Day 31

Laurie Jane and her daddy playing at the park. She is an adventurous girl and there were lots of big kids. This was the only way for Wade to keep up with her.

Day 30

The high chair is one of the best places for the girls to interact. Caroline is at Katherine's level. Katherine loves to make silly noises and nonsense words and she can get Caroline laughing and smiling so fast.

Day 29

Here is Caroline at her 6 month well visit that ended up being a sick visit too. It seems that she has a small ear infection. I like the photo with the reflection, especially since it shows her hair messed up in the back (if you look closely).

Day 28

Today Katherine and I played with a number puzzle. I bought it at a consignment sale in September but kind of forgot about it. She enjoyed it.

Day 27

Caroline does not get a lot of play time in her crib. She sleeps there at night and some naps. I put her in there sitting while helping Katherine in her bathroom. She loved the mobile over her crib. It does not match at all. As you will notice the colors are avocado green, mustard yellow and orange, the prime colors of the 70's. But, it was my mobile in the 70's so I love it for nostalgia's sake.

Day 26

Today's photos are courtesy of a guest photographer - Katherine. She loves to get our camera and take photos. It is so big that she usually gets the ground. She has a hard time looking through the view finder to see what she is shooting. She is getting better though and this first shot is actually pretty good. Lest you think she is a prodigy though, here are some of her other photos. There were actually about 15 of a headless Caroline.

Day 25

How are you doing on your resolutions? I am having mixed results. Sam and I are doing much better at keeping up with our budget. I want to get in better shape (typical I know). I bought a pair of running shoes and a Nike + ipod "system". Sam's bike and the trailer are getting a tune up and I even signed up for a Jazzercise membership.

I am failing in one area. Cutting out soft drinks. I knew not to try to cut them out completely but was going to just have a Dr. Pepper when I ate something like burgers or pizza. I crave not the caffeine though I do enjoy that. I crave the carbonation. I have tried to find something carbonated that is not as bad for me but I have not. I went to the grocery store this weekend and before I left I was considering just buying a 2-liter so that at least if I was going to have a soft drink it would be at grocery store, not Sonic prices. I walked into Albertson's and their front display was the promotional football shaped Dr. Pepper bottles on sale - 3 for $1. Usually the ones this size are over a dollar each. So, I came home with a box. Bad Christy.

Day 24

This afternoon we went to Ellie's 3rd birthday party. Look at the beautiful cake. Wait, what is that big blob on the second "l".Ick, it appears that Ellie had a full mouth of icing from her cookie when she blew out the candles. Luckily it was bright red drool so we could cut around it. Notice that drool in mid-air.

Day 23

Today we went to the Arboretum with Tara, Kyle and Lacy as well as Melissa and Luke. Kyle and Katherine are in the same class at school and are pretty good friends. I did not realize how good until I heard Katherine say, "Kyle do you want to hold my hand" and he did. I need to watch out! So cute though.

Day 22

Today it was very warm - 70+ degrees. So, after naps we spent about an hour outside.

Day 21

Tonight our community group met to say farewell to Josh, Tracy and their 4 kids as they are preparing to move to China on Saturday. This is the largest attendance we have ever had with all but one adult and all 11 kids at our house for dinner and prayer.

Day 20

Caroline has moved to the big section of the infant tub now that she is sitting. She spent the entire bath smiling at the cute baby in the mirror.

Day 19

All of the baby food that Madi and I made for Caroline would not fit in the ice cube trays at once so it took a few days to get it all frozen. Finally, all of the food cubes are made and in the freezer.

Day 18

Today was close up photo day. The first shot was the winning pose. Caroline has such a cute smile and I love her church dress, especially since it was a steal at a consignment sale. I love little girls wearing tights. Caroline became curious about the camera and started to get closer.
Momarazzi needs to stop taking my picture!
Katherine wanted a close up too. She wore another dress which was a bargain. She kept saying she was a princess.

Day 17

I love Caroline's new skill of sitting. It is so fun to put her in the middle of a pile of toys and watch her playing with them. She has gotten pretty steady in the last week since learning to sit.

Day 16

Katherine loves craft time. We try to do something each day when she wakes up from her nap. Today we played with Play-doh. She always rolls out the dough and uses the cookie cutters. Today she also wanted to make snowmen.

Day 15

The girls are starting to interact more and even play together now that Caroline can sit on her own. It is so sweet to watch. I can imagine years of them playing together and becoming best friends. Katherine is an awesome big sister.

Day 14

Caroline will start eating solid foods this weekend. I do not look forward to it but it is time. In preparation, Madi came over for the morning to help me puree food. With Katherine I started making my own baby food but when it ran out I failed to keep it up.
Well, after today I have food cubes made from 3 sweet potatoes, 2 butternut squash, 3 broccoli crowns, a bag of carrots, a bag of peas, and about 2 cups of green beans. It should last awhile.
Katherine was very excited to help make Caroline's baby food, Her job was to put the food in the ice cube trays. It was a little messy but she had fun. She also wanted to eat some. I am hoping that Katherine will eat some of Caroline's food and be re-introduced to some foods that she has been refusing.

Day 13

This year I love my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. We have all really clicked. Tonight we got together at our mentor mom's house to cook a gourmet dinner. It was fabulous, an Italian chicken, Caesar salad with dressing from scratch, and the best green beans I have had in a long time.

Day 12

What a cutie pie! Caroline is enjoying the Children's Museum on her own since she is now a sitter.

Daily photo - Day 11

Yes, I am starting a new blog. I have a few, some of which are not active anymore. So, why another blog? Well, almost 2 years ago I took a photography class at a local junior college. I really enjoyed it. I loved the challenge and learning how to take photos in different modes. In the last year, as life has become more busy, my photography has become stale and pretty much only about taking photos of the kids, almost always in auto mode. It is hard to do much else when I am always with them and they are always moving making manual settings difficult without blurring things. I really want to work on my skills more and start trying to take better photos again. I am sure many of these photos will still be of the kids but hopefully they will be better quality.

I was inspired to do this and to start a separate blog for this task by my cyber friend "Fire Mom" at "Stop, Drop and Blog". We have never actually met, but we read each other's blogs and have a lot of similarities. She set up a new blog, "Stop, Drop and Photograph" just for her project 365 photos. I am actually not starting this until today, January 10th but I am going to post photos that I actually have taken the last 10 days so that I can have a photo a day . So, the first 10 photos will not be photographically interesting but hopefully they will get better. This first photo is for her since she always posts such great info on fire safety and other fire related information. This is Katherine at the children's museum.
I plan to have shorter posts with just a photo or two and a short description. If you are also an aspiring photographer who would like to try to take better pictures this year, I would love for you to join me in this challenge of taking a photo every day. We can spur one another one, share ideas, have themes to try out and link to one another's blog. Leave a comment if you are interested with your blog URL in the comments.

Day 10

Sometimes Katherine is excited to see the camera and she gives me a pose. Other times she buries her head in her hands and hides. Then, at other times she decides to make a "funny face".

Day 9

Katherine decided to join me on the floor as I was stuffing envelopes, working for my dad. It is her first real job. She did a great job. You have to love being able to work while wearing your princess slippers.

Day 8

I have been reading of a lot of fun crafty things on blogs so I am getting motivated. Hmmm. What will this K go on? I am sure it will be posted here later when finished.

Day 7

Katherine often asks for a knife at dinner. I always cut her food before putting it on her plate but she wants to be like us. I thought I would let her practice. Her toddler knife is not sharp enough to cut much. I think a butter knife is sharper. I thought this picture made her look so grown up since she is properly holding her silverware.

Day 6

Caroline loves Katherine's tea parties. Those tea cups made from recycled milk jugs are great to chew on.

Day 5

Katherine invited Caroline to join her in a tea party. Then she decided that it was time for her baby doll to nurse. I love that she imitates me when she parents her baby. It is so cute.

Day 4

Sisters sharing a chair while watching TV. Both of them doing their nervous habits, Katherine twirling her hair and Caroline sucking on her hand since the paci fell out.

Day 3

January 3rd was an unseasonably hot day. The family was over to celebrate a late Christmas. All of the kids ended up outside playing in the playhouse, sandbox and yard. They got so hot that when I went out there they had all taken off their shirts except for Emily.

Day 2

It is nap time. I am watching Katherine on the video monitor. Caroline is napping on my lap while I am at the computer. I know it is a horrible habit but I know that if I try to move her she will wake up and I just love watching her sweet sleeping face.

Day 1

Happy New Year from Baby New Year Caroline!