Thanksgiving 2009

Several weeks ago we thought it would be a nice idea to offer to host Thanksgiving at our house this year. Then I decided it would be a good idea to sign up for the VA Run Turkey Trot 5K the morning of Thanksgiving. Did I mention I had done ZERO training for this 5K? Anyways, I did some preparations for the Thanksgiving meal a few days ahead and recruited some family members to make things as well, so I wouldn't be too overwhelmed. Turns out, as always, we had WAY too much food! Obviously I survived the 5K, thanks in major part to my running (walking/shuffling) partner, Kathleen!

We had a relatively small group at Thanksgiving - me, Steve, Charlotte, my parents, my Aunt Jacki, Steve's Mom, Chris, Sarah, Madeline and Gabriel. We planned to eat around 4 after all the kiddos were up from naps and in good moods. Luckily Charlotte took about a 3 hour nap that day and was in good spirits when she woke up. Although she was a bit shocked because there was no one here when she went to sleep and then a whole bunch of people (including her little cousins who were playing with all of her toys) when she woke up!

Everyone enjoyed a yummy meal and my very first attempt at turkey was a success! Although I don't think i'll be attempting that too many more times - the preparation was totally grossing me out!



After dinner Madeline wanted to color, and soon both Charlotte and Gabriel wanted to join in the fun.


Steve copying Charlotte's famous smile!

A great one of Mom and Madeline

Charlotte and her latest obsession - the color yellow!

All dressed up...

and somewhere fun to go!

Charlotte's friend Landon turned 1 this month and she (and I) were invited to his birthday party. I decided to dress her up in a super cute dress I picked up down in North Carolina during the summer. We were operating on no nap, but she was a really good girl at the party and she had fun meeting lots of new friends.

18 Months and Weekend with Daddy

Charlotte turned 18 months on Friday November 13th! I was on a weekend girl's trip to NYC during this time, and Charlotte had a special weekend with Daddy. I have no 18 months stats for Charlotte since she has not been to her appointment yet - I guess the doctor's office is a little busy because the first available appointment is a few weeks into December! Will post the stats as soon as I can get them!

Here are some pictures from Charlotte's weekend with her Daddy.

Halloween

I was excited for this year's Halloween holiday because Charlotte would be able to walk to a few houses and trick or treat. Mother Nature had other ideas and gave us a yucky misty rain so that we were only able to make it to about 3 houses, but that was probably just about enough for Charlotte anyway!

A few days before Halloween we had Mommy group and decided to try and get a picture of all the kids in their costumes. Here is one of the better shots of Charlotte posing with her friends in their costumes. This was a very difficult task getting them all to look in the same general direction!


And this is the best pose we could get of Charlotte on Halloween night!

Charlotte's loot

She couldn't have any of her candy, but she did have a cupcake as a treat!


Yum! Sucking your thumb when it is covered with cupcake icing is pretty nice.

Cox Farm

Since Halloween is just around the corner I wanted to get back out to Cox Farm so Charlotte could play and we could get some pumpkins to carve! Luckily Steve was able to take the afternoon off and come along with us. We also knew some of our buddies would be there as well and we were able to catch up with them at the farm.

Charlotte was excited to "moo" at the cows and look at the pigs. Her piggy noise sounds an awful lot like her doggy sound right now, but we are working on it. We were also able to go on a hayride with our friends Grayson, Brayden and their mommies. The kids were having a great time playing in the hay.





Family picture on the hayride


We found a few small slides to go down. I think Charlotte thought it was pretty fun!


Charlotte posing with her buddies at the farm

Autumn Pictures

Although I usually wait until 6 month intervals to go to Portrait Innovations, I wanted to get some Autumn themed pictures of Charlotte taken this year. My Mom bought a super cute turkey outfit for her in Williamsburg (after I told her how cute it was :)), and I also wanted to get some pics of her in her Halloween costume. Plus, I also took a casual pumpkin themed outfit! We took Steve's Mom along with us to help with outfit changes and keeping Charlotte entertained while I was picking the pictures I wanted. Thanks to her for footing the bill for all the super cute pictures!

Here are some of the cutest ones we got!















Thanks Portrait Innovations! We'll be back in a month for 18 month/Christmas pictures...

17 Months

Yesterday marked Charlotte's 17 month birthday! We can't believe how much she has grown, even in just the past few weeks. Seems like every day or two she is able to say a new word or complete a new action. And she is of course walking up a storm!

She can identify most major body parts. My current favorite is when you ask her where her hands are and she flips them palm side up and looks at them like they are the most amazing things! The mitten make it even cuter :)


Here are all of the words that she is able to say right now (in random order of appearance):

mama
daddy
nana
apple
hi
bye
up
ball
cat
mine
baby
cookie
shoes
sock
banana
tree
woof
neigh
moo
baa
meow
roar
quack
eat
bath
puff
cheese

And the latest one came up yesterday morning when I was making breakfast. I told Charlotte I was making a waffle, and out of the blue I hear her say "waff." So cute!