Holiday Photos

I love groupon!  Jennifer and Michael Moore Photography were offering a studio session for $25 and I just couldn't pass it up especially since Auntie Christine had brought over the cutest outfits for the girls and I had a $10 off coupon.  So for $15 I got a studio photo session with prints...not bad!  The session was yesterday and of all the days this was one where Caroline woke up SICK...ugh!  She slept all the time we were in the car and the session did not go well.  She didn't want any part of it and we couldn't get a smile out of our usual smiley, cheerful, playful little girl.  You know it's bad when we're in a room full of toys and all she wanted to do was sit and cuddle with her mama...that is so not her.  I was bummed, but Charlotte was a great little poser!  You can view the pictures here.  Password is Crystal.

During the session Charlotte says, "Mama you worry about Caroline and I'll sit and look at the lady with the camera and smile!"
In the middle of the session, Charlotte yells, "Santa just walked by!  He came from the north pole!"
Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said, "a dinosaur.  A blue one!"
Santa asked what her favorite cookie was and she said, "ones with m&m's, but my daddy eats them all!"

AND less than 24 hours later here is the Caroline we know and love!

I got down to take a better picture so she did too!

Rolling the ornament to me

So I wasn't impressed with the quality of those pictures so we moved to a different room with more natural lighting.

I'm singing, she's dancing!

17 months

Friday Funnies

It's never a good thing when you serve dinner and your 4 year old asks, "What's that slimy stuff?!"

"I used to do that when I was young!"  When did you get old?!!

Pat was leaving to go hunting by himself and he said, "Hopefully I'll need to call for help."  Charlotte says, "But why, you're a big boy!"  When he returned, she asked if he had a deer.  He said no and she told him that he needed to bring her!

If I get upset, Charlotte says "Breathe and count to 4."

"I'll do it because I'm the expert!"

"Mama that's not how you make a H.  I know it's hard for you, but this is how you do it!"

Charlotte was talking to Grammy on the phone who was on her way to get her for a sleepover and she says, "Go fast, I want to get going!"

"Don't do that.  That makes me nervous!"

"Now, let's go to my office..."

Caroline was near the oven and I said, "Hot, don't touch."  So she blows at the oven!

Caroline got her hands on my purse and emptied it.  I told her that I needed to clean it up and she came back with the broom and started sweeping my stuff!

Handprint Turkeys

Happy Girl!

Caroline LOVES to be outside!  Anytime anyone goes outside, she runs to get her coat and hat and says "go."  But then when she can't go out, she has a fit!  Well tonight when daddy started up the tractor, she got so excited I just couldn't say no to a tractor ride.  They went around and around, but when it was time to get off, she had a fit!  Poor girl, I feel so bad!!

Our Thankful Tree

We started a new Thanksgiving tradition today by making our own thankful tree.  We had so much fun with this project and it was quite amusing listening to a 4 year old tell you what she is thankful for (rainbows, cranberries, strawberries, marbles, squinkies).  It will be fun to add to the tree daily until Thanksgiving.

 

Drawing circles

 Cutting

 

Punching a hole

Writing what she's thankful for

 We attached string and hung the circles on tree branches that we gathered outside.

 A beautiful centerpiece and a great reminder of how lucky we really are!

New Spaces

 Over the past few months, Pat has been hard at work remodeling both Charlotte and Caroline's bedrooms.

 

Charlotte's room before. This picture was taken in 2011 after moving in and painting the walls pink.  

 During.  Wood paneling was removed, new bigger windows were installed, and new flooring was put down.
And AFTER...

 

Yarn wrapped monogram (pinterest inspiration)

 Fabric embroidery hoops (yep, gotta love pinterest!)

 Charlotte and I made this frame using cardboard and scrapbook paper.  We framed a page from her Fancy Nancy calendar and it will hang over her dress up cabinet that I am refinishing (good times!)

 

Love this!

Caroline's Room Before

 

This was taken in 2011 and this room was used as our dining room while we were remodeling the kitchen.  After Caroline was born, Pat made this room a bedroom for her.  Recently, he remodeled her room the same as he did for Charlotte.  While remodeling, the girls were sharing a room and I think everyone is glad they have their own room back!  Charlotte told Caroline that she didn't like her waking her up!

 Walls are painted sage green, not lime green as the pictures depict.

Fabric hoops

Button monogram C

DIY canvas print

Growth chart I made

Changes were also made to our dining room.

 

Dining room before

We had planned on sanding and refinishing the wide pine floor, but when we found out that Caroline's lead level was high and this blue paint contained lead, we immediately decided that we needed to paint it.  And in came the help, Christine and Rob!  ( I am happy to report that Caroline's lead level is slowly decreasing; what a SCARE!)

 

 We had a hard time choosing the colors to go with our wall color and after painting it light brown we quickly changed our mind and ended up with a shade of green and black.

  

Our house we bought 2.5 years ago was in need of some major TLC, but with A LOT of hard work, determination, and long hours we (mostly my incredible hard working husband) have proudly transformed our house into a lovely home.  More renovations to come...

Flying a Kite

"We should go fly a kite because it's really windy out."  With that said, we grabbed her kite, headed outdoors, and had so much FUN.  She sure does come up with some great ideas!

 First day of November and it was too warm for a coat!

 

Headed right for the trees!