Decorating for Christmas

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to get ourselves in gear and get the Christmas decorations out.  We have pre-lit artificial tree, so all we (aka Steve) have to do is bring it up from the basement, click it together and plug it in.  Brilliant!  

I dressed Charlotte up for the occasion and she was super excited to get started!

Posing with the tree pre-ornaments

And now, with ornaments!

We also have the Advent Calendar up, and it is already driving Charlotte a little crazy.  We have the Fisher Price plush Nativity version, so it is pretty cute and very tempting to want to put all of the characters on at once.  As the days have passed, she's come to understand the process more and more, so now she just gets excited to put one character on each morning before breakfast.  

It's so fun to see her excitement growing each day.  This year is going to be so much fun with her!!

School Pictures

Charlotte is only in a Mother's Day Out program, but she still gets school pictures taken!  How fun!!  I sent her to school in a cute dress and leggings.  After polling friends and family on Facebook, I also decided to do the pigtails.  The pictures turned out so cute!

I couldn't pass up any of the pictures, so I paid the full price to keep all of the sheets...no big surprise there considering my past experiences with photo studios :)  

Trip to Chapel Hill

Halloween weekend also meant a trip to Chapel Hill for a football game!  It was originally going to be a big family affair with my parents, brother and sister-in-law coming down for the game - which pitted my Tar Heels against Steve's Tribe of W&M.  By the time the weekend rolled around, it was just us three hitting the road for my Alma Mater and all time favorite town to visit!  

Charlotte was great in the car.  We arrived in the usual 4 hours, checked into the hotel, grabbed some lunch and were able to put her down for a nap.  After nap we headed over to campus for some exploring, shopping and eating.  

Charlotte posing with me on Franklin Street

Love this picture of Charlotte and her shadow strutting down Franklin Street in her new Tar Heels hat.

She went right up to the Old Well, leaned against the column and posed...a natural!

Mommy and Charlotte on the steps of South Building

And now with Daddy...

Charlotte Gould, UNC Class of 2030 (if she sticks to the 4 year plan)

Having fun with the bike racks

After some campus exploration, squirrel chasing, and a few purchases at The Student Stores, we headed back to Franklin Street for dinner.  It was hard to decide where to go since we only had a limited time in town and I missed all my old places.  We settled on Pepper's Pizza which had moved to a different and larger location.  Then, we just HAD to check out the new Krispy Kreme, which apparently has ice cream that Charlotte enjoyed.  Then to really pack in the excitement, we went to The Yogurt Pump so I could get my oreo yogurt.  After our eating adventures we headed back to the hotel.  

Charlotte got to experience her first shower before bed, as the hotel didn't have bathtubs!  She did awesome and really loved it.  We got her in bed, and were not too far behind ourselves after such a busy day.  

The next day brought more excitement - a hotel breakfast, exploring the local stores, getting dolled up for the football game and meeting my college friend Crystal, her husband David and their adorable son Joshua for Tar Heel town and the game.   We decided to skip nap since kickoff was at 3:30 and sometimes Charlotte ends up being in a better mood without a nap than if we wake her up early from a nap.  It ended up being a good decision.  

Charlotte enjoyed exploring the Pope Box where our seats were, she also really loved sitting outside in our seats and watching all of the festivities.  She sat nicely in my lap for nearly the whole game, and eventually fell asleep during the 4th quarter.  It was touch and go for a while, but the Tar Heels pulled out the win!  

After the game, we drove straight to Gumby's pizza so we could get Pokey Stix (can you tell this trip kinda revolved around food?!).  We called from the stadium and picked them up on our way back to the hotel.  Had to stop at Wendy's for Charlotte's nuggets too.  :)  After a late dinner, and another shower for Charlotte, she was sleeping peacefully in the pack n play...again, we weren't far behind!  

Halloween

We started our Halloween fun this year with a party at Charlotte's friend Grayson's house!  Jen had the place decorated so spookily (is that even a word?!), and the food was awesome!!  Everyone contributed something really fun to the event.

The food and decor -

The guests - 

The fun - decorating cupcakes, ghost bowling, pumpkin decorating, a costume parade and trick-or-treat practice! 

Then it was time for the real deal - Halloween night!  Well, a few days and a trip to Chapel Hill were thrown in between, but for the sake of saving blog space...

Charlotte was excited to get dressed up in her owl costume for trick-or-treating.  After dinner we got her, and ourselves as cowboy and black cat, all set and we headed out.  It was getting a little chilly and windy, so we didn't go too far and only hit up 3 houses plus the community center for some treats.  Nana and Grandaddy met us while we were trick-or-treating so they could see Charlotte in her super cute costume!  Charlotte got to enjoy one treat - M&M's - before heading off to bed!  

Fall Activities

We had lots of fun this Fall exploring different parks, playgrounds and events.  

Charlotte was able to spend some time with her buddies at Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground.  This was the perfect place for kids this age, as it had smaller scale structures to climb and explore.  We never did make it to Cox Farms this year, but don't think Charlotte missed anything!  

The weather was so nice that we were able to take some nice walks around the neighborhood.  Charlotte's lovey, Neigh Neigh, came along on one of our walks and got to experience the fun!  

Fairfax County Park Authority put on a special Halloween event at Burke Lake Park- The Ghost Train!  We thought it would just be a train ride, but the carousel was also open and there were several other activities to take part in.  Charlotte was very well behaved as we waited in a long line and through three train cycles before it was our turn!  

Pets, Parks and Pigtails

Just a few cute pics from the past month (or maybe 3). 

Having fun at Clemyjontri Park.  We were lucky that the carousel was open for one last time before the winter!  

Time for pig tails and a preppy outfit!