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Halloween Fun!

Yes, I know it's almost Thanksgiving but "better late than never" seems to be my motto these days. We had a lot of fun with Halloween festivities this year. I'll let the pics tell the story!

Fall Festival at Crossroad with Grandmama






Carving our pumpkin





Pumpkin Patch Party with Ella and Kailyn



Making cookies for her Halloween party at school


Trick or treating with Daddy, Julie, Todd, Ella, Rebecca, and Kinsley




*We joked that we left our ghetto-ish neighborhood to go get candy from the rich folk at the country club! :-) We had so much fun with them. John was a big fan of a wagon with adult beverages in it for the daddies!

Checking out her loot the next day (got in too late on Halloween night to dig in!)

22 & 23 Months

This will be another long one since I'm so far behind. Maybe since I'm about to catch up, it won't happen again. Yeah, right! I am still in shock that Caroline is almost 2! She is growing and learning more and more everyday. It is so fun to watch! Here are 2 months worth of Caroline facts:

*She told me "love you, Mommy" without me saying it first! It came out of nowhere and I loved it! She's also starting giving good hugs and actual kisses. Before when you asked her to give you a kiss, she just turned her cheek so that you could kiss her.

*She loves stickers! We've been using them for potty training, and now she has a stash that she's allowed to put in her notepad. That will occupy her for at least 10- 20 minutes.

*She is understanding almost everything you tell her--such a little sponge! She still repeats everything you say and is using so many sentences! I've had a lot of people tell me they're impressed with how much she talks.

*She kind of looks like a drunk kid when she "runs". :-) I've asked my friend who is a PT about this and she swears that she's within normal limits for her age. Guess I'm going to believe you, Kristin! Her fine motor skills rock!

*When she's playing upstairs while I'm getting ready, she opens and closes doors a million times while saying "miss you", "see you tomorrow", or "after while crocodile".

*She is a dancing queen. Apparently, she convinced her Daddy to have a 30 minute dance party the other night while I was out. :-)

*She loves swinging again. She loved it when she was little and then decided it was more fun to push the swing. But now she likes to be on the big kid swing and will actually sit there for a long time.

*She still loves shoes and now loves jewelry. While I'm taking a shower, she will usually have 1-3 pairs of shoes to put on. My mom sent her plastic bracelets (or rings, as she calls them) for Halloween and she got some spider rings while trick or treating, and she loves to put them on a million times a day.

*She got to watch me play softball and loves to play with her softball and glove I gave her (she calls them both "softball game").

*She's eating more and will try almost anything I give her. But won't hesitate to say "don't like (yike) it". She still weighs around 24 pounds.

*She is getting really into drawing, coloring, and painting.

*When she plays with my phone, she holds it to her ear and says "hello", then holds it in front of her and says "cheese" and then asks to watch Fresh Beat on it. Gotta love iPhones!

*Whenever she's playing with her phone and you ask who she's talking to, she usually says "Roro" (my sister).

*She's not watching Toy Story as often but still likes Fresh Beat Band and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She has started watching Olivia and Dinosaur Train too.

*She definitely pays attention to everything. When a commercial came on the other day, she pointed and said "Harry Potter". Yup, you can tell I started reading them and watching a HP marathon not so long ago. :-)

*She's a model now! One of our patient's mom does the photography for a company called Smockadot Kids, and Caroline got to be in a photoshoot! She did great and has been on their FB page and is on their website.

*She loves all things Disney and is in heaven when we go in the Disney store. She can name some of the princesses and all of the Mickey characters. I cannot wait to take her to Disney for her birthday!!

*She was obsessed with her princess Halloween book. I think we read it at least 5 times a day.

*Potty training. Ugh! I shouldn't say that. She's doing really well peeing in the potty (as long as I remember to take her--she will tell me sometimes that she needs to go) but will not poop in the potty. So frustrating! Bribing hasn't worked and when she poops in her pants, she says "I scared poop". Any advice??

*When we're rocking at night, she will stick up her foot and say "piggy" for me to do "this little piggy".

*She's still rear facing in her carseat and will be for awhile longer.

*She's always had a dimple in her left cheek, but I just discovered that she has a little one in her chin like me! :-)

*She loves the Sugarland song "Stuck Like Glue" and will always ask for "song please" whenever we're in the car. She also likes "Sweet Caroline". She sings along with both.

*She can count to 4 by herself and to 11 with a little prompting.

*She went through a phase where she thought everything was blue when you asked her what color it was. Now we're getting different answers, and sometimes they're right!

the princess book--she had to read it before bed and have it 1st thing every morning

This is Minnie she got when she started using the potty like a big girl. :-)

Love how she's all sprawled out!

2 Months Worth of Updates!

Ok, I know. I am the worst blogger ever these days! Sorry that I've been MIA for almost 2 months. I honestly don't know where the time went. A lot has gone on since my last post. Here are the highlights:

1. My friend, Casey, and her hubby, Brian (who happens to be one of John's good friends) came to visit with their little ones (PJ and Helen) toward the end of September. It was so great catching up and meeting the baby! Loved that the Air Force deployed Brian to Tampa!


2. GIRL'S TRIP!!!! 3 of my best friends and I have been planning this trip since last year, and I was so excited that we finally made it happen. We packed up with the kiddos (minus Luke--we missed you!) and headed to Destin for a long weekend. It was so much fun seeing everyone as mommies. This was my 1st time to meet Andrew and we all got to meet baby Lila. The condo was amazing, the beach was gorgeous and the company couldn't have been better! I was so sad to leave everyone. I really wish that we lived closer than Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and New Jersey...






3. We visited Conner's A-maize-ing Acres for all sorts of fall fun--corn maze, pumpkin patch, farm animals, cow train, hay ride, and a yummy cookie to top it all off!









4. My mom and dad came to visit for a week. Caroline was in heaven with her Grandmama and Grandaddy to spoil her! We hung out, shopped, had car trouble (so glad my Daddy was here since John was out of town), ate veggies from the garden, and went to the park. They also brought the table my sweet Uncle Junie made me when I was a little girl. Caroline loves eating lunch at her big girl table!




5. My birthday was last week, so I decided that we should celebrate by going to the zoo. Caroline was a terror that morning, so I wasn't sure if we would make it there but we finally did! We had a great time! John and I celebrated a couple of days later with a super yummy dinner and super yummy martinis at Bonefish Grill.




6. We took Caroline to the fair this past weekend. She was very solemn on the rides at first but seemed to be having fun. Maybe her face was just frozen since it was so cold and windy! She and I rode everything she was tall enough for. And John and I really enjoyed all the fair food--chicken on a stick, corndog, and fried Oreos!




7. Quick update on me--I had a girl's trip to Orlando in mid-September. I went to see So You Think You Can Dance with some girls from work. But 1st we went to Ikea. This was my first time there. I think I'm in love. :-) I definitely won the award for most stuff bought! The pic of the car is all of our luggage plus our Ikea purchases (most of which are mine) crammed into Kristin's awesome Honda Pilot. I think this should be in their advertising somewhere! I'm making all sorts of fun stuff with my applique machine. Here are some pics, and my organizing goodies I bought at Ikea (sorry for the bad lighting--I was too lazy to turn on the lamp). I've started running. Kristin and I said we were going to run a 5K in November. Guess what--it's November! And it's not happening this month, but we pinkie promised to do on one December 10. Too bad I started my Couch to 5K program about 4 weeks too late! I'm also hosting a trunk sale this week for an awesome company called Smockadot Kids (www.smockadotkids.com). This picture of Caroline was taken by one of our patient's moms for the website. Go shopping and put me down as your hostess with the mostest! :-) I know, it's late and I'm super cheesy!








8. Oh, I almost forgot! A big group of us went to a Jags game to support our super awesome patient, Luke, who did the coin toss! How cool is that??? Kristin made our fantastic signs. :-)




Whew! I'm tired! Hope I didn't lose anyone along the way. Tune in tomorrow or Wednesday to read about our Halloween and get Caroline's 22 and 23 month updates.

PS--One more thing, I promise. Last month, I guest posted on my friend's (McCall's) blog. You can check it out here.