Caroline's 3rd Birthday!

Our sweet girl turned 3 this weekend! It was sort of nice to have her actual birthday on her party day - all the craziness is over in one day! This year she had a ballerina party at Children's Dance Foundation in Homewood. However if you asked her on any given day, she might tell you she's having a roller coaster party??, a princess party, a jumper party, a popcorn party, a pizza party, or whatever else she was feeling at that moment. So I was a little nervous that she would be disappointed when we actually got to the party. But, the wonderful people at Children's Dance Foundation did not disappoint! At first some of the girls, including Caroline, were a little shy and slow to participate. But once their teacher got started, they had a blast. They have a few minutes to just run around and get some energy out, then there was a man playing the piano, while the teacher did some warm ups with them. Then, she used an Angelina Ballerina book to incorporate dance movements throughout the story. She read a little, which they loved, then stopped to let them practice what Angelina was doing in the book. VERY CUTE! Then we had cake & ice cream, busted a pinyata, and went home! It was perfect and fairly stress free. Thanks to all our sweet family and friends for getting out on such a rainy day to come celebrate Caroline's party. She had the BEST time...

Caroline woke up and was ready to put her tutu on first thing - she was wild!

We asked her that morning how old she was, and at first she said 3. But then said, "I'm not 3, I'm 6!" So true - a 6 year old trapped in a 3's body sometimes.

Giving Ellison a big hug when she arrived.

Glad she loved the birthday crown this year. I never know when it's going to be a struggle.

Please notice who is in the VERY MIDDLE of the circle and LOVING it! Rutland had just as much fun as all the girls.

Caroline actually let everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her this year. Major progress!!

Blowing out the candles...

Taking a curtsy after blowing out the candles!

Makes it all worth it!! Love you little bug :)

Always has to swipe a lick before I cut it - she is notorious for this at other peoples parties.

T-Ball Party

So, we made it through the sweltering heat of t-ball season, and I will say I think Caroline learned a few things about playing a team sport, which is all we really wanted. She had the most patient coach and sweet friends on her team. Her team party was the other night at the park, and they passed out trophies to all the kids. Caroline's trophy is proudly displayed on her dresser in her room. Fun times...

"Shear" Terror

So, I come into the den Sunday night after cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and sit down for 2 seconds to catch my breath. I noticed something on the couch...um, that would be my child's hair!! About 4 inches of it!! My mind starts racing - why is her hair on the couch?? Falling out? Brother pulled it out? And I suddenly remember her asking to practice her cutting on some scratch paper. She has used scissors before and is pretty good at cutting (they are safety scissors of course). So, I really didn't worry too much when I drew her several lines and left her at the coffee table to cut while I finished cooking dinner. It never crossed my mind that Caroline would cut her own hair! I panicked when I saw those blonde locks and called for her. She innocently came running. When she saw me holding the hair, she put the brakes on and would not look me in the eye. I had a short break from reality and was just saying over and over "why would you...cut your hair....why...cut hair...why??? She got really upset and started crying. Christopher came to see what all the fuss was about and to snap me back into reality. I put Sissy in my lap and looked at her head to find the missing hair. Luckily, it is a small section. Unluckily, she only left about 1 inch on her head, so it will take a long time to grow back. My mother assured me every child tries at least once to cut their own hair and I should be thankful it's not that bad. Lesson learned - do NOT leave child alone with any scissors!! I guess she wanted to give herself a new style for her birthday party on Saturday :)

At least it's right in her part, so it sort of blends in with her hair that is pulled back - for now!

Casper the Sneaky Ghost

We stayed with Christopher's family this weekend in Montgomery (in town for my sister's engagement party - more on that later). Let's just say with 2 boys, Katie is one of the most laid back Mother-in-law's/Grandmothers you can have. She is always so gracious when we come stay with them to let the kids play all over the house and just be kids. So when we hadn't heard Rutland for a few minutes on Sunday morning, I was concerned, but wasn't too worried about where he was. Christopher went into the kitchen and said, "Mom, don't come in here." My heart sank - I knew it must be bad! When I rounded the corner, this is what we found...to which Katie only said "Oh, Rutland - silly boy." Bless her soul. She has a really, really clean kitchen floor and rugs now, free of charge!

Comet is the cleaner of choice today!

Look at little Casper's feet!

The entire bottle was empty!

What is so funny is that Katie has a picture of Christopher as a baby (probably Rutland's age) looking very similar with baby powder all over his room. Apple does NOT fall far from the tree!

And then later that afternoon, this is what I found...a tired little ghost :)

A rat in the house!

Both my kids love cheddar cheese (what's not to love, right). And they are well trained to get a little bowl from the cabinet to put the cheese in for a snack. SO, in an attempt to occupy my hungry hippos while I got dinner ready, I put Rutland in his chair and gave him some cheese in his bowl - about half full. Obviously I misjudged his arm length and did not even think twice about putting the bag of cheese on the table "near" him. Here's what happened...

He pulled the bag over to his tray and emptied it into his bowl! Guess he needed a little more. This face is saying "Uh oh, I think I'm in trouble"

This face is saying, "Nah, she's taking my picture and laughing hysterically. If I just smile and laugh too, I'll be too cute to spank!"

He now realizes I'm about to take it away, so he shoves as much as possible in his mouth before the clean up! Daddy is on diaper duty tomorrow!!

What a little RAT!

Hollywood Studios and Breakfast with the Characters

One evening we went to Hollywood Studios. By the time we got there we were all starving, so we shopped around for a restaurant inside the park. There were several that smelled delicious, but all had pretty long waits. So, Pops found us a "Sci-fi Drive-In" themed restaurant that could seat us in "flying saucers" immediately. Oh boy. We walk in and literally, everyone is sitting in old 50's style cars eating dinner facing a huge screen with very strange "oldie movies" playing. In the back, they had little picnic style tables that we soon learned were our "flying saucers". So, hungry and ready to move on to the rest of the park, we decided to try it out. The food was pretty good, and Caroline seemed confused but interested in whatever was playing on the movie screen. They did serve beer and margaritas, so things were looking up :) We finished dinner and tried to hit 2 shows for Caroline - Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid. Unfortunately, Beauty and the Beast stopped at 5:30 so we missed her, but Little Mermaid ran until 9:45. We decided to try to squeeze in the 2 adult roller coasters and then head back for the LM. As soon as we got out of the roller coaster I got Caroline in the stroller and my mom and we booked it back to the LM. I swear the wheels on the stroller had smoke coming off of them we were going so fast to make the last show. When we pulled up, the girl was just putting the chain back on the rail and said we had missed it. Could she not have let one more person in?? Poor Caroline was saying (loud enough for her to hear), "Mommy I just want to see Ariel. Please." To which I replied (also loud enough for the girl to hear), "Baby, they won't let us in. Mommy tried to get us here but they told us Ariel had already gone home." So we promised to try to come back another day - didn't happen - and we wearily strolled around the gift shop until the rest of the group got off the last ride. I definitely wish we could have done Hollywood studios again for Caroline. I know those 2 shows would have been great.

The following morning we had breakfast with all the characters at Chef Mickey's. This is inside the Contemporary Hotel, which the monorail rides through, and Caroline has begged us to stop in several times on our way to the Magic Kingdom. Well, after the disappointment the night before, I was certain we could make this one happen. She was very excited about just getting to inside the hotel, and when we got to our breakfast table and she started seeing Pluto, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, and Mickey walking around from table to table, she was ready to meet them all. Goofy was the last one to stop by, and in her defense, he was very tall. So she was a little uncertain about him, but it was pretty good food and a great place to see all the characters up close and personal. The only one we really missed out on was Daisy. She was VERY hard to find. A great excuse to go back, right!!

This is Caroline and I posing for a picture in front of the Mrs. Piggy fountain at Hollywood Studios.

Here's a picture of us waiting for our "flying saucer" tables at the Sci-fi restaurant. My mom french braided Caroline's hair that afternoon b/c we didn't have time to dry it before we left. She loved it and thought she was so big girl.

These next few are all at the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's restaurant inside the Contemporary Hotel. It was great!

Waiting for Mickey to come to our table...

Not very sure about Goofy...Had to get the lovey out.

Definitely not letting go of Daddy. Might be pulling a layer of skin off his chin!

In front of the restaurant before we left.