Tea Party and More

Cara set up a tea party with Mickey and Minnie

Cara giving Minnie a drink (it is funny because she thinks they drink through their nose)

Now that they have had drinks, time for snacks

Cara giving Minnie a great big hug to thank her for coming to her tea party

Cara and Mommy goofing with the camera

Cara loves to wear Daddy's slippers around the house (it is amazing she can manuever in them because he has such big feet)

Cara just loves playing with Mickey and Minnie, they are among her most favorite toys. She set up this tea party the other day basically by herself. I was just afraid she would be over it by the time I got up and got the camera out. Luckily, she enjoyed the photo op.

Cara and the Cat

The cat has begun to realize the advantages of having Cara in his life. She has pretty much driven him crazy since she came into the world. She took over his spotlight. Then once she was old enough to crawl she would chase after him, and it became even worse once she walking. However, she is definitely not an enemy anymore if she knows how to get treats out of the bag!!

To the Rescue

What happened to our baby? I see pictures of her and realize how old she is getting!

Nap time on Mickey and Minnie while Mommy cleaning up the kitchen

What great pillows they make!!

A big shout out to Grandma A for coming to our rescue this week. A sick Grandpa F was unable to watch Cara this week while Mommy and Daddy worked, so a SOS call to Grandma A, a rough drive on snowy roads down to Indy, and a babysitter arrived. We were so grateful! Thanks Grandma A! Although babysitting Cara is never an imposition in her eyes!

Rainy Day Trip to the Children's Museum

Daddy and Cara walking to see the race car

This is how Cara rode the carousel, plastered in my arms holding on for dear life

Cara playing in the kitchen in playscape

Cara giving Curious George a hug

Cara and Daddy looking down at the glass sculpture from the 4th floor

We needed a relaxing family fun day, so this past Sunday we decided to head to the Children's Museum. We hadn't been there in a long while and thought that Cara would really enjoy it now that she is older. Too bad everyone had the same rainy day idea and the museum was crowded. Kids were shoving, running, not playing nice, and not taking turns. Poor Cara got bumped over so many times, but she was a trooper and just kept on getting up. I was so excited for her to ride the carousel, but she was terrified. She let me put her on the horse for abouthalf a minute, then was crying and shaking so I held her the rest of the ride.

She loved playing in the toddler area though. We stayed in there for a long while. It was pretty crowded though. Should have known it was going to be a zoo when there was not even room to park our stroller by the entrance. We had a fun afternoon and totally wore Cara out. She fell asleep on the way home and then took a 2 1/2 hour nap once we got home.

Happy Valentine's Day

Back in December I bought this adorable red velvet dress with the intention of getting Cara's 18 month pictures/Valentine pictures taken in it at the end of January. Well the end of January came and went and between illness, fevers, work schedules, and bad weather we just never made it to get her picture taken. So what is a Mommy to do but play dress up at home and try to get a cute picture. Obviously Cara was not quite in her normal "cheesy" picture taking mood. A cute pose was completely out of the question. So this is about all we came up with that afternoon. In the last picture I had changed Cara into her Valentine "I Love You" t-shirt with the hopes of getting a great picture in it, but obviously she was much too distracted in her room with all the toys, books, and puzzles. She would not even look up at the camera.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our loved ones near and far!

Cuddles and kisses from our adorable Valentine!!!

Mommy's Birthday and Band Groupies

My birthday week started by getting 2 dozen red roses from Scott and Cara

Smiling for Mommy's birthday, Cara had been under the weather for a few days so it was great to see her perked up and smiling

Hanging out in the restaurant lobby waiting for our table

The whole family at the Spaghetti Factory for Emily's birthday dinner

Mommy and Cara

Cara loves to drink whatever the big people are drinking so she had to try out my wine glass, no worries it was completely empty before she got her hands on it :)

The 3 of us at dinner on Friday

Daddy and his jazz band at a Jazz Festival in Ft Wayne on Saturday

Cara sitting with Grandma and Grandpa during the performance


We had a fun and busy weekend. On Friday was my birthday so the whole family got together for dinner to celebrate. Our original plans were to go to Ted's Montana Grill but after realizing Lent had already started we switched and went to the Spaghetti Factory downtown for more meat free choices. Cara and Scott got me some new Nike shoes and a game for the Wii. Cara loved helping Mommy open her presents. Our day ended with birthday cake and ice cream, yummy !!

I also want to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to my grandma who turned 82 on Friday. We share the same birthday. Cara and I planned to head over there for a visit but Cara had not been feeling well for a couple of days and I didn't want to expose Grandma to any kid bugs :)

We got an early start on Saturday to be band groupies. Cara and I headed to Ft Wayne to watch the Jazz band perform at a jazz festival at Snider HS. Grandma and Grandpa A met us at the school to watch a great performance. Then after a lunch stop at McDonald's Cara and I went back to G & G's house for the afternoon for playtime and nap time. We then met back up with the band for dinner at Pizza Hut before everyone headed for home. It was a long day for Cara and a lot of time in the car she was so happy to be home and stretched out in bed and slept until 9:00 this morning!

Super Bowl Party

Sitting with Mommy watching the big game while eating yummy snacks

Cara watching the game up close and personal right in front of the tv

Cara yelling "touchdown" while cheering for the Giants

Cara and daddy cheering for the Giants after the awesome game winning touchdown


I started this post earlier in the week and never went back to finish it but wanted to post pictures from our Super bowl party. We didn't get invited to a party this year so we made our own. We munched on shrimp cocktail, queso and chips, buffalo wings, popcorn, and M & M's! So healthy but mighty tasty!! We got to witness a terrific game since the team we were rooting for won! Next to watching the Indianapolis Colts win the super bowl last year this was the best super bowl ever!

Congratulations NY Giants!!

The Many Faces Of Our 18 Month Old

Happy Groundhogs Day to everyone! Thank goodness we have 6 more weeks of winter because we have yet to build a snowman this year. We got cheated out of a very large snow event that was supposed to happen Thursday night into Friday and we only picked up about an inch of snow, they had been predicting 6-8". Luckily for Scott the area around his school picked up about that much and he got the day off. We are still not sure how the all the weathermen were so wrong about the track of the storm, but there are still about 50 more days of winter left!!

Our "baby" girl is now officially 18 months old! How is the possible? It seems like she was just born! Her vocabulary increases every day, I am amazed sometimes at new words that come out of her mouth. The best ever was when today I told her I loved her and she said it back!! My heart melted. She sings the ABC's, always out of order but at least she has the right melody. She can count 1-10, again not always in order but she is always counting things!

Her giggle is infectious, her words are angelic, her personality is priceless, her hugs fill my heart with love, and her smile brightens my world! How lucky we are to have this wonderful little person in our lives!!