Make a Wish!

Saturday night we went to out to eat at Brixx Pizza and there was a new fountain outside. Caroline enjoyed throwing the coins in the water and learned how to make wishes. Glad all that extra change in my purse went to charity- Caroline cleaned me out!

More coins to throw in the water, please.

Tonight Caroline is without her jewelry, but she didn't forget her purse!

Caroline and Grandy

I think I am now caught up on all that we have been doing lately. Thursday we leave for Tennessee where we will stay for a few days, and then on to Arkansas. Caroline has now learned how to say "Go Vols!"and recently learned to call the Arkansas hogs as well (Woo-Pig Sooie! Razorbacks!) She doesn't seem to show any partiality to either one yet, but I am sure her Daddy will make sure she favors Tennessee! Lucky for him I am not a big sports fan!

Little Builder

I must say that Ben is a very hands on father. He loves teaching Caroline things and she loves helping him out. He discovered that Lowe's does a little workshop for kids every other Saturday and has been taking Caroline. The last time they made a bird house and Caroline was so proud of it. Today, they made a mini baseball game. As I previously mentioned, she is a girly girl. However, she doesn't mind helping Daddy around the house or "building" a thing or two! Ben has taught her to identify a tape measure, putty knife, screwdriver, and hammer. A little bit of hands on learning for Caroline with all of these home improvement projects Ben has been doing around the house. However, I hope being a girly-girl still wins out when she is older!

Pretend Play

Caroline's favorite activity lately has been ironing (pretend ironing of course- no need to call the Dept. of Child Services!) . The little iron even makes the noises to make you feel like you are actually ironing. Pretend play is the thing that keeps us entertained these days!

Let's make sure to get all of the wrinkles out!

Caroline is also very in to jewelry lately. I gave her some of my costume jewelry to play with, but it didn't seem to be keeping her attention for very long. My mom found some cute play jewelry for her to wear, and now we can't go anywhere without it! When Caroline wakes up, she wants her jewelry on. Next we'll have to find some clothes to play dress up in. She loves to carry her little purse around too. She is a girly girl who loves bows, dresses, purses, and jewelry. That's my girl! After she had opened the jewelry, she said, "I got present- so excited!" I guess she really is listening to everything we say because she has been saying things like this out of the blue.

Gotta have that jewelry on... whether it matches or not!

This jewelry goes with every outfit- according to Caroline.

Those of you who live in the area know how excited we get about rain these days. Friday afternoon it rained just a little bit, though unfortunately not enough to matter. Caroline asked me for her umbrella and wanted to go outside. By this time, the little shower had already passed, but it's a good photo op!

Happy Birthday Ali!

Caroline's best friend, Ali, just turned two on Thursday. Ali has a nickname for Caroline that will probably stick among her friends. She calls her "Liney". So cute! We had so much fun at Ali's pool party. Surprisingly, Caroline was happy playing in the baby pool. She usually forgoes the baby pool for the big pool every time we go. We enjoyed delicious cupcakes and snacks.

Happy Birthday, Ali!

Enjoying the cupcakes

Fun with Grandy

We've been having lots of fun with Grandy here. It seems like we have been on the go almost everyday. Last Thursday, we went to Barnes and Noble story time. Of course, we couldn't leave without Grandy finding a book just for Caroline. Caroline loves having Grandy here and wakes up every morning wanting to see her right away. I have been able to convince her to let Grandy sleep a little while the last few days though. The other morning, she came up to Grandy and said, "Hi Grandy! Glad to see you!". I am sure that melted Grandy's heart. I have very few pictures of Grandy with Caroline since she has been the photographer most of the time. I'll try to snap a few more of them together. :)

Grandy and Caroline after story time

Of course, we've been to the pool several times. One day, Caroline became very attached to our neighbor's hippo float. I told her that I would buy one and have it the next time we went to the pool. After I told her that, she asked me every time I got back from the store for the hippo. She never forgets anything!

I finally got her the float- not only did I get her a hippo, but also a duck. It turns out that the duck is her favorite. She named the duck "Suzy" ( we have no idea where she got the name- she just started calling it that) and carries it around the house, feeds it breakfast, you name it! I put it out on the screened porch, but Caroline never fails to ask me for it when she wakes up. I draw the line at carrying this thing around the house- we will not take it out in public other than to the pool! It's one thing to take a lovey or blanket around, but a float would be a little much! We would get more than a few strange looks and I could understand why! Caroline will just have to settle for taking her favorite bear Louie with her on outings.

Caroline has been attached to "Suzy"

Happy 6th Anniversary!

I am backtracking again, but I need to acknowledge our anniversary. :) Ben and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary on June 15, which also happened to be Father's Day. I admit that I forgot to mention it when I did the Father's Day entry- oops! Even though we didn't celebrate on our actual anniversary, we did go out to dinner one other night. It's been a wonderful six years! Time has really flown.

Project Play Set Complete!

It was truly a labor of love... after 36 hours of working on the play set, my dad and Ben finally finished it on Father's Day! It was 8:30 that night before we sat down to the dinner mom and I had made for them. They were determined to see it through to the last screw before calling it a night. The pictures below are from several different days. I just wanted to give you an overview. Thanks so much for all of your hard work, Dad and Ben! Caroline will be entertained for hours!

Saturday afternoon... they are getting there!

Caroline tries out the ladder

Taking a break to pose with Caroline

Project complete! They are putting in the last screw! Now all that's left are the swings.

Swinging with Poppy the next day. Caroline did this for a solid hour!

She loves the slide!

This is almost like being in a tree house!

Scroll on down to see another entry from Father's Day, but I will have to play more catch up later with the blog. My mom is still visiting and we have been on the go all week long! Thanks for taking all these good pictures, Mom! Caroline has been doing and saying so many new things lately. I will share some of them another time. Thanks for checking in!

Happy Father's Day!

I am backtracking here, but it's a long story about why I'm so behind (basically I've been having issues with the computer) :)

So, Happy (belated!) Father's Day! We went to church that morning, but the rest of the day wasn't so relaxing for my dad and Ben. Sorry you guys couldn't relax! They were on a mission to finish the play set! Stay tuned for more details on that.

Daddy's little girl

Caroline with Poppy and Grandy

Dad and Ben took a break from working to open a few presents (we didn't totally forget that it was Father's Day!). My mom couldn't resist buying Caroline a pair of jelly shoes from Old Navy when we went shopping the previous day. She refers to the jellies as "jelly fish" and absolutely loves them! We hate to correct her because it's so funny every time she says it. I can't believe jellies are back in style! I remember all the pairs I had as a child.

Helping Daddy open his presents

Caroline's new "jellyfish"!

First Light Rail Ride and Discovery Place

This morning was Caroline's first time to ride the light- rail, the rapid transit system we have here in Charlotte that takes you uptown. It is fairly new and also really convenient to just hop on and not have to deal with the parking and traffic uptown. Caroline enjoyed the ride for the first few minutes, but then she was anxious to get off.

Down by the station...

After getting off the light-rail, we only had to walk a couple of blocks to Discovery Place, a museum with a variety of exhibits and experiments. Caroline loved looking at all the different fish and animals. We had to convince her that the dinosaur and bear exhibits were not real since she still seems to have a fear of animals when they are too close and personal (I learned that from our last experience at the zoo!). I don't blame her- these dinosaurs didn't look as friendly as Caroline's favorite purple dinosaur, Barney! There is also a place for kids to play with a variety of toys and costumes. Caroline was even convinced to dress up like a dinosaur for a little while.

Grandy and Poppy looking at the fish with Caroline

Playing dress up

We met Ben for lunch at a restaurant called Rock Bottom uptown. Caroline was getting tired at this point from the busy morning, but she sat her in booster seat like a big girl for most of the meal. On the way home, she was acting silly with Poppy. I think she had reached her limit and needed a nap at this point!



Caroline will miss Poppy when he leaves on Tuesday, but Grandy is staying for a few more weeks. We look forward to more fun times!

Project Play set

My dad always helps Ben with some sort of home improvement project when he visits. For example, they have painted most of the downstairs together. This time, the project is not really home improvment, but it will definitely be a wonderful source of entertainment for Caroline. My parents bought her a play structure, so Ben and my dad are putting it together. It is requiring quite a few hours of work. All the reviews say that it takes a least two full days of work with two people to put this thing together. Just to give you an idea, here are a few pictures of them getting started. Check out all those bags of screws! My dad is leaving on Tuesday morning, so they are trying to get as much of it done as possible. I'll have to post a picture of the finished product later!

Poppy and Grandy Visit

We have some of Caroline's favorite visitors in town this week. My parents, who Caroline refers to as Poppy and Grandy, arrived in Charlotte on Monday night. Caroline was sound asleep when they got here, so they had to wait until Tuesday morning to see her. She was so excited to see them when she woke up, and was concentrating really hard on what to tell them first! She was giving them hugs all day long!

We've been staying indoors a lot due to the heat wave here in Charlotte (It got up to 99 degrees on Tuesday!). But Caroline managed to convince Poppy and Grandy to go outside with her some. A mini basketball goal was passed down to us from our neighbors and Caroline decided to try it out. Check out the video clip of her shooting some hoops with Poppy. She won't inherit any athletic abilities from me, as I was always a "girly girl"! Caroline was so proud of herself for making a basket and even got a little too overconfident. :)

Of course a good way to spend a hot summer day is to go to the pool- which is exactly what we did on Thursday morning. Poor Poppy was probably more worn out than Caroline when we left. I lost count of how many times he helped her jump in the "big" pool and Caroline couldn't get enough. She also took a liking to this hippo float that our neighbors let us borrow. Caroline is all about the big pool! Much to my dismay, the baby pool just isn't cutting it anymore! She was definitely exhausted from all the water activities and took a four hour nap that afternoon!







The last few days, Mom and I have been going shopping while Caroline is asleep in the afternoons. My dad doesn't seem to mind having some down time while we go out and about. Of course we bought a few things for Caroline. She needed some new pajamas, so that was on our list of things to get. She enjoyed showing them off right before she went to bed last night.

All smiles with her sleep buddy, Louie, and of course the paci

Look Who's Singing!

As promised, here is the video clip of Caroline singing in the bathtub. She is starting her career early. :) Recognize the song? In case you can't figure it out, she is singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." About the only words you can probably make out are, "Twinkle twinkle". It sounds like she is singing in a different language! She's holding nothing back!

It's Pool Time!

We have been hitting the pool the last few days, and Caroline is much more enthusiastic about it this year. She has no fear at all of the water and even tried to take off on her own for a little swim ( I didn't let her, of course!). She prefers the "big pool" as she calls it, but we have also been hanging out in the baby pool. Chrissie and I were talking about how much easier it is at the pool this year, as our girls are so much more independent and can play around on their own. We can just sit back and watch (most of the time!) unless we have to intervene because they are running around the pool or won't share a toy.

Here are a few pictures from today with Paige, a little buddy from our neighborhood play group. I tried to get a picture of Ali and Caroline together, but no luck! Notice that Caroline is sporting a huge band-aid on her knee. That boo-boo is the result of her crawling on the bottom of the baby pool, reverting back to her earlier days. Ouch!




Caroline has become quite the little singer lately. Tonight in the bathtub she was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the ABC song. Her version of those songs, that is! Ben grabbed the camera and got a video clip, which I will have to post later. Until then, thanks for checking in!

Trip to Tennessee

I have a lot to catch up on here! Just to warn you, this will be a long one! We spent Memorial Day weekend and all last week in Tennessee. We arrived in Knoxville on Saturday, the 24th. After Caroline took a little snooze, we went to a Nature Trail that Ben's dad (also known as "Papa Sam") helped design and construct. We met David, Wendy, and Eva there and the girls had fun running around. It is a beautiful trail and we enjoyed our walk through nature.

Caroline and Eva got a kick out of this Umbrella Magnolia leaf!

Grandma and Papa Sam with their girls

We then went to a well known pizza place, called Big Ed's where you can watch the pizza being made. Caroline and Eva got to see first hand and enjoyed watching. It was delicious!


On Sunday, Grandma and Papa took Caroline to a nearby park along with David, Wendy, and Eva. At one point, Eva hurt her finger, and Papa Sam kissed it. Caroline then went over and patted Papa Sam on the back, saying, "Good Papa!" Caroline was giving lots of love that day. She wanted to hug Eva and hold her hand, and she also loved on a statue of a little boy in the park.









On Sunday afternoon, we went to visit The Nolands and met their newest addition, Samantha. Caroline just couldn't understand why Samantha didn't want the paci, and got jealous when I held her. She wasn't in the greatest mood, so sorry it was a short visit, Steve and Amy!

Papa Sam's birthday is on May 30, so we celebrated a little early on Sunday afternoon with strawberry pie. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Papa Sam's birthday celebration. Hopefully I can get one soon and add it to this entry. :) Happy Birthday Papa Sam!

Caroline with Samantha-before the tears started!

Ben went back to Charlotte on Monday afternoon, while I headed to Polk County with Caroline, Grandma, and Eva to spend the week. Polk County is where Ben's parents grew up and they have a family home there. We spent lots of time outdoors! Eva and Caroline entertained each other, and Caroline really watched out for Eva. One time Eva was trying to climb in a chair and Caroline ran across the room with her hands out shouting, "Be careful!" just like a little mom. I guess she has heard that one too many times!

Caroline mastered the art of blowing bubbles, and Eva would have stayed in the swing all day if we would have let her! We took a short wagon ride up to the blueberry patch, but the blueberries weren't ripe yet. Wendy was able to join us for a couple of nights. Our plans to do some outdoor activities got rained out the one day she was there though. Wendy and I went to the movies on Wednesday night, which was a treat. I can't tell you the last time I did that!

Caroline and Eva at the blueberry patch

Papa Sam gives the girls a flower

Eva's favorite activity was swinging!

The girls also enjoyed sitting on the tractor. Caroline let Eva know real quick that she was the one in charge and wanted to "drive".

Caroline and Eva "driving" the tractor

One afternoon, we took the girls to Greasy Creek and let them splash around. We realized later that we should have put them in their bathing suits because they ended up doing more than just putting their feet in! Check out the video clip to see the fun! Caroline kept running out of the creek and saying, "I too wet!" But then she would go back for more.

Fun at Greasy Creek!

We went back to Knoxville on Friday morning and then shopping later. At Border's book store Caroline picked out a book. She then marched to the front of the store and said, "I buy this!" Grandma Rogers helped out by giving her some money so she could buy her book. At the restaurant we went to, the waitress stopped by our table to ask us if we needed anything. Caroline called out, "hamburger" as she was walking off. She is getting more independent everyday!

Ben met us half way on Saturday morning to take us back to Charlotte. Though Caroline was happy to be home, I am sure she will miss Grandma, Papa, and Eva.