Caroline's Birthday

Last Wednesday we headed over for Gymnastics. Caroline of course didn't know it was her birthday, she was just thrilled that she got to eat chocolate and cake all day! After lunch she had some chocolate and proceeded to get it all over her. We stuck her in the sink to get cleaned off and Grandma brought out more chocolate! She proceeded to eat some while in the sink. 

After her nap we had dinner and then it was cake and present time! Chris made her birthday cake for her. 

She was less than pleased that she had to wait for the cake! 

 Once she saw it she was much happier and loved us singing "Happy Birthday" to her!

 Charlotte really enjoyed the fact that she was the big sister and was the one to blow out the candle!

As destructive as Caroline typically is, she was very mellow when it came to eating her cake. She slowly scooped out the frosting in the middle and ate all of that before digging into the rest of it!

 Charlotte loved the fact that we were having cake and a party!

Everyone enjoyed their cake, then we got cleaned up and let Caroline open presents, although it was more like Charlotte opening presents!

Caroline got some neat new things and Charlotte was also thrilled with everything! It was like an early Birthday for Charlotte too! It was a nice low key first birthday for Miss. Caroline!

Happy 1st Birthday Caroline!

Caroline turns one today! I can't believe a year has gone by already! She is definitely a joy in our lives, sometimes more of a screaming joy... but nevertheless, still makes our days brighter. She weighs 19.5 lbs now, and I have no idea how tall she is... She is walking really well, almost running and refuses to crawl. She has figured out how to go down stairs now and is quite pleased with herself when she does it. She is definitely a squawker, and likes to make her wants known by pointing and yelling at things. She recently started sleeping through the night, (we're on day 6) and it has been wonderful! She is eating much more food now, one of her favorite foods being beets! Now that we cut out some bottles, I think she eats as much as Charlotte does in a sitting! Her current favorite thing to play with is her socks. She takes them off, finds spare ones, and carries them around with her, chews on them and runs around with them in her mouth. She also loves the little purse Amy gave to her from Guatemala. She fills that with her socks. She is definitely a piece of work!

Yesterday while Charlotte was at school we took her 1 year cake pictures. I tried to get a couple head shots before she destroyed everything with cake. She wasn't too cooperative, but I managed to get a couple out of her smiling!

 

 Then we brought out the cake. Chris made it for her, and did a wonderful job with the icing. However, we realized that for Charlotte's smash cake I used cheap jar frosting and it was much creamier and sticker than Chris' yummy homemade buttercream. Oh well. Caroline was very dainty and particular with her cake eating. She enjoyed it, but just took one little bit at a time. Chris had to help make a mess, and even then she wasn't digging in! She sure was cute though!

We then headed out to get Charlotte from school. We put Caroline in her "1" shirt and brought some helium balloons, since it was almost in the 40's we figured she could walk around the parking lot at school with her balloons. She was not interested, she just wanted to suck her thumb and hang onto her Daddy. Then the balloons floated away. Charlotte was very upset! Charlotte's teacher took a picture of all of us, Caroline's thumb and all! 

So, Happy Birthday Sweet Caroline. We love you very much and can't wait to see what the next year brings, just don't get too big too quick!

February Catch Up

In beginning of the month, we went over to New Hampshire for the weekend. We made a nice trip out of it, stopped at the children's museum on the way over and had a nice lunch at our favorite salad spot! Charlotte was very excited once we got to Grammy and Papa's as she loves being silly with Grammy!

 Saturday morning we took the kids to the library. Caroline thought this was a great idea. She loved climbing all over all the books.

On Sunday Ellen and I took the kids to this awesome indoor playground. Caroline loved it just as much as Charlotte!

Unfortunately I think we caught some nasty germs while we were there and after being home for a day Charlotte got sick, followed by Caroline, and then Chris and I. I guess we won't be going back there again!

Since Chris and I were so sick, but Charlotte was feeling much better and craving attention, we took her to Grandma and Grandpa's for two days. Charlotte loved having a sleepover, she got to stay up late and even have a lollipop before bed, in bed! (We had a nice little chat about that!) The next morning she and Grandma broke out the sewing machine and made Chris and I a potholder! Charlotte was so proud. She even decorated the tissue paper with a picture of daddy!

Last Wednesday we were all finally feeling better and we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's after gymnastics. Caroline loved sitting on the counter "helping" Grandma make dinner and eating raw sweet potatoes!

  Just before dinner my friend Jen came over to see the girls! It's always nice catching up! Charlotte still remembers when Jen gave her her first sip of soda when she was about 18 months old, and she tells everyone about it. Jen keep up the standards by bringing Charlotte a giant candy necklace! At least she got Caroline a baby toy and not sugar!! Thanks Jen!

Jen had her puppy in the car and Charlotte wanted to go see him! He was a little bigger than she expected and he was very excited!

The UPS man came in the afternoon and delivered Grandma and Grandpa a box of chocolates from Uncle Rodney and Aunt Karen. It was perfect timing because ever since the UPS man brought Grandma a box for her birthday Charlotte thinks the UPS man is the chocolate man and only delivers chocolate. She is usually disappointed. Charlotte also does not like chocolate, however, she will eat the Krause's chocolate from the UPS man. I guess she can tell the difference between real chocolate and imitation! In a effort to keep Caroline happy after dinner we let her have some chocolate. She loved it!

 Which then meant that a bath was needed. Caroline loved running around looking at herself in the mirror after bath.

So that is what we have been up to, trying to recover from the nasty stomach bug, and mostly just hanging out! So glad we are all feeling better (although hoping Mom and Grandma recover from it quickly!)

Valentine Crayons!

 The week before Valentine's Day we made Charlotte's valentines that she was going to pass out to her friends. We had been collecting broken crayons to make our own heart crayons! Charlotte did a great job and loved sorting the colors and peeling off the paper.

When they were all peeled I chopped them up!

 Charlotte put them into the molds and then we put them in the oven!

 While we waited Caroline was bored, so I gave her some crayons and paper.

Charlotte helped show her what to do, and she picked it right up!

 Then she decided that chewing on the crayons and trying to escape out of her high chair were a better idea!

 The crayons came out great and Charlotte loved passing them out at school! She even read all her friends names and put them into their Valentine's boxes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Although Chris and I could care less about Valentine's Day, we try to make it special for the girls. Charlotte woke up and got a few little things from Chris and I and she was thrilled it was Valentine's Day! She ran in to get Caroline yelling "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY CAROLINE!". Charlotte was thrilled. She got some bubbles that she preferred chewing on! We had breakfast together consisting of heart shaped french toast and Charlotte was off to school! 

(Nothing like your big sister to give you bunny ears on Valentine's Day!)

Walking!

A few weeks ago, January 19th to be exact, Caroline started walking. She had been taking a few steps here and there but finally got the hang of walking! As of now (two weeks later) she is a walking machine! She just doesn't like wearing bows in her hair and must remove them prior to walking...