Updates

Poor Flash had to have surgery this week. I noticed a very small bare spot in his fur that he kept biting and licking. David took him to the vet and the bare spot turned out to be a skin tumor. Apparently these are fairly common in dogs. Well we had it removed the next day (For a price of course. Vet = $$$). We won't know what it was exactly, if it was malignant, until next week. Flash is a real trooper and doing very well. We feel so sorry for the poor guy. He'll get his stitches removed in two weeks.On the lighter side Jonah had his very first pimple! I've been saying that I feel like Jonah is entering puberty. I don't know a more glaring sign of puberty than a pimple. Right on the front of his nose too. You can't even hardly see it though because of his freckles. He says that he now loves his freckles. I've always loved his freckles. (This announcement was posted with his permission.)

Five Years?!

This past Memorial Day was our five year anniversary of living in this house together. I still can't really believe that I quit my job, packed up everything I owned, and moved with my small son three states away from our home and family, especially as a single mom. That was one of the scariest decisions I have ever made. But also one of the best decisions I have ever made. I can't imagine life now without David. He made our little family so much more complete. I managed to dig up some pictures from that first year together, from before we went digital.

David taught Jonah how to ride a bike.Jonah's first day of Kindergarten. Wasn't he so little and cute?!
Jonah met his new cuzins.
Jonah and David clowning around. It's funny. Everything back then was boys against girl. They always wanted to gang up on me. I showed them! Girls out number boys now. (Boy I hated that carpet!)We did a whole lot of painting. Some rooms even ended up getting painted twice. Like this one, thank goodness.Jonah started his baseball career.
This is just a really cute photo of Jonah at Halloween. David makes the holidays, and everything really, a lot more fun.Happy anniversary to us! Five years went by so quickly. I'm very excited about where the next five years will take us.

It's a Miracle!

Whenever I figure out how to do something myself on the computer I am absolutely amazed. I'm a real moron when it comes to computers. Also I get insanely frustrated easily and just give up. I guess I get computer rage. I've been trying to figure out how to download pictures from my cell phone onto the computer for months with no success. Lately I realized that the pictures application on our laptop which has Windows Vista is much more user friendly so I thought I would try to download pictures from my cell phone one more time. The laptop pretty much walked me through the whole process step by step and was incredibly easy. I am so thrilled!!!

The pictures that I have on my phone can be broken down into several categories. The first category are pictures that I send David while he's at work, just to show him what we are up to.

Like visiting the library.Or having lunch with bubby.The second category of pictures on my cell phone would be pictures from last summer when I couldn't find my camera.

Caroline had her very first haircut.Jonah's cub scout pack cleaning up a creek in Veteran's Park. (It was nasty!) Jonah is the one second from the left waving.Caroline being a diva.
Third are pictures of Samantha that I would send to her parents over the phone when I babysat her and also while I couldn't find my camera.

Sammi was such a cute, happy baby.
Sam and Caroline had so much fun together.Last are pictures of Kate. These are either pictures I sent to people or I took just because my camera wasn't around.

First recorded smile.I do love her big dark eyes. They're such a novelty after having two with blue eyes.
There were a lot more photos on my phone. Too many to post now. I'll have to save them for future entries.

Uh Oh

Today I got a glimpse of the future...


...and in about 15 years I think David and I are in big trouble.

Five Months?!

Kate turned five months this past week. I can't even believe it! I know from experience that the first year goes by so fast. I think the lack of sleep makes the days a blur at times and helps you lose track of time. I try to treasure every moment with baby Kate but I'm already getting sad that my little baby is growing up so quickly. She's such an absolute joy!Practicing with the sippy cup.
ALWAYS smiling.
Caroline still loves her too, which is good. And hasn't accidentally killed her, which is also good. I love this photo of the two of them.

Bubby Love

One of the other parents from Jonah's baseball team was kind enough to email this photo to me. Caroline loves to sit with her bubby during the team meetings that follow each game. She adores him. He does tease her and sometimes he plays a little too rough but overall I think he's a much better older sibling than I was. I guess that big brother class we took him to paid off.

Just In Time for Spring

Yay! David's new rain barrel was delivered yesterday. Our county has a new rain barrel program that started this past winter. It was so popular that David was put on a waiting list. Well his name finally came up and after weeks of waiting and many phone calls his barrel was finally delivered. If you don't know, a rain barrel is used to store rain water to water your lawn, garden, and plants. It has a spigot that you can connect your water hose directly to it. Our county has awesome recycling and conservation programs that I think should be nation wide.

Wait a minute. Was there something else delivered too?

Aaaaaaaaaa! Let me out!

Sisters

I really hope that our girls grow up to be close. Having two brothers and no sisters myself I'm not really sure as their mom how I can encourage their relationship. My friend Kellie says that she thinks it's important not to show favoritism. I think that can be true for brothers too. Any other suggestions from the sisters out there?

More Hats

A few friends came over Easter Sunday to help David break in his new corn hole set. While they were here Caroline started insisting that everyone put on a hat. You may remember me mentioning Caroline's new obsession with hats a few posts earlier. Our friends were nice enough to oblige. Good thing. I would hate for them to suffer the wrath of Caroline.

A hat for daddy.A hat for Jon.A hat for Lauren.A hat for Caroline.No, give it to Kate.No, give it to Phil. And gloves too.This hat is for Caroline.No, it looks better on Jon.
This hat is for Kate.No wait. It looks better on daddy.Has Caroline started some kind of weird new family Easter tradition? Nah. But she did create some lasting memories!

Officially 2 and Terrible

Okay she's not terrible. Well sometimes she's a little terrible. If you've had the joy of being a parent to a two year old then you know exactly what I mean. However she's awfully precious to us and wanted to make her birthday special. For the first part of her birthday celebration we took her to see Sesame Street Live. She's been very into Elmo and Zoe and LOVED the show. David and I didn't enjoy it as much as she did but we enjoyed seeing her have a good time.

Caroline and daddy looking over the program before the show.
Once the show started Caroline was mesmerized.
Her favorite part was the disco scene. Maybe I should get a disco ball for the girls' room.
For the second part of her birthday we got Caroline a swing set. Well it's really for both girls. This just seemed like a good time to get it.

David and our good friend Rob looking over the swing set instructions and multitude of parts. (Thank you for all your help Rob!!!) I've never seen anyone as excited as David to put a swing set together.
They did it! Caroline refers to it as her "castle."
All in all I think Caroline had a pretty nice birthday. Although I doubt she'll remember much of it. Let's bring on age three!!

Happy Birthday Caroline!!! We love you!