It's All Over...

She's walking...

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And another vid of her riding her wagon across the kitchen floor - she loves this!

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Our Favorite Christmas Movie

I introduced A Christmas Story to Karen soon after we started dating; I cannot remember where I saw it first, but distinctly remember owning the tape and getting permission from the powers that be at Micron Separations (now owned by super-conglomerate GE Osmonics) to show this one afternoon right before Christmas in 1995 in the boardroom. We, of course, watched it today and introducted it to Caroline some 11 years after that showing in the boardroom. Today was a mulligan for Caroline watching TV since both Karen and I got her cold - which she had a milder case of, BTW - Karen's got it bad bad, and I'm bad but starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Anyways, click on the title above to see about a guy who so loved the move that he actually bought the house in Cleveland that the movie was shot at. And, he makes the "major award" and sells them on the net.

Black Friday

Well - it's the day after Thanksgiving. The weather is absolutetly gorgeous and we're inside doing nothing but hanging out, watching football and relaxing. Nice. Caroline, Jim and I all have a nasty cold - which is no fun, but it did allow us the oppourtunity to test out our new bed from Rotmans. Double nice. We are loving memory foam.
My Mom and Dad are still out - hopefully we can get out and do something fun this evening. It was so nice to have them and Matthew here for the holiday. We missed you, Pat! They were nice enough to baby-sit Caroline and Matt acted as our DD on Wednesday night to allow us to go out by ourselves one of the few times since Caroline was born. We had a great time - the band was great. Any guys that can cover Van Morrison, Dave Matthews and the Culture Club have to be good.
Here are some pics my Dad took of Caroline (and the rest of us) during the past few days...

Awwwwww Yeah

I always knew my family was pretty smart. =-)

Pretty cool, I tell you.

We're just ahead of our time!

Three Twinkies are in the top seven for ballots? Even in the heart of Red Sox Nation, I think that's great. Gotta mix it up a little.

Blogging may take a bit of a hiatus over the weekend. You know - turkey hangovers and the such. There hasn't been a time in my life that I've been more greatful to God for all the blessings that we've been given. It is truly amazing.

More Sunday Nite Pics

A B+W of the fam all together...yes, Caroline is *still* smiling!

Sunday Night

Ahhhh...Sunday night. The lunches are packed. The ironing isn't done, but with this being a short week it doesn't matter that much. I'll just see if I can't stretch it by wearing my Spine Center clothes all day...makes for a lot less laundry that way, too.
Yesterday for my birthday, Jim and Caroline took me out for sashimi at the Fugakyu Cafe. It was the first "real" (that cooked stuff is for wussies) sushi/sashimi that I had eaten in almost two years. It was amazing. The tuna just melted in your mouth and the salmon was heavenly. The portions were almost too big. Oh - and the tempura ice cream. Let me tell you. Soooooo good. Caroline liked it too, but I didn't feel badly not giving her very much (I was allowed to be selfish on my birthday).
All in all it was a good weekend - church and Sunday school went well. We got to hang out with Jim's parents and had a very nice dinner. Now it's time for bathies and to start settling things down...
Oh -and in other news- Caroline is now taking a couple steps without holding onto anything before the takes a spill. It's only a matter of time now...

Just an Experiment...

Just to see how these came out...we finally had our pictures taken. They came out well - later I'll try to do more with them.

The Stomach Flu

I won't give you the gory (and disgusting) details, but needless to say - Caroline and I are both home with a stomach bug. Nope - no fun at all, but it is nice to be able to spend some time with her (even if we are both a little grumpy).
I got my old Cabbage Patch Dolls (Maude Bernadette and Iona Gerda, if you must know) for us to play with. They were my favorites when I was a little girl and you can see where the dolls have definetly been well loved (and where their faces have partially melted because I left them out in the sun too long). I wasn't thinking that Caroline would do much with them. Wouldn't you know she loves them? She kept holding them and kissing (well, licking - but I'm telling myself she's kissing) them. She also got one in a Half-Nelson when they were engaged in some sort of pint sized wrestling match that was a total hoot to watch.
But now she's down for her afternoon nap, and I think I'll go down for one, too. This being sick stuff isn't for wimps.

Awww...love the baby. She was trying to give the doll a raspberry.

This wrestling match was a toss-up. It's amazing how something inanimate can fight back so much!

Towering over Mommy - getting ready to give her a wet-willy.

A BIG Mess...

O-R-E-O!!!!

As you can see, it didn't take her long to get the hang of things. Jim is doing bathies now - I think he found a clean baby somwhere in there. Now only if it were that easy for me to get the Oreo out of my hair...


UPDATE: Video of our chocolately child...

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Karen gave Caroline a full Oreo (actually an organic Newmann-O, but hey) and the hilarity ensured...

Nothing's Happening...

Okay - so the good news is that everyone is well. There just wasn't time to blog recently. We've been glued to the elections and now that's all over with we can get on with being and start planning for the holidays. It's funny to hear people at Fairlawn talk about the lieutenant governor elect...he's just a local boy that went to high school with their kids. Murray's wife, Tammy was an OT at Fairlawn - I'm thinking we're not going to see her doing much per diem work on the weekends now...
Caroline is doing well and has become a BIG CHATTER BOX. She doesn't stop talking. It's really cute. She's also very much into music - she'll turn on all the musical toys that she has and listen to them at once. And then she dances. So stinkin' adorable.

Here are some pics from this past week / weekend...

She just loves to dance

Such a big girl

You want me to sit here for how long just so you can take my picture?!?!?

Videos, Videos, Videos...

We've got a HUGE backlog of videos that we need to get up...here are three from the past few months just downloaded from the Kodak digi camera...coming soon is the real movie camera - for now, enjoy these!

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Now it's my turn...

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One of her favorite times of the day - and one of the few times I get to spend with her during the weekdays is bathies and getting into PJs before going to bed...

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Long one, sorry...playing with the newly-found horsey

From Halloween...

Since we are in Red Sox Nation, I think we'll title this one "Caroline being Caroline".
(I guess she get's Manny's mannerisms from just listening to the games)

After Breakfast...

I figured I'd post these before I start to get calls asking for new pics. I guess she was tired.

Riddle Me This

How does a child wearing pants, a t-shirt and a FULL ONSIE UNDERNEATH get a piece of pasta in her diaper?

Just wondering...