Amundsons

We spent Christmas with Jacob's family in Wisconsin. This is Charlotte in her Christmas dress by their tree. There was a list of at least 5 other things that she wanted to do besides stand and take her picture (Can you tell?) Christmas eve was on the Cranberry marsh with lots of cousins. This was the party table (a.k.a. kid table) Precious! Jacob's family reads Luke 2 every year and with this many kids it becomes tradition to act out the Christmas story. This was Charlies first year to participate, and she got to be the Christmas Cow. I was a little nervous when the angels came out with their pretty wings, or the wise men with their colorful scarfs that she would get jealous... But she stayed committed to her important role.... and knelt down before the baby Jesus as only a cow can. Jacob's cousin made t-shirts for all the little girls that said "I Love My Papa". It was a really fun idea with a lot of truth behind it. Christmas morning we were back at Grammy...

Over Thanksgiving break, Charlie got to spend some good quality time with Nana and Papi. Not being one to take that important bond lightly, we decided to get away and let them have their time together. Yeah baby, we ditched Charlie with the old people (I'm including Adam, Leah, Scott, and Jen in this category since they had just as much opportunity as we did) and took off to hit the slopes courtesy of some wicked lake effect snow in Western NY. Lisa is a great skier but had never been snowboarding before. She did an awesome job and we had a great day sans-badger.

Here are some of the indoor pictures that we spent in NY with my family. We will be in Wisconsin for Christmas so we combined the holidays and got in twice the fun... My mother really really wanted everyone in the same pajamas. I thought it was adorable (guess I am her daughter) my brothers... not so much, but they have learned to play along. Charlie in some of her dress up clothes. And Auntie Jenn getting her ready for the previous video... Charlie got her dollhouse from Nana... My brother Adam and his girlfriend Leah... see this wouldn't have been as cute if they weren't dressed alike. Another round of pie. This was by far Charlotte's favorite activities of the week. Feeding the baby cousin. She was so proud of herself. Decorating the tree. A. ready for Thanksgiving dinner before anyone else was. Playing around. My mom wanted this counter in her kitchen years ago so that she could "feed her grand kids breakfast". Guess I see now what she was talking about. ...

We had a wonderful time in NY for Thanksgiving. Snow was a plenty and Charlie could not get enough of the fluffy white stuff. Traditionally my family has always headed up the road to the Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving... below are some pictures of the adventure. Eating our weight in snow... Papi got a new sled for the grand kids, and they spent hours on it. And Papi even made Frosty the Snowman to welcome them to the snow. And then the kids had to do their "chores" in the horse barn...

Our Christmas gift from Auntie Jenn... that will continue to give all year round!

Before to heading to NY to see family for Thanksgiving, I was talking to Charlie: Me: Charlie, we are going to see your cousin August. Charlie: We get to see August? Me: Yeah, August is your cousin. Charlie: Yeah August is my cousin, and Barak Obama is my president.