New Year's Resolutions

Since today was the first day of a brand new decade and a brand new year, we at the Hepper household decided to set some resolutions for 2010. Here is the breakdown of each person and his or her resolutions. Just for fun, we also decided what the other person's resolutions would be if we could write them. Paul and I selected Caroline's, but we're pretty sure she would agree if she could talk (Well, maybe not with #3).

Paul:
1. Cut monthly expenses
2. Exercise regularly
3. Add to the Hepper clan

A decent list if you ask me. Too bad he didn't ask for my opinion in regards to number three.If I was writing Paul's list, this is what it would be:
1. Exercise regularly
2. Get a decent haircut from some place other than the Hair Cuttery. He either comes back looking like a monk or with his hair "high and tight".
3. Remember to put the toilet paper roll onto the holder going in the direction that I like (with the paper coming over the top)

Caroline:
1. Master crawling and learn to walk
2. Master the pincher grasp so she can feed herself
3. Sleep through the night

My personal favorite of Caroline's list is number 3. Of all the things that Caroline has accomplished so far in her short life, sleeping through the night is not one of them. This is partly my fault. I'm a softie when it comes to listening to her cry. There's just something about that pitiful sound - asking Mommmy to come snuggle - that I haven't been able to resist.

Lauren:
1. Stop being such a worry-wart
2. Find a fantastic house in Richmond
3. Get back onto the tennis court

If Paul could write my list, this is what it would be. Unfortunately, I opened a can of worms by asking him for his ideas. Once he got started, he couldn't stop, so I allowed him 5 resolutions instead of 3.

1. Stop using his towel in the bathroom.
2. Limit my urge to vacuum to once a week.
3. Close the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen AND throw away the empty Splenda packets after I make my morning coffee.
4. Stop moving his stuff to "strange locations" without telling him and then claiming that I never touched it.
5. Volunteer to take the trash out at least once while we are living in Charlottesville.

It's an admirable list, but I'm pretty certain none of these resolutions will be fulfilled in 2010. A man can dream though, right?

Last, but not least, here are the dogs' lists:
Isabel:
1. Find out where Caroline came from and promptly send her back
2. Convince Mom and Dad that she does not need to lose weight so they will reinstate her two scoops a day food allottment
3. Find a way to sleep in Mom and Dad's bed every night instead of once in a blue moon

Frances:
1. Overcome her debiliatating fear of house flies
2. Determine where the voices in her head are originating so that she can stop hiding under Mom and Dad's bed shaking and barking for no apparent reason
3. Learn how to do a trick, any trick, in order to prove that she is not, in fact, all beauty and no brains

Here is a picture from our very low key New Year's Eve. We had a few couples over, sat around, ate, drank, and felt a slightly lame and old that we weren't doing something more exciting. I can't think of a better way to ring in a new year than spending it with friends though, so I'm happy with how our New Year's Eve turned out.
Best wishes for a fantastic 2010!!

Caroline's First Christmas

Whew! We made it through Caroline's first holiday season! I don't count New Years Eve for her since she goes to bed at 7pm and thus won't be enjoying any New Years festivities.
We spent Christmas in Nashville this year, with the Hepper clan. It was another packed house at Grandma and Grandpa Hepper's: Paul, me, and Caroline, Aunt Erin, Uncle Tate and Aunt Donna and great Grandpa Hepper and great Grandma Hepper . Also in attendance were the family dogs: Isabel, Frances, Lily, and Bailey. We enjoyed many nights of delicious food (mmm...peanut butter balls), good conversation and laughs ("Someone stole my shirt and pants!!"), and lots of Christmas cheer.
Caroline had a blast unwrapping her first Christmas gifts. Some of her booty includes a toy train from Marmee and Grampy, a Leap Frog Musical table from Grandma and Grandpa Hepper, and lots of adorable clothes (yay for the Lily Pulitzer dress Aunt Donna and Uncle Tate gave!).
Caroline had an especially good time during our Nashville visit. This was a really big week for her. Not only was she constantly surrounded by adoring fans who thought everything she did was spectacular, but she also made some really cool developmental leaps. Before we left Charlottesville, she had been army crawling for a few weeks, but she was generally slow and inefficient. Within days of arriving in Nashville, our little Sugarboo started cruising around at lightning speed, using a technique that involved some all fours crawling, some army crawling, and some "worm." Now she's a (speedy)lady on the move, with places to go and people to see. Look out world!
She also started going from lying down to sitting position. This development happened so fast, I'm not even sure when it occurred! When did our little bambina become such a "big" girl??
The only members of the Hepper household that maybe didn't have such a good time were the dogs. Poor Bailey was a little overwhelmed when not one, not two, but three dogs arrived to share her house. Isabel and Frances were on their worst behavior. Frances barked constantly at seemingly everything: a person walking outside, a car driving by, the other three dogs, or sometimes just the voices we think she hears in her head. Isabel was stand-offish, preferring to avoid the other dogs with the exception of a few times when she tangled with Bailey and the time when she nearly took poor Lily's head off for no reason. Lily was the best behaved of the bunch, although she did leave quite a few "presents" around the house for us to find. I'm sure Bailey is relieved to have her house back to normal.
All in all, Caroline's first Christmas was fantastic. We had a great time in Nashville visiting with the fam, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone again in January for Caroline's baptism.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the week.

Caroline and her adoring Grandparents.


Checking out the Christmas tree with Aunt Erin.


Caroline and Mommy in front of the Christmas tree before going to church.


Caroline unwrapping her musical table.


Caroline and her new choo choo train.


Caroline on the move!


Caroline on Daddy's shoulders, heading upstairs for a nap.

Charlottesville's "Holiday Punch"

On Friday, Charlottesville was hit by a doozy of a winter storm. Quickly named the "Holiday Punch" by the local news, the storm dumped about 20 inches of snow on our fair city over a period of a day and a half. Thank goodness we decided to end our Richmond trip early on Friday morning and head back home.
We got to Charlottesville around 5:00pm, when the snow was really starting to come down. I knew we were getting short on coffee creamer and Paul wanted bacon, so he dropped me off at the shady Food Lion by our house while he went to go pick up the dogs from the kennel. I walked into the Food Lion and immediately knew it was a mistake. There were people EVERYWHERE!! Everyone was pushing cartfuls of what he or she deemed as "necessities." Now, I can't knock other people's choices since I was there for bacon and coffee creamer (I can't live without coffee creamer though!), but I was amazed at what people thought was worth a dangerous drive through the snow.
I saw one woman with at least 20 boxes of Totino's pizza rolls, another woman with about 4 40's of beer and one box of wine, a guy with a HUGE piece of meat and nothing else, and a woman with 3 jars of oysters. With my creamer and bacon in hand, I quickly headed toward the front of the store to check out. On my way, I narrowly avoided being hit by a shopping cart with an elderly lady at it's helm. The woman behind me wasn't so lucky and nearly fell over when the surprisingly spry octogenarian jacked her in the back with her cart. You would think the old woman would apologize for nearly running down the other customer, but instead she shouted "I know you better watch where you're goin'!! Thinking that this situation was not going to end well, I quickly hurried away, leaving the two woman to battle it out on their own.
I finally made it out of the Food Lion 30 minutes later, after selecting the worst possible check out line to stand in (someone was trying to pay with a food stamp check that apparently was no good). The roads were in really bad shape, but Paul expertly drove us home.
For the last two days, we've watched incredible amounts of snow fall, endured 12 hours without electricity, watched idiotic people unsuccessfully attempt to drive on the snow covered roads, and spent a lot of time shoveling snow of our steps. Here's a handy winter tip: if you don't have a snow shovel, a spatula and a cookie sheet both serve as nice substitutes.
We're hoping that a snow plow will come and clear our parking lot and roads tomorrow, but if not I have enough coffee creamer and bacon to last us at least 3 more days.

A Variety of Pics

I have a few pictures that don't have much in common so my post will be short. I'm sure that appeals to many of you out there :)

Caroline in her "spaceship"


Caroline testing out her "all fours" crawling


Caroline eating the map of Richmond - we just spent a couple days there house hunting


The Charlottesville "Christmas Punch" of 2009 - 20+ inches of snow!!

New Moves

Here's a video of Caroline showing off her new moves: army crawling. She's been doing it for about 2 weeks now and she's getting better every day. Go Caroline!

Holiday Happenings!

As Christmas approaches, there are lots of things going on around the Hepper household! We'll be in Nashville for Christmas this year, but I wanted to get the Christmas spirit going at our house too, so we've been listening to Christmas carols, decorating and we've gotten a tree. Caroline's first Christmas tree isn't the most grand tree you've ever seen, but it was all we had the space for. I'm also a little concerned as to how long the tree has been out of the ground. It looked all fresh and springy when it was at the lot, but as soon as we got it home, it started dropping needles like nobody's business and hasn't stopped since. At this rate, it will be a twig with ornaments by the time Christmas rolls around! It's a good thing I've got an excellent vacuum on hand to suck up all the stray needles. I've been using it so much (even MORE than usual, if those who know me can imagine) that Caroline doesn't even bat an eye anymore when I zoom by her with my trusty Shark.
Last week we went to the Darden Cold Call so Caroline could get her picture taken with Santa. I was worried she would burst into tears when placed in Santa's lap, but she was just fine. She didn't smile, but she didn't cry either, so it's a win in my book :)
Today we're baking Marmee's famous angel cookies for a cookie swap party tomorrow and this weekend we're getting together for our 2nd annual Darden Christmas bash. It should be lots of fun.
In other news, a few days before turning 6 months old, Caroline started to army crawl! It's very exciting to see her look of determination as she pulls herself toward something she wants. Sadly, it's often one of the dogs that she wants and the girls are way too fast and smart to stay put until Caroline gets to them! We also had to lower her crib matress because our crafty little girl has made several escape attempts lately. I'll post a video of her new moves later this week.
Here are some pictures: Caroline with the Darden Santa, her first Christmas tree, and Caroline checking out her "Baby's First Noel" ornament.

Caroline and Frances

Check out this video of Caroline laughing at Frances. It starts a bit slow, but is really cute at the end.