My girls are getting too big too fast!

Last week Alyssa Kate went to a birthday party for her buddy Hannah and after the party I was looking at the pictures and realized that almost all of them were of Alyssa Kate and Greyson together. While there were many other children there, those two seem to stay together. They played air hockey together. It was funny to see them and remember all the times as a teenager and a college student I played that game...I can't believe I already have a child old enough to play. The party was in the children's area at our church and they have a really cool set up which includes beds of old trucks and I tried to get a picture of the two of them playing in there. When I went over there they were laying down with hands under theirs chins but of course when I made myself known they both changed their poses :)

Since Caroline started pulling up on furniture and standing up she has decided that she would rather do that than anything else. It has led to quite of few bumps on head but that does not stop her. In the last few days she has let go for a few seconds and wobbled a bit then grabbed back on to whatever she standing next to. She really enjoys cruising along the couch also. It has opened a whole new world for her to get all the things we have put out of her reach!

Caroline was born bigger than Alyssa Kate but only a little over a pound but since that time she has exploded in growth. I truly believe that God has blessed us with this tall child because it really helps our small income. The girls were born in opposite seasons and I was worried we would not be able to pass along any of Alyssa Kate's clothes. But I need not worry Caroline had been able to fit at every turn. She is 8 months old and has been wearing 12 month clothing for two months. I pulled out Alyssa Kate's 18 month clothing recently and it all will fit Caroline this summer. I will not have to buy her anything to wear...that does not mean I won't but it will be a lot less :) Today I put Caroline in a dress that Alyssa Kate wore when she was 14 months old. It is one of my all time favorites of hers, it was so funny to see Caroline in it. You will notice in the picture that Caroline's hair is up in the fountain on her head...that is because she has recently decided to take her barrettes out and eat them. Her hair is so long it hangs in her face so I had to come up with a different solution...it is pretty cute though.

Warm day, Lots of play!

Today was one of those fantastic Arkansas days where it should be 4o degrees outside and it is 70. The girls and I tried to spend as much time outside as we could, considering tomorrow it will be in the 40's again. Caroline can not walk yet so she spends a lot of time in one of two swings in the yard to keep her from eating things on the ground. She loves the green swing because it is suspended from a tree and has a huge swing girth.

When Alyssa Kate was 6 months old we figured out that we had already taken about 1,000 pictures of her since her birth (I know it is ridiculous) well so by saying that the girl knows a thing or two about getting her picture taken. While we were outside today she told me she wanted me to take a picture of her with this tree and when I turned around she was already posing like this. It cracked me up! We have created a monster :)

To cap off our day of fun outside we went over to play with Alyssa Kate's best buddy Greyson. We took the kids to a park in their neighborhood. Alyssa Kate and Greyson fight like brother and sister but like a brother and sister love spending time together and have fun doing just about anything. While swinging they would just look at each other and crack up. I love that their are such good friends!

There was this see-saw that they could stand on and we were sure that Greyson would surely launch my skinny girl across the park. They may only be 8 months apart in age but he almost 15 pounds heavier than her but some how with his bouncing she held on....that's my girl!

I also just have to throw this in because I thought it was too cute of Alisa and Greyson. This bar has a step and you stand on it and spin, well Alisa climbed on there and they had too much fun. Greyson was quite dizzy though afterwards and could not walk straight.

A not so free Valentine's and a standing baby

Friday night Wes and I went out for Valentine's Day because I was working on Saturday. We were very excited because not only did we have a gift card to eat at Macaroni Grill but I had also won two free tickets to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra production that by calling into a radio station a few weeks ago. We were going to have a really good free night! When we got to Macaroni Grill it was going to over an hour wait to be seated and that would only give us 30 minutes to eat before the symphony started. That was not going to work so we decided to go downtown and eat somewhere close to the where the show would be. We went to a restaurant right down the street and had some very yummy sushi! We were really having a good time talking about everything from law school, the girls, buying a house and even starting a restaurant. I looked at my watch to see how much time we had eventually and it was actually 5 minutes after the Symphony was scheduled to start. We were not finished with dinner and decided that we were having such a good time together talking that we would not go and find somewhere to get some dessert. After a very delicious dessert we drove home and spent time with Caroline who happened to be a awake. We realized how much we had missed just talking and spending time together. It was definitely worth giving up the free night to have quality time together!

I work only two days a week and I know that so many other mommies have to work much more but I really miss my my girls when I am away. Caroline though made my day today by waiting to until I got home to pull up to a standing position for the first time. She has been crawling to furniture recently and trying but had not figured it out yet. Tonight though she crawled over to a rocking chair and just pulled up like she has been doing it for years. Here is the sequence:

I thought it would be fun to put a picture of Alyssa Kate and Caroline the first times they both stood up. I looked at the date and it turns out they were both 8 months old.

Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day I thought it would be fun to make cards for some of our family. I was unaware that this would end up being a four day affair. I am not sure how a preschool teacher gets 8 kids to do a simple project all at one time. Between chasing Caroline and redirecting a 3 year old who wants to do 14 things at one time it became a marathon craft project rather than a short run. We made Valentines with Caroline and Alyssa Kate's hand prints that we turned into flowers for the grandparents. For the other family members Alyssa Kate used crayons, stickers and scissors.

Yesterday was a beautiful day so I moved the craft operation outside. The girls loved it and it was nice to get some fresh air. Alyssa Kate is trying to learn to use her scissors. Any suggestions on helping her hold them the right way or will it all just work itself out?

Today I put the girls in a couple of Valentine shirts I got them because tomorrow I will have to work and wouldn't get to see them wear them. I took about 12 pictures of them together and just had to settle for this one. Trying to take a picture of a 3 year old and wiggly 7 month old is a trip!One more pictures- For her birthday Alyssa Kate got a leotard from her Aunt Kathryn and she wore it yesterday for 2 hours. My favorite part was the Tinkerbell sock and Cinderella shoes!

The moments that make it all worth it!

I was cleaning the kitchen the other day and Caroline woke up from a nap. I went and got her out of her crib and put in the living room with her toys to play while I finished. I wasn't in the kitchen very long before I heard squeal's of delight, that is usually a sign of trouble i.e. the attack on tigger the cat. She had crawled to the other side of the living room and was "helping" me with the laundry.We were at mom and dads the other day to celebrate dads birthday and I got this great picture of Caroline playing with her Big Jon.

We had a storm roll through last night and it brought with it so really strong winds today. The girls and I went outside this morning to play in it and Alyssa Kate said it sounded "like a helicopter was sitting on our house". I took some pictures of them swinging together. Alyssa Kate spent quite a while swinging Caroline and as you can see they both loved it! Then Alyssa Kate wanted to swing too and thought it would be fun to sit on the swing sideways until the great hair puller struck again....being the good mom I took a picture before intervening :) Shortly after that she turned around and started swinging normally and told me "mommy put your camera down and come have fun with me and my swing". I thought that was great and I surely put my camera down and pushed her!

This afternoon I was changing the sheets on all the beds and after I did Alyssa Kate's bed I put Caroline up there so I could do hers and she would not get into the hundreds of toys she is not big enough to play with yet. When I put her on the bed she was sitting up but I guess the lovey and Alyssa Kate's nigh nigh were to appealing and she ended up laying down and sucking her thumb. I know I shouldn't think the thumb thing is cute but I really do!!!!

The funny things kids say!

I am always amazed how funny Alyssa Kate can be and thought I would share with you a few of our fun conversations recently.

1. We have been trying to have immediate and visible consequences for Alyssa Kate's negative behavior and last week she got mad about something in the car and took her bow off and threw it to the floorboard in the car. When she did that I told her that since she choice to throw it that she was choosing not to wear a bow for the rest of the week. That may not sound to bad but I had a plan to hammer the fact home. Having two girls we have collected many bows, some are big and some are little. Caroline usually wears the smaller ones but for the next few days I made a conscious effort to put the larger bows in her hair. I did not say anything about it to Alyssa Kate until she made a comment the first day that Caroline had one her bows in and she wanted to wear one. I told her that all of the bows belong to both of them and then reminded her about her choice and consequence. On the second day of the bow fun here is what our conversation consisted of:

Alyssa Kate: "Mommy, Caroline has one of my big bows in again, I want one"
Me: "Alyssa Kate, all of our bows are for both of you and you can not wear one today, do you remember why?"
Alyssa Kate: "Yes because I threw mine in the car but mommy come to my room please so I can show you baby Caroline's bows"

I thought it was hyserical that she might have thought I was confused about the bows and needed to show me : )

2. I was getting dressed the other day and was puting on my bra. Of course I was not doing this alone because I can do nothing alone with 3 year old and 7 month old.

Alyssa Kate: "Mommy, can you show me how to do that (referring to putting on the bra)?"
Me: "Yes, one day mommy will show you how to"
Alyssa Kate: "When?"
Me: "Well, when you chest is as big as mommy's I will teach you how to"
Alyssa Kate: pulling up her shirt "But mommy I have two of them here (pointing)"
Me: "Yes, you do but they are much to small to need a bra right now"
Alyssa Kate: " Caroline has a small chest too...but I think hers is bigger than mine"

Caroline is a little chunkier than Alyssa Kate so it is probably true that there is a size difference :) I was thinking though that I might have another ten years before they compared sizes :)

Hope you enjoy these....I know I did!

The attack baby

I was cooking dinner last night and heard our cat Tigger make an odd noise in the livingroom. When I went in the see what was going on I saw my precious sweet Caroline "loving" on her :) Poor Tigger!
She crawled all over her and tried to eat her.Then when Tigger had a enough and got up Caroline chased her!


Caroline has recently tried a sippy cup, most of the time she chews on the spout. If you look above her left eye near her hair line there is her first battle wound from crawling, a very small red mark.






Tonight Alisa, Greyson and Griffin came over to play. After dinner Alyssa Kate and Greyson watched a little Caillou. They were too cute cuddled up on the couch together.

The princess and the crawler

Alyssa Kate received a lot of great things for her birthday and every day we have tried to play with a few of them. Today she wanted to dress up in her "princess" dress. Her very great aunt Anna gave her a Cinderella dress and her Mimi and Pop gave her some dress up shoes that just happen to match. She then told me that a princess wears a crown, which we unfortunately do not have, but she settled for a pony tail and pretty bow. She looked too adorable and pranced around the house for almost two hours.

While Caroline does not have princess yet she is just as much of a ham :) I was trying to take some close up pictures of her today but she kept crawling over to the camera and trying to take it :)
The interference is cute though :)

She has been "combat" crawling for a month now and recently she has taken to getting on her knees and rocking back and worth, sliding one knee forward then giving up...we are progressing though :) She at cheerios for the first time today and thought that was very cool. She is getting great at her pincer grasp...she needs to though becuase her OCD mama breaks little cheerios into 4 pieces :)