December Daily: Day 26

Convinced Charlie to let me rock him to sleep.... Mr Independent doesn't let this happen very often, but I so cherish the time.

so sweet...

He has a paci infatuation. 1 is never enough and the

others are usually on his fingers or being poked

into his eye balls. Very strange... :-)

December Daily: Day 25

Christmas morning was a ton of fun this year! When he came downstairs he ran right to a pile of presents from the Olmsteads and tore in! (After the initial shock wore off, of course)

Kayla knew just what Charlie would want! :-)

After presents we convinced Charlie to stop playing long enough to eat some breakfast. When we went out earlier in the week, I let him choose what his Christmas morning breakfast would be. His choice...

powdered donuts!! :-)

Hope everyone else enjoyed their holiday as much as we did... every precious minute of it!

December Daily: Day 24

We wish you a Merry Christmas... and the most blessed of New Years! :-)

December Daily: Day 23

Charlie the Elf, Official Cookie Taste Tester

December Daily: Day 22

This past Sunday we celebrated Christmas with some of our favorite people. We have been getting together for a Christmas party every year since we were in high school. It's always a good time!

Charlie cuddling up for a picture with Aunt Jen

my boys :-)

Charlie playing his new favorite game - horsey - with Aunt Monica :-)

December Daily: Day 21

This past Friday we were finally able to make it to the mall to see Santa! (Haven't scanned the actual Santa pictures in yet, but they are coming!)

:-)

The boys were completely enthralled with the fake reindeer!

Charlie and Grandma even got to take a ride on the carousel.

December Daily: Day 10

December Daily: Day 20

Charlie took full advantage of the fact that I was busy baking in the kitchen the other morning and completely emptied an entire box of tissues all over the family room. He did however ask me if I needed a tissue after he had been caught! This was what I found as I came around the corner...

December Daily: Day 19

Our new TV was delivered last weekend. Not sure which one was more excited for the big delivery truck outside... :-)

December Daily: Day 18

Flashback to Thanksgiving pictures that never got posted...

Too cute not to share! :-)

Wouldn't eat a bite of turkey or potatoes or stuffing or veggies....

But was all over the pumpkin pie!!

December Daily: Day 17

Ring around the rosie...

Pocketful of posies....

Ashes, ashes....

We

all

fall...

DOWN!! :-)

December Daily: Day 16

Smiley boy decided his backpack and SU hat were a must the other morning

He has also been all about his cool vehicle puzzle that he got

from Uncle Ted for his birthday months ago!

Deep in thought...

Then Daddy had to go to work and our morning stopped going so nicely... :-/

December Daily: Day 15

KNOCK ON WOOD... Our progress towards "real" food has been going quite well! Pasta and pizza are always a hit. Sandwiches became a little less popular, but are gaining interest again in the past week. Managed to convince him that chicken and cheeseburgers are good dipped in ketchup. He even ate some kielbasa tonight! Still trying to push the veggies, but progress is progress! :-)

Noodle aftermath!

Bath night, anyone?? :-)

December Daily: Day 14

Flying Charlie!! Weeeeeeee..... :-)

December Daily: Day 13

Charlie getting his groove on watching a little Glee with Mommy and Daddy :-)

December Daily: Day 12

Went out and did some shopping today while Aunt Bridget spent some time with Charlie...

Text message #1 (from Bridget)

"I heart yogurt"

Our friends Courtney and Tony then stopped over to visit with Bridget and Charlie...

Text message #2 (from Courtney)

"I brought him a present"

followed by: "He is literally covered in sticky

spit right now. I promise to clean up my mess :)

Charlie loves when mommy and daddy are not around! :-)

December Daily: Day 11

Today's word of the day is.....

COOKIES!!! :-)

December Daily: Day 10

While I strongly considered decorating our tree in the dark of night (well, after Charlie's bedtime at least) in order to keep him from assuming that it is ok to touch ornaments and the tree, ultimately, it is a family experience and how could I rob him of that. :-)

Each ornament was like a little wrapped up present to break into

This stocking was from Aunt Bridget last year.

(She's so crafty this time of the year!)

And Charlie found his rocking horse ornament

from Grandma and Grandpa

Sitting down to admire his work :-)

Picture perfect!

And.... its being undecorated already... sigh... :-)

December Daily: Day 9

Now, I know you all tune in for your regular dose of Charlie, but I could not help but share these. You do not live in upstate NY without expecting a fair amount of snow every winter. However, snow that literally does not stop for days on end is not typical! Last I heard we were at 96 straight hours of snow, totaling close to 4 feet (but it is still snowing here in our neighborhood). These were taken yesterday afternoon during the only break of sunlight we have seen since last week.

the snow that has blown onto our covered front porch

the view from our front porch across our front yard

Note the buried cute little tree decorations we put up at the bottom of the pic

the 4 foot chain link fence in our backyard

(You cant see any of the fence this morning!)

our neighbors' back deck

Despite all we complain though, how can you question the beauty of this??

December Daily: Day 8

Charlie was so patient all day long waiting for daddy so that he could play with the train. It is his new favorite thing in life! :-)

December Daily: Day 7

Six years ago I bought Vince a rather pricey Lionel train set for Christmas because he really is just a big kid at heart. We got it out last night and had high hopes for Charlie enjoying it and he did not disappoint! He was enthralled and this first words out of his mouth this morning were "Play train?"

Helping Daddy set things up

"I do!"

Here we go!!

He really was excited, just never managed to catch a smile with the camera

He started laying flat on the ground and as the

train went past he would jump up laughing :-)

(And the train makes Chloe a little nervous, in case you couldn't tell!)