a few more

More pictures from Aunt Kelsey: http://kelseylynae.blogspot.com/2010/03/wordless-wednesdays-rest-of-caroline.html

like this one...

I don't know how she ever captured a picture of my sweet girl looking like this.

How about this instead:

That's more like it.

Either way, you can check out more pics over at her blog today. Enjoy!

Wonderful Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend with my sister & her husband (Dan's brother, as we like to call him), who were able to come down from Louisville for a quick visit. The weather was GORGEOUS and we took advantage of the opportunity to get outside. Saturday morning we packed up some food (including some homemade tortilla chips Kelsey whipped up and some fresh guacamole I made...and we all ate ourselves sick) and headed out to our favorite park. The boys had lots of time to play, throwing the football and running down hills...which resulted in this:

But he's tough, so don't worry about it.

We went on a good long walk enjoying the weather,

Grilled some brats & pineapple (YUM!),And just chilled :)

Aunt Kelsey took in lots of snuggles with Caroline,

and Uncle Brent even did a bit of serenading...which Caroline LOVED.Even Mommy snuck in some snuggles in between the smitten Aunt & Uncle.

On Saturday evening, they gave Dan & I a chance to sneak away for a date (which I don't have pictures of at the moment) which was wonderful! Sunday morning we headed out to church and took in another beautiful day. Kels & I made lunch together - which took entirely too long and was a bit disappointing (my fault - it was a new recipe and sounded much easier than it was), but we still were able to share a meal together and laugh at a naked baby for awhile.

It was a wonderful weekend, all in all, and I'm so thankful once again that they made the trip down. I love having them close enough to do little weekend trips like this - what a blessing. And Caroline doesn't mind either :-) They brought this adorable little spring dress for her this time:

Caroline thought bubble: "I can't believe I'm related to these crazy people..."

"But at least they know how darn cute I am!"

More pictures to come...but I didn't want to steal all of Kelsey's thunder since she was the one who took most of them. Thanks for more beautiful pictures, Kels! And thanks again for making the trip - we love you and miss you both already.

New Walker

Caroline is loving her new walker! And so are Mom & Dad as it's a great new place for her to hang out. Mostly she just loves to suck on everything she can reach, which is pretty funny to watch sometimes.
"This is good stuff Mom! You should try it sometime!"
Of course, it might be a little more fun when her feet touch the ground :-)

Happy Birthday Jewel!

Happy Birthday Jewel! 21 years old, huh? We're so proud of the beautiful woman of God that you are becoming. We love your crazy personality and sensitive spirit, and we know that God has big things in store for you. We miss you so much and wish you lived much closer than the frozen tundra of Minnesota!

In honor of your birthday, I decided to share this priceless video with the world. Caroline has so much to learn from her Aunt Jewel :-)

*Note - this is from Thanksgiving, when Caroline was just 8 weeks old.

Dear Grandma,

So my Mommy & Daddy told me that today is your birthday. So I thought to myself...

hmmm...what can I do to make Grandma feel special today? I wish they would have given me a little more time to come up with something! So I sat and thought about it for awhile.

Wait a second...Mommy's trying to pull a fast one on me! Man I wish I could read. But I think that piece of paper is going to get in the way of what I'm trying to do here.

Anyway, back to you Grandma. I love you! And I'm sending smiles & hugs & kisses all the way to California today!

Wait a second...I think Mommy is at it again. I think I need to investigate.

Just what do you think you're doing, Mommy? I'm trying to wish Grandma a Happy Birthday here.

Oh man...you've got a water glass! I'm suddenly VERY thirsty! I can almost....reeeeaaaach.....come on!

I've about had it with you, Mommy. Put that thing down and give me the water glass.

Sigh. Mommy isn't cooperating, so I guess I'll just have to tell you Happy Birthday without her help.

Happy Birthday Grandma!! I love you and miss you sooooo much! Can't wait to see you again.

love,

Caroline (your favorite granddaughter ever!)

Praying for Katrina

While I usually like to keep things light on this little blog of mine, that's difficult to do when my heart is so heavy. This past week a dear friend of mine from college, Katrina, was diagnosed with acute leukemia after only a few weeks of some painful symptoms. She found out on Tuesday, and by Friday had already started chemo therapy. She essentially went from being a normal 26-year-old to a cancer patient in a matter of weeks. If I'm reeling from that, I can't even begin to imagine how she feels, or how her husband feels, or her family. It's really pretty mind-blowing.

It's at times like these that my faith is truly rocked. The question that haunts all of us - WHY? WHY does a GOOD GOD let bad things happen to good people? - is violently stirred up once again, and I'm left without answers. I'm not sure there are answers that can satisfy us this side of heaven, because that would require knowing and understanding the mind of God. And if I could understand the mind of God, then He wouldn't be a God worth serving - He wouldn't be my God, my ROCK that I cling to in times of trouble.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

~Isaiah 55:8-9

I write this simply to ask you prayer warriors out there to add my friend Katrina to your lists. Doctors are very hopeful that they have caught this very early and that it is quite treatable, but because this type of leukemia is quite aggressive, the treatments will have to be as well. So pray that her body can withstand the chemo so that she can ultimately overcome this.

Her husband has set up a blog to keep everyone updated on her progress, so if you're interested you can follow it here: http://prayingforkatrina.blogspot.com/.

Giggles!

While I nurse a pretty severe writer's block, I decided to award your patience with videos (and they don't require much creativity - there, I said it.) But a few quick comments before I let you see this one.

First, it's long. But when your baby is really laughing like this, it's hard to turn off the camera!

Second, the camera work is pretty pathetic. I guess I was just so excited that we actually had the video camera running during her giggles I didn't care. But seriously, I could have at least slid those dirty dishes over to the side or something!

Just don't judge me, ok? I do clean my home. And I do dishes all the time. I swear.

Thirdly, I have to swallow my pride to post this one because I'm pretty much making a total fool of myself. On camera. Lovely. Isn't crazy what we'll do just to make a baby giggle? I mean, you've done this too, right? Right? (Just say yes)

Don't judge me, ok?

And no, I'm not insecure.

ANYWAY....enough about me. My sweet girl is laughing her head off in this video and I'm pretty sure it's the absolute best thing I've ever seen! So I'll quit talking now and let you watch. Thank you for obliging me - you may proceed :)



P.S. Apparently writer's block doesn't prevent me from still writing too much.