Camp Brown

Last week, Caroline, my mom, and I drove to Mobile, AL to visit my aunt Susan, uncle Ronnie, and cousins, Trey, Will and Catherine. It was Caroline's first road trip and she did GREAT...much better in a car than on a plane. She was so content to sit in her carseat and listen to music. She didn't really cry the whole way there OR home and it was a 9 hour drive (we did, however, have to bust out the Backyardigans on my mom's laptop about 30 min. from home on our way back b/c Caroline started getting a little fussy...the video did the trick :-) So the road trip was pretty uneventful, thank goodness.

Playing in a rocker on the porch of a restaurant where we ate lunch on our drive to Mobile
I LOVE my aunt Susan and her family (their last name is Brown). They're so much fun to be around. They deemed our visit, "CAMP BROWN" and my aunt and Catherine came up with an itinerary of fun things to do with Caroline everyday. This included a nature walk, swimming, arts & crafts, storytime, devotionals, etc... It was such a sweet, thoughtful thing for them to do and Caroline had a blast. I think CAMP BROWN is going to become a tradition!
Caroline and Catherine (she's 16 years old and really is the sweetest person I think I know!!!)

Playing with Charlie

Watching Charlie in the backyard...Caroline is quite fascinated by dogs at the moment

We have a rule at our house that Caroline is not allowed to stand on our couches...not a rule at Camp Brown :-)

Susan brought down this little rocker from her attic and cleaned it off so Caroline could play in it. She loved it!!

Chattin' with Trey (he will be a sophomore in college next year...he thought Caroline was so funny and laughed at her non-stop)

Being silly with Ronnie at the table. Caroline loved for Ronnie to dance around the room to music...she would follow right behind him and mimic his "moves"

Thanks for making our trip so special, Brown Family!! Can't wait for Camp Brown 2010!!

15 Months Old

Happy 15 month birthday to Caroline. Actually, she's closer to 16 months old but I figured this post was better late than never. Dealing with a 15 month old has its challenges, but Caroline is doing lots of new, funny things (every day, it seems) which makes difficult days a lot more enjoyable. So here are 15 fun facts about Caroline at 15 months old:
1. She is VERY attached to her baby and lovie (a little blanket)...doesn't want to go anywhere or do anything without them!

2. Caroline is quite the little talker (c'mon, did we expect anything less from my child?!?) We have recently been hearing lots of new words and she is now starting to repeat whatever we say (scary :-) Currently, my 2 favorite words she says are "oof" (oops) and "its" (dance). I hear these two words a lot during the day.

3. Caroline has just (as in 2 days ago) started answering "yes" and "no" to questions correctly. I love this b/c she can tell me what she wants and I hate this b/c she can tell me what she wants (j/k :-) For awhile, she only answered "yes" to questions which was great . But now she says "nah" if she doesn't want/like something.

4. She is a HUGE smiler but not a big laugher...you have to work hard for those belly laughs but she will smile at anything and everything she sees.

5. We are going through a major Mommy phase right now. This is our first real issue with separation anxiety...I hope it passes quickly!

6. Caroline's favorite summer activity is SWIMMING.

7. She will sign "thank you" and say it ("kuku") when prompted and, today, she did it without any prompting when I gave her a bow she wanted to put on her baby (I know I know, please don't judge :-) I hope that was the first of many polite "thank yous"

8. Pretend play has started in our house...Caroline loves to cover her baby up with a blanket, hold a finger up to her mouth and say "shhh", then say "nigh nigh"

9. Her favorite show is the Backyardigans

10. Favorite food at the moment: blueberries

11. Dance moves include head banging, snapping and stomping around

12. Caroline has a major love for any and all Mexican food (just like her parents!!)

13. Any animal Caroline sees is a "woof"

14. If allowed, she would play ALL day with my keys ("gee") and cell phone.

15. Current Stats: Height, 30 1/2 inches (50th %); Weight, 22 pounds & 13 ounces (50th %); Head Circumference, 17 1/2 inches (25th %); Caroline has her four front top teeth with two more coming in beside them, three front bottom teeth, and all four 1 year molars...she has had 13 teeth come in in 5 months!!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary

Last Friday, July 10th, Matt and I celebrated our REAL anniversary. We can't believe we have been married for 5 years!! I am one lucky lady to be married to Matt!! He is the most kind, caring and patient (you would have to be, to be married to me :-) person I know. Our marriage is wonderful, but it's not perfect (of course, since we are not perfect). But we work hard at this marriage stuff everyday and we know that our love of Jesus (first) and each other (second) is going to take us very far. Can't wait for five more years!! Love you, sweet hubby!!

Matt and I at our wedding five years ago, eating cake
As a surprise, my mom went to the bakery that made our wedding cake and had them make us an exact replica of the top of our wedding cake. SOOOO yummy!!!!
Life has been pretty fun and exciting since July 10, 2004...can't wait to see what the next 5 years have in store (hopefully more of what's below :-)

Lovin' Lanaii

Matt & I headed to Lanaii (small island in Hawaii) last week to celebrate 5 years of marriage together!! It was a wonderful vacation, and we had fun spending lots of time together, just the 2 of us. I'll let the pics tell about our trip.
Matt doing what he does best...playing golf. The course at Manele Bay has great views so I rode around in the golf cart one day, taking pics.

This is what we did the majority of the time...spend time on the beach (me, usually under an umbrella of course) and swim in the ocean.

We took a hike one morning up to a place called Sweetheart Rock (it's the big rock on the right).

My sweetheart in front of Sweetheart Rock (sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

We made it!! Watching the waves crash

Overall, it was a very relaxing trip. And we couldn't get home fast enough to this little face:

We sure did miss our sweet girl!!!

New Moves

I'm working on a Hawaii post. In the meantime, here is a video of Caroline's new moves. She's moved on from standing still and clapping to a mix of stomping around, banging her head and sometimes trying to snap (Disclaimer: I did NOT teach my daughter to snap while dancing ;-) Her new favorite song is the cha-cha slide on a kid's cd that my in-laws have at their house. Here's my funny girl (as usual, ignore the commentary):

We're back...

...from celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary (which is actually on July 10th) in Hawaii. Stay tuned for a post and pics from our trip.