Caroline at six months!

Good Morning, Sunshine!

caroline has taken to "greeting" me each morning by peeking over the edge of her bumper! what a sweet smile to be met with everyday.

A few days ago, my most thoughtful husband surprised me with a NEW CAMERA!!

i am now the proud owner of a nikon D40. while by no means a professional photographer, i sure am excited about capturing some of our family moments with this fantastic gift.

here are just a few of my first shots...the pics are clearly those of a beginner, but how about that cute little subject of mine:)

Hitting the Big 3-0!!!

this year, it was my quest to accomplish the impossible...plan a surprise party for my husband on his thirtieth birthday!! ben is quite difficult to surprise or pull anything over on, and so after months (and i mean months) of detailed planning, i am proud to say that we (that being my entire family: both sets of parents, annaliese and evan, amy and dan, and many sweet friends) were most successful!! not even the icy storm could prevent this exciting event from happening!

many thanks to my sister and brother in law (annaliese and evan) for hosting this evening! there was great food, great games (thanks to amy), great toasts (thanks to dan and micah...and i even jumped in on that:), and most of all...wonderful fellowship with some of our dearest friends.

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, HONEY!!!

our great friends!

the moment of surprise:)

sweet prayer by dad
yummy food:)

Winter Fun

it has become an annual tradition of sorts in our family to have some photos taken around the holidays. this helps out with the every challenging task of trying to coax smiles from the kids for the christmas card picture, in addition to getting some fun candid shots to mark the year.

this time, we were excited to have a guy named jon cox (http://www.joncoxphoto.com/) whom we met at the pool this summer, take some pictures of us. i think he did a great job capturing the boys and caroline's personalities and we had a lot of fun, despite the freezing temps:)!

here are a few of my favorites!

Sweet and Petite

and that about sums it up!:) took little miss c in for her 4 month (ok..she was 5months by the time we made it in there...3rd child, what can i say??) check-up. she is a whopping 11lbs. 12 oz (sorry...can't remember her height!). that lands her in the 25% percentile!! she is a tiny little thing...gaining steadily, but staying in that margin. healthy as can be...we sure are grateful for our little "sweet and petite" baby girl. so i couldn't resist buying this outift (look closely below) when i found it the other day. just perfect for her! we love our little caroline!

caroline also recently had the pleasure of meeting her two great aunts (my mom's sisters) for the first time: aunt geraldine (on right) and aunt bonnie (on left). these two women have been such a special part of my life. my grandmother passed away when i was in college, and my aunt geraldine and aunt bonnie have been like grandmothers to my sister and i ever since. they stood up as "honorary grandmothers" in my wedding, and are both such amazing women who set an example in both their devotion to their families and to the lord.

we had so much fun visiting with them, and caroline enjoyed being loved on too! thank you both so much for coming to see us!

Come Fly With Me!

...let's fly, let's fly away"... and so the old sinatra song goes! and while we didn't go quite as far as a bar in bombay (gotta know the song for that one:) it was still, by far the ride of a lifetime!

so, let me go no further without saying a big...

CONGRATULATIONS

to my husband Ben on recently earning his pilot license!!!

on sunday, i was privileged to take my first ride in a small plane being flown by no other than MY VERY OWN HUSBAND!! as he is not one to brag or even tell folks about this...i am taking it upon myself to "toot his horn" just a bit. for the last year, plus...ben has been diligently working on obtaining his small plane pilot license. this has been a rigorous process involving early mornings of studying, flying several times a week with an instructor, and taking three very difficult tests: one written, one oral and one "in flight." and just as he does with everything else...he passed with flying colors!! (no pun intended).

it was quite impressive, watching ben go through his extremely detailed process of checking over the plane, making sure it was ready for takeoff. then, there is this totally other language he has learned in order to safely communicate while in the air. i'll admit...a little strange climbing in and, just like that (or so it seemed), ben knew how to fly!!:) our flight was extremely smooth and he did a great job taking off and landing too!!

and to top off this amazing experience, (mother, don't read this:) i even got to handle the controls while air born for a few minutes!!

ben is truly an amazing man...he rides motorcycles, can snowboard, fish, build anything you might want (like an attic and stairs, most recently), fix anything you need fixed, decorate a baby girl nursery in a pinch (more on that later), and now...FLY A PLANE!!!!!!

this was an incredible experience and i absolutely can't wait to go back up with him again.

and who knows...maybe bombay one day, right honey?

my handsome pilot

putting gas in the wings (news to me:)

if you look closely, you'll see us standing by the plane!

beautiful fall colors from above

about to be airborne:)

Gulfshore Getaway

this past weekend ben and i had the luxury of getting away to panama city, fl...just the two of us. well, almost. we took little miss caroline along, but hey, when you have three kids...taking one along still counts as a vacation! the boys enjoyed some special time with marmie and poppy while we were gone. this included a great trip to the zoo, chic-fil-a, and lots of playtime...they had a blast and did not miss us for a minute!

meanwhile, caroline enjoyed her first airplane ride, somehow managing to "jump in line" of her big brothers for this special treat. she also was spoiled with lots of one on one mommy and daddy time!:) she even got to sleep in a drawer, yes, a drawer. my husband insisted on "light packing" as we were flying (not my forte) and banned me from bringing the pack and play on the plane. he assured me he'd figure a sleeping arrangement out for caroline that was both safe and comfy. i should never doubt this engineer husband of mine. once again, he came through! caroline slept great in this little trundle of sorts:) when out, she generally slept in the sling or woke up briefly to socialize. she even enjoyed some sunbathing! all in all...we had a great, relaxing trip together. sadly, though this was really a trip for ben and i, the one picture i had of just the two of us did not turn out. hence...this is basically a blog of caroline:)

getting ready for my first plane ride!

preparing for take off!!

a drawer bed

out to eat with the parents

beach time!not so sure about this hat, mom!

one happy beach bum

patio time with daddy

snug as a bug in a sling

(thanks aunt bek!!)