Saying goodbye to 2009

Needless to say, two kids kept us quite busy in 2009! We apologize for being out of touch for such a long time. I am in the process of going through our 300+ Christmas pictures so hopefully, I will have some to post soon.

2009 was a great year for our family. The addition of Andrew in February of '09 was definitely the highlight of our year. Andrew is now 10 months + and into everything! He, unlike his sister at his age, has already started crawling, pulling up, cruising and is even trying to climb our stairs. He currenlty has 4 bottom teeth and his 2 front teeth are starting to drop down. At his 9month appointment he was 22 lbs and has dropped to around the 70th percentile for both weight and height. He is talking (well, babbling really). His primary word is bye-bye, bbbb...bye-bye...(repeat, jabber, jabber, repeat). Our experience has definitely been that girls talk a lot more and boys are more active. Andrew is full of energy and a lot of fun! It is hard to believe that the time has come for me to start planning his ONE YEAR birthday. While it has been a great year, it will be said to say good-bye to Andrew's "baby" days (sob, sob!).

Caroline still enjoys preschool and was excited to start back today. She loves the fact that Andrew is becoming more active and able to "play" with her more. Our BIG Christmas gift this year was the fact that our BIG girl is now 110% potty trained (day and night). Around November Caroline spotted a Beauty and the Beast tea cart in the Disney store and asked if Santa would bring it to her on Christmas. Why I chose the response I did, I don't know...but, I said, "if you are potty trained by Christmas, I guarantee you that Santa will bring you that cart." Well, that was all it took for our strong willed Miss Priss to go home and ask to put on her BIG girl panties (prior to this she was going potty but she was not willing to let pull-ups go - they were just more convenient she once told me). We are LOVING our new pull-up free life with Caroline. To better explain just how trained she is let me give you three good examples: 1) awoke us last night at 2:30 am by knocking on our door and asking to go potty, 2) likes to go "all by herself" & 3) 2 nights ago she even got out of the tub to go "tinkle!" To say we are estatic at her sudden breakthrough is an understatement!! And yes, everyone of you did say, "Don't push it, she'll do it on her on time and when she does that will be it."

As far as Ben and I go, we were blessed to celebrate our 7th anniversary in December and we truly are more in love today than we were the day we said our vows (mushy, mushy I know but it's true). We are still grateful to have our same jobs -- I will celebrate my 10th year at my Company this year, and Ben continues to enjoy his work with the State. Ben completed his 3rd TSO Orchestra event December 20th (where he truly "rocked" our church with some awesome guitar licks) and he continues to participate in our church's orchestra and teach guitar lessons to 7 students. We absolutely LOVE our Life Group at North Metro and are looking forward to 2010 as we continue to grow closer friendships.

Overall, we are just grateful that God has afforded us so many blessings in 2009. While many looked forward to saying farewell to 2009, we will definitely miss the moments we have enjoyed over this last year. We are eager to learn what God has in store for our family in 2010!!

Fall Photo Fun!

We took a family picnic to the park on Sunday and enjoyed breathing in the fall air and observing the beautiful fall foliage. Caroline was not feeling her typical bouncy self so we did not get too many photo opportunities of her by herself, but we were able to capture a few good ones of Andrew. We saw a local photographer out at the park taking family portraits and he was kind enough to walk up and ask to take ours (including Gigi) with our camera. I thought the picture he took turned out great and I know Gigi (Ben's mom) loves it! If you haven't already, get out and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. God has blessed us with so much to enjoy in nature that we should not take it for granted.

Our Little "Treats!"

Caroline really got into dressing up this year. She dressed up not once, not twice but THREE times in TWO different costumes -- neither of which were the costume we had planned! :) Her first dress up opportunity was at preschool. Her school hosted a Costume Parade. Caroline was planning to go as Ariel (her Mermaid costume from her birthday party -- remember that story!), but she changed her mind the day before and decided to go as Snow White (thanks Aunt Anne for the costume!). I must say she did make a beautiful Snow White. The night before the Costume Parade, she and I enjoyed some GIRL time which started with a bubble bath fit for a Princess, followed with a spa pedicure and manicure and ended with a dress rehearsal. What fun!

Our church hosted a Trunk or Treat event the Wednesday before Halloween where Caroline announced she was going to go as Ariel an hour before time to leave for the event (She had planned to go as Snow White earlier in the day). I turned into Super Mom and swung into action to mend the Ariel costume which had gotten ripped during her birthday festivities. I got it all fixed just in time to hear Caroline say she had changed her mind "again" -- She wanted to go asSnow White after all. As I started to pull the Snow White gown over her head, she spotted a pair of Butterfly wings in her dress-up box, and that was it -- she no longer wanted to be Snow White...but instead, she wanted to be none other than, you guessed it, a BUTTERFLY! I decided that it wasn't worth my breath to argue with her. Instead, I decided to make dressing up "fun!," so I started pulling things from her closet and drawers to help us pull off a Butterfly costume-- I hope this isn't a glimpse into our future (an indecisive three year old dressing up is one thing but I hope this doesn't become a pattern).

Andrew wore his Pirate costume from Caroline's birthday party. Of course, it was quite cool once we got to church so he pretty much stayed in his stroller bundled up with a blanket. Luckily, we did manage to get a few pictures before the festivities began.

On Halloween night, Caroline was back in the mood to be Snow White again. We took Andrew over to the Appling's and then Ben and I took Caroline door to door trick or treating. We hit up a few houses in the Appling's neighborhood and then headed over to visit some friends. Their neighborhood proved to be "the" neighborhood for trick or treating (nearly every house was decorated w/ lights and there were kids everywhere, along with golf carts, wagons and trailor pulls w/ kids). We definitely plan to go back next year! All in all Caroline had a GREAT "1st" Trick or Treating experience.

Caroline knocking on the first door.

Do YOU think we look alike?

People are constantly telling us that they think Andrew looks just like Caroline when she was a baby, so the other day I dug up these milestone pictures-- too funny how we had many of the exact same poses. Tell us what you think? Do you see the family resemblance?

Bathtime in the inflatable duck- 7 months

First Foods - 6 months

Portraits - Andrew 4months; Caroline 3months

Caroline the School Girl!

Caroline started a two year old preschool class at our church on Sept 10th. Yes, she did turn 3 in September for those who are confused. Georgia's cut-off date for starting school is September 1st, so Caroline would have had to be 3 by September 1st (which she was not - her bday is the 3rd).

Caroline's class has a website http://www.northmetrotwos.blogspot.com/ if you'd like to follow her year. Her teacher is Mrs. Jan and her assistant teacher is Mrs. Jenell -- both are awesome and Caroline dearly loves them. Caroline's class is currently going through the alphabet, learning to share, and walk in a line. The teachers are very creative and Caroline often comes home with handmade crafts and fun projects! Caroline's class mascot is a lamb named Marshmellow (see 1st project of Marshmellow below).

Here are some pictures of Caroline's first day. She was excited about carrying her backpack (which she has actually carried for a while, but carrying it to school was very exciting for her). Of course, the first day we discovered that she has a school bag which she will take instead of her backpack. Each age group has a different color school bag. Hers is red and has her name and teacher's name on it. This helps during dropoff. The school is very organized (which I, of course, love). Pickups and dropoffs have been a breeze! Of course, Mom got the first homework assignments: make homemade play dough and bring a birthday treat to celebrate Caroline's bday w/ the class (we made double doozie chocolate chip cookies w/sprinkles-Yum!)

Andrew's Baby Dedication

We had the joy of presenting Andrew before our church at North Metro First Baptist on August 30th. The service was so sweet with Pastor Cox challenging Ben and I to raise Andrew in a Christian home. We then were presented with a letter for Andrew to read on the day he accepts Christ. Andrew did very well in front of so many people. Caroline got to sit in big church and watch while sitting with the grandparents. We weren't sure how she would do, but she did great. She was in awe of everything and enjoyed watching Andrew up on the stage with us. It was a sweet day for us all!

Our Little Princess is THREE!

The night before the party, Ben and I stayed up late while I worked on the Princess cake and Ben and I decorated the house. We set up several stations around the house. First we planned to have the guests arrive and walk on a red carpet to enter the house. Next stop was the dressing room (our dining room was staged with princess tiaras, bangle bracelets, earings, rings and of course Pirate accessories - hats, knifes, hooks, coins, etc). In the dressing room the kids were also able to make their own fruit loop necklaces.

After choosing all of their accessories, the children were guided into the playroom where Princess and Pirate tatoos were applied. While the pizza was being picked up, I served the kids a snack mix of teddy grahams, m&m's, pretzels and goldfish in colored icecream cones (yep snack, pizza and cake were on the menu...sugar them up and send them home).

We then led them into the kitchen where the kids were able to color at the table and make foam, fans using geometrical stickers. Then it was pizza time! Most of the kids were too excited to eat much, but they looked so cute all dressed up sitting at the kid-sized tables in the playroom.

After a brief playtime, it was time for cake. The Princess doll cake was a big hit and the kids had fun blowing blow horns at Caroline while she blew out her "3" candles. We then moved the party to the living room for Caroline to open the presents. Of course, she did what any 3 year old would do and faced her chair toward the presents (as her friends all gathered around). The gift opening was a total free for all! Next time, I will know to have the kids all seated before starting the gift opening time. Caroline received lots of nice gifts -- a baby doll, click and dress puppy dog, princess gown, playdough set, stickers, princess game, computer game, and of course some Little Mermaid stuff!

Once the presents were all opened, we took the kids outside to dig for jewels and play in the backyard. The kids about wore Ben out having him give them chariot rides (in the wagon of course)!

All in all it was a successful party and Caroline had the BEST time -- even if she was "The Mermaid" at her Princess Party.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com