Family pictures

Friday night, we all dressed in black shirts and khakis and went to the beach for some family pictures.

Playing at the Beach

We had so much fun at the beach. Caitlin loved playing in the sand and "riding the waves." She got so comfortable in the ocean that she didn't want me holding on to her. With her floaties on, she thought she was just fine on her own.

I do miss seeing this every night!

Caitlin's getting so good in the pool

Before our trip to the beach, Caitlin hated when water got on her face and especially in her eyes. By the end of the trip, she's doing this . . .

Just a few for now . . .

We are having a blast in Florida!! Will post more later!!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is my favorite season. One thing I love is our yearly tradition of going to the Pumpkin Patch. We have so much fun picking out pumpkins to decorate our front porch.

Caitlin - the star

Caitlin has a karaoke toy that lets her sing in a microphone and see herself. She LOVES it. Can you tell she's checking herself out in the tv while she sings?

Puzzle Nights

Caitlin has recently started really enjoying puzzles. Every night before bed we either read books or work on a puzzle - she normally picks the puzzle. This was the hardest one that we have done yet. It is fun for all three of us to do together.

Here are some pictures from the traumatic staph lancing day. Obviously, it didn't take Caitlin long to recover. While getting her prescriptions filled, we found this cute Disney Princess purse, so I rewarded her bravery. She LOVES it so much, she buckled it in with her so it would be safe.

Caitlin's first home run!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NK3C4tWi6Q

T-ball - Take 3 - First Scrimmage

With Caitlin's last two practices not going so well and Rusty out of town, I thought seriously about skipping this scrimmage game. Caitlin woke up in a good mood, so I said, Why not! She did so well this time. They actually got to practice at a real game and she liked that. Each kid got to hit the ball off the tee and run the bases while the other team practiced fielding the ball and trying to chase them down. Basically every kid got a "home run" each time to practice running the bases. Caitlin did great fielding the ball. I taught her how to put her hands on her knees so she would be ready when the ball was hit and she did that each time. She did get a little mad when the boys on the team kept beating her to the ball. I told her she had to be quick and keep trying. She fielded 2 or 3 balls and threw them to first base. It was actually an enjoyable game!!

Caitlin has a staph infection!!

Beware - gross picture below!! Caitlin had this rash on her leg/bottom and it just kept getting worse and worse. They turned into sores and it was really bad. I showed Ben (my brother-in-law who is a paramedic) and he said it looked like staph. So I took her to the doctor the next day and sure enough she has a staph infection. The doctor had to lance the sores to test the strain of staph and to get the infection out so it can't get into her blood stream. I had to hold Caitlin down and she was SCREAMING!!! It was a traumatic day for both of us. We had to sterilize the house, sheets, clothes, etc to make sure the infection doesn't spread. The antibiotic already seems to be working and the sores are much better. Hopefully this is the last of the infection!

Us waiting for the doctor - before the trauma!

 

T-ball - 2nd Practice

The second t-ball practice went worse than the first. Rusty had to work so it was just me. The practice was only 1 hour but she spent 30 minutes of it crying and sitting on the ground. Not a good day!

Caitlin had her first t-ball practice today. It was overcast and wet and muddy. Normally, she likes to get dirty but the wet grass was really bothering her. After a while, she was done and started crying. Daddy talked her away from the ledge!







And yes, my child is the one that will be in the outfield spinning in circles and chasing butterflies!

Our Labor Day

Caitlin and I had so much fun on Labor Day. We went to the zoo with Mom and Natalie. We were there right at 9am to try to beat the heat. It was still HOT, but we had so much fun. All the animals were closer than they have been when I've been there in the past. We saw all the animals we wanted.

The beautiful Macaws.



The ugly wild hog.


Caitlin's favorite - the Elephants!




Loved the giraffes! They were really close.






Caitlin loved the carousel!!





Meerkats



Caitlin got to pet the turtle and thought that was cool!



Red panda




Alligators. These really freaked Caitlin out. At one point, she ran away screaming with arms flailing because she thought they were going to eat her. For some reason, she thought if they came up out of the water, they could get to her.





I let her pick out a stuffed animal at the gift shop and she picked a white tiger. So she loved seeing the real thing. She couldn't understand why the real tiger didn't want to come over and see her little tiger.