In Memory Of

 

One year ago tomorrow- I held my Dad's hand while he took his last breath. There has not been one day this past year that I have not thought about him, or tried to dial him up on speed dial to tell him some not so important news or to just say how much I love and miss him. I avoid KSHE like the plague because every song reminds me of hanging out with my Dad at the Wentzville house, or down at the lake, or working on my house with him directing me on what to do.

I would give anything to hear him say, "you did a fine job, child".  Or to listen to one of his stories, while trying to figure out if there is going to be a punch line at the end or if it is an actual true story.  Or to read one of his notorious Mattie's Reads on facebook that bash his wonderful wife. OR just to rub his bald head, give his funky beard a trim, and eat chimichangas at El Maguey. 

But even more, I would give anything for Charlie to have her Papa back. He may have seemed biker tough, but Papa Terry was a major softy when it came to his granddaughter.  He spoiled her with handcrafted toys and lots of cuddles.  Ever since I was preggo, I was looking forward to seeing him take her fishing down at the lake, building bird houses, and other fun things that grandparents do.

My sister is getting married in less than 2 months, and even though I love that my husband will be walking her down the aisle, it will never be the same as having my dad there.  He is irreplaceable and I miss him him incredibly. You know when you are sick and you say "I just want my mommy"? Lately, all I want is my daddy.  Sorry Mom- I love you too, and I could still use some rueben soup!!

I will continue to cherish all my memories I have with my dad.

 




















 






LOVE YOU DAD!!

**HOLIDAYS 2013**

Lets see if I can get everything from Thanksgiving to Christmas in one post...

This year my company was highlighted in the St Louis Thanksgiving Day Parade. So we woke early, jumped on a school bus and headed downtown. Not gonna lie. It was COLD. But it was lots of fun and Charlie even got some TV time.  She's a superstar!










Afterwords we had a nice home cooked meal at... Dennys! Since my sister was having dinner with the in-laws we decided to post-pone our family dinner until Saturday.  The food was delicious and so was the wine. And the day ended with the traditional family dominos game.

Briefly, (since I am tired and not looking forward to going to work tomorrow) we have our (1) first big snow-with snow paint and a snowman that Charlie quickly decapitated , (2) union station-holiday train, (3) Tilles Park lights- which I do not recommend. We spent 3 hours in the car waiting to get into the park!  (3) Mattison Christmas, (4) Science Center with Lauren & fam.

 

The Christmas fun started with the Mattison clan on Saturday, Gentile's on Monday, Greer's on Tuesday, and then our lil family on Wednesday. I have some pretty entertaining videos from this morning, but I am having trouble uploading. So instead you get just a few photos and a quick clip.

 

After we opened presents, ate breakfast, and played with all of Charlie's new toys, we took a trip to Castlewood Park to spread Papa's ashes on a bluff overlooking the river.  

 

And just like Thanksgiving, I was in no mood to cook, so we went to Hometown Buffet :) Just as we were about to leave, Charlie took a spill. Now she is rocking this pretty cool finger splint. But at least we avoided the ER.

 That's all I got.. for now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Breakfast with Santa

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this day! Just look at all the Santa excitement. My favorite is Tilly jumping, squirming, and dancing around. Give that girl a candy cane Santa!!

Grandma Jo won this visit with Santa at a silent auction last Christmas and we have anxiously been waiting a year for this... Now I cant wait until next year so we can do it again!

We had pancakes and chocolate milk. Cookie decorating. A quick lil Christmas craft. Santa even brought some gifts early!!  The planning was very minimal, and the reactions were priceless.

Charlie. Apparently she wants a scooter and legos... nice and simple. Thanks Charlotte!!

Uncle Ben, Aunt Tiffany, Austin, Conner, and Isabella.

John, Jenn, Jillian & Jacob. Charlie's future in-laws ;) 

 

Joe, Sarah, & Harper.

Harper was not impressed with Santa. But she eventually warmed up and gave some hugs. Or she  decided to suck it up so she could get off that scary mans lap!  

PS. I am obviously obsessed with this girl. She is so freaking adorable. I have more pictures of Harper, than my own daughter.

 

Can't leave out my man William.  Isn't he handsome? I am so glad he came. Hopefully Laura and the whole fam will be able to make it next year. :) We missed you guys! But thanks for sending along my buddy.

 

I am also in love with Tilly.  She's funny. As you can see, she was not happy with her Nana interrupting playtime for a picture. But it does make an entertaining picture.  

 

 

 

Thanks to all that came!! Hope your kiddos had a blast.  

Happy Holidays!!

 

 

On an unrelated note. Chuck volunteered to read to Charlotte's class on Friday. I am really glad that I got to witness this, because it was probably one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. I got to meet Charlie's friends- Rose, DeMarie, Layla, and Miley. ALSO- got to scope out this Marco punk. He is in the orange. The moving to Mexico is all making sense to me now....

Tiny Dancer

Thought the blog could use a little dance video....in high speed.... enjoy!

 

As you can see we are ready for our visit with Santa this weekend!! Charlie did a great job helping with the tree:

 

In other news, Charlie has a new bf at school. All week she has been talking about an unknown "Marco". Today she told me that she loves Marco, and he loves her back. And that they are going to Mexico to live with Julie and Eduardo. What the what???? My mission for Chuck this week- scope out said Marco to make sure he has good intentions with our daughter. Chuck says "I am going to kick that kid in his baby junk".  Poor Charlie is going to have a tough dating life. Warning to future bf's... beware of the big protective daddy.

Halloween

Halloween sure gets better the older Charlotte gets. Lets take a trip down memory lane.....

First Halloween- Charlie was the sweetest lil pea. Aww, just look at that precious baby. What's weird is Gma Jo bought this costume for Charlie BEFORE I even told her I was preggo. Its like shes psychic or something?!



Second-  Pebbles/Flinstones.  This was the year that the Cardinals won the World Series. So I had to compromise with Chuck on the jersey addition. I have to admit, it was a nice touch. This is also the first year that we went to Boo at the Zoo, and have been back every year since.





Third- Jessie from Toy Story.



This year- "Spoooooky" Witch.



This was the first year that Charlie got to pick her own costume. She started off with a "Ninja Turtle-Santa Clause-Dinosaur" combo, which had me in a panic. Luckily in the end she went simple with a "spooooky witch" (picture Charlie adding jazz fingers and a scary whisper voice). And she was dead set on this for over a month.  At least until the day we planned to go shopping. That morning we met up with her cousins at the pumpkin patch. They were telling us about how they were going as batman, superman, or some other boyish super hero. And that damn moment changed all our plans!  Lets just say that  Charlie was not happy when we left the store with the planned WITCH costume and not BATGIRL. Like kicking and screaming, I-am-not-leaving-this-store-until-I-get-what-I-want, unhappy. And its not that I have anything against batgirl. I think she is cool as shit, and Charlie would rock that costume any day. Its that I am not spontaneous. I like to stick to the plan.  She had been telling EVERYONE she was going as a witch, and I couldn't have her show up in something completely different!  So.... be prepared to see batgirl in 2014.

Like years before, we went trick or treating at the zoo. The sea lions were extra friendly. I think it was all the kids dressed in bright colorful costumes (I hope they are not color-blind, otherwise I totally sound retarded!). The one below sat next to Charlotte for several minutes just chasing her fingers.



On Halloween we met up with Harper and her neighborhood pose'. It was a little rainy and cold, but that did not stop us! Charlie sprinted door-to-door totally ditching all the lil kids. She was on a mission to fill up her bucket. Definitely had to keep a close eye on her though. She was just waltzing into strangers homes, coming out with quarters and other random things!! If you haven't noticed- my daughter has sticky fingers.... especially at the grocery store. Normally we use the cart with the lil car on the front. If I park her too close to the aisle, she will sneak random things to her car. I first learned about her thievery when I went to unload her into the car. I went to unbuckle her and noticed corn syrup and popcorn seasoning on the floor of the car. Geez- Charlie, if you are going to steal something, at least make it something we enjoy! As embarrassing as it was, I did return everything to the story because I am a good person!!

Charlottes school does not observe "Halloween", so instead they had a pajama party. With no candy. And non-Halloween toys. Not sure how the teeth fit into that equation. But I am OK with it.



So there is Halloween 2013 Charlie Style.

Because I am too lazy to create a separate post for the pumpkin patch, I am just going to throw in some pictures from the day. As usual, it is always fun to hang with Charlie's cousins.