school pictures and stats

Yeah, I know... the cutest school picture ever right?

The girls just had their annual check up.  They're as happy and healthy as can be.  Maddie's still a peanut, and Caroline is right on target.

Maddie
Weight:  32 lbs (18th percentile)
Height  40 inches (44th percentile)
BMI: 14.1 (12th percentile)

Caroline:
Weight: 26 lbs 4 ounces (42nd percentile)
Height: 35 inches  (75th percentile)
Head:  19.5 inches (92nd percentile) ... she's smart

let's try this again...

Been having some major photo posting issues with blogger lately.  I think the only solution is to repost all of the pictures that I posted which ... is going to take me some time.  My free time is limited - so deleting and reposting old posts is not exactly high on my priorities list lately but Im going try.  This is how much I love my loyal blog readers. 

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some super cute pictures from our trip to the beach a few weeks ago.  Oh how I love the beach. 

caroline's blessing

halloween 2011

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Halloween just keeps getting better and better as these babies get bigger. We painted and carved pumpkins. Jim and I did one for each of the girls... can you get which girl picked which pumpkin?


Mickey and Ariel



The girls school had a trick or treat party at the end of the day. Here's Caroline with her good friend Blake... or Blakey as we like to call him.

Caroline and Blake

A few weeks ago, I asked Caroline what she was going to be for Halloween and she very adamantly said, "a Witch!" So I witch it was.



Caroline the Witch

Maddie wasn't quite as set on her costume choice as Caroline was. For awhile she said she wanted to be a princess... than specifically Ariel (Little Mermaid) than a fairy princess. I very gently tried to explain that we have princess dresses she can play with and she just had a princess birthday where she dressed as Cinderella. Maybe she should be something new and we could go out and buy a new costume for! She saw the Jessie costume in a circular and she was hooked! I kept waiting for her change her mind but she didnt! We bought the Jessie costume and boots, and Daddy picked up a special sparkly Jessie hat while at the Disney outlet in Myrtle Beach. That was an added bonus for sure.

And here is little Emma dressed as a bee. Isnt she the cutest thing? I just love her sweet face. I had to take some pictures of her in her bee costume.



Emma and Caroline

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We left school and unfortunately... it was RAINING! It wasnt just raining, it was cold and rainy. No fun at all! We ate dinner and then bundled up to go out in the elements to trick or treat. I tried to take some pictures but man- getting the two of them looking in the same direction and smiling was TOUGH! This is the best I could get.

Here was our setup. Kind of miserable. We were cold!

Caroline made it to 3 houses and Maddie about 7 or 8. We were home in our warm house by the fireplace by 6:45pm! The girls got more than enough candy and I think they had some fun. Maddie really enjoyed passing the candy out to kids who came to the door.

All in all another Halloween success! Maddie already told me that next year she was going to be a rainbow princess. Not sure what that means... but we'll see in 11 months!

girls night out and the race

This weekend I ran in a half marathon at Myrtle Beach. The race was great - flat and scenic and of course, the location was perfect. Im always looking for reasons to spend the weekend at the beach, and this one was perfect.

On Saturday morning, Caroline and I loaded up the truck and headed to the coast. Maddie and Daddy went to the Duke game to cheer on those Blue Devils and were headed down later. Caroline was perfect on the car ride down. Watched some Elmo, took a nap and kept me entertained with her backseat singing and jabbering.

We hit the race expo to pick up my packet and then back to Long Bay to unpack and take a walk on the beach. The weather was perfect. 68 and sunny.

After our walk, we decided to do some carb loading at the Olive Garden. We got there around 5:15 and were the only ones in the place under 70. Needless to say - they were all ooh-ing and ahh-ing over Caroline and she was loving it. The girl has some serious charm. Turns out Carolines a big fan of the bottomless salad. This picture doesnt do it justice of course, but she was eating up the lettuce like crazy. The waiter saw her picking out olives from her salad and came back with an entire bowl of them for her to eat. Not sure how nutritious a bowl of olives is... but it cant be all that bad.

She made a great dinner date and we talked and laughed through dinner. Notice she's not sitting in a high chair? She prefers a booster seat now because "Carolines a big girl."

The next morning mommy was up bright and early and headed out to the start line. The course was flat and easy. And quiet I noticed. I was happy to have my headpones blaring. The family cheered me on at various points along the race. Can you find me? Its a "Where's Waldo" moment for you.

Here I am at around mile 11. The last few miles was along Ocean Blvd and then the boardwalk at Myrtle Beach. Such a nice place to run those last killer miles.

I ran my best time yet. Just under 2 hours which was my goal. I have to say - its my new favorite half marathon that doesn't involve Disney Princesses. Jim and the girls (and Tuck) met me at the finish with an ice cold Dunks. He's the man of my dreams.

And the medal deserves some mention. Its a HUGE surfboard with a built-in bottle opener on the bottom. Nice.

Next race on the calendar in the Disney Princess in February. We're planning on taking the girls - so I am giddy about it already. Can't wait!!!

duke weekend with friends

We had another super annual get together weekend with Jims college buddies. We've been getting together for a Duke football game every year (except our wedding year) for 9 years! Pretty amazing. Started out as just us, single folks and with a few married here and there... to a huge group with a gaggle full of kiddos. I think there were 7 girls and one boy (lucky guy!) all under the age of 8. This year Maddie decided to be brave and have her face painted.

Caroline and Maddie were both geared up in their cheerleading uniforms.

Ms Jamie painted the girls nails "duke blue" while we tailgated.

Pretty exciting stuff!

Cuteness

Here's a shot of the girls. Caleb had gone home by this time. Poor little guy was only 18 months old and had had enough I think.

Here we are!

Maddie and Ms Amy walking into the game.

Daddy and Caroline cheering- Go Duke!

This picture doesnt capture how cute this was. During the timeouts, the girls all held hands and danced to the music hoping to get on the big TV. Somehow they didnt... dont know how the camera man missed these cuties.

We left at halftime. The Blue Devils weren't looking so hot and we figured it would be more fun for all of us back at the tailgate. Here are Caroline and Riley going over just what went wrong during the game.

Those Blue Devils couldnt get these girls down.

Some of the guys.

I can't believe next year will be our 10 year anniversary of our get together. Time sure is flying by!

big day in soccer news

Guess who got the good sportsmanship award this week in soccer?? Yup, you guessed it!

santa!!

We found Santa!! He was sitting on the beach around 7am this morning. Maddie said he was probably making toys out of shells. I think she's right.

sweet caroline turned two!!!

Our sweet little baby turned two years old today!

I can't believe how time has flown by and what a wonderful little girl she's becoming.

She had a great morning at school and had a party with Dora cupcakes (that she picked out) with her friends. Then mommy came to pick her up right after nap and we had some mommy and Caroline time. We didn't do anything exciting, but we did put out some paints and paper and let Caroline go a little wild. We then played with any toy we wanted to in the playroom and finished up with kicking balloons in the livingroom. We picked up Maddie from school and came home to find Grammie and Grandadddy waiting for us at our house. We had such a fun time playing games outside with them, coloring with chalk on the driveway and then having pizza, cake and ice cream. Caroline liked our singing and blowing out the candles so much- she made us relight the candles and sing 3-4 times. So cute.

Her favorite present was her very own laptop. She said it was about time. Everyone else in the family has one and she's sick of sharing with her sister. She said she's starting up her own blog, so watch out!

We love this girl more than words can say and are so blessed to have her in our lives.

WE LOVE YOU SWEET CAROLINE!

who needs toys?

 

Who needs all those toys when we have BOXES!!!