Sunday, November 30, 2008


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?"

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

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.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

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.

Friday, November 14, 2008

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.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

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.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Well. . .

We just got back from trick-or-treating. There is a good assortment of candy on the floor, and just the proximity to that candy has made Addie pretty loopy. Right now, she's going after a purple sucker. Of course, about thirty-seven percent of that sucker is all over her face, neck and chest. April looks at Addie and laughs, "you're getting all purple."
To which Addie replies, "Well, it IS purple."

Happy Halloween!


Friday, October 24, 2008

Then and now

This basket is so much fun - at least the girls think so. A few nights ago Charlotte had a blast pushing this around and climbing in and out of it. I couldn't help but think about Addie when she was roughly the same age.

Charlotte, 11 months:


Adeline, 10 months:

Fall Fun

A few days ago the playgroup from our church took a trip up north to a place called the Oil Ranch. I was a little nervous because a lot of the activities at the ranch involve farm animals. The last time Addie was around animals like this was at the rodeo and she was terrified. But, we don't get many opportunites to get out in the country, so I decided to risk it.

First up was the hayride to feed the cows. Addie wasn't too thrilled, she wanted to sit on my lap the entire time, but it did go better than I was expecting. The cows put their heads right into the wagon and would eat out of your hand... we just threw our food onto the hay and let them eat it from there. Considering the cows got within two feet of Addie, I am very proud to say there was no screaming involved.


After the cows we went to a hay-maze. Much less frightening.

Next we had a picnic lunch. Charlotte was so tired from the cow excitement that she almost fell asleep on the grass.

After lunch we rode on the train. This was Addie's favorite part of the trip.


After the train ride we headed off to the petting zoo and pony rides. This was the only interesting picture I got at the petting zoo. Charlotte was zonked out in her stroller and Addie wanted nothing to do with the animals. But they did have this chicken which I thought was really funny looking.


Out of everything that day, I was most surprised by Adeline's reaction to the ponies. She doesn't even like the 25 cent mechanical horses in supermarkets, so I was completely shocked when she rode the horse! She was a little nervous at the beginning, I had to hold her hand the first time. But after she was done she actually wanted to go again! These pictures are from round #2 when she was comfortable enough to ride without me.

Then we tried to put Charlotte on a horse. Not to ride, just to get a picture. But she wanted nothing to do with it.

Here we are at the end of the day. Charlotte is half naked because we had snow-cones and she enjoyed hers a little too much.