One year ago today, our little Caroline was born! We can hardly believe that she's already one; the year has just flown by. Wow! At one year old:
- Caroline has 7 teeth! 4 on the top and 3 on the bottom.
- She loves the swing at the playground and is perfectly content sitting and swinging for a long time while watching Ella and other children play
- Caroline is obsessed with "blowing raspberries." She cleary is so proud of herself and will do them to amuse her onlookers but also will very happily make all those sounds while spending time alone.
- Stacking, stacking, stacking. She's really mastering her hand-eye coordination while practicing different kinds of stacking activities. For example, she can take tiny block with holes to stack on a wooden peg and she's learning to stack wooden block on top of each other.
- Watch out! That play food is hot! She's all about the mimicking; clearly she's been paying attention to us and to Ella for a very long time. Erika observed her playing with the toy kitchen and after "stirring" some food with a spoon in a pot, she pulled the spoon up to her mouth and began blowing on it!
- Comprehension. Even though we still think she's just a baby, she understands a lot more than we think. She's beginning to follow basic commands like "let's clean up! Put the blocks away in the box."
-Pointing. Caroline is really starting to notice things around her. She'll wake up from her nap and after opening up her window blinds, we'll look out the window and she'll point to the trees and to the deck below. Outside, we'll observe birds flying, bugs crawling, and planes in the air.
- Let me feed you! She's had enough of us feeding her and wants to reverse the role. Now, she'll constantly offer us food from her tray; with her long delicate fingers squishing a piece of food (doesn't that sound appetizing!?!!?), she'll insist you take it from her only if she can put it in your mouth. Mmmm, yummy.
- Although Caroline isn't quite talking yet, she does say "mama" and "dada" and we think she's been trying to say "Ella" although it sounds more like "I-ya!"
- And finally, she continues to have a really sweet and playful temperment. She's easy to make laugh and more than anything, she loves to join in and play with us and Ella. She's our sweet little Caroline!
Happy First Birthday!
Little Caroline - just about one day old!
Still our little Caroline (just a bit bigger!) at one years old!
Caroline's first birthday cake! Since it's her "big one," we went with a "big" candle! This is also Erika's first attempt at fondant and with some help from Mary Ann, we were quite pleased with the results! Not bad for the first fondant cake attempt!
The table is all set and ready for the party!
The back deck was set up with a craft table so the children could make birthday crowns and a chalk board to continue their creative interests!
"caroline is 1!" Erika made a banner for Caroline; it turned out very cute!
The birthday girl with her Opah.
The cake is lit, time to start singing "happy birthday!"
Not sure if it was the cake or the lighted candles that caught her attention the most! 
Getting all the kids together....phew, this was tough! Forget about everyone smiling, we just wanted everyone to stay still!
Special "sushi" snacks!
Erika and her birthday baby
The Buehrig's!
The Carlson's!
Relaxing post-party with Mamo.
Getting ready to go! Outside with the birthday girl!
Walking to school with daddy!
Ready for my first day of school! Notice the cute new dress for her first day of school!
Getting a hug from mommy
Luckily she has some of her friends in her same class; she joins her buddy for some table activities.
First day done! Pick-up time!
