Preschool program

Caroline had her preschool program today. Middleton preschool rocks! It was so sweet and adorable. She was a little like a deer in headlights part of the time and participating and having fun other parts. She loved having mommy, daddy, nana, papa, kate and her sisters there to watch.

happy half birthday, twinsies!

Julianne and Mirabelle are one and a half today! They are so stinkin adorable! They are super active and playful, a little testy when they don't get what they want, and babbling all the time and learning new words every day.

Mirabelle is still more of a social butterfly, but she's also really asserting herself lately. If she doesn't get what she wants, she'll throw herself on the floor in a fake tantrum. She will scream at her sisters and grab things away and say "No No No!" She often refuses to sit in her high chair and wants to sit at the table and eat off a plate with a fork and drink out of non-sippy cups. She's super picky about what she eats and is skinny as ever (though not to a degree that we're worried). She's a super-agile climber- she can easily get in and out of the pack n play in the living room. She has yet to try really getting out of her crib in her room, though we've caught her several times with her leg on the rail, so it is just a matter of time. She seems interested in potty-training, backing up to the toilet and pulling her shirt up. But when we offer her the potty, she rarely wants to actually sit on it. She loves the bath and throws a big fit when it is time to get out. She sleeps great at night, but has incredibly short naps (often less than an hour, and they're only on one nap a day). She has a great laugh and a mischeivous twinkle in her eye much of the time. I think she's going to be a handful for us :)

Julianne is really happy- she has an infectious smile and loves to play on her own, but manages to be social as well. She loves bouncing and will always climb up on us for a little horsey ride to "the grand old duke of York". She is newly becoming attached to soft blankets, like her quilt from Nana (which Mirabelle has always liked). She is a great eater- not very picky and often happy to sit in her highchair for 10+ min longer than Mirabelle, just munching away. She's 3.5 pounds heavier, but also an inch or two taller than Mirabelle. She's much more "solid" but not even as chubby as you'd think anymore.  She does get mad and aggressive when someone is upsetting her. She goes through periods where she'll bite Mirabelle every day for a week, and then stop for a while, and then start again. I haven't totally figured it out, or how to make it stop, which is hard, but I'm sure it is just a phase and will ultimately end with good discipline. She still toddles and falls a bit more than her sister- definitely not as agile, but she's catching up. She has a really good grumpy face but when she smiles, she lights up the room. Oh, she's just so cute!

We love these girls to death, and it is funny and crazy to think we've made it through a year and a half with them already. In some ways, it felt like forever, and in some ways, it seems like they were just born. In particular, the last year has just flown by. We do feel so blessed to have three happy, healthy, beautiful girls, and we can't wait for all of the adventures ahead of us.

The plague

The plague hit our house. It started with the twins having some diarrhea and a cold. Then Mirabelle threw up. A couple of days later, Caroline was throwing up. And the nanny called in sick with the stomach flu, so I was watching the kids for a day and half or so, and the day she came back, I got it and couldn't get out of bed. Luckily I got over it just in time for Christmas, and Mike, since he was out of town when it all started, got it after Christmas. Then he also got strep throat, and when we took the kids in to test them for it, we found out Caroline and Mirabelle both had ear infections and Caroline had pink eye. It was a horrific trip to the doctor with tons of screaming and such, luckily nana was there to help. But the doctor never even tested for strep, because he was going to give the 2 ear infected girls antibiotics, so he figured, let's just cover our bases and give it to them all, and then it will kill any possible strep throat anyway. Oh lord. It was a doozy, but thank goodness we survived, somehow.

Christmas

Christmas was fun at our house. We were somewhat in-between sicknesses, which was nice. Christmas eve we spent some time with Mike's brother John and went to church. Mike's parents came over for dinner: Leffse and sausage- their norweigan tradition. Caroline went to bed easier than ever- I think she thought she better be good and she better get to sleep fast so Santa could come.

And boy did he come- he delivered presents for all the kids. Stockings and 1 or 2 bigger gifts. Caroline requested (and got) a Silvermist doll (Tinkerbell's friend) and a Santa in a Sleigh. She complained that there were no reindeer, despite the fact that she neglected to ask santa for those and Santa had a hard enough time coming up with a sleigh! We also got them plenty of presents so we were opening them much of the day. After nap, we went over to Mike's parents for more presents and dinner. It was really great family time.

The day after Christmas we headed to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple of days at an indoor waterpark. It was a great idea for a gift for the family from Mike's parents (Thanks, Nana and Papa!). Mike's brothers both came, and Caroline was glad to play with her cousins. We had a great condo and the girls loved the waterpark, though Mirabelle kept getting really cold quickly (girl needs a little bodyfat!). The unfortunate thing of the weekend was that Mike got incredibly sick. He got the stomach flu we all had and threw up, and he had a horrible sore throat which turned out to be strep throat. So he pretty much stayed in bed the whole time :( Poor guy!

I need to download our other x-mas pics, but here are a couple of cute ones: Caroline with Santa at one of the Disneyland hotels, and with our tree at home. She was so adorable!





Disneyland

Oma was so wonderful to treat me and Caroline to a trip to Disneyland with Aspyn, Hayden, Jaxon, and Matt and Kristen. We had a wonderful time. I was worried Caroline was too young to really enjoy it, but she was truly over the moon about the whole thing. She LOVED the princesses (we got to meet them several times), and there were a lot of rides and things geared toward kids her age, so it all worked out. Aspyn probably got a little board hanging out with us, but she did escape with Matt's family to go on the big kid rides a few times too. We also went on a boat ride to see the Christmas lights in Newport Beach, which was fun.

Matt and I took Caroline and went to see our dad, too. He seems to be in about the same shape (which isn't great, but at least he doesn't seem to be getting much worse with his Parkinsons). He seemed really happy to see us, and Caroline had fun dancing around for him and drawing him pictures.

Caroline and I spent a night with Todd and family in Denver on the way out. It was great to meet my new nephew Cameron, who is a little cutie!

Mike and the twins missed us, and we were glad to get home to them, but it was a really magical time. Thanks, Oma!

Oma, Aspyn and Caroline with one of her many new penguins- this one named "Tweety"

 The big kid cousins: Jaxon, Caroline, Aspyn, Hayden

Oh, this was the best moment of the trip- our first princess- the best one, of course!

The family on our first, very rainy morning. But... a rainy Monday in Dec = NO LINES!!

We were so lucky to run into the princesses at one of the restaurants! Can't get enough!

 Its a small world, in their Mickey ears... does it get more Disney than that?

 The castle was awesome all lit up at night

Tinkerbell was another highlight

Watching the parade with Oma! Wrapped up in her new fuzzy blue castle blanket



Thanksgiving

We went down to Mike's Uncle Tom's house near Chicago for Thanksgiving.  It was fun to see the triplets, who turned 13 while we were there (perfect babysitting age!). They were so helpful with the kiddos. Mike's brother Joe was there with his kids too, plus Mike's parents, his brother John, and his Aunt Pat & Brian- so a full house.

We spent the night, which may have been a crazy idea, given I was sick and the kids woke up about every hour and cried (Agh!) but I'm glad Mike got some good time with his brothers and the kids had fun (during the waking hours).

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and a fun time was had by all. Friday we went for a walk in the park/conservancy near their house, which was a fun time.

Halloween

We had a great halloween. Caroline decided she had to be a blue monster. Oma sent her this costume about 6 months ago, and Caroline has worn it a lot ever since. She always said when putting it on "I'm going to be a blue monster for halloween!" Then about 2 weeks ago, she said, "No, I want to be a penguin." To which I replied, "No, you want to be a blue monster. You WILL be a blue monster." Oma had already sent two more blue monster costumes for the twins, so it was kind of a done deal at that point.

Caroline had a little costume parade at preschool. She had a ball. Trick or treating was fun. The twins made it about twice as long as last year. Maybe about an hour. We got to meet a bunch of new neighbors, including a family with two girls- one is 4 and the other is 1, so great ages to play with our girls. So glad there are more kids in the neighborhood. Caroline stayed out for about 2 hours and got TONS of candy. It is a little out of hand.

Caroline doing the wild rumpus

Caroline with Miss Joan

 Caroline with Miss Heidi

 The whole class

Pumpkin fun. She drew this herself!

 We let daddy do the real carving, though

 After Caroline drew a face on

Trick or treating with the whole gang. Even Papa came along!



Blue Mounds

We went on a little adventure to Blue Mounds State Park. We wanted to see some leaves, but we came shortly after some windy days, so most had been blown off already. Never mind... it was great fun anyways. It was actually a pretty cool day, but no one seemed to mind. The kids ran around like crazy. We hiked to the top of some view towers which was fun, but Caroline is apparently pretty scared of heights.

Apple picking

We went apple picking with friends Lauren, Bryce and their son Nathan. It was a beautiful fall day and the kids had a blast. Caroline picked out a small pumpkin (in addition to the bigger one she got a couple of weeks earlier) and we picked a huge bag of apples! We ate a bunch along the way and then made a tasty apple crisp with the others.



Caroline at the pumpkin patch, in her new favorite Bucky Badger t-shirt!

Caroline and Nathan catch a ride

 Trying to pull an apple

Gotta pull a little harder!

Success!

Mirabelle gets a taste

 Mirabelle and Nathan

Julianne and Mirabelle

How tall this fall?  Check out the progression:

2009

2010

This year- 2011