A Trip to See Santa

Last Saturday, we went with our awesome friends the Brown's and the Furniss'  to see the Legendary Santa at CMOR. It was awesome, as always. Camri was completely enchanted, and loved seeing Santa. Capri... Well, that's another story...

Oh, how this picture made us laugh.

 As you can see, Capri didn't think it was terribly funny.

I found it funny enough to purchase a $20 picture. 

November Fun

Yep. I'm a bit behind on blogging. Big time behind. 

Here's a little bit of what we did in November!

We had a small party for Camri's birthday. I couldn't deal with a big fiasco, so I told Cam she could invite 5 friends for cake and ice cream. She wanted a "Dora the Explorer" party, so that's what I went with. :)

 Steve took the girls to the gym in the morning so I could decorate to surprise Camri. When she got home she was so happy to see the decorations and balloons. I love how easy it is to enchant her. She was thrilled with a few balloons and some streamers. 

 The girls made "Dora" necklaces and "Explorer" hats. 

 I had to stop for a minute and snuggle Capri. She was getting a little jealous over the attention the birthday girl was getting. I love this little munchkin'. 

 Mommy and Camri

Thanks to everyone who came and made her birthday special. I wish I could've thrown a huge party with everyone invited, but this year it wasn't plausible. Maybe next year. :)

Right after Camri's party we made the trip to Irmo, South Carolina to see Aunt Jana and Uncle Nick. It was about a seven hour drive with stops, but it was well worth all the fun we had. It was so much fun to spend Thanksgiving with family. Camri absolutely loves her cousins and had a ball with the boys. Capri loved chasing the twin baby boys and trying to keep up with the big kids.  Daddy spent his time studying and hanging with the fellas's. Mommy helped aunt Jana with Thanksgiving dinner (though not much!), and afterwards we went Black Friday shopping. Talk about crazy! But, we got everything we wanted, saw some entertaining fights over electronics, saved a ton of green,  and had a grand time freezing our butts off outside of Target. Thanks again, Jana for taking me with you to brave the craziness! 

Here the kids are decorating gingerbread houses after dinner.

On Friday, we went to the most amazing zoo with everyone. It was easily the best zoo I've ever seen!

Notice Camri is wearing Kyle's shirt? Ya, it was so warm on the day we went that she was miserable in her long sleeve shirts I'd packed her. I've never felt such a lovely, warm Thanksgiving weekend. I doubt we'll be enjoying the fall weather like that in Colorado. ;)

 Camri loves Tigers, so of course she seized the opportunity to ride this one.

 Camri and Mommy being silly

 Camri and Kyle feeding the birds.

 They had a rock wall for the kids to climb on, and I thought Camri would be too scared to climb, but boy was I WRONG! She loved it. She climbed as far as I dared let her and loved every minute of it!

 She climbed all the way up in princess shoes. 

 Getting her down was a little trickier than getting her up. She looked at us like we were nuts when we told her to "just let go". She was scared for a minute, but gave in and came down.

 It sounds silly, but Steve and I were really proud of her. She is an amazing, brave, fun little girl. 

 Yep, this awesome zoo had pony rides too. Camri was in heaven. She loves riding ponies. 

 Here Capri is trying to feed her fingers to the goats. It made me so nervous how she was putting her arms in trying to get a grab at the animals. We had to really watch her... 

 Love these crazy girls...

 We'd arranged with aunt Jana to have a tea party (with all 5 BOY cousins, no less.) and sure enough they all had a great time drinking "tea" (orange juice) and eating sweets. 

Cam couldn't get enough of her cousin Tyler. They were inseparable the entire trip. She still asks to go to "Tyler's house" to play. We'll sure miss being a drive away from these guys! 

That's pretty much all we did in November. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up from December before January! 

Colorado, Here We Come!!

Denver, Colorado. Soon to be: Home Sweet Home! 

We are so excited to announce that Steve was accepted into the orthodontic program at the University of Colorado at Denver! He has worked so hard, and done so well in dental school! We couldn't be more proud, and we are super excited to start a new, and exciting chapter in our lives! We're so thrilled to be so much closer to family and friends! Congrats, Steve, you earned it!

Camri is Four

Our sweet little Camri four years old today. I'm honestly not sure where that time went! She is such an important part of our family, adding laughter and silliness to each and every day. We just love this little girl so much, I don't even know how to put it into words. This is the face of the girl who made me a mom, and for her I am eternally grateful. She and I are so similar, and though we tend to get under each others skin at times, I love her more than anything. She is one of two reasons I get up every morning.

Camri Tidbits:
Favorite color: Purple
Favorite food: Spaghetti, french fries, and "big pancakes", aka: crepes
Favorite shows: Super Why, Heman, She-ra, and Dora the Explorer. Also, loves the old school Living Scripture movies.
Favorite treat: Brownies and Vanilla ice cream
Favorite toy: My Little Ponies, food toys, and princess dolls
Camri loves school, and is improving her writing skills everyday. She works so hard at writing her letters, and seems to be really enjoying it!
This girl has attitude! I know Mommy is the one to blame for this- I see my mannerisms in her every day, and every day I kick myself. ;)
She is a serious Daddy's girl.
She loves babies, and tells me all the time she wants another sister, or brother, depending on the day. (Not happening any time soon, so don't take this as an announcement)
She is the sweetest, most loving big sister. Though, we're still working on sharing toys...

18 Months

Where, oh where did the time go? Our little girl just turned 18 months. I don't know what to say other than she is pure heaven. :) What a glorious joy she is to our family. So much mischief and laughter in this little girl. 

 Here are Capri's stats at 18 months:

Height: 35'' (99th %)

Weight: 31.1 lbs (98th%)

Head Circumference: 19.5'' (98th%)

Needless to say,our little girls is huge! The doc told us she is the size of the average 2 1/2 year old! 

Capri tidbits:

~Loves to terrorize her sister. Seriously, she is a pro. Whether it's toy snatching, hair pulling, or otherwise teasing- She loves to torment Camri. 

~ Favorite foods are: Spaghetti, Goldfish, and pears. And this girl can't get enough milk! (Well, Lactaid)

~ Loves snuggling. Anyone. She gives the best hugs, and gives her love to anyone who'll take it. She reserves all of her best hugs for Mommy, though. :)

~ Loves to tease Daddy. They have this little game where he asks for kisses, and she says, "NO!" and laughs as he pretends to cry. Sweet, right? He always ends up pinning her down and smooching her, and she loves it.

~ Loves shoes, purses, and jewelry. She is a girly-girl. to the extreme. She heads right to the shoes anytime she see's them. :) She loves putting on Mommy's church shoes, especially. 

~ Favorite toy is still her baby dolls, strollers, and car seat. She lovingly snuggles, Ssshhhh's, and pats her babies all day long.  She is the sweetest little "mommy" you've ever seen. 

~ loves to sing songs, read book, and watch "Dora the Explorer" with Camri. She'll only sit still for a minute, but it's a sweet minute! I love seeing them cuddling on the couch. Ah, sisters. :)

~ Loves to sing in the backseat. I never understand any of it, but she loves it, and I love to hear it. 

~Talking has exploded in the last few weeks! I wouldn't dare guess how many words she's saying- a lot.

~ Stubborn personality! She knows what she wants, and doesn't stop until she gets it! ( I blame Steve)

~Favorite words are: "Mine!", "No!", and "um bite" (I want a bite). 

I'm sure there are so many things I haven't thought of, but there are a few things we love about her. She is such a sweet girl, and a good companion for Camri. We are so blessed to have her for a daughter. 

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Boy, was I relieved to find these pictures buried deep in my camera bag. I was so sad thinking I'd lost these pictures! Every year we've lived in VA we've gone to the Ashland Berry Farm for their "pick your own pumpkins", and delicious homemade donuts. :)  I can't believe how much the girls have grown and changed in one little year. The stranger thing is thinking about how this was our last year going to ABF. I find myself wondering what we'll be doing, and where we'll be next year instead of this.  :) Moving on is bitter-sweet, isn't it?

 Capri was more interested in the pumpkins and flowers for purchase than she was in anything in the fields. :)

 This year we let Camri play in the maze, and at the end of it is a bounce house- I'm pretty sure that was her favorite part of the day. 

 Here I am forcing Capri into getting a picture with me

 This is Capri's "attitude" face. While on the hayride out to the field we gave Daddy some "attitude"

 Mommy, forcing Cappi into yet another picture...

 Camri enjoyed picking flowers more than pumpkins this year.

 It was such a nice day out, we all ended up ditching our jackets. Beautiful weather in October- one of the things I'll miss about VA.

 Capri, Capri, Capri. Oh, how she hated the field this year. She kept tripping on the vines, falling in the dirt and crying. She wanted to be held pretty much the whole time we were out. 

 The girls catching a ride in the wheel barrow on the way back from taking our pumpkins to the car

 Oh, they're getting big. Really big. 

 Gross, I know. 

 They had these HUGE pumpkins for sale, I think they were $35. Crazy, right?

 These are the shirts I bought for the girls for Halloween this year. :) Camri loved them.

And of course we all enjoyed the delicious homemade donuts on the way home. Mmmmm.

I don't think anyone enjoyed them more than Capri, though.