Christmas Approaches!

We kicked the season off to a good start last weekend with a trip to the Santa Train event at Pullen Park in Raleigh. Karoline sat on Santa's lap without trepidation (above), but Julianna opted for the safety of her perch on Daddy's back (below).





Above and below are excerpts from the Christmas card photo shoot.





These two are from festivities at Karoline's school last week.

Thanksgiving 2009

Karoline in her Indian outfit for her school Thanksgiving feast.



Karoline in her Pilgrim getup.



Julianna combing the beach at OBX.



Daddy and the girls at sunset on Jockey's Ridge.



Karoline with her alligator friend at the Aquarium.

October 2009: Gymnastics Meet, Chattanooga Trip, Vollmer Farm & Halloween

Karoline had her first competitive Gymnastics meet on October 17. She finished her four events (High Bar, Beam, Vault & Floor) with a combined score of 38.2 - not too shabby! She also finished in the top three for her age group in the handstand competition.







We also took a much overdue trip to Tennessee to visit our dear sweet friends the Smiths (Jon, Nicole, and Anderson). Below is Karoline enjoying some "grass sledding" at the riverfront in downtown Chattanooga.



Here's Karoline with Julianna and Anderson at the Discovery Place museum.



And here's Karoline and Julianna enjoying the company of "Hershey" the bunny at the Fall Festival held by the school where Nicole works.



Daddy and Karoline holding a chicken and Anderson trying to climb in the pen.



Karoline's kindergarten class had their first field trip of the year (to Vollmer Farm).



Karoline and friends playing in the corn crib.





And finally we come to the main event of October - Halloween. Karoline and her two friends from the cul-de-sac, Ally and Megan, all went as witches. We called them the "Witches of Windgate."



The plan was for Julianna to be Karoline's broom. Mommy made the "broom bristle" skirt. She was supposed to be wearing a black cap to complete the ensemble, but she wanted nothing to do with that. She had no qualms with roaming the neighborhood in search of candy, though (and eating plenty along the way!)

Julianna playing in the sink

A detour on the way to the bath - hence the lack of pants.

First Day of Kindergarten!

One excited little kindergartner!


Two excited little kindergartners (Megan from across the street).


Survived the first day!

July Happenings

The month started on a somber note with the passing of Sprinkles the White Gerbil. Her cage-mate/sister, Pumpkin, has thrived since we acquired them both in February, but Sprinkles never really took to her new surroundings. She never put on much weight and one day just crawled into her shelter and didn't wake up. Cousin Eric found her. Karoline shed a few tears and then she helped daddy bury Sprinkles down by the pond. She even sang her favorite Lutheran hymn for her dearly departed rodent ("Children of the Heavenly Father", of course).

After that, we launched into a multi-week celebration of Karoline's 5th birthday! The Friday before her actual birthday, we had Family Party #1 at our house with the Wilsons, Heiners and Veilleuxs. Karoline got many many presents - her most anticipated and most played-with being a Nintendo DS. See below:




A Spongebob Birthday Cake


Then, on her actual birthday (Tues, the 7th), Pappap & Jordan made Karoline a giant chocolate chip cookie-cake that, as you can see from the pic, Julianna could barely restrain herself from diving into headfirst.


And speaking of gluttonous 15-month-olds, here's Julianna diving into a bag of goldfish before bedtime a little later in the week (we introduced her to the bedtime snack routine recently, and she has reveled in it).


Then, the weekend after, 510 Windgate Drive was descended upon by some seldom-seen members of Karoline's extended family: Aunt Jen, Uncle Bob, Cousins Zach and Max, Aunt She (Sharon), Uncle Chris and cousin Abbby (the redhead above) and of course, Gramma (not-so-seldom-seen, actually). We had Family Party #2 Sunday evening (the 12th). Since Abby's bday is at the end of this month, we made it a joint party for the two cousins.


Max helping Karoline open her new buzzy-bee wheely bug.


Aunt Jen gets to lick the candles.


Then party #3 (the friends party) came Monday the 13th at Premiere Gymnastics & Dance. Karoline had a total of ten friends in attendance: Megan (above with Karoline), Regan, Nicholas, Sam, Zach, Max, Jordan, Eric, Abby, and Rachel.


Karoline practicing some rhythmic gymnastics moves.


"How many is Karoline?"


Julianna cuttin' a rug and cheesin' it up on the dancefloor.


Uncle Bob showing of his kerchief juggling talents. Can you say "Summer Olympics 2012"?


And finally, the Friends Party afforded us all the opportunity to torture two prepubescent youngsters (Zach and Jordan) by coercing them into posing together for the first time since serving as ringbearer and flower girl in our wedding - almost nine years ago! You can tell by the forced, nervous smiles just how thrilled they both were with the situation. Kristi and Jenn tried goading them into a peck on the cheek but to no avail (I guess the kissing pic we have from our wedding will have to suffice for blackmail material!)

Karoline's first guitar lesson and some Julianna shenanigans

Uncle Dan came for a visit this weekend and showed Karoline a thing or two on the guitar (thanks to Ally and Zach for loaning the pint-sized six-string for the lesson!)



Julianna, however, couldn't stand not being the center of attention, so she did a little lens-hogging.





Later, she demonstrated that she loves books so much, she can't even wait until she gets dressed to assault the bookcase and its contents.

Julianna Gets Bipedal!

Julianna began walking in earnest this week - she'd been taking a few steps here and there for a while, but really took off yesterday and today! Here she is being coerced into a stroll by her big sister.

Weekend Pics

Julianna is finally big enough to sit facing forward in the car! She's loving it!



The neighborhood pool opened this weekend and Julianna got her first dip!