A few days ago we decorated our tree, here Charlotte is helping out... with carrot all over her face...

A cute thing that Charlotte has recently learned is how to shake her head no. If you offer her food that she doesn't want, she will shake her head. If you try to take something away from her, she will shake her head. If someone tries to take her away from Mamma, she'll shake her head. It is cute because she definitely knows what it means, and she is very firm with her opinion. But I know it is probably not going to be cute for very long!

The Zoo

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, our zoo has a free day. This year Sean was so nice and he took the girls out for the day and let me do some studying. Everyone had a great time. I enjoyed the peace and quiet. The girls loved the animals. And Sean enjoyed spending some time with his girls. Trying to juggle two excited girls by himself, he understandably didn't get very many pictures.

Adeline loved the flamingos, she is still talking about them 3 days later.

When she saw the bears she started saying, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

The Velveteen Rabbit

Addie has a new favorite book, The Velveteen Rabbit. She has two different versions and it is not unusual for her to request both of them as her two books before bed. This afternoon as I was reading one to her she started pointing at the different rabbits and saying, "this one is real, that one is a toy." I started to expand the concept beyond pictures and told her, "Pepper and Danu are real kitties. This kitty in your crib is a toy. Charlotte is a real baby, this is a toy baby." Then she started naming off things herself, "This is a toy bunny. This is a toy. That dog is a toy. Tigger is real. Yeah! Tigger is REAL, he really, really is real!!" For those of you who don't know, Tigger is her favorite stuffed animal, for the longest time she couldn't sleep without him. I guess she gets the message of the book.

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

I can't believe it has already been a year.
I had high hopes for Charlotte digging into her cake and getting messy.
"Here is your cake, Charlotte. Would you like me to dump it in your lap?"
Mom, what do I do with this?
"Don't worry," said Addie, "I'll show you how."
Okay, maybe I'll try it.
Ahhhh, my hands are messy! I'm done with this.
Okay then, I'll eat it for you.
I just had to post this picture of the girls enjoying Charlotte's new toy. It has a handle in the back so Addie can push her all over the house.

Addie's Favorite Things

Wearing hats. She got this hat when she was two months old and she thinks it is the coolest thing because it has a monkey on it.

And standing on her head. She's constantly doing this. Actually, tonight as I was singing her goodnight song she was standing on her head in her crib.

Charlotte's Favorite Things

I love when they play together. Here Addie is helping Charlotte with two of her favorite things:
1. Pulling items out of a basket.
2. Climbing into a small space.

Besides making messes and climbing, Charlotte enjoys wearing shoes. Nearly every day she will find a shoe and bring it to me - then she whines until I put it on her. Here she is modeling one of her sisters shoes. She was so proud! Of course, the shoe was too big for her and it fell off somewhere around the house. Now Addie is missing one brown shoe.