Christmas in North Carolina

Paulie looking at his presents
Papa looking at his presents

William and Uncle Kevin

Christmas Eve at Aunt Tracy's

Caroline and Abby

Santa at the Carolina Hotel

Attempting a group picture

Caroline and I flew from St. Louis to North Carolina along with the rest of Trent's family to surprise Aunt Tracy, Uncle Kevin, William and Paulie. So Uncle Tye, Aunt Kelly, Abby, Gaga and Papa and we rented a house and showed up at Aunt Tracy's house with beer and pizza -- what a great surprise. The kids were thrilled to see each other and we had a great time. It was a lot of relaxing and playing. We got to see where Aunt Tracy and Uncle Kevin are building a house, visit the village of Pinehurst and see a beautiful hotel all decorated for Christmas. They live in a beautiful part of the country with lots of space and trees!! It was great to see everyone. We enjoyed a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner and the kids all had a great time chasing after each other. Caroline is still asking, "Paulie go? Abby go? Uncle Tye go? , etc". Hopefully we will get to all see each other again soon!!

Christmas in St. Louis

Christmas at Grandma Julie's

Caroline and Grandma Julie

At the Butterfly House

Her favorite toy at Grandma and Papa's

Playing in the little bit of snow

Caroline and I flew with Aunt Laurie to St. Louis to begin the Christmas holidays. We landed to a chilly 30 degrees -- I know I am not used to that and Caroline was definitely chilly!! While we were there we were treated to a small snow / ice storm so Caroline was very intrigued and wanted to go outside everyday -- she definitely did not understand the idea of freezing cold temperatures but we did make it outside one day. We were also able to make it to my cousin Tim and his daughter Olivia's first birthday parties. We visited an amazing train display that Caroline loved and she was thrilled to find that Papa had set up a train track and running train at their house as well. We visited the Butterfly House and also had Christmas with my Grandma who Caroline affectionately referred to as "Grandma Julie". She was on display!! It was a great time and only the beginning of her asking for "more presents"!! I'm afraid we've created a monster!!

Sitting on Santa's lap

We took Caroline to the mall to see Santa this year and though I don't think she had the idea that Santa brings her presents she certainly is aware of his "presence" as it is everywhere. She says Santa Claus pretty clearly and actually sat next to him for all of about 2 seconds before yelling for Mommy!! The other pictures are my attempts at the Christmas card. You all saw which one actually worked out!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We have many wonderful things to be thankful for at this time of the year -- our family, friends, little Caroline and our little one on the way and the weather here in southern California! We had a great Thanksgiving with Laurie and Crispin -- ate lots of food and did as much relaxing as Caroline would allow. We also took Caroline on her first boat trip the Channel Islands (Santa Cruz Island). These are uninhabited islands (a part of a National Park) about 15 miles off the coast from us. Trent loves these islands for surfing, diving, fishing, etc. and this weekend we took Caroline for the first time. She did great on the crossing and in fact, she was treated to a whole dolphin show as we ran into a pod of nearly 50 dolphins following our boat and playing in its wake. We also played at the beach there and went kayaking. She had a great time and passed out on the way home. It was a very busy weekend!!

Birthday month

We have had a very busy month of birthday parties so Caroline's new favorite song is Happy Birthday (followed by in a close second, "I'm a little Teapot"). She has a pretend cake at the house so every morning we put the pretend candles on the cake and sing to somebody. She has now taken to wearing the cake on her head in the mornings. Pretty funny and she is getting pretty good at singing the song and blowing at the candles as you can see from the video below.

The other pictures are just a few random ones from this month. Her vocabulary is truly exploding. These are some of my favorite words she says:

1. Toe sin noes (tennis shoes)
2. Hegaper (helicopter)

3. patterpitter (caterpillar)

4. lebiga (ladybug)

Many of the other words she says much clearer... these are some of her favorite standby phrases that more than just a mom can understand:

1. Take nap (I love that she says this so I know when she wants to go to bed!)

2. Fish book (a favorite of hers)

3. Pee yoooo, Caroline! (referring to her stinky diapers or her shoes)

4. Momma's bed (where she wants to go every morning to read books)

5. Daddy's boat (she knows exactly where it is and what it looks like so no matter where we walk from she knows what she is looking for)

It is wonderful to hear her talking and coming up with new words all the time. She keeps me very busy!!

Happy Halloween!!

I wondered whether or not Caroline would get the concept of Halloween...running around the neighborhood in the dark, knocking on strangers doors, asking for candy... well should I have doubted my little go-getter for a minute. She led the pack of the kids (and this included a 4 year old and two much bigger 2 year olds). She was running around the neighborhood in her little bee costume running up to every door she could. She didn't so much care about the candy, just the knocking on the door part. It was so fun to watch and she looked so cute with her little black tighted legs sticking out of her Halloween costume. We had a great time (and so did she!!)

Grandma and Papa come to visit!

Grandma and Papa came to visit from St. Louis for about 10 days. We had a great visit despite my parents being hard at work (they built window cornices for our downstairs windows!). We went to the pumpkin patch, the park, the beautiful beach in Carpinteria, Laurie's clinic, for a boat ride and they were here for Halloween. Caroline, of course, enjoyed being spoiled by more than just Trent and I. When they left, Caroline was asking where they went so I told her St. Louis. So now, whenever their names are mentioned it is.... GrandmaPapa (all one word)....home....O' Louis (which is how she says St. Louis). Pretty funny! Sorry Mom and Dad, I don't have any pictures with you and Caroline -- maybe you have some??