Caroline often believes she is as big as her sister. She wants to do everything Madeline does. These pictures are of her feeding herself yogurt. She wants to hold the spoon all the time now. Other than the huge mess, she does pretty well. As you can see from the last picture, she gets very proud of herself. She is so funny!
Caroline had her one-year well-baby check this week. She now weighs 19 1/2 lbs. (25th %tile) and is 29 1/2 inches (75th %tile). She has reached all her 12 month milestones and impressed Dr. Miller with all her words, animal sounds, and chatting. She didn't care much for her shots, but didn't cry long. It's hard to believe she'd one!
I have always said I would not want a garden for anything. The weeds would drive me crazy, but when Madeline started showing an interest, I decided we could give it a try. This week we planted our first garden. We call it our garden adventure because I am not counting on anything growing! We were going to keep it pretty small, but we have now planted tomatoes (3 kinds), sweet corn, peas, green beans, carrots, onions (2 kinds), red, green, & yellow peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and green & yellow zucchini squash. Watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins are to come! We had a wonderful time planting. Caroline enjoyed the dirt too. She only tasted it once! We'll let you know how it all turns out. 
Caroline got a sprinkler for her birthday and on Tuesday we decided to try it out. It was hot and sunny. The hose water was extremely cold! Madeline didn't even want to stay in very long. Caroline, however, just stood there in the water and let it spray her. She would then run and laugh only to go right back in. This day gave me summer fever!
Caroline wasn't quite sure about the tunnel.
Teddy Bear cupcakes
Playing outside!
Surprise!
Giving Sissy love!
Want some cupcake, Sis?
Hey, that's my new toy!
Birthday Girl
Big Girl Ride from Gramma & Papa Richard
Showing off for my friends
Sharing
The kids
I could not get a good picture of the girls!
Papa & Austin
Nana
Gramma Judy
Papa Richard
Party preparation
Caroline's Cake
Teddy Bear Cake
Caroline turned one on May 18th! It is so hard to believe that a year has passed since she was born. She is so big and can do so many things. She brings so much joy and fun to our house and lives. We had a Teddy Bear Birthday on Sunday with our family and some special friends. I didn't go princess crazy, but I did make a cute teddy bear cake. The kids had fun on the swing set and in the toy room and Caroline loved having so many people around. She is so social. Having lots of kids to watch and play with makes her very happy. The cake was the best part. Everyone got in on the action. Once she realized everyone was watching and laughing at her, she just went crazy! She fed all the kids, threw the cake, pounded the cake, and then just giggled. She is a ham! Thank you everyone for making her birthday so special. On Monday (her birthday) we had our traditional family party. We always have spaghetti, decorated cupcakes and open presents. Caroline went just as crazy for her cupcake as she did her cake. It was a nice evening. Madeline picked out a pair of sandals to give her. She opened them, put them on, and then she was done. Madeline decided it was pretty nice being the big sister of a one-year-old who doesn't care about opening presents. Caroline is one! Wow!
GG Lou and GG Connie with (left to right)
Silly faces!
"Great"-Uncle Brad with (left to right)
We have had a lot of sadness in our family these past few weeks, but we cannot forget how much God has blessed us. We had another funeral to attend last Friday, but if you look at these pictures, you see joy. These are the next generation of cousins. My cousins Stacey, Stephanie, and Starla were all in Missouri for the funeral, so we were able to get a picture of our children with Great-Grandpa and Grandma Meinke and Great-Uncle Brad. Our children are very blessed to have so many people who love them. The pics are pretty good considering the number of kids!
Caroline has had a long time facination with the washer and dryer. I heard some banging last week and went to check on her. She had put all of our shoes in the dryer. If she can lift it, chances are it's going in the washer or dryer!
Auntie Mallory is very creative, so Madeline was thrilled to have someone new to do projects with last week. I think they spent most of Mallory's time here at the breakfast bar making things. Madeline loved it!
