Caroline's 3rd Birthday Party

Last year we had Caroline's party at our club house and it was miserable having to set up and break down everything so I said that the next party would be somewhere that all I had to do was to show up! And that's just what we did! We had her party at Catch Air...one of our local indoor playgrounds! It's filled with slides, jumping houses, etc. Caroline had a blast! My co-workers came over on Friday to help make the cupcakes for her party...I'm not the best when it comes to baking! My friends are SO great with Caroline and let her help with every part of the process. It was such a fun day and Caroline had so much fun making her party fun!




And the finished product....the strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese icing!

And the Funfetti cupcakes with Strawberry Icing...

Before we left for the party




Dancing away!

Caroline with her cousins!

Some of her friends at her party. There's a little boy in the back that isn't part of our group but he was so excited that he joined in on the picture! lol

Blowing out her candles!

Eating her yummy cupcake!

I'm going to post later this week about her actual birthday! It was so much fun and we made many memories!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Caroline! I can't believe it's already been 3 years since you've joined our family! What a blessing you have been to all of us! Mommy and daddy love you SO much and couldn't imagine our lives without you!


I'll post more later this week about our fun weekend celebrating Caroline's birthday! But for now...we are off to dinner at Chick-Fil-A and then we are taking her to see her first movie at the theater. We are going to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D! She's all ready to go in her Belle dress!

Jesus Calling

The last few months I have felt so empty with my quiet time with God. I've struggled to make time for it, beyond studying for the Bible studies that I'm in, and kept making excuses and saying I would just do it the next day, next day, etc! I have wanted to find something that would get me digging into the Bible and learning more about our amazing God. So, in December I decided that one of my new years resolutions would be to have specified quiet time with God daily and that I wouldn't let anything get in the way...no more excuses. Who doesn't have 20-30 minutes to devote to God and soak up his grace in quiet time? I mean, for me it's like giving up my TV or iPhone time to focus on God. I think I can do it!!!

I had several co-workers recommend this daily devotional to me and I love it! So far it's been everything I had hoped for! It's SO awesome! Every day that I've read it, I truly feel like it's God speaking to me! And I love that it has scripture for that corresponds with that days devotion.


I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for something to do daily to enrich their walk with God! You won't be disappointed!

Growing up...

Party planning is in full force around here for a sweet little girl that is about to be 3 years old! How in the world has three years already passed us? I feel like Caroline should still be a baby and now she's 2 years away from going off to kindergarten. Oh my...everytime I pass the school that she will be going to, I want to just start crying. I can't imagine her in a big school all by herself. Oh how I just hope she slows down on this growing up stuff!

Last Friday, Caroline and I had the best girls day! We spent a good portion of the day getting things ready for her party! This is a "silly face" picture that I took with my phone before we left!


And here she is at lunch with our friends eating Chick-Fil-A....her absolute favorite!


And speaking of growing up...she officially has a big girl bed!! I've been on the hunt for a cheap bed for awhile now. She's technically in her crib still...it's just converted to a toddler bed. My sister-in-law told me about an antique furniture store in Gainesville that she shops at so last Friday I met my mom there to see if they had anything. I walked in and immediately saw this awesome bed and nightstand! I was even more thrilled to see that it was in my price range! We really had wanted a white bed though so the lady said she would paint it for me and even give it the distressed look. My mom is ordering a mattress so we should be all set to get her new big girl room set up in the next week or so! I'll post pictures once we have everything in place!


And to end my post today, I thought I would show you a picture of my silly girl from the other night when we were playing with her Mr. Potato Head!



Have a great week!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas eve, we went to Blake's parents house for dinner and to open gifts! Caroline got loaded down with cool toys and matching hats that Nana made for her and her new doll.







Later that night, we went to my parents house. This has been our little tradition for the last three years or so. My mom fixes us a big breakfast on Christmas morning and we hang around the house and play with Caroline and all of her new toys!




On Christmas day, we went to my brothers house to open more gifts and have a delicious dinner! Caroline loves playing with her cousins!







Caroline got a ton of baby dolls this year! Good thing Santa brought her a baby bed, carseat, and bouncy seat for all of them! Smart guy! She's enjoyed playing with all of them and all of her new toys this week since we can't really go out anywhere.

And with Christmas over, this means that I have a special birthday party to plan for a cute little girl that's about to be 3....

No more tonsils...

We all had a wonderful Christmas! I promise to post pictures from our Christmas soon but first I wanted to post about how brave my little girl is! In August on our beach trip, Blake and I noticed that Caroline was snoring really bad (and I mean really bad!). I just thought maybe it's from being in a different place and that she might just be stuffy. Well a month later, she was still snoring really bad, making weird noises at night and not sleeping well at all (and she's normally an excellent sleeper). So, I took her to the dr which led us to the ENT. Her tonsils were gi-normous and needed to come out. So, since I am off this entire week we decided it would be the best time to go ahead and do it! So, yesterday we arrived at Scottish Rite bright and early!


They got us in a pre-op room and went over everything and we got Caroline all ready for her surgery. She really wanted her baby doll to have surgery with her so they put a band on her baby and a gown and she stayed by Caroline's side the entire time.




This was right before they wheeled her back! She had some "funny juice" in her and was fighting sleep.

Caroline did awesome through the surgery! Her dr said that it was a good thing we had her tonsils out b/c she had a lot of growth and bacteria behind her tonsils and around the lining so she should feel so much better once she recovers!



We did have to stay over night so they could monitor her since she's small and they wanted to make sure she would drink enough on her own. Sleeping in the hospital always makes me appreciate my bed SO much! Blake had to work today so we sent him home so that he could get a good nights rest and my mom stayed with Caroline and I! Caroline hugged baby Gracie all night!


She did good all night! We were thinking we were going to be released early today but she had to drink 3 juice boxes before we could leave and that took forever! We enjoyed wagon rides while waiting though:)





Here we are all ready to leave around noon today! We were SO thankful to be out of the hospital and on our way home. We ate lunch, got showers, and took awesome naps as soon as we got home! Here's to a quick recovery at home!

Fun weekend!

We packed about as much fun in one weekend that we could fit! On Saturday, we went to Lenox mall to visit santa and to ride the pink pig! Caroline didn't care too much about santa again this year. She wouldn't even let me go long enough for me to put her on santa's lap so the only picture we got was of her sitting in my lap and us sitting beside santa! She did perk up though when santa asked what she wanted for Christmas! She told him she wanted the doll that is not feeling well so that she could make her better. Good thing santa already bought her the feel better baby doll! She's going to love it:)

Here's Caroline last year with santa...

She was so upset so Blake and I got in the picture with her...

And here's this year's picture. (not the best quality since I was taking a pic of a pic from my iphone!)

While we were standing in line to ride the Pink Pig Caroline saw someone dressed up as a pig and freaked out. My child hates anyone in a costume and just loses it when she sees one near her. We keep saying that she'll be 16 before we will be able to take her to Disney World!! lol. So, as she's freaking out she's screaming that she doesn't want to ride, to please not make her ride the pink pig. Oh yes, everyone is starring at us like we are crazy parents for forcing our child to ride this crazy thing. I knew that it was just the gigantic person dressed up as a pig that she was scared of and that once she saw the actual ride that she would love it. And she did! She and her daddy rode it together and they both had a great time!




On Sunday, we had our annual Christmas get together with my mom's side of the family! I love getting to see everyone and spend time with each other. Caroline got 3 new dolls and a new doll stroller! She was thrilled!