September

Our September was considerably slower that August, which was a welcomed change! There was a lot of football watching, of course. We have to raise our daughter up right, after all.


We kicked the month off with a Labor Day visit from Nana and Grumpa. We visited the farmer's market at Ross Bridge, where Caroline got to jump (or, more accurately, tentatively stand) in her first ever moonwalk. The weather was fantastic! The rest of the weekend was spent chasing a single poor grasshopper all around our backyard. Grumpa continuously caught him so a smiling two year old could hold him in her palm and watch him "Jump! Jump!" I'm not sure what the average lifespan of a grasshopper is, but I'm sure his was shortened that day.




The next week Callie started "school." She absolutely loves it! She was a little apprehensive at first, but she loved her new book bag so much that she got excited about school. She goes three mornings a week, and it has made such a difference in her speech and shyness. Every time I pick her up and ask her what she did, she tells me, "Eat! Slide! (play with) Babies!" They go to music every Monday, and she loves to show me right away what kind of stamp she has on her hand.




Next on the agenda was a trip down to Mobile for my {canceled} high school reunion. We decided to go down anyway to visit with my brother soon-to-be SIL. We had a blast eating lots o' yummy seafood and grilling out for the game. Unfortunately, Caroline got a fever virus on Saturday, but it was a fun trip nonetheless. We enjoyed visiting with Matt and Amanda and some of her family! Caroline liked playing with Baker, Amanda's cute-as-can-be nephew.


And, of course, there's always time to play with friends, like Ollie!

Potty Training

I have a lot of past happenings to blog, but here is a glimpse into our latest endeavor:

POTTY TRAINING!

We decided to attempt the crash-course route, meaning we switch to panties and kick the diapers to the curb (except for nap/night). Yesterday was Day One, otherwise known as Potty Party Day! There were new Minnie Mouse panties (no luck finding Pooh or his friends), presents, balloons, prizes, three potty DVD's we had checked out from the library for just the occasion, and a panty cake. I loaded her up with undiluted juice (I don't think she's ever had it before) and salty snacks to induce much thirst. We even tried chocolate milk for the first time, about which she promptly said, "I don't like that."

The morning was a bit confusing for her, and I found myself thankful that we had rolled up the rug in the living room before we started. I think it was also exhausting for her, because she took a four hour nap (much longer than her usual two). However, she woke up dry from nap and willingly used the potty! :)


Today (Day Two) has been a drastic improvement. We've had one accident thus far, and she's letting me know when she needs to go. She even has gone a couple of times by herself and then come to let me know she needs a "prize" (m&m). We may just be daring and venture out to the grocery store tomorrow!



On the down side, my child has no caboose to speak of. We haven't really tried pants sans diaper yet, but I'm thinking we need to be looking for a cute belt that goes with everything.

August

After we celebrated Caroline's second birthday early in the month, we had a busy
rest of the month! We were able to visit with lots of friends and family to wrap up the summer. (I know that this was a while ago, but since this blog serves in a record keeping capacity that my brain does not function well enough to perform, I'll post it anyway.)

Philip and I took Callie to the McWane Center for her birthday. Yes, she is a genius and can tell you her age through illumination. :) Or maybe I did that and was trying my best to finish before she could mess it up!

The following weekend we went down to Pensacola for a friend's wedding. We got to spend time with Philip's family. Caroline had a blast dancing at the wedding! It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed getting to meet Philip's brother Daniel's girlfriend, Joy.







The next weekend was our annual Suitey reunion, this year held at my parents' house on Logan Martin Lake. The three gals and I have been best friends since rooming together in college. We try to get together at least once a year, but have been fortunate enough to be together quite a few times this past year due to marriages and babies! :) This was the first time we were all four gathered with all four of our husbands. We had such a blast reconnecting, playing on the lake, holding babies, and of course eating too much. We had to teach a few of them what scuppernongs are and how to eat them (surprising, as we are all from the deep South). Caroline likes to eat them skin, seeds, and all!

Shawn and Liz in the tube

Ava stylin' in her boating gear

Bethany and Matt

Little girls tubing with Shawn

Complete silliness

Me, Philip, Liz, Shawn, Erin, Bill, Bethany, Matt

The classic "stairstep" pose!

A few other random occurences around our house:

Caroline LOVES playing mommy, and prefers real babies to dolls. :) Poor Cooper doesn't stand a chance of a moment's peace with her around!




She also like to "help" me cook. Here we are making my FAVORITE banana bread. Her job (which was always mine as a little girl) was to mash the bananas. I had to make sure we had an extra on hand, as these are one of her favorite snacks!

Two!!

Our sweet Caroline turned two years old last month. This is such a fun age! She is finally talking more and more. She has such a maternal spirit and loves to feed and diaper her dolls, take them for walks in her stroller, and prop them up beside her at the table. She also loves music, and her current favorites include, "We are the Dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner and "The Popcorn Song" by BNL. Her favorite show by far is Tigger and Pooh ("Eeyore!"). She and Daddy spend a lot of time each day reading book after book; she loves "We're Going on a Bear Hunt".

We had a blast at her party celebrating with family and friends. My dad and I built her a play kitchen, with a lot of last minute help from Auntie Erin, and it turned out absolutely fabulous! It makes me want to remodel mine. Stephanie and I had more fun arranging the pots and play food than two grown women should have. We were practically pushing the kiddos at the party out of the way so we could play.

Checking out her new kitchen.

"Here, kids, go play..."


"On second thought, we can do it better!"


She's taking orders! Who wants ice cream?

Your turn for cake is coming up soon, Cooper!

Congratulations, Matt and Amanda!

My big brother Matt, his girlfriend Amanda, and Amanda's family (parents, sister, and brother-in-law) came up to the lake for a visit the last weekend in July. I guess we should've known something was up, but Matt surprised us all when he let us in on his plan to propose! He wanted us ALL to go out on the boat at sunset so he could pop the question. (All 11 of us. On a boat that holds a maximum of 12 "average-sized" 150 lb people. Not sure if you've met my family, but we aren't exactly "average".)

Everyone except for Amanda and her mom, Mrs. Jane, were in on the secret. :) He asked my dad to stop the boat so we could get a picture of the sunset, and had Amanda open the camera bag where the ring was waiting. So sweet! It was the first engagement I've been privy to (other than my own, of course).

Congratulations, Matt and Amanda! We are so excited for you two!

The rest of the weekend was spent swimming, boating, tubing, and rock-wall-diving (though I didn't partake in the last!).

My two peas in a pod... Callie has become such a Daddy's girl lately.

Caroline and "May" (Mimi)

Chillin' with Uncle Matt

Someone showed her the boat's horn...

Jumpin' to Aunt Amanda

Matt and Scooter on the tube... it took us awhile to plane off the boat :)

Scooter's going for it!