Caroline's Third Birthday!

Our little girl is three! This is a whole series of pictures of Caroline's birthday party. The fact that it was her birthday all day was a hard concept for a three-year-old. When she woke up in the morning and I told her "Happy Birthday," she responded: but nobody is here yet. She repeated that line all day. To her a birthday is all about the party, and her party didn't start until 5pm. It was a perfect time, especially since both kids had at least an hour nap beforehand. She loved her party, and she was so excited about all her friends being there, and opening presents (she loves gifts: she's always wrapping things up and giving them to people).

This first picture is from the night before, working on her cake together. Then we move to the party pictures. Here she's looking quite excited about this big gift from Grandma Caroline and Grandpa Chuck. She was also excited when her friends Elizabeth and Marilyn arrived, and she opened her gift from Elizabeth (neither of them could wait:)): food for her new kitchen. Trace spent the afternoon and evening preparing a sumptuous feast for everyone: yum! We had delicious tacos, with a choice of mild chicken, spicy chicken, or medium beef. Something for every taste! The most amazing Aunt Becky made Caroline a bunny for her birthday, and they had a special time opening it together. Caroline was Becky's shadow when everyone first arrived: all the people were a little overwhelming for a few minutes. Lindsey and her son Graham, so sweet. Caroline wearing the Clement's special birthday crown. Aunt Katie loaned it to us via Grandma Jo for Caroline's birthday. Thanks for sharing! Sitting in her new chair from Grandma Caroline. I'll do an entire blog post on that later. It was very special. Opening Dave's gift with him. Lindsey and Betsy with their two boys visiting. Trystan, Marilyn, and Caroline playing with Caroline's pretend cookie set--perfect for her new toy kitchen. The Beltrans, who kindly brought a gift for Jackson too. Singing happy birthday: time for cake!

Caroline blowing out her candles. Sitting on Dave's lap putting on her purple goggles from Tracie. The three roomies. Beautiful Betsy and her son Andrew. Aunt Heide and Caroline. Finishing the night dancing for Mike and Ellen. We're glad you're three Caroline. You are a treasured part of our family. You keep us all laughing, and melt our hearts with your smiles and cuddle times. I'm excited to see you grow in the years to come. I love you!

Jumping on/off the porch

A lot of my pictures of my kids are taken at their request: take my picture Mom. Last weekend Caroline wanted me to take a picture of her jumping ON the deck: down the stairs, actually. I think this might have been in response to the fact that Jack was jumping OFF the deck, and his impressive jump was getting a lot of attention. So here are my pictures of Caroline jumping down the steps, and then the ones of Mr. Jackson jumping off the front deck. I know, I didn't really get any of Caroline in the air, but it's hard when the jump is so short. I suppose I should have used the continuous shot mode. Actually, Caroline's jumping has improved just in the last week. Tonight I saw her jump off the coffee table (about a foot high) for the first time ever. She even landed on her feet!

This cute boy, on the other hand, has been jumping off the coffee table for at least three years now. He might live to jump. Our front deck is about seven feet off the ground, and he has to jump out about four feet to land on the lawn instead of the bark directly below. Proportionate to his three foot height, I would have to jump off the roof to match his jump!

This time he landed on his feet, but he did this probably ten times in a row, and he usually ended up rolling in the grass as his motion kept moving him forward. I love the shots of him mid-air. Here he looks like he's just stepping off the deck, but he always had plenty of propulsion to land on the lawn.

Hands up for balance!

We ended this evening with marshmallows around a fire in the backyard. Jack asked if we could have a burn pile in the back, and I looked out at the soggy yard and the empty fire pit, and told him that if he picked up enough sticks for a fire, Dad would light it later. He was industrious! He is all boy, and he loves to watch a fire. He gathered enough very wet sticks to have a fire, so later we did, although Trace had to work hard to get it going, and it required a fireplace log to have enough flame for marshmallows! Both kids loved the marshmallows, but Caroline kept her distance from the fire. She thought the swing was a nice seat. Here's the man who actually did the work: And a final shot of the boy who brought the fire into being. This week the backyard is covered in snow again, so no more fires for a while, but it was a nice way to end a Sunday!

What do you do on a rainy day?

One of my favorite things to do as a child was to build a fort. Yesterday was a rainy day, and Caroline was sick (of course) on top of that, so to entertain everyone, we built a fort. A big one. We used a queen sized quilt, four dining room chairs, and a couple of sheets. I could even sit down in it, and it took up a lot of our living room. Even a grumpy sick girl was reasonably happy in her new environs. What do you do after you've worn yourself out playing creatively in a fort? You use the chairs at the front of the fort to sit in and watch an episode of Kipper the Dog. Caroline has been running a fever, so she's pretty low on energy, and we've certainly watched more television than usual! Today we did something we've never done before at home: we painted. I bought the paints and brushes about six months ago, and the easel for that matter, with the thought of a Christmas gift (yes, that was four months before Christmas, and I usually shop on Christmas eve--I don't know what got into me:) ). Come Christmastime I had forgotten about the easel, and already bought more than enough gifts for the kids, so when I remembered it, I decided not to give it to them. One snowy day in January we were looking for something to do, and I thought of the easel. It's a chalkboard on one side, and a white erase board on the other, with a roll of paper in the middle. I figured that those elements were enough of a treat, and I didn't give them the paint I had also bought. Today after we went for a rainy day walk and we were starting to feel a little cooped up again, I decided it was the day to paint. They loved it! Caroline painted three pictures, and Jack painted two. We hung them up to dry on the stone around the wood stove. They have distinct painting styles. Jack is very intent, and does a lot of color in a small space, while Caroline's pictures are more spread out. These are Jack's: And these are Caroline's:

And just in case you've been watching it alternate between rain and snow outside too, and you're wondering when and if spring is coming, Trace brought me these from outside our E. Main store today: Yes, spring is coming!

Making Cookies

Yesterday the kids and I were talking about cookies, and I told them that we could go to the grocery store tomorrow and buy some ingredients--well really just chocolate chips, since that's all we were missing. In case my timeline is confusing, that means that we made chocolate chip cookies today. Both kids were excited to help, and washed their hands and climbed on a stool to help measure the flour and sugar. We were taking turns stirring the dry ingredients when I got a phone call from the store that necessitated a couple more quick phones calls. In the middle of talking to Aunt Becky, I turned around and Caroline had both hands in the flour, taking pinches and spreading them on the counter. I removed the bowl, and let my tactile girl play with the mess already there: soon enough Jack added his own touch, and a monster truck toy was making tracks through the white powder. I snapped a few pictures before we continued with the cookies:

I also took two videos of the kids putting the dough on a cookie sheet: mostly because Caroline was having so much fun playing with the dough. Jackson, true to his personality, was carefully rolling the cookies into balls and placing them on the tray. Caroline, on the other hand, was smashing them and squishing them in her hand. Lots of fun for both of them!

Caroline thought I was taking a picture, and kept saying "cheese." You have to catch her unawares for a good picture, and it's hard to do!

As a side note, we were praying before bed tonight, and we always ask for sweet dreams and a good nights sleep (what mom doesn't?!), but then Jack prayed for bad dreams for Caroline. I told him that wasn't very kind, but he responded that God loves bad things too, like bad people. It still didn't sound very kind to me, so he thought about it, and then prayed for wild dreams for his sister instead. "That would be fun Mom," he assured me. I guess wild dreams are okay with me, as long as they lead to sound sleep!

For Anna and Josie

We spent quite some time this afternoon watching Anna and Josie videos, as Caroline calls them. We even went way back and watched one of Anna dancing, doing "real ballet," with her yellow wings. Miss Caroline wanted to show her cousins her "real ballet," so we went directly to my room, where there was already kids music playing, and took a video of her dancing, to share. Here's the video, which includes a lot of twirling, and even an arabesque and a pirouette, straight out the the ballet ABC book we keep getting at the library (I think this is the third time now). Enjoy!

The Farm

Two weeks ago now, the kids and Becky and I drove to Portland for a spur of the moment trip to meet Michael and Jeanette's new baby, Maia. She's a doll! While we were there, we also had the opportunity to see my brother Jeff, his wife Farrah, and their three kids (thanks for a LOVELY meal Mosers!), and to spend a day with Ginya, Joanne, and Helen on their farm. I have said for two weeks now that I would post pictures of our visit to Portland, and I'm finally getting to at least the final day of our visit: the trip to the farm. This was definitely the highlight of our quick trip for the kids, although the new kitten at Michael and Jeanette's house would be a close second. Caroline liked Sparkle: she's just her size. I doubt however that the excitement was mutual. We could see a horse right outside Ginya's window, so we had to go see. Becky and the kiddos wandered off and picked and ate Asian pears. Ginya held her newest great-granddaughter while we wandered around the farm. Caroline never did take a nap that day, but she did share a little quiet time with Aunt Becky. She's the best aunt ever! Uhhhh, with the exception of course of all the other aunts :) Jack and Aunt Jeanette found some plums. Jeanette has already mastered doing everything one-handed! There was even a sandbox, which the kids enjoyed for a few minutes before they found other things to do like picking tomatoes, corn, and peppers, or digging up carrots and beets (check out Michael and Jeanette's facebook pictures for more info). Ginya and Caroline picking tomatoes. Two ladies laden with produce. Ginya drove us around for a short walk up to the upper field. There's quite a view, and we also got to see several gliders being dropped to soar over the valley. I think that's what Michael is pointing at here. We also walked down to the back pasture . . . can you think of better people to go for a walk with? What a great group! Joanne and Caroline watching the tractors outside. We weighed baby Maia on the scale in Ginya's house. Isn't she a cutie? Michael helped disc the lower field, while Helen rode the other tractor. Dueling tractors! Jack tried out the swing. The rope swing on the other side of the tree was also a hit. Uncle Michael on the tractor, with Bear running alongside. At some point Michael came around the corner of Ginya's house and said: "your son's on a horse, by the way. " And sure enough he was! Helen generously saddled a horse for him and let him ride. I'm pretty sure he'd like to be a cowboy now. On our drive home the next day he asked, "can we go back to the farm tomorrow mom? Forever?" Caroline even rode the horse for a few minutes. I don't remember what changed her mind, but it was something competitive or contrary. She's definitely two! Uncle Michael wearing a brussel sprout hat. After all of our farming fun, we went back and Ginya had cooked us a wonderful shephard's pie. Yum! Joanne and Ginya both gave the kids airplane rides on their feet (yeah, they're amazing: not sure if I could do it--not with Jack anyway). And they had fun clambering all over Ginya, Joanne, and Helen. Thanks to all three for letting us visit!