Caroline at Miller Park for playgroup this morning.

Today was the last day of Mommy's week-long vacation; Caroline celebrated with her first ice cream cone wagon ride of the season.

Sophie clearly isn't ready to leave yet. We bid the Reedys farewell this morning as they headed back to California. Caroline and Sophie got along famously, and we can't wait until our next visit. Thanks for spending a vacation with us.

The pink and orange flowers appeared sometime this week at Turkey Hill Park.

Michael had to tag our patio before he heads home.

He came for the food; he stayed for the karaoke.

Kelly, Blue, Sophie and Caroline enjoyed a Warthogs game this afternoon for about 20 minutes, despite a high scoring affair (it was like 13-10 final score - Warthogs lost). Then the kids enjoyed ballpark food and running around.

In our continuing quest to have Sophie and family move here, we took them to Reynolda Gardens this afternoon. The girls insisted on carrying sticks around during their explorations. The weather was beautiful and no flowers were harmed despite how tempting they were to pick.

The merry-go-round has unconventional animals. Caroline is here riding a croc.

Sophie is here on the right, checking out Caroline's favorite animal (who is checking her out).

The playgroup went to the zoo today. Sophie and Michael joined them too.

Michael Reedy. He never looks like this (he doesn't smile for photos, and he doesn't have a receding chin despite how it looks in this picture). He begged me to remove this picture, but I can't, because it amuses me too much.

Michael, Kelly, Sophie and Baby Blue arrived yesterday to spend a week with us in Winston-Salem. There was a park trip....and sliding....and pizza....and Blue's Clues....and sharing and laughing. And a bath. A glorious day.

The playgroup celebrated Callie's 3rd birthday today with a big party at her house.

David (Emma Grace's brother) at Callie's party. Everyone loved the inflatable palm trees.

Baby Boy Rubin has a name! The baby formerly known as "Baby Boy" will henceforth be called: Casey Theodore Zukowski Rubin. No hyphens.

As per our normal Wednesday morning routine, we went to SciWorks to visit the snakes and check out the development of a fetus (a display which Caroline insists is of her). Mikey was kind enough to join us this morning, making Caroline even more vocally reluctant to leave once lunch time rolled around.

Caroline has a new cousin, Baby Boy Rubin (legal name TBD) born this morning at 7:31. Baby Boy weighed in at 6 lbs. 5 oz. and was 19 3/4" long. Carrie and Baby Boy are doing fabulously, and seem to be getting along just fine. Matt is also doing very well, and seems to be adjusting to his new role as a dad with aplomb.

Congratulations to Carrie and Matt!! Who knew we Zukowski girls could birth boys?!

Welcome to the world, Baby Boy!

This is Cheryl - today, Caroline and I had some quality bonding time. This morning she let me sleep late (7:20) before summoning me to free her from her crib and fix her some waffles. Then we read books and colored and played and watched Lucille Ball in Mame. After lunch and naptime we headed over to work so I could meet a deadline. Then I made Caroline's day; we went to Malay for sesame chicken, her current favorite food. She ate a TON, and got to see the fish in the restaurant's indoor koi pond. She is currently sitting on the couch talking jibberish and laughing hysterically. Apparently, she's had a fabu day.

On our way back to Turkey Hill Park, we stopped over at Emma's for some playtime with some friends. Much squabbling ensued as this coveted little jeep only held two at a time. Toddlers do not like to share.

While Cheryl was away on business, Caroline and I headed to Georgia to visit the Grandparents Lerman at their new house. Caroline had a fantastic time exploring the neighborhood and a nearby park with both of them.

Lately I've been sending pictures directly from the cell phone to the blog; it's hard to write a caption on the tiny keypad, so I have to go back later and edit the posts. I haven't been very diligent about it, and Cheryl has been strongly encouraging me to let her know what we're up to since the pictures oftentimes do not provide very good information. The picture below was taken when Caroline was snagged in a fishing net; thankfully, I was able to barter a few of my unneeded organs (thank goodness for bilateral symmetry) for her freedom. In the picture above, Caroline and her friends are discussing chimeras (which, again, should be obvious from the picture).

We met up with Emma, Alec, Nicole and Ben for some tasty Mexican food to celebrate the holiday. Caroline reminded us why we never take her out to eat. But the food was tasty and plentiful.

Caroline has been walking around in her bucket/Easter basket this evening and tooting her horn.

We went to an awesome Easter party and egg hunt this morning at Clayton's house. Caroline collected tons of eggs and got to take some pics with the Easter Bunny. Thanks Darcie, Brian and Clayton for a great time!

The temperature dropped considerably overnight, so we went to the Children's Museum for story time and some fake donut making and fake Food Dog shopping. Actually, despite the temperature, we were staying indoors today since the pollen levels are really high and Caroline's right eye is still puffy and red.

This bottom picture is not how Caroline's eye got swollen, so please no calls to child services.

The pollen levels were absurd today, but it's going to be cold for the next five days so I couldn't deny Caroline a trip to the park for a bit this afternoon. Her right eye, however, was not pleased with my decision.

Caroline got to audit her friend Paige's toys this morning when we swung by her place to drop off a camera I'm lending her mom. And now, hopefully soon, Paige will have a blog to check out too.

Playgroup today was at Tanglewood Park. Caroline exhibited no pink eye symptoms (or any other illnesses), so she was able to hang with her friends after a few days of quarantine. This afternoon, she met up with Aaron at Polo Park to engage in dangerous stick fights. Despite the best efforts of the wee ones, no eyes were lost.