All Dressed Up

Ladies' Day Out

Well, we weren't hanging out with the Bonnet Girls, but Caroline and I did have a Ladies' Day Out today at Snider Plaza. We had fun shopping, eating a yummy snack, playing in the toy store, and walking/running around the plaza sidewalks.

Caroline loved climbing on this standing block while I was dropping off some items that were badly in need of some monogramming :-)

Of course, we had to go to JDs for a cookie. It turned into quite the mess.
Our conversation went something like this:
Me: "Caroline, would you like a delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, not-so-messy, SNICKERDOODLE cookie??"
Caroline: "NO,NO,NO!!"
Me: "Okay, well wouldn't you like a yummy, delectable, non-staining SUGAR cookie??
Caroline: "NO,NO,NO!!"
Me: In a very defeated, quiet, meek voice..."Um, would you, by any chance, want a chocolate chip cookie??"
Caroline: "YES,YES,YES!!! YAY, YAY,YAY!!!"
(Sigh.) I pushed aside my OCD tendencies and let Caroline make her own choice. She, of course, got chocolate everywhere. Including all over her dress that she used as a napkin even though I was holding tons of napkins in my hands. It's SO hard not to be the control freak that I am, but I am working on it. Today was good practice :-)
Playing in the toy store...by far, Caroline's favorite activity of the day!!

Running up and down the aisles

She was so excited to be "surrounded" by Dora

Reading a puppy book

Playing at the train table

What a funny looking poodle!

Look at all the "kucks"

Making a mess right before we left...don't you know the people who worked there just loved us!

We had a great, but exhausting, Ladies' Day Out. Caroline hit the wall right before lunch. Hopefully, she can last a little longer next time so we can get a burger at the Burger House :-)

My Sleepyhead's Bedhead

I know, two posts in one day...I'm living on the wild side :-) I love my sleepyhead's crazy bedhead in the morning. Here are some pics of what I wake up to. I couldn't get her to really look at the camera because her fav show, "Gigans" (Backyardigans), was on on the tv behind me. If you look closely at the pics, you can see the deck of cards Caroline has destroyed in the background. They are her new favorite toy.

Swimming with Grace

We've been swimming a lot this week (unfortunately, I keep forgetting my camera). Luckily, I remembered it when we went swimming with our friends, Cori and Grace at Cori's parent's house. But I only took a few pics. Gracie is such a sweet friend to Caroline. Caroline LOVES hanging out with her older and wiser friend :-) Grace teaches Caroline lots of things. They had a fun day of swimming together!!

I couldn't get Caroline to look at the camera. Isn't Grace beautiful?!? Such a doll!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cason!!

I can't believe it has been a year since our friend, Cason's, first birthday. But time is flying oh so fast, and it was time to celebrate his second birthday this weekend. He had a fun party at Pump It Up, which has bounce houses, slides, etc... for the kids to play on.

Cason, standing on his birthday throne, ready to blow out his candles
Christina made this adorable Blues Clues cake...she's so talented! It tasted as good as it looked!

Eric and Cason practicing, "I'm 2!!!"

Matt, me, Christina and Eric...These guys have been in our community group at church for over 2 years and are now moving away to another city. We will miss them VERY much and our community group will not be the same. But we are excited for the new opportunities that await them!

Caroline having a snack with her buddy, Parker

Eating cake with the birthday boy...yum!

Caroline was terrified of the bounce houses at the beginning of the party. She finally started to warm up on this big, inflatable slide and ended up having a good ole' time climbing and sliding. Her she is with Matt, Parker and Jason, getting ready to slide.

Climbing up the slide

Matt and I did everything possible to help Caroline feel comfortable...including playing in the bounce houses ourselves. We both agreed it was fun to feel like kids again :-) Sweet Laura, trying to help me cheer Caroline up

Attempting a group picture. I bribed Caroline with treats so she would sit there without crying. I know, stellar mom here :-)

Sitting by Parker

Happy birthday, Cason! Thanks for inviting us to such a great party!!

My Little Picasso

Caroline still likes to put stuff in her mouth. Which makes it hard to do any kind of art project with her. If we fingerpaint, she eats it, if we try to play with sidewalk chalk it winds up in her mouth, etc... So I figured an EDIBLE art project was the solution to our problem. So we decided to fingerpaint with whipped cream and ketchup/mustard. We assembled our supplies: old towels, whipped cream, food coloring, baking sheets, and condiments
Caroline was very wary at first. I had to dunk her hands in the whipped cream. In this picture she is holding her hand up to me saying "no,no,no,no" over and over.
I assured her all was okay and showed her how to "paint" the tray. She quickly realized this was F.U.N.
And, to top it all off, it tasted yummy! My little picasso, really getting into the painting...

...and the sugar!!

The final masterpiece

She loved painting with the ketchup and mustard too, only by this time, we had been doing this activity for awhile and her attention span was rapidly deteriorating.

All done! What a fun way to "paint" AND have a snack :-)

The hose always makes for an easy and quick clean-up...

...then off to the pool for a cool swim

climbing in and out, in and out

Topping off the afternoon with a popsicle

I think Caroline had enough sugar to last her a week :-)