At the Zoo

After Christmas, Charlie spent a few days with Omi & Opu, then with Grandma & Grandpa, all by himself. He went to Zoo Atlanta with Omi & Opu, and they got a few good pictures (which is better than we did when we took Charlie to the NC Zoo).











Back at the ranch, watching his favorite dinosaur videos at Big Green Rabbit

Christmas Day

We started Christmas morning with a location shift to Chez Loper. Charlie got right to work playing with his new toys:





Checking out Omi and Opu's broccoli once the presents were done


Working on the gingerbread house, which needs a bit of back story: When I was about 6, I came home from school and asked my mom if we could build a gingerbread house. She said she wasn't sure how to make one, and I told her she wasn't very creative, which was pretty rich. As a result, gingerbread houses have always been a bit of a thing at our house.




Charlie eating the finished product two days later


Post-Christmas, we celebrated Omi's birthday on the 26th, and then went back to business as usual, which involved a trip to the park.


Hanging out with Opu


Having a pink bath, courtesy of Aunt Niki's colored bath tablets




Licking the edge of the tub with Heidi: cute, but also kind of gross


Modeling his new jammies


One last hurrah in front of the tree

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Evans' folks, but treated it like Christmas day. We told Charlie Santa was making an extra trip just for him, but I don't think he cared once he saw his candy!

Grandma & Grandpa Clause






New dino book from his great-grandparents Miracle, which is personalized with his name


Evan was talking to Charlie while he was drawing. He said, "Don't talk at me, Daddy. I'm concentrating!"


Investigating the wood chipper down the street


Merry Christmas!

Pre-Christmas Fun

What a difference a year makes! Charlie is really tuned into Christmas this year, and loves to talk about Santa, toys, Christmas trees, etc. In fact, every time there's a package on the porch, he yells "Mommy! It's a present! Get the keys!" (I usually use my keys to tear the tape, and he's catching on.) Here he is enjoying a candy cane, with slobbery gusto:



We had a little mini-Christmas at our house before heading to Georgia to see the grandparents. He had a great time with his toys, and I'm sure his mind will be blown by yet 2 more Christmases! Evan's parents live a few blocks from the fire station, and trips there are becoming a staple of our visits:



Cozying up to some snowmen on the way home!


More cookie baking!


On Christmas Adam (Dec. 23rd), we went to Fernbank, a science museum in Atlanta. They had a great exhibit on polar bears and penguins, plus costumes - what's not to love?!







The biggest bubbles ever . . .


After the museum we met some friends for lunch at Everybody's Pizza - one of Evan's favorite haunts since childhood. Donna and I lived in the same dorm freshman year at UGA, and it's kind of wild to think we've known each other for 13 years!



Charlie surrounded by older women: Camryn (3 1/2) and Maya (9 1/2). Maya was one of the flower girls in our wedding!
.



Getting ready for Christmas #2 at the Miracles - cookies & milk for Santa

St. Nikolaus Day

We had a lovely St. Nikolaus Day weekend! (For those of you non-Germans, the kiddos put out their shoes on Dec 5th, and then St. Nik either brings candy or coal, depending on their behavior.) On Friday we went to the Museum of Natural Science with Isabel & Heather, which was especially fun as Heather used to work there and gave us the grand tour.





Story time that day was a turtle book, and the kids got to pretend to be turtles and see a few different types of real turtles, too.





After a busy day at the museum, Charlie set out his boot for St. Nik, and woke up to this:




Sadly, my hopes for a snowy December fell on deaf ears. Instead of playing in the snow that afternoon, we had to settle for leaves!





We capped off the weekend by visiting Matt & Paula and doing some cookie baking. As always, Charlie helped with a few cookies and then lost interest until there some ready to eat!

Say What?

Charlie was chock full of quotables this weekend. On our way home from the fabric store, he piped up from the backseat with this gem:

"Oh my gosh. I saw something so enormous it took my breath away. It was a dinosaur!"

(For those of you Curious George fans, you'll recognize this almost verbatim from Curious George Wins a Medal.)

Later that night, Charlie was playing with his firetruck and firemen, one of whom is named Bruce. Here's his narration of a tough day at the firehouse:

"My name is Bruce. I love my hose." [Cackling and snorting from Evan and I.]

Then he decided that his rubber octopus would like to eat my chin. Again, his narration:

"I love mommies . . . mmm mmm . . . I love mommies!"

It's nice to be appreciated, even if it's as a snack for a rubber sea creature.

To the movies

A few weeks ago, Charlie picked out Curious George Goes to a Movie at the library. In the story, George ends up in the projection booth, were he scares the bejesus (sp?) out of the projectionist. As a result, the reels get knocked off the projector, film goes flying, and the movie screeches to a halt.

It was with scenario on the brain that we took Charlie to his first movie, Madagascar 2. He and his buddy Gabriel were super excited - there was lots of jumping up and down at the box office. The boys did a great job during the movie, and it was pretty hilarious how absolutely every kid in the theater yelled some variation of, "Look, Mommy! Look at that monkey!" during the movie. But I think the best part was Charlie and Gabriel sitting in their seats: They weren't quite heavy enough to hold the seat down, and so ended up in a sort of V-shaped configuration. Priceless.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, we had a pseudo-Thanksgiving followed by the real deal. Since my mom is always stuck working on Black Friday, a trip to see us for Thanksgiving day becomes fairly inconvenient. So we decided to meet my family in the NC mountains a few weeks before Thanksgiving for a mock holiday. We did eat poultry and stuffing (but cheated and had chicken).

Feeding the very forward geese at Lake Tomahawk






Posing with the Biermensch in Black Mountain


Morning coloring session (I really love to color - it's very soothing)


Heidi, my parents' dog, immediately plops down in your lap if you sit on the floor. Not to be outdone, Charlie decided to get in on the action with Aunt Nicole.



Evan's folks and Grandpa Horejs came up for Thanksgiving, and we had a lovely visit. This year, we decided to butterfly and stuff a turkey breast, just to mix things up a bit. The result was very tasty and esthetically appealing, to boot.

Reading in bed, Thanksgiving morning


Playing in the leaves with Grandpa


E carving the turkey log


Getting ready for bed - check out that crazy hair!


Charlie the builder, courtesy of Marbles




Cracking up with Great Grandpa


Miracle family