Merry Christmas

Pop Pop and Charlotte, and the pic below is with our fun cousins on the Knight side, Jack & Scott.

This picture is just to document the abundance of presents and fun that was had by all. We had a great trip.

The Houston Zoo

We mostly took pictures of all the animals, very exciting while you are there but not really blog-worthy. This last picture is Lily Kate on stage during a little presentation in the children's petting zoo. She was chosen out of the crowd to come up because she was answering all the questions so loudly that she was quickly noticed. This picture is after the little stunt she helped with. The lady asked to go back and sit and she said that she would just stay up there. Of course :)

Little Family Christmas

I love this face, this was Lily Kate's face all morning, so much amazement and excitement.

Lily Kate has been asking for chocolate goldfish for over a month now, when we saw Santa that was the only thing she asked him for so.... here they are, the coveted chocolate goldfish!

Sweet Charlotte looking at her new lovey from Aunt Becca & Uncle Patrick

Look at those pretty girls

Can you feel the excitement

This picture is just before our trip to to the Nutcracker. Lily Kate did very well. She talked a little loud but she was enthralled and enjoyed herself very much!

Front Porch

Some shots from our time at Lane's for Thanksgiving

trampoline

reflection

cousins

mischief

We Have a Walker!

So, Charlotte has been standing on her own and even taking 3-4 steps for the last month. But tonight while Parks had some guys over to watch football Charlotte just walked across the room. It was so exciting. She was walking more the rest of the evening, gaining more confidence. I'll try to get some video soon. She'll be 11 mo in a couple days - our tiny one's growing up :)

Sugar Cookies

This Christmas season has already been really fun. Lily Kate will be 3 next month and we've really entered into a new season of being able to do things together. We made sugar cookies yesterday. I have learned that we share a love of cookie dough - when Lily Kate stared eating fist fulls I had to move us along. She put every color sprinkles she could get her hands on every cookie. It was pure joy for her and such a sweet experience to share with her.

Kate kept confusing the word decorating with the word celebrating. It was so cute, "oh, I love celebrating these cookies, Mommy, they are very beautiful"

Also, you can maybe see in the top picture that one of our wedding pictures we in Lily Kate's sightline as she was decorating and it must have gotten her thinking. I was icing cookies and she said...

"Mommy, when did you first get married?"
"It was actually almost 5 years ago"
"I like your flowers....but I want to have red flowers at my wedding"
"oooh, that sounds really pretty, I think we should do it"
.....long pause..... "who will I get married to, Mommy?"
"We don't know, babe, we should pray for him though. We should pray that he's a good husband."
"Yea, we should pray for him.... and I want to have cookies at the wedding.... red flowers and cookies"
"Sounds good to me"

PS isn't that little apron with a "K" cute, I found it in a yard sale!

Elmo Panties

Matchy Matchy - thanks, Nona!

Again with the grainy look on the blog. I still thought these pics were too cute.

Save this one for the slideshow at the rehearsal dinner someday...

Learning to Assert her opinion....

Childrens' Museum

Happy Halloween

Family picture on our front porch. Kate's not smiling but it was the best of the bunch of shots. The two shots below are at the Laniers' house. We went trick or treating wiht our friends and their kids. Don't be alarmed by the little duck who apears to be falling, that's Samuel and his parents caught him in time :)

Rock Star

We carved our pumpkins tonight and Char had so much goop in her hair that I styled it. Too bad she's isn't going to be a rock star or Halloween - would have been perfect

Uncle

Lewis Farm Pumpkin Patch

Sewet Ben

Went to Lewis Farms Pumpkin Patch this morning, ate pumpkin ice cream (surprisingly good - think pumpkin pie), and let the kids run free. They left dirty & happy. Man, it was hilarious trying to get all the kids to look at the camera. The top shot is decent and the lower one just made me laugh.

The Pumpkin Church with uncle Will

There is a church near our house that has a pumpkin sale every year that is HUGE. We never made it over there last year and Lily Kate has asked when the pumpkins are coming back almost every time we pass by - for the last year! This child's memory and persistence are unrivaled. Uncle Will is in town and we've been having fun with him. We also met up with Stephanie and Oliver to try to get some pictures of the babies with the pumpkins. She has those pics so I'll add them later.

What we like to call "huggling"

The wave

This is Charlotte's latest trick. She enjoys the response so much that all afternoon she's been waving at us whenever we enter the room. And just to clarify from the last post, she's not walking yet. She just randomly stands up a lot and thinks about walking. Between that and cruising along the edges of things it won't be long. I also appreciate that Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock is dressed as Thomas Jefferson in the background of this video :)

Girlie things

My mom gave Charlotte these shoes before she was born. I just had to get a shot of them. These are just one of the things that make having girls way too much fun.

Ashton Farm

I thought this was so cute. The only horses Lily Kate has seen in person are the ones that the policemen ride downtown and those frighten her so I didn't know how she would react to the horses at the farm but she was clearly pleased.

Yesterday we took a trip to Ashton Farms, thanks to my friend Lisa, who organized a pre-school aged field trip. You should click on the collage above to see the pics a little larger. Lily Kate fed chickens, goats, & ducks. She pet dogs, rabbits, & even a huge black hog. She rode a horse (twice because she asked the farmer ever-so-persistently) and a tractor. My girl had a blast! The only thing that bothered her was the fact that the animals were dirty, what a priss. Little Charlotte had fun too, just eating her pears and smiling.

around here princess dresses are the new everyday outfit...... literally.... everyday

These are 2 other funny shots from the weekend around here. Char has been feeding herself cut up fruits and veggies lately and in between bites she likes to smear the food on her tummy and her cheeks. Meanwhile, Lily Kate made a block tower that she named Ernie. She kept asking if he could go see her room. I'm afraid he can't walk. Just a normal Saturday afternoon.