The Birthday Event

I hope I look this good when I'm 83!! Pictures from Maw-Maw's birthday party:

Forest was having a blast!

We don't really keep chips like Cheetos in the house. Can you tell? Boy was Caroline really into them:

Deacon was just a little sad that the dog was out and about:

The dog was convinced that this pool toy was a real alligator, real prey. It was actually hard to get it away from her!

This was after swimming all day, not having a nap, and eating all the junk food she could handle. Notice the face that is so proud of getting over on her mom and dad. She was living like a teenager this day!

Late Summer Happenings

The end of our summer was great! Caroline started a new preschool and adjusted so well it impressed all of us. Here are some pictures of some of the other fun things we managed to pack into August before school started!

Our friend Evan's birthday party:

You can see here she is really thinking hard about the cake and candle thing! She was really watching hard and loving the idea.It was a backyard water park party. This is where she chose to sit herself. Yep. Right at the end of the slip and slides. Don't ask me why, she is just Caroline.

Then she found this motorcycle, and the slip and slide was history. Boy, she loved riding this thing!

The Carwash for our Mardi Gras Krewe

Please do not be fooled by this picture. Neither Caroline or her mommy did any manual labor at this particular carwash. She played in the suds and I watched. Her daddy, however, worked very hard at washing cars.

Pictured here with Caroline is the queen of the Krewe this year, who has tried so hard at every event to befriend Caroline. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked yet...but we do have a few months left before we resort to candy bribery.

Backyard Water Park

Looking for something fun for the kids to do, Kevin set up a little "water park" in our backyard. Actually you would probably call it a redneck water park. You'll see why. Enjoy the photos!

Hose water...nothing tastes quite like it!

She was loving the power she had with this hose!

Jack's face tells how they felt about it after a while..

Here is the redneck part...improvised water slide.

Fourth of July Festivities

To be honest, the fourth of July isn't very fun for someone who goes to bed before it even gets dark. And I'm talking about Caroline, here...not Kevin or me. So, we decided to head out to an indoor play place this morning and let Caroline play a bit, appropriately dressed for the fourth of July, of course.

After we got home and successfully avoided having Caroline nap in her own room, errrr...I mean realized that Caroline was not going to take a nap, we called up Nick and the kids and headed for an afternoon of swimming. Here the three kids are after swimming was done. Caroline is certainly a fan of Sprite, as you can see here. She doesn't get it much - although probably more than she should - so she loves it when she can swig on a bottle of it!

She was so tired after swimming, she went to sleep almost immediately when we got into the car to leave. Still a fan of the Sprite, even in her sleep!

The last stop of the day was probably more for mom and dad than for Caroline:

Hope your fourth was a happy one!

Father's Day

We had a delayed Father's Day celebration for Grandpa since Nick and the kids were out of town on the actual day. We all had dinner at our house during the week. Jack was super excited because his Paw-Paw in Kansas taught him a checkers "trick" that was unbeatable. He couldn't wait to play Grandpa in checkers.
No lie, the game did go on for a very long time. While it was happening, Caroline couldn't stand not to be a part of things. You can see here:

and here:

and probably even here:

That she is hatching a plan. She is still too young to hide her devious ways, thank goodness.

Here she is in her victory!

After the big game, we had dinner. It was a great night!

Children's Museum

We took a family trip to the Children's Museum of Acadiana this week. Caroline is getting old enough to really like to play around other kids, and she really loved this place. I can't tell you how many times she looked at us and smiled, like she couldn't believe how much fun it all was.

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Cooking in the "restaurant":

Driving the "ambulance". They actually have a "hollowed out" full size ambulance there. It'll be a while before she's driving...as you can see she isn't even sure where to sit!

Shopping in the grocery store. Look at how cute the little cart was. This was right up her alley. Notice the little "list" she's holding. 'Ya think she's seen mommy do that one or a hundred times?? She also loved the cash registers!


Bubble land. This was, by far, her favorite part. I think she could have stayed there forever. She just kept on making bubbles and waving that little wand around. It must be popular, because they actually post their bubble "recipe" online here.

In this area, you could stand and raise a circular tube around you that would encase you in a giant bubble. Caroline wasn't all about standing still and letting that happen, but her daddy had some fun with it.

After the museum, we took a walk to check out the fountains at Parc Sans Souci. Caroline had a blast watching the watter and even getting a little wet. It was, though, approaching both lunch time and nap time, and we had to get the show on the road. Anyone in the vicinity of downtown on Friday at lunch time might have heard what happened shortly after the following photo was snapped.

Not pictured: Kevin carrying one kicking, screaming, hitting toddler back to the truck.