Curt's Graduation!

About a month ago, Curt graduated from seminary!  We have spent the last three years at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary while he has worked so hard to earn his Master of Divinity degree.  His family and family friends were able to come up for the big day and we had an awesome time celebrating all weekend.  We also got to celebrate Tom's 60th b-day, Susan's b-day, and Mother's Day. We are so thankful to so many of you who have supported us over the past three years and we are excited for what God has for us in these next steps.

Sooo what's next for us?  Curt has accepted a one-year pastoral internship position at our church, Citylife Presbyterian.  We are moving to the big city and I'm in the process of interviewing at some schools in the city (prayers appreciated!).  We LOVE visitors, so please let us know if you are ever in the Boston area!

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend (warning!  this post is extremely picture-heavy:)

 Taking a tour of campus

Caroline loves her Mimi 

Skyping with Grace and Andrew 

 

The three Carolines! 

Caroline and Caroline 

 Tom's 60th B-day celebration

 The whole gang at the Gloucester House

 All dressed up for Daddy's graduation

 Curt and his bud, Chris

Chris, Kirk, Curt, and Dr. Lints 

Curt, President Hollinger, and Chris 

Caleb and Happiness...our sweet Nigerian friends we met our first year here 

Celebratory lobster dinner!

Four Months with Caroline

Things I am currently digging...May edition

1.  Trader Joe's Probiotic Smoothies - Am I going to have something from Trader Joe's in my TIACD post each month?  Probably.  It is THAT good, people.  Curt and I are both obsessed with these yogurts.  They are so portable and yummy.  They contain probiotics - good for digestion, protein - good for this nursing mama, and come in two great flavors - strawberry (my fave) and wildberry (Curt's fave).  In the words of my old pal Tom Haverford, "treat yo-self!"

2.  This recipe for crockpot coconut chicken curry.  Yes, you read that correctly.  This amazing and alliterative dish is to die for.  And it's made in the crockpot!  Cooking heaven?  I think so.

3.  Feedly!   Are you addicted to Google Reader like I am?  I have lots of blogs that I like to read and Google reader keeps them nice and organized until I am ready to read them.  Sadly, Google is getting rid of this amazing service in July (why Google??  whyyyyy???).  I needed a solution for my blog-reading craziness - enter Feedly.  It's just like Google Reader, but prettier!  Also, it syncs with Google Reader, so you don't even have to transfer over the bajillion blogs that you follow...it does it for you.  Genius.

4.  Arbonne FC5 Oil-Absorbing Day Lotion  I've had oily skin my whole life.  I haaate to put lotion on during the day because it makes my skin even oiler...even those "oil free" ones don't do a thing to help me.  BUT, I put up with daily face lotion because I know that I need to wear SPF every day if I don't want to look like I'm 95 when I'm 40.  So I do it, even though I hate it.  Y'all.  This lotion is the most amazing thing I have ever put on my face.  I put it on in the morning and it completely absorbs all the oil on my face all.day.long.   I believe in this product (and the rest of the products) so much that I've decided to join the company (post coming soon about this).   All their products are botanically-based, vegan, and contain zero harmful ingredients.  If you want some of this goodness for your face and/or body, let me know!  I'm happy to hook you up :)

5.  I'm hopping on an airplane on Friday to go HOME for the weekend!  I'm SO excited.  We are going to get to hang out with family and friends, see a great friend get hitched, and eat Bernies (the most amazing sub shop in the world)!  I can't wait!!

Three Months with Caroline

Caroline is three months old...plus a week or so!

 teeny tiny feet

 lots of spit up = outfit change!

 "Achoo!"

Post-sneeze cuteness 

Hi sweet girl!  You are three months old now and you are so much fun.  You love to laugh, smile, and "talk" to your daddy and me.  You are the most amazing sleeper, which makes your mama happy and most mornings I have to wake you up when it's time to eat.  I love to wake you up because it's one of my favorite things to see you smile at me and stretch your arms and legs.  You are still teeny tiny, most of the time swimming in your 0-3 month clothes.  You are already trying to roll over, which makes me think you are probably a genius.  You love to listen to your daddy and mama sing and your favorite song seems to be "Hungry Eyes"...which is hilarious, and I'm still not really sure how we figured that one out.  Thanks for being so sweet and bringing so much joy to us.

Love,
Mama and Daddy

One Month with Caroline
Two Months with Caroline

Things I am currently digging...April edition

I really like it when people recommend things they love on their blogs.  So, I thought maybe it was time to share the love and write about some things that I'm currently loving.  My hope is that you will find something that you really love and then we can just keep passing it on...enjoy!

1. The Skimm!  It's a FREE daily newsletter (e-mailed to you around 6am M-F) that gives you the basic gist of the day's news.  They also have a sense of humor...love.  It certainly doesn't replace reading the paper, but it's helpful if your short on time and still want to know what's going on in the world.  If you're interested, you can subscribe using this link.  Also - it looks like it's just for girls from their logo, but Curt reads it and digs it too.

2. Tracy Anderson's Post Pregnancy DVD.  After just having a baby, this thing is in.sane.  It is really hard, but I love it a lot.  It's a mat-based workout and probably more for toning than anything else. Also, she's really nice.  I kind of wish we were friends in real life (weird??).

3.  Old Navy sweatshirts!  These are soooo comfortable.  nuff said.

4.  Sunshine!  We've finally had a few warm days up here and it's amazing what sun and warmth will do for your overall attitude towards life.  As a summer-lover, the winters are really hard (and LONG!) for me...so sunshine is super exciting.

5. Trader Joe's Orange-Flavored Cranberries.  These are tiny nuggets from heaven.  I like eat them plain or put them in these muffins.  

6.  Woombie Lil Houdini Swaddler - Ah-mazing.  It is essentially like a straight-jacket for your baby.  Who wants to mess with wrapping a swaddle every night?  Not this mama.  This thing zips up (so easy!) and can unzip just at the bottom for diaper changes.  We only use it at night, but it calms Caroline immediately and she's sleeping 11-12 hours straight...holler!!  Word to the wise - don't dry it in the dryer!

Easter 2013

So we're a bit late to be posting about Easter, but this whole full-time-job-plus-part-time-job-plus-baby thing has me worn out! I'm finally on Spring Break (yay!), so I have a bit of extra time on my hands. 

We had a wonderful Easter at our church, BUT I have a few things to say about Easter in the Northeast. Now, to me Easter is a celebration. It's a celebration first and foremost of an empty tomb...that Jesus is alive...and that God has conquered all...even death. It's a celebration of new life. It's a celebration of a new season. AND it's usually a celebration of warmer weather and cute clothes. However, in the Northeast it's really hard to wear your cute Easter dress when it's below 30 degrees. 

So, what's a girl to do? Welp, dress up her baby, of course! Caroline was dressed to the nines in her cute pink smocked dress (smocking - another tradition lost in the Northeast). I had to pair it with tights, a sweater, and a hat....but she still looked adorable. 

 Here are some pictures from our day.

   

The pictures below may all look the same to you, but not to a proud mama!

Funny girl

Caroline first smiled at us around one month.  I didn't actually get the first smile...womp womp.  Her Grandpa Tom claims he did.  I didn't see it, so I can't confirm or deny.

The first few times we couldn't really tell if it was just a reflex smile or a social smile.  Soon after, it became more clearly a social smile.  We knew that if we smiled at her, she would usually smile right back.  Once these smiles became an every day occurrence I began to wonder when we would hear her first giggle or laugh.

We heard her giggle one time while she was sleeping and it was so sweet, but it was short and we only heard it that one time.  Until last night...

Caroline was kicking around on her activity mat like she loves to do.  Then she became bored of laying on her back staring up at her little owl friends so she started to fuss.  I was working on some lesson plans on my computer.  I scooped her up, sat her on my lap, and pulled the computer onto my knees to continue my work.  As soon as I pulled the computer up Curt and I both heard an unmistakable belly laugh coming from that tiny little baby.  We stared at each other in disbelief and then died laughing.  She kept doing it and we kept laughing.  Soon we were both crying we were laughing so hard.  She even laughed long enough for us to get it on video.... Enjoy!

Caroline's 1st laugh from Catherine Kenney on Vimeo.