Christmas Pictures!

Sorry these have taken so long to post, but here are some pictures from Christmas and this week! Enjoy!

Katherine and two of her favorites...Dagny and Ms. Lisay.

Caroline flying!

Katherine found Rudolf!

Mommy and the girls on Christmas Eve.

Katherine making chocolate milk for Santa.

Katherine putting out Santa's cookies!

Cookies and Milk all ready for Santa...Katherine is safe?!

Santa, Stop here! Katherine wrote out the card with a little help from Mom.

Looks like Santa came!

Merry Christmas!! We love our new kitchen!

What can we cook?

Look what Santa left in our stockings!

Katherine dug right into opening presents.

Caroline wasn't quite as interested...

Somebody got some presents at Grammy and Gray Gray's!

Katherine as Snow White!

Sweet little Caroline with a double ear infection on Christmas Day! :(

Giving Daddy Kisses!

Silly Katherine!

Hi, Caroline!

Christmas was fun!

Katherine and Mommy made homemade playdough! Pink of course...is there any other color?

The girls test driving Caroline's new Big Wheel!

VA Trip Days 1 and 2

The Hughes are in Virginia! Due to the crazy schedule that we have had for what seems like months now (hence my absence on the blog!) we made the trip up to VA a little before Christmas in order to miss the hectic Holiday traffic and to better fit our crazy schedules! So on Tuesday we packed it up and headed to the airport to fly to VA! Never mind that it is FREEZING in FL and even colder in VA! What were we thinking?! It was 43 degrees when we reached the Orlando airport and Katherine kept saying "Mommy, it's FREEZING! It's too cold to be outside!" HA! Definitely a FL girl at heart. :)

We made it through security without any hitches and were at our gate with an hour to spare! We let the girls run around and wear themselves out and got juice for the girls to drink while on the plane. We scored a major victory when Chris's seatmate didn't show up for the flight! Score! So I took the harness thing we have used on Katherine in the past and we put it on Caroline in her very own big girl seat! She was SO good! As long as she had something to look at/play with or had food and drink she was a happy little girl. She got a little fussy about 30 minutes from Richmond, but after about 2 minutes of fussing she conked out and snoozed until we pulled up to the gate in Richmond. Major victory since she is still getting over an ear infection!

We ran into rush hour traffic in Richmond which delayed our arrival at the Hughes house a bit, but both girls were conked out, so it wasn't that bad! Last night we visited for a bit and then we all hit the sack around 9pm. We were tired!

Katherine woke up around 7:30 this morning (super late for her!!) and was ready to go play outside...until we opened the front door at 17 degrees! HOLY COW! I forgot how cold that feels! BBBRRR! Good thing I purchased hats, gloves and a scarf for the girls before we left! Katherine decided she would play inside until the sun had a chance to warm things up a bit...to 37 degrees. Another interesting thing that happened is that Katherine's hair has straightened out considerably! I guess the humidity really makes her hair curly! She looks a little funny without the wild and crazy curls everywhere! :)

Caroline slept for 13 hours last night! I was super excited as I was able to sleep in a little bit and get showered and completely ready before she graced us with her presence this morning! What a treat! I don't think she is feeling completely well, but she has been so good the whole time. She is quite intent on climbing up the stairs, but other than that has been one happy little girl!

Today we hung around the house and didn't do much as we were catching up with everyone here. Katherine did manage to get out and swing in PaPa's swing set, but she wasn't out for long! She came in with bright rosy cheeks and said "It's COLD out there Mom!" I guess so! Tonight she baked cookies with CiCi in their matching aprons. It was quite cute!

Everyone has conked out for the night, so I think I shall do the same! Can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow...and hopefully warmer temperatures! :)

Katherine cheesing it up for the camera.

Katherine with semi-straight hair!

Forget toys...just give me a suitcase!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Hughes Family!

Katherine and Caroline all cuddled in their jammies ready to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Completely Wacky Tuesday!

So this week (Nov 2-6) has turned out to be the busiest week of the entire year for Christopher and I. He is so swamped at work (Praise the Lord!) that he has jobs going on in three different parts of the state, bids due in Tampa, Highways being shut down for them to install generators and mean while still trying to get other projects wrapped up before year end...yeah, just a little insane. So this week he is basically out of town the entire week. He was able to be home late last night (he had to vote!) and the night before, but every other night this week he is working round the clock. Yesterday he left the house at 4am and got home at 7pm...LONG DAY! Anyway, while he is running around like a chicken with his head cut off at work, the girls and I also have a crazy week planned. We have school activities, Small Group Bible Study is at our house tonight, and then add in that Dad is out of town which means that both girls go crazy. Not sure why, but that's what happens! Fun stuff!

So yesterday I popped out of bed at 6:30am (after having been up with Caroline 5 times in the night for no apparent reason), showered, dressed, got the girls up and at em and rushed out of the house to vote! Do not forget your civic duty! Anyway, luckily there were no lines! SCORE! I was in and out in 15 minutes...LOVE IT! Came home and immediately started cleaning for our Wednesday Bible study. I normally have a lady that comes to clean twice a month...but she's been on vacation, so our house is a DISASTER! I also got a wild hair up my sleeve that I needed to check some really bugging me things off of my long to do list. Like, fixing the broken cabinet door in the kitchen, touch up painting the family room and reorganizing the garage...yes I know...I've lost my mind! So the girls and I zipped off to Lowe's for supplies, came home. Reorganized the toy box, cleaned the entire downstairs, mopped the floors, cleaned the couches and under them (GROSS!), and then threw in a load of diapers to wash. I was clipping right along. So I decided to fix the cabinet door. Fixed it in a jiffy...just call me Mrs. Tim the Tool Man Taylor! I was feeling pretty darn good! Then...it happened, I walk into my laundry room to see about 2" of standing water...what the heck?! I immediately think one of the hoses must have come loose on the washer...NOPE. It's leaking from the BOTTOM! Ruh roh! Did I mention that Chris is MIA this week?! Yeah, so I call an appliance repairman...going to be a minimum of $250 to fix the thing...so I said "screw that!" As soon as naps were over, the girls and I hopped back in the car and went back to Lowe's. We picked out, purchased and arranged for delivery in under 30 minutes and we were back on the road home to fix dessert for Wednesday. Meanwhile, during the girls nap I decided to do my touch up painting...went out to the garage opened the can of paint...yeah, the last repairman left a metal grate in the paint...and it RUSTED in the paint. LOVELY! No touch up painting for me today!

Chris called and needed me to scan him his filled out sample ballot that he had forgotten at home. So I did that. He made it to the polls just in the nick of time! After he had driven ALL over the state...good job honey!

He came home just as the girls and I finished up a super gourmet dinner of cereal and I started in on making dessert for Wednesday. Man was I going to be ahead of the game! Yeah...just as I finish saying to Chris "aren't you proud of all I accomplished today...with the girls in tow?!" I realize that I have just made Chris's favorite dessert...and LEFT OUT THE MAIN INGREDIENT?! Good grief! By now it is 8pm and I'm exhausted. So I pack it in for the night and head up for baths and bedtime.

I swear I have never had a day so insane before! I'm sure there will be many more, but I think I'll stick to my normal run of the mill days from now on, thank you very much! In good news, I was able to get new dessert supplies and have the dessert almost ready for tonight. :)

Off to another wacky day in the Hughes household! :)

October 2010

Well the Hughes household has been busy again...surprise, surprise!!! :) Both girls are growing so fast and provide hours of entertainment for Chris and I. Katherine is super duper smart in her preschool class, but also has been called the teacher's "challenge." She is very strong willed and knows what she wants, when she wants and how she wants it. I know that one day God will use that for His good purposes, but right now we are trying to channel those qualities for good instead of bad! :) I must say she has come a LONG way, but as always, there is still room for improvement! :) Her favorite things right now are Daddy, Gray Gray, PaPa, dance, PINK, PINK, PINK, and anything princess and sparkly. :) She can spell her name and is starting to recognize familiar words on signs and in books. I cringe at the thought that she will be reading soon! Lookout world!!! She has had some really funny quotes lately. One day I was talking to Chris about ordering a new windshield wiper for the back of my car (they apparently do not stock these in our local auto parts stores.). When I hung up the phone, Katherine said, "Mommy, I don't need a windshield wiper yet. I still just learning to drive." I said "Oh really? You are JUST learning to drive?" She replied "Yeah, you know, my pink Barbie Mustang. But soon I'll be ready for my wiper." HA! Then just last Friday night she looked up at me during dinner and said "Mom, I'm going to have 5 babies one day. They are going to sleep in Caroline's room." She then proceeded to name all 5...three of the names I could not decipher as they sounded like all vowels names, but two were Sandy and Beckwith. This absolutely cracked me up because Sandy Beckwith is one of our dear friends at church and Katherine LOVES her. :) So sweet! I also love the fact that her babies are going to sleep in Caroline's room. HA!

Caroline is now walking and running up a storm! There's no stopping her now! She LOVES to chase or be chased by Miss Katherine. And the two girls now play together pretty well. Katherine isn't always thrilled that Caroline wants to play with her toys, but overall they are SO sweet together. Caroline just laughs and laughs at her big sister. She also doesn't take getting pushed around. If Katherine starts steam rolling over her, Caroline just pushes right back! I think Katherine had better watch out, because Miss Caroline is strong! Right now her favorite things are Colby's bowls (GROSS!), dumping Colby's food out on the floor for him to eat (not Mommy's favorite activity), putting shapes into the proper place in her puzzle box, her sister, cuddling with CiCi, her Grammie, drinking anything and everything and food! She is a non-discriminatory eater. I love it! She will eat pretty much anything I put in front of her!!! She is the sweetest little thing!! :)

Here are some recent pictures...Enjoy!!

Katherine making funny faces.

Sweet Caroline resting with CiCi.

I love you CiCi!!

What kind of trouble can I get into?!

So sweet!!

Katherine and her wild hair!

The Fairy Princess Katherine!

Ready to Trick or Treat!

Sweet sisters!!

Our very own Princess!

Look at my treats Daddy!

Mommy and Caroline finishing up Trick or Treating.

Such a sweet Pumpkin!

What a face!

My hair is starting to curl!!

Tough Fairy Princess!

15 Month Photos

Katherine at 15 months.
Caroline at 15 months

Caroline 15 month check up

Well Miss Caroline had her 15 month check up this morning with the wonderful Dr. W. She was a perfect little angel the entire time! I am so amazed at the differences between both girls! Katherine was never content to be in the doctor's office, but Caroline just sat on the scale and helped the nurse move the weights over, then she calmly laid on the table and allowed her head and length measurements to be taken. The whole time she just stared up at Nurse Felicia and smiled. Then when the nurse left, she waved bye bye and smiled. AMAZING! Katherine was also quite the peach today too! She sat quietly in the little chair and read her books while the doctor examined Caroline and helped entertain Caroline while we were talking. I was astounded! Guess my little girls are growing up on me! :( Anyway, Caroline got a clean bill of health and is moving right along developmentally. Yeah! She did have to get two shots, but she was a champ for those as well! After a few seconds of crying, she was all better again! Sweet baby!

Here are her stats:

Height: 32" (WHOA!) 90-95th percentile
Weight: 22 lbs. just under 50th percentile
Head: 18.5" 80th percentile


Katherine's stats at 15 months:
Height: 30"
Weight: 20 lbs.
Head: 18.5"


So Caroline is a full 2" longer than Katherine was at this age and 2 pounds heavier. She is in the 15th percentile for her height/weight combination. Looks like she's going to follow the long and lean trend of Miss Katherine!!

End of Sept/Beginning of Oct Picutres

Here are some pictures of the girls from the last few weeks. They are growing up so quickly! Enjoy!

"Just take the picture already!"

Happy Caroline! (She's cutting more teeth, hence the drooling.)

Katherine LOVES her Daddy! :)

Just hanging out in our jammies!

Sister kisses! So sweet!

Katherine's "princess smile." Not as good as her real smile, but still cute. :)

Playing together.

Aawww...I love my sister!

Such a serious subject...

Lookout Daddy! I'm taking over!

Katherine is the new boss!