An Afternoon in Savannah though Caroline's Eyes

On our way home from Hilton Head, we stopped in my FAVORITE city and spent the afternoon. SAVANNAH! I would love to live there!!! Anyway, Gene had never been so Caroline and I decided to show him some of our favorite things. The majority of the photos were taken by Caroline, so I thought I would label the post "....through Caroline's eyes".

We are eating at one of our favorite restaurants in City Market...Tapas Caroline caught Papa eating some yummy She Crab Soup!!!
A snapshot of me waiting on my yummy She Crab soup!
Caroline's view of City Market...isn't it beautiful?

She remembered her carriage ride and desperately wanted to go on another one!

She said this was her 'favorite' horse

The fountains at Ellis Square. Last time we were here, it was under construction

Posing with her lollipop in front of Riverstreet Sweets

A real 'pirate' ship that we got to go on a tour...VERY cool!

Relaxing in front of the Waving Girl Statue

Caroline is telling Papa all about the history of the Waving Girl

The boat Caroline said she bought for Papa and Nana....yes, we wish! ;)

This is a REAL pumpkin sitting in front of a restaurant...couldn't help but pose with it!

I did NOT want my pic taken but when your daughter begs...You give in :)

Halloween at Hilton Head Island

Caroline and I spent Halloween weekend at Hilton Head Island. I had two furlough days on that Monday and Tuesday, so we packed up and off we went. We were joined by my mom and Gene and had a GREAT time! We arrived late Friday evening so we unpacked, got some sleep and woke up early on Saturday morning. Caroline had such an awesome time and LOVED playing in the sand (her favorite thing). I got some much needed relaxation and even got to read a book! There are tons of pictures and I will post a few more of our quick stop in Savannah that Monday.

Sunrise on Saturday morning...I could totally wake up early if my view looked liked this!
Seeing the beach on Saturday morning
Looking at her new beach toys and dishing out orders!

One of my favorite photos!

Dancing for us in the sand

Posing for us while we wait to do a bit of Trick-or-Treating at the Marriott

My happy, dancing little diva

Trick or Treating at the Marriott

Caroline LOVED rolling around in the sand....it was EVERYWHERE!

Doing a bit of swimming

Completely tuckered out after a long day at the beach

Gingerbread Playdough Recipe

For the next three weeks of school, I am doing something entirely new and needed some fresh ideas. The first week, I am doing a gingerbread unit and the next two weeks, we will be 'traveling' around the world exploring how Christmas is celebrated.

I decided to make gingerbread playdough for each child to use during literacy and math centers. We will be spelling our 'snap' words and completing math problems with our playdough! Each child will be receiving their own special baggie (to help with the spread of germs) and I can't wait to see their faces.

This playdough was SUPER EASY to make and I even had all the ingredients in my pantry. I made some for Caroline and immediately she ran to get the rolling pin and baking sheet!! So cute!

Gingerbread Playdough Recipe

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 cup water

1 tsp vegetable oil

LOTS of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, whatever!

Mix the dry ingredients. Play with the spices to get the scent/color you desire. Mix water and oil FIRST, then mix with dry ingredients. Stir together. In a pot, cook over low/medium heat, stirring frequently (about 2 minutes). The dough will start to pull away from the sides and clump together. Take the dough out of the pan and knead until soft and smooth. Allow to cool and store in an air tight container.

Perry, Georgia National Fair (October)

Back in October, we went to Perry, Georgia to the Georgia National Fair. We had a blast! My sister, brother-in-law, and niece went with us. We saw lots of exhibits including Sea Lions, an exotic animal petting zoo, a circus, Austrialian animals, and lots of livestock. We spent the entire day and had a great time!

Eating her hamburger in the Circus

Enjoying Aunt Sissy's cotton candy!

Loving her first ride on a pony!

Kissing her pony good-bye

After the pig races (yes, I kid you not), Caroline spotted this pink camo 4 wheeler. She was super excited about this little toy!

Disney Princess on Ice

On November 12, we took Caroline to see the Disney Princess on Ice. It was so much fun! We decided to NOT tell her where we were going but to just surprise her when the show began. I took the advice from Tammy and brought two of Caroline's princess dolls (Belle and Snow White) with us so we could avoid buying 'goodies'. We had awesome seats and got them at a super price!

I cannot even begin to describe Caroline's excitement when the lights went off and the skaters took the ice. She started shaking with excitement and pure joy! For two hours, she never took her eyes off the rink and wanted more when it ended! As soon as we got back into the car, she immediately crashed and I grabbed some java for some quick energy to drive back home.

This is at the end of the first half when the princesses (minus Cinderella) were skating. You can see how close we were to the rink.

Princess Jasmine...the first of the Princesses to skate

Holding up her Snow White doll when Snow White took the ice!

Posing for a pic before the show started

A little vent....

Dear Caroline,

I just wanted to let you know that your future spouse does NOT stand a chance! I will be checking their background, starting with personal interviews of their kindergarten teacher and moving up to each grade. If their teacher is dead, I might just ressurect my friend Ann's witch board to summon them from the dead. (Insert sarcasm...maybe....kinda joking...okay, not really) If their mom is CRAZY, then YOU WILL NOT DATE THAT PERSON MUCH LESS MARRY THEM!!!!

Love,
Mom

Balancing Act?

As usual, I am starting off this blog entry with "We are still here...". Boy, do I sound like a broken record! But, we are still here and we've once again been super busy.

My hat goes off to ALL working moms! I honestly don't know how you guys do it and still manage to keep your house clean, meals cooked, and kids looking great! I AM STRUGGLING! Every time I seem to have my act together, I realize that my floors haven't been handmopped or my ironing is becoming the size of Mount Everest. But, my laundry is caught up and my meals are cooked! Then...as soon as I tackle Mount Everest and mopping, then meals aren't cooked and laundry falls behind! When does this evil cycle end????

We are in the process of domesticating our adoption of Caroline and legally changing her name. As we have found out, NOTHING that pertains to our adoption is easy, so why should this be?? We 'drew' the 'toughest' judge who made us redo our bloodwork and our homestudy. What does this mean? Just more money and more time involved! Arrggghhh.......But soon, we will have every bit of our adoption story CLOSED! :)

Caroline is LOVING school. She loves learning and is well on her way to a Yale or Harvard scholarship, lol! She is quite the conversationalist and doesn't seem to meet a stranger. She loves soccer and going to gymnastics every week. Each Tuesday, we go to Chick-fil-A for family craft night. On Tuesday mornings, she wakes up and reminds me of Chickfila night! Caroline loves putting together puzzles and is quite the puzzle master. She sits down and puts together a 48 piece floor puzzle with ease. I'm still quite amazed!

For Halloween this year, we went to Hilton Head Island for a mini vacation. I had furlough days on Monday and Tuesday, so Nana, Papa, Caroline and I packed up and enjoyed some fun in the sun! Caroline LOVED the beach and spent hours in the sand. It was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. I loved seeing the pure excitement and joy on Caroline' face!

I have more work to do for school, cleaning around the house and a filthy girl to get in the bathtub, but I will return hopefully soon with some pictures.

August and September Picture Catch-up!

Love this outfit! It's so pretty and preppy! It looks like Caroline is going out to play a round of golf! Too funny!

We've been watching the Mommy Kangaroo ever since she was a few days pregnant for the joey. Caroline and I went to the zoo on Monday and viola! The joey had its legs sticking out of the mommy's pouch! Pretty cool!

She loves looking at the flamingos and telling me how stinky they are!

First day of soccer! It was quite the disaster and I'm hoping that next week proves to be MUCH better! But, we did go out and buy a shiny purple ball, pink shin guards, and pink/black soccer shoes!

Caroline LOVES the petting zoo now!

We met up with some other Guatemalan American families to spend the day at the zoo. Here Caroline is telling Katherine all about the petting zoo, or at least I hope that's what she was saying, lol!

Caroline, Luke, and Sydney riding the Komodo Dragon outside of the reptile house! Aren't they adorable!!!

Caroline and Sydney checking out the meerkats. Love this pic!

Look at how Sydney is checking Caroline out! Too funny!

Sporting our ever so preppy pink/green/white argyle and plaid shorts! Gotta love pink and preppy! ;) Caroline was trying to show off her fancy tennis hairbow, but she kept turning her head, lol!

As usual, we have been very busy around Casa de Rose! I have returned back to teaching full time and Tim has changed careers! Yes, we have our hands full! I knew I wanted to go back to teaching, but hadn't planned on returning this soon. But, a great opportunity knocked and I am back in the kindergarten classroom (my favorite age!). Tim just finished up broadcasting school and was offered a new job with his own sports talk radio show! Caroline is still in school but now goes until I get off work. It's a long day, but she seems to love it.

I'm sure I have lots to share, but for now, all I can do is post pics and give a brief explanation of where we've been! Talk to you soon!