The Day After Christmas in Franklin

When Charlie Jo and Peter arrived in Franklin on December 26 in their Big Red Van, they discovered that Santa Claus had stopped by Cannonwood in his Big Red Sleigh!

"Look, Daddy! Santa brought me a playground!"

Stephanie and Don sent this inflatable car for Peter for Christmas. As you can see, both Daddy and Peter like playing in it. Charlie wishes there was room for her, too!

CJS

Charlie the Animal Rescuer

Charlie the Animal Rescuer wants to wish you a . . .

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year (a little early, since we're lame and are going to bed) from Corey, Niki, Charlotte, and Peter!  Hope your year was as fun-filled as ours.

Our New Year's resolutions include potty training (Charlie), getting completely rid of the bottle (Petey), and getting a babysitter once in a while so we can get out and have some adult fun (Corey/Niki).  

When cousin love goes bad...

I forgot!  We do have at least one shot of Sonia just about loving poor Peter to death.

Usually she had her arms flung right across his face, which really ticked him off.  Better too much love than too little though, right?

Cousin love

I've mentioned before that my sister, Erin, and I consider our kids to be like half-siblings, since their mothers have identical DNA.  Yeah, it's kind of a stretch, but it amuses us.  When we visited last week for Christmas, the kids were super cuddly with each other (when they weren't stealing toys and screeching about it).  Was it because of their shared DNA?  Yeah, probably not, but we caught some of these lovable antics with the camera anyway.  First, here are the girls . . .

At library craft time:

On Christmas Eve in the toy box:

On Christmas morning on my lap:

In Sonia's new easy chair:

While dancing to Christmas music:

It wasn't just the girls -- Sonia and Peter were always palling around together, too.  Sonia actually loved Peter a little TOO enthusiastically, and she had to be stopped quite often from hugging his head right off his body.  We didn't get any shots of that because we were too busy sprinting over to break up the affection.

There was lots of rolling around together on the couch:

 At Little Monkey Business:

On Uncle Jordan's air mattress:

And in big boxes.  There was a lot of time spent in boxes, of course.

Such cuties!

Growing big and strong

Petey did great at his 12-month checkup!  He measured in at 30 inches long (50th percentile) and weighed 22 pounds (30th percentile).  The doctor and the nurse were highly impressed with Petey's boisterous, happy nature and his inability to sit still for a millisecond.  I argued a little with them because I was SURE Petey must weigh at least 50 pounds, but they said that squirmy babies always feel heavier. I'm mad at myself for forgetting my camera, but at least I got some shots on my cell phone of Petey playing in the famous mirror next to the exam table.

It's Been an Interesting Fall Around Here

Since Charlie has started speaking, things have been interesting around here.

December 5, 2010:

Corey: Did you just drop an allen wrench into the subwoofer?



Charlotte: Yep. I did it.

Corey: *&^%$!!

December 4, 2010:

Charlotte: See Mommy? My tongue can be a tissue!


Niki: Sigh.

November 17, 2010:

Niki: Charlotte! Don't touch your brother!


Charlotte: It's called "pushing", Mommy.


Niki: DON'T DO THAT EITHER!!!

November 4, 2010:

CJ was walking around with an outlet cover in her mouth (with the two plastic prongs sticking out. She took it out and told me she was a vampire and laughed an evil laugh.

November 3, 2010:

Charlotte: MOMMY!!!!


Niki: Can you think of a better way to say my name?


Charlotte: NIKI!!!!

November 1, 2010:

Perhaps it was a bad idea to teach Charlie Jo to say "you're welcome" after she burps.

October 31, 2010:

When Charlotte woke up, she demanded to know where the feather was that the duck gave her. She was very insistent.

October 27, 2010:

Charlotte: (picks her nose)

NanaB: Charlotte, do you need a tissue?

Charlotte: No, I'll just put it in my belly button. (proceeds to stick booger in her belly button)

NanaB: (horrified silence)

September 27, 2010:

Charlotte just provided an excellent dramatic reenactment of the time a bug "chewed" on her. I hope she will repeat the performance when Daddy comes home.

September 25, 2010:

My favorite Charlotte quote of the night: "Good golly tamale!" (over and over and over and over and over and over...)

September 23, 2010:

Niki: Charlotte, why did you throw Cookie Monster off the balcony?

Charlotte: It's my job.

September 16, 2010:

FYI - Charlotte has announced she is going to grow up to be a giraffe.

August 28, 2010:

Niki: Charlotte, are noodles your best friend?"

Charlotte: No, noodles don't have a face like me.

Niki: You need a face to have friends?

Charlotte: (nods solemnly)

August 25, 2010:

Niki: Charlotte, what made you spit the apple out?

Charlotte: My mouth. My mouth do it.

Niki: SIGH

Just what Charlotte needs -- a pair of high heels

I am not sure when the last time I wore heels was, or if Charlotte even saw me in them.  As soon as I came downstairs in my heels tonight before going to a Christmas party, Charlie Jo asked me to take them off so she could wear them.  She then told me, "I can show you how to wear these!"  Who is this child and where did she come from?

And yes, I would like a tutorial on how to wear them since I haven't done it since before Charlotte was born and I suspect I have lost the knack of ignoring foot pain for the sake of fashion.  Clearly, I'm going to need to get a pair of purple socks to wear with them.

Reason #498 why I love Charlotte's Early Learning Program

They send her home with Christmas gifts for the parents like this tile adorned with Santa made by Charlotte's own little hand:

My Little Pony Charlotte

I used to be able to put pigtails or barrettes in Charlotte's hair while she was engrossed in a TV show. Now, she's wise to my tricks and protests even if Diego or Dora is on. This morning, I got her engaged in playing with animal beads and an empty egg carton and she actually allowed me to put her scrawny little locks in a pony tail.  

Doesn't she look so different with her hair up off of her face? Yes, I am aware her bangs start waaaay too far back, but growing those out will have to happen slowly over time. I have only tried putting her hair in a pony tail a couple of times because (1) it would probably get thrashed whenever she rode in her carseat, and (2) naptime would wreak havoc on her 'do. She looks so cute that I'm going to have to get over my laziness and wrestle her hair into a hair band more often!

Feliz Cumpleanos to Peter!

Our weekly Trivia Night fell the day after Petey Pie's birthday, so in grand Trivia tradition we brought some cupcakes and had the waiters sing their tuneless rendition of "Happy Birthday" to the little guy. Peter, of course, had no idea what was going on. Why are these people putting a huge sombrero on my head? Why do I get this awesome cupcake with an open flame placed within my reach (don't worry -- my quick-thinking teammate pushed it beyond Peter's reach before disaster could strike)? Luckily, he was too fixated on the candle to notice the entire restaurant staring at him.

The whipped cream the waiters sprayed on the plate was actually a bigger hit than the cupcake itself.

Y'all are CRAZY!

 CRAZY!!!!!!

Thank goodness not much of it ended up in his hair, because Petey and Charlotte got their daily baths before dinner (because we get home too late on Monday nights to get it done right before bedtime). There is only a faint whiff of vanilla about him this morning, despite the vigorous scrubbing I gave him with wet wipes in the restaurant. I'm not sure, but I think there was a collective sigh of relief when we left there last night.

NanaB & Santa

I don't know which is funnier -- the fact that Southwest Airlines had Santa Claus hanging around the terminal at the Nashville Airport yesterday, or the fact that NanaB decided to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas while she waited for her flight back to Detroit. It was probably the first time in about half a century, huh?