Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Sweet Caroline

She is sure to be really sick of the Neil Diamond tune by the time she grows up (her sister already has most of the song memorized), but with such a sweet smile, what else could we call her?

Caroline's Baptism

We had a beautiful day and wonderful friends to share Caroline's special day. Living so far from family is hard on holidays and special occasions, but having great friends who can fill in means so much to us. The Stolpe and Schoonover families joined us for Caroline's baptism and made it such a memorable day. Caroline slept through the entire service, not even a flinch when the water was poured! Ella entertained the entire church with her interpretive dances for each hymm :) It was a great day!

Happy Halloween

We had the Halloween festivities on base last night and it was so much fun to watch Ella, I mean Ariel the mermaid, enjoy every bit of it...well, once we told her that the zombie at dinner was not real! She of course had her face painted like a butterfly yet again and played a few games at the carnival. But when trick-or-treating started it was ON! She sprinted from house to house and yelled to us after each one telling us what kind of candy she received! It was GREAT!! It took her about two hours to fall asleep...we could hear her talking from downstairs!

Trick-or-Treating with Charlie the Owl!

Caroline really liked Halloween!

There was no stopping her!

Check out all the loot :)

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We made a trip with our friends to the local pumpkin patch to spend a day getting in the spirit! Ella and her friend Charlie had a blast and wore us all out. There were farm animals to see, pumpkins to pick and carve, barrel trains to ride and Ella's favorite...FACE PAINTING!!

Look at those cute baby piggies!

Being very cautious on the tractor ride!

"What about this one?"

No, this is the one!

WEEEEEEE!

The Girls

WOW, two girls sure can keep you busy! Both are doing really well and we are loving every minute with our sweet little girls :)

Ella loves her new ballet class!

Good morning!

Moving on...

We found out a few days ago that our story will continue in Hampton, Virginia beginning in the summer of 2011. Our new home will be Langley Air Force Base and Brian will be working at Headquarters doing medical readiness planning. We are very excited and are looking forward to the change in weather! Please come and visit us!!

Caroline Marie Caruthers

After a few days of thinking she may never arrive, Caroline made her debut in a rush! We had dinner reservations on Saturday for a last minute chance to go out with no children in tow. It was time to start getting ready and after heading upstairs to get dressed, I started feeling a few contractions. Then they hit hard and fast. Already ruining her parents plans...she is in so much trouble!! My first contraction was at around 4:30pm and Caroline was in my arms at 5:31pm. She was ready to meet everyone and there was no stopping her! We thought she was going to be born in the car :) Brian may be wanted by the Harrogate Police for some interesting driving techniques, but he got me there and our beautiful little girl is here and we couldn't be happier. Ella is a GREAT big sister and asks about 'our baby' all the time and wants to hold and kiss her all day. When I dropped her off at school today, her teacher asked her how Baby Caroline was doing and Ella told her "very wonderful" :) We are extremely proud of our little girls.

Caroline Marie Caruthers

8 pounds, 6.5 ounces, 20 inches

Back to School

Ella had her first day back at playgroup last week and now goes all day one day a week and the morning for the other two days. She LOVES going to school and all of her teachers and friends. She was very excited to get to stay and have lunch with everyone but it was a long day for everyone! She almost fell asleep on the drive home.

The Man Shower

The wonderful people at Brian's office planned a surprise 'Man Shower' for him and invited Ella and I to join in the festivities. The party was complete with games, a Texas Tech onesie cake and LOTS of great gifts from a great group of people. Since it was a Man Shower, only the men particpated in the games, Pregnancy Twister with pillows tied to their bellies and baby bottle drinking races. The cake looked and tasted great! It was a blast :)

Look at all that loot!!

Weekend in London

With the baby coming in a few weeks, we decided to take a quick trip to London (before I was too big and cranky to go anywhere). We took the 6am train out of Harrogate on Saturday morning and got back home at 8pm on Sunday. It was exhausting but worth every minute. We had a list of must-sees (including mostly restaurants) that we had not visited on our previous trips and knew we wanted to go to Westminster Abbey first (both other visits were unsuccessful as it closed early in the day). The Abbey was beautiful, no photos allowed inside so you will have to take my word for it if you haven't seen it. :)

Westminster Abbey

We also had to partake in the tourist trap, aka The London Eye. Talk about a long line with lots of bored children :) We booked tickets online, so we were able to skip one line (I recommend this to everyone)! Ella was SO excited, but poor thing told us as we were about 3 minutes from boarding that she had to go potty. She was almost in tears after the 30 minute ride...I know, bad parenting! She was such a trooper :)

Brian's new love since moving to England is Scotch Whisky, he has even joined the Scotch Malt Whisky Society!! He asked that while we were there he be allowed to go to the society's tasting room. Not too many people were there so we all went in and Ella and I enjoyed peanuts and juice while Brian submerged himself in 'study'!!

Scotch Malt Whisky Society Tasting Room

A very tired girl at the end of the day :)

After a good nights sleep, we awoke ready for day 2. We headed straight for the Science Museum and Ella had a blast. There was an area just for 2-5 year old kids with tons of cool stuff to play with. We saw a bubble show that she is still talking about.

Very proud of her castle!

After lunch at Chipotle, yes the American chain, we then spent a lot of time and money at my one request for the trip, Whole Foods!!! We bought as many familiar things as we could find and snacked through the store. To reward Ella for being perfectly behaved for the entire trip, we headed to one of the best playgrounds ever. The Princess Diana Memorial Playground is a must-see for any family traveling to London!!

A very, very, very tired girl on the train ride home :)

Germany, Take....I've lost count!!

Brian had to go to a conference in Garmisch, Germany and since it would be one of our last chances to travel before the baby comes, we all went to enjoy Germany again. The weather was great everyday and the views in every direction are amazing.

Driving into the resort.

The view from our room.

Relaxing in the lobby.

Since we were away from England and the rain, we spent as much time outside as possible. Ella would have spent the entire trip at the hotel's playground! She was such a trooper on the trip.

We took a family horse and carriage ride around Garmisch one evening and saw all the sights. Ella has always loved horses and she was so excited she never sat down. She is still talking about the horse ride and keeps asking what their names were.

She never took her eyes off the horses!

The next day we drove up to one of the mountain lakes, Eibsee, and rented a paddle boat. I still don't know how Ella didn't end up in the lake. I had to hold on to her life jacket with a death grip.

Only in Germany would you be served apple juice in a glass like that :)

For dinner we drove to a different lake, Riersee, to have dinner at a restaurant right on the lake. Our view from the table was breathtaking and Ella was able to walk around the lake while we waited for our food, always a plus!

On our last day we rented bikes and went for a ride to the next town, Partenkirchen. We stopped to see the Olympic ski slope and found a bobsled ride that Brian had to force Ella onto then couldn't get her to leave!

Our last dinner was in Partenkirchen at a restaurant with traditional Bavarian music and dancing. The food was amazing!! And Brian sure enjoyed the beer :)

We had an amazing trip and hope to be able to go to all of the Military resorts one day, they sure know how to treat their guests!