That Darned Makeup Brush.

So, most of you know about Caroline's best friend. No, not Ellie… her other best friend. Her makeup brush.

She got her hands on it a few months ago due to her super-human long reach (monkey arms like her mommy, sigh). I let her carry it around for a few days and would just grab it from her when I needed to use it. And then I realized where Mr. Makeup Brush was ending up. According to Caroline, it's a great cleaning tool, especially on toilets. That's when the makeup brush became Caroline's and I got myself a new one. The sad thing is Caroline carries around an expensive makeup brush from Sephora; mommy now has a $3.50 makeup brush from Target. The sacrifices we make for our children…

Caroline LOVES her makeup brush. She looks for it when she wakes up in the morning, she carries it around while we get ready, she looks for it when she gets back from school, and she often falls asleep with it clutched in her hand. If she's having a hissy fit, we can just hand her the makeup brush and suddenly all is well with the world. Thank you, Mr. Makeup Brush, for calming our girl on so, so many occasions.

In the morning, she usually stands next to me while I put my makeup on. When she sees me grab my makeup brush, and hers isn't firmly in her grip, she points at it and goes "MMM MMM" probably meaning, "MINE MINE." On those mornings, I have to go find her brush and give it to her in order to calm her down. She then laughs at the fact that we both have makeup brushes. It's absolutely hilarious.

Caroline has other weird "toys" that she loves (none as much as the makeup brush, of course). They include a travel sized bottle of Johnson and Johnson's shampoo, a yellow highlighter, and a shoebox. She'll gladly pass over any of her actual toys if handed one of these items. It's oddly adorable, I must admit.

If you pay attention to some of the photos I post, you can often see Caroline posing with her favorite makeup brush. Often, we even capture her with both of her best friends: her "Ellay" (as she calls her) and her makeup brush. And because no post is complete without photos, here are some of Caroline with her two best friends :)

Just hanging in the crate with Ellie and the Makeup Brush… a typical morning around here.

I'm just going to sit here with my Ellie and clean my shoes with my makeup brush.

We're the three best friends that anyone could have, the three best friends that anyone can have...

I like Easter because it rhymes with Feaster.

And I'm a feaster, so Easter is the BEST.

My first Easter activity this year was hard boiling eggs for Caroline to dye at school. Any one can boil an egg. Like, seriously. It's the easiest thing you can do. No. No it's not. It's the easiest thing to do when you're going to eat the egg. But when that shell cannot crack because it's meant to be dyed? No. Just no. Guys. It took me over an hour (an HOUR) to hard boil three, yes three, eggs. They kept cracking. Ugh, eggs. EGGS. They're mean. 

With that being said, I guess I didn't screw up because no one sent a note home that said, "woman, learn to hard boil an egg."

On Thursday, Caroline had her Easter party at school. Josh and I were both able to go (YAY) and she was so happy to see us both. First on the Easter party agenda: the dreaded Easter Bunny. He (well, she, because we know who was in there) came in the room and Caroline's face went from "oh my gosh my parents are here oh my gosh I'm so happy" to "what the heck is this evil monster." She wasn't the only one. Ever other toddler in the room was terrified. They all cried. It was sadly wonderfully awesome.

Poor girl. All was well though when Caroline spotted the snack table. We had never fed her Cheetos  (I don't know how to spell that and I don't feel like looking it up, bwhahaha) before but oh my gosh, the child was obsessed. She kept going back for more and in the end was covered in Cheeto orangeness. Good thing we changed her into that pink and orange dress because she totally matched. She enjoyed walking around the room with her Cheetos. It was quite adorable.

Then it was Easter Egg Hunt time! Caroline's teacher made them cute baskets out of paper. Too bad Caroline was all "PAPER. MUST DESTROY." and ripped a hole in the bottom of hers. She did an excellent job looking for eggs and found a ton! However, every time she put them in her basket they would fall out of the bottom and get snatched up by another hunter. It was adorably hilarious! I'm so glad we both went and were able to watch her. It was fun!

We were planning to go to an Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood on Saturday, but it was cancelled due to all of the evil fun-ruining rain we have been receiving, so let's fast forward to Sunday, shall we?

My plan was to wake up early, make the breakfast casserole (which I was to tired/lazy to make the night before) and be the Easter Bunny before everyone woke up. Our dogs had other plans (typical; thanks guys) and woke Caroline up at 6:30. Sooo, we did she got her Easter basket bright and early and then I made breakfast. She loved her Easter basket goodies. I saw a lot of Easter baskets posted on Facebook and some were elaborate with very expensive items. I'm not ashamed to say that every item in Caroline's basket came from the Target One Spot, meaning they were all $1 each (less when you factor in my coupon skills) and they couldn't have been more PERFECT. Sidewalk chalk? Crayons? Color book? Bubbles? New sunglasses that can break without mommy crying? Dude, that's all a toddler needs. She was thrilled!

We then had our delicious breakfast! After breakfast we took Caroline for a ride in her amaaaazing new wagon from her even more amazing Memaw and Pepaw. We then took a very classy Easter trip to Walmart to buy lightbulbs. Then we came back home for Caroline's nap time. Josh and I downed some freaking fantastic bloody mary's. Once Caroline woke up, we had a quick chat with her Nan and Papa, where she flashed her belly and smiled a lot. At the last minute, we then decided to brave the chilly weather and take Caroline for a city Easter Egg Hunt. We got to the park as they were counting down to the start of the hunt. We got the toddler area right as they said "GO" and started our hunt! And by that I mean Caroline laid down in the dirt, then found an orange cone, and passed over every egg in sight. It couldn't have been more perfect :) We then took her to her favorite park to play and made another very classy Easter stop at McDonalds for snacks. Gosh, when did we get so high class?

We then came back home and relaxed for a while, watching House of Cards and playing with Caroline. We then chatted with Memaw and Pepaw, where there were more belly flashes (by Caroline, don't worry) and grins. We then had a fantastic Easter dinner. It was a crockpot feast! The pot roast, carrots, and potatoes all cooked in the crockpot, so all we had to do was set the table and grab the rolls. Perfect! Caroline didn't like the potatoes, didn't care for the roast, liked the rolls, but went CRAZY for the carrots! I guess she's a little Easter Bunny herself :)

Just a little side note to thank everyone for the recent "snail mail packages" we have gotten over the past few weeks. We got a box of hand-me-down clothes from my cousin's family, we got an amazing wagon from my parents, we got another box filled with goodies from my parents, we got a box of adorable Caroline outfits from my sister, and we got a box of outfits and wine from Josh's parents. We're so far away from everyone down here and it makes my heart happy to get boxes, cards, anything from you guys, so THANK YOU! Love you all :)

And just because……. here's a picture from a few weeks ago that was hidden on my memory card. Just thought I'd end with more cuteness! (also this is a disclaimer that my lunch break is over and I have to go back to work so I'm not proofreading this entry… hope the typos aren't too embarrassing)!

OMG. We Had a Date Night.

Josh and I had the privilege of having our first true date night in a LONG TIME. Like, really long. We had so much fun!

We started off at 101 Cantina in FSU's College Town. Being in College Town was… interesting. Guys, college girls have lost their minds with their clothes. We saw so many butt cheeks in our hour there and most were butt cheeks that were not so pretty. They were all wearing these denim shorts up to their belly buttons with their butt hanging out; it was like they all had permanent wedgies. I told Josh I should have borrowed some of Caroline's denim shorts because they'd be about the correct length on me. Sheesh, college girls of 2014, I'm disappointed in your tackiness. With that being said, we had a BLAST people watching. We sat there, drinking our drinks, eating our nachos, people watching like crazy! It was a wonderful date and it was fun being out without a toddler :)

We then went to my coworker, Madeline's, birthday party at Food Glorious Food, a local favorite of ours. We each had a beer, met my coworkers' significant others, and stared at the food wondering why we had pigged out on nachos before the party. Le sigh. It was a very nice party and it's always fun seeing coworkers out of a working environment. We left the party around 9:15, certain we'd show up to a fast asleep Caroline. Nope, she greeted us at the door, pointed out Laura's "dah" and "tats" to us, and was wide awake. However, she dozed off the second we got her in the car and was easy to transfer into the crib for the night. Old lady Kaitlin went to bed right when we got home around 10:00; I just can't hang anymore, guys! So old and uncool…

Sunday, Caroline seemed to have forgotten she stayed up way past her bedtime and was trying to wake us up at 5:30am. We snuggled in bed until we finally got her to go back to sleep, and we all slept until 8:30am, YAY! We had breakfast and then went to the park. When we got to the park, it was clear that Caroline's night of partying had caught up to her. We put her on the playground, where she promptly laid down, almost getting trampled by crazy children. Soooo, we decided no playground for the day. We took her to the dog park where she had fun watching dogs for a while. We then walked around the lake, which she loved but was more interested in the dogs on the bridge. That girl LOVES dogs. Definitely our girl :) 

It was an absolutely perfect weekend with multiple park trips, a wonderful date night, and tons of glorious sunshine and warmth! We are getting SO excited for our upcoming trips. May includes both a potential Disney World visit for our little princess AND a week at Lake Lure in North Carolina with the Rose Family. We cannot WAIT!!

Oh I'm Fancy, Huh?

When I was hired in January by the new company I work for, one of my first tasks was to begin redesigning the company website. My boss had long planned to change the name  and he wanted a fancy-pants new website before the name change was official. As a graphic design, web design, internet NERD, this was a dream project and I had soooo much fun with it. It's pretty cool to know that I designed a company website (with suggestions and help from my boss; I can't take all of the credit). I want to brag about what an awesome website we created, which went live this week! Check it out here:

 CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME

Oh, and check me out on the "OUR TEAM" page being all fancy with my own bio and picture. This is the first place I have worked that believes me to be worthy of a blurb on the website. YAY! Also, my blurb, which lists my work experience, makes me feel old and forces me to realize how long I have been out of college. Craziness!

I am SO GLAD that I took a life risk and made a career change. My law firm was making me so unhappy every day. At my old job, I dragged myself into the office at 8am every morning (closer to 7:30am, actually, which no one ever appreciated) and stared at the clock until 5pm, when the day was finally over. I don't dread working anymore, which is so refreshing. I cook myself breakfast, pour a cup of coffee, and walk into the office ready to do my work without a feeling of dread. Hooray for me having the guts to quit my old job and start a new one. I'm proud of myself and am happy I'm not unhappy anymore, hooray!

The Blog got a Facelift!

My blog had some recent plastic surgery; don't judge it (I'm lame, I know. Deal with it). It has a fancy pants new summery layout and some new pages! I created a favorite post page that lists some of my random favorites, vacation posts, milestone posts, mommy posts, etc. It was a fun page to create because it's always fun looking back on memories of the past. I have been writing this blog since 2011, so there are a lot of great memories documented throughout! I have no clue if my readers view my posts through the blog itself or through email, so if you never visit my physical blog you should swing by and take a look.

We had a wonderful weekend with our sweet girl. We all went to the park Friday afternoon, stayed in most of Saturday due to the rain, and made our way to her favorite park on Sunday. She went down the big kid slides at the park completely on her own. She's so big and brave, it's amazing. The funniest moment was her going down a swirly slide; she went down so slowly it was hilarious. She just had this look of awe on her face because I think even she was impressed by how big she is. It looks like our days of going down sliding boards with her are over, whomp whomp.

Guys, she's getting so big and so smart. Here are some of the amazing things she's doing lately:

• She loves showing off that baby belly of hers. When you ask her, "where's your belly?" she promptly raises her shirt and points at her belly with such pride. She's obsessed with belly buttons, which is a bit odd, and loves poking both her belly button and our belly buttons. Goof!

• She loves pointing out dogs and cats. A lot of her books have cats in them and she loves flipping through to find the cats; once she finds them she points at them and yells TAT TAT! Whenever we're out and she spots a dog and yells DAH DAH! and tries to hug and kiss them. Adorable!

• I learned yesterday that she can say the word yellow, or in Caroline voice, "LELLOW!" We were reading a book and I pointed at a yellow page and said yellow and she matter-of-factly echoed, "lellow" like it was no big deal. Of course I freaked out excited and she looked at me like I was a looney toon.

• She knows Ellie's name and loves calling her (EYAY is kind of what it sounds like). Ellie is undoubtably her best friend. Caroline hugs her, kisses her, reads books to her, and Ellie is so good with her. Wrangler is still a jerk to Caroline, but we're working on his manners. Both of the cats are wonderful with her, even Tollie!

• She's a dancing machine these days. She looks around for her toys that play music and dances to them. I sing to her during diaper changes so she can clap along and "sing" with me. She sings in the backseat of the car, too. The lyrics to ever song are either "BABABABAAA" or "LALALAAAA."

• She gives fantastic hugs and wonderful "kisses." Her kisses are basically her drooling on us and going "MUAHHH" because I think I accidentally taught her that ever kiss involves going "muah!" Hopefully she grows out of that before she starts dating ;) She even tried kissing my parents over webcam this weekend by going "MUAHHH." Sweetheart.

• She is obsessed with "nakie baby time" (bathtime). We usually bathe her after dinner and the word "nakie" cannot be spoken until dinner is over. When she hears the word "nakie" she toddler-runs down the hallway straight toward the bathtub and begins trying to strip her clothes off. IT'S SO CUTE, YOU GUYS. She loves baths and would spend all day in there if given the choice.

She's doing so much more, too, but those are some of my favorite things!