A fun birthday!!!

Yesterday I turned a year older and a year wiser!!! Since Blake was off yesterday and since my birthday fell on a Friday (which gave me the opportunity to take a 3 day weekend) I decided to take off! We had a FULL day planned as a family. When I got up, my sweet hubby and child had me my favorite cupcakes, balloon, a card that C made for me, and a sweater. Then Blake says that he wants to take me to the AT&T store to buy a new cell phone. What a great start to my birthday!!! Blake and I had VERY old phones...I'm too embarassed to even say what they looked like but trust me...they needed to be updated! So, we both got new iPhones and LOVE them. How did we live this long without them???

After we got the phones, we headed to Leonx mall to ride the pink pig! Caroline loved it but sat so still the entire ride. It was funny.





Then we decided to go ahead and put C through the torture of seeing Santa! I knew she wouldn't like him but I wanted that yearly photo! I'm such a mean mommy!!! And, I was right...she HATED him. I mean shaking she was so scared of him.


So, we caved and saved her from the old man and took a picture with her! After we walked away, she said "Sweet Santa"! We laughed so hard! Guess he's not so bad afterall..or maybe it was the cute toy he gave her that helped win her over!


Then we came home for naps! I went to visit my friend Kim, who just had the sweetest little baby girl! Then we got ready and met my parents at a Japanese restaurant for dinner! Yummy! C loved the cupcakes!


Tonight, Blake and I are going to my company's holiday party! Should be fun! C is going to spend the night with my parents so I'm sure she'll enjoy getting spoiled!!!

Have a great weekend!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This year we let Caroline stay up late and help us decorate our tree. She had SO much fun putting our tree together! Every morning since we've had the tree up she wakes up saying "Christmas Tree!!!" I love that she is into Christmas this year. Makes it so much fun! Here's some pictures from our fun time together! (excuse the outfit...it's the outfit she wore to daycare that day!) She had a fit to wear her santa hat...which was too cute!






Now that the Christmas season is finally here, C can start wearing her cute Christmas outfits! These pictures don't do this outfit enough justice. This outfit is adorable on her and even cuter with the cute monogram that Tara did for her! (excuse the paci...just wasn't worth the battle)




Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I can't wait to share my own traditions with Caroline!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving hanging out as a family! We slept in, watched the Macy's parade, went to my parents house and ate yummy food! It was also my dad's birthday so it was a special day!!!

Caroline enjoyed helping grandma make homemade chocolate chip cookies!



Here's some pictures from our Thanksgiving day. It's SO hard to get pictures with an almost 2 year old!









And last but not least...here's the birthday boy!!! Happy Birthday Dad! Glad we could all take off for your birthday!!! ha,ha

Getting ready for Turkey Day!

Caroline wore her Thanksgiving dress to Church on Sunday. She looked so precious! I actually got her to pose (somewhat) beside our Thanksgiving pumpkin! I couldn't decide which picture to post..so here are all 3 of them!!!


We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I'm so ready to eat yummy food and spend time with my family! I LOVE this time of the year. We are so thankful for what God has provided for our family this past year!

Christmas Picture Sneak Peek

We had our Christmas pictures done a week ago with the best photographer ever...Farrah Nicole Photography!!! Caroline was a bit of a handful and did not want her picture taken but Farrah will work her magic and get us some great pictures! Farrah posted this sneak peek last night and I love it!!! So, since I haven't blogged in awhile, I thought I would share you this picture.



Farrah gave C smarties to bribe her to smile. C thought that Clarice (her reindeer) needed one too so that she would smile!!! Love my sweet girl!

Family Update

A lot is about to change in our family and I'm SO excited about it. And NO I'm not pregnant...for those of you that the thought might have just ran through your mind!!! Here's the new things going on in our lives...

Mommy Update:
This change may not be anything that anyone (except for my family) cares about but it's big for us! I've decided to change jobs. This has been an answered prayer for me. Anyone who knows my situation knows that I was laid off after Caroline was born in 2009. I was unemployed for a little over 2 months before I found the job I'm at now. God worked out all of the details perfectly and I started my new job the day my severance ran out. I've been at this job for over a year but have been feeling God tugging at my heart that there is something else out there that I need to be doing. My commute is usually over an hour one way...I can easily spend 2 1/2-3 hours in the car a day. This has been wearing on me b/c it takes time out of my day that I could be spending with Caroline or with Blake.

So, Blake and I have done a LOT of consistant praying and asking God for his will for our lives. Well, last Friday God answered our prayer. I got offered a job that is 15 minutes away from home; I'll be home by 4:30 everyday (this will give me 2 extra hours with Caroline that I recently haven't had); more pay to make our financial situation more comfortable; and a better career growth job. I couldn't have asked for more! God is SO good. The more I think about how all of this played out the more I see God's hands on all of the little details. I love that we serve a God that loves us and cares for us! We may not get exactly what we want when we want it but have faith that God will open doors in his timing. He does things that are best for you!

I can't wait to see what all is in store for our family in the future. Sometimes we have to go through hardships to get where we want to be. It's the hard times that make us stronger and who we are today! I can't wait to spend more time with Caroline. It breaks my heart to see her as the last kid in her class everyday. I just wonder if she ever feels like I'm never coming to get her when she sees all the other kids get picked up by their mommies. I'm so excited that she'll no longer be the last kid! It's the simple things in life that bring us the greatest pleasures!!!

Daddy Update:
Blake is working hard everyday and pulling in late hours. This is his busy season so we are preparing ourselves to not see him as much as we normally do. It's sad but the reward is nice! Caroline still gets to stay home with daddy on Thursday's. I think they both enjoy their time together! Blake and I also recently joined a small group at church. We decided that we needed to get back into a small group so that it will force us from our busy lives to focus on God...and to make amazing friendships with our group members!

Caroline Update:
Oh my...where do I start?? Caroline is such a mess these days but also has a very sweet side to her. She's getting closer to the terrible twos! We still are allowing her to have a paci at nap and bedtime but we hope to soon take it away. It's more us than her but we just haven't been ready to battle that fight yet. But I also know she can't have a paci forever so we'll start the battle soon! She's also getting ready to potty train. She'll tell me when she goes poop and she HATES being in a mess. So, I don't think it will be hard to potty train her but I'm waiting until she's fully ready before I start a full on potty training! She loves to give hugs and kisses. She says her prayers every night and will sing Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It's too cute! Melts my heart. She says pretty much anything now...which means we have to watch what we say! Tonight, I was fussing at her for taking her shirt off at the dinner table and she kept doing it. So I said, Caroline I mean it...you need to stop. The rest of the night she kept saying...I mean it, I mean it, I mean it. It was too funny not to laugh!

So, that's a quick re-cap of our crazy busy lives. Hope I didn't bore you too bad!

Party time!

Caroline got invited last Saturday to a birthday party for a little boy in her class at school that is turning 2. He's secretly her boyfriend...but don't tell daddy!!!

His party was so cute. It was a farm theme and they did a hay ride, fishing, jumping houses, and even had horses! Here's some pics of Caroline. I didn't get many b/c it was all I could do to keep up with her by myself! Oh and did I mention that it was FREEZING last Saturday?!?!

Her first try at a juice box by herself!


Can you tell how cold she is...her cheeks are so red!!! At this point she was shivering but so determined to stay outside!

She hated the jump house at first but once the bigger kids got out she tried it by herself and discovered that it wasn't so bad after all. I actually had to DRAG her away from this thing when it was time to eat. Oh yeah...she went down kicking and screaming in front of everyone!!! Fun times.

Caroline with her friend Megan. Megan wasn't so sure about the jump house either.

This isn't the best picture but this is Caroline with the birthday boy and her friend Chloe. Luke is too cute for words!!

Sunday we had our Christmas pictues made with Farrah Leigh Photography! I know, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet but what can I say...I'm a planner! It's my second nature!!! I can't wait to see how they turned out. C was such a pill and didn't want to do anything cute but I know Farrah can work her magic and make them beautiful!!!