Fancy Caroline

Caroline was supposed to be putting her jammies on, but instead she was playing dress up. She came out of her room and asked me if she looked like "Fancy Nancy." That is one of her favorite books about a little girl who tries to get her family to be fancy. Caroline even asked me to take pictures of her. Moments later, we heard her on the phone talking to "boyfriend." She said "OK boyfriend, see you Monday. I love you." Chad immediately asked her who her boyfriend was and she just looked at him and grinned. I think we're gonna be in trouble...

Packing Peanuts Chaos

The kids found a bag of packing peanuts and had a blast. Caroline found them and had no idea what they were and then Tucker ran up and took a big handful out of the bag. Because of the static, the tiny white bits were all over them! When I tried to pick them up they just stuck to me, too. Tucker had white pieces all in his hair and Caroline decided that she liked that look and crumbled them and put them in her hair as well. I finally pulled out the vacuum and tried to get them up because it seemed as though they were multiplying! That did not even work that well. Most of the pieces are cleaned up, but I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them!

Boy Scout Girl

Over the past few days, Chad has been going through some of his old Boy Scout stuff. Caroline has been very interested in the hats and sashes and patches, etc. Here are a couple of pictures of her in Chad's Boy Scout stuff.

Our Day

We had another day of beautiful weather so we went on an adventure...a four hour one, that is! We did lots of fun things like:

pretend to be on a balance beam (Tucker had stopped at the end of the driveway...no worries, grandparents)

follow directions and stopped the first time I said "stop"

wave to all the cars that passed by

learn about fire hydrants

pick up a million pine cones

find just the right stick(s)

get up close and personal with the fire trucks

(Tucker did, too!)

find a perfect place for a picnic lunch

climb trees

and climb on dangerous parts of the fountain

roll in the mud

and roll in the mud some more

pretend to be a boat captain

put handfuls of mulch in a bug catcher

pick pretty purple flowers

slide down the fireman's pole without help

Vegas

To celebrate our 30th birthdays, four of my friends and I went to Las Vegas. It was so much fun and so good to spend time together. Blaine, Lee and I were the only ones there on Saturday night and then we went to get Leah and Sara from L.A. on Sunday. We had lunch on the Venice Beach boardwalk and dipped our toes in the Pacific Ocean. We got very little sleep and had no significant winnings, but it was worth every minute! Thanks ladies:)

Tuckered Out

So, I admit that I've been saving this post title for a while. And, I think this is the picture I've been waiting for. While Caroline and I were at the tea party today, Tucker played with Gus and Ryan. He did not have a nap, which rarely happens. When we came home I put his jammies on and put him in our bed to watch a little bit of Thomas the Train while I got Caroline straight. When I came back he was sound asleep. I know he was tired if he fell asleep during Thomas! He truly was tuckered out!!!

Tea Time

This afternoon we went to Bryn and Hannah's house for a girls only tea party. Caroline tried the tea, but preferred juice instead. She decorated a beautiful crown and dressed up with her friends. She actually had on two princess dresses. There is a pink one underneath the blue Cinderella dress. She had lots of fun with her friends, as did Mommy!

Good Day for a Walk

The weather was beautiful today! I think it reached at least 60 degrees and probably went higher than that. The kids and I took a stroll across campus. It was great and the kids like being in the stroller again. They waved to every car that passed and when I let them get out of the stroller they said "Hi" and waved to every person that passed. In the bottom picture you have to look closely to see Tucker. He had a moment of rebellion and decided not to follow us. He found a step and sat there watching the college girls go by. No lie. They all thought he was the cutest thing ever and I must agree. Although it is a little scary that he is already noticing the girls at barely 2 years old!

Tuck and Thomas (Undies)

Tucker is always up for a photo-op (even if it is just after he has fallen on the floor).

Caroline had to make sure everything was OK. We certainly do not want to leave her out!

The "Green Monster" is a favorite...Thanks, Paige!

1,2,3 pairs of Thomas undies!

"I do it myself" says a very persistent little Tucker boy!

Sleepy Mommy=Trouble

Yesterday my Vegas vacation ended. My friends and I had an amazing time, but that involved little sleep. I was more than exhausted upon returning to Sewanee. So, I confess, I let the kids play with markers AND play dough because I was on the couch and just too tired to do anything about it. I think the markers only got on their hands and I have already found bits of play dough in other rooms. Caroline was insistent on making a birthday cake with markers as candles. She did this over and over and got extremely frustrated each time the markers would fall over. Tucker tried to help her, but even he could not get the markers to stand up straight. Assuming I get a good night's sleep, there will be no more play dough birthday cakes with uncapped markers as candles. Sorry to ruin the fun kids.

Jailbreak!

It's a sad day in the Krouse house! I put Tucker in his crib for a morning rest, not a nap, just a break so I could at least brush my teeth in peace. Before I even had toothpaste on my toothbrush I saw a little boy running down the hall towards me saying, "I did it Mommy! I did it!" Yes, he had escaped. The day had finally come when he could climb out of his crib on his own. Oh, how I've been dreading this day.

I put him back in his crib to see how he did it and sure enough, he knew exactly what he was doing, as if he had been planning this escape for months. He was so proud. I knew this day would come sooner than later, but I still wasn't prepared. Nap time was a completely different scene. I put Tucker in his crib about four times which resulted in four escapes. At one point, I got up and walked into the kitchen and heard the little pitter patter of feet running back to safety. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the blonde head go back into his room. Finally, once Chad came home and threatened a spanking, Tucker gave in and went to sleep.

Clothes Explosion

I was making great progress with the laundry this morning when I walked in the living room and found this. These clothes once were sitting nicely in the laundry basket waiting to be folded. I stepped out of the room for less than 30 seconds and when I came back in the room the clothes were covering the floor. The kids acted as though nothing happened as they sat in the middle of them finishing their suckers. I am still not sure who was responsible although I suspect they both played a part. Thankfully, they are pretty good about helping me sort the clothes. Well, Tucker is good about spotting his own clothes and putting them in a pile, but he's not very interested in doing Caroline's, Chad's or my clothes. Oh well...any help is appreciated!

Caroline Playing with her Baby

Here is Caroline playing with her baby. The lamb chair is Zoe's Mommy. She is telling me that she has to take the baby to the hospital because she has a red yucky nose. Apparently it is green from eating watermelon. The mind of a 3 year old...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Chad's 30th birthday so Caroline and I have been on cake duty. He requested a yellow cake with chocolate icing and Caroline insisted on the sprinkles. The cake started off ok and then Caroline added all the sprinkles she could get her hands on! She also helped out as a taste tester for the chocolate icing. Because of the mess Tucker made this morning with the cookies, I decided to wait until he was napping to attempt the cake!

Heart Cookies

We started our day today by making Valentine's cookies. Caroline and Tucker both helped roll out the dough, cut the dough into heart shapes and decorate the cookies! It was quite a mess but well worth it. Tucker had flour all over him and Caroline was very interested in eating the sprinkles rather than decorating with them. She eventually realized that sprinkles don't have much flavor. We had fun making the cookies, but I think the best part was eating them!