The Best Birthday Ever

I have to give credit, where credit is due... my husband is the best!

He planned the perfect 30th birthday surprise for me- and I was actually surprised! Probably the first time ever that something was completely a surprise- I'm pretty good at picking up on clues and figuring things out. Jason is still mad to this day that I got my nails done and bought a new dress for a dinner that turned into our engagement dinner :)

While we were giving our babysitter last minute instructions, an Escalade with a driver pulled into our driveway! Then instead of heading to the Melting Pot, which I had originally thought was our plan, our driver went to pick up Tony and Alina, my brother and sister-in-law. Then to top things off, the driver headed to Marietta and picked up my best friend Lauri and her boyfriend Marc. No one would tell me where we were headed, but we started on our way towards Atlanta.

We took the most twisted and backwards way to Buckhead and our driver ended up dropping us off in front of The St. Regis for drinks. We had a few delicious cocktails and then walked over to Chops for an even more delicious dinner.

Jason and I have gone to a lot of swanky and cool restaurants in Atlanta. In fact, one of our favorite things to do together is to go try out new restaurants and we try to go to a new one every chance we get. But for our anniversary, we always come back to Chops- it is always and consistently a great meal and a good time. Their spinach salad is the best salad I have ever had. EVER. I love it and have always said I would rather skip the steak and have two portions of their salad!! Yum!

Sitting with two of my favorite boys at the St. Regis

What a hottie... of course, I mean Jason!

The lovely ladies

Family Fun Night...

nothing brings you closer than drinking together :)

Sharing an amazing bottle of wine, creme brulee, SPINACH SALAD, being surrounded by my favorite people that I love the most... what more could I ask for? What a great way to spend the first night of my 30's... I can already tell this will be the best decade of my life yet!

Georgia Tech Homecoming- Go Jackets!!

What is one of my favorite things about the fall?? College football!!

Ok, ok... I'll be honest- I get way more excited about the tailgating part of football than the game itself. But... I have always loved game day and the excitement and fun of tens of thousands of people on campus. My favorite game of the Tech season is Homecoming and I loved sharing this experience with the girls. The fraternity and sorority houses are pomped and decorated, the Wreck Parade is always fun to watch (even though we haven't made it to this in several years- it starts way too early in the morning!!) and there are always good friends coming in town that we haven't seen in years! I LOVE it! I hope that we will be able to continue this tradition each year and I can't wait until next year when hopefully Caitlin will be able to sit through a game and Tech will have a winning season... Go Jackets!

The girls had so much fun playing in the sand with their friends, and our godsons, Christian and Collin~ hopefully, we are looking at the future generation of yellow jackets!

Watching them play together, it's easy to imagine them partying at the Pi Kapp beach party together in about 15 years :)

Tuckered out after a long day in the hot sun... good thing Uncle Tony was there to give Ava a ride through campus!

Caitlin is 15 months!

The months are moving faster and faster and I can hardly keep up with these monthly updates! Caitlin is continuing to grow and learn and laugh and play and run ALL over the place. She does not sit still and I am having trouble taking any pictures, much less any that truly capture Caitlin and her fun personality. Maybe I should switch to video for the next few months... :)

Still no teeth yet, but she does love brushing her non-existent ones! She thinks she is such a big girl standing on her stool in the bathroom and copying mommy and daddy... either that or she just loves the taste of her bubblegum flavored toothpaste :) Every month, we think that this will be the month that we will start weaning Caitlin off of her paci- but then every month without teeth, I think that it is cruel to take it away and not give her comfort if her gums are hurting!

Caitlin is so curious... about everything! Her favorite question is still "what's that?" She loves touching things she's not supposed to, opening any cabinet that she can get into, pulling drawers open, and "tasting" all types of things- sand, lotions, bubbles, dirt, leaves, any toys that look interesting... I have not officially seen her put a bug in her mouth, but I have seen her spit something out that looked suspiciously bug-ish- YUCK!

As much as Caitlin is moving, there are times where she will take a step back from whatever is going on and just watch. You can see her observing and taking it all in and soaking it all up like a little sponge. I am so looking forward to the day when she can tell me what she's thinking about!

As usual, Caitlin is running! Come and get me, Daddy!

My fearless little girl loves being thrown in the air, swung in the air, twirled around, spun round and round until she falls down dizzy. She has just learned ring around the rosies and loves getting the whole family to do it with her... over and over... and over :)

Daddy is hands down the best twirler, swinger, spinner... Mommy just can't compete!

While Caitlin is well on her way to toddlerhood, there are still a few glimpses of the cuddly, snuggly baby that she was just a short time ago. My favorite time of the day with her is right when she wakes up in the morning- we go downstairs and get some juice and cuddle on the couch for about a half hour while we both take our time gearing up for the day ahead.

Caitlin, we love you more and more each day!!

Happy Birthday Kaitley!

The day after we got back from the beach, we went to the Gymnastics Academy of Atlanta to celebrate Kaitley's 3rd birthday. Ava loves gymnastics and since we are taking a gymnastics hiatus in favor of ballet, Ava was super excited to put on her hot pink leotard and go to the gym!

I loved Kaitley's cake- so cute and colorful!

Ava loving every minute of the party

Caitlin had fun at the party too-

we couldn't keep her off of the trampoline...

or out of the pit! :)

Our future gymnast in the making...

Happy Birthday, Kaitley!! We hope your 3rd year is filled with much love and laughter!

Hilton Head 2010

We took our second family vacation this year to Hilton Head, South Carolina for some relaxing days in the sun, building castles in the sand and many, many competitive games of Sequence at night! Since we had not been there in years, our vacation buddies- Kim and Len, showed us the way around the island.

I was happily surprised that what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, actually was... a relaxing vacation. With a 4 year old, 3 year old and a 16 month year old, you just never know how it will turn out- what if it rains everyday? What if the girls hate the water? What if we get sunburned the first day there and are miserable the rest of the trip? (I know this one from first hand experience- not fun!) Of course, none of my "what-if" worrying came to pass. The weather was gorgeous every single day, all of the girls swam like little fish, and no one got sunburned.

Our condo was perfect and right on the beach- the picture above is the view from our porch! There were 3 bedrooms which meant one for Kim and Len, one for Jason and I with Caitlin in her pack n play and Emmie and Ava shared a room. This was the first time that Ava slept in a big girl bed and luckily we had no falls! There was only one day when the girls got on each others nerves and there was some crying and some separating of Emmie and Ava (ya' know- typical girl stuff) but the rest of the time was a breeze.

The first morning there, the girls were excited and woke up early. We were all fed, dressed, sunscreen lathered and out on the beach by 9:30, which is way too early when you are on beach time :)

My sweet family- aren't I a lucky girl?

Caitlin was a bathing beauty- she loved the sand and even seemed to like the taste of it :)

Our Little Mermaid

We all had fun creating Ava's tail. Once it was completed, she stayed this way only long enough for a picture and then she was off!

The daddies are hard at work building some pretty awesome princess castles for the girls- they came complete with their own connecting moats... the only problem is, where are the princesses??

Caitlin proclaimed this one for herself- she earned the nickname of monster after she tore through, sat on, and smashed the castles

Emmie loved being an honorary big sister... I'm just saying! :)

Vogue and Elle- here she comes!

Posing in their bikinis- I see many Spring Break pictures looking exactly like this in their future!

One of the only times I made it in some pictures with the girls... I had to post it to actually prove I was on the trip! :) One of the pitfalls from having the camera attached to your face all the time!

My sweet girls- Caitlin is ready to get down and head to the beach!

I loved this cute bathing suit. It was Ava's- I am so happy we were able to use it again!

Enjoying some girl time

While we were at the beach, we spent some time at the pool everyday. Ava really improved her swimming skills and swam across the length of the pool all by herself. I was so impressed! She has come such a long way since the beginning of the summer...

The Lindros family enjoying some pool time together!

Ava loves hanging out with her Daddy in the pool- as you can tell, he is so much fun!

Making wishes in the fountain after eating yummy gelato!!

We wish for more gelato...

I tried to get a cute picture of the two girls together (I was thinking Christmas card photos), but this was the best I could get. On to plan B... :)

Kickboard fun!

Posing... and asking for some fruit snacks, I think :)

Midway through the week, the daddies went to play golf. When they got back, the girls wanted to play too! It was probably not the best idea to go right before dinner- it took forever to play through 18 holes and everyone was getting hungry. Ava could not understand why she wasn't supposed to just pick up her ball and walk it to the hole- it took her a while to catch on to the game. I will say, she did actually hit a legitimate hole in one (beginner's luck!!) only she thought that it was called a "homerun!" She has a lot of fun telling anyone that will ask about her homerun in golf!

Caitlin just had fun walking around on the greens and stealing the pretty balls:) Jason and Len won't be able to take their scores too seriously on this round!

Emmie was sitting pretty...

Again with the big sister thing... hint, hint you guys! :)

Taking a walk up to the general store for ice cream- you gotta love the beach where it is perfectly acceptable to eat ice cream several times a day, every day... when can we go back??

Taking a snack break

Emmie and Ava love

Caitlin was a daddy's girl walking on the beach

Kim and Len

Miss Independence

It's not a true beach trip until you chase a football into the water with your clothes on-

I don't think the sky looks real in this picture

This must be why she's a daddy's girl

Too tuckered out to smile!

On one of our last mornings there, we ventured out to Sunset Cafe to eat with the locals. The place was packed and we had to wait outside until our table was ready- Ava did not appreciate having her picture taken of the outfit she so proudly put together. Polka dots and giraffe prints... maybe she will start a new trend??

You have to pick your battles, folks... this is one I chose not to fight :)

Last day out on the beach together- Ava was brave enough to finally touch a sand dollar!

"bye, bye beach"

What an amazing week and memorable trip- we can't wait to go back next year!