One little monkey swinging from the rings!

And so we've started the beginning of running from one side of town to the other for sports, gymnastics, ballet, piano, etc. Well, just for baby gymnastics class but I can see the day coming. Carrington had a blast in her first class! She started the class playing a game of "freeze". The babies would run around in a circle to music and when the song said, "freeze", they had to stop. Imagine getting a one year old to stop when she is running at full speed (a dream come true for Carrington)! "Freeze" was followed by a circuit of walking across the balance beam, doing forward rolls, climbing up gymnastic thingys, and practicing headstands. From there, they moved into trying to do the "monkey hang" on the rings, pulling up on the uneven bar, and running down the straight away. At the end of the class, they were given free time to run around the gym. She quickly discovered the trampoline that was in the floor and went to jumping. Jumping has become a new favorite at home - on the bed, chair or in her crib. She also loved all the open space so she could "run away" from me. That's another game she enjoys, mama says come here and she takes off running in the other direction, as fast as she can!

So, here's to the beginning of lots of fun, learning, discipline, hardwork and most important, finding what she loves to do!

Sitting on the ladybug and "listening" to instructions

Practicing her floor routine - not much of a routine, just A LOT of running!
Jumping on the trampoline

Showing off her, "What we learned today" paper - The "Monkey Hang". She also got her first sticker that said, "Good Job"!
If you didn't enjoy that story or the pictures enough, I have a feeling you'll get a kick of out this! My parents kept me plenty busy trying to find what I would truly love being a part of. I tried just about everything - gymnastics, ballet, soccer, softball, track, and from the looks of it, even, GOLF (definitely influenced by my dad)! Ultimately, my days would be spent swimming in a pool and cheering for my HOKIES! There are certain things, you are just born to do!!

This one was just too good not to include! Looks like I wanted to be Daisy Duke. Check out that hair!!!

14 Months Old

She is precious! She is so proud of herself and all she accomplishes! We are proud of her!
She took off walking at 13 months old and hasn't looked back. She loves being outside, even when it's 30 degress. She no longer takes a bottle at night, bottle free baby! She drinks from a cup with a straw. She eats from a plate now. She is learning lots of new words and sounds, word of the week - ball. She understands directions and obeys...sometimes! She continues to love life, her parents and her bestfriend, Bear Dog!

"Snow" much fun!

Several days before we got to Roanoke a blizzard came through. No exaggaration - 18 inches of snow in two days! I wanted so bad to be there when the snow started falling. Luckly, there was still plenty left when we arrived.

Carrington has no snow gear being that she is a beach baby. Mom and I went to the store and bought the only snowsuit we could find for a baby girl - size 3-6 months! Haha, she is 14 months old (today)! We found the best pair of "snow" boots avaliable and headed home to start the process of going out in the snow. Meanwhile, Aaron took off looking for a plastic sled. My mom has our Radio Flyer sleds but they don't do well in deep snow. We needed something that would sit up high, and take off flying. This was Aaron's first time sledding, so I had it in my mind to show him a high flying time! Unfortunately, Roanoke has not seen snow like this in years so the stores didn't order sleds in time for the snow. There was no way we weren't going sledding! Thank goodness my neighbors still had their plastic sled from the early 1990's!

Carrington wasn't sure what to think of the snow at first. She couldn't walk, let alone stand up in the white stuff. It was freezing her hands and she wasn't sure why. She had to wear a hat and baby girl thinks nothing of a hat on her head. Basically, she was wondering where the beach was! No worries though, mama showed her the way and in no time at all, she was ready to have a good time. Which included...making snow angels, sledding with mama and dada, and throwing snow balls with MeMe. Even Bear Dog got in on the action!

Once Carrington was ready to go in and warm up with her Meme, Aaron and I took off for the hill behind our house. There is a really big hill that we grew up sledding on every year. I swear, when we were kids it snowed like this a lot and we would live on that hill. There are few times in my adult life where I've done something that made me feel like a kid again. Let me tell you, this was one of them! I loved every minute of sledding down that hill. I honestly felt like I was 12 again! It was such a great experience to share that time with Aaron too. There was a dad, sitting in his truck, watching his boys go down the hill. I could just feel my dad there with me, like when I was 12, and he use to take us sledding. He had as much fun as we did, that was the moment I was living that day!

Celebrating Christmas with Family - Myrtle Beach!

Our final stop was in Myrtle Beach to spend time with my Granny, Aunt and cousins. We went out to dinner first and then back to Melissa's house to open gifts. The big surprise of the night was Taylor Swift concert tickets for the girls! I didn't get pictures because I was taking video, which I can hopefully figure out how to post.