Friday, February 19, 2010

Caroline's FIRST School Acceptance Letter

Congrats Caroline...your VERY FIRST school acceptance letter!
Yes, Caroline got accepted to Haymarket Baptist Church Pre-school!
She will be in the 2 1/2 year old class on Tu/Th from 9am-12noon starting in September 2010.

Now, onto Potty Training...we are making progress, S-L-O-W-L-Y but surely. Let's hope we can achieve our goal of being completely potty trained by August 15. This is the ONLY requirement...easy, right?! Say some prayers for us, will you! ;~)

We'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, here is Caroline with her FIRST school acceptance letter...Mommy & Daddy are so PROUD of you...what a BIG girl! We love you! Here's to many more to come!

Love,
Caroline's Mommy

Caroline hiding behind her letter.

Here she is...what a BIG smile...she's SO PROUD! Her shirt says it all!




Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

Some people say that you should act as if it were Valentine's Day EVERYDAY to the ones that you LOVE! I think this is SO TRUE! I know one Valentine that experiences this EVERYDAY and that is our special little girl, Miss Caroline. She has SO MANY people that LOVE her so very much! I hope she knows how special she is to ALL of us!
So, how did we spend our Valentine's Day. We spent the morning visiting a church as a family, followed by a breakfast out together and then home to snuggle and nap and play!
This year we celebrated the day as a family...boy do things change! I think the first year Caroline was born, Brian and I went out to dinner by ourselves while Grandma watched Caroline at home, the second year, Brian and I went to lunch by ourselves while Grandma and Grandaddy watched Caroline at home, and this year we made it out to Breakfast at Cracker Barrel...how romantic! ;~) But I wouldn't trade it for anything!
So, here are some pics of our day. If you are wondering why there is no Brian/Daddy in these pics...he didn't want to be photographed today with his glasses...too funny! So, he volunteered to be the photographer for Mommy & Caroline. Enjoy!
Our Valentine with her Valentine gifts from Mommy & Daddy.
And yes, if you can't tell, that IS chocolate all over her mouth...THANK YOU Mommy & Daddy!

Caroline hugging her new stuffed animal froggie friend! So Sweet!

And more hugs!


And More!


Mommy's little Valentine giving her a kiss! I LOVE those kisses!

And I LOVE those hugs!

Now Caroline gives her doggie friend, Mattie a BIG HUG!

We were all excited to see these three deer in our backyard...during the day...couldn't believe it...think they were looking for food.
Caroline & Mattie were VERY excited about our deer friends!
Our deer friends visited us in our backyard today.

A better shot of our deer friend...had to get the telephoto lens to capture.

The three of them leaving our yard, heading back into the woods...they are so pretty!


Caroline says, "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Mommy made a pink heart out of play-doh...Caroline placed it on her heart...too cute!


Hope you had a wonderful time spending the day with your Valentines!
Love,
Caroline's Mommy










Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Playing Catch Up!!

Finally...I have caught up on ALL of my postings! I can't believe I had Summer postings sitting there waiting for me to finish...now everything is up to date! So if you would like to catch up with us as well, please feel free to rewind back to Summer 2009 (which is not a bad thing to think about now, with all this snow) and come along with us on our journeys.


I hope you enjoy all the pics of our family and I promise to do a better job keeping up with our happenings this year!


I guess this is one advantage to being SNOWED IN!! Time for catching up on life happenings!


Enjoy!


Love,
Caroline's Mommy

They say things come in 3's, right?

Well, that's true for BIG snow storms this year!
Snow, Snow, and More Snow...that is all you see everywhere you turn!
It really is AMAZING!

So, today's storm was classified as a "Blizzard Condition Storm."
The winds were gusting and blowing snow everywhere...causing snowdrifts all around.
Some of our trees in the backyard, waited down by the snow, snapped off in places.
We were fortunate that we never lost power...thank goodness! Especially since I can't find our big flashlight anywhere...I wonder who has that...yes, you guessed it, Caroline LOVES to play with the flashlight! So who knows where it could be.

Brian went out and shoveled more snow and we managed to make it out there for literally 5 minutes. It was just too windy and cold to stay! No playing today...maybe tomorrow. But of course I snapped a few photos of our little girl and our big girl Mattie too!

And nothing is better than a cup of Hot Chocolate made by the CocoMotion Machine...mmm...DELICIOUS, as Caroline says!

Enjoy...hope you all are staying warm!

Love,
Caroline's Mommy

Here's our little girl in her snow outfit again...let's just say those Target Snow boots have been well worth the money this year!
All smiles!

I love this little girl! She's my Valentine for sure!

Well, I tried to get a photo of our two girls, but one was hiding behind Mattie!

There she is...she decided that Mattie needed some cold snow on her back...I'm sure Mattie appreciated that one! She's one good dog to put up with ALL that she puts up with!

And here's a pic out front of our snowy home.

Just look at the mounds of snow...I think we will be looking at this stuff for a long time!

And yes, the best part of playing outside in the snow, is coming in for Hot Chocolate made by the CocoMotion Machine...Mmmm..









Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Potty Project

So, I decided that since we have been SNOWED IN for the past few days, from the happenings of the "Storm of the Century," where we got a total of at least 30 inches of snow, that I would begin the dreaded Potty training process with Caroline.


I am calling it, "The Potty Project." Which I stole from the advertisement for Pull-Ups! But it is definitely a project! Caroline is at the point where she will tell me if she is wet or if she had poopy, as we call it, in her diaper. She will say, "Mommy I need a new diaper!" So, I figured that is a good sign that she is in the beginning stages of being ready to be potty trained.




So, we got our DVD, entitled, "Once Upon A Potty For Her" with Prudence being the main character, and we watched it at least 3 times. I figured they say that it takes someone three times to respond to an advertisement/commercial, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to watch it for repetition and for the fun of it...it does have a "Potty Song" to sing along too, which I must say is a catchy tune! Once you get it in your head, it's hard to get it out!



Next, we put on our big girl underwear for the day (Dora The Explorer) and managed to go from 8:30am until 11am without an accident. But then...we had our first pee-pee accident of the day. So onto our next pair of big girl underwear (Dora again!) but this time we had an accident about 30 minutes later and then another and another...so, needless to say, it was a frustrating day for both of us! Lots of laundry too!


I am trying to teach her how to use the big girl potty (toilet) because at pre-school she will have to be potty trained and be able to use the toilet, with assistance, not a potty seat. So, I didn't want her to get use to sitting on a little potty and not be able to transition her to the big potty.

But we will see how that goes...maybe we will need to take Baby Steps! :`)


So, at the end of the day, I decided to do what most first time mommies do when they have questions about how to do something with their first born child, and that is, take a look at the two books that I have on potty training, which one is entitled, "Toilet Training in Less than a Day." I found some new ideas to try for tomorrow! But I figure, Caroline will go in her time...the one thing that I can't do is force her...she is too strong willed for that! I wonder where she gets that from?



I figure we have until August 15 to be completely potty trained in order to attend pre-school this upcoming year, so no better time than the present, since we are SNOWED IN anyway, to start the process! Wish me luck!!





Here are a few pics of my little girl in her potty training attire...sometimes you just have to be creative!! ;~)



Love,

Caroline's Mommy




Caroline is modeling a panda shirt, Dora panties, and Mommy's pink high heel shoes!





She is also accessorized holding a strainer with her Snuggle Puppy dog housed inside!


Another shot of our Model...too cute!



Miss Personality!



















Saturday, February 6, 2010

"Snowmageddon"

Yes, this is also known as, "The Storm of the Century."
It was unbelievable...it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing!
And in the end, we ended up with over 30 inches of snow!! CRAZY!

So, needless to say, we snuggled up inside and watched the snow fall and fall and fall!
It's such a Winter Wonderland...AMAZING!

So, what do you do when you have this much snow...you take pictures to capture the historical event. Who knows when we will ever see this much snow again! Well, you also play in the snow, but that's a given!!

So grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy these Winter Wonderland pics!



Love,
Caroline's Mommy



Look at all this snow...

More Snow...


And More Snow...

Oh, I forgot, this is also what you do when you have this much snow...you have to shovel! Thanks B!

Taking pictures from inside where it is warm!

Daddy shoveled a path on our deck into the backyard for Mattie...she could hardly get through the heavy snow...she actually jumped like a rabbit in order to get where she wanted to go.

The trees in our backyard...beautiful.

I love this tree...isn't it pretty!

Neighborhood pics of ALL the snow!

Here's Mattie...sniffing the snow

Caroline posing for the camera, but the sun was too bright!

Here's another shot of our little cutie.

Caroline sitting on top of "Tallest Mountain" as she called it anyway. Does this sound familiar to anyone...yes, "Dora the Explorer." We LOVE her!

A close up of our snow princess.

I LOVE that smile!

Daddy & her friend/neighbor James helping Caroline take a ride on the wooden sled.

Here she goes...hold on tight!

Weee...this is fun!

At the bottom...Again?

Help me up Daddy!

Mommy & Caroline snuggling in the snow!

Mommy & Caroline

Look at me...Brian wanted to get a picture of that...by the way, I was just pretending! ;~)

Look at ALL that snow!

Now, it was Caroline's turn to shovel or at least pretend like Mommy. Notice her friend James watching beneath his sunglasses...too funny!

Wow...this is A LOT of snow...and it's COLD!

Caroline playing with the neighbors, James & Gracie.

Here, try this...it's good...Ok, Caroline says! She'll try anything...we better watch out!

Look at this BIG SNOWBALL!

Mmm...this is Good!

All the kids in the neighborhood walking through the snow mountains on either side.

Caroline watching the kids play.

Daddy & Caroline...this was right before we went inside...this little girl was tired!

Mommy & Caroline...she's so sleepy...time to take a nap!

Ok, one last pose for the camera before we go inside...SMILE!