So excited...

to spend the next week at home with these girls!

Are You My Mother?

 Tonight, I was sitting outside with Elizabeth reading one of her books.  It's called Are You My Mother? The baby bird has lost his mother and begins searching for her.  He asks all of these other animals if they are his mother until he eventually finds her.  At the end of the book, Elizabeth looked at me and said, "That's a silly book.  Birdies don't talk.  Doggies don't talk and cows don't talk.  Where was his daddy?"  I wasn't sure how to respond.  When did she become so analytical?  The funny part was seeing her little brain at work as I was reading it to her.  I could tell that she didn't think something was right about it.  Oh, my little book critic!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Saturday, our sweet friends had an Easter egg hunt at their house.  The Brumbaughs have the perfect backyard.  It's huge, flat, and has all kinds of kid toys, rides, and even a trampoline.  I'm pretty sure it's Elizabeth's paradise. 

After eating picnic style, the hunt began.  Kids under 3 1/2 were allowed to start one minute before the bigger kids.  That was plenty of time for Elizabeth to fill up her bucket.

She really got into the race part of it.  She ran (barefoot) everywhere!

Caroline enjoyed watching all the kids run around her.

This was the best group shot I could get.  The older boys weren't interested in a picture, but these kiddos were happy enough to sit and find the treats inside their eggs.

Caroline basically say on her blanket the whole time.  As long as she could see all of the action, she was happy as can be.  Sweet girl!

Before Church Picture

This morning we attempted to take a picture BEFORE church.  There was no way all 4 of us could get in it.  And I almost had to pay Elizabeth to stand next to me.  But just the fact that we were ready with enough time to snap a picture was huge for us!  So here is a picture of me and my girls with goofy faces and all!

And just so I always remember this.  We've started letting Elizabeth stay in big church with us for worship. She loves it.  She even goes up front for the children's message.  Then we take her to the nursery before the sermon starts.  In just a year she'll be able to go to children's church with the "big kids."

11 Months Old

Caroline, you are 11 months old today!  I still see you as my little bitty baby, but you are quickly showing me that you are not an infant anymore.

•  You are crawling all over the place and pulling up on EVERYTHING!  

•  You have decided that you are over baby food.  You refuse to eat vegetables anymore.  You will only eat the real thing, and you want to feed yourself.  That is so different than how Elizabeth was.  I think she would still eat baby food if we let her!

• You take 3 bottles a day. An 8-oz bottle when you wake up, a 6-oz bottle in the afternoon, and 4-6 ounces before bedtime.  Everything in the middle is all solid food.  

• You still love to wave at everybody.  You even started saying bye.  It really is just the "b" sound, but we know what you mean:)

• You go to bed at 6:00 and wake up between 6:30 and 7:00.  You take 2 hour long naps during the day.

• You are truly the happiest baby I've ever known.  You get so excited over everything.  

• You are very, very ticklish.  Especially under your chin.  Elizabeth found that spot, and loves to tickle you all of the time.  

We love you so very much, Peanut!  

Daddy playing with his girls

Here is a comparison of the girls at 11 months.  In person, they remind me so much of each other.  But in pictures they look so very different to me.

This is a picture I took of Caroline after school today.  Elizabeth is 19 months, wearing the same outfit.

Phone Dump

This weekend, Elizabeth went to a birthday party for Lily (a little girl in her class).  It was at Catch Air like hers was, along with the last two birthday parties we attended.  We are becoming regulars at that place!  I realized I took a lot of videos while we were there.

This next one is long, but makes me laugh so hard.  Not just because it looks like a little kid rave, but because Elizabeth's school boyfriend, Alex, cuts in at the end for a turn.  So cute!

Elizabeth, Alec, and Alex went down the slide over and over and over again.

The other night, I set out one of those squeezable veggies for Caroline but went to change out of my work clothes before I gave it to her.  When I came back, Elizabeth was feeding it to her so sweetly.  When she was almost done, Elizabeth got a spoon from the drawer and started squeezing the remainder onto the spoon and feeding it to her little sister.  She never asked me for help and I never said a word.  I just watched and enjoyed my big girl being so sweet to my baby girl.

It looks like Elizabeth is strangling Caroline in this picture, but I assure you, she's not!  She had been pushing her before stopping suddenly.  When I asked her why she stopped, she said, "I telling Carowine a secret." 

My Kids

Now that I have my own kids, I should refer to the ones at school as "my students."  But I don't.  I still call them "my kids" too.  It can get confusing when I'm telling a story and forget to differentiate between the two.  Anyways, my Senior kids are very special to me.  They were freshmen when I started teaching at Pope, and this year, they will be graduating.  Each week they take turns bringing in a "pleasant surprise".  This week one of them brought these cupcakes in to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  On 3/14, they brought in pie for Pie Day (it took me a second to remember my math to understand Pide Day).  One girl brought in a gold fish, in a bag, for each student in the class.  Another student brought in his travel grill, and we had a tailgate at lunch just for our class complete with footballs, frizbees, and cornhole.  Aren't they awesome!

 

On Friday, I brought Elizabeth to our baseball game so she could see some of "my kids" play.  It was a huge turnout, and Elizabeth had a blast.  Especially getting to meet so many of "my kids" who gave her so much attention.  She kept yellling at the top of her lungs, "GO POPE GREYHOUNDS!"  Next time, I'm going to video it so I can show it to her when she's a senior in high school (hopefully at Pope)!

Beautiful Weather

The weather has been so beautiful here (and everywhere I think)!  We've gone to the park every day after school.  I love spring time!!!

Bye-Bye Pacis

I never thought I'd be that parent who let her child use a pacifier until she was three-years-old.  But I am!  Since she only used it at night, it really hasn't bothered me.  We decided once she turned three, we would tackle her oral fixation on pacis.  Today was the day! 

We went to Build-a-Bear with all of her pacis in tow.  She picked out a bear and we started stuffing it.

At first, she wasn't too sure about it. But she didn't freak out, and eventually started shoving her pacis inside. 

After her new bear was stuffed, she gave her a bath.

Then she picked out an outfit for her and got her dressed.

Then, she made a birth certifcate and named her, Paci Bear.

Caroline was so sweet and quiet the entire time.  She just watched her big sister who was such a brave, big girl.  Elizabeth never shed a tear.  Naptime and bedtime went really well, too.  She hugged her Paci Bear feeling that all her pacis were inside.  I'm so proud of my big girl!

The Greyhound Gala

On Saturday, Bert and I attended a Gala for my high school.  We got to get dressed up, go down town, and have a good time while helping to raise money for my school.  The theme was "Vintage Vegas" and we had a blast!  I'm so lucky to work at a school with such amazing parents who do so much to support us. 

Crawling and Playing

Between spending half of Friday night hunkered down in the basement because of tornadoes and Sunday evening cuddling in front of the fireplace because it suddenly got cold again, we spent a lot time together inside this weekend. 

The girls had a lot of time to play together which always makes me so happy to watch.  So I got in on video so I can always remember these sweet moments.

Birthdays

Today was Dr. Seuss's birthday.  So, of course, it was "Dr. Seuss Day" at school.  They ate green eggs and ham for breakfast, brought in their favorite Dr. Seuss books, and were supposed to dress-up accordingly.  Last minute (meaning 5:00 p.m. on Thursday evening) I decided to go get some Dr. Seuss fabric to make the girls something to wear.  Elizabeth's ended up a little too big, but she still wore it so proudly!

This was the only picture I took of their dresses.  Today was so busy I never got a picture of them wearing them.  I was out the door at 6:45 this morning because I got to spend the day at the Ron Clark Academy.. SO inspiring.  Elizabeth had a birthday party to go to at 4:00 for her favorite little boyfriend at school, Alex.  I thought I would get some pictures there, but I never did.  I did receive some pictures from Mrs. Austin that she took at Elizabeth and Kathryn's birthday party.  Here they are!