Football season is here!

We had a great time at Tara and Canaan's house at their football season kickoff party. Until I get our video uploaded, you'll have to see Caroline crawl from this succession of pictures showing her getting into the spirit of the season by trying to tackle Canaan. Lakyn is cheering her on!

Tara and Canaan are cheering about his great defensive strategy!
Adam is helping Caroline hydrate after a tough game.

She crawls!

Caroline is crawling (Yes, since my last post!) Thomas also went in to get her a few mornings ago to find her standing in her crib not very patiently waiting on him. We had to take down her mobile and lower her bed! She's growing so fast!
I do not have time to post pictures of her crawling today (check back soon,) but here is a picture of her first time in a high chair at Olive Garden for our friend Kimberly's (Hannah's mom) birthday party. I'm sure she could have been in a high chair sooner (the restaurant type, she's been in one at home), but part of me wants to move slowly into these new "big girl" areas!

Caroline is on the Move

Caroline is beginning to pull herself from sitting on the floor up to a standing position! She is also somehow moving all around without technically crawling. Here are some pictures showing you her way of crawling.
In the top pictures she is assuming the crawl "position."
Then she does a push up (second picture.)
In the third picture she begins to move her feet forward.
In the bottom picture she is sticking her bottom up as far as she can in the air.
Finally, she lunges forward with her hands.
She is very happy about moving around on her own. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Crying, smiling, swimming!

Tara's post of Canaan's mood swings reminded me of theses pictures we took eating peas a few weeks ago. How do you think she feels about peas? It's hard to tell...


Our friend Jill let us enjoy her family's pool a few weekends ago. Her adorable niece, Peyton, loaned her floating lobster to Caroline. She had such a fun time!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Thomas and I spent our 2nd and 3rd wedding anniversaries at the Lodge at Mt. Magazine. The views are absolutely beautiful! We had a great time...other than Thomas having a hurt back and me burning my arm. You can't tell in the picture, but I am in quite a bit of pain and ready to grab my ice pack that is out of view.
Thomas strained his back playing with Caroline. Here's Thomas over exaggerating his pain while standing on the official stamp from the state of Arkansas declaring the highest point.
I am only retelling my injury story here so that it won't happen to you. Thomas and I were in line at the breakfast buffet behind a couple who told us that they had honeymooned at the lodge 45(!) years ago (that lodge burned down in 1971,) while I hungrily surveyed the pancakes. I realized that directly behind the pancakes there was another serving tray covered with a lid. I was sure there was some delicious treasures to be found inside so I innocently lifted the lid and what did I find?? A steam "pocket" from boiling water that had been waiting for me to come along and let it escape onto my arm! There wasn't a tray under the lid so the water being held to heat the entire buffet was released at that moment. It makes my arm hurt again just recounting this story. The moral to the story: When lifting lids at a buffet, tilt them away from you or to be really safe...just order off the menu!
I tried to take a picture by myself of my arm. You can see why Thomas is the photographer in the family. This was from four days after the incident.

Class of '97!

We went to our high school reunion on July 14th and had a great time reminiscing. Here are some pictures from the picnic we had at Ben Geren Park.
Our friend Kyle and Leslie's little boy, Jaxon. Too cute!
Jenny and her sweetie, Gracie.Justin and his son, Stephen.
Kyle, Meagan, Me, Caroline, Claire and Kelly.
Lacey and her daughter, Ashlynn.

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday, Caroline!

Caroline is 6 months old today! One half of a year has gone by... She has grown so much, it is incredible. She is over 18 lbs, can sit independently almost all of the time now, eating real baby food, trying to use a spoon, making new sounds every day, drinking water out of my glass, getting up on all fours, still rolling all over the floor, giving huge, slobbery kisses and making each day so much fun. I love her to pieces. She is a pure joy. Daddy took some pictures of her outside this evening. She gets her eyelashes from him!