Caroline Elizabeth is 2 Years Old!

Weight: TBA (Dr.'s appt next week)

Height: TBA (Dr.'s appt next week)

Sleeping Patterns: Girl, you are not a sleeper! We start your bedtime routine around 7:45 or so.  We have to read anywhere from 3 - 4 books of your choosing, then we rock-rock.  Your favorite bedtime books right now are "Pi'r Book" (a.k.a. "Itsy Bitsy Spider") "Ti'r Book" (that's tiger in your language) and "Monkey Choo-Choo" (a.k.a. "My Little Train" which has a monkey passenger).  You do take a nap everyday, but it only lasts about an hour and a half or so...
   

Eating Habits: You still eat pretty well.  Your current favorite food is "Nuh'it" (nuggets) from McDonald's.  You call every dry snack from crackers to chips a "cookie" and you call all cake varieties "choc'it".  You still love sweet potatoes and green beans, too.

New Discoveries & Accomplishments: You have started talking all...the...time!  And you are making complete sentences, too! As I type this, you are telling me "I wanna watch Melmo (Elmo)."  You have discovered a true love for all things "Melmo".  You have a stuffed Melmo that you sleep with, one of your favorite books is "Melmo's Birfay" (birthday), and we are having an Elmo birthday party for you on Sunday the 4th.

Places You Love: You really are a happy child, and just like being with your family.  We have not taken you anywhere exciting recently; just the usual trips to Wal-Mart, the shopping mall, or the grocery store.  But as long as Mommy and Bubba are with you, you are happy. 

Special Friends: Every time I ask you if you want to go to Ms Beth's house, you say "See Morgie".  You are crazy about a little 4-yr-old boy, Morgan.  I guess he must be your first boyfriend (boo-hoo).  You still love your brother so much that you want to do everything, say everything, and mimic everything he does.  You have a lot of fun playing with Whitney whenever she gets a chance to come into town.  You also love your cousin Josh.  Whenever I mention Aunt Kristy, you say "Josh home?"

Current Events: The most heartbreaking stories are coming from the football department of Penn State University.  Legendary Coach Joe Paterno was (understandably) fired for his lack of actions/reaction regarding former Asst Coach Jerry Sandusky's alleged abuse of several minors.  In other football news, the great and mighty Crimson Tide won this year's Iron Bowl securing a #2 BCS ranking and a hopeful rematch against LSU for the Nat'l Championship! Roll Tide!

What We Did This Day: Your birthday is December 1st (Thursday).  On this day, you woke up to find that our Elf on the Shelf, "Eights" had brought you birthday balloons!  Sweet Eights!  You and I spent the day together playing at home.  You went to Nona's house to take your nap, because someone was here helping us finish our hardwood floors, but after your nap, you, Rob, and I went to have a li'l photo shoot for Christmas.  Then we finished the day with your favorite meal, McDonald's Nuh-its.  Your party is Sunday with close family and friends.

As God As My Witness, I thought Turkeys Could Fly...

Y'all, I have to admit it...I love Thanksgiving.  Why?  Well for starters, it's not Christmas.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas for all the Christian reasons.  But geez, that holiday has really gotten away from us in the past few years.  With Thanksgiving, there's no pressure to out-do, up-gift, or whatever.  It's just food and family.  Did I mention the food?

Since I partook in pretty much the whole "Gobble 'til you wobble" today, I'm not going to talk much more.  I'll just leave you with some highlights.  Enjoy!

First of all, what a difference a year makes!  Take a walk down memory lane with me.  Rob and Caroline were unfortunate lucky enough to be able to don their turkey shirts two years in a row.  Technically, C's went from a dress to a shirt, but who's counting?

We started today with lunch at Bobby's dad's house.  What a spread they put on, too!

L-R Laura my soon-to-be-SIL, Pam a.k.a. "Mimi" and me

Caroline "reading" a card to Mimi and Rocky's neighbor, Mr. Don

Our lunch hostess and host -- Mimi and Rocky



Let's eat, y'all!

After lunch, we went to Bobby's mom's house...to eat again!  Because it's Thanksgiving, we certainly need to thank God for all our blessings and for our delicious bounty.  We also should be ashamed...very ashamed!

Each year there is a pick-up game of football in Bobby's mom's front yard.  This year, the players seemed a little...younger...than days of yore.  But my heart was so proud of my boy and his cousin!

L-R Rob (5) and Braxton (7)

 And during the game, we the biddy hens looked like this:

There are a pair of new baby twins in the family -- Lucas and Easton are about 8 months old.  Lemme tell you that Caroline went nuts for the boys.  She kept pleading "hol' the baby.  Gi bodle to baby."  She thought they were life-like dolls for her enjoyment only!

Speaking of babies, take a look at Williams family matriarch, Jeanette a.k.a. "Maw-Maw"  Here she is with 12 great-grandchildren.  There is one baby on the way and at least two I can think of who were not photographed.  What a family legacy she has created!

Maw Maw has seen many things come and go in her lifetime, but who knew she could be gansta' fab?  Check out her flat-bill:

Clockwise from Top R: Debbie (Bobby's mom), Maw Maw, Delane, and Gwen

Well, that's a wrap for this year's Thanksgiving.  Here's to weeks of turkey sandwiches! Turkey salad! Turkey gravy! Turkey Hash! Turkey A La King! Or gallons of turkey soup! (Who doesn't recognize that as a quote from A Christmas Story? Love that movie!)  May God bless all of your 365.

Remember Me? -- iPhone Photo Dump

Okay, I'm due to apologize to you all for my disappearing act. I promise, I truly love having my blog. When I'm in the mood to write, I want to write. When I want to capture some memories, I turn to my blog. But as I'm kinda just starting out, I haven't come up with a "groove" and a "schedule" yet.

In October I attempted to write everyday for 31 Days. My topic being how to strengthen your marriage really worked on my own household. The hubs and I were feeling so strong and secure, that we became extremely busy. Blogging did not happen. So here's a li'l recap of the last month to get you up-to-date. And then I'll try to get in touch with those of you who are about to file a missing persons report on me, I promise!

I became a brunette in October!

I traveled with my Dad and my Aunt to Austin, TX for a beautiful wedding.



 My mom's job a.k.a. my job has kept us quite busy this month with 5 conferences, 2 of which were out of town and the rest that required a good bit of back-and-forth traveling.

L-R Rob, Whitney and siblings Alex and Anna went to the zoo to see the new baby lion cubs.  Man, they were so cute and cuddly!

Whitney and Caroline, who's wearing a momma-made Halloween pinafore.  Go me!

Caroline -- who also suffered a chest cold and ear infection this month -- helped me do some fall baking.  We made this recipe found on Pinterest, another new obsession of mine.

Halloween 2011 came and went.  It was fun to trick-or-treat for the 2nd year in a row with our cousin / nephew Josh!  Rob was Iron Man and Caroline was a pink cowgirl.

All this candy is for me?  Just for being cute?

Mommy, should I be more scared of this killer (live) snake or my Uncle Jason's Auburn shirt?

Football season is in full swing. I mean big, make-or-break games that unfortunately, are trying to break us. I got the chance to meet and have a great conversation with AJ McCarron's dad--that'd be Bama's starting QB for all you non-Bammers.  This was taken before the LSU game, hence the smiles!

Our living room is undergoing a major renovation.  So big, that I'll save it, too, for another post, but just know that it's huge!  And last but hardly the least...

Rob is sick.  He started out with the crud and a pretty heavy ear infection.  Just when he was well, he got Strep throat!  Yucky.  Well now he's on a pretty strong antibiotic that is also making him feel yucky. The photo above is when he actually fell asleep in the Dr's office.  Bless his heart!

Here's hoping I can finally sleep restfully again and get back to a routine.  It's been so very crazy in the Morris home for the past few weeks! 

More updates will come!

Scooby Doo and A Birthday, Too!

Rob turns 5 on Sunday, August 28th.  Sob.  I cannot believe we are already at 5!  I will be out of town this weekend, so we scheduled his party this past weekend.  Rob is totally into Scooby Doo right now, so that became our party theme.

Let me go ahead and say that I take credit for very few of these ideas as being original.  Thanks to my new obsession, Pinterest, and to my older obsession, blogging / blog stalking y'all, I have seen so many cute ideas out there.  It is probably proper to credit all my borrowed ideas, but I make no money off this blog, nor did I charge an admission fee to the party.  I'm pretty sure I'm not violating any copyright laws.

Rob's shirt was made by the sweetest, cutest blogger out there...Jennifer at Life in the Green House, who also makes children's apparel at Braylabee's.  I did not receive any promotional consideration for advertising, but she did such a great job, she deserves props!

The Mystery Machine's color scheme became our party pallette -- aqua, tangerine, and lime green.  I threw in some purple randomly -- inspired by chic Daphne's minidress she wears in every episode. 

Via the magic of Windows Paint and Staples Print and Copy Center, I made three lamintated signs to decorate with.  They featured some of the more catchy phrases from Scooby Doo cartoons:

If you look in the background of this picture, you will see the goody bags for the guests.  By the way, who came up with the idea of giving gifts to our party guests?  It seems like a nice gesture to thank your attending guests, but the concept of goody bags has gotten out of hand at childrens' parties!  Anyhoo, I didn't give out "goody bags" I gave out "doggie bags"...

I think they were a hit, don't you?  Finally it was time for the party to begin...

As our guests arrived, I made a point of saying, "Did y'all hear that noise?" and "There it is again...what was that?"  Meanwhile, I had previously arranged for my nephew, Josh, to fiddle with this old, mysterious looking book I usually decorate with.  Out popped a treasure map and a CLUE...(map drawn on the other side)

In "the yard of play" i.e. the backyard, the kids found this:

A Scooby Doo pinata! Isn't he cute?  We love Sooby Doo, so bashing him over the head just wouldn't "doo".  This pinata's goodies are obtained by pulling strings from the bottom...

Once the proper string was pulled, out fell 100's (okay maybe only about 30 or so) ghosts!  i.e. Dum-Dum suckers converted through the magic of tissue paper and a sharpie

What else came out?  Another CLUE! 

This clue read "Mashing monsters is what it's all about...go have fun. Twist and shout!"

When all the kiddos ran inside, "Monster Mash" was playing and the kids had an impromptu dance party.

Amid all their revelrie, yet another CLUE came floating down the stairs, attached to a ghost (balloon

concealed underneath a pillowcase).  I didn't get a photo of this one, but his clue said the following:

"Go to the place where you would dine...look under the placemats for another sign!"

What did the meddling kids party guests find?  A bunch of dog tails!  It was time to play Pin The Tail On Scooby Doo!

After all the kids had a chance to pin their tails, Josh discovered there was another, final clue on the back of the game board.  It read:

"With so many ghost friends to help you out, you're sure to sold this mystery...no doubt!

Go back to the place where you began. Discover the TREASURE...I know you can!"

We all ended up back in the living room, and the treasure was a box full of presents for Rob.  I tried to explain that the true "treasure" was the large group of friends Rob will "treasure" his whole life.  Looking back, that may be too deep a concept for a 5th birthday, but you can't blame me for trying!

Finally it was time for cake.  I have to say, there are some great higher-end bakeries out there, but good ol' Publix makes delicious cakes!  By going through a commercial "chain" store, I had only one choice for the design, but it turned out cute and it tasted so moist and delicious!

Have you ever tried to get 12 kids to all sit still and say "cheese" at the same time when there is a huge cake sitting out on the table?  Hint: it doesn't work out...

All in all, the party was a raving success!  Rob has told me time and again that he loved it.  It was chaotic, and I'm not sure every kid there understood the "storyline" but they all knew they were having fun!