Vicki Sigg Spring Photoshoot

Here are some of the highlights from our spring photoshoot with Vicki. (VickiSiggPhotography.com)

There aren't any pictures of Patrick because this was supposed to be a shoot just for the girls. I happen to get into a few shots and liked the mother/daughter aspect.

Caroline Elanore Turns One!!

May 1, 2010. Caroline turns one. Here she is telling ya:

We celebrated with a little Olive Garden:

Doesn't she look like a startled bird here?:

Only the best for Caroline. Tee & Cakes cupcake.

Maggie made a special "cake" for Caroline out of toys. Hmmm:

We are so in love with our little babe Caroline. She has been a true joy.

We are just lucky to have her.

Some random facts about our babe:

She has been an amazing sleeper at night but wakes up very early and rarely takes naps.

She didn't so much as hint at crawling until just a few short weeks before she turned one. Now she crawls laps around our house (literally....round and around she goes with no real destination in mind). She also crawls with her toes curled and feet pulled up--like she doesn't want them touching the ground while moving around.

She's aggressive. She's been knows to claw and scratch her way over and through her sister and parents to reach a toy she simply must have.

Maggie's sippy cup is always more desirable than her own. Even if they contain the same thing and look almost identical.

Her favorite song is Pat-a-Cake. She can do the clapping, the rolling, and the tossing in the oven. She LOVES the tossing in the oven and does it randomly to get a family member to say/sing that part. Her other favorite is the alphabet. When she's extra cranky in the car seat the only solution (I've found) i s to get Maggie to sing a string of songs to her. It's so, SO sweet.

We found out last week the girl loves swimming pools. Its hard to keep ahold of her when she kicks and flails like she did!

Handing people her toys and then wanting them back. We do that over, and over, and over...

Her other favorite toys are any kind of ball, baby dolls, or blocks.

What a love...what a love.

Boulder Children's Day

Despite the cold (and a little snow!) Maggie and her friend Addy had a good time in Boulder at their Children's Day.

Doggie Party

Maggie was invited to her good friend's (Addy) birthday party. It was the cutest little puppy theme! I forgot my camera so the pics are from my terrible cell phone camera.

Maggie was given her puppy ears, a nose and "freckles", and a dog collar with her name on it. Can you tell how thrilled she is with it?

They were served the birthday cake out of tiny little dog dishes. Maggie mostly just licked the frosing off the top.

And a picture with my regular camera upon returning home:

Can I Go Online Dot Com?

It took her longer than most but she is now a computer junkie. She first started asking if she could go to "dot com". Then she started asking for "online dot com". Now we are at the more appropriate "SproutOnline.com". And, thank goodness, she's finally mastered the mouse!

Sandbox

Having a grand time in our teeny, tiny sandbox.

The first time in for Caroline was....lame. This time she totally got it and loved the sand! When she sees Maggie walk out the back door she actually screams and cries to go out with her. I hate that because she also loves to pick out every pebble and put them in her mouth. I have to watch her like a hawk. Maggie has turned into the bad guy--slapping her hand away from her mouth when she's managed to find another unauthorized object to eat.

Ballet Cuteness

Maggie is preparing for her May dance recital. The parents got a sneak peak at what to expect. I'm pretty sure they do this so you can actually see what the dance will look like since most of the kids will freeze at the actual performance.

Up until now Caroline has done a fantastic job of waiting patiently through Maggie's dance class. But every week is proving more and more difficult for her. Here she is waiting....and waiting...to go home.

Cement Work

We got ourselves a new driveway and porch!

Randoms

Home from a photo shoot with Vicki Sigg (photo post to come soon):

Playdate with friend Addy:

One of the nice days sandwiched between bad ones. Gotta love spring in Colorado!

Things I Want Recorded

Caroline cut her FOUR top teeth. Oh, they are cuuuute! (March 9th). Update 4/26/10: she just cut her 7th!

Maggie was ordering me around. Do this, do that. I was only half paying attention while I checked my email and I did something she had not asked for. She said, "mommy, you misunderstood". Such adult words!

Maggie is crazy about learning to count to 100. We do it all the time! It's tiring to me, really. She can count (and write) to 20 by herself...then it gets laborious. Update 4/26/10: she can count to 50 without any help.

Caroline has recently decided that tummy sleeping is her thing. It totally freaks me out because she looks like she's suffocating when I view her at night through the monitor. I tried for days to roll her onto her back but she would be back on her tummy in less than a minute. I gave up but it still makes me a little uneasy.

While at book group the other day (Mar 11th) Patrick texted me to say Caroline had crawled two full strides. I was so sad to have missed it I almost started crying in the middle of my group of ladies! He said she took the two strides then got scared and put her little forehead on the ground and whimpered. Ahhhh. For the record, I've been putting her on her hands and knees every day since and begging her to crawl. Nothing. She smiles and is very sweet but she's not about to give it up.

Update: Caroline is a crawler! Her first full (but very hesitant) crawl was April 14th. She must be a fast learner because she's pulled to a standing position just ONE short day after. I'm writing this on April 26th and we still have steady, but hesitant, crawling with lots of pulling up to standing. She's very proud....and very wobbly!

Maggie asking for some dried blueberries: "Can I have some of those old dried up blueberries?"

Learning to use the computer, and most importantly the mouse, has made Maggie a very a happy camper. She likes playing the little games on Sprout's website. Occasionally she wanders: Patrick said he was excited about the frame I'd bid on via eBay. Huh?? He showed me and sure enough it was in our account but I had not done it. Maggie.

Easter 2010

We had a fantastic Easter at home. Maggie was so happy about her basket from the Easter Bunny. She tore through hers and then...tore through Caroline's. Caroline was, as usual, just happy to be there!

The hunt for eggs around our house (too cold for anything outdoors) took all of 2.5 minutes. I know this because I video taped it--and it took 2.5 minutes. She was very happy about it though.

The rest of the family had decorated eggs while my family visited back in late February so Caroline was forced to do one that day. I just gave her a wooden egg and poured some blue paint on her hand and some right on the egg. She was only mildly interested.

Maggie was allowed to pick a box of sugared cereal for the big day. We picked out Lucky Charms almost a week before. Every single day she asked to open it early. We held out. That's her holding a marshmallow from her bowl. She ate three bites, max.

After a crazy morning Patrick hung out with the kids while I fixed a ham dinner. For those of you looking for a few good recipes you can try Martha Stewart's Pineapple Mustard Glazed Ham and her Twice Baked Potatoes with Gruyere Cheese.

Gardening

Last year I had Patrick make me a couple of small square foot gardens. I started pretty late in the season so only a few veges and herbs were grown. This is my first true season. I bought some early season seeds (Radish's, Carrots, and Broccoli) and took the kids out to "garden".

This picture is not so great of Caroline but it says a lot with the two gardening books out for easy reference. Yes, that is Gardening For Dummies. I was actually nervous to drop those little seeds into the soil. What if they don't come up? (they've already started--yeah for me)

Maggie bounced around the yard and pretended to plant seeds all over.

Latest family pic:

Sisterly Love

Ensemble

Maggie has just now started to enjoy the Fancy Nancy books. One of her new words from dear miss Nancy is "ensemble". She went from being satisfied with one outfit per day to needing multiple wardrobe changes. How many pairs of shoes do I have to gather and put away throughout the day?!?

It's also a battle I've chosen not to fight when it comes to wearing these get-ups in public. So if you see us wandering around town looking like the above pic, please know this is not how I wanted her to dress!

Last Day At Miss Kellies

We finally let go of our time with the beloved Miss Kellie. Maggie was down to once a week and it was time for her to grow up. We've been avoiding the fact that our little babe is too old for daycare. She has missed her good buddies and the always sweet Miss Kellie herself but has handled it better than I have.

I had every intention of making some yummy homemade treats for her last day but after a long week I opted for store bought cookies Maggie could decorate. I chose this particular picture of her because it makes her look so much like daddy. Oh, I love that kid!

Caroline sat peacefully on the couch while I helped her sister spread frosting on way too many cookies. Sometimes she's such an easy baby.

Ellen Came To Play

Almost every year Patrick heads to visit good friends in Ohio and watch some of the NCAA basketball tournament. In order to keep me happy (sane) he usually flies out a family member to hang with me while he's gone. Ellen came to play. Oh, the fun we had!

This isn't the greatest picture but I want to remember Maggie and Ellen playing with the play-doh. I'm pretty sure Ellen loved it!

We shopped, ate, stayed up much too late laughing and talking. When the kids were awake, general craziness ensued.

Does it look like Maggie had a good time with Elba?? You bet. One morning she woke up and started her morning routine before stopping dead in her tracks to exclaim, "WHERE is Ellen?". I assured her Ellen was still her and would wake up soon enough. Poor Ellen was subjected to our super early morning routine. We really did try to keep the noise down.

Ellen outfitted Caroline with some keys and a purse to run some errands on her toy car thingy.

Still finding her way under furniture. Hey, at least she's semi-mobile.