Substitute mom and other pictures

WIll decided that he needed a rest.  Only thing is he was laying in his tool bench.  This reminds me of when Keith was little and got stuck in our play shelves and while he was crying mom gets the camera and takes a picture.  Will thought it was a great place to rest.

Will decided that pink baby needed a feeding since her mom (Caroline) was at school.   He has the baby bottle in his hand and he is rocking himself by pushing off with his foot.

Last Sunday we went out on Mom and Pete's pontoon boat for a picnic lunch.  It was fantastic and this is one of my favorites from the boat ride.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  I will get costume pictures posted later.

Birthday girl

You don't know how glad I am that all the pictures are still on here.  This is now the 3rd time I am trying to post this birthday message.  The first time (yesterday) the pictures didn't save because the power went out while I was still downloading and then the second time (this morning) was fine but then Caroline peed on herself right infront of the toliet and I didn't get to finish and then this afternoon when I went back and wrote comments on all the pictures the internet wasn't working so it didn't save it!  Ughhh!

So finally I get to hopefully finish.  I have pictures of Caroline from every year but number 2, I think.  The first one is of her 4th bday and her new dress and doll.  Finally something that matches to wear to preschool.

Caroline at 3 and it was a little warmer last October than it is this year.

And this is my precious little girl about to turn 1.  She never did learn to crawl.  She would walk holding someone's hands like in the picture everywhere she wanted to go.

This picture was taken when Caroline was about 10 hours old.  My friend Kristin is the one holding our sweet angel (I use that term loosely today!).  I can't believe how time flies and how big she has gotten.  Her personality is great and she brings such joy (most days!) to our lives.

We love you sweet Caroline!!!

A Momma's boy

My cousin wrote a blog about how her little girl is very attached to her.  it reminded me of just how attached Will is to me as well.  Must be something about the second children.  Will loves to cuddle with me and I have always loved to as well, but with him turning 2 in September I feel that it is time for him to sleep trough the night.

Will still wakes up most nights a least 2 times.  then at around 330 he is wanting to get in my bed a cuddle with me.  Just me not Justin, he will actually kick Justin if I put him inbetween us!

He is just finishing crying in this picture.  But last night was the turning point and i was going to let him cry himself back to sleep if he woke up wanting to sleep with me.  It happened at about 4 and I got up and went to see what he needed.  I gave him a sip of water and his paci back, got him settled and sat beside his bed for about 10minutes and he kept waking up and asking to cuddle mommy.  So I told him good night and that we could cuddle in the morning.  He only cried for maybe 15 minutes.  I couldn't really tell you since I fell back to sleep and it didn't wake Caroline up and they are in the same room.  But putting him to bed was a different story.  I usually sit beside his bed and it can take up to 40 minutes some nights which is way to long if bed time is about 845.  So I told him that I was going to sit beside him for 20 minutes and then I was going downstairs.  I sat and he didn't fall asleep so he ended up crying on and off for about 30 minutes.  Which kept Caroline up until 10pm!  Needless to say they had great naps today!  

This is on our way to Mimi and Granddaddy's house this past weekend.  We had a great weekend seeing lots of family and friends.  

Beating to your own drum

Alright here it is, the long awaited pictures of Caroline's outfits!  I have told a few people about what Caroline wears some days and they have always requested a picture.  The first picture is missing the turquoise sweater.  Even though this outfit matched (the tights pulled it all together) it was cold outside and this is a sleeveless summer dress.

Ok, this is a great example of a "Caroline outfit."  I had her in a jean skirt but it didn't twirl so she went back up stairs and picked the lovely green one out.  It twirls!  Since it was about 36 this morning I told her that she had to wear closed-toe shoes, not your sandals and this is what she gave me.  Pink boots that are 2 sizes too big!  I was thinking I am glad that her shoes at least match.  Since she is known for wearing two different shoes.

And this is what she wore to preschool today!!

Fall Festival time

It was that time of year again when we go to a Fall Festival at Walter Reed.  A lot of the kids wear their costumes and it is always a great time.  It also gives us an opportunity to let the kids wear the costumes for more than one night.  Will was Curious George and Caroline was a princess.  She is going to be Little Bo Peep but the costume wasn't ready yet.  This was a dance recital outfit from June so it was nice to be able to reuse that too.

One of the many things that they had a the festival was horses.  Not ponies, but the Park Police brought 2 BIG horses for the kids to ride.  I had to leave the party early to go to water fitness training so I asked Justin to take pictures for me.  

Will obviously loved the horse ride.

As did the princess!  

Some of the other things they had were face painting, bean bag toss, a pumpkin patch, a haunted house, crafts, raffles, a silent auction, and the Army band strings section came and played.  All the food was donated  and the desserts were homemade by a church.  The volunteers that served us were also from a local church and a high school football team was there to help out as well.  The small amount of time I was there it was great as always.  They have these great parties about 4 times a year but we were out of town for the summer one.  I am looking forward to the Christmas party already!

Random pictures

Will making a swing for himself out of Justin's back pockets.  As you can see he thought this was a great idea.

A family picture on the bank of the Youghiogheny (yaw-ki-gay-nee) river in Ohiopyle, PA.

Caroline took this very flattering picture of my backside!  I guess I was wiping my hands!  

I love my crazy kids!!  They got these crazy glasses from Nana and Papa and thought they needed to wear them in the car one day.  It was too cute not to get a picture.  Caroline loves to wear crazy clothes but I don't think she realizes that they are crazy.  She is a HUGE fan of wearing mismatch shoes.  People get a big kick out of this.  I chose not fight with her about her shoe choice.  But yesterday she was wearing  green dress, loud striped tights, mismatched shoes, and a turquoise sweater.  I am sorry to say I didn't get a picture of this great outfit!  But she did wear it to preschool.  Her teachers loved it.

shhhhhh! i hear a deer.

Some people have the gift of story telling with good timing, suspense, and the appropriate level of resolution at just the right point.  I am not one of those people.  I love to tell a joke; even though my timing is less than perfect.  I love to tell stories; somehow, it winds up being a bit of a ramble (much like now--but who says tangental thinking isn't a beautiful bridge to multitasking?).  

However, I'm beginning to think that Will might be a natural.  He takes full advantage of the cuteness and innocence of his 2 year old appearance.  He reels in his listener and then "POW!" out of no where, he springs it on you!  Another quick aside is that the kids normally don't startle me easily; many things do, but not the kids.  It has something to do with the fact that my children are genetically similar to me and I can see what they would do before they do it, because, hell, I did it in the 70's and 80's when it was cool.  It also has something to do with the fact that they can't keep a straight face.  Of course, they'll learn when the stakes get higher....most likely after questions like "who did this?"  or "what just happened?" or "where did you learn that?"

This brings me to dinner on Monday night.  The family is stationed dutifully at the table on the back deck, ravenous due to a long ride in the van preceded by 3 wonderful days in the woods of south western Pennsylvania.  So, Will looks at Julie and says "Oh, I see a deer." He playfully (almost everything he does is playful) cocks his head and points a crooked pointer finger to nowhere.  (One thing that Will has developed is the ability to notice things that aren't completely obvious to Julie and I in the hubbub of daily living.  For example, a train will pass by the house-fairly far away, but noticeable if you're paying attention.  Will will be the first to tell you.  A siren is another great example.  Long story short, Will is on it.  All senses turned on, all the time.)  Based on the fact that Will sees/hears/feels these things that aren't altogether obvious to me, I ask him where.  He gets very quiet and says, "I see a deer."  I say, "where?".  He says almost inaudibly, "I see a deer.  He's gonna get me."  I say, "where?" and at this point I'm leaning in toward him.   I am consumed by him at this point paying all my attention to him.  Now, he mouths, "I see a deer, Gonna Get me."  His eyebrows are raised, mouth wide in an inaudible statement, eyes bright with excitement.  I lean in further and say "Where?".  (at this point I am about 10 inches from his face.)  He mouths again "I see a deer, he's gonna get me."  (i want to reinforce that he is saying nothing...just mouthing the words).  At the end of this last "mouthing", he looks carefully over to the right....and screams "right there!"  

I almost pissed my pants.  I might have shouted a little.  No kidding.  

I love my children.  Caroline laughs uproariously as if she knew this was coming all along.  Julie smiles and laughs along and at this point I am laughing hysterically.  Good times.  Sweet moments of just having a family.