Caraline Turns One

Our little Caraline turned one this past week. We celebrated with cinnamon rolls in the morning and opening a few gifts before Abigail headed to school. We were kind of lame parents and only purchased her sippy cups as presents. Thankfully, our sweet neighbor lady Ms. Donna sent a package with goodies for Caraline and the girls, so all were satisfied. Nani came to spend the day and we also had a Starbucks treat later on that afternoon. Caraline had a little fever that day so she wasn't feeling the best but she was still pretty smiley. On Saturday, since we had such lovely weather, we invited a few other families from church for a cookout. There were 8 adults and 15 kids for dinner. It was a really fun night. Caraline enjoyed her dog cupcake. (They kind of looked like bears since I had to cut the ears short to fit, but they were supposed to be puppies.) The big kids ran around like maniacs. The daddies were egging them on by playing monster, which also involved a headless horsemen. There was a lot of happy screaming - can't imagine what our neighbors thought! Caraline loved all of the action and toddled around the yard with the big kids too. We are so thankful for our little peanut  and look forward to all the God will do in her life over the years. She seems like such an active, social girl already.

All ready to party!

Cinnamon rolls anyone?

Cupcakes!

Ready for bed!

I pulled off my sticker!

The big sisters

Always on the go these days!

Connie and Caraline

Jeremy was able to pull a great photo of his mom and Caraline from off his iPhone. It's a still shot taken from a video of them walking together. Pretty amazing technology!

Catching Up

One of February's highlights was getting a visit from the Indiana Smiths. The girls loved spending time with their grandparents, and they were gracious enough to let Jeremy and I have a few nights out together. We even saw a movie, which was a special treat.  Richard took the girls for their annual pink sprinkle doughnut run. Somehow it's better if he pulls them in the wagon too. We were sad that Grandpa got sick again this year, but are hoping that he will still visit us next year!

Happy Olivia

 We stayed pretty close to home for the week. Our big outing was a trip to the Oakland Zoo. Had a great time together and even got to the see the baby giraffe. Caraline is really into petting animals so she was thrilled to get a chance to see the goats. I didn't get any good photos of Connie but she was here too! It was a treat to have them out!!

Girls at the Zoo

More Zoo

And More Zoo

Valentines Day Cake

11 Months

Here are Caraline's 11 month shots. It's getting really hard to get a good photo of her on the couch since she is so mobile. She's taking steps and getting closer to walking.

10 Years and 10 Months

Jeremy and I celebrated 10 years of marriage last month. We had a quiet dinner with the kids that night. I am sporting the dress that Abigail picked out for me for Christmas. I guess she really wanted to get me a dress for Christmas and so Jeremy took her to Goodwill to pick something out. She was insistent that this minty prom dress was the ticket. Thought that counts! Caraline also turned 10 months January 1st. She is a sweetie and quite cute too!

Christmas

Here are some photos from Christmas. We had a great time, with the extra treat of having Ruth and Adam in town as well for the holidays. The girls had such fun with their aunts and uncles!


As usual, my kids are incapable of taking 'normal' photos with the Sidors. This is the best we got! They took the girls to see The Muppet movie, which was a hit. Olivia sat through the whole thing on Aunt Ruth's lap. Both clutched their tickets tightly during the show, well at least until Olivia ate hers. No joke. That next day all of us gathered at our place for hanging out and decorating Christmas cookies and Zacharys. Olivia is sporting her new Elmo pjs from the Wilsons below. We spent the next several days either in Novato or Concord and really had a blessed time together as a family celebrating Jesus' birth.





Abigail excited to see Christmas lights.

 

Quick Post

Here's Caraline as we found her during dinner one night - she had the teething biscuit stuck to her head! The girls, of course, thought that was hilarious.


Abigail was Star of the Week before Christmas. It involves various duties, one of which is to pick a special guest to come into the classroom. It was so sweet that she picked Olivia, who is here proudly dressed up (she picked this out) and wearing her visitors badge. Both girls stood up in front of the 30 kids and Abigail gave a presentation on Olivia. Here's about how it went: Today I want to introduce you to my sister Olivia. She is two years old. She likes to wear bathing suits. Her favorite song is God Made Me. I like Olivia the most because she tickles me. Thank you for listening. Then, the whole class told Olivia hello and thanked her for coming in. The worst part was that Olivia thought she was staying the whole day and was a bit miffed at me to leave. She had sat down next to Abigail on her carpet square after the presentation! Even today at dinner she was asking when she could go to school - that girl is ready!


Abigail did a great job at her school performance. Olivia was pretty excited to attend as well.


Probably our best Christmas type photo of the girls. All looking at the camera and pretty much happy!