Thanksgiving 2011

We were really lucky that Trey's Mom and sister drove out here to spend Thanksgiving with us! Trey was off on Thanksgiving day but was on call Friday and Sunday so the kids and I loved having family here!

There was lots of play time...

(Henry decided that underneath the dining room table would be his rocket ship and he was insistent on always having a "co-pilot" with him! His BB and Aunt Mary Catherine were nice enough to get down on the floor and play along!)



...and of course lots of food time...



...which always leads to lots of rest time! :-)

(Henry LOVED that Aunt Mary Catherine brought along her dog Deke. Deke was absolutely wonderful with Henry and was very patient even when Henry was probably getting on his nerves! Thanks Deke!)



And thanks BB and Aunt Mary Catherine for spending the holiday with us! We have so much to be thankful for including both of you! We love you! :-)

Speaking of Deke

I love this picture of Charlotte looking out the window at Deke. I am pretty sure this was Charlotte's first encounter with a dog and she was just fascinated with him! :-)



And no Trey this does NOT mean that we are ready for a dog! ;-)

Our girl LOVES to swing! :-)

Who needs a broom...

...when you have Charlotte around?! ;-) Her favorite places to find crumbs are under the kitchen table and under her high chair.

"Mom, it's called snack time!" :-)

Henry's Nap (or lack thereof)

Henry was really one of the last kids his age that we knew of that still took a nap. We would put him in his room but then it would take him 45 minutes to actually fall asleep. We would then have to wake him up because it got too late in the afternoon. This is what we would find when waking him up...

...curled up with his stuffed animals,



fast asleep on the floor and never in his bed! :-)



If he did take a nap, even when we cut it short, it might be 1030p before he finally settled down and fell asleep.

A couple of weeks ago during what was supposed to be Henry's nap time I walked in to check on him and this is what I found...

...Henry about to climb up on his nightstand!



So we finally had to cut out his nap completely which I did reluctantly. It can make for a very long day especially when Trey works really late or is on call. It means no break for me without one of the kids. I will repeat...VERY LONG DAY! ;-)

I will admit that it is nice to spend the one-on-one time with Henry while Charlotte is napping but that also means that not a single thing around the house gets done during the day. But the one HUGE advantage though? Both kids (and Bunny) completely out no later than 8p but most nights 730p! Whoohoo!



So okay Henry you win! Maybe you would take a nap if you took some of that stuff out of your bed?! :-)

2011 Family Photos

Our friend here in Columbia that normally takes our annual family pictures was booked for the holidays. So I was really lucky that a friend of mine from Winston Salem who also has her own photography business (www.boyandgirlphotography.blogspot.com) was able to do a session for us in Charlotte!

The session was at noon (i.e. naptime) and was 1-1/2 hours away so we were trying not to have our expectations high even though Leah is wonderful. We even realized afterwards that Charlotte had been running a low-grade fever due to teething so she definitely was not her normal happy self. Overall the kids did really, really well though. Charlotte was not smiling in a lot of the pictures but she was not fussing either. You will notice that in all of the pictures Henry was carrying a stick (i.e. basher) but we did not ask him to put it down because that is our Henry! :-) Leah did a fantastic job and we got lots of great pictures!







Thank you Leah for capturing this fun time in our lives! :-)

Sit 'N Spin

Charlotte LOVES Henry's Sit 'N Spin! She can now spin herself a little bit but she used to hold on and just grunt like she was working really hard to get it to spin! ;-)