Christmas Cookies (and video, too!)

Kate and I made cookies during Caroline's morning nap yesterday. Caroline woke up in time to enjoy our hard work!













And some videos!

Clip #1 is short & sweet, taken w/ my iPhone.

Clip #2 is longer, and I took it w/ my camera, so you hear the camera focusing. It's herky-jerky and quite a bit longer, so I assume only our family will want to watch it. :) Kate's had a cold, so she sounds all nasally. She says, "just a minute" about 500 times.

Take your pick!







Composition & Creativity Photography Course

The reason I was so MIA on the blog for the month of November is that I was fortunate enough to get into a Clickin' Moms photography class I've been wanting to take called Shooting 301: Composition and Creativity. The reason I say I was fortunate to get a spot is because this class filled up in 71 seconds!! It is in high demand for a reason!

Each week we had reading material, shooting assignments, got daily critique from our peers, and weekly critique from our amazing instructor and TAs. I can't say enough great things about this course; I don't want to go into great detail about all the material and what I learned, but I will say I have become a much more thoughtful photographer.

I'm just going to do a major picture dump a few of my practice and submitted images...























More blog posts with pics from November to come!


halloween

Starting to play blog catch up here!! 

For Halloween, Kate wore an Ariel dress, and we put Caroline in the clown costume Kate wore for her first Halloween. (It was a 9 month size that ran really big, and Caroline's on the short side, too!) We went to the "Scare on the Square" event in downtown McKinney for a little while, and then we came home for dinner and some trick or treating! It was Kate's first year to go door-to-door, and she had a blast! You might notice she had a costume change. She decided she wanted to change into her bumble bee dress for trick or treating. We have a lot of dress up options in this house!







Caroline is 18 months old



Dear Caroline,

How can you possibly be a year and a half already?? Although I hate to admit it, you're losing more of the "baby" about you, replacing it instead with a heavy dose of "active toddler." Your lively personality is shining through, and we have so much fun just enjoying you!

* You love to play dress-up with your big sister. You disappear into the toy closet and come out donned in backpack, tiara, and bracelets. You usually bring me your red cowgirl boots and a tutu for help getting those on, too. 

* You're becoming Kate's little copycat. You're watching and emulating everything she does - the way she plays, tantrums, nose picking, even expressions. The other day Kate was being dramatic and she laid her head down on the sofa. You walked up right next to her and laid yours down, too. It's hard not to laugh!

* You're not so much of a talker as Kate was at this age, but you have several words in your vocabulary, and I think we've hit that mark where you're starting to add a whole bunch at once. Of course you call me "Mama," but you also call Daddy and Kate "Mama," too.  Anyone you love is "Mama." We're working on that one! I haven't been good about keeping a list of the words you know (second child), but it's still just the basics pretty much.

* Your lack of vocabulary doesn't keep you from belting out some tunes. It amazes us how you can "sing" along with our favorites even though you don't say the words. Somehow you babble along, and we can tell that you totally know the songs. The VeggieTales theme song is one of your favorites. 

* You're really good at entertaining yourself. It's fun to watch you "collect" small toys in a basket or bag and watch you try and tote as much as you can around the house. You like to pull them all out and line them up on tables or window sills. Another fun new activity for you is coloring. You love to climb up on the chair at the dining room table where we keep your colors and coloring books spread out for you. And while I say you like to color, what you really like to do is dump out the crayons and put them back into the containers. You love to make messes, and anything that's in a big basket or put away neatly is just begging to get destroyed. It's so much fun to throw things around!

Happy half-birthday to you, sweet Caroline!
Love,
Mama and Daddy

Official Stats:
weight: 25 lb, 3 oz (80%)
length:  31.3 in (33%)
head: 18in (35%)
clothes: still mostly 18 month size
diaper size: size 4
sleep: 7pm-7am
naps: 8:30am-10, 1pm-3 (On days when we can let you, you'll still take 2 naps a day! Incredible!)
teeth: 16, I think??


{pics taken Nov. 15}





busy 2 year old

Lately I've been wanting to take Kate out to get some "nice" portrait-type pictures of her around sunset. Last night was a good opportunity... she had taken a nap during the day, and Nick was in town and could stay home to put Caroline to bed.

I didn't end up getting what I was really envisioning, though; she was only interested in playing in the dirt. She wanted to do anything other than look at the camera. She was determined not to glance up. Did you know this girl has a stubborn streak?












Ha! I caught'cha!! (Eating a leaf, but I'll take it!)