Happy Anniversary

Today is Kevin and I's 4th anniversary. It's hard to believe. Some days it seems like our wedding day was forever ago and some days it feels like yesterday. We've done a lot in the last 4 years. We've moved 3 times. Each changed jobs twice. Had two beautiful children. Our love story was quite the whirlwind romance to begin with so it shouldn't surprise anyone that we've had so many changes in so few years. After all I did plan and execute a wedding in less than 26 days. So today I leave you with some of my favorite pictures of Kevin and I. Our first out of town trip, the Biltmore.

Kevin proposing. We were lucky enough that the people at the next table figured out what was going on and grabbed the camera.

Trying to get Kevin's rings on.

My favorite of the wedding pictures, Kevin's not so much he says he looks like the chauffeur.

On our honeymoon heading to Catalina.

Our first family photo with Caroline.

Trip's Baptism.

Our parental getaway to NYC.

Family photo with Kermit, my 3rd child.

Kevin and I at my sister's wedding. I specifically asked the photographer to make sure she got pictures of us since we rarely take pictures together or if we do we look exhausted most of the time.

Happy Anniversary Day!!

Pink and Blue look at these two.

As everyone with more than one child knows its very hard to get a picture of both of them thats good. Especially when they're young. The kids went to spend time with their grandparents the other day and they captured these and I just love them. Note: Yes Caroline styled herself that day.

Christmas Morning

We were very blessed this year and one of the greatest blessings was that we were able to celebrate Christmas with both of our families in one big Christmas extravaganza. That being said it was one crowded living room and not because of all the people. Our tree spent the Christmas season in the dining room but while I was out grocery shopping on Christmas Eve, Kevin and the kids moved it to the living room. This is the tree Christmas morning.

So on Christmas morning we held the kids hostage upstairs until 8am when everyone could get over to the house. Luckily they are still so little that they were a little bit clueless. Once everyone arrived I walked them downstairs to face the paparazzi. And much like a hollywood starlet Caroline kept saying "I'm done taking pictures" and put her hands over her face til we got to the tree and that ended

Trip; however, is always ready for a photo op. Yep he is mid "cheese"

Halfway through the 4 hour present extravaganza. I started on breakfast. Everyone's got to eat, right.

Caroline couldn't wait to wear some of her new dress up.

Do we have another engineer in the making? All I know if there were some boys who couldn't wait to set the trains up.

It was really a lot of fun.

Today was Pajama Day at school and it's always a disorienting experince for the kids. They have a hard time understanding that a) we are not changing out of the pj's and b) we are actually wearing them to school. Not once at school that are golden. Here's some shots of the kids in their pajamas after school. School wears them out so there were no smiles to begin with. But eventually they warmed to the camera.

Trip and Kermit. His pajamas have bears on them. I sometimes call Trip bear and he thinks it's so funny when he wears these and I say "Bear's in jams wearing bears in jams." It's the little things I guess.

The best shot I could get of Trips hair. His hair truly has a mind of it's own.

Well. I guess Trip never really did warm up to the camera.

Caroline's pretending to sleep. I guess she didn't warm up either.

Partridge Family- One step closer to going on Tour

The kids had band practice yesterday. and what they lack in talent the more than make up for in energy and enthusiasm. Here are some pics and maybe I'll get around to posting a video. Here's them practicing for the album cover.

Trip rockin' his guitar solo.

Rocking out together.

Hittin' the crescendo as a group.

Caroline channeling Schroeder.

We're just waiting for the offers to start flowing in!

Yummy but a little dry

On of the projects on my to do list that I've been trying to get to (for 2 years now) that I am finally tackling was felt food for the kids. The thing that gave the the kick I needed was Pottery Barn Kids (or PBK as we call it in our house) came out with some and when Caroline saw it she was all about it. But I was not about to spend $20 on a set of cupcakes. So with Caroline as my personal cheerleader every night after we put Trip down she and I sit down in the kitchen and while she draws I sew. Also my kindle broke this week so now I have idle hands so maybe I'll really plow through my to do list. Without further adieu, here are some of our creations... These chocolates were the first that I did and Caroline loves them. They are tiny less than a quarter in diameter, but she says they are her dolls favorite.

These donuts crack me up. They are about the size of a quarter in diameter. And just look so yummy.

I've made a few of the torts. I'm starting to get the hang of them.

I've become an old pro at these cakes. Unlike the other pieces these are life size. Or as Caroline points out the perfect size for her.

My first cupcake. Hopefully my next will be better.

This one looks the most yummy to me.

Another cake.

This is probably the easiest of the cakes. But looks nice too. Next time I'll probably make it with more fun colors.

So we are in full tea party mode at our house. It always reminds me of the scene in Toy Story 1 when Buzz joins the tea party. Off to set the table!

Kids in a wedding.

So my camera never made it back to me but the wonderful Heather's pictures did. And they are great so I thought I would share the story of Karlie's wedding with you through the process of the kids. Since after all they do add the flavor and entertainment. First off Karlie got mairried at 1:30 (we're Catholic) so we didn't get to pick the time and trust me this time of day is not a great time for the kids this is when naptime is supposed to start. So it was definitly an adventure. The kids arrived at the church, the hubs delivered them since I was already at the church and we were able to get some action shots probably because they were half out of it already. Starting with Trip getting his bouteneer. This is one of my favorite picture (all time) of Trip he just looks so innocent.

On top of chasing kids I also had to help Karlie get ready. Caroline is obsessed with wedding (too much listening to mommy on the phone with Grandma and Aunt Karlie I imagine.) so being up close to a dress was a little awe inspiring. She was a little overwhelmed, notice the thumb.

Then we headed down the aisle. At this point I knew this wasn't going to go well but Caroline keep saying that she wanted to walk down the aisle and the church coordinator refused to go get Kevin. When we were next in line the kids wouldn't let go. They wouldn't stay behind so I did what I had to I grab those kids and all 3 of us went together. Here Trip has spotted his people.

Caroline is half asleep until...

She realizes she;s the center of attention and starts crying "I'm tired! I just want to take a nap!"

She was handed off but still upset. I wonder why...

Probably because we had to leave Belle behind. Germy Kermy matched the colors (yep that's right germy came down the aisle with us) but I only had two hands and belle didn't make the cut. Caroline then promptly fell asleep in the pew and slept through the service.

Two Thirds of the way through the service Trip got a case of the giggles and had to leave.

Caroline got her hug from the bride afterwards.

And Trip decided he had, had enough and refused to take anymore pictures but also liked the alter as a place to hang out.

coming up next the reception (what I can remember of it) from my point of view.

Reindeer Rides $5

I am going to preface this with I love both my children eaqually, as well I love every single ornament they made us for Christmas. That being said one absolutly cracked me up. Caroline Riding an Reindeer

I'm not sure which teacher thought this up or even how they made it work. I imagine they had her sit on something and then cut it out. But still, crack me up. I didn't even catch it on the excitement of Christmas morning when I was unwrapping them all, but later Caroline asked me about it and when I went to look...well I'll never be the same.

Playing catch up

Well with the holiday sadly I've fallen be hind on keeping this up by I'm working on getting everything up to date. So look for post overload on the way. Especially now that I got a new camera for Christmas! The biggest new thing in our house (parents with kids will get why this is so big) is Trip is potty training. YAY!! That's right we are on our way (hopefully soon) to being completely diaper free. You you people with out kids we are talking about a $50 - $75 a month savings. Here's where I dream about the shoes I would by with the money but really will probably go towards the massive amount of groceries we buy each week. The funniest story to come out of this is as follows. For the past 3 years I have been hording doctor check up stickers like a maniac and yesterday we ran out. This is a big deal. Upon seeing the kids you can immeadiatly tell how many bathroom visits they've had because they are like walking billboards of stickers. They are crazy for stickers like an addict on The Wire the won't use the bathroom without a sticker. So desperate times call for desperate measures. The postal service had sent us a few Holiday shipper stickers and I hadn't thrown them out yet (yay for procrastination) well I told a great story and now they love them, that and the skittles I used to smooth the whole situation over.

Yep that's a postal sticker front and center. Caroline however has decided she is too old to be wearing stickers so she has me wear them for here. Sometimes I forget about them before I leave the house which makes for some odd looks while running errands. Hope everyone's new year is off to a great start!