Expressive Baby!

Man do we have an expressive baby on our hands!  Caroline is the most expressive little girl I know - she's got a "look" for just about every emotion there is.  She's quite the "look giver" and so funny.  She knows how to get a laugh - that's for sure!

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Catherine Ellis has lots of prayers these days.  Her favorite is the Lord's Prayer which she recites really well for a three year old (almost four!)!  Check it out:

She also has her very own unique prayers that she says most night - lots of them are giving thanks for things in her life - lots of material things - her fan, her books, her bed.  Most nights she adds Mommy, Daddy and Caroline.  And sometimes she even tells the Lord about the things she's not thankful for.  Like one day a teacher at school made her mad and that night while we were saying our prayers and the things we were thankful for that day she said "I'm thankful for my fan, for my family, for my friends and I'm not thankful for Ms. ______."  It took everything in me not to die with laughter.  I was amazed that she seemed to have a hard time grasping the concept of what "thankful" meant - much more than objects - but she clearly grasped what "not thankful" meant.  She keeps on on our toes.

So here is a special prayer that Catherine Ellis repeated for me one night this week before bath time - don't you just love the mind of a three year old!?

A healthy prayer life involves the ups and downs, good and bad of your day.  Good thing she remembered Santa Claus in there - would hate to leave him out.

Happy Holy Week friends - may we all remember the sacrifice that was made for us. 

Dawson's Easter Egg Hunt

We started attending Dawson's Annual Easter Egg Hunt last year and we couldn't wait to go again this year! The weather was not so great - but the rain did finally end and we were able to get outside and have a wonderful time.

This is so much more than an Easter Egg Hunt - it has bounce houses, slides, crafts, rides (train and race cars) and we always see lots of our good friends there.  This year we met up with our friends Marybeth, Ryan and Cyatt (Wyatt).  CE and Cyatt haven't seen each other in a few months  - it was a wonderful reunion!  So fun!

This was Caroline's first year to attend and she soaked it all in - loving every single second!  We can't wait to do it again next year!

Running through the bubbles ... 

C and CE sliding down the bouncy whale slide

(this was C's first bouncy slide attempt - she's a thrill seeker!)

Wyatt and CE reunited 

Waiting to ride!

Riding the race cars

CE and Wyatt driving by their lonesome - 

as CE would say "we don't need any adults, Mommy!"

Action shot of W and CE driving fast!

The whole crew riding - 

C didn't want me to put my arm around her at all!  So independent!

C and Ryan - she was loving the shoulder ride!

(Thank you Ryan!)

How sweet is this?!  

Gearing up for her first Easter Egg Hunt with W and CE - 

she refused to go to her age group's hunt ...

Lining up!

Look at her eggs - she did so well for her first hunt!

CE and her loot - she did great!

C's favorite activity - eating huge sugar cookies and icing

CE making her cookie

Enjoying the fruits of their labor

W and CE - besties!

The Three Amigos!

Pan Can Run

The Pancreatic Cancer Run is something that we look forward to each year- it's a chance for us to support a dear friend and her family.  Holly and her family so so important to our family!  Her father was diagnosed almost 3 years ago with pancreatic cancer and he's fighting the good fight and doing so well - we are SO proud.  So the Pan Can Run not only allows us as a family to join in the fight against this deadly cancer, it also allows us to raise money for research.  Early detection means a much brighter future with this cancer and the only way we can ensure that is to fund important research.

You may remember we participated in our first Pan Can Run in 2011 and had a blast - they skipped 2012 in order to have it earlier in the year and it turns out February is a great time for a race!  It was very cold that morning, but it didn't stop us from running to support Caraway's Crew!

 William and C all bundled up and ready for a jog

Sweet C - quite the ham! 

 Holly and CE - big buddies!

 Some of Caraway's Crew ...

We got a late start on the Family Fun Run (one mile) because CE dived into the biggest mud puddle at the park within 30 seconds of arriving (not that I was annoyed or anything) and had to go back to the car and change - so most of the runners were gone as we started our run.  CE wanted to run with me - so we started out with the babies in the stroller and CE and I running - she really did so well - then she got tired and I knew the finish line was coming up soon - so I threw her on the front of the stroller (see picture below) and we kept running... and running... and running ... and running .. (you get the picture).... finally we got to a part of Homewood that I knew was a lot further away than a mile from where we started so I asked someone if I just happened to be on the 5K route instead of the Family Fun Run.  Yep, we were on the wrong route.  So, what do you do... you keep running.

I had to slow down a few times to make sure that Caroline hadn't kicked CE off the stroller completely - she was one good, swift kick into her sister's back away from pounding CE into the pavement, but my constant urging and "stop Caroilne, no Caroline, don't kick your sister, Caroline" paid off and CE survived riding, unstrapped to the front of our two person jogging stroller.  You can imagine lots of folks commented on me running with three children under three in my stroller and it was good for the soul I tell ya.  I think it's the only reason I kept running.  I finished the 5K, totally not meaning to run it at all, in 30 minutes with three kiddos - that's three, ten minute miles folks.  This mama was PROUD.

Next it was time to eat - so we played in more puddles and ate lots of food because those babies had worked hard running that race:)  There was live music too - just what us Cain folk love - a good time!

Thank you Holly for allowing us the honor of running the race in your father's honor and fighting the good fight against pancreatic cancer!  We love you all dearly!

McWane Center's Big Machine Day

We started February off with a bang - snow and big machines!

We are members at McWane Center and boy do we love us some McWane - there's nothing better on a really cold or really hot day!

So we braved the snow and big machines we did see and then Mommy's camera battery died: