HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE !!!

It was fun celebrating Caroline's first birthday at the beach with the Vandersea family this afternoon. Caroline didn't really understand what was going on, but she enjoyed smearing cake & icing all over her head. And her near obsession with balloons was fueled by several pink helium balloons and one mylar Nemo balloon that we decorated the beach house with. Anyway, fun was had by all!



Rachel with cousins Tucker and Chase, waiting patiently for cake & ice cream... and blowing out their own candles on their slices of cake



I'm one now!!!

Fun at Emerald Isle

We are having a great day at the beach!

Fishing and Fun on the Neuse River

We had a lot of fun playing by the river at Brian's parents' house in New Bern over the weekend. Rachel loved helping Brian fish and catch crabs. The big fish weren't really biting, but the small little bait fish and crabs were all around the shore. We were scooping up crabs in nets without even needing bait! There were also a bunch of rays swimming around on Saturday afternoon -- everywhere we looked, we'd see the tips of their fins out of the water, and Brian even caught one while fishing.



Daddy, I can do it all by myself!


Putting the bait fish in bags to freeze for later use in the crab traps


Two of the many crabs that were caught


Caroline had fun watching all the action -- she even held a little fish (and promptly tried to eat it)! It's amazing how babies are so fearless.


Rachel with a bunch of the crabs in a bucket. They became lunch for Brian and his parents! Yum!!

Meeting Neils Mark Vandersea

We went to Morehead City on Saturday and were so thrilled to meet our new nephew/cousin, Neils Mark Vandersea! He was born on Thurs., Aug. 21st -- to Brian's older brother Mark and his wife Miriam. They were quite the happy, proud parents; and we were quite the happy-to-meet-him family!

Neils was just beautiful -- his tiny little features were perfect! He had a fuzzy head and cute little nose! He slept the whole time we were there, so we're hoping to see his eyes next time. Fortunately, we'll be back this coming weekend to visit him again.


In the picture above, he had just been born. The others are from our visit on Saturday.




I can't figure out why the blog does an auto-rotate to the picture below... it's stored in my computer horizontally, but when I upload it, the blog flips it for some reason. Ugh! You'll have to turn sideways to see it the "right" way! (below)

Caroline laughing and saying "mama"

Caroline was laughing and laughing the other day during her snack -- I'm not even sure why! I was able to get some of the giggles on film -- as well as one of her favorite words, "mama". It's so sweet the way she says it!

Rachel the Future Olympian

Rachel is already hard at work on her Olympic dreams for gymnastics.... she's developing a floor routine and a bar routine for the 2024 Olympics. We think she's pretty close -- just needing a few finishing touches. See below (floor routine first, followed by the bar).

Another drawing by Rachel

Here's a cute picture of a person that Rachel drew on a paper plate. This time the person has arms, legs, fingers & toes! I love her artwork, especially when she makes people.

Caroline & Laurel

Here are Caroline and Laurel Ruvo on Sunday evening. In a matter of months, they have gone from lying down on a blanket together to sitting up and crawling, and now standing up together! It won't be long before they're running around!

Caroline Sleeping

This is a picture of Caroline at the end of her nap the other day. I love how peaceful she looks when she's sleeping!

Ear Tubes

Due to chronic ear infections and fluid behind her eardrums, Rachel had to get tubes placed in her ears this morning. We were so proud of her -- she was a model patient, doing everything they asked her to at the outpatient surgery building where we had the procedure. All the staff were super nice (the nurse even gave Rachel's baby doll a hospital armband like Rachel's), and everything went as smoothly as possible. Before we knew it, it was all done! She came home feeling fine and spent the day relaxing. The wonderful thing is that we can already tell a HUGE improvement in her hearing!

She wasn't thrilled at first about putting on the "P.J.'s" that they asked her to wear (obviously she was also nervous about everything she was about to endure) -- as you'll see in the photo below. But soon thereafter we read a new book in a comfy chair and everything was much better.

Wrestling with Caroline

One of Caroline's favorite activities is to "wrestle" on the bed with us. She loves to roll around and be chased, and to do somersaults too! See below.

Hike along the Haw River

Yesterday we went for a hike along the trail by the Haw River, about 15 minutes from our house. It was a gorgeous (but hot) day -- perfect for being outside!