Happy 2nd Birthday, Caroline

My sweet girl turned 2 on Wednesday and received an unwelcome birthday present... the croup. Rylan had a mild case over the weekend and it hit Caroline hard last night. I am also nursing a sore throat and headache, and Charlton's spasming lower back muscle is giving him fits. We are a pitiful bunch right now. I have to work both Wednesday night and Thanksgiving, so I am really hoping we all start feeling better soon so we can celebrate with our turkey dinner on Saturday.
Caroline is a bubbly, independent, active toddler. She is almost always charming us with her cute mannerisms or new phrases. She loved having her Aunts Anna and Bethany spoil her a few weekends ago and we even sat up late with her one night because she was being so cute and sweet we didn't want to put her to bed! This stage of life with young children can be so exhausting and demanding, but there are many times when I wish I could push the "pause" button because I know I will miss these precious moments with my kids.
We go to the doctor for our check-up next week, but at a recent appointment, Caroline weighed 28 pounds, almost the same as Rylan at this age. She wears size 2T clothes and a 6-7 shoe.
She loves to practice dressing and undressing, especially pants. I try to stick with the zipping sleepers for pajamas because one night Caroline took her pajama pants and her diaper off, went #2, and left a disaster in her crib for Charlton. She is still talking about how she "poop on Elmo, poop on Tad, poop on pillow.... and it was yuck!" She doesn't like having a dirty diaper, but when I put big girl underwear on her, she took it off and wore it on her head instead. I don't think we are quite ready for potty-training yet. Her "big girl bed" is on order and we will be making that transition soon. She is such a climber that I am truly amazed she has stayed in her crib longer than Rylan did. She still takes a good 2 hour nap each afternoon and sleeps from about 8:00 at night to 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. She is a pretty good eater, not terribly picky. Chocolate and pizza are her favorite junk foods and we recently re-introduced her to the wonderful world of ice cream. She is her mother's daughter in that way.
Caroline has a strong will and can throw some pretty impressive "falling-on-the-floor" screaming fits. She has also adopted Rylan's favorite "ugly" phrase: "Go away!" when she is really angry about something. She still hates being contained in a cart or stroller for shopping trips and the other day when she was really worn out, she kept yelling at me, "Turn around, Mommy. Turn around!" Thankfully, her bad moods are usually brief and she is quick to forgive and move on.
Caroline loves to sing and I love to hear her raspy voice belting out snatches of her favorites, one after the other. On one grocery trip, she was loudly singing "Sweet Caroline" from the grocery cart as we traveled up and down the aisles. Now we are singing Christmas songs, but you can tell her father and older brother have influenced her when she shouts, "Jingle bells, batman smells, Robin laid an egg." She talks more and in longer sentences all the time. I can understand most of what she says, but in a pinch, Rylan can usually translate for me.
She still prefers to play with Rylan's toys, but is stealing them less. Both kids will sometimes play games together or at least play contentedly with their own toys in the same room. I love the break from the constant refereeing. She likes to mother her baby dolls, especially Jessie, her new birthday doll. She also enjoys cooking in her play kitchen and taking care of us with her doctor set.
Caroline is terrified of loud noises, like the blender or food processor, and the car wash. Every time we drive by either of our two car wash places, she reminds me "Car wash scary, Mommy." Other than that, she is very brave and not easily shaken. So many times I have watched her fall hard, only to pick herself up and keep on running without shedding a tear. She absolutely loves to climb, the couch, rocks at Garden of the Gods, tables... We are always amazed to see such a little girl so fearless. As tough as she can be, I also delight in seeing Caroline's sensitive side. She often asks, "you okay, Mommy?" if I cough or sneeze, and if she finds anything resembling a boo-boo, she will talk to me in a sweet voice and give me kisses. Lately, she has been asking for hugs and kisses and even for cuddle time. I never turn down those requests.
Caroline, you bring such joy to our family. I love you dearly and can't wait to watch you grow this next year.

Caroline's 2nd birthday party

We celebrated Caroline's 2nd birthday with a family party on Saturday. It was pretty quiet and low-key, which was really wonderful. Bethany came over and joined us for pizza (Caroline's favorite dinner), presents and cake. Caroline had fun opening her presents, hearing us sing "Happy Birthday", playing with her birthday balloons, and tasting her cake.

I will write more about Caroline at 2 years later in the week, but I wanted to at least post some cute party pictures. Happy birthday to my best girl and little ray of sunshine! You fill our lives with joy, sweet Caroline!

One of my friends from Orlando made this adorable birthday shirt and tutu for Caroline. Check out her store on Etsy; the RoseyChicBoutique to see more cute monogrammed items.

Center of attention. I made her a fleece Tinkerbell blanket, since she has been more interested in Tinkerbell lately. I think she looks so cute with her leg tucked underneath and the tulle fanning around her.

Rylan had an easier time understanding that it was not his party, but still had trouble containing himself at present time. Thankfully, Caroline didn't mind his help too much.

Watching Toy Story is so much more fun with Jessie.

Mesmerized by the candles. She didn't manage to blow them out by herself, but Rylan was more than willing to help with that part also. My aunt Jean gave me a giant cupcake cake pan from Williams-Sonoma and this was my first opportunity to use it. The recipes I used didn't turn out quite as great as I had hoped, but I guess it is good practice for next time. Also, the buttercream frosting kind of made the fun shape of the top of the cake disappear into a big pink mound. I need to use more of a glaze next time so you can still see the outline of the cupcake top. And also I should probably just stick with chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate in our family. I think Caroline liked Rylan's chocolate birthday cupcakes way better than her vanilla birthday cake!

Did I mention it was Caroline's 2nd birthday?

Caroline eats ice cream

I always tell Caroline she is my sweet girl. I guess she though that eating ice cream off her arm would make it sweeter.

Sisters weekend

Anna flew out to Colorado for her first visit last weekend. Charlton was in Pittsburgh so we had a weekend just for sister time. It was wonderful to spend three whole days together to talk, laugh, and catch up on each other's lives.

We got a babysitter for Friday night and went out to eat at a fun Mexican restaurant downtown. The food was delicious and of course, I loved being able to just relax and eat a meal without refereeing kids. The fun shops downtown were already closed, so we just window shopped in the freezing cold and then ducked into Starbucks for some hot chocolate.
A trip to Colorado just isn't complete without a trip to Rocky Mtn. National Park. It was a very cold, overcast day, so the breath-taking views were all shrouded in the clouds. Still, the snow covered landcapes were beautiful and we saw an enormous herd of elk up close. We decided even the 0.6 mile hike was probably not safe with kids and a snowstorm getting heavier by the minute, so we stayed in the car most of the time. Maybe we can convince Anna to come back in the summer and do some hiking then.

Granite rocks are cold in the winter! We climbed up to a rocky overlook by the side of the road and snapped some quick pictures.
Thanks for coming, Anna. We made some sweet memories and I can't wait to do it again.

(Mom, don't worry, I will make sure you get copies of these pictures. :-)

Pumpkin muffins

I found a killer recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin muffins on allrecipes.com. I made my 3rd and 4th batches this week! They are so delicious and as you can see, they are a favorite snack at our house.

Doctor Caroline

Charlton travels for a conference about once a month. He usually gets a little present for the kids when he returns. This time, he found something for each of the kids before he left. Caroline got a doctor kit and her medical skills seemed to come naturally. I loved watching her "examine" her baby doll.

Listening to baby's heart.

Comforting baby after her shots.

"It's okay, baby."

Don't worry, Rylan got a present, too. He and Dad work on their transformers together.

Birthday at Garden of the Gods

My birthday was beautiful, warm and sunny. I was so happy Bethany could join us for a hike and picnic in Garden of the Gods. We had our first snow the next day so I am glad we took advantage of the nice weather while we could.

My rock climbing girl, searching for her next foothold.

I can totally see her being a competitive rock climber some day. Caroline is in her element on these rock formations. She has no fear, unlike her mama watching nervously.

Raking leaves

I really like raking leaves, the exercise, the cool weather, the smell of the dry leaves. It is a bit more challenging with kids helping, er.., jumping in your new piles.

Trick or treat, 2010

I have been trying so hard to get a good picture of Caroline in her cute pumpkin dress, but unfortunately this seems to be the best we can do this year. She was running a fever the next day, so maybe that explains the grumpiness.

Rylan the "War Machine" from Ironman. Charlton made him a weapon out of PVC pipe, painted it gray and attached a flashlight. It turned out very cool and I was glad for the extra light. Our neighborhood gets very dark after sunset. Another reason I didn't get any more pictures, because I didn't think they would turn out well in the dark. We need to start earlier next year. The kids enjoyed trick-or-treating, but, as I expected, we just made it around a few streets before they were cold, tired and ready to head for home. Rylan is already talking about what costume he wants for next year. It may take us a year to eat all this candy.





Some cute pictures of the kids cuddling before church on Sunday. Rylan wore his plaid because we celebrate the Kirkin of the Tartan at our church the last Sunday in October. There were bagpipe players and the musicians wore full Scottish garb. It was really neat and Rylan stayed in "big" church the whole service so he could watch.

Random news from this past week

Thanks to Aunt Martha, Uncle James, cousins JR and Christopher for Rylan's birthday Spider man pajamas. As you can see, they are a big hit!

On Saturday night, we hosted a dessert open house to celebrate Charlton's passing his national counseling licensure exam. We had so many delicious treats and I got a picture of most of the food before our guests arrived. We had apple pie, cheesecake, a brownie trifle (yum!), cookies, fruit, cheese and crackers, some delicious Kentucky wine Bethany brought... The guys hung out with cigars by the firepit in the backyard and us ladies cozied up inside by the fireplace.

I love this girl like crazy, but don't you think Caroline looks kind of scary in this mask? She did look adorable in her new sweater, but I couldn't get her to pose for a picture without the mask. This was a craft she made in MOPS to go along with the story of Daniel in the lion's den.

Love the combo of the lion mask and the two little buck teeth sticking out!

Both kids looking cute before we headed off to MOPS. I decided to buy down vests and fleeces instead of heavy winter coats this year and found some good deals on these gently used jewels on Ebay. Tuesday morning was 17 degrees, the coldest morning of the season so far, so they were glad for the warmth.

When mom is away....

Dad is in charge of bath-time and I found these little gems on my camera.

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Valentines to me...

Santa came early to my house this year and he was driving a Best Buy truck. I love my shiny new kitchen!

As Rylan says, we no longer have a refrigerator that goes, "Brrr, brrrrr." Well, we still have it, but it is now in the garage where it can make all the noise it wants.




I love having a flat top range and the new microwave is very nice also.
Thanks to Charlton for making me feel like a domestic diva!