November

Well...November was a little crazy! Caroline and I got moved into my new duplex, which I really like! My house was supposed to close 2 days after I moved in, and after 2 weeks of struggles, it all completely fell through...LONG story, but I am now a proud renter AND home owner!!! SO.....if anyone knows anyone who is looking for a cute starter home, let me know!! haha

Caroline and I are really loving the new kitchen....it has a good size island and we've been able to spread out and cook even more than we usually do!

Had a fun girl's night in November...always so fun to hang out with these ladies:):)

October

Caroline is back in dance class and loving it! Her class had a family viewing night in October.

Caroline got moved up to the Pre-K in October also. At Miss Robin's Day School, the day care is in one building and the Pre-K is across the street in a separate building. They have a more structured lesson time and it is more like real school. Caroline was SO excited to move to the "big kid school" across the street, and has been doing great in her new class!! It is absolutely amazing to see how much she is learning!!

A contract finally came on the house...so packing began! As most people know, we were moving into two separate houses, so organizing while packing was important!!

For Halloween Caroline dressed up as her favorite book character, Fancy Nancy!

And had fun at Trunk or Treat up at Monterey with a bunch of her friends!!

First Soccer Game

Caroline is playing soccer with a bunch of her little friends from church. It is hilarious to see all the little 3 year old girls trying to play. Caroline did ok, and had a blast during her first game! I'm excited to see these kids progress through the season. I think they will all learn a lot!!

Playing Dress Up

One of Caroline's favorite things to do is play dress up! She comes out of her room in different outfits and poses so I can take pictures.

This is one of her many "sorority girl poses"...


She said that she was "Aunt Shanna" here, since shanna just got married...



And....she's dancing:)

Haircut!!

I decided Caroline's hair was getting a little too stringy at the ends. I lover her long hair, but wanted it to have a little more shape, so Nana gave her a haircut.

This is her after church on haircut day...

Pre haircut...

Post haircut...

She looks so much older!!!

Game Day!!!

Yeah!! Football season is back!! Before the first game, Caroline went to a birthday party for her little friend, Camden. She had such a great time playing with her little buddies!!

www.471040th.info OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND

We are having an open house at our house (4710 40th Street) this weekend...Saturday & Sunday the 12th & 13th from 2-4 each day! Please pass this information on to ANYONE that you think may be interested in a great little starter home or investment property! We have found another house that we LOVE, but can't move until we sell....

www.471040th.info

Where DID Summer Go???

Wow....we had a fun and quick summer! We traveled a little bit, but not much (other than my weekly work travel), we did some major work on our house and put it on the market, and spent many hours (and many sunburns) at the pool! I'm so sad that the pool closed this weekend...I don't understand why they didn't stay open through Labor Day, but it didn't seem like anyone else up there this weekend understood either!

Caroline continued going to Miss Robin's Day School this summer, but during the summer they do a different theme each week and it is more like a summer camp than school. Last Monday, they officially started back to school, and soon Caroline will be moved to the pre-K. I can't believe how big and smart she is getting!

We are SOOOOOO ready for football season to begin! I have to work a few of the games (host donors in the suites, etc.), so it will be strange to be one of the ones dressed nice and acting refined during the football games for those particular Saturdays! I guess it also means that I am going to have to curtail the amount of "tailgating" I do before having to go up to the suites too! We got a seat for Caroline this year, so she'll be a cheerleader all season!! Where is everyone else tailgating? Now that the East Lot has reduced the parking lot by so much, everyone is spread out all over campus...Let me know where you are tailgating!!

Here are some pics over the past few weeks...

I was laying out reading and the lady laying out next to me was laughing and I looked at what she was laughing at, and it was Caroline lounging! She even had her head back on the float and her eyes closed. All she needs is a cocktail and she really fits in at the pool:)


We went to Wichita Falls (actually, Iowa Park) to visit my grandparents last week. Caroline had a blast at the park that is down from their house...she went three times in one day! They have taken out all of the old equipment and put in a brand new playground. It is very nice, but kind of sad that the equipment that my brother and I grew up playing on is no longer there (my brother is WAY mad about the fire truck being gone!!)

My PaPa wanted a picture of just Dale and I, and Caroline tried her hand at photography...not too bad!

Caroline and her Daddy and cousins...all of the kiddos love their Uncle Dale!! Funny side note...if you ask Caroline what her daddy's name is, she says "Uncle Dale"!

I just had to add this picture to prove that every once in a while I am domestic (well......as domestic as a boxed cake and canned icing is!).

Someone can SWIM!!!

Can you believe THIS little girl can swim??? With her arms and legs and everything off the ground. Like REALLY swim!!! WOW....she's getting so big! Since I was always a swimmer, this just made my day yesterday!! She has been working on it for the past few weekends. She would try to swim and then stand up and think about what she was doing and then try again. We kept asking if she wanted to play with toys, and she would just say "no...I'm practicing." Well, yesterday it finally clicked and she just wouldn't stop! She was so worn out by the end of the day.

Shanna is now a SMITH!

Shanna got married on August 8th!!!! It was such a great wedding...we had a blast! Caroline was looking forward to being a flower girl for weeks leading up to it! The morning of the wedding we got our hair done. She did so good sitting and getting her hair done...she acted so grown up! Congrats Shanna and Mike!!!!!


Me and the gorgeous bride:


The darling flower girl (one of many):

Caroline and Becca:

The Cox Family:

This has nothing to do with the wedding...but its a cute picture of Caroline and her little friend Emily when they had a "sleep over" at Aunt Cyndi's house.

Boston/NYC

A few weeks ago, I took the longest trip away from Caroline ever! I was gone for 12 days to the northeast, and even though I missed her like crazy, it was an AWESOME trip! I had to go to a conference in New Hampshire (at Dartmouth) for 5 days, so I had to fly into Boston. I stayed in Boston one night, then was in NH for 5 days, then in NYC for 5 days, then home. My trip home was CRAZY long!! Because of crazy travel schedules and REDICULOUS flight change fees (ugh....I hate all airlines but Southwest!), here was my schedule on the day I came home:

2:00 AM - Take cab from Aunt's apartment to Penn Station
3:00 AM - Take Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston
7:45 AM - Amtrack arrives in Boston, take cab to Boston Airport
9:10 AM - Flight leaves Boston
1:00 PM - Change planes at DFW and fly to Houston
2:30 PM - Arrive in Houston to LOST bags!!
2:45 PM - After dealing with baggage claim, RUN upstairs to re-check-in on a MUCH BETTER airline. Supposed to take the late flight, so try to stand by.
3:05 PM - Make it through the line to try to get on the earlier flight. They put me on a standby list and said "good luck getting to the gate by 3:30!"
3:25 PM - FINALLY get through security. Even though I have the "fly-by" pass, the TSA lady took more time than I have EVER seen anyone take looking at IDs!!! Seriously, I was behind only 3 people and it took like 15 minutes to get through the line!!
3:27 PM - Get to the gate in time to run on the plane!
4:30 PM - Land at Dallas Love but get to stay on the plane. The chancellor and vice chancellor get on the plane, as well as a few other co-workers to head to Lubbock. Again...I had been up since 2:00 AM traveling all day...I looked ROUGH!!!!!
6:10 PM - FINALLY HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a crazy travel day, but an awesome trip so totally worth it!! Here are a few pictures from the trip. I did a really bad job at taking pictures...in fact, I got NONE at Dartmouth!!

Boston Commons Park:

Mass. State House:

Something important on the Freedom Trail (I have no clue what it is...):

Mom and I in Columbus Circle. We have been here many times (we get off the subway here to get to my aunt's apartment), but it has been updated since last time we were there!

Mom, Aunt Shannon and me before going to see Hair! We had a blast....and Shannon totally dressed for the show:)

I went and saw Rock of Ages by myself on Sunday night. I had such a good time...really cool show! Then I went and walked around Times Square when it was done. I have been to NYC many many times, but this time, being totally by myself on Sunday night and all day during the day Monday made it a different (and great) experience!

St. Patrick's Cathedrial, across from Rockefeller Center. Reminds me so much of the cathedrals in Europe! After walking around here, I walked down 5th avenue and shopped a bit (really just looked around stores...had no room in the suitcase to bring ANYTHING else back!) and ended up at FAO Schwartz. Yes...I'm 12!

Since the last day of my trip was my BD, my aunt took me out for some really yummy indian food for dinner. I had such a great time!!!