Trimming the Tree

We headed out to the farmer's market on Saturday morning to get our tree. The girls had fun walking around, checking out all the trees. We picked one out, headed home and celebrated with hot chocolate (definitely the highlight for Claire). Later that night, after dinner, we decided to get out the lights and ornaments only to discover that we had no lights. Both Art & I had forgotten that we tossed ours last year because so many bulbs were burnt out...so Art hustled out to Target to grab some lights while the girls and I anxiously waited at home. Once he was home, he strung them on the tree, plugged them in and discovered the lights he had bought were SUPER bright...like hurt your eyes bright. So after all the effort, we saved the tree decorating until Sunday (when we could get new lights).

The girls both had a great time sorting through all the ornaments, helping put them on the tree, and running around with beads around their necks. So much excitement. They loved every minute of it. We have a lot of fun holiday activities planned these next few weeks, so we are looking forward to more magical moments this season!

Happy Birthday Sam!

The winter months are full of birthday celebrations for our family. A couple of weeks ago we celebrated our nephew Sam's 3rd birthday and the party did not disappoint. There were plenty of balloons, party hats and screaming toddlers to add to all the excitement of the day...and of course CAKE!! Happy Birthday, Sam!! Next up...Claire and Elliott later this week.

Little Miss No Nap

Most of the time Claire goes down for nap without fighting it and still sleeps between 2-3 hours. Every once in awhile, though, she decides that she can do without. A few Fridays ago napping was not in the cards. After an hour of her talking and playing in her room I went up and got her. We read books, colored and worked on her letters. It was great to spend some one on one time with her. She has become so grown up lately. She has such a personality and is so independent. I love the little person she is becoming and can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

15 Months Old

Charlotte turned 15 months old on Halloween. Over the past 3 months she has turned into a toddler. She understands everything and seems so grown up.

At 15 months, Charlotte:
- is very independent. She loves to look at books by herself, feed herself with a spoon and brush her own teeth.
- loves to dance. When you tell her to dance she starts bobbing her head and bouncing up and down.
- enjoys baby dolls. She loves to carry them around the house, pretend to feed them bottles and give them hugs and kisses. She sleeps with a small cloth one during nap and bedtime and loves to fall asleep with it under her head.
- adores real babies, too. She gets super excited and loves to get in their face and give them lots of (mostly gentle) touches.
- tries to repeat everything we say. She isn't saying a ton of words on her own yet, but has mastered a few of the basic ones: yes, no, baby, bottle, uh-oh, more, all done, nana (banana), bye, mama, dada.
- loves pizza. It is honestly the one food that she goes completely crazy over and consistently asks for more of. Overall, she is still a pretty good eater...as long as she is feeling well.
- has 4 teeth on top, 4 on bottom, her top 2 molars and her bottom 2 are trying hard to come through. She is kind of a crab when she is teething, so I'm looking forward to a break from teeth for awhile.
- can identify a handful of body parts on her own - hand, foot, belly, head.
- moved to the toddler room on Monday and it is going well so far. She cries at drop-off, but usually calms down pretty fast.
- is 30.5 inches tall (51st percentile) and weighs 20 lbs 3 oz (11th percentile).
- is super sweet and loving. She is constantly giving out hugs and kisses and we just love her!

Halloween Weekend

We had a weekend packed with Halloween activities. Friday morning I took the girls to school so they could participate in their Halloween parties. I helped at Claire's and she had so much fun. There were a ton of Halloween-inspired activities, pumpkin cookies and some spooky songs as well. I also got to see Charlotte's music class. A great morning. Friday evening we carved pumpkins. The girls were interested for about 10 minutes before losing complete interest. Probably not that surprising to any parents out there. Maybe next year.

Saturday morning we went to a Halloween party at some friend's house - unfortunately, I did take any pictures. Sunday evening we got together with two other families from our daycare and went trick-or-treating. Claire had a blast. She was so excited to go from one house to the next. And of course Charlotte wanted in on the action as well. It was a very successful Halloween.