her dollies- most of the time, that is! We are attempting to teach her to be sweet to her "baby", just in case she ever becomes a Big Sister one day... wayyyy down the road! Don't get too excited there, folks!!;-) I'm just enjoying this one too much to share a single moment!

This past weekend we went to a Fish Fry at my favorite friends house and Caroline was so excited that her little feet got caught up while she was running around outside. She skinned her knees on their driveway... poor baby... and ever since she has been pointing to her knee and showing everyone that will look and listen her "boo-boo" We always ask her if it is hurting and offer to "kiss it, and make it better"... Notice Caroline looking at her doll's knee to see if she, too, has a boo-boo.
And then quickly pulling her pants leg down since baby has "No boo-boo" to kiss!

Uh-Oh!!!

Father's Day 2010

We had a nice Father's Day this year! We had a last minute change of plans and decided to stay in Birmingham for the big day. We took it easy and I pampered Chris the entire day... complete with Breakfast in Bed, free time to spend as he chose(baby free), and the dinner of his choice with his father and mother. We enjoyed Ribs, hash brown casserole, another vegetable casserole, and sausage rolls... his Menu of choice! ha! Chris was gifted some Alabama goodies, some new, updated pictures for his desk at work, a homemade card from Caroline, a BBQ with friends(new steak knives), and a fun getaway that we have pushed back to after his Birthday from me(it's in the card;-))

Thanks for being a Wonderful Daddy to our Daughter! You are the best!! Love, C=)

Busy, Busy Week!

Our week was just a complete blur this past week! Between Dr's Appts, lunch dates, play dates, shopping for father's day, craft making for father's day, etc... we have been slam packed all day AND night long! Just the way we like it! I didn't take many pictures of all of our different adventures, but this is what we have to share:-)

This week we went to "The Beach" at Oak Mountain State Park. We had never been before so when one of our play groups decided to go, we jumped on board! For Birmingham Mommy's, it's fun... Caroline enjoyed the sand and we were able to build her first mini sandcastle. However I wasn't so sure about the water. I am somewhat spoiled since we have a pool in our backyard, but the fish and what not that we were swimming around with in the lake freaked me out a bit. I was just fine until one of the mom's in our group kept getting bit on the bottom while playing with her children. That was enough for me;-) It was too hot to stay out of the water for too long and I had a dentist appointment later in the afternoon, so we kept it short enough that it was still a positive experience.

Caroline was so exhausted from playing so hard in the sand and water that she was asleep long before we were out of the Park.

We did several craft projects this week, but the most important ones were the ones that we made for our loved ones for father's day! This is the card that Caroline(and Mommy) made for the Granddaddies and Great-Granddaddies to send with their cards from us.

The poem is "I'm happy you are my Granddaddy"... or "Great-Granddaddy"

I feel safe when you are with me

You show me fun things to do

You make my life much better

The Best Granddaddy I know is you!

I'm happy you are my Granddaddy

and so I want to say

I love you, Granddaddy, and wish you

a Happy Father's Day!

Caroline had fun making the hand print and sticking the stickers on the paper with a bit of guidance. I am entirely too type A to go too crazy with the paint, especially indoors since we were experiencing an afternoon thunderstorm while we were working on these. We "draw" and "paint" and play with stickers all of the time, but it is nice to have a purpose to our art work;-)

Ok, so my child has entered a trucker look-a-like phase! One of our friends went to St. Maarten recently and brought Chris back this hat. Caroline quickly decided it was meant to be hers and she will not keep it off of her head! It is nuts! She cries and throws a fit when I take it off and sometimes it just isn't worth the battle- I admit it!:-) With Caroline's uber-frizzy hair and eczema that makes her face look dirty 24/7, she has been looking a sight lately;-) An adorable sight to her Mommy, but a sight none the less!

As you can see, Caroline wasn't loving the camera last night. Also, you can see that she is wearing her puddle jumpers for the pool. We just brought them in from the deck and she HAD to wear them.

Nap time with the hat! I thought she had fallen asleep so I tried to take the hat off... huge mistake!!! She woke up crying grasping for her hat. Maybe we can transfer her fixation from this hat to other, cuter hats for our girl;-)

And we have a busy, busy weekend ahead! Hopefully I'll do a better job of taking pictures! I hope you are having a fabulous weekend!!:-)

Dinner with Uncle Trey and Aunt Amanda...

...and Caroline got a special treat! Oreos and Milk... we are sooo healthy in our house;-) She is such a show off and she wanted to show our guests what a big girl she is by drinking out of a big girl glass of milk!

Trey recently moved to Birmingham to start at UAB Theater in the Fall and we are so happy for him. We are also loving that he is in such close proximity and that weekly dinner dates are now possible! yay!!!

Clapping for herself... so proud! haha!

Aunt Amanda...

I think this says it all...

Thanks for joining us for dinner, Trey and Amanda! Come back soon: )

Our Weekend...

On Saturday morning Chris woke up before his girls so he decided to make breakfast for us.... Very sweet!:-) Caroline and I were both very happy about this.

Caroline tried a sip of Daddy's coffee for the first time. It was loaded with creamer and sugar and she was a big fan!

On Saturday afternoon, Caroline and I took Daddy to the McWane center for the first time.
Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Our Family....

Florence Fun... Friday!

On Friday morning we packed up at Nana's house and went to say our goodbyes to Nana at her office. Caroline was introduced to a new snack. Peppermint Chocolate Meringues. Love. So much so, that she decided practically the entire thing had to go into her mouth at one time...

What's the problem, Mom?!?

After our goodbye treats we drove home in lovely Friday afternoon Birmingham traffic. Our normal 2 hour trip took 3 hours:-( BUT, it was perfectly alright since we were still able to make it to Baby RJ's first birthday party. Caroline went full out the entire time! The 3 hour nap that she took on the way home may have had something to do with that;-)

Hi, may I have that camera??

Caroline and Mrs. Caroline

Wow, I love those...

This is what she was staring at...

She may have thrown a few fits....

Our Family...

Florence Fun... Thursday

Mommy Caroline pushing her baby stroller around Nana's house.

Caroline disappeared for a few minutes while I was making breakfast... BUSTED!! I found her in the back of Nana's Walk in Closet!

Showing off her rain boots... Too Cute!

When I go home there are two places that I want to eat... Trowbridge's is one of them! Caroline hasn't been since she was 8 months old or so and I wanted to reintroduce her!

Nana keeping Caroline entertained while we waited for our lunch.

Awww... Kisses for Nana! Probably my favorite picture of the entire trip! Caroline just looked at her Nana and nailed her... so cute!

Sharing crackers with Nana...

Loving Trowbridge's and her grilled cheese.... Just wait until you get to the ice cream, baby!!;-)

Cutting her Grilled Cheese into bite-sized pieces with a little guidance.

Then we went to visit Great-Grandmother and Great-Granddaddy! Grandmother got her mini-bed ready for a 2 o'clock nap time that never came! She played so hard all afternoon and wouldn't give it up until 6 that afternoon... LOONNNGG Afternoon!

" What do you mean I can't play with the phone while it's connected to the phone line??"

Me and My Grandmother... I am so proud to be her namesake:-) She is Dorothy Lane, I am Christina Lane.

Caroline showing Great-Granddaddy that she is an Elephant! ha! ... that is a paper towel holder!

Two of my favorite people! Caroline and Great-Granddaddy took a walk out to the garden. Caroline loves to run wild outside!

Caroline wanted to eat a Blackberry so my Granddaddy picked one and blew it off and handed it to her. She decided that she also needed to blow it off, over and over!!!

One of their 2 plots... they work so hard on their garden every year and grow most of what they eat!

I was so inspired that I decided to take home "a few" tomato plants to put in planters on our back deck. I ended up with 6!! I tend to have a "black thumb" so we will see how it goes... The good news is I've had them for a few days and they are still hanging in there:-)