a minnie birthday...

is what this little gal had!

 

Sister love.

 

Our little ham.

 

Mantle decoration.

 

The coloring table.

 

Mickey Mouse Clubs and Hot Diggity Dogs (failed to get pic) were what we had to eat. (plus chips)

 

A few of the presents: barbies (new love), camera (used so much the batteries are already dead), and Candyland (which we have played almost every night)!

 

Cake table decor.

 

Minnie Mouse cake.

 

Treats, treats, and more treats! (bow cookies from Merrit's, strawberries, cake balls, and twizzlers, and Minni cake pops made special by Nana).

 

C, papa, and papa's Minnie cake he made!/Daddy helping blow out the candles!

 

Cousins.

 

Family.

 

 

Mommy, daddy, and the big 3 year old!

 

now you are 3!

Our Sweet Caraline,

You are now a big 3 year old!  Mommy and daddy can't believe how fast time has flown by and how fast you are growing.  We have cherished every minute of the past 3 years with you and can't wait to see what the next 3 bring!

You make me smile and belly laugh at least 2 times every.single.day.  With others, outside of your close family that you are around all the time, you are a pretty shy gal.  It takes you a while to warm up but I love love love your sweet little shyness;)  Others wouldn't guess that when you are inside of your own home that you are one of the funniest little people that I have every encountered!  You dance, sing, play make believe, and talk up a storm when you get comfortable.  You are a very silly little girl sometimes:)

Today I picked you up from your first full week preschool.  I can't even begin to tell you how proud your mommy and daddy are of you!  There have been tears almost everyday and you are pretty unsure of mommy leaving when I drop you off, but you stay there and you do great.  I love to hear about how you play with your friends, learn their names from you, know what songs you sang in music, and how you got to see Mason on the playground. 

Mommy and daddy also love that you look so forward to Sundays and seeing your church friends, this past Sunday evening without asking you, you started to tell us about the bible story that you learned that day.  I could not hold back my tears, even as I type they are flowing, my heart is so happy that you already have a love for Jesus and that you are learning that he loves you too, as you told me this just last night (this is what you were learning at preschool this week too). 

A few things sweetie that you are doing these days:  you can spell your name (although sometimes you leave out the second A, but we are working on that), know all your colors, count to about 18, loving to play with Barbies (new thing now that you are 3), love to color, paint, craft, still doing ballet class one day a week, singing, singing, singing, you know so many songs and you jam out in the car with your arms up in the air, always giving hugs and kisses goodbye and night, night, you love clothes, shoes and all things girly.

We love you so so much baby girl and can't wait to see the new things that you will be doing/learning in the year to come. 



Your Mommy and Daddy;)



birthday lunch date

caraline's best buddy mason (and the rest of the Iott fam) couldn't make it to her party last Sat bc they were going to be welcoming a new baby cousin into the world that day.
so c had her very first lunch 'date' at Freddies.
followed by some splashpad and park fun!

Very first day of preschool and a birthday!

Caraline turned 3 last Thursday.
which also happened to be her first ever day of preschool.
we were all so excited, (and nervous and at the same time a little sad).
tears came for me several times in the days before and of course the day of.
nervous because for the 3 year old class it stated they must be completely potty trained (and well we've got the #1 thing down but the #2 is still not happening).
and super excited because C would just light up when we talked about her starting school.
she was super ready for it! (however, in some of the pics you would think she was terrified:)

she woke up to her favorite...balloons!

 and special mickey mouse pancakes on the birthday plate.

 

 

 little sister was way more into posing for pics than C:)

 

 

 this is what i meant before about looking a little terrified, silly girl.

 

 

 they had to have a standard size backpack for school, it's almost as big as she is, but we love us some 'hello kitty'!

 

 

 super sweet, love those kids!

 

 

 mason's got her back at school this year:)

 

 

 daddy got to come with us for the first day.

 

 

since caraline's birthday was on the very first day of school we were on special snack duty that day!

i was welcome to come back at snack time and join in on the birthday celebration.

they had cookies, juice, sang happy birthday, and c got to pick a special surprise out of the classroom birthday cake.

 

she's not much on being the center of attention, as you can see, pretty sure she gets this from her momma:)  these are 2 of c's teachers for the year, miss katie and miss ellen!

it was a great first day, full of fun!  we are all so in love with this preschool and can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store!
(more posts to come on the big birthday!)

suprise day off

is what i got today.
not very many babies hanging out at the hospital so i got to stay home with my babies!
now that i am not worried about maternity leave time or vacation time, bring these trim days on.
gotta love a 2 day work week!

after squeezing in a doctor's appt this morning for myself (which can be hard to do when i am usually working the days that nana is free to watch the kids) we all got our 'artsy' pants on!
caraline got her paint on with some of her new art supplies from auntie mary.
ellie played with or should i say 'on' the aquadoodle (first time for that)!
and this mommy got a little time to dress up a plain old frame i've had for a while. (also took some time to organize the girls' craft bag, it was getting a little out of control with loose crayons, markers, etc.)

the house was clean.  the laundry was going.  dishes were done.  nothing to do but have time with my girls.  LOVE THESE DAYS!

sure there are a few important blog posts that i need to be working on (first day of preschool, birthday #3) but this is what i felt like posting today.....my heart is full:)