Caitlin's World

Caitlin is so cute and innocent when it comes to Santa and I love it. Each morning she asks Shawn and I if she can have her piece of chocolate (from the advent calendar). We accidentally skipped a day so I indulged and yup the chocolate is just as nasty as I remember and certainly not Hersey's! As I was wrapping presents tonight some little 3 year old walks out of her room peering down at me. I think I was far enough out of view, this is the first year we have had to consider she will remember what she hears and sees. I quickly called to Shawn to help her back to her room. I forgot to add the Santa pictures from Saturday, the girl had a blast. Check out the video. She was so excited but scared at the same time that Santa was really there. We thank Libby for hosting another Santa Brunch, we had a great time and will cherish the memories! Me and my favorite girl - I love that not a day goes by where she asks me if I am her best friend.

When we signed Caitlin up for a tap/ballet combo class I thought she would enjoy it but wondered how much you can teach 2.5 - 3.5 yr olds. She has now been in class for four months and absolutely loves going. Class is each Saturday for 45 minutes and they begin with tap and finish with ballet. Today was parents observation day (first one), normally we can only see the girls through the small cracks in the blinds. They will even have a recital in June! The video below is a glimpse of what goes on each Saturday morning. As you will see Caitlin is the only girl without tap shoes on and that was mommy's fault. I totally forgot to grab her dance bag with her shoes in them when we left. Shawn didn't think twice and dropped us off to run home to get them.

Here is Caitlin and her preschool class singing "This Little Light of Mine" you can definitely hear her stand out a few times : ) There were 8 kids in class that day but I opted to zoom in on our little star. The class also sang "Oh Candy Cane" and the kids had such a good time. Not everyone sang but Caitlin really seemed to enjoy the singing and being on 'stage'.

It's been a while since I last wrote, life has not stopped. Caitlin is growing and keeps us laughing which is a great release from the day-to-day stresses of life. She loves to sing so about a month ago I taught her "You are my Sunshine" and she picked it right up and we sing it often and has become our song. I missed the beginning (we were driving to my parents house) but you all can see enough. Melts me heart every time she sings it - enjoy!

Everyone who lives in Charlotte knows how rare it is for snow to occur (especially when the weathermen predict it). About 2 weeks ago we woke up to snow and a good amount of it! Caitlin's daycare had a delayed opening so I worked from home in the morning. As you can see in the below video, Caitlin was SO excited that it snowed. I took her out to play for a little while and she loved it and ran around in circles. I am guessing because she just wasn't too sure what she was supposed to do with it! Casey came out to play with us. Nothing really stuck to the roads so I took her into school about 11:30 and went on into work. By the time we got home that evening, the snow was mostly gone. I am so glad she was about to play for the little bit she did.

Today we had a playdate with Amelia and Mackenzie at Monkey Joe's. They all had a blast running around and playing with each other. Caitlin was VERY brave and wanted to go on ALL the big inflatables. We weren't sure how she would take to these big inflatables since she was intimidated a Terry's birthday party in October and didn't love them at Matthew's Alive in September. As soon as she saw Mackenzie in there she was ready to go!

Monday the news was calling for snow her in Charlotte. Anyone who lives here knows what a rare and sometime comical event. Usually they call for snow, everyone rushes out to the supermarket and buys all the milk and bread in the store and goes home an wait. More often than not we get no snow and life goes on. Tuesday we woke up to snow and a decent amount! Caitlin's daycare was delayed until 10AM so I worked from home that morning and we got to go out and play for a bit. She loved it and at first just ran circles around the backyard. Then I let Casey out and they got to play. Around 11:30 I took her into school and went into the office since the roads were fine.

We had a great Christmas. Caitlin loved every minute of the holiday season. Each day she got to open the next window of the advent calendar and eat the chocolate. That was special treat because mommy doesn't really let Caitlin have sweets like that. As soon as we walked in from school/work she would say "piece of chocolate" over and over again. Shawn and I hosted our first holiday on Christmas Eve. I don't have a lot of family here in NC, and none of Shawn's family lives here so we had a nice dinner with my grandmother, parents, brother, uncle, aunt and 2 of their 3 kids. She enjoyed opening presents and actually liked the presents and not the paper or boxes. Christmas morning I went into her room and she said "Santa here." She was one lucky girl with the amount of presents Santa brought her. Took her a while to open them, Shawn and I just enjoyed the moment. We had a nice family day at home to play with all our new toys. Mommy got a new ipod nano that I