Play Date

We had a fun play-date for our MOPS group at one of the moms ranch. It is a great place for running around and getting rid of excess energy... especially after the cupcake decorating! Caroline had probably 2 cupcakes... she had three on her plate but she did not eat all of them. She thought it was more fun to decorate the cupcakes than to eat them. Next was the bouncy house. This had a little bounce area then slide to get out. I am not sure how many kids it is supposed to hold at a time, but it holds lots of toddler/preschoolers:)
No ranch time is complete without horse racing. They are lined up ready to go...

and they are off...who will win?

Finally the real horse ride...ok pony but still lots of fun and probably the highlight of the play-date. That is one happy girl... until I tell her it is time to go!

Cold Days, Trip to NV, and Fun with Friends

We have had a few cold mornings. We don't use our heat very often but do have lots of fires in the fireplace. One morning Caroline wanted to be in Daddy's jacket so they sat cuddled up on the chair together for awhile. I just had to take a picture of them. Caroline decided she was going to go to Nevada (like her daddy did two weeks ago). She packed up her suitcase with all the essentials (cars, blanket, and her jacket). Then her and her suitcase where off to Nevada (walking around the house). The simplest things can be the most entertaining!

Here she is running with her suitcase. We had a couple over from our Sunday school class for dinner and Caroline was all about their little boy Cooper. She loves babies and is quite the little mother. She wants to hold any baby she can, and also got to help change Cooper's diaper. As I was putting this picture of Cooper on the blog Caroline said "aaahhh he is so sweet". She held Cooper a few times in her arms but then decided she wanted him to face her when she held him. So cute:)

Best Husband EVER!!!

Greg has been in Nevada this whole week. I have tried to Keep Caroline and I busy so we don't miss him all the time. Caroline has asked every day if today her daddy is coming home. Well today finally came and Greg is coming home!!! As Caroline was napping the door bell rang (thankfully it did not wake up Caroline) but there was a big box from pro-flowers... yes, my hubby sent me the most beautiful mini-roses to let me know he has missed me... isn't that the sweetest thing ever? I nominate him for the best husband award.

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

Caroline's friend Kenzi had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party for her birthday party... the girls were to wear their fancy dresses to the party. Caroline had a lot of fun and will probably want a fancy tea party for her next birthday party! Below is a picture of the tea room:) A few things they did was to make "fancy" cupcakes, had fingernails painted...

Listened to the Fancy Nancy storybook...

Made "fancy" hats to wear at the "fancy" party (the birthday girl is to the left of Caroline)...

They also had "fancy" waiters to serve them "tea" (or apple juice) and cupcakes.

This was the "fancy" cake....

The inside was a checker pattern as you can see... and it was delicious!

This was taken when we got home... Caroline was able to bring home her "fancy" hat, sunglasses, necklaces, and bracelet... does she look happy or what!

New Dress

Caroline received this cute outfit from her Aunt at Christmas... It came with everything but the boots. A friend of mine was out shopping and found these cute boots to complete this outfit. Caroline loves to wear the boots so she wears them with lots of outfits. This was taken yesterday morning before we went to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). Most of the time we go somewhere Caroline has to wear a dress but especially if we are going to church. She loves her dresses. This skirt does a great flare when she twirls!!!Showing her surprised face...

One of the few photos of us... I of course took it but it did not turn out too bad... we are both smiling.

First Bike Ride

Bike riding with friends is always better than by yourself... that is the lesson I learned yesterday. We bought Caroline her bike when she was almost three years old. She would not ride it until yesterday when her friend Addi brought her bike to the park and Caroline had her bike. Caroline would ride a little in the driveway but pretty much as soon as she hit the brake (which happened after three pedals forward) she was done. Peer pressure can be a good thing. Caroline wanted to bring her big wheel and ride it but I told her she could not get it out of the car until after she rode her bike for a while. Well, Addi rides and rides and rides... so Caroline rode for a little over an hour with Addi!!! She did so great, I was so proud of her for keeping up with Addi plus she forgot about the big wheel.

Here is a video of her biking. This was at the beginning before Addi went very fast so Caroline was in the lead. By the end Addi was more comfortable and would leave Caroline behind... Caroline is still learning not to pedal backwards because it puts the brakes on.

Deer Lease

I hope every one has had a happy New Year so far. We had a great time new years eve with some friends who came over for awhile. It was a bit crazy with all the kids running around. The lesson I learned is that four years old is still too young to play unsupervised in a play room!! The kids had a lot of fun playing... and I had fun having a game night with the adults... I don't know if the other adults had fun but Greg and I did.

Then on Jan 2nd we went with the Durand's to their deer lease so Greg could get some hunting in. It was his first time to deer hunt and I think he enjoyed it. It was definitely a learning experience for him. Caroline had a blast and was exhausted by the end of the two days. She loved wearing her camo because she got to match her friend Addi. Here are the three of them sitting on something she normally would not be allowed on but since it is the deer lease most rules disappear:)

The race is on....I think Kate (the dog) won!
The other rule at the deer lease was that it is ok to get dirty. So my little girl who loves to wear dresses every day (if i had that many dresses) also loves to play in dirt. So I told Caroline before we left that she would be able to play in the dirt while at the lease... well on this little walk we took Caroline stopped in the middle of the road and started digging in the dirt and started pouring it on her head... this was the end result!
Here is Greg getting ready to go out on his first hunt. Don't they look cute in their camo?

So the first day of the hunt no doe's showed up and buck season was over plus he is not allowed to shoot them because he is a guest at the lease. However, the next morning Greg got a doe!!

Caroline enjoyed seeing the doe up close. Her favorite thing was to touch the eyes... she tries to touch everyone's eyes! Greg and I blink and tell her not to touch ours... however a dead deer does not blink or complain so she kept going back over to the head to touch the eyes... pretty gross and yes we did lots of hand washing!!!

The Durand's then took us on a tour of the lease. The girls got out to see the cows... they had lots of fun til the bull decided to make his way to the front of the pack.... then we headed in the car and talked about staying away from the bull and how it was going to eat the girls.... ok the girls thought that we tried to tell them it would not eat them but they did not believe us:)
The Durand's also tried to go up this hill to show us a "great view" of the lease from the top of the hill, but their suv got stuck and it took about 45 min to get it unstuck.... the kids and adults were all cranky by this time. So we went the fastest way back to camp, cleaned up, loaded up, made lunch to go and we were on our way home. Caroline fell asleep before we go off the dirt roads, with a mouth full of food! I had to work hard to wake her up to finish the food in her mouth! We had a great time. I am sure we will go sometime next year too... if we are invited again:)

Thank you Durand's for a great time at the lease. We really appreciate you bringing us!