Deck the halls....

Just can me 'Tinsel Man'

How many ornaments do you think I can hang from a single branch??

Cheesers!!

Christmas Tree Hunting

Last weekend we made our annual holiday trip to the Christmas tree farm to cut our tree down. We have gone somewhere different every year because we have never been completely satisfied, but I think we found a winner this year. The blue skies and lack of snow, made it feel like we should have been hunting for pumpkins rather than trees, but it was perfect all around and we got a beautiful tree!

All smiles on the wagon ride out to the fields

our tree!!

Charlie catching a ride with Aunt Bridget

while we waited for the wagon to return

Tchaikovsky!

Last Friday night we kicked off our Christmas holiday season with a family date out to the ballet to see The Nutcracker. Charlie was so beyond excited and told every one he was going to see Tchaikovsky (which he pronounces surprisingly well!). We got a great price on great seats through Groupon and it was the children's ballet with lots of other kids there and we ended up with no one sitting in front of us! It was perfect!

Charlie stood for much of the first act with his elbows resting on the seat in front of him, propping his chin up on his hands as he watched - - I wish I could have gotten a picture of him like that! And he knew there would be mice in the show so the moment the lights came up, he yelled out "Where's the mice?!?" and got quite the chuckle from everyone around us. He got to pick himself out a couple little Nutcracker ornaments before leaving and was a happy boy. It was a really great night all around!

October Rewind: Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving was a big hit in our house and we ended up with some great results. Charlie directed daddy as to what shapes were needed where and Eman took charge with the marker, drawing his jack-o-lantern face before his mom helped him carve it up.

Cheesy smile Charlie

Helping to dig out the guts

Team Trouble

Look at that concentration!

Very closely observing daddy's progress

Just about done!

Pumpkin teeth!

Eman's finished product

And the final display

(Before we put them out on the porch and they were eaten by squirrels!)

October Rewind: Apples & Pumpkins

There's not much better than apple and pumpkin picking on a sunny fall day....

Taking a break from his apple to show me that super smile!

cousins and apples and smiles, oh my!

Charlie and Grandma picked out a good one!

October Rewind: Abbott's Farm

A few weeks ago, we had a nice fall outing to Abbottt Farms where we got to visit some animals, get lost repeatedly in a corn maze, and enjoy some delicious fall treats. It was a chilly, grey day - but it was a good time!

Charlie was intrigued by the turkeys

The chickens came running expecting to be fed,

but then Charlie growled at them instead...

Sorry chickens. :-)

posing with the pumpkins

mmm... warm cider donuts...

Such a goof ball!!

Trick-or-Treat!!!

Charlie and his little friend, Noah, were a big hit in the neighborhood while trick-or-treating in their thinga-ma-jigger last night. I have to give credit to our friend, Melissa, for coming up with the idea and making the awesome blue wigs though! We did nothing but buy a t-shirt and pair it with some red footie pajamas. They were both super cute and had a great time raking in the goodies!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 ready to go go go go... on a trick-or-treating adventure!

Posing with The Cat in the Hat (aka, Melissa)

Eman the skeleton and Thing 2 raring to go!

cute face!!

Happy Halloween from Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Camp Week: Walks at Sunset

Just about every day at the beach ended with a slow and leisurely walk along the beach at sunset. Camera in hand. Charlie often with a freeze pop from courtesy of our camping neighbors and good friends, the Sherwoods. Life doesn't get much better. The beauty of sunsets at Southwick never cease to amaze us, even after years of being in awe of them. Each night is just a little different and spectacular in its own way. Here are a few pictures from throughout our week. Enjoy...

Camp Week: Big Wheels

One of the best things about camping at that the super fun outdoor toys are always ready and waiting to be played with. This year, Charlie brought his big wheel (handed down from cousin Emanuel) and had a great time riding all over. There was also of course lots of time for frisbee throwing, ball bouncing, bubble blowing, tee-ball hitting... :-)

This is the look I got when I said

"Charlie, show me your cute face!"

riding big boy style :-)

Camp Week: More Beach Time

Another day, another beach picture...

And another nap on the beach :-)

Camp Week: Sandcastles and Sunshine

We all managed to escape our week on the beach without a single sunburn. That does not mean that we didn't get to fully enjoy some sunshine and beach adventures. Charlie's newest infatuation this year - SANDCASTLES! He wanted nothing more than to fill buckets with sand and dump them into simple little castles over and over and over and over. :-) Filling buckets with water and bringing them back to where we were sitting was also a big hit. It is safe to say that he thoroughly enjoyed himself and playing on the beach.

Taking a very quick break from his work to say

"Cheese!"

My little engineer/architect hard at work

The end result of all that hard work:

A nice nap on the beach

(this was almost a daily occurrence)

Camp Week: Playground Fun

Charlie LOVES playgrounds. Pairing a week at the beach with being able to wake up and go to the playground first thing every morning made this a week in heaven for him. There were no "baby" swings at this playground, but Charlie loves to swing more than anything else and was willing to brave the big boy swings in order to get his swinging time in. The only down side of that is that swinging tends to lull him into a very relaxed state - this does not bode well for hanging onto the big boy swing without falling. Luckily we avoided any disasters!

Who wouldn't want to do this every morning?!

A visit from Abby was not complete without some

playground time as well. In fact, I don't think any

visitor we had managed to escape without

some time spent on the playground!

Camp Week: Let's Go Fly A Kite

We had some REALLY windy days while we were at camp last month. Charlie has been interested in kites lately, so we thought it would be a great time to go kite flying. Didn't go exactly as planned and we learned that kite flying can be extremely hazardous to your health... BUT it was a good time and we had a good laugh about it all! After many, many failed attempts and more than one close call involving kites crashing to the ground forcefully very near to innocent bystanders, we called it a day for kite flying. There is such a thing as too much wind when attempting to fly a kite, so we will have to try again some other place and time.

This was probably taken after the kite had come

crashing to the ground - it happened more than once

in the course of our kite flying adventures!

SUCCESS - as short lived as it may have been! :-)

There is no one immediately present in this picture,

but I would be willing to bet that it came crashing to

the ground scaring the bejeezus out of at least one person.