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!!

Fancy Night Out

The waitress was so sweet, she brought Cara a plate of oranges, lemons, limes, and cherries to snack while we waited on our food

Sitting around the table

The dessert was definitely the best part for Cara

Yummy!

Modeling her pretty dress (one from her trendysister collection)

Cara and Mommy take a picture of themselves

This past weekend we took advantage of "devour downtown" during Indy restaurant week and headed to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a delicious dinner. Cara apparently loves $30 steak meals. She ate so good, but dessert was defnitely the best part. Grandma and Grandpa F joined us for the dinner. Indy restaurant week goes through to this Saturday, so if you are able, check out their website (indyrestaurantweek.com) and head out to a fabulous $30 meal at one of many wonderful downtown restaurants.

Weekend update

This outfit was one of Cara's Christmas presents from GreatGrandma A in Florida. It is so soft and cuddly, perfect for a cold winter day! We thought Great Grandma would love to see a picture of her wearing it!

On Saturday morning we had a few errands to run, the first stop being the bank. We very rarely go to the bank because we have direct deposit and do most of our banking online, so a rare stop and a weak moment by Mommy led Cara to getting her first sucker. Of course the wrapper was white so I sure was surprised the inside was BLUE! But Cara had a BALL with it, ate it very good and did not get that messy with it. She was just devestated when it was all gone, but the blue lips and tongue stayed around for a bit to remind us that she ate it!

Fashion??

I know low rise is definitely in style these days, but come on, do they have to start so young??

Purdue Jazz Fest

Stretching our legs out before the concert after the long car ride to Purdue

Sitting all by herself waiting for the band to start

Daddy and his HS jazz band performing

Watching intently!

Waving to Daddy as his band exits the stage following their performance


Saturday afternoon Cara and I headed up to Purdue University to watch Daddy and the Jazz band perform in the Jazz Fest. The Jazz band did a terrific job and we really enjoyed their performance. Cara was really good! She sat intently watching for most of the performance and only yelled out Dada a few times. It was REALLY cold out, so she was bundled up pretty well for the walk from the parking garage to the Union and then the walk to the restaurant afterwards. She didn't enjoy being bundled so well, but Mommy insisted! Then we had another long car ride heading back to Indy to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa A before we headed home. We had a long fun day!

January Fun

Emptying all the toys out of the new box

So she can climb in!

With all the new toys for Christmas, I bought a couple of new boxes to put away the toys not being played with to make our family room more than just a toy room. Cara thinks it is really fun to empty out the boxes so she can sit in them. Guess we could have saved a lot of money and not bought all those new toys and just got her the new boxes, haha!

Christmas is finally over for us

Sitting in her stroller waiting for the concert to begin

The middle school "Jazz Too" performing

The HS Jazz Orchestra

Daddy and Cara after the concert

Mommy and Cara after the concert

Well, we can finally close the Christmas season with the completion of the Christmas concerts! Due to a snow storm in December, then Christmas break, the concert was postponed to this past Sunday. I am sure Scott was ready to close up the Christmas music charts and get on with new things. We had great weather, a great crowd, and enjoyed GREAT music!

Fun times at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Going down the slide on her little playhouse

Looking at pictures in a book about Italy

Playing with her little house

After finally downloading the pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's house, I have found that most of the pictures showed the top of Cara's head or her back because she was too busy playing to stop and say cheese for the camera. She had a great time playing at G & G's house because it had been a while since she played with those toys. They have a little plastic playhouse and I remember when they first got it Cara seemed so short in it, now she is as tall as the house. But she still loves playing in it.

Our visit up north included going out to eat at two of our favorite restaurants up there, having some friends over for dinner and games on Friday night, a little bit of shopping, and of course lots of playtime and cuddle time.

Is this January?

Hard to believe we can swing outside without a coat in January

Just wanted to share a picture of Cara's favorite sitting spot, in the open fridge

Hope 2008 is treating everyone well so far. We spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa A at their house last week. Was planning on posting some pictures of that trip but decided to post these instead. I will save those for my next post. Our house has been plagued with a cold bug so lots of runny noses and coughing for the 3 of us, although we are very slowly getting better. Hopefully this weird weather doesn't set us back further. We set a record high temp yesterday, followed by LOTS of rain today, and then getting colder again for the weekend. Sure wish all that rain would have been snow!

Rockin' New Years Eve

Cara cheering on the Hoosiers as we watched their 1st bowl game appearance in 14 years, too bad they lost but at least they finally played 13

Oscar and Grandpa playing air hockey

Oscar stands on an ottoman so he can reach, and by the looks of things, he has done this before

Cara is a great cheerleader for the air hockey game

Our little angel is getting pretty tired! Guess she won't make it to midnight!!

On New Years Eve we headed over to Mike and Lisa's house for their New Years Eve party. Not only were they celebrating New Years but also their 2nd wedding anniversary. Oscar and Cara had a ball playing with each other. There were other older kids for Dillon to hang out with. Oscar called it a night about 9:30 and Cara was ready to go shortly after that. So, we rang in the new year snuggled in our warm bed, with a sparkling wine toast, cheering with Dick Clark and his Rockin New Years Eve party on tv. We had the best of both worlds, a fun party to attend and also home in our pj's! Here's to a great 2008!!

New Years Eve

We are dancing for joy on this New Years Eve! In a few hours we will say goodbye to 2007 although it has been a wonderful year for us! I was supposed to work tonight but someone wanted to work it more than me and offered to work for me, how lucky is that! So I will ring in the new year with two of my most favorite people in the world. We will also be celebrating the new year with other family at a party at my brother's house. I am sure I will have pictures tomorrow of crazy Cara and Oscar partying away! I know neither of them will make it to midnight though!

Happy New Year to all!!!!!!!

New Table

I have been meaning to post this picture for a few days, but wanted to share with you a picture of Cara sitting at her new table. She loved all of her Christmas presents, but she beams with radiant joy at this table. She just LOVES it! Grandma and Grandpa F got one for each of the families for Christmas for the little ones to use. Cara insists on eating here, playing here, or just sitting here for fun. Thank you so much for ths fabulous gift!