11.......

Caitlin is 11 months old today!  I have such mixed emotions!  I love this little bug so much...and the older she gets, the more fun we have.  She's so funny!!!!!  But I'm so sad...it's my baby's last "month" milestone!  We have had so much fun celebrating each month...and next month will be the big 1 year bday!

Caitlin continues to make everyone smile!  She's such a happy, go-with-the-flow baby (and who would have thought at 1 month old we'd ever say that about her).  She can entertain herself for hours and loves to play with anything her big sister plays with!

Her favorite toy right now is the easel with the magnets....and anything she can put "in".  She will put things "in" bins, boxes, buckets, etc.

Still no words, but definitely babbling more. 

She isn't walking yet, but she can stand on her own and is close to walking.

She has 4 adorable teeth!

She eats like a champ!  Right now her favorite food is banana.  She also loves her special noodles.

She started a class at the library and loves it...she smiles the whole time!

If you say "dance" she has the cutest dance...she bops up and down.

If you tell her to smile, she has the cutest, cheesiest big smile! 

We LOVE her to pieces!!!!!

11 months old

She stands and crawls up on everything!

"Say Cheese!"

Her trick...she hides food in the "hole" of her high chair if she doesn't like it.  And if you catch her, she keeps doing it, she just laughs!

Today she hid all her carrots!

Her adorable 4 teeth!

I remember when this lamb was bigger than her....

Now it's "toy" size....sigh

Our Caitlin Bug

We love you so much Caitlin.  You bring so much sunshine and joy to our lives!!!!!  We love watching you grow and change, and can't wait to celebrate your big day next month!!!  Until then, we'll have fun getting ready for Halloween!  You will make the cutest .........  You'll have to wait to find out!  ;)

We love you!  Mommy, Daddy, Abigail, and Kramer

Finding Jesus!

This Sunday, we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday at the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues!  It was a really great morning!!!!  The whole family came!  We had a private opera suite so the kids could run around, it was really loud so the kids could cry, the food was delicious, and the entertainment was amazing!!!  Everyone really got into the music, especially Caitlin.  She was completely enthralled (is that even a word?  or spelled right?) with the gospel singers.  She was smiling and dancing the whole time.  And then, out of the blue, she began throwing her arms up in the air everytime they sang.  I think we may have a future church choir singer on our hands!!!!!

The whole family (minus Katie who took the picture)

The birthday girl, with Jules and Abigail.  Oh, did I mention mimosas flow freely at Gospel Brunch??  They were bringing us PITCHERS...all included in the price!

2 of my favorite guys!

My mom getting one of her presents....We got her pearl earrings from Tiffany's and my dad surprised her and had her engagement ring diamond reset into this amazing diamond ring! 

Lucy ready to head home after a busy day of singing, eating, and being held by family!!!!

Caitlin and her godmother

The birthday girl with 2 of her grandchildren.  There was NO WAY Caitlin was taking her eyes off the singers to look at the camera!

If Caitlin had opened her eyes, this picture would have been GREAT!

A picture from our seats of the Gospel Singers.  It really was an amazing show with great music!  It's impossible not to get into the music....next thing you know, our family had our napkins over our head waving them around like the singers!!!!!

Lucy hanging out with her mommy

I tried to get an action shot of Caitlin "finding Jesus"...she was hilarious!!!!

After Gospel Brunch, we headed over to Nana and Papa's for Nana's b-day celebration.  If I had a title for that celebration, it would be "LOSER!"  Nana got 55 lotto tickets for her b-day to celebrate the big 5-5...and in 55 tickets, she won $16 bucks.  Abigail helped her and everytime they lost, they'd say "loser" and make an "L" on their forehead.  Abigail got pretty good at it.  After yummy pizza, we then had to watch the Bears, which again goes with my theme of "Loser" after an embarrasing game against the Giants.  We had a lot of fun celebrating Nana's b-day....but of course, say it with me now, "I-forgot-my-camera!"  Just imagine Bears jerseys, pizza, laughing, LOTS of lotto tickets, and Nana with her 2 favorite granddaughters!

Happy Birthday, Nana!!!!

Happy Birthday to our favorite Nana!!!!!!!

Love you to the moon and back.....

Abigail and Caitlin

Long Overdue

It's been a while since a post...mostly because I didn't have my camera to take pics over the weekend....but thanks to technology, I took other people's pictures!!! :)

Last weekend we headed to Indiana.  First, we went to take the pier/shore station out.  Then, the kids got to have a sleepover with Nana and Papa while Rob and I headed to Valpo for my 10 year college reunion!  It was a great time catching up with friends....but I couldn't do that more than once every 10 years!  :)

This week the weather has been amazing....so we are making sure to enjoy it as much as possible.  One afternoon we headed over to Cosley Zoo.  We love this zoo, but they started charging to use it so we don't go as much as we used to.  But it's was the perfect day to visit this week.

Here are some pictures from the weekend and week.  They are really out of order....

Sister Picture taken at the cottage.  Look how cute they are holding hands!   They are sitting in Rob's chair from when he was a kid!

Cosley Zoo this week: 

Checking out the ducks

Happy Girl

Another happy girl

The deer made a friend

Here was my attempt at a cute picture.  I am now convinced I may never get a great one of the 2 of them together: 

This is hilarious.  Abigail told me she had a great idea for a picture.  I said, "Okay, show me."  So she went and sat at the other end!!!! 

Okay, now we are at the lone picture from my college reunion.  And I only got it cause I took it off someone's page on facebook!  (Thanks Ang!) 

A picture with one of my college roommates and her hubby who also went to Valpo!  Check out the mini glasses we had to drink out of!  But it was 8 bucks for 4 hours of drinking...gotta love college!

Okay, now we are back to the cottage.  Here are some action shots of us taking the pier and shore station out.  It was HEAVY!

My 1st time wearing waders!!!!

Look at those muscles!

Abigail and Nana making cookies.

Caitlin (and Kramer) cuddling with Uncle Al.  That's her buddy!!!!

Caitlin and Aunt Georgeanne

Thanks to all who helped me piece together my weekend with your pictures...even though you probably didn't know I have them!  ;)

BIG weekend ahead!!!  On the agenda:  Apple Fest, Mommy and Daddy go to a wedding, Kids sleepover at Grandma and Grandpas, Nana's Bday/Celebration, and Grandma's 60th Bday Celebration at Gospel Fest!!!!  And maybe I'll even remember my camera!  :)

Just another week....

We have been pretty boring around here lately...and LOVING it!  It's been nice to slow down for a while and just enjoy life together!!!

Checking out sheep at a local farm

Going for a "ride" at Klein Creek Farm

The girls and Luca checking out the sites at the window

Sorry, nothing too exciting to post...but thought I was due!

Also, Caitlin is close to walking.  Last night she would take like one step and then fall.  I tried to capture it on camera today, but being by myself and having to hold her and hold the camera didn't work.  But I posted an "attempt" anyways below.  I have a feeling by next Friday I'll be posting a video of my walker!  Scary!!!!

Almost a Walker

Meeting our New Cousin

Hi!  It's Abigail and Caitlin!  We wanted to tell you all about our special day on Saturday!

We went down to Aunt Julie and Uncle Joe's house to meet our new cousin, Lucy!!!!!

She's very "small" and was very tired when we were there, but we think she's "sooooooo cute" and we can't wait to play with her next time!!!!  We love her so much!

All the mommies and daddies thought we should take a cousin picture....good luck parents!!!!!  Better luck next time!

(The whole "photo shoot" Lucy slept, Abigail said "cheese" over and over, and Caitlin tried to crawl away, all while smiling).

After we visited our new cousin, mommy and daddy took us to lunch at some place called Smoke Daddy's!  They wouldn't stop talking about how much they love this place and ate there all the time when they lived in the city....yeah mom and dad, we get it!

Then, they took us to Navy Pier to go to the Children's Museum!  That was so much fun!!!!!

OMG Mom and Dad.  Why are these kind of pictures so funny to adults?????

So, I was just standing here, playing, and my mommy and daddy looked over and realized I was standing while not holding on to anything....they were so excited, but it just scared me and made me fall.  They think I'm going to walk soon!  Of course I am!!!

We got to play at the water table.

This was our favorite room because they had a tree house that daddy and Abigail played in a lot, and a room all for Caitlin too!

We did lots more at the museum, and didn't even get to see everything...so we'll definitely be coming back soon!  Luckily, our aunts and uncle live in the city so we get to go see them a lot!

It was a pretty great weekend, which also included a fun bonfire at the Hackney's and a big Bears WIN on Sunday!  Looking forward to a fun week...and then a big weekend ahead!  We get to go the cabin and our mommy and daddy are going to Mommy's College 10 year reunion!  Uh Oh...we hear mommy had a lot of fun in college and is looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends!  Have a great week!!!!