Sing us a song, Piano Girl...

Caroline enjoyed dazzling us with her muscial prowess. She played a piano concert for my mom, alan, and my grandparents. Hilarious.

Some classics...

And a little original number...

After each song she would run to the rail to look downstairs at everyone. So, so funny!

Meeting Baby Ben!

Another highlight to our week in Dallas was arriving just in time to meet brand new sweet baby Ben! Benjamin Michael Vietti is the little brother to Caroline's BFF, Mattie. Of course, he and Miles will have to be BFF's now, too :)

I got 2 go visit and love on the little guy not once, but TWICE while I was in town. Such a treat indeed! I got to visit with Ginny, which was fun too ;)

Isn't he the most precious thing you have ever seen???? Such a sweet boy!

Caroline got to play with Mattie, which was super exciting. They were building "tall towers" and concentrating really hard, obviously...

Then, they would knock them down and laugh hysterically. Too cute. Love these 2 sweet girls!!!

Congratulations to the Viettis!! We love Baby Ben!!

Round and Round!

As if the zoo trip wasn't enough excitement for one day, we took the kids to ride carousel at the mall after naps :)

Despite being sick, Miles LOVED riding. He smiled and looked around the whole time. He also practiced waving to all of his admirers. What's up lovely ladies????

Of course, Caroline loved it, too :)

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Rescue Mission to the Zoo

Mimi wanted to plan something extra fun for us to do on our visit. So, she decided to take all of us to the ZOO! Caroline was so completely excited. She was absolutely convinced that we would see "her cousin, Diego" there. And that we would rescue him, because he hurt his foot :)

All dressed and ready on the big day! Did I mention she was excited?

Mimi bought them "zoo outfits" and stuffed animals to get them ready :)

Caroline even had a zoo hat to wear!

Walking in with her buddy, Uncy Paul. So sweet.

We were so excited to have Uncy Paul and his girlfriend, Miss Jen, with us. Luckily, Jen is a zoo expert. She is a teacher, and had just recently taken her kiddos on a field trip to the zoo :)

Miles was there, too. I promise :) He wasn't feeling very good that day (I found out later that he had a double ear infection :( parent of the year, i know)

Feeding the giraffes! Caroline loved them.

Even when they licked her :)

She said the giraffe kissed her because he was thanking her for the lettuce.



We rode the train, which was a little boring. I think we'll skip it next time. BUT, luckily "Diego" was driving our train, so that satisfied Caroline's need to find him. She was relieved to know that his foot was not hurt.

Miles decided he was zooed out...

Caroline and I rode a camel. Her name was Jewel. I was more afraid than Caroline was!

She didn't hesitate at all...just hopped right on!

Whew! The zoo was amazing. We had sooooo much fun and were sooooo worn out. I hadn't been to the Dallas Zoo since I was a kid, and it's so awesome now. I highly recommend it!!! Thanks to Mimi, Uncy Paul, and Miss Jen for such a fun visit!

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Sophia!

This was a play date over 2 years in the making! No, seriously...2 years. My mom's friend, Leslie, has a granddaughter, Sophia, just a few months younger than Caroline. We have been wanting to get the girls together to play practically every time we are in town since the girls were born. It just never seems to work out! But it finally did this trip!! It was perfect...You see, we joke that Leslie and my mom have parallel lives. And now Leslie's daughter, Jessie, and I do too :) So fun to have us all together to play, finally!!!

Who is having more fun...the girls or the grandmas??

Caroline playing dress up...Not sure what you call this look...diva monkey, maybe?

I wish I had taken more pics, but we were just having too much fun! Thanks for coming to play, girls!!!

Quack, Quack!

We had to check out the ducks at the pond near Mimi and Papa's house! Unfortuantely, the ducks were not nearly as excited about us, as we were about them. My guess is, they had all the stale bread they could handle for one day :)

Mimi and Caroline did their best duck whisperer moves...no luck.

Caroline kept saying, "Duck!! Quack, Quack!! Come here, Duck!"

There was a huge hill, so naturally, we told Caroline to run up and down as fast as she could.

She was super proud of her accomplishment.

"Now its your turn, Mommy!" Ummm, no thanks ;)

We'll try to hit the duck pond in the morning next time ;)

Miles at 10 months...

10 months is frighteningly close to 1 YEAR!?!? Time flew by when Caroline was little, but it's nothing compared to how fast these past 10 months have been with Miles. Whew! I honestly don't know where the time goes. He is becoming such a big boy :)

He is absolutely delightful in every way. Always smiling, always sweet, and just a joy to have in our family!

He still loves to pull up on everything. He is getting brave and will let go sometimes. As soon as he realizes he is standing by himself, he sits down.

Enjoying a little Sunday driving with his sister...

Drinking and driving is never a good idea...especially when you aren't wearing pants...just sayin.

This is his squishy smile. I love how he wrinkles his little nose and squints his eyes :)

It's hard to tell but he is actually getting more and more hair. It's just really light ;)

LOVE :)

Like I said, he gets into everything. He loves to crawl under things and behind things...such a BOY!

Exhibit A: BUSTED! Behind the chair, having a little alone time with Dora

Exhibit B: Under the table, and so proud of himself.

Caroline loves to push him in the swing. He loves it, and squeals with excitement :)

He claps for himself and everyone else whenever possible. He can almost do "so big" but its pretty hit or miss.

He has 7 teeth, and the 8th is just about to poke through. No more baby food...He loves to eat just about everything I put in front of him.

Such a sweet, sweet boy!
UPDATED:

I forgot to add a few things he is doing!
-cruising up and down the furniture and moving from one thing to the next.
-dancing to any and all music or singing. He has rhythm!
-he absolutely loves to be upside down. I have to be careful when holding him, because he will randomly lunge backwards. Then he laughs hysterically .

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Caroline at 2 1/2...

This is such a hilarious age. She is really exerting her independence and her STRONG opinions. She makes us laugh daily! And she has definitely figured out how to push my buttons...she looooves to test me ;)


She is crazy about her "gummy gummy bitalins" aka vitamins. It's the first thing she wants in the morning, and she will try to negotiate for more ALL day long.

She loves to do everything that I do. Hair, make up, etc. I tried to tell her not really all that fun to blow dry my hair ;)















There are so many funny things she says and does. I want to remember as much as I can!

She says "lasterday" and "nexttoday" instead of yesterday and tomorrow. Actually, lasterday just means it happened sometime in the past...yesterday, 3 weeks ago, who's counting?

She now refers to her head as "my big ole head" It is large, and it does get stuck in her shirts sometimes...














She rarely (or never) says "I don't know" or "I can't remember." instead, she just makes up a gibberish word the fill in. It's hilarious.


After anything and everything she suggests, she says "That a good idea, mommy? That's a good idea, right?"

She loves to be outside. Swinging and bubbles in the backyard are especially fun right now.















She says chick fil a makes her happy, and she asks to go all the time. When I tell her "no" she says, "mommy, don't say no. Just say yes, Caroline, we can go to chick fil a please."

Tu tus and high heels are a fave.















When we are playing at home, we have a pants optional policy, but panties are still required. However, she prefers to be "lots of naked" whenever possible.

This is a preferred wardrobe choice...when wearing only panties, accessories are still important!
















Here she is having what she called a naked party. Complete with confetti and streamers.
















Here are a few recent conversations:

Me: you need to be a little quieter.
C: but all I have is louders in my mouth! See? (opens mouth)

C: Mimi, I really love watching my poops come out.


Me: let's go see Jack!
C: which flavor? Jack S. or Jack C.?
(her 2 bff's at school are both Jack)

"Carrots? Oh, I loooooove carrots. They're my faaaaaavorite." (you can substitute carrots with just about any food, drink, color, or activity. Whether she actually likes it or not seems to be irrelevant:))

"My mommy told me________." (again, whether or not it's actually something I said is totally irrelevant...this is going to get me in trouble!!)

"I love you alotta much! Not a little much."

Caroline is the sweetest, smartest, most precious little lady in our lives. We love her alotta much too!!!!!

UPDATED:
I forgot to add a few things she is doing!
-she knows most of the letter sounds
- she can identify "C" consistently and thinks every "C" is "C for Caroline."

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Sweet Ride

All set for our first family bike ride!


To say they loved it would be a drastic understatement. They both had huge grins on their little faces the whole time!!! So fun!

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Future Grammy Winner?

As I sit here watching the Grammys, I thought I would share this little performance with you...

Caroline and Daddy sing this song to each other all the time :)

(it's Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are" Just in case you can't tell ;))

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