Amundsons

2012-01-28T13:14:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Daddy

Christmas in NY

2012-01-16T20:57:00.004-06:00

Christmas in NY was a wonderful time. My parents, brothers and their families were all there and it was great to be together. The girls love their sweet cousins, and this year Claire was right in the middle of pack (throwing elbows and keeping pace). They are building some amazing Christmas memories and I am so thankful for the blessing that we have in our family.

The cousins ready for Christmas Eve service
Gingerbread houses (fancy head tilt)
Adventuring at the neighbors cabin (sorry Claire, but you are so cute when you cry)
and with the neighbors goats.

and the cookies

and the Frosty. Even though the snow was a fail this year, my dad was bound and determined to make Christmas magic happen.
The Kettelkamp crew

christmas tree

2012-01-16T20:33:00.009-06:00

We headed out to the Daniken Tree farm this year again. I giggle when I realize that we have lived in Greenville long enough that we are starting to get traditions. Daniken will give you a ride on a hay wagon out to the fields to look at thousands of trees that all look basically exactly alike. But this way you can spend an hour arguing over a thinning branch here and a barely bare spot there. For me it is all about the smell... I love the smell of a real tree and wouldn't care about the look, but I do enjoy in engaging in the annual Christmas tree debate... so an hour later

We ended up with this beauty. It smelled great and it was prickly enough to keep the 2 year old and the dog away, no matter the glitter. Score.
Just realized I never took a picture of it up in our house decorated... bahh. well if you really care (and I am thinking you dont) just check out our one last year. Its basically the same.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is to sing loud for all to hear.
(our Christmas card)

Claire turns 2

2012-01-16T20:20:00.006-06:00

She did it. Turned 2 with such charm. Charlotte made her a cake- decorated it all by herself.

(Nana's #2 cookies)

Charlotte was super excited to give Claire a present she had found. Up until now Claire used a baby blanket, which had gotten too small (or Claire had gotten too big, not sure which I am ready to admit) that her little feet could not fit under it anymore. However, she was so in love with it that I never thought we were going to be able to move on to another.
But as usual Charlotte knew. She had picked out a super soft purple "big kid" blanket. And since I am writing this 3 months after the fact- I can tell you that it is by far Claire's favorite gift ever. It has become her new blankie which is nice, cause her feet are nice a toasty this winter.

Yo Gabba Gabba

2012-01-13T21:24:00.018-06:00

Claire turned 2 and it is a party year (we are an every other year party family).
So it was a 2 year old birthday party- but it was an awesome 2 year old birthday party. As in I would go to this party and have fun even if I wasn't 2, even if I didn't have a 2 year old- it was that fun. Way too much fun for a kids birthday party. I thought I was supposed to be worn out and crabby at the end... instead I was sad it was over.

We did a couple things right:
1. We combined the party with our good friends- who have twins that also just turned 2. We would mostly have the same people at the party anyway. Divide and conquer my friends. Divide and conquer.
2. We picked the right friends- I love Carrie, she did way more than I did (I was clearly the slacker in the team- or winner in getting the best partner depending on how you look at it.)
3. We picked Yo Gabba Gabba. It was gender neutral, all three kids were obsessed with DJ Lance and his crew of... still not really sure what they are.
4. It was active. We just loaded the Rec Center with balloons (blown up courtesy of the volleyball team), blasted music and let all the 2 year olds "Go CRAZY, Go! Go! Go! Go Crazy!!!"
5. The twins grandpa is a DJ. Clearly this is a quality that will come in handy for the twins for years. He was amazing and turns out 2 year olds love strobe lights (plus they got a free screening to see if any had seizures- all passed)

Oh yeah... and Jake dressed up like DJ Lance... there was also that.
They played some silly games...
Danced some silly dances. "Wiggle. Wiggle. Wiggle. STOP!"

Pretty great having a funky cool dad. Girls I certainly hope that you always think you dad is as rad as you did when you were 2. Cause it takes a cool dude to dress up in an orange afro for you.

(This is why Carrie is awesome! Look at these cupcakes... they are amazing!)
Happy Birthday Claire bear!!! Please do not expect a DJ at every party...

The Gullies

2012-01-13T20:57:00.020-06:00

I ran into Andi after church and asked if she would take some more pictures of us. She had taken some of my favorites ever of my girls last year. So I was super excited when she said she would meet us up at the gullies. The gullies- as in the place that Jake and I used to sneak away during college to... um... look at nature. Now here we are with our babies, my soul rejoicing.

(Note- giant dog... just getting bigger every day)

Andi was of course amazing. We just walked down the path a little and then back up again. So many to pick from but here are some of the ones that make me smile the most.

Turns out "nature" in the gullies is still wonderful...

Miranda's Wedding

2012-01-13T20:42:00.007-06:00

my cousin Miranda got married... This was my favorite of them. Even though you cant see her face, you can see how stunning she is in his whole face.
Jake took some beautiful pictures of our girls, or Jake took some pictures of our beautiful girls... depending on if you are rooting for Jake's photography talent or my girls faces (I like both). At any rate, I had to post them.

Garrr... sometimes she thinks she is pirate. even at a fancy wedding.

differences

2012-01-13T20:26:00.011-06:00

My girls are different. Very different. As Claire grows older and shows a little bit more of her personality each day I am amazed at how different they are. I love this about them. Every morning as Jake and I lie in bed we can hear them through the wall of the bedroom playing. They giggle, yell, run around and tackle each other. Playing together is one of the things that they do best and I am sure that they get along mostly because they are different. I didn't realize that this year when we went to the pumpkin patch that Claire was wearing the same shirt that Charlotte had worn when she went at a similar age. I hunted down the old photos. Thought it would be fun to show some of the differences- and well there are some similarities as well.

Pumpkin patch

2012-01-13T19:55:00.020-06:00

So the annual trek to the pumpkin patch happened again this year. And here it is: the picture.
Honestly we had no idea back then that these two would turn out so cute.

Claire had her normal amazing time -just glad to be out of the house and running around and smelling goats.

This year we decided to go with Strawberry Shortcake. Charlotte knew early on what she wanted to be, although I am pretty sure it was more about the hair than the character.

Strawberry Shortcake obviously couldn't be without her giant strawberry.

Every year we do a themed costume with Eliot. This year however living in different states and since the kids are starting to get opinions I thought it would be over. However, it still turned out. Check out the "flash frozen strawberries".

Books

2012-01-12T19:27:00.009-06:00

My girls love books.
I wanted to document some of their favorites, although I can not imagine a day that I wont remember these as they have been seared into my brain, I have read them so many times. It was actually quite difficult to narrow it down, but I finally came up with each girls top ten (in no particular order).

Charlotte's:
Where the Wild Things Are
Pinkalicious
Daisy-head Mayzie
Lady Bug Girl and Bumblebee Boy
Hiccupotamus
Josephine wants to Dance
Alice the Fairy
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Bunny Cakes
and of course the all time favorite... Owl Moon.
Claire loves those as well but when she picks out her bedtime book it is usually one of these:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Knuffle Bunny
The Napping House
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?
Goodnight Moon
But Not the Hippopotamus!
Moo, Baa, LA LA LA!
Go, Dog. Go!
The Foot Book
and of course... The Mitten.
She does tend to "read" them upside down... it adds suspense to the storyline.
Pretty classic books. I will admit to the occasional Strawberry Shortcake and TV show based book, but really for the most part it tends to be a one night stand. They always come back to their true loves.

First day of Kindergarten

2011-08-18T12:34:00.012-05:00

Charlotte had been in anxious anticipation for the 1st day of kindergarten all summer. She woke up early and started the routine we had practiced: she got herself dressed, brushed her hair and teeth headed downstairs to start her chores of feeding the dog Ole and the fish Bobby "wasabi". When Jake and I heard an "Oh NO!! something is WRONG with BOBBY!!" yeah... first day of school and her fish had gone off to swim in the big blue. There were tears, but this sad little girl put on her brave face to meet her big day.

Her school has a "soft-opening" for the 1st day of kindergarten. It was a shorter day and parents dropped them off, stayed and then took them home. It was a nice way to start the year, particularly when she was on the verge of tears most of the morning. Nothing to do with kindergarten- everything to do with her little blue fish friend.

Ready to enter the gates of education (bum bum bummmmm).

The first book- The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn (LOVE. IT)

The Green table is all girls.
Her sweet teacher, who really took the time to make each kid feel welcome and special.
Family photo at Charlotte's seat.
And then off to Country Kitchen to celebrate our first day of school.

summer mish mash

2011-08-07T22:40:00.023-05:00

Summer 2011 was sweet. Mostly cause we had Jake home all summer and did not have to share him with California. So in an attempt to document a "see girls we did do things with you even though you dont remember" this post is just a mish mash of summer fun.

HANG OUT: as with any good summer there was significant amounts of: hang-out-not-much-going-on-lets-run-through-the-sprinklers-and-eat-watermelon-kind-of-day. This happen to be one of those.
MUNY: Charlotte and I went to the Muny again this year and saw The Little Mermaid, ate too much ice cream and had a fabulous girls day out.

NY: Got a chance to see my parents out in NY which was filled with multiple water activities

Do not let this photo fool you. Claire is fearless. She hurled herself off of this pier multiple times.

SOCCER CAMP: Charlotte went to a day soccer camp, which she loved. Every day I picked her up she was sweaty, bright red in the face, hungry and tired. Sounds like the perfect camp to me.

HORSES: Without a doubt one of the highlights of the summer. While we were in NY Papi took Charlotte to ride her first horse (not a silly little pony strapped to a pole at the pumpkin patch, but an actual horse).

This is Whiskers, Whistler, Whistney... drat I don't remember. This is the horse she rode.

So I am not a photographer... but wow! The photo below - I took this. Not sure how and pretty sure I couldn't do it again. But I am just saying I would not be surprised if Horse and Hound Magazine called me up after this photo goes viral for its awesomeness.

SWIM LESSONS: Claire had 2 weeks of a Mommy and Me swim class in which she spent the entire time trying to get away from said Mommy, because she was certain she could swim all on her own and we were just holding her back.

Charlotte spent 4 weeks going through level 1 and 2. Her teacher commented "She's great, she just really tries her hardest at everything."- sometimes I wish I wasn't a teacher, so that I wouldn't know what that meant.
Simply a great summer with two amazing girls.

Ballet

2011-08-07T21:38:00.014-05:00

Charlotte is a ballerina. And when I say Charlotte is a ballerina, I do not simply mean that she took ballet lessons this year. She spins, twirls, leaps, and prances her way through her day. She moves continually and gracefully, fully aware of her body in space, and of any eyes on her (perhaps we have a prima donna as well). So yeah... I'm her mom so of course I think she is going to Julliard, but until she moves to NY she is at the local Greenville ballet center.

This year they performed the Nutcracker and she was a lemon drop for her debut.

See her in the back?? Ha. I love it.

Easter in August

2011-08-07T21:04:00.012-05:00

Ok so we didn't really have Easter in August but these pictures have been just sitting on my computer and they are seriously too stinkin' cute to not put on the blog. So I will bear my shame and post them now. Plus when is it not the season to celebrate that He has risen?

new puppy

2011-06-29T19:38:00.020-05:00

Ole was born on January 4, with his 4 brothers and 2 sisters, on a farm just outside of Vandalia. We brought him home March 4, he was a 7 pound ball of fluffy sweetness.

Almost immediately he started to grow.

And then we blinked and he really grew. Like a lot. He gains about 3-4 pounds a week. What does that? Ole apparently. He is a sweet puppy, that gets in trouble quite a bit. To be fair everytime he wakes up his body is bigger then when he went to bed.

Check out his little eye drop! His Saint Bernard-ness is starting to show.

mountain camping

2011-06-22T21:59:00.025-05:00

Post wedding we headed for the mountains. We wanted an adventure with our girls and figured the quickest way to do that would be to sleep in a tent at 11,000 feet. They are Viking babies, don't worry they thrive in the elements.
While in Aspen Charlotte and Jake went up the gondolas to see what she could see... but all that she could see... ... was the other side of the mountain (the other side of the mountain... the other side of the mountain...was all that she could see.) anyway it was pretty.

(coats can be confusing when you are at high altitudes- don't judge.)

We drove up the mountains as well to get to the continental divide. As you can see Charlotte is having an awesome time. my mountain man This was our campsite (Sarah- do these tents look familiar? you gave them to us for our wedding 11 years ago...) and here is the view from our site... not so shabby Lord. My mom and dad joined our happy little camping party. my brother Adam and Leah and the cousins, making a mighty clan. Behind our site was this little wooded area. The kids built a rock fort to fight off the bears. They clearly have been misinformed regarding the size of a bear.
Then there were the s'mores of which Charlotte had been asking about for the past 2 months. I will not admit publicly to how many I let her eat. There was also the dirt. Yes, there were wipes that could have taken care of this, but we were camping. I felt it was part of the right of passage.
Hanging out at the site with Charlotte in the hammock.
Hanging out at the site with my dad in the hammock. (Please note this poor tree)

It was stinkin' cold in the morning. 27 degrees one morning, that's 27 degrees Fahrenheit as in water no longer flowed. It was cold. But I woke up next to this cute little bear, can you imagine anything cuter to snuggle up too? So that is exactly what we did.

Wedding at Red Rock

2011-06-22T21:36:00.010-05:00

We headed to Colorado for my cousins wedding last month. This meant spending quite a bit of time in Kansas. quite.a.bit.of.time. we got comfy.

The wedding was near Denver at Red Rock. Papi mentioned (more than once) that this was where he "jammed" with John Denver back in the 70's. It was lost on Charlotte, but Claire thought it was rad.

My sweet Aunt Jane... you can take that as "sweet"- kind and generous, and "swEEt"- funky and fun. either one will work for this lady.

Jeana was stunning. Not quiet sure how Josh was able to pull off such a beautiful bride :).

Jake was stunning as well... not really sure how I pulled it off either. (seriously check out how hot he is in this picture!)
The girls had an amazing time, and thankfully did not fall down the 50 foot rock cliff.

lemonade stand

2011-06-06T09:09:00.004-05:00

Charlotte- "mommy, I'm going to make a lemonade stand tomorrow."

Me- "ok"

Charlotte- "and I have the greatest idea to make it the bestest lemonade stand ever"

Me- "ok"

Charlotte- "Everyone will want my lemonade the most... want to know why?"

Me- "yep"

Charlotte- "Cause I will have a big sign that says FREE LEMONADE. Cause people dont want to waste their money on lemonade, so they will think that it is the best lemonade stand ever."

Me- "but then how will you pay for the cups"

Charlotte- "I've got it all figured out, I will use our cups and just tell them to bring them back"

Me- "and the lemons?"

Charlotte- "there are some above the sink"

Me- "and sugar"

Charlotte-"mom, there are lots in the cabinet."

Me- "But that costs me money, how are you going to pay me for those things?"

Charlotte- "Mom, I thought you told me Jesus said to give to people? Why dont you want to do what he wants us to do?"

Me- "OK- why dont we make a sign that says .25, so we can buy the lemonade and then give the rest to church. I think Jesus would like that too."

Charlotte- "Well mom this is not your lemonade stand this is MY lemonade stand? You can do that for you lemonade stand across the street from mine, and I will have a sign that says FREE LEMONADE. But I know people will want mine more, cause FREE is better than whatever you said."

I'm tempted to do it, except it will be hard to compete with a freckled 5 year old socialist.

Regression Analysis

2011-05-04T22:31:00.003-05:00

My last post was mid-January and this post is mid May... so what the heck, right? Well life didn't stop or even slow down. There were "post-able" moments. Pink 5th birthdays, first Papi fishing trips, "glamorous" Oscar parties, Easter baskets filled with peeps, and a GIANT new puppy... but something else happened: I took Regression Analysis. And frankly something had to give, so that I could be present for as many of those moments as possible. This meant my TV line-up has seriously suffered (and I mean seriously... Bethany who?) that... I will somehow recover from, but so has this blog. Part of me feels a little guilty, cause really I do write this for future Charlotte and Claire, but believe me there is enough mom guilt in my life- I refuse to fall victim to blog guilt. BUT about 15 minutes ago I just turned in my final project done.finished.completed. And now not only do I know what this means:

E(ŷ)= β₀+β₁A+β₂D+ β₃W+β₄AD+β₅AW+β₆WD+β₇WDA+ɛ

I can write a 15 page paper on it as well. So for now I am back amongst the virtual, and I will do my best to make up what I can. well at least before the 16th of May when I start the Lit Review for my dissertation...

Snow days

2011-01-13T13:14:00.014-06:00

Its cold. Crazy cold. We have had snow snow snow. So we needed some fun activities to fend off the cabin fever. Not a hard thing to do with two funny kids. We took a Winter Expedition around the neighborhood. My little Norwegian babies love the cold weather and were so excited to go out an explore all the white stuff. We made snow angels... Then we came back inside, made coco and watched movies... Played with stocking stuffers that I don't want to deal with during normal days... We made homemade sushi... and then warm homemade comfort food...
We made a blanket fort... and read tons of books snuggled inside... We made brownies...And then we played hours of hide and go seek. Charlotte and Clarie are really into hide and seek lately. However, just because you are really into something doesn't mean that you are very good at it. In fact they are both pretty terrible. Charlotte only hides in one spot. Over and over and over. Every time she hides behind the chair. Every time. I thought about giving her some pointers in hide and seek, but here is the thing. Claire can play with her (she is that bad). So it goes like this. Claire and I go to the kitchen and count to 10. Charlotte hides behind... the chair. Claire knows where to find her (cause she is always there) so she runs to the chair. And they both laugh hysterically with a truly deep joy in Claire's discovery. and repeat. Sometimes we will switch, Claire and I will hide. We switch up the hiding spots, but it doesn't matter cause Claire loves it so much that she is in a constant giggle and will yell as loud as she can for her sister "Darlette!!" to find her. There are multiple reasons that I am thankful we are not living during World War 2. Hiding from the Nazi with these two would rank up there at the top. We'd make it about 30 seconds.

Ballet

2011-01-13T12:49:00.004-06:00

Charlotte started Ballet this fall. They had their first performance at the local nursing home for Christmas. Check out that talent... wow. Next year Swain Lake.
And yes... I did not realize that they were supposed to wear a red Christmas shirt.

A whole lota' Christmas

2011-01-13T11:55:00.028-06:00

Christmas was enjoyed with Jacob's family in Wisconsin this year but first we got the tree at the local tree farm. We bundled up and headed out to pick out our special tree. We decided on a White Pine, which is a beautiful tree and not very prickly. Which is great except that a not prickly tree with lots of pretty shinny ornaments on it and a 15 month old, meant that the decorations had to start right at the top of that said 15 month old's reach.There were lots of cold winter activities this Christmas. Papi took Charlotte out for her first "Ski Trip" (which was in the front yard). She loved it! Jake and I got a chance to snowboard when we were in Wisconsin. The first time back since Claire was born. And Claire's first sledding experience. Which as you can see she loved every minute of it. The girls got dressed up for the Christmas Eve service. Claire was IN LOVE with her shiny sparkly gold shoes. Getting sweet glimpses of a little girl. We made a ginger bread house with Grammy...
Played with some cousins. (check out Claire in the background who is laughing so hard it looks like she is crying) Did a lot of hanging out with special people... And then playing with some Christmas toys. This year Charlotte decided that she wanted to give Christmas gifts. So a couple of weeks ago we opened up her piggy bank and with her own money we went to Dollar Store. She picked out special gifts for everyone at Christmas. She wrapped them and got to hand them out. She knew Claire would love her first Oatmeal Cream Pie... and she was right. She knew that Aunt Becky would love her new fake nails... and she was almost right.
Wonderful Christmas!

Christmas picture on the couch

2010-12-19T15:36:00.021-06:00

"Hey August can you lower your toy a little?"

"Charlotte look here."

"Nana, you too. Look at the camera"
"Claire, put the toy down."

"August... up here"

"Charlotte, come on.... please"
"JoJo let me see your face."
"Everyone look at me, Clarie! Claire! Claire!"
"Hey, Santa is coming for kids that look at the camera!"
"really?"
"August"
"Claire, what are you doing?... oh never mind"
"Cant see Charlotte"
"Hey you get chocolate if you sit."
"come on guys we almost have this..."

"Nope... never mind we have a crier. its over. go play"

ThanksChristmas

2010-12-19T14:42:00.015-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving in NY with my parents. Celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas with the cousins.

One of the benefits of ThanksChristmas is getting to open presents as an American-Indian

He was a good dog.

2010-12-02T15:47:00.004-06:00

He freely gave his kisses
He protected his girls with fervour
He centered around his family
He greeted guests with offerings of nasty chew toys
He gently nuzzled the babies
He patiently tolerated the destructive toddler
He snuggled the child
He joyously ran along side those who ran and
he slept in with them when they stopped
He loved his family... and we loved him.

because sisters just like to play

2010-11-16T16:30:00.025-06:00

Thanks to Andie for these amazing pictures!

Halloween Baby

2010-11-05T20:43:00.004-05:00

Day 1...

Day 365...
With a RARRR!

Cake

2010-11-05T20:25:00.008-05:00

Part of turning the big 1 year old is of course the cake. Claire got to double that experience with an Ice Cream cake with Grammy and Baba

Seriously Baba who steals cake from a baby!?!?!

Uncle Richard came down and we got to celebrate with him as well.
This one was chocolate and made by the big sister.

Happy Birthday big girl!

pumpkin faces

2010-10-14T20:53:00.004-05:00

So the plan is to then have the wedding photo on a pile of the pumpkins.

Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-10T17:57:00.012-05:00

Aww its that time again... Pumpkin farm magic. Few words but lots of cute kids.
Fun friends that went with us.

Graduation

2010-09-07T14:15:00.010-05:00

Jacob graduated with summer with his MFA from APU. We were very proud of him, particularly...

Charlotte.

Claire was too, but that milk was really good.

Disney

2010-09-07T13:13:00.012-05:00

While in California this summer we headed to the magical land of Disney. Which was truly wonderful with Charlotte, at this age as she really did think that she went to space (Space Mountain), saw a real hippo (Jungle Cruise) and really had tea at Minnie Mouses house.

But let me take a moment to talk about Princesses. Because really you cant talk about Disney without talking about Princesses. As a mom of two girls every part of me cringes at the thought of a Princess. I just think this world is tough enough for a girl to grow up in, without having a female role model that gives you the expectations of having the perfect body/voice/ and talking to animals abilities. Teaching you to wait and wait until the perfect prince/man comes to rescue you instead of kicking the evil witch in the nose yourself. Or feeling like for some reason you are underprivileged because your dad works for a living instead of having a rich king for a father so it is just your right to have everything you want (plus the moms usually are dead... not a fan.) So if you are a friend of mine, no doubt I have already rambled on and on about how we are not going to to the princess thing with our girls... enter life. Princesses were quickly becoming the "forbidden fruit" around here. Charlotte wanted nothing more than to live in a Princess world- watch princesses, play with princesses, dress like a princess. And her request were being meet with "How about we pretend we are cowgirls?" It was getting ugly. Then the thought hit me. My mom never let me have sugar cereals growing up, so what did I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner as soon as I got to college- Coco Puffs. What if Charlotte never experiences this as a 4 year old and then is the weirdo girl in the college with the dorm room that is decorated like a Princess castle?!?! It started slowly with going to see the Princess and the Frog (ok Princess Tianna is a little entrepreneur I can handle this...) which turned into a Princess tent (ok it was a crazy spring I can handle this)... which then turned into waiting in line for 2 hours for this!
ahhhh... Charlotte you better be nice to me when your 25 and talking about me with your shrink.

The day was really loads of fun. Claire got to join us because Jacob's whole family came so there were lots of hands. Claire could not get enough of "Its a Small World" and did just great hanging out with Grammy and Baba for the day.

See Claire- proof that you have already been to Disney Land so we don't have to take you back

so not even close ready for this...

2010-08-31T12:16:00.002-05:00

wait a minute... what is going on here... why... I don't understand...

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Summer Hodgepodge

2010-07-17T15:58:00.011-05:00

A little bit of this, a little bit of that including: birthday parties with a Balloon Clown and not just a Balloon Clown that makes wiener dogs... but creations out of this world, including Cinderella. (what in the world) Hat season for bald heads. Charlies first swimming lessons. She did amazing. She was really comfortable in the water and just about worked through all of the skills. She should have been proud, but when Daddy asked, "Did you learn how to swim?" she said, "no, all I can do is blow bubbles." Claire continued to make friends where ever she could. the 4th of July came and went pretty quickly.

oh yeah... we bought a house

2010-07-17T15:24:00.004-05:00

So we are no longer roaming around the countryside. We bought a beautiful house, that we love. I could go on and on about it but I will start with the 3 things that I love the most(est).

1. its old. Like crazy old. Like crazy built during the Civil War old. Our neighbor told us that whenever he walks by the house he waits for Abe Lincoln to walk out on the balcony. Love that.

2. I love the front porch. As soon as it isn't 120 degrees outside I may start enjoying it more. But I love a beautiful front porch when you walk into a house.
3. The most amazing stairwell and banister ever. With old houses you get super cool features, and this is one of my favorites. I have dreams of little girls practicing their pirouettes. Claire is giving it a shot.

The Blue Room

2010-07-14T21:11:00.024-05:00

Charlotte ended her first year of preschool in St. Louis at the end of May (yes it is July, I know). I have always been a big advocate for public schools. Now to be clear I am not anti- private schools or anti home school or christian or charter or boarding or beauty schools... I'm not anti any sub-group of schools. I'm just anti-schools that aren't working, and I have always felt that more public schools are working than people give them credit. BUT all this was prior to having children, and it is much easier to stand on a soap box when you don't have two children up there with you. I often wondered if that would change when I had my own. You know kind of a "put your money where your mouth is" type of situation. Only "putting your kid" is sometimes harder than your money. So when Jake and I were looking for preschools, I knew we needed to try the local public pre-school. WOW. They were amazing. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

So here is a little pre-test, post-test for those teachers out there:
This is her self portrait on 8/24/2009 (first day of school). Umm yeah, ok... And then self-portrait on 5/25/2010 (last day of school). What in the world! You don't have to be a teacher to get that this is pure brilliance! And look at that pretty name, the earrings, I bet she even has 32 teeth... so proud!

Clearly this self-portrait was so amazing that we felt she was ready for medical school immediately.

Every art project she came home with looked like a 4 year old did it. Such an amazing experience to have teachers that understand the importance of letting the child make their own project. Instead of getting a cute little arts and crafts snowman that a teacher had spent a day and a half preparing, so that Charlotte could fold it and call it hers... I got trash that she had found, glued together and call it her "treasure". It was messy, it didn't make sense, it didn't look like anything recognizable by anyone over the age of 6, but it is HERS!! She cut it, she glued it, she painted it, she created it... it fell apart and oozed all over our car. AND WE LOVED IT.
Important people to note: these are 2 of Charlotte's best friends. Of particular importance would be the sweet little girl whose is pretending to be a mouse. Here is why:

There are two reasons why our little sister is not named Mabel.
1. because everyone but myself hated that name. (I still love it) and
2. because Charlotte loved her silly little friend so much that she wanted to name her sister Claire.

And of huge importance, her fabulous teachers. Who gave her great building blocks for the rest of her education. Thank you for letting me continue to stand proud on my soap box.

But as much as we loved school, we also love summer...and that's worth doing a dance out of the building on your last day.

Adam married Leah

2010-07-03T21:44:00.020-05:00

So much going on that I am having a very difficult time keeping up with feeding the dog, let alone blog. However, I had to post about my sweet brothers amazing wedding, the rest of all the crazy details of our life will have to wait, but this seemed the most important.

Uncle Adam got married and Charlotte got to live out her dream of being a flower girl. ("Mama, it is so important. if I am not there, they WONT. HAVE. ANY. FLOWERS!!!"). She has some pretty clear self-aggrandizing ideas developing early.
Clair got to wear a hat...
hang out with Aunt Barb, and suck on a doll. Happy happy girl.

Adam keep saying he was relaxed and good. Which was so apparent according to this picture :)
Charlotte's moment.
August being so cute that I wanted to eat his sweet little face.
The line up and then...
Beautiful Leah. What an amazing bride she made.
This shawl is from Scotland and has been passed down for generations in Leah's family for wedding ceremonies. The bride and groom pass the rings through the lace just prior to placing them on each other's finger. beautiful.
All the nieces and nephews. Really you can see August's ear if you look close.

The flower girl and Papi.
This is the chapel (right on the lake). It was adorable (I needed a different word than beautiful).

It was also extremely hot. The ice cream truck made a pretty penny during pictures and everyone got a treat.
My dad got corn from the ice cream truck. of course.
Someone dropped theirs.
And Clarie just ate as many pretty necklaces as she could find.
The reception was at the restaurant that my brother works at right across from the Capital building. It was perfect.
"Yum Yum Super Yummy Cupcakes"- Charlotte
And my sweet brothers.

The Suite Life of Charlie and Claire/ Charlotte at the Plaza

2010-05-23T19:36:00.009-05:00

30 days in one room. We did it. We embraced it. We are moving out.

We learned
- an infant can go to sleep with her whole family around her although a door is an awesome thing.
-You can get all of your laundry done at the same time in a laundromat although a washer and dryer in your house should never be taken for granted.
-A kid can still play forever in the tub with only a washcloth and an imagination.
We also learned that we really love each other a whole lot- a.whole.lot. I know this because after this we are still together, and sometimes that is a pretty good indication that you got a good thing.
Here are some of our highlights from the month:

Charlotte helping me pick out the quarters to use in the laundromat. We had a giant coin jar in the old house and it came in handy...

Charlotte was the official elevator button pusher. She got quite good, and may have a career ahead of her.

We really tried to keep things simple, thus: microwave TV dinners. No one told Charlotte they were gross, so we kept the lie alive.

Very little space was needed to color.

So living in one room, generally meant that even though we all started out in separate beds every night, something would happen around 2 am and we would all inevitably end up in the same bed every morning. lots of love. not lots of space.

Now off too stay at our friends house while they are in Guatemala and then Greenville here we come.

Stuff

2010-05-09T10:51:00.003-05:00

Lets say you live in a very small space (like a single hotel room, for example) and you have a choice:
1. have all the "stuff" you need/want to make life easy, but due to that small space you have stacks of that "stuff" everywhere.
or
2. you have the bare minimum of "stuff", but you don't have all of your stuff that you usually have to make your life easier/ comfortable.
What do you pick?
It was a pretty easy choice for us, as too much stuff in a small space gives both Jacob and I a twitch in our eyes. However it has brought some interesting challenges, such as we only have four spoons...Living with 4 spoons (and 4 mouths) means that when Jacob was making some Mac & Cheese yesterday we realized we didn't even have a big spoon to stir, it means doing a lot more dishes several times a day (or at least whenever we want to eat), and it means we CAN NOT lose a spoon because we are careless and left it in a bowl behind the chair (which yes, happened regularly around our house). But it also means the little spoon does work when we don't have a big one, it means my hands are actually getting softer because of washing so many dishes, and we can keep track of all of our spoons because... well... there are only 4 of them and only 1 chair that it could be hiding behind. We also don't have "stuff" everywhere and we soon realized that it is actually possible to live with 4 spoons. It can be done.

residentially challenged

2010-04-26T20:20:00.020-05:00

Jacob and I decided to sell our house in a terrible real estate market. We were prepared for many challenges... however we weren't quite ready for this.

Only 7 days after our Open House, it sold. We closed on April 26th, which was amazing and wonderful... but... no it is just amazing and wonderful. We are so very thankful that this has not only worked out but it has worked out so quickly. It is Amazing and Wonderful. The only problem is (and please don't hear me complaining, cause I'm not)...We don't really have any where to go, exactly. I am still working in St. Louis and we don't have a house yet in Greenville. We had a couple brave friends and family offer up a spare room/ a basement... But Jacob and I come with quite a lot of baggage, mostly in the form of 2 sweet but loud in the morning girls. We soon realized that we are by definition... homeless. However, we don't really like to think of ourselves as homeless, so we are going by residentially challenged.

Last week we packed up all our earthly belongings and moved everything into a storage unit in Greenville. Then we put a couple of can't live without possessions and hippo into some laundry baskets and moved into the Extended Stay Hotel out at Westport for the rest of the spring.

Here is the 5 cent tour of our new single room "home".

First Claire's bedroom/corner and the office...

Next the kitchen and the view from the door... (sorry these pictures are dark, they are from my cell phone as the camera didn't make the cut)

The living room and storage... by "living room" I mean the chair. Everyone got 1 laundry basket to keep their stuff together. Charlotte was the one exception to the 1 laundry basket rule. I also gave her a little pink box and before everything disappeared she got to put all of her favorite books, toys, colors into it. I promised her that whatever she put in the box, would follow us wherever she would go. Everything she picked out was pretty predictable. The LadyBug girl book, Where the Wild things Are, Hippo, Max and Ruby and then she killed me when she picked out several toys for Claire. She didn't have a lot of space in that little box.

the dining room and kitchen... it has a fridge, microwave and stove top. No oven, so my souffles will have to wait...

Charlotte's room... yes it is a princess tent. I know everything that I stand against. But I do believe in life there are times when a compromise might be necessary. And since Charlotte is sleeping in the corner of a hotel room after all her beloved toys disappeared one day along with the only house she has ever known, I thought this might be one of those times. So princess tent it is.

The "master" bedroom... otherwise known as mommy and daddy's corner. Really the only thing that worried me about this whole set up is that I am deathly afraid of hotel comforters. But since we are going to be here for awhile that was a quick fix with me just bringing my own. (please note the cute pink baby sleeping on the bed! )

So see this isn't that bad. In fact its a pretty fun adventure. Except it is 10:30 pm and Charlotte who is usually sound asleep by 8:00 is still up running around. Maybe soon we will get the routine down, or we will just live with it cause really we have everything that's important.

Easter Pictures

2010-04-17T21:40:00.010-05:00

Jake was highly disappointed that I did not have a blue polka-dotted dress as well.

Seriously mama enough already with the kisses!

Big

2010-03-23T19:53:00.009-05:00

Big changes coming. Big like, new chapter in our lives big. Big like, maybe I need to start a new blog because this is that big (but i wont because then you wont be able to find me, but not because this isn't that big.) Here it is:

I know big, right! Eight years we lived in this house. We had our babies here, we had our first foundation issues here, we had our first live Christmas tree here, we have fought over, cried through, and cared for each other in this house. It was the first house that was ours... well ours and Bank of America. But the problems were ours, the responsibility was ours as were the flowers that always came out in the spring, and the roof that never once leaked, and the furnace that kept us warm all winter, and the GIANT tree that fell down in our back yard crushing our fence. But here's the thing. That isn't even the biggest thing. Ready for it? I got a new job at Greenville College. I get to teach the same special education courses that I took myself over 10 years ago (yes I am that old). Excitement would be an understatement. This is well... big. And since Jacob and I don't both want to commute to Greenville from St. Louis, we decided to move, well that and our old kissing bench when we were dating is in Greenville, so it will also be nice to be closer to that. Thus the moving. Big stuff happening, but good big stuff, really good big stuff I mean look at them...

Good stuff

*Yes they do have BIG GIANT matching flowers in their hair. It is my right as a mother of two girls to do this for as long as I possibly can.

4 years old!

2010-02-20T21:44:00.026-06:00

Charlotte turned 4 years old last week. Jacob and I decided to have a birthday party on even years so 2,4,6... you get the picture. We thought it would be fun to have it at the Magic House instead of a home party. I was a little hesitant about missing out on hanging the streamers, filling the balloons and all party creating activities. But honestly when I called the Magic House and asked what I needed to bring and they said, "Just some friends and a camera". I said, "DONE"

The party was themed "Modern Art Magic" (of course) The kids got there own canvas to paint on, they got to create a cupcake and then got to spend the rest of the day (or until they got to grouchy to continue) running around the Magic House. How amazing is that! And the most amazing part: this is what Jacob and I did for most of the party. Worth every penny.
For those who don't know Jake, this is his "I'm having fun face". promise.

So with only my camera (and some from friends, because as you can see I was gabbing) I got these fun pictures:

We love you pumpkin! Happy Birthday!

Three months of LOVE...

2010-01-24T15:09:00.014-06:00

Please note Batgirl on top of the house. Even Barbie needs protection against evil doers.

Bake Sale

2010-01-24T08:28:00.004-06:00

During nap the other day Jacob and I could over hear Charlotte reporting on the earthquake in Haiti from her bed. When the dog started barking and interrupted her "broadcast", we overheard her yell, "Come on man, I am trying to talk about Haiti here!" Guess there are worse people in this world to emulate than Ann Curry.

In effort to help, Charlotte's pre-school class decided to hold a bake sale for Haitian relief or as Charlotte reports "to build strong, tough houses for the kids". Charlotte made her special pink cupcakes with pink frosting for the sale. She was excited to DO something as I hadn't let her take a plane down to Haiti to build the houses herself.

Here is her super cute class (and amazing teachers) as they have their bake sale set up. She is the one in the back picking her nose (awesome... want a cupcake??)

Seriously how could anyone say no to these faces begging you to help their friends in Haiti??

If i had a hammer, I would hammer in the morning....

2010-01-15T21:48:00.003-06:00

While cleaning out my basement yesterday I found my wedding dress (supposedly sealed by the dry cleaners) sitting in water and molding away. I sighed when I saw it, cause I really loved that dress. But how come there was no crying? One Word: Haiti

Later that day I talked with Charlotte about the devastation (Haiti, not the dress :)). We looked at a couple of carefully selected pictures, talked about the people and what they were going through, prayed for them. A few hours later she came up to me (she had been thinking) and asked me for a hammer. I was confused and asked her why. She said, "so I can help build houses in Haiti."
Now that was worth crying over. So I did.

Claire Elizabeth

2010-01-13T21:15:00.027-06:00

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."
1 Samuel 1:27

Fresh Art Photography
1 week old

Life lesson

2010-01-07T19:09:00.003-06:00

During our Christmas travels we somehow ended up in a Perkins for dinner on New Year's Eve. As we walked in Charlotte saw the Claw Game by the door. Its allure of stuffed toys immediately drew her attention and she wanted nothing more than to play. You know the Claw Game, the complete waste of money that NO ONE I even know has ever won, ever. So she turned to her daddy with her big blue eyes. He decided that this was the perfect time for a life lesson in risk/reward management. He carefully explained how the game worked, how difficult it was for the claw to pick up any toy and about risk. How they make it look easy and then take your money and you have nothing. Next he showed her the gum ball machine across from it and explained how if you put your money in the gum ball machine you would always get something. Fully confident that he had explained the evils and perils of gambling and pretty confident that she would either:
1. listen to her father and enjoy the bubblegum
2. go for the toy, end up with nothing and learn a valuable life lesson
He gave her the quarter, told her to choose and we stood back to watch...

She discovered a 3rd option, and presumably a life of endless gambling with this experience embedded deep into her subconscious.... and an introduction to South Park, to boot. Parenting is hard.

Papa

2010-01-07T14:00:00.004-06:00

Papa praying at our wedding with Nana in the background

On the morning of December 30th Jacob's Papa quietly left this world, and went to be with his Savior. Since that day I have been in almost constant thought about him. This was at first strange to me as I would not say that we had a particularly close relationship. I have a handful of very pleasant memories and infinite amount of respect. But as a granddaughter in-law (is that a word?) in a VERY large family who only spent the normal Christmas/Thanksgiving time with him, the fact that my mind continued to dwell on him after his passing was, to be frank a little odd to me. But here is the thing I may have only known Papa briefly, but I know his grandson intimately, and that connection made the difference. The values that Papa clung too: family, hard work, prayer, honesty, generosity... I see in his grandson at a very deep level daily. Papa was a hard working cranberry farmer who loved the Lord. He would share the Lord with anyone who would listen (and even those who didn't). He was generous to his family, but he was also generous to strangers. If you picked Papa up from the airport after one of his many travels to the Ukraine, he was always luggageless and holding his pants up with his hands, cause he had even given away his belt. He loved his family deeply and worked very hard to provide, protect and care for all of them. He showed Paul who showed Jacob how to love his family as well as his neighbor. He modeled hard work, loyalty and honesty even when it wasn't fun. But mostly he showed Jacob what being a man of God meant. Because of that Papa will continue to impact myself and my girls much more than those handful of memories. So I guess it really isn't strange that I am in such a reflective mode regarding him, and obvious why I will always be grateful.

Christmas in NY

2010-01-05T15:07:00.021-06:00

We spent Christmas this year in NY at my parents house.
Charlotte and my brother's two boys spent most of their time outside in the snow. Riding around on my dad's lawn mower/kid cart...

sledding...
hanging out with the neighbor's goats...
waving to the snowplow..
building a frosty...

and then warming up in the hot tub...

until our cheeks were as rosy as Santa's.

Christmas Eve we spent hanging out by the fire listening to my brother and Leah play some Christmas Carols. Leah is amazing at the violin, absolutely mind blowing. I love that this will be a new tradition now that she is joining the family.
Stockings on Christmas morning
Claire bear totally loved this part

Santa apparently got Charlotte's letter and she got her "touch and brush". OK so lets take a moment and talk about the fact that she was more excited about the "touch and brush" than the dollhouse I made her. Yep she liked the dollhouse, but she LOVED the touch and brush.

Bathroom appliance vs. Childhood heirloom
3 minutes on the phone ordering vs. 1 month of hotglueing my fingertips and hand cramps from the tin snips
$19.99 vs. you don't want to know

Never mind I don't want to think about this anymore, and I am going to let it go. But when the mighty Touch and Brush breaks in 2 weeks (which we all know it will) if she cries for its loss I am really going to need some help.

Mom and Dad's pretty little grandbabies on Christmas morning
Our family has gotten big enough that the "kids table" has finally made its appearance.
Over Christmas we also celebrate any winter birthdays. Charlotte helped Nana decorate Jake's cake this year. With "butter cream roses" which she was thrilled about. Any Max and Ruby fans out there??

And because this blog is documentation for future Charlotte to enjoy and understand just how crazy she really was, I feel it is necessary to add the next picture. This was the "outfit" that Charlotte wore almost the entire time that we were in NY. She usually likes to run around in nothing but her underwear, but we have a general rule that we don't do that at other people's houses (I even make Jacob cover up). So this was our great compromise. It's a blanket. And when it comes down to it and I think back on this Christmas this is the image I will think of, and smile.

Dollhouse

2009-12-21T15:33:00.018-06:00

I have been on Maternity leave since the end of October. While I have had a lot of amazing quality time with my girls I have also had a lot of well... time. I needed a project.
Meanwhile Charlotte's plastic dollhouse had broken and I wasn't interested in buying another one that would do the same. Christmas was coming, and I have really had a sense of wanting to do instead of just buy. So I did the math:
Extra Time + Christmas + need a project+ 2 girls = lets build a dollhouse
I forgot to factor in that I am not at all crafty and haven't really worked with wood since a puppy dog napkin holder in Junior High, and oh yeah Jake would add that I also tend to get in over my head with almost everything that I start. So mid-November I found a dollhouse "kit" online. I ordered it from a man named Frank who lives in Utah that puts together these kits himself. Below is what came in the mail along with 10 pages of instructions.

WOW... in over my head much??? Seriously what in the world had I done? In my head I think "kit" meant snap together. This was going to take wood glue, nails, actual tools... I was not prepared for this. But I jumped in, how hard can wood working be anyway, right.
Finally a practical application for Abstract Expressionism (support for the wood glue to dry)
I worked in the basement (because Charlotte never goes down there) on the ping pong table. I would take Claire with me and we would chat, and she would nap, nurse a little. It actually was quite a lovely bonding experience for us, turn out she is a pretty great listener.
This is the point that I had the basic structure completed, and I got to add the fun details.
I love the roof. I took tin snips and cut the corners off of each of these shingles prior to individually hot gluing them on. Along with hot gluing my fingers to the roof more than once. I really started to enjoy this experience. The smell of wood glue reminded me of my grandpa, and the slow unraveling of creating something became magical. I soon became a tad obsessed. I couldn't wait for Charlotte to go bed, so that I could sneak down to my secret workshop, listen to Christmas Carols, hang out with Claire and create.
Fast forward a month ...
We spent Christmas in NY. But the morning we left we got Charlotte up and told her that there was a surprise for her in the living room.
This dollhouse has crown molding, a vaulted ceiling with loft, glass in the windows along with shutters... basically the dollhouse is nicer than our house. Although we do have glass in our windows too, so its close. Charlotte had really wanted a "pink and purple" dollhouse (remember the letter to Santa) but I just could not do it. After clocking in this many hours building this dollhouse, to paint it pink would have made me sick, so I found a deep plum that I could live with. Jacob asked me after I told him there would be no pink on it, who the house was actually for? Clearly he didn't understand.
I also had a friend ask me if I would say it was from Santa. That I also could not do. That little elf man wasn't going to get credit for this one. He can get credit for the Touch n Brush, but this dollhouse no way.She loved it, although we had to leave it almost immediately after to head for NY. I am sure there will be hours of play ahead of us. Not just for Charlotte and Claire but for my grandbabies as well!

Nutcracker

2009-12-21T15:08:00.006-06:00

When we were up in Wisconsin Jacob and I took Charlotte to an Art Museum in Oshkosh. During the holidays they decorate each of the rooms to look like a scene from the Nutcracker Ballet. She is all into Ballerina's lately so we thought it would be fun.

It was lovely, in a "ohh that was nice, but probably wont ever go back type of way". This is mostly due to the fact that 3 year olds aren't really into looking at old stuff that they cant touch, and there weren't any actual ballerina's just decorated rooms. Bet she will love it in about 60 years. We did get to read the story

.... which was perfect because this weekend we got to go and see the actual Nutcracker ballet at the local University. This one had real live ballerinas and sugar plum fairies and dancing chocolate from Spain .... oh so much cooler.

We went with our good friends the Beachy girls and once the ballerinas headed into the Land of Sweets, Amy pulled out candy canes for the girls to suck on. Brilliant. Wish I would think of these things, but that is why I just go places with people who do.

This is the best picture I got with the girls. Yep after about 40 tries, a picture where you cant even see Charlotte's face is the best one. What did mom's do before digital cameras!?!?

PS. Charlotte has been unsuccessfully trying to twirl on her toes in front of the mirror ever since.

Christmas Tree

2009-12-21T14:08:00.011-06:00

Downtown St. Louis has horse-drawn carriages that (for a fee) will give you a ride around town. Charlotte goes bananas every time she sees one wanting to get on, and we always say maybe someday... well that day finally came. The park near our house has a Christmas light show and you can ride in a horse drawn carriage as you look at the show. She was giddy.

Claire is actually in this picture but you cant see her because she is under 5 blankets (poor new-born baby!)
After we then headed over to the local tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree.
Jacob is my "light man", he is really good at putting the lights on. Growing up in a family that pretty much just throws them on the tree I had no idea regarding the art of lighting a Christmas tree. He wraps it around the trunk and gets is deep and even. Perfect. I however am the "put Christmas away in January girl", and well...
Fortunately Claire helped him out.
We decorated some Christmas cookies while Claire and daddy figured out the light situation.
And magic. I am a huge fan of a colored Christmas Tree. Pretty much the more color the more Christmas in my book.

Charlotte wrote her first letter to Santa that we mailed (we actually had to mail it due to the fact that her preschool let her know that letters have to have a stamp on them or they wont go anywhere- that's it no more education for her. I want my 44 cents back). She is very clear about what she wanted in the letter.

1. a princess barbie
2. a pink and purple dollhouse (stay tuned for future post) and
3. a Touch and Brush.

Yep you read it right, a Touch and Brush. If you have watched any TV in the last 6 months you know what that is. And I know it has been on TV for 6 months because every time it comes on TV she will drag Jacob or I or whoever she can find to the TV to show them the amazing innovation that is Touch and Brush. Info-mercials must have built in kid magnets in them.
Claire however, just wants some eyes that work for Christmas.

Big Sister

2009-12-15T14:08:00.005-06:00

So one of the questions that I have been asked a lot lately is "How is Charlotte, now that she is a big sister?" I wondered that myself quite a bit before Claire was born, after all Charlotte is almost 4. Her world was all about her for a really long time, and I wasn't sure how she would do once she had to share that world.
It has been 7 weeks and she has ROCKED IT! I am so proud of her and can't believe what an amazing big sister she has become. The minute she gets home from pre-school she runs into the bathroom to wash her hands so that she can hold Claire, then she will sit still and hold her for a good 15 minutes. Not bad for a girl with a 10 minute attention span. Her new favorite activity is reading books to Claire at night before bed, she talks about how the toys, clothes, towels, bassinet etc. that used to be hers are now Claire's. She helps give her a bottle, a bath and a snuggle. If Claire gets fussy or an outright angry cry starts, Charlotte shows increadiable calm as we try to figure out what is wrong. If Jacob or I have to help Claire and she has to wait for her snack/toy/attention she will be patient.
Warning super sweet cheesey story ahead: When we were in Wisconsin Jacob and I thought it would be good to take Charlotte out alone without Claire for some time all by herself. We left Claire with Baba and Grammy and headed out for a little date. I made a comment to Charlotte about how fun this was that we could spend some time with just her and she replied, "Yeah, but we are missing Claire, this would be more fun with her cause she is our family."
I had a post a while ago regarding the thumbsucking, and our desperate attempts to get Charlotte to stop sucking her thumb. Well, we finally got to paint our nails! We have gone 7 weeks without so much as a suckle. However, it wasn't the pretty pink sparkly nails that finally did it. It was a small comment that I made about how I didn't want Claire to see Charlotte suck her thumb, or she might do it too. The moment that Claire was born Charlotte went cold turkey and hasn't touched that juicy left thumb since. She is taking her job as a big sister very seriously. Here is to the hope that someday I can use that again so that she won't smoke.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T14:25:00.013-06:00

Claire had her first expedition to the great white north for Thanksgiving. She was fabulous in the car. She was easier to travel with than our dog. The 3 year old however, oh so much more difficult than both combined, you could even throw in a goat and the 3 year old would still win. Here we are at Jacob's favorite restaurant Friar Tucks. We have NEVER been to Wisconsin with out eating here at least once. Charlie enjoying the deep fried Cheese... Claire enjoying the plastic nook. Jacob watching Football with his girls And Thanksgiving wouldn't be perfect without a carnival grade cotton candy maker that Abbie rented.
Its a long story.
Yummy?????Charlie literally shoving the jello into her mouth. Carrots didn't get shoveled in with quite the same intensity. See you later plastic Dora sippy cups, hello fancy pants glass. Breaking the wishbone with Baba... someone is really wishing for a "pink and purple dollhouse" from Santa. Hope you get it Baba. and then on the way back stopping in Madison and hung out with my brother Adam and his fiance... yep I said it, the little boy that would pee in the sandbox is getting married. amazing.

a month of firsts

2009-12-03T14:09:00.015-06:00

First doctors appointment...

as you can see this was a non-shot appointment.
First H1N1, so we dont get the baby sick...

First time meeting a lot of relatives...

First bottle (Charlotte got to do the honors)...

First sister snuggle...
First bath (yep, she loved it...)

Really starting to LOVE this crazy little face!
as is she :)

to the grandparents

2009-11-19T12:44:00.009-06:00

I am not going to say that it takes becoming a parent to appreciate your own, cause I don't believe that. It did take me about 25 years to appreciate them, but it didn't have to do with having my own kid. That being said having a baby did remind me just how amazing my girls grandparents are, and how grateful Jacob and I are for these amazing parents of ours. After all they did raise some pretty amazing kids themselves!

Nana Papi Baba Grammy

Of course we cant just call them grandpa and grandma anymore- that would be too normal, and these guys are anything but normal. We wish you lived closer, but so thankful that you all made it out to see her, and that you kept another crazy little girl so busy she didn't even notice she isn't the center of the world anymore.

Newborn pictures

2009-11-07T14:38:00.001-06:00

On Friday we had Jodi and Kim come over to our house and take some AMAZING pictures of our girls. These ladies are beyond amazing. Check out the pictures at the below link.

http://freshartphotography.com/2009/11/sweet-baby-claire-st-louis-newborn-photography/

Pretty Pink Baby

2009-11-04T10:22:00.019-06:00

We headed for our induction Thursday afternoon. Due to our previous experiences with Charlotte's 22 hour delivery we were ready again for another all nighter. Even with that long night last time I LOVED LABOR, and this one I loved just as much. It is such an amazing experience, and one that both Jacob and I truly embrace. Although I have to give most credit for my love of labor to 1. the epidural and 2. to my sweet husband/personal DJ. Jacob hooks up the room with the surround sound speakers, a 6 hour play list that takes him basically 9 months to carefully create and even a subwiffer under the bed (to help me feel the music). Then we and the whole nursing staff enjoy some great tunes through the night. One of the nurses came in and said that she completely remembered us from Charlotte which was 3 1/2 years ago, cause we were having so much fun!

This time was the same, it was fun, it was a miracle, it was a time I will again never forget. And at 12:34 am on October 30, 2009 Claire Elizabeth entered the world to Smokey Robinson.

We didn't know gender and I loved the suspense of the surprise. When the doctor said it was a baby girl there was nothing but excitement, joy and a little bit of relief because the nursery is already purple.I love her discreet pose here. Nothing if not a lady.

Our first moment...

The next morning Charlotte got to meet her new sister which, "See I told you she was a girl", was proudly pronounced more than once.

Our new family (minus puppy- Charlotte thought it was terrible that they wouldn't let dogs into the hospital, because he needed to meet Claire too.)

Check out these cheeks! I mean seriously they are driving me crazy!

The next day in the hospital was Halloween. Isn't it normal for 1 day old baby girl to be dressed as a black skeleton??
She didn't need pink clothes anyway... I mean seriously the cheeks! Cant stop kissing them, they are going to be raw very shortly.
Loving on her daddy. Who by the way is toast with his 2 girls now. He doesn't have a chance.

again with the cheeks... I could go on and on.

So my mom makes the greatest sugar cookies and for each of her grand kids birthday she always does a batch of cookies shaped in the number of how old they are. Here is Claire with her first birthday cookie, of which I enjoyed.

Our little pink bunny in her "going home outfit". Did I mention the cheeks???

Anticipation

2009-10-25T16:06:00.006-05:00

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
-- Winnie the Pooh

I had thought it was Thursday. Thought it was time. Thought I had to get to the hospital immediately. It was raining, my cell phone had died, Jacob was in Greenville teaching and I was a little paniced. I left Charlotte at Margie's and Bob kindly took me to the hospital and then waited for Jacob. He left his students to continue their class (as I am sure they did) to make a rush to the hospital. The maternity ward was packed the nurses very busy and... I was wrong. I got sent home and left with my shame. Apparently my only true symptom had been anticipation, and that isn't enough to put you into labor.

We are excited. We are ready. We really want to meet this little person that is going to change our world. We don't know if it is going to be a boy or girl, but Charlotte does. She makes up songs about how excited she is to meet her little sister. She is 100% convinced that it is a girl. Even stating that she is going to share her hippo, blanket and other prized possessions with her little sister. But if it is a brother- nothing, he will get nothing from her and will be on his own. Then she will smile and say just kidding, but we really don't think she is kidding.

So we wait. Excited about getting a second chance to do this again. Thrilled that soon our world is going to be all about sleep, poo and milk. Basking in the anticipation that before this milk in our fridge expires... we will have a new baby in our house.

Great Great Aunt Dot

2009-10-21T06:08:00.006-05:00

My grandmother's sister, which would be my great aunt Dot and Charlie's great great aunt Dot was in St. Louis last weekend visiting family. Jacob was sick and we didn't want to pass on the germs so we met her at a McDonald's and had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures which are basically for my mom.

miscalculation

2009-10-06T22:18:00.004-05:00

So after a really crazy exhausting day at work we got home late, I had just finished picking up her trashed room when Charlotte made a serious verbal miscalculation.
"Mama", with her sassy little hands on her hips "you forgot to pick up my shoes."

She will be cleaning her room from now on...

Pumpkin Patch 3

2009-10-04T21:14:00.016-05:00

Pumpkin Patch 2007...Pumpkin Patch 2008...
Pumpkin Patch 2009...older but still just as cute.
This is the 3rd year that we headed to the pumpkin patch just outside of St. Louis. We enjoyed all the same rides we did year 1 and year 2. It was fun for me to look back at some of the same pictures and just see how much she had grown up. You can also by clicking on the links above. This also means that I have been doing this blog for 2 full years, which is just ridiculously unbelievable.
The spinning apple and the swings
We invited some more friends from Greenville this year and just had an amazing time.
As you can see in a rare footage of me, I am almost ready... just a couple more weeks.
Prime seats for the pig races
And the ponies.

Gymnastics class

2009-09-22T20:19:00.010-05:00

Charlotte and Eliot joined a gymnastics class at the YMCA for the fall. Tonight was the first night and they loved it. I loved the purple leotard and leg warmers that she got to wear (yes, I am ridiculous).
After stretching she got to use the balance beam, which after years of practice walking on the ledge coming out of daycare this was a breeze for us.

And yes she does have the word "tumble" written on her butt. I couldn't help myself and take full responsibility.
Then we hit the bar.

Eliot was a maniac on the bar. Here he is getting focused for his routine.
And my camera skills aren't fast enough to catch him flip over the bar into a dismount...
drat missed it again.
Spotting Charlotte as she flips over the bar into her dismount.
Can't wait till next week when we hit the rings.

myth busters- pinkalicious

2009-09-07T13:58:00.014-05:00

Charlie goes through phases of favorite books. Currently, she is in love with Pinkalicious.

If you have a 3 year old girl I am guessing you are familiar. If not I will sum up, its the classic story line of girl loves pink, girl makes pink cupcakes, girl eats too many pink cupcakes, girl turns pink. With Labor Day and no school I thought we would try a little myth busters and see if it is possible to turn pink after eating too many pink cupcakes. Charlie was thrilled. We made the batter...pink we counted the tins... we cleaned up as we went... We frosted our cupcakes... pink we sprinkled our cupcakes... pink hmmm.... let me see. yep. Pink cupcakes do turn you pink!

end of summer, beginning of...

2009-09-07T13:29:00.009-05:00

Charlie's new preschool is apart of the local school district. So we participated this year in the Webster Groves Family Fun Fair. It was quite "fun" and kind of a last get your summer done type of event. Free snow cones... which we picked to match our dress, of course. They had a helicopter, a firetruck and the same policeman that has given mommy several speeding tickets. Including a ticket once when I was specifically driving to go and pay off another ticket. Jacob thought this picture was hilarious. We painted... and petted a baby lamb. Then BAMM... Fall hit us square in the face. This is a Greenville football game playing Wash U. We don't get to make it to many Greenville games so whenever there is one in St. Louis we always try and make it. And that is it, fall is here... which means tis the season for a little someone to be coming very shortly!

West Side Story

2009-08-25T20:51:00.002-05:00

This was an exhibit that Children's Hospital put on for kids to learn how to: safely cross the street, not pick up candy from the gutter, not talk to the scary stranger dude in the red car offering a puppy... you get the picture. My daughter danced down the middle of the street. I don't think that was what they were going after, but when Broadway is in your heart an empty street can not be simply passed up.

The Wisconsin gang

2009-08-23T16:58:00.012-05:00

I have dreamed of having a fondue pot my entire married life. Perhaps I do have a strain of mid-west practicality in me that has just keep me walking past the single use kitchen appliance for 9 years. But I have dreamed. So, a couple weeks ago I just couldn't do it again, and picked one up. It wasn't on sale, I didn't have an occasion, my only excuse is I am pregnant and we are lucky I didn't upgrade to the giant chocolate fountain. Oh my it is fun, tasty and I don't regret yet another piece of kitchen equipment that only does one thing. My panini maker- yes, my new fondue pot- never.
Baba, Grammy and all three of Jacob's sisters came down to see us last weekend. So I was all excited to share my new toy. Here we are getting the chocolate and marshmallows all melty for the yummy treat.
Charlotte has gotten quite good!

Aunt Becky is home from China so it was a special treat to get to see her. She brought Charlotte a beautiful new dress from China. Which Jacob promptly stereotyped.
Aunt Becky is already back in China but before she left...
They got to spend some time at the Zoo

And the City Garden

first day of PRESCHOOL!!!

2009-08-20T20:51:00.007-05:00

So it was a pretty early morning for a little girl who had just had 2 weeks of vacation at home with daddy. Probably should have stuck to my guns when Jacob rolled his eyes as I was started snapping pictures of Charlies first day at Preschool. But I backed down and her one and only face shot was the beginning of a half yawn... but it doesn't matter, she is still stinkin' cute even if she was in a full on yawn.

Walking to school, with her dad and her new school backpack. She kept just yelling to people as we were walking "BACKPACK!!" yep... its a backpack.

A fellow mom who understood the importance of the first day of school picture, and kindly took a shot for us.

And our new room The Blue Room. Charlotte is pointing to her coconut. This is one of our all time favorite books, if it is any indication of the fun about to be had in this room we are in the right place.

contest

2009-08-18T22:37:00.004-05:00

Year 1:

Eliot was supposed to be a pea pod (didn't come home on time, blah blah). Charlie was a carrot. Peas and Carrots.

Year 2:

The monkey and banana
Year 3:

One of my top 5 favorite Eliot pics! Do you see her desperation? Only more pronounced given his calm confidence. (that's not even close to what's really going on but man, it looks awesome!)

Lisa and I have chosen year 4. We're painfully aware that our opportunity to choose their costumes is drawing to a close so we were very particular this year. In honor of our last hoo-rah, we're hosting a contest to see who can guess the famous duo for the theme this year! The closest guess will get a fall-related basket of goodies that, trust me, YOU REALLY WANT!

The contest will last from today until August 31st at midnight. (How very official!) You may guess more than once. You may guess on our blog or Lisa's. Jake and Russ may not participate. Purchase is not required and rules are subject to change.

voicemail

2009-08-16T10:35:00.004-05:00

Charlotte is spending the weekend with her Baba and Grammy.
I received this voicemail yesterday:

"Mama, Hi Mama...
Can I get some new toys at the store??
She said YES!!!"

and then it hung up.

She is 3. We are in for some interesting teenage years.