Summer Fun

We took a Saturday in June to head to the lake for a family picnic. Hannah's first. It was hot, but we had a great time. I cheated a little and we picked up sandwiches at Subway and then hit the road. While we were there, Chris and Caroline walked down to watch the boats while Hannah and I guarded the food- her favorite past time! We even took Sadie so that she could enjoy the sun.

I was a little worried the summer might drag being just the three of us day after day during the week- I was so wrong. It flew. The girls really have so much fun together now. They love to sing and play 'chase' with each other. I am so blessed. Although both can be a little stubborn, they have such sweet, loving spirits.

The first recital and a few other miscellaneous events...

My little ballerina! Caroline had a lot of fun taking ballet with Ms. Jessica thru Ballet Magnificant. They came to actually do the class at Pinelake which made things easy....
Her recital was in May, and it was definitely the highlight of the year. I was kind of wondering if she would get into it because she can be pretty shy and not really girly-girly. She proved me wrong (one day I'll learn to quit predicting)! Putting on the makeup was definitely at the top of her list, but she also became this different little person out on stage. Jumping and twisting and laughing with all of her friends, it was so much fun to watch. Not to mention hysterical...I think we all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.
The theme of the recital was Celebrating Jesus around the World. Caroline's class were representative of the Middle East. That sort of went over their heads though....they were just excited because they got to dress up like Princess Jasmine. Her little friend that she is standing next to in the group shot is Hadley.



The next pic cracks me up...I took it at Caroline's class picnic in May. All the moms were sitting around talking and I looked up and had to laugh- Look, my daughter is riding in a car with a boy! I had to capture the moment for her daddy to enjoy.


The next couple of shots are just everyday recent life with my sweet girls...Caroline has started 'reading' to Hannah (who actually sits and listens for the most part). The only problem is that Hannah likes to speed the story up every now and then.....
and then we have Caroline with one of her favorite gifts she got from a friend at her birthday party- a pair of Princess skates....

We had a new addition to our extended family in May. Jennifer had her second little boy, Webber. This is a pic of Caroline holding him- it's kind of funny, I think she is really going to be great with kids. Almost all babies really seem to respond to her (positively). They were carrying on their own little conversation....

whenever we go over to Chris's parents (Nana & Poppy) the girls have their own mini toy chest under TV in the living room. The other day they got really enthusiastic and decided to forgo pulling the toys out of the cabinet, and just join them instead!

The next pic is of Caroline with her cousin Matt, who at age 6, appears to be teaching her how to hold and shoot a gun!

And last, I think this is such a sweet image of my girls. They fuss and steal each others toys, but at the end of the day, they love each other so much. I am so thankful to God for the miracles of these babies. My life is so richly blessed by them.

Christmas time....

The holiday season was so much fun this year! It was technically Hannah's second Christmas, but since she was just a couple of weeks old the year before she wasn't really in any pictures and it didn't really feel like she was a part of it. That was not the case this time- both girls were all about the wrapping paper and decorations.
It is so much fun to see their awe...Caroline constantly squealed "There is a tree in our house!" We had a great time spending days with family- first opening presents with Chris's family on Christmas Eve, going home and having Santa at our house Christmas morning, and then heading to Kosciusko to spend the day with my mom, dad and grandfather.
The girls got enough loot to last them for several years, rather off just one. And I got a wonderful Christmas to treasure. It just gets better and better every year. I am so thankful for my sweet babies...their joy in life keeps me daily reminded of my joy in Christ.

Hannah's First Birthday....

It was so hard to believe when December 2007 rolled around so quickly. Caroline's first year definitely went by fast, but I felt like I had missed half of Hannah's it was over so quickly.
We had a great party with our family. And Hannah had great fun with her cake! Such a contrast from her big sister...she was fascinated by all that purple and yellow icing and really dug in! Then mom forgot to bring her a change of clothes to the party so she just spent the rest of the day playing with her new gifts in a diaper cover!
We weren't walking yet...she would be a lot like her sister in that respect...she wouldn't take her first steps until she was 17 months old! She was a cute crawler though- she did this kind of crab walk wherever she went that was hysterical.

Time for K3...

Caroline started K3 at in the fall of 2007. She was in Ms. Lana's room. She loved every day of it! And quite often at home I would hear "But Ms. Lana says you need to do it this way..." She looked so big in her uniform...compliments of Nana and Parker. Some of her best friends were Harlee Grace and Mollee. They took a field trip in the fall to the pumpkin patch where they went on a hay ride before picking their pumpkin. And then in the spring they went to the Jackson Zoo. That was our first time to go. All of the kids enjoyed seeing the animals, but I think their favorite part was the playground!

Headed to the beach...

Our first vacation as a family of four came at the end of May 2007. We joined Chris's parents in Orange Beach, AL.
It was actually the first time at the beach for either Caroline or Hannah. Caroline had a blast making sandcastles, jumping waves with Poppy, swimming in the pool- Hannah slept a lot, wanted nothing to do with the sand...and generally saw little reason to leave her bouncy seat on the balcony where she had a great view of the action!

Oh Sadie Say....

Well, there is technically one more member of our family who deserves a mention...our West Highland White Terrier, Sadie.
She really is the sweetest dog. It's just her story that makes my husband groan (or rather his pocketbook). Chris and I decided before we had children we needed to practice our parenting skills on a family pet. So we decided to be 'good citizens' and adopt a dog instead of paying all that money for a fancy pedigree.
Wow, God really does have a sense of humor. I found a rescue in Nashville that specialized in terriers since we knew we wanted a small dog we could keep indoors. Sadie was only 9 months old and had just been turned in because the family that bought her from a breeder said she snapped at their small child. The rescue explained to us that snapping is common among this breed as puppies but she should soon outgrow it. We loved her at first sight and decided to take a chance. Well, the rescue was right about the snapping. She has never done it the first time to any of us. But what none of us realized was that Sadie had some SERIOUS allergy issues. After much expensive testing, we were set up on a regime of once a week allergy shots (Chris does that), special order food b/c the main thing she is allergic to is wheat which is in just about any edible animal product there is and special order shampoo for soaking her feet once a week.
We've determined over the years that we have spent more on medical bills for our dog than we have our children. But what do you do? We love her and she has been such a good sport with the addition of Caroline and Hannah....my only advice for anyone seeking a pet? Stay away from white haired dogs and check to see if the parents had allergy conditions!