Nothing Much

Well Folks, I haven't blogged in a bit, cause frankly there hasn't been much going on! AND might I say that we have enjoyed the calm (well as calm as a house with a two year old can be)! Caroline is doing so great with the potty and with her big girl bed. After a few nights of the battle to get her to stay asleep in her room, and then in the middle of the night finding her wedged in between us not knowing when she climbed in, we went out a purchased doorknob covers for all the doorknobs in our house....so essentially we lock her in her room at night. Sounds cruel, but she actually only tried to open the door for a night or two, now we say goodnight and she cries for a minute and then goes right to sleep without leaving her bed. We love the peace of mind that it brings (we have doorknob covers on front and back doors too) and that we don't find her in our bed in the mornings! Here are a few pictures from our evening:Caroline checking out the Sports Illistrated (yep, Claire she's reading up on Auburn!)
cheese

The latest: Caroline wants to help with EVERYTHING! She yells "Help Me" meaning "I will help you" (I think because we say to her "you can help me") and goes crazy if we don't let her assist with unloading the dishwasher, pouring her milk, stirring dinner, etc.......

I am glad she always wants to help, and try so hard to always let her, but boy sometimes I miss the quickness (and cleanliness) of doing things myself!!

NY State of Mind

Guess who got drafted this morning?!?!?

Congrats little brother, we are so very proud of you, and so excited for your future!

MLS 1st Round
1. Vancouver Whitecaps - DF Michael Boxall (UC-Santa Barbara)
2. Portland Timbers - FW Spencer Thompson (UC-Irvine)
3. LA Galaxy - MF Daniel Keat (Dartmouth)
4. NY Red Bulls - GK Jimmy Maurer (South Carolina)
5. Philadelphia Union - FW Ryan Richter (LaSalle)
6. New England - DF/MF Hunter Christiansen (Tulsa)
7. Houston - GK Evan Newton (Old Dominion)
8. Toronto FC - MF/FW Jimmy Banks (UW-Green Bay)
9. Chicago FIre - FW Amani Walker (UC-Irvine)
10. Sporting KC - MF Sam Scales (Ohio State University)
11. Seattle Sounders - GK Josh Ford (Connecticut)
12. Portland Timbers - DF/MF Robbie Lynch (Evansville)
13. Toronto FC - MF/FW Steven Beattie (Northern Kentucky University)
14. Real Salt Lake - GK Jeff Attinella (Univ. South Florida)
15. FC Dallas - DF Alexis Pradie (Embry Riddle University)
16. Los Angeles Galaxy - DF Ryan Thomas (Stanford Univ.)
17. FC Dallas - Paul "Bim" Ogunyemi (Schoolcraft College)
18. FC Dallas - MF Brayan Martinez (Seton Hall University)

*one of Jimmy's teamates and close friends got drafted as well!

2nd Round
1. Vancouver Whitecaps - MF Joe Anderson (Coastal Carolina)
2. Portland Timbers - FW Raymundo Reza (San Diego State)
3. D.C. United- MF/FW Blake Brettschneider (South Carolina)

Wedded Bliss

This weekend we had a "wedding Extra-VA-Ganza!" Our good friends Jim and Jen got hitched, so we enjoyed three lovely days of celebrating their happiness (rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception, and a farewell brunch). Patrick was the Best Man and really did a fantastic job with his speech! We are so happy for you J&J and feel so lucky to have shared in your special day! Um.....YEAH...Sparky was at the reception, the bride and groom are "kind of a big deal!"

SO FUN!

the cake

the beautiful centerpieces

the back of Jen's dress

Patrick's last minute speech reminders

the delivery........he is becoming quite the orator!

a toast to the B&G

Jim and Patrick

SMOOCH!

Little bit of This and That

We have been Oh so Busy this week!

First and foremost, Caroline is POTTY TRAINED! She has been such a great student, and while we are still doing pull-ups at night, at naps, and when we go out on the weekends (we are still not brave enough to encounter public toilets), she is accident free! I think that little bum in pink panties is so stinkin cute!
We also are on NIGHT 2 of another BIG STEP! due to too much of this.........
.....climbing in and out of her crib
We took down the front crib rail and converted her bed into a toddler bed.
Last night we were nervous, but she did SO good! Patrick put her down for the night and she was silent, we could not believe it.....a few minutes later she opened the door and said "Mommy I waked up"! I went back in the room with her and sat next to her bed and two minutes later she was fast asleep! I did get woken up at 5:30 this morning by light crying and when I went in to check on her she was on the floor sleep-crying. I put her back in her bed and she slept till 8:00! Not too shabby!

Tonight I put her down and waited till she fell asleep to leave the room (about three minutes), she is sleeping great right now, keep your fingers crossed!

I am so proud of you Big Girl! You have been such a great learner and have made being your mama so fun! We love you, but do wish you could slow the growing up just a little!

AND.....a few funny things that I don't want to forget:

We always say what a devout baby we have since lately you do not let us take a single bite at meals without saying our prayers first (you even make us say them twice if they do not meet your standards). You fold your hands and pray so hard until you hear AMEN. You are also normally so well behaved in church and are getting so good at following along.......

So you can imagine our shock and suprise (and the fight not to bust out laughing) when at Christmas Eve Mass they handed out beautiful blue stuffed crosses to all the children that said "I am a child of God" on them, and you immediately yelled airplane and proceeded to fly your "plane" and then crash it into the ground (noises included). No idea where you got that. I'm blaming Paw-Paw (he was a fighter pilot :) !

You also love to make people laugh and at Christmas dinner you said something and everyone laughed and you looked at me and said " Mama I funny too!"

Caroline got two babies for Christmas she named Bonnie (thanks Yumans) and Lucy (thanks J Maurer's) and she carries them around everywhere, I only wish they would stay clothed! They even go to the potty when Caroline does, she sits them there and makes some peeing noises and then tells them what a good job they did!

You are saying so many words and phrases now it is crazy, you constantly suprise us, but our new favorite is when we tell you something you look at us and give us this look like you are thinking through what we said and than you give us this sweet little "OH" like you totally understand and repeat whatever we just said. DARLING