So Big!

Charlie loves to do "So Big" now, as well as clap his hands, walk behind his little walking toy, and climb the stairs - boy he's keeping us busy!

See below for several new posts now that we were able to upload pictures again. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

Sam was incredibly excited to ask Santa for a space ship - until it was our turn (after waiting in line for an hour and a half). Then he decided he didn't want to talk to Santa. He did at least pose for a family picture - Charlie was less than enthused.

Below are pictures from FIVE different Christmas parties we went to in the last few weeks and also Christmas morning at our house - and yes, the boys are wearing the same matching sweaters at all of the parties. We definitely got our money's worth out of those!

The boys with Great-Grandma Helen and Great-Grandpa Kenny

What a smile:)

Christmas Eve - We hosted at our house for the first time for my parents and my brother. My sisters were both out of town with their husbands - and they were all incredibly missed. Sam chose three Russian teacakes for Santa, two candy cane cookies for the reindeer, and an M&M monster cookie for Santa Mouse. He was very particular about this.

Oscar must have helped Santa put gifts under the tree.

We woke up at our own house on Christmas morning for the very first time, which was wonderful! Sam had a difficult time waiting until the end for his big present (space ships, complete with astronauts and aliens, from Santa). It was definitely a lesson in patience. Charlie was pretty happy-go-lucky for his first Christmas - though I think we could have just given him boxes and wrapping paper, and he would have been just as content.

Santa gave Sam a toy shaving set in his stocking. He now feels his face every morning and announces that he "needs to shave". The boys with their cousins on Peter's side - Will, Wyatt, and Juliet

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We had two Thanksgiving celebrations this year. The first was at our house with Peter's parents and our niece, Juliet. Our first turkey was a success (we think?!). We also celebrated at my parents' house too. Charlie loves to eat - and he indulged in both Thanksgiving dinners and ate more than Sam each time.

Grandma Kim with Josie and Charlie

Charlie - enjoying his very first Thanksgiving!

Josie trying pears for the first time!

Sam enjoying a visit with Grandma Peach, Juliet, and Grandpa Gary.

This and That

I think it's for you!

He finally got those two teeth in that we've been waiting for - you can see them below - so cute:)

Sam and Mommy's Gingerbread Train

Charlie crawls on all fours now, except in the kitchen. I think it hurts his knees because he cries and does this...

Snow

Sam enjoying the first snowfall of the season - now the snow keeps coming and coming - and we have lots of winter to go yet!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! A BIG thank you goes to my husband for spending countless hours (including 35 minutes on hold with Toshiba today) trying to fix our computer so I can upload pictures again. More pictures and posts to come!!!

We're still here...

...after almost a week with no internet access, we finally got it back up and running (by we, I mean my husband). Unfortunately, "we" are still working on fixing the USB port so that we can download pics once again. Instead, I thought I'd pull out a picture of Sam's first Christmas - one of my all time favorites.Sam is SO excited for Christmas. Though we waited in line for an hour and a half to have Charlie start screaming and Sam decide NOT to talk to Santa, he still tells everyone that he asked Santa for a black space ship. He also wants Santa to bring Charlie a "small cuddle dinosaur". Hopefully Santa delivers:) He also likes to say that Christmas is "Jeezeeus" birthday.

Though Charlie doesn't quite understand Christmas yet, he DOES understand that pulling ornaments off the tree is a lot of fun and gets a rise out of Mom. Several times I have found him crawling across the floor, with a big grin on his face, and an ornament in each hand. He is 11 months old now, and he is crawling on all fours, walks forward if you hold both of his hands, eats everything you put in front of him, pulls himself up to everything, and wrestles with his big brother. I kid you not. They wrestle - and giggle - and truly enjoy each other. Once the camera is working again, I'll put a video up!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As the pies bake in the oven, I thought I'd take a couple minutes to update the blog. First of all, I'm not able to download any recent pictures from my camera. Canon seems to think it is a computer software problem, so now I need to find the time to actually call them, sit on hold, and then have them navigate me through a bunch of stuff that totally confuses me -- so, I put a couple pics up from a few weeks ago until I can get something figured out.

Charlie is now TEN months old! Though he is still sick and suffering from yet another cold and ear infection, he's still our smiley little boy - though these days he prefers to flash those smiles while being held. He pulls himself up to everything now and has even managed to figure out how to get back down. His gums are swollen and those two bottom pearly whites are just waiting to burst through - though I've been saying that for two months. He tries all kinds of table food now, which he LOVES! Some days I think he eats more than Sam. He now takes a bath in the big tub as you will see below, and he has finally starting listening to stories rather than eating the books.

Sam will be three and a half tomorrow! He's such a fun little guy to have around. He loves to talk and asks questions constantly as he tries to soak in everything around him. As any parent knows, this sometimes gets overwhelming. For example, I once overheard Sam ask my dad question after question when finally my dad responded with, "Because Sam. Because is the answer." His favorite things to play with independently are his tools (just like Grandpa Roy) and his flashcards. When we are playing with him, he prefers wrestling, playing bears (one of us is the mommy bear and one is the baby bear - we hibernate and wait for spring to come - and then celebrate when it finally arrives - over and over again - it's really fun - you should try it!), playing school (he likes to be the teacher and quiz us on our letters), and playing memory. He also recently grasped the concepts of addition and subtraction! We are very proud of our little boy:)

As you can see, Charlie definitely gets enough to eat.

Sam was watching Cars. I think that a) Charlie is getting too big for his swing and b) Charlie needs to be placed in a position where he cannot see the tv. Have a wonderful, safe, and relaxing Thanksgiving!

SamTalk

From the kitchen the other day, I told Sam that it was time for him to go upstairs to go potty. He said, "when I'm done, can I come back downstairs and be a turtle again?" I came out into the livingroom to find him like this...

I was playing Super Mario Bros on Wii the other day with Sam. He likes to be Luigi, who he calls "the green guy". By "be Luigi" I mean he randomly pushes buttons on his remote control until Luigi goes to take a nap (i.e. Luigi dies). I was playing rather poorly, and Peter was making fun of me for it. When Mario "went to take a nap," Sam said, "Mommy, you're special. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and it's okay." -- Thanks Yo Gabba Gabba for teaching this very important lesson to our son.

Embarassed by Mom already....

The other morning I was sitting with Sam as he was eating his breakfast, and he informed me that my hair was sticking up. I explained that I hadn't showered or gotten ready for the day yet. A couple minutes later I asked Sam if he wanted to go to Target with me. He said, "Are you going to fix your hair first?"

A New Milestone

Just tonight, Charlie pulled himself to a standing position at the coffee table, completely unassisted! He was so happy, and we were so proud:)

Poor Charlie

Even though he has a cough, cold, an ear infection, pink eye (including some disgusting eye boogers), and his first tooth coming in - he is still smiling. He's SUCH a good baby:) Hopefully he is on the mend again soon.

Meanwhile, an unexpected day at home gave me some time to get some blogging done - scroll down for six more new posts!

A Frog and a Dalmatian Puppy

Auntie Candy with her niece and two nephews

Josie"bee" and her Mommy

My sweet little puppy and my silly frog

We went to a Halloween party on Friday night. Peter won the award for worst costume. The two Charlies playing ball together.

I think our little Charlie is a bit of a ball hog.

Sever's Corn Maze

We headed to Shakopee to meet my whole family at the Sever's corn maze. It was chilly, but we still had a lot of fun!

I am STILL finding kernels of this corn around my house!

Sam enjoying the giant slide with Uncle Jeremy!

The pig races!

32

Yep. That's my age. Only eight years away from 40! My younger sibs like to make fun of me for being "old". Don't worry - you all aren't that far behind! My birthday celebration was great. Peter and I took Sam to his first play - Charlotte's Web. He was completely enthralled, but he was a little confused about why there weren't "real" animals. Then we went home and picked up Charlie (thanks for watching him, Candy!), and we went out for Vietnamese food for dinner, followed by a trip to Byerly's to pick out a birthday dessert. I should say though, that Sam picked it out - a grasshopper pie. Good choice, Sam!