Extended Christmas!

Scott's Dad, Chen and Frankie came for Christmas and then Sarah came for a short visit after Christmas. We had a fun time with them all here. Chen, Sarah and I went shopping one day (with no kids!), Chen made us a fantastic Chinese dinner one night, everyone (except C and I) went to Tahoe to play in the snow one day, and we went to tour The Jellybelly Factory. It was a fun and busy week!

Caroline actually did really well on the tour. She liked waving to all of the people in the factory and some of them waved back!

Before Sarah left for the airport she spent about 45 minutes coloring with the kids. I don't think Caroline has ever stayed engaged in one activity for so long! Yay for Auntie Sarah!

Waiting for everyone to FINALLY be ready to go. :)

Silly girl

More Christmas

After we open presents and have breakfast, it is our tradition to go to Stuarts house. Since we moved to Benicia it is only a ten minute drive! Going there for Christmas dinner is one of my favorite traditions.

Poor Frankie was a little bored with all of the adults. :)

Caroline and Grandpa
Playing with Uncle AJ. He was so sweet with her. She is wary of new people and he worked all day to get her to play with him!

Mmmmm....pie!
A long day of opening presents and eating makes everyone tired!

Brothers! :) Frankie likes to call Scott his twin...so sweet.

Christmas Morning

I want to start by saying that we have been without a laptop for a month which is why I haven't updated in forever. Now I have a ton of pictures to catch up on but I wanted to start with Christmas!


This year was amazing! I really thought Caroline would be too young to really enjoy presents but I was wrong! She really got into opening her gifts (and also gifts that were not hers!). Santa brought her a play kitchen and a Big Girl chair just for her. She was so excited when she came downstairs and saw the kitchen. It was so much fun to watch her play. I am amazed with how big she is getting and all that she is learning.
We had Gary, Chen and Frankie visiting for Christmas. Frankie is at a great age for Christmas and he was so patient with Caroline taking forever to open presents (we made a rule that only one person can open at a time so that we could see what everyone received).
It was such a fun morning!
Loving her big girl chair (but forgetting the rule of no standing in it) :)

Frankie and ChenShe put her glasses on all by herself!

Notice the fancy bracelets
After we opened presents with Grandpa, Chen and Frankie, Mimi and Papa came over and we got to do it all over again!

Monterey

Scott's aunt and uncle let us use their condo in Monterey for a few days and it was a nice break! We took Caroline to the aquarium and she was fascinated by all there was to see. She was apprehensive and wanted to be held most of the time (rather than running around on her own) but she loved it.

Ketchup...enough said :)

Just being cute

The other day caroline insisted on wearing her sun glasses. She wore them for about two hours without taking them off. Silly girl.

Caroline has a lot of "friends" that she likes to carry around and take to bed. A few nights ago Scott told her to get her friends for bed and she gathered up all sorts of things. She kept dropping them and going back to pick them up. So cute. :)

Having fun with Papa

Little Miss Artist

At Caroline's 18th month appt a few of the questions were about her ability to manage and color with crayons. Sadly for her, I couldn't answer them. Every time I had tried to introduce crayons she ate them, so we gave up for a while. Oops! After the appt I went out and bought her a big drawing pad and fat crayons and she is just so happy! She loves coloring. She really likes when mom and dad (or Mimi and Papa) draw a picture of something she can identify (banana, apple, or any animal she can make the sound of).

18 Months

How is my baby already 18 months old??? She has become such a sweet, fun and smart little girl. She is learning new things each day and I just love watching her mind work when she figures something out.

At 18 months Caroline:

-Weighs 24 lbs 8 ozs and is 33 inches long
-can point out body parts on herself and on other people
-can make animal sounds (cow, cat, dog, sheep, horse, bee)
-says "please" and "thank you" at appropriate times...love the good manners!
-says "excuse me" when she burps or toots or when anyone else does. Also when she hears us cough or sneeze.
-can name some items/people (apple, milk, elbow, baby, Mama, Dada, Mimi, Papa, Annie)
-Goes up stairs while holding onto the railing
-Walks and runs faster every day!
-Loves going to the park and going down the slide by herself
-Likes to "help" mommy and daddy do whatever they are doing
-Loves reading her books and having us read them to her (over and over and over again!)
-Does pretend play--pretends to stir with a spoon and bowl, pretends to wash her babies with shampoo and a wash cloth, etc
-Climbs all over furniture and us...she is fearless!
-Loves the "Baby Signing Time" video she got for her birthday
-Gives high-fives and down lows
-Gives kisses and hugs (complete with the "awww")
-Loves Gymboree class
-Is learning to share
-Is a pretty good eater and will try new things. Although, is she doesn't like it, it comes right back up.
-Gets frustrated when she can't tell us what she wants
-Knows exactly what she wants and is not afraid to tell you "no"...usually it is more like "no no no no no no" along with stomping feet
-Has made us happier than we ever thought possible!

Bee-utiful Girl :)

Caroline had a fun Halloween this year. We went to a party at the park with her new friends, which was perfect for her age. She was really tired after so we skipped out on Trick-or-Treating....she can't say "trick-or-treat" or eat the candy anyway. Maybe next year! The amount of kids we got at our house was crazy! We went through all of our candy (and I bought A LOT) by 7:30 and I had to go back out to the store. When those four bags were gone we had to turn off the lights. Scott and I were so tired of walking from the family room to the front door every five seconds that we finally sat on the porch with our wine to pass out candy. Definitely the way to go!




Caroline and her new friend Sierra