Big Girl Bed

Helping Grandpa F take apart her crib

Checking out the half taken apart crib, hmm...this is weird

Hi Mommy, are you taking our picture? :)

Wow, my new bed, it is sooooo comfy!

Grandma F made me a new fleece comforter and pillows for my big girl bed, I LOVE Mickey!

Mommy had a few sad moments while watching Daddy and Grandpa F take apart Cara's crib. How is it possible that my baby isn't a baby anymore and needs a big girl bed? It isn't that she outgrew her crib, she just hated it's confinement! So, Mommy and Daddy were tired of sharing our bed, so we thought a new bed might do the trick. We had some extra babyproofing (toddlerproofing) to get done, and now with a gate at the top of our stairs (right across from the door to Cara's room), Cara can sleep in there all by herself.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The other day we dressed up Cara in her St Patty's shirt, complete with her green headband to get some pictures for the occasion. We were quite surprised that she was in the mood to "pose" for them. Sometimes we are constantly chasing her to get a picture, but she sat on the stairs and said "cheese", just waiting for each picture to be taken. Then she headed into the dining room to play peek-a-boo behind the curtain.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our favorite leprechaun!!

Happy Birthday Daddy and Grandma F

Loving the sunshine and 60 degree weather today while swinging

The 3 of us, out to eat to celebrate the birthdays

Daddy and Grandma watching Cara eye their cake while we sing Happy Birthday

Yummy, cake and ice cream is so good

Birthday celebrations

Daddy opening his presents

Daddy and Grandma F share a birthday, so we celebrated together with a dinner out to red Lobster, followed by cake, ice cream, and presents back at the house. Cara got Daddy a digital frame for his office, so he can look at lots of pictures all day instead of have picture frames all over. We enjoyed a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the temperatures were warmer. A perfect day for using our swing!

Grandma and Grandpa A are here enjoying time with all of us during Grandma's spring break. It is nice that they were able to be here to celebrate Scott's birthday. And Cara has been getting lots of cuddles and attention these past couple of days.

Happy Birthday to Daddy and Grandma!!

Rock Star

Rocking on the drums while Daddy plays the guitar

Her turn on the guitar

Singing it out!

Scott got an early birthday present a couple weeks ago it is is called Rock Band. In this "game" you play the drums, guitar, or have to sing in pitch. It is a lot of fun. You can play one part of it, or have 3 people play together. Cara thinks it is really fun to play. We had a ton of fun one evening rocking it out with Scott's dad jamming on the guitar, while I sang, and Scott drummed away. So although this is another video game, at least it is musical, which as you know is a big part of our family! Don't worry, we do more than let Cara play video games, these are just the most recent pics I have :)

Wii........

Cara concentrating on her Wii bowling game

Cara clapping for her bowling ball going down the lane

Showing off Cara's score (she bowled really well with a little help from Daddy)

When all the band students were over last weekend we moved the Wii upstairs from the basement so more kids could be doing something. We have found we are playing Wii more often by not having to go down in the basement. Cara has always loved the Wii, she will pick up a Wiimote and yell "wii" as she moves her arm up and down. It is probably a bit young to get one started on video games, but at least they are very interactive and make you move :)

Weekend Jazz Contest

sxZ Cara walking into the performance with Grandma and Grandpa A

Big smiles!

The high school jazz band on stage

Mommy, Daddy and Cara in the gym after the performance

Cara had the most fun playing in the entry running between the pillars playing hide and seek

Imagine all of these shoes came with people, which were all over our house

Saturday was the ISSMA jazz fest. The high school and middle school jazz bands, and jazz choir performed. Grandma and Grandpa A came down for the contest and for a Cara visit. After the great performance by the groups, we had all the students, chaperones, and bus drivers to our house for lunch. There were a lot of people everywhere, about 50 students!! Cara thoroughly enjoyed all the visitors! Despite a grill fire (not the food on the grill, but a grease fire in the bottom of the grill), the event went quite smoothly. The kids enjoyed hanging out at our house!

On Saturday Cara officially turned 19 months old! She had such a fun day, hanging out with big kids, playing with Grandma and Grandpa, then got to stay home with G & G while Mommy and Daddy had an event Saturday night! Thanks for G & G for all their help this weekend, with getting the house and food ready for the gathering, and watching Cara for us! Thank you so much!!

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!!!