Look What I Can Do!

Get ready to roll your eyes: I'm going to brag about my kid.

Since we moved here I started taking a more active approach to Caroline's "education". We started having "learning time" for just about 15-20 mins. a day. Really I just wanted her to start recognizing letters and learn numbers. I wasn't sure if it was making any difference AT ALL until recently.


Caroline can write her own name now! I'm pretty excited about this because (I think) she's got a tougher name. Now, usually she squishes the letters together or doesn't write them in order and in a line, but I think she's got it! Caroline really likes learning time now and I'm excited to see some fruits from our labor!

I've loved seeing how her drawings have progressed. When she first started drawing what could actually be recognized as a face, it was just a lumpy oval with two eye scribbles and a wobbly line for a mouth. Little by little she's added more and now her figures usually include hair, hands and fingers. I think it's funny that when it's a girl she adds eyelashes and when it's a boy he has eye brows! I realize this is probably not nearly as interesting to anyone in the world as it is to Dave and I, but that's the case for every parent, right?! To me, these are little treasures!

Numbers need the focus now: To Caroline, 13 is always followed by 18!

Caroline and I went bowling for a Mother's Group activity today. I'm not a good bowler, but for $1 a game I figured it would be fun to watch Caroline try, especially since it was rainy outside.

(I didn't realize we matched until our friends pointed it out!)

And they loved it! Caroline wanted to do it by herself each time and it took forever for the ball to reach the pins, but it was so cute how excited they all got when they knocked pins (or A pin!) down!

And just because it's cute...

So "Wicked"!

A few weeks ago I saw the musical "Wicked".
It. Was. Awesome.


It's the story of the witches in the Wizard of Oz and how they knew each other before Dorothy came, and were actually best friends. It explains so much like about how the wicked witch became wicked, how the ruby slippers came to be, the scarecrow, and everything else in the story!
I love, love, loved it! I love going to musicals - this is my 5th time seeing a touring Broadway musical and it's probably my favorite! Ok, maybe it's tied... Phantom of the Opera was awesome and I saw it twice. But I'd definately go see "Wicked" again! It was so amazing, and funny, and moving.


Jo and the girls. We went out to dinner first and walked down Beale St. to get to the Orpheum theater, which by the way, was beautiful!

Me and my beautiful nieces!

I still have the songs stuck in my head sometimes! Joleen bought a ton of tickets and a bunch of people from her ward went. I didn't know who I was sitting next to, but it didn't matter. I get so absorbed into things like this. When I watch musicals it feels like I forget where I am until they turn the house lights back on! I love it! This ticket was my Mother's Day gift and I'd gladly take a ticket to a good show every year!

So I'll never forget how funny she is...

*Thanks to the gross amount of diet commercials on TV today*

While I was on the couch with the computer, Caroline stood in the living room, put her thumb in the waistband of her shorts, pulling them outward away from her belly and said, "Mom, this is what weight loss looks like."

Like mother, like daughter

...and so it begins.
Caroline spent almost an hour playing Curious George on the computer today! I had to pry her away at bedtime. I never thought I'd be making "computer-time" negotiations while she was still 3, but I guess we live in a technology-driven world. I just hope she gets her computer smarts from her uncles and not her parents!




On a completely unrelated note,

our dear little Archie is sporting a new look these days:


I thought getting a dog "fixed" was a simple procedure and its effects unnoticed in a day or two, but not so. They told me Archie was to wear his collar for 10 days! And no jumping or climbing for 10 days! The poor guy can't reach his mouth into his food dish, so I have to help him eat and drink. He can't get his stylish little collar out the doggy door, so I have to take him out and lift him down and up off the deck to go to the bathroom! The first 2 days I felt sorry for him and his discomfort, but now I'm starting to feel sorry for me! ;)

Arizona

I've been putting this off because it seems like there's so much to post that the task of blogging about this trip seemed daunting!
So instead of posting individual pictures with individual captions, I'll do it this way.



Caroline did great on the airplane(s) and liked flying - except when I had to wake her up to change planes. The trip over was not great (late night, lots of delays, baggage lost by airlines) But the visit was great and the trip back was perfectly smooth! We had a great time!

I'm so glad we came - I think Caroline will remember this trip and her AZ family now. I always wish we were able to see more people - my friends from high school, family in Gilbert - but time doesn't always permit. I always wish I had taken more pictures, but it seems like in order to do that, I have to remove myself from the fun moments to do so - and who wants to do that?! But still, I always walk away feeling like I should've taken Caroline's picture with every single cousin/uncle/aunt/grandparent and I should've taken a picture with every niece/nephew/brother/sister/friend, etc. So sometimes, I just have to say "Oh well! We had fun!"

I know I say it all the time, but I love my family and love spending time with them. And now I can say that Caroline LOVES it too!