Fall Fun

Just a few pictures from the Fall with the customary trip to the Pumpkin Patch and the Halloween costume - Minnie Mouse this year:

We traveled to Arkansas in mid-Nov to visit family and attend the AR-LSU game.  Playing with Uncle Brad, cooking with MeMe and Papa and visiting with friends in Fayetteville:

New School and other September Fun

September brought a new preschool for Caroline. So far, she loves it.  I think that they must sing all day long since she knows about twelve new songs.  I've had to google the lyrics for a few of them.  The school is farther from our house, but only about 10 blocks and on the way to school.  

We also visited our friends, RD and Kati, who live outside Charlotte at the end of September.  She did great on the drive and loved playing with their kids, Hunter and Riley.  It was a fun visit.

She also got her first haircut.  The mullet was just getting a little out of control.

Other highlights (and mostly I just note these here so I don't forget since I haven't quite gotten around to that baby book).  She still loves puzzles, but she's starting to get into make believe play.  She pretends to cook pizza and go to the local restaurant, La Lomita, which really shows how much I don't cook.  She's up-ed the counting skills to 19 - twenty trips her up for some reason. She definitely knows the letter C (which is always C for Caroline) and she's pretty consistent with recognizing about 10 - 15 other letters.  Her language skills are growing by leaps and bounds every day.  She cracks us up with some of her phrases - things are yummy in her tummy, if she doesn't want to do it then it's "next time," everything happened yesterday, all sleep is naps and "it happens sometimes" (i.e. potty accidents, falls on the sidewalks, etc). 

Most notably, she is wearing underwear!  It was very rough going at the beginning, but we're starting to see notable progress.  She's also started the Why? stage - oh so fun. She wants to do everything by herself, which does not always help get us out of the house in the morning.

Last day of the old school:

First Day of the New School.  My sister was still in town so she of course wanted a picture with Tia Jo.

Pictures from her first haircut:

Fun with the Davis family:

Summer Fun

We finished out the summer with lots of fun activities and wonderful visits from family.  Meme (Spanky's Mom) visited in early August and Nana, Pop and Tia Jo (my parents and sister) came to DC in late August while Spanky and I went to Montreal and Quebec City for a few nights.  The summer included lots of time at the Yards Park Friday night concerts, trips to splash parks, the zoo, fun in the backyard, and Nationals' baseball games. I'm missing a few pictures of activities that are on Spanky's phone, but here are a few highlights:

Cruising Eastern Market over 4th of July with her friend, Zinn:

Safety First!  Fun in the backyard:

On our way to a Nationals' game:

Watching the Big Heads (aka President mascots) at the Nationals game - her favorite part of the game.  I think she attended about 4 - 5 games this year. 

Fun with Tia Jo and Nana:

Watching the otters at the zoo with Daddy: 

Watching the chimpanzees at the zoo with her friend, Emmy:

Dancing at the Yards Park Friday night concerts.  She really got into the dancing this year.  It's a great free activity where you can bring all your own food and drinks plus it's really close to the house.

Busy Spring

Apologies for the lack of posts, but we've had a busy Spring since we sold our house, bought a new house and moved all the way across the street from our old house.  So far, we are loving the new house since it's larger (more bedrooms, bathrooms, larger kitchen and backyard) and most importantly in Caroline's book, her room is pink.  All this happened at the same time that I started at new job at the State Department so life's been a little hectic.  

Caroline update: She is now talking in full sentences (although short and not always intelligible), can count to 10, sings her ABCs along with Twinkle, Twinkle, Old McDonald and the Itsy, Bitsy Spider, loves puzzles and can actually sit still for more than 10 minutes to complete an activity.  

To hopefully make up for the lack of posts, here are lots of pictures from the past few months. 

First, proof that we did sell our house (Minnie Mouse courtesy of Caroline):

Spring time fun outside:

Easter pictures (complete with an Easter basket, egg hunt and a failed attempt at a family picture):

Memorial Day fun in the front yard at the old house:

Reading with Nana who was in town to help us move (and was a HUGE help):

Coloring at her new table in the new house:

Spring Break

We went to Florida last weekend and went from this:

To this:

And now, we are back to this (yep, snow day #645 of the year and on St. Patty's Day):

While in Florida, we also went to two Nats Spring Training games, Spanky played golf three times and we saw extended family (below is the youngest generation on my Mom's side of the family):

Caroline with her cousin, Callie, who is about four months older than her (they got along pretty well until they both wanted to play with the same toy):