Sand, Sliding and Splashing

Clay went to a birthday party today and had the best time. It was a water party and there were about 10 other little boys there to play with. I think he would have stayed all day if I had let him! He had such a great time playing in the sand and running around in the water. Here's a few shots from the party (I think it's hilarious how his tongue is sticking out in half of them-such focus!):

Carolina's Getting Big

Our Carolina girl is 21 months now and she is such a fun girl. She has the funniest little personality and I can't get enough of it! We've loved watching her turn into a toddler and I wanted to make sure and record some of the things that she's into now.

Carolina is a Mama's girl. She loves Mama, looks like Mama and acts like Mama.

As far as her personality goes, she's totally mischievous and loves a good joke. She makes a "monster face" that has people laughing so hard it hurts (a monster face is when she sticks her arms out and stiffens her fingers and makes her whole body tremble) and she loves to do her stinky face. She loves an audience and will do any of her "party tricks" to get a good laugh.

A part of Carolina's personality that I hope never changes is her willingness to jump in with reckless abandon. She is quite the climber and she has no fear. It's not uncommon to find her on the top of the changing table or in the middle of the kitchen table. She's super fast! When you walk up to her she'll say "Gaca!" (we have no idea what it means) and she'll dive at you. Total trust and absolutely no fear in her body at all.

The other night as I cooked dinner I gave her the step stool to stand on so she could "help". She took advantage of the step stool to get to higher ground. That cup cabinet was unloaded before I even knew what hit me! She's creative and she loves to climb.

Carolina's such a smart girl. At her last check-up our pediatrician said she was advanced and I would agree. She talks a lot. She can count and say her alphabet and identify some of her letters (S, A, Z, O). Here are some of the things she says, "I not hungy" (when she doesn't want the food you offered her), "Huck!" (look), "Ca-ay" (Clay), "ele-cant", "eggle" (eagle), "ga-gick" (blanket), "bap" or "pas" (pacifier), "I got dis" (I got this)," I gonna git down", "all un" (all done) , "goodness", "I want muck" (both I want milk or juice) "I gotta go bobby" (I gotta go potty), "ZZ" (zebra) and much, much more. She's incredibly verbal and doesn't hesitate to let us know what she wants.

Carolina has a little bit of a temper. She always has and I'm thinking she always will. She loves to throw herself on the ground when she doesn't get her way but she does usually snap out of it really quickly.


She is by far the rowdiest restaurant diner I've ever known. With Clay, we ate out from the time he was born and we've never had a problem. Carolina's a wild one, though. She screams, she throws things, she wants down, she rears back in her high chair, she's a sight to behold in a restaurant for sure. Mike and I have tried EVERYTHING and nothing has worked. If you look in her diaper bag, you'll see stickers, stamps, stuffed animals, electronic toys, drawing boards, snacks, old phones, dolls, necklaces and at least half of the toys in our playroom have been in there at some point. Needless to say, she has caused two restaurant-loving parents to love eating at home. (I say this not to complain, just to record how it actually is)

That brings me to the next thing about Carolina, she's a homebody. She is a dream at home. She plays well, eats well and is generally happy. The second we walk out the door, though, she turns into a different child. She goes from being a child who loves to play independently to the one who would rather not leave us at the play area. She does let loose and play for a little while if we go to museums and kid places but she checks in with us every couple of minutes to give hugs and get reassurance. She would rather engage in a game with Mike and me than go out and play with Clay and the other kids. If we go outside to play, she will head for the house in less than five minutes. She loves her home, her things and her comfort zone.

Our girl is a pretty good eater but she has a tendency to be picky. While we all love shrimp, she hates it. She loves her sauces (ketchup, ranch and bbq sauce). She especially loves to streak them down her face and paint her body with them when she's finished eating. She won't eat any veggies and only a small amount of fruit (strawberries and bananas). She loves her orange juice (just don't give her too much water in it or she'll throw it at you and fall in a heap on the floor). She loves chicken and she's getting a lot better about eating casseroles. She loves eggs and bean and cheese tacos. She's pretty good about eating bread, lunch meat and cheese. The girl can also eat her weight in cheese enchiladas and queso. She's my kind of girl!

Clay and Carolina have a typical brother/sister relationship at this point. Sometimes they only want to play together and sometimes they drive each other crazy. Their personalities are completely different and it gets tricky sometimes. Clay still calls her Crina and we're not sure if that's ever going away. When we try to correct him he just says "Carocrina". He's also called her Crina Bear a few times which is hilarious because he genuinely thinks we named her Carolina Bear and not Carolina Blair.





I can always count on Carolina eating, playing with and liking just the opposite of whatever Clay has. He loves Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and she wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole- it's Velveeta Shells and Cheese for her. He likes chips, she likes sweet treats. He likes ice cream, she likes the cone. He likes "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", she likes Barney and Elmo. He loves to cuddle up with you on the couch, she loves climbing in our bed by herself and watching her shows. It totally amazes me every day how different they are (and we love it that way).

Carolina is still a great sleeper. It's totally her personality to do her own thing and she usually sleeps at least an hour later than anyone else in the house. She loves to lie in her bed with all her blankets and animals and just chill. I have only seen her sleep on her belly twice in her whole life and she always has legs and arms coming out of the sides of her bed. She goes to bed around 8:30 and usually sleeps until 8-8:30.



She is so into her "stuff". She loves her blanket (which is actually from Clay's bed), her kitty and her pacifier. She loves chenille (but only the kind with the lines) and she will sit and run her fingers up and down the lines on her blanket while she's watching her shows. She drags her blanket all over the house, Linus-style, and she loves having her pacifier. When you go to take her out of her bed, she hands you her things one by one, "Here it is! Pass! Here it is! Kitty!" and she goes on until she's given you everything to carry for her.


One of the great things about Carolina is that she already knows what she wants. I've learned my ways around her preferences and it seems to work for both of us. She'll tell me, "I-unna-nack" (I want a snack) and then I'll offer her several things but she shakes her head back and forth and tells me "I not hungy" if she doesn't like the choice. So I pick what I want her to have, set it on the kitchen counter and walk away. She'll walk over, pick it up (because she decided to) and she'll eat it. Everybody's happy.

What does Carolina like to play with? Blocks, books and puzzles. She'll play legos with Clay and some Play-Doh stuff, too. She loves to sit on the tricycle (she has her own but prefers Clay's) and she loves to drive in the bus. She is always up for doing school, working on letters, counting bears and stamps that we have and all the educational stuff. She's pretty independent about her play most of the time except when it comes to school time and she always wants to sit in my lap.

She doesn't really like baby dolls but she LOVES stuffed animals. She will always find one at a store and she normally has several in her bed. She loves her necklaces and playing with shoes. If Carolina could do one thing all day, though, it would be watching Elmo and Barney ("Bowney"). She is a huge fan and asks for them all the time.

Carolina is the sweetest thing. We just love her personality and all the fun she brings into the house. She is happy, loving, sweet and full of spunk. We love our Carolina girl!

A Mommy Date to Diggle, Diggle Quack

For Easter, I got a book from Mike's parents called "Let's Go on a Mommy Date". It's a sweet, sweet book about a mom and her son and daughter and the things she would like to take them to do. Clay loves it and wants to read it all the time (I don't even really read it anymore because he has it memorized and says it all). Ever since Carolina was born, Clay and I have done some special things together but now we call them our Mommy Dates (or Mommy Dapes if you're three).



So on our last Mommy Date, Clay and I got to go to the cutest little play at the Dallas Children's Theater called "Giggle, Giggle Quack" (once again, Diggle, Diggle Quack if you're three). It was the story of a farmer who goes on vacation and his city brother comes to watch the farm. The animals change all the farmer's notes for his brother so that they can have all kinds of adventures (like having pizza for dinner and playing all day instead of doing their farm work).

We got there pretty early and had to wait in line but Clay was so good about playing with his tractors while we waited.

I was afraid that our seats wouldn't be any good but we were on the third row so it was perfect for Clay to focus on the stage.

He wouldn't even let me hold the playbill because he was "reading" it.

As we sat in our seats waiting for the play to start, we talked about all of the props on the stage. He cracked me up when he pointed to the stage lights above the set and said, "Mama do you see the planets up there?" Ha!

Once the play started he was really interested in it. He certainly hadn't seen anything like it before. The play was really cute and entertaining and he got a huge kick out of the animals singing and dancing. About 30 minutes in he started talking about home and getting a little fidgety. I hadn't mentioned snacks at intermission yet because I knew that would be his focus so I told him to just be still and wait.

When intermission came we were the first in line. My guy was ready for a treat! He chose peanuts and apple juice and could not have been happier. I guess he just needed a little break because he kept asking when we could go back in to watch the play again.


After the play was over, they had the cast in the lobby for pictures. Clay was a little nervous but he still let me take his picture with the duck. I'm glad he did because he'll always have it as a memory from his first play.



The play was so cute and we had the best time. Taking my children to plays is one of the things I was really looking forward to as a mom. This Mommy Date definitely did not disappoint! I'm looking forward to many more theater dates to come!

(Carolina got to have her own party while we were at our Mommy Date. She hung out with Aunt Rebecca, her parents and her aunt. From what I hear, she had a pretty good time herself!)

Red in the Face: Take 2

I stepped away from the table for a minute, tops. Big mistake.

Red in the Face

One night as we were driving home from running errands we saw one of Mike's officer friends. He was on a call near our house so Mike pulled over to say hi and see what was going on. This was a guy the kids and I hadn't met yet so as they finished talking the guy said something to Mike about his family being in the car. The guy came over to the car, shook my hand and talked to the kids in the backseat for a minute. No big deal.

We drove home (maybe 30 seconds) and I opened Carolina's door to get her out and wow. Really? Apparently when we were out running errands our sneaky girl had gotten hold of a piece of chocolate and given herself a chocolate facial. And since her seat is directly behind mine, I didn't notice a thing (nor did Mike).

What are the odds that this guy never.said.one.word about the fact that she looked like she had war paint on?? I still can't believe he didn't even crack a smile even though he talked to her for several minutes. I just have to wonder what the guy was thinking about Mike's kid. Thanks for making a good first impression, Carolina. We owe you one.

(This little memento was taken when we got back home)

Here Kitty, Kitty

The bad part (for the cat at least) is this wasn't staged.

When it Rains...

A few weeks back, the kids and I had gone to one of my MOPS meetings and were supposed to meet Mike for lunch afterward. As we got closer to the restaurant, I noticed that it had been raining in the area. I called Mike and he was very busy with accident calls from the rain so I told him we would just go to the toy store which was in the same parking lot as the restaurant. Sounds like fun, right?

Well, we went to the toy store and I stalled the kids as long as I could with playing in the ride-on vehicles and taking down and putting back all 67 stuffed animals on the shelf (thanks, Carolina). After several conversations with Mike, I realized that a lunch date with Daddy was not meant to be that day so I told the kids it was time to leave the toy store and head to lunch.

I had a couple of toys in the cart (clearance!) so we headed from the back of the store to the cashier with both kids screaming bloody murder. Every single person in the store stopped to watch as I passed by trying to push a cart with two kids trying to climb out of either side as they screamed (I wish I was kidding).

As I checked out, I looked out the front window to see that it was pouring so I asked the cashier to wrap all of the toy boxes in bags so at least something would be safe from the rain. Then as I headed to the automatic doors the manager explained that he had locked them because the rain was so strong that it kept making them open. He and the other employee suggested I wait for another 20 minutes or so for the rain to calm down before I went to the car. Yeah, right.

We stood politely in front of the doors for a couple of minutes making small talk (they kept saying it might be a tornado coming) and watching the rain. The kids were getting really restless and I was getting frustrated since our car was the very first car in the parking lot and was maybe 30 steps from the automatic doors. Finally, I said I couldn't wait anymore and asked if he would unlock the doors for me.

I put Clay in the cart and held Carolina in my arms as we ran to the car pushing the cart. Within seconds, I knew it. I should have just waited the 20 minutes in the store. I was as wet as if I had just jumped into a pool (with all my clothes on). I flung Carolina's door open and shoved her in her seat only to hear Clay screaming as the cart rolled through the parking lot with him in it. I shut her door and chased the cart-- catching him a couple of cars away (no one was driving around at this point because of the weather).

I pulled him out of the cart and stuffed him in the car as fast as I could (as he screamed). I pushed the cart to the back of the car and opened the hatch to put all of the toy bags in. As I opened the hatch, I realized that the third row seat was up and the stroller and some bags came flying out at me and fell all over the ground.

As I scramble to pick up the stuff from the ground, I hear the lady screaming at me from the automatic door and I turn to hear her saying, "Your cart! Your cart!" Where was my cart? Oh, it had rolled all the way across the parking lot and stopped in the cart return. Fun. So I ran to get it (in my dress and flip flops) and realized that all the toy bags were on the ground from the impact of it hitting the cart return.

It was still raining harder than I've ever felt in my life and I finally got all the bags loaded in the third row and the cart returned (backing over a cart was the last thing I needed right then). I leaned back and buckled the kids in and Clay is still crying and panicking. All this time when I was getting kids in and loading up the car there were barely any words exchanged. I was totally focused on getting everyone in the car. He kept saying, "I'm all wet! Mommy's all wet!" Poor guy, he had never seen anything like all that rain and chaos.

I called Mike one last time to confirm that he wouldn't make lunch but at this point I don't even know where we would have gone. We looked like drowned rats. We were just a couple of miles from home but I was still a little nervous about driving the kids since I knew about all the accidents happening (the joys of being a cop's wife).

I headed to a drive-thru around the corner and thought we could just have a little picnic in the car and wait for the rain to settle down. Beeeeep! The gas light went off--9 miles to empty. So much for waiting in the car for the rain to settle down, huh?

We pulled into the drive-thru which was super crowded. I guess everyone had the same idea. I was so excited to see that they had a covered awning to order under...until I ordered. The rain was so strong that it still blasted through as I ordered. I got my order done (fast!) and pulled up to wait in the line.

I was so happy to finally have ordered some food and that the car was all settled down with kids warming up and watching their movie. I reached down to get my purse to pay. That's when I realized my purse was in the toy bags...in the third row. So, in my dress I tried as gracefully as I could to lunge back and dig through the bags to get my purse out..until I kicked the horn. I can only imagine what that poor person in front of me must have been thinking when he looked in his rear view. Oops.

We got through the line, paid, got some gas and headed home. Finally, the rain slowed down. I love the rain (most of the time) so I was really sad that Clay was so upset by it. We started talking about his new rain gear and how fun it would be to put it on when we got home. His sad face was finally turning happy!

We got home, I ran inside and put all the food in the microwave so we could eat after our rain play and grabbed all the kids rain gear. I got Clay out first, dressed him in his rain boots, raincoat and gave him his umbrella. He was very excited. About the time I got Carolina out and got her rain gear on I could hear him fussing at me. He had fallen in the mud and wanted to go inside. Really??

Later that night when Mike came home, I thought we could give it one more try with the rain boots. 'Cause who doesn't like puddle jumping?

(If you look close enough you can see how sweet girl was checking herself out in all of the puddles!)





And the little boy who cried so much about being wet? He couldn't splash enough in those puddles!