California Visitors

We had a post-Christmas present in the form of a visit from our friends from California! Amelia and Charlie are only a few months apart, and they had a great time together. I love this age . . . it took them about 5 minutes to become fast friends!

At the park


Skipping home


Making gingerbread cookies


Watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special

Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas in our "new" house this year. Evan's folks and grandpa came up to celebrate with us and we had a great weekend together. We also made use of Skype to get Evan's sister and brother-in-law and my family in on the Christmas action - not quite the same, but better than just the phone!

The highlight of Christmas, for me anyway, was this exclamation from Charlie after pulling new underwear out of his stocking: "New underwear! How lucky am I!"

Getting milk and cookies ready for Santa (who definitely would have preferred a beer)


Christmas morning


Santa came through with the Argentinosaurus cookies


Singing in the rain with his new dinosaur umbrella


Merry Christmas!

Pretend

Charlie's been having a lot of fun with pretend lately. Today he and Isabel played pirates, which involved using her quilt as a boat, and wearing her dresses as their costumes - I love it! They also had treasure maps, and Charlie was quite fond of the fishing net.




* * *
In the bathtub the other night . . .

"Mama, I have a baby inside of me! But she is in a shell that is green. [He rubs his belly.] Ooh, I think my baby is ready to come out! [He schootches his butt up off the bottom of the tub.] There she is mama! And look, she is such a good swimmer!"

* * *
While playing with Evan the other day, Charlie pretended he was little Grandpa [what he calls Evan's dad, because he also has a great-Grandpa on this side of the family]. This included using a deep throaty voice and telling Evan he was his son!

SNOW!

We had a weeny bit of snow today . . . only for about an hour and it didn't stick, but it was lovely while it lasted. I was off today, baking cookies and getting Christmas packages ready, and the weather made me feel all the more elfin.

In the Spirit

Despite continued shenanigans with getting moved in, it's - pardon the blatant Bing Crosby reference - beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house. Charlie has been very excited about Santa this year, and asking the usual questions: "Does Santa get burned in the chimney?" "Is tomorrow Christmas?" Thank goodness for the Advent calendars, as they're keeping him some what straight in terms of when Christmas day will arrive. His one and only Christmas wish? A dinosaur cookie, preferably an Argentinosaurus large enough to give him, mommy and daddy a tummy ache.

Opening up the Lego Advent calendar (which was as much a gift for me as it was for him)


Headed downtown for Winterfest - ice sculptures, Christmas tree cupcakes . . . what more could you ask for?








The boys wait patiently for the tree lighting . . .




Signing his letter to St. Nikolaus (his first dino cookie request, from which he has not wavered)


We actually went to see Santa this year at the Pullen Park Holiday Express. Charlie wouldn't sit in his lap, but got close enough to make a second impassioned plea for the dino cookie.


A bit of Christmas boating


After a LONG wait, we are finally aboard the train




Our favorite scene from the light show


Getting the house spruced up

And So it Begins . . .

Baby #2 is already suffering from being photographed less than his/her big brother, and hasn't even made it out of the womb! I remember painstakingly documenting belly girth from week to week with Charlie, and last Friday we finally got our act together with this one - 30 weeks into the pregnancy! Sigh. Sorry kiddo!

Trick-or-Treat and a Wedding to Boot

We had a fantastic, if busy, Halloween! Our friends got married yesterday, so we planned some H'ween activities for earlier in the day. First, a trip to the museum, where Charlie's T Rex costume fit right in with the exhibits:



When we bought this costume, Charlie said, "Mama, this is not a T Rex! See, he has 3 toes, but T Rex only has 2!" So we decided that he was really Acrocanthosaurus, who also has 3 toes [claws].




He really got into the spirit of his costume!


Then we met up with Gabe and his family for a little early trick-or-treating with our neighbors:


Gabe's little brother was Yoda, and since he was passed out in his stroller, we couldn't help ourselves from: "Tired Yoda is. Sleep he must."


Then, off to the wedding! The bride & groom had a lovely favor table set up with all kinds of candy for trick-or-treaters of all ages.


Checking out the fire pit while waiting for dinner


Our home at Table K


Our lovely hosts


Dinner was delicious NC barbecue, but Charlie was way more into the cake!


The C-man was a dancing machine - here he is rocking out with mama, Donald & Lucy


The happiest boy on the dance floor

Halloween, Family Planning Style

My co-workers and I spent the better part of this week honing our family planning-themed Fall Fest costumes.

My boss = Crownover the Contraceptor (a take-off on Bob the Builder)
Our family planning nurse consultant = The Contraceptive Queen
And I suppose I am a cautionary tale for what happens when you don't contracept carefully!



Note the toolbelt filled with various birth control methods, which we found in a random cabinet in the conference room. Some of these were from 1974!




In addition to Cheryl's CopperT IUD scepter, she also sported these lovely IUD earrings:

State Fair

My folks came up this weekend, originally to help us move back into the house, but since that plan got de-railed we opted for funnel cakes, overpriced rides and all the livestock you can stand at the State Fair.

With me being pregnant and Opu and Daddy being so tall, Omi gladly took on ride-along patrol. Charlie's favorite ride was the Caterpillar Coaster.




Charlie's newest prize possession is a little blue unicorn he won playing this fishing game


This Brahman was pregnant, and due to calve and day


Checking out the baby chicks with daddy


At the antique tractor exhibit


Headed home, hopped up on funnel cakes