Developing Habits

Caroline has been developing some habits from watching us.  She is like a sponge!

 I apparently do not have proper table manners because I looked over and she was drinking her cereal out of the bowl. This was at the same time I was doing the exact thing! 

We got Starbucks gift cards for Christmas so we have been going more often then usual.  When we go we get Caroline a hot chocolate or chocolate milk. Caroline and I bought daddy a coffee frap today after work.  I pulled up to the drive thru and she screamed "Milk!" "Hot!" "Yeah!" She was really excited and knew what to order.  She does the same thing at Chick-Fil-a. 

Another weird habit she has is that she always seems to only be wearing ONE shoe.  I need to start documenting it because apparently even happens at school. Today after we got done running I realized she kicked a shoe off! We had to back track and find it.

This has nothing to do with habits but we talked to Nana & Gilbert tonight. It looks like Caroline and Gilbert are having a real conversation- only Gilbert isn't amused.

Go Monterey Go!

Caroline went to her first basketball tonight.  I have a few girls on the junior varsity team that have been asking me to go. Monterey played Lubbock High school {Our rival!} tonight so I knew it would be a fun game to go to. 

The gym was loud and crazy even in the JV game.  I tried to show Caroline that you clap and cheer when Monterey scored. - She got excited when the crowd got excited so she clapped and screamed for  both teams.

Since we were on the top bleachers Caroline could run, play & go crazy.  She played for about an hour and met my students.  She also met Monty {the mascot}and gave him a high five. When we got home Caroline ate dinner and asked to go "night night".  She even took her pants off and was waiting in the bathroom for me.  She was really tired.

PSAT Meeting

Tonight Caroline got to go to the PSAT parent meeting held a Monterey. She did so good and helped me hand out packets to parents and even said hi to a few.  Our lead counselor was in charge of explaining the PSAT results to parents so Caroline and I hung out in the back and ate Chick-fil-a.  She seemed to understand that it was time to be quite and did a great job until the end.  All of sudden she dropped some yogurt and started yelling "SHIRT!!!" "SHIRT!!!" "SHIRT!!!" The problem was it didn't sound like "shirt" it sounded like another word. Parents turned around and started laughing, under their breath at first, then it got louder! This only encouraged Caroline to become a little ham so we had to leave.

I held it in until the car and then started laughing hard.  Caroline laughed too only she thought I was being funny.  

 Yesterday, Jacee went with Caroline and I to the park. The ducks were particularly aggressive so Jacee had to feed them by herself.  At one point she just through the bag of crackers because they were getting too close!

Caroline is getting really brave and wanted to go down the giant slide.  She kept saying Lar' Line- meaning she wanted to go down by-herself. Crazy kid. Finally she started going down with Jacee catching her. Glad Jacee was there! 

Max!

Kelley & Max came for a visit today! Kelley called after church and asked if Caroline wanted to see Max?  YES!!! We told Caroline that Kelley and Max were coming over and that is all she could talk about for the rest of the afternoon.

Max! 

Kelley brought treats to help Caroline and Max get reacquainted. See Pip lurking in the corner.... wanted to make sure she didn't miss anything. It didn't take long and Max was going "night night"

Night Night Max! He even pulled the blanket over himself to be more comfortable. He is a very sweet dog.

Kelley had to coax Max to sit next to Caroline because she was rocking the chair pretty hard.

Thanks Aunt Yeah Yeah for bringing Max over to play!

Night Night

Caroline's new favorite game is to put her stuffed animals to sleep. 

"SHHHHHHHH mommy"

She begins by pulling an animal off the dresser and lays it on the floor.  She takes a "Mimi blanket" {that's what Caroline calls them} and very carefully lays it over the animal.  Then she takes the corners and spreads it out. After every animal she says: "sleep!" a little demanding- she really likes telling those animals what to do.

Then she repeats this game over and over.

She puts the sheep to bed first.  Since the rodeo she is obsessed with the horse and sheep stuffed animal.  She also loves her dog that looks like her Aunt Kelley's dog- Max. 

Max, Sheep and Horsey have been going everywhere with us this week.

A room full of sleepy animals

Tonight Pip walked into the room and was told she had to go "night night". Pip was happy to be included in the game and laid very still so she could stay. 

Rodeo Princess

Today was the last day of the Sandy Hills Rodeo.  It's also the 5th annual special needs rodeo.  They had more participants then any year before! It is such a special event because it isn't just for kids with special needs but also for their families and friends to participate too.  My dad's alter ego is a shiner clown named Dandy Ruff. He served as the rodeo clown for the day. He enlisted my help to make balloon animals for the 2nd year in row.

Caroline dressed the rodeo part:

My granny bought Caroline a pair of size 6 Hello Kitty cowboy boots when she was born and they now fit.  She also wore her pink sparkly shirt the Falco gave her for Christmas & a pair of jeggings. 

I couldn't hand out balloon animals until the kids were leaving (can't have balloon dogs popping around the horses) so it gave me about an hour to watch Caroline interact with all the rodeo animals.  She talked about the horses and sheep none stop.

Caroline and I even got a chance to ride a horse named Olly.  It was her first time on a horse and she had me in a death grip the whole ride. The horse they used were so sweet.  

Dandy Ruff walked with the kids.  They all loved him. I started making the balloon animals around 10:45 and didn't stop until 12:30.  I reveal to one of the kids that my dad was the clown and his mouth fell open - he was so impressed!  

I made 3 balloon chooses for the kids:

Dog

Flower

Sword

I can crank those out really fast & tried to have a large supply for kids to choose from but it didn't last long.  My mom helped tie which made it go faster.  We made over 300 balloon animals! 

At the end Caroline took her boots off so we put her boat shoes on.  While my mom and I were finishing up Chris took Caroline around the Ector Coney colosseum.  They found all kinds of animals including 2 buffalos just hanging out in a pin.   

 We had such a fun day!  Thank you Dandy for inviting us!  We love our Rodeo Clown!!

Tea Party

Caroline and I had a tea party today. I brought out my great grandmother's costume jewelry and Caroline decided she needed all the necklaces on. We drank chocolate milk and had snicker doodle cookies. My Grandmary for sure had style and glad my daughter shares it!

Welcome 2014!

Caroline and I have had a great week!  I love that I have spent 2 whole weeks with her and am not looking forward to Monday.   

A couple of things that went on this week:

New Years Eve we made homemade Grape Nut ice cream.  Caroline helped by putting a piece of ice in the bucket, then ate a piece of ice, put ice in, then ate a piece.  Such a good helper! 

Caroline and I were driving to pick up lunch on Wednesday when a guy cut me off.  I have been really watching what I say in front of her {She is like a sponge!} I yelled "aw man!" So for the rest of the day Caroline kept saying "aw-man!" to everything.

Caroline's cousin Lane loves Nutella so since Thanksgiving we have put in her snack rotation.  

We went to the park & Caroline can now get on and slide down the big slide all by herself.  sign* she is getting so big!

Caroline asked me to "go go go".  I told her to go get shoes on so she ran to Chris's shoes.  She put them on and attempted to walk to the door. 

We ate lunch with daddy.  Caroline ate a whole Rosas burrito. 

Her two favorite things to play right now:

Change all her animal's diaper

and cook in her kitchen 

She pulls all her animals off the shelf and smells them. She says "yuck!" Then she wipes them down and wraps them in a diaper.  Then she reuses the diaper and goes to the next one. 

My friend Kristen gave Caroline some plastic fruit and a grocery basket.  In the pot on the stove she is cooking an ice cream cone, an egg, and some french fries.  She said it was for her daddy so I know he has a great surprise when he gets home. What a fun week!