End of Summer Fun

Caroline is like her mommy. She likes to strech her birthday fun out as long as possible. We celebrated with Nana, Grandpa, Jeremy, Heather and Nick the weekend after her birthday. We started the day by going to Hafer Park in Edmond. It is a beautiful wooded park with lots of playgrounds, a nice walking trail and a small duck pond. Grandpa brought a remote speed boat that belonged to James when he was young for Caroline to play with. I think James had more fun with it than Caroline. We walked on the trails pulling Caroline in her new Radio Flyer wagon, played on the playground and had fun on the swings with Grandpa and Daddy. For lunch we headed over to Pop's restaurant to meet Jeremy, Heather and Nick for lunch. We had such a fun time celebrating Caroline's birthday with the Sexton crew. Caroline is beyond blessed to have so many people that love her. She is surrounded by wonderful neighbors, great friends, her favorite cousin, loving grandparents and fun aunt and uncles. She is such a lucky girl. Days like these make me so happy that we decided to move to Oklahoma. There is no better place to be than near family.

I am a sucker for my kids in "church clothes" so I always have to break out the camera on Sunday mornings. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this Sunday. These are special pictures to me because I capture some special moments between my children. This time I captured William smile for the first time. He has been smiling for a few weeks, but this is the first time I actually got a picture of it. There is nothing more precious than seeing my William smile. It melts me. I also captured a picture of Caroline kissing William and one of them holding hands. Kisses flow very freely in our household. Caroline has a passion of planting big kisses on everyone she loves, and William is her favorite person to kiss. I never seem to have my camera when she chooses to plant one on him, so it was a treat that I got that shot. I love that I got a picture of my kids holding hands. Caroline loves to hold William's hand now that he can wrap his tiny fingers into hers. I often look back in the car to see that they are holding hands as we are driving down the road. It just shows the special bond that Caroline and William alrady have. What a gift they are for each other.

My Caroline is 3!

This weekend was a special one in our house. My sweet Caroline turned 3! For some reason three seems so "big" to me. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. I remember every detail about her birth. I remember all the milestones thus far like they were last week. I remember the day she first sat up and crawled, the first steps she ever took, her first words. How did she go from that little baby to this beautiful and wonderful big girl. I am thrilled that she is growing up to be such a smart, kind and beautiful person, but I would be lying if I didn't admit to being a little sad about her growing up. I want her to grow and blossom, but I don't want her to grow up too fast. I know that I will blink my eyes and she will be 16. I will blink again and she will be leaving for college. I will blink a few more times and she will be a mother. I am learning that life moves too fast when you have your own children. I want to savor every single second I have with mine.
I savored and soaked up every second of Caroline's birthday weekend. James and I did our best to make the entire weekend a full blown celebration. Friday night we took her to Frontier City. It was just Caroline, James and me and we had a great time. We rode the Ferris Wheel, the Tin Lizzies, the Tea Cups, and played on the play ground. I think I had just about as much fun as Caroline. It was nice to have some one-on-one time with her again. Saturday was her big birthday bash. She had a Little Mermiad themed pool party with all of her best friends and their parents. We ate pizza and cake, swam in the pool, and played with all of our friends. It was a very special night for our girl. Sunday was her actual birthday, so we let her snuggle in the bed with James and me when she woke up. Caroline and I got up and went for a mommy - daughter date at Krispy Kreme Donuts. When we came home from our breakfast she opened gifts. Her baby brother gave her the best present of all. He smiled for the very first time. What a special moment for our family! I will always cherish the fact that William decided to give Caroline his first smile for her birthday. Later we went out to a birthday lunch, went shopping at the Disney store, and then went out for a birthday dinner. After dinner we went on a family walk and to the playground. I enjoyed every moment of this weekend with my girl. It won't be long before she is too grown up for princess parties, family walks and the playground. I want to savor these moments when the family walk is the highlight of her day.
I thank God every day for entrusting me with my beautiful Caroline. She is the most amazing little girl. She is brave, funny, curious, loud, silly, creative, smart, passionate, loving, sneaky, entertaining, and so much more. She is everything I ever hoped and prayed for. Caroline -know that you are loved as big as the sky.