Is there anything cuter?

On Andrew's side of the family, we had three little girl cousins all born this year. All of us live in different states, but had the chance to be together for Christmas. We couldn't pass up the opportunity for a couple of super girly photo shoots. I hope their retinas aren't permanently damaged from all the pics we took. If any of them turn out to be celebrities, they'll be prepped for the paparazzi. Here are some of the results. Drink in the cuteness!

Rub a dub dub

three babies in a tub

All I want for Christmas

I guess I won't be the next Anne Geddes, but we sure had fun trying. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas!

And it IS the most wonderful time of the year.

And also the busiest.

Thus the lack of blog posts.

Here is a sample of what Christmas looks like for us this year:

Stacks of Cmas cards waiting to be stuffed, stamped,
sealed, and sent. They'll probably be late. Just tell
yourself I'm stretching out the holiday cheer.

SNOW! Poor Whit. It has been too cold for me
to join her in it, but she loves it!

Fun, frilly, feminine dresses.

And not one,

but TWO beautiful princesses to fill them.

And I can't forget the one silly boy that I can
dress in a red sweater to look festive. :)

Visits with Santa for all three kids.

And there were no tears involved.

Reenacting the Nativity

complete with live baby

and our pet horse, Bowling Pin,
as a donkey.

Gingerbread houses

Here we are getting started.

Brandon was serious about his work.

The results:

Whitney's

Mine

Andrew's shout out to the Panthers

B-train's

And, finally

Trimming the tree.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and that you've had time to relax and enjoy time with family and friends and reflect on the birth and life of the Savior.

Oh, the places she'll go! or Caroline at six months

Warning: Cheesy attempt at poetry ahead

Caroline Rose, you're six months now.

You're on your way--no more lying around.

You can't crawl yet, but you roll and you roll.

Sometimes you get kinda out of control.

Rolling and rolling. Yikes--don't hurt yourself.

Watch out for that table and the bookshelf.

You roll under beds. Under ottomans, chairs.

You roll under benches and cribs, but not down stairs.

I never know just where I will find

This adorable, mobile little baby of mine.

Ok, I was not meant to be a poet.
I'll stop there and leave the rhyming to Dr. Seuss.

Other random tidbits about Caroline:

She is getting to be a big girl!

She's learning how to sit.
She's still pretty unstable, but can sit for a few
seconds at a time. She's more content
when she's on the go.

She is a girl after my own heart and LOVES
brushing her teeth. In fact, she cries when
we're done and it's time to put the toothbrush away.
Hooray for oral hygiene!

We started trying to feed her "solid" food at
four months. It has been a long, laborious process.
We've seen many, many looks like this.
But she's finally getting it and enjoys eating
bananas, mashed potatoes, some baby foods and cheerios.

In fact, she likes them so much that she went on
a nursing strike for almost two full days this weekend.
That was SO not cool.
I won't go into all the details of my discomforts and worries,
but she has been nursing pretty well today, so I'm hoping
the strike is OVER.

She is very particular about what toys she wants
to play with and is enamored with Little People right now.

She is really flexible with naps and feeding times,
which is awesome. (Third child syndrome?)
She'll fall asleep in her car seat if we're running
errands and even if she wakes up, is usually
in a good mood and will go back to sleep if I try
to put her in her crib when we get home.

She has given up her binky, which I'm happy about.
It was great while it lasted and now I don't have
to fight her to get it away when she's older.
The only time I really wish she would take one
is during Sacrament Meeting at church. :)

The flash washed out her face in this pic,
but you can see the color of her eyes.
(That's for you, Mom!)
They're still that blue-gray color for now.

At her six month check-up today, she weighed
in at 15 lbs 5 oz and was 25 inches long.
(Pretty average--between 25th and 50th percentile)

If we're at home, she'll take two good naps a day.
Most nights she sleeps from about 8 to 2 or 3.
Then I'll feed her and she'll go back to sleep until 7 or 8.
Not bad, but I'd love it if that first stretch lasted until 4 or 5.
I'll keep dreaming and wishing for that.

We think she is just the cutest little thing
and we're so blessed to have her in our family.

Just doing my part

It's the time of year to be a little nicer.

To let cars merge.

To drop some change in a bell-ringer's bucket.

To take goodies to your neighbors.

It's time to look outside ourselves and do something for the greater good.

So that's what I did.

I made a sacrifice.

It wasn't easy.

I had to sit in a plushy leather seat.

I had to let my hands caress an ergonomically friendly steering wheel.

I HAD to rev the engine and see how much power it had after every stop.

It was my duty.

And it was AWESOME! Oh, man. I loved driving this car. My driving record would not be pretty if I had a car with this much power. It just begs to be driven fast. Really fast. (And it didn't help that I had recently watched Twilight with Edward's crazy driving, either!)

We helped raise almost $10,000 for breast cancer research and education. What a fun way to support a great cause.