Circle of Life

Lots of happy and sad tears since my last blog. Chuck's Grandmother passed away on January 18th.  She was the sweetest grandmother in the whole world. I would describe her as the Ideal Grandmother. She was great at everything she did. Cooking, Gardening, Decorating.Everything. She was a very classy lady and I am very lucky to have known her. She is now in peace and we are all left with the wonderful memories she has left behind for us. I just wish I could have taken a few cooking lessons from Helen before she passed. I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to master her famous mostaccioli.

Obituary: http://www.pitmanfuneralhome.com/view.php?id=1555

On a happier note:

Chuck's Grandfather, Frank, is doing much better! He was released from the nursing home following Helen's funeral. I am sure he misses seeing Helen's smiling face, but we are all happy to see him in much better health and we hope to see him keep it up.  

And with a death, came a birth.... Our friends Sarah and Joe welcomed baby girl Harper into the world!! We are so excited to have a little girl within our circle of friends for Charlotte to grow up with. I can just picture these two going trick or treating together, and doing lots of other fun stuff. Its going to be sooo much fun. :)

Oh, just look at that full head of hair and that precious little face. After holding itty bitty Harper, it was hard for us not to go home and try for another. But then Charlie quickly reminded us that we have our hands full already. lol.

Lets see, what has Charlie been up to these past two weeks??

Last weekend we finally got a chance to go swimming. I prefer the Rec Plex for indoor swimming, but we decided that was too long of a journey for us Downtowners. So instead we decided to try out The Lodge in Des Peres. It wasn't bad. The Tot pool slacked a bit with just a shallow pool and a few fountains. But they did have a pretty awesome indoor wave pool and slide. And just as expected, Charlie LOVED it. She ran in and out of the water. Swam around on her belly. It was challenge to get her to leave. We are planning another swimming trip to the nearby YMCA.  All this swimming makes me VERY excited to go to the lake every weekend this summer!!

A first this week- Charlie actually feel asleep in her highchair with a hamburger still in her mouth. Unfortunately, she dropped her arm during my quick hustle to find my camera. But still makes for a great picture.

Charlie has also become momma's big helper. This week she helped me hang up clothes in the closet. And she is always eager to help with the sweeping and vacuuming:

And of course...we had to pause cleaning for a quick dance break!

I am loving this warm winter weather we have been having...but I am a little disappointed that we haven't been able to use the awesome snow suit with matching coat and boots we got Charlie. We also got a pretty awesome snow man kit and sled for Christmas that we have been dying to try out. I am crossing my fingers for just one good snow this year so that we can make a trip to Art Hill (just please mother nature DO NOT SNOW on Mardi Gras!!). And then it can go right back to 60 degree temperatures!

Sitting in her baby doll stroller.

Let's just say that she only ate the icing off this dounut which meant....no afternoon nap!

4 day weekend!!

Oh how I love 4 day weekends! Although this weekend has been more work than play. But I am happy to report we are really close to being able to put our house up for sale. I got alot done on my check list thanks to a home depot gift card I got for Christmas. -thanks Mom!
Friday, I started (and finished!) the baseboards in our upstairs bedroom ALL BY MYSELF. My Dad taught me well. I am a master carpenter! Take a look:

Friday night, Charlie went over to Aunt Jes' for a slumber party. While Chuck and I had our own adult slumber party at our house. Friends came over in their PJ's and we played Xbox 360 Kinect, and other games. Just Dance 3 literally kicked my ass. I woke up with sore butt checks!!

Saturday, it was back to work on the house. I started the baseboards and door trim in the bathroom, this time I did not finish up until Monday due to difficulties...nothing a little liquid nails couldn't fix. My bathroom is now completely finished! And then Charlie and I finished up the evening with a movie and some cuddle time.

Sunday, I woke up to flowers!! Chuck and I decided to celebrate our 4 year Anniversary a day early since Chuck had to work on our actual Anniversary. So we dropped Charlotte off with Uncle Scotty, and went out for dinner. We have been together for over 7 years and have never been to Chuck's favorite restaurant- Red Lobster. I have never really been a fan of seafood, but I actually REALLY liked it. Except the part where we ate so much it hurt ;) I tried lobster and crab legs for the first time.yum. But I think my favorite part of the meal had to be the biscuits. oh man are they good. Plus, with my diet I have not had one single carb is over 2 weeks. It tasted like heaven!

After dinner we made an impulse stop at Best Buy and picked up a new laptop. Our last computer finally gave up on us. Luckily, it was after I moved all my pictures and videos over to an external hard drive. It is nice to finally have a laptop that is actually portable. The screen on our last one broke after the first 30 days and we never got around to replacing the screen since it wasn't covered under the dang warranty. So we had to plug our laptop into my old/huge desktop monitor. We learned our lesson this time and purchased the additional warranty that covers ANYTHING & EVERYTHING, with a brand new replacement computer. So in two years, we plan to crack our screen on purpose, so we can get a brand new laptop. Smart thinking.

Monday, more work on the house. Finished the last of the baseboards, painted, caulked- For the very last time in this house, whoo hoo.  We even had time to walk to the park on this 60 degree day in January. Charlotte has really been enjoying going down the slides by herself.

This blog is missing my main ingerdient- pictures of Charlie! Here are some bath time pictures from this past week. Lately, Charlie has been swimming on her belly in the bathtub. I think next weekend we might try an indoor pool for some real swimming. I hope her swimsuit still fits!

Oh! And Charlie has been in her big girl toddler bed for a week now. She's such a big girl.

Overall a pretty good weekend....EXCEPT- I drove into the tree in front of our house and knocked my mirror completely off. waaa!

Back to work tomorrow....BOOO! What I wouldn't give to be a stay at home mommy.

Happy New Year!

Here's to great things to come in 2012! Here are some of my resolutions for this year:

1. Obviously- continue to work on losing this dog-gone baby weight. 32 lbs down, only 7 more lbs to go (I took the "eating for two" a little far during my pregnancy, plus I was prescribed lots and lots of prednisone post pregnancy).  Only a few days into the new year and I am already down a few lbs. whoo hoo! Its been seven horrible days of no- pasta, bread, potatoes, or my daily snickers bar :( I dont know how much longer I can avoid my favorite food groups!

2. I would like to make an effort to save more. I had originally set this resolution as becoming an "extreme couponist". But after researching coupons online this past week, I have decided maybe I should take baby steps. Couponing is alot harder than I thought!

3. Finish up the odds and ends left on our house, and get it SOLD!

4. Continue to keep up with this blog. So far so good. I did miss an entry last week. But that was due to computer problems and a house full of germs. And by computer problems, I mean Charlotte pressing buttons and locking me out.

5. Most importantly- Laugh more, smile more, and appreciate my wonderful life and family.

2012 started off with a bang. Charlotte enjoyed a slumber party with her buddy William, while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a few too many drinks with friends. The rest of the weekend was spent laying around trying to recover from all the fun we had. ;)

This weekend we decided to take a spontaneous trip to the City Museum, follwed by dinner at Hodaks (YUM!). I have been dying to take my parents to this place. And just like I thought, they loved it! Unfortunately, Charlotte did not get a nap so we were not able to stay long enough to see everything. Plus, this place is so spectacular that I think it calls for a 2-day adventure.

I really do love this place. Makes me feel like a kid. Until I get home and my body is so sore and my knees are all bruised up!! But well worth it. We will have to go back soon, after Charlotte has a nice long nap!

Looks like tomorrow is going to be a fun filled day of football and taking down our outside Christmas decorations. I cannot wait..... ya right- booooo!

This video is for Kelly, and everyone else that says Charlotte is the worst birth control! It does have a pretty cute ending to go with her meltdown though. At least you can get a glimpse of the not so sweet baby Charlie. Not so cute when she's screaming her head off is she?? But I still love her even when she throws her fits. <3

"and to all a good night"

Well, I think Santa did good this year. I have one happy baby girl.

Just like Thanksgiving, things were a little different this year, but I liked it. Instead of my family gathering on Christmas Day for our gift exchange, everyone came over Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a delicious ham courtesy of Ameristar Casino, texas potatoes, green beans, mostaccioli, and pie.  Followed with lots of presents and games!

Charlie is very lucky to have such crafty Grandparents. Pop-pop made Charlie several push/pull toys.

And of course, Gam-Gam is always sure to keep us warm every winter with lots of hand knitted scarves and hats. My favorite of all has to be the long hat/scarf off of the Christmas Story. They also made us a very cool Snow Man Kit. It includes a top hat, carrot nose, red scarf, coal eyes, mouth, and buttons. I can't wait for it to snow!

Charlie even got a cool convertible sports car with a personalized licensed plate. The cool thing about it...it comes with a remote for Mommy and Daddy to steer her around until she can drive herself. So its like a toy for all three of us! Right now, Charlie isn't too found of the car moving around. She really just prefers to sit in it and listen to the radio (thats right, you can listen to any station you want or plug in your ipod!!)

And I cannot forget my crafty sister! She made me the BEST present in the world. It is a photo frame made out of her old garage window. And of course it is filled with pictures of the most beautiful little girl :)

After a few horse race games (also made by Pop-Pop) we made the trip to Festus for the Greer Family Christmas gathering. Every year, we all exchange homemade ornaments. This year the Dicken's Family all made painted glass ornaments (see previous post about our ornament catastrophe). In exchange we got a paper mache light house and rally squirrel (made by the Kapplers) to go with our previous ornaments and a cool spaceship looking ornament (made by Grandpa Greer).

On the way home for Aunt Barb's we swung by Candy Cane Lane for a quick peek at some Christmas lights. All I know is good thing we helped Santa essemble Charlie's toys ahead of time, because by the time we got home we were pooped!!

Charlotte must have been pooped too. Because Chuck and I woke up an hour before her Christmas morning. I think we were more excited about her opening her gifts!

After our presents were opened and breakfast was devoured, we headed to Wentzville. Chuck's Grandfather hasnt been in the best of health. Just this past week he was in the hospital and then moved to a nursing home. So we busted him out and went for a joy ride! He was so happy to get out of his room and I dont blame him. Those rooms are quite depressing. On our drive he kept saying, "this is heaven" over and over. It made me very happy to see him smile. We took him home, made some lunch and opened even more presents. Charlotte was particularly fond of Grandpa Frank this day. She sat at the table making faces at him and laughing. She even had us laughing too trying to imitate Frank's wink, which was a double eye blink for her. I wish I would have snapped some photos. Maybe next time.

Overall, this was a GREAT Christmas. I am so grateful for all of our family and friends. Charlie got soooo many toys this Christmas that we will need a bigger house to keep them all! Seriously. As I am trying to type this blog I am surrounded by toys and books. And her toys keep getting bigger and bigger in size. sheesh.

Christmas...or something like that?

I was a little stumped on a blog title this week. So I asked Chuck. His response was "call it Christmas...or something like that". So there it is. My husband is just so creative.

Speaking of my dorky husband. Last week Charlie was watching her morning show The Cat in the Hat. I started to sing the beginning hook of the show..."Here we go, go, go, go. On an adventure. The thing-a-ma-giggy goes up and awaaaay". And Chuck, very boldly, corrects me. "Its a thing-a-ma-giger. Get it right!" Geez. I guess I need to start studying my cartoon lyrics so I can be as cool as my husband. ha.

Anyway. Not much to report this week. Chuck and I finally got a night off from parenting to play some wine pong with our friends...but I think I will leave that craziness out of this Charlie related blog :)

Last week we had plans to see Christmas Lights with the fam. One night out of the season, Fort Zumwalt Park opens up the light display to pedestrians. And we were sooooo bummed that this year was cancelled due to rain!! Grr. So instead, we walked the Zoo Lights Sunday evening. It was OK. I expected something spectacular, but was pretty unimpressed with the boring lights strung across the trees. And it was busy. At least we got to see some stinky penguins and this time we were dressed to their freezing climate.

Less than a week til Christmas, whooo hooo!! I cannot wait to see Charlie's reaction to all of her cool toys. Hopefully this year, she will be more interested in the toys rather than the wrapping paper and boxes. Here is Charlie last year on Christmas:

Boy has she changed alot since then! Since this week's blog is lacking some excitement, I'll give you a video!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Cookies, The Nutcracker, and Good Ol' Saint Nicholas

We had quite the festive weekend...

Saturday, Grandma and Aunt Jes came over for cookie baking. We started at 10:30am and did not finish up until around 8:00 pm!! We did take an intermission from baking to see The Nutcracker on Ice at the Webster Groves Rec Center, followed by dinner at Chili's. By the end of the day my back hurt, my feet ached, and I was dog tired. Who knew baking cookies was so exhausting....

Our official taste tester:

Finished product: 

 -oatmeal scotchies

-chocolate drops

-chocolate chip

-candy cane twist

-oatmeal waffle cookies

-sugar cookies

-peanut butter reindeer cookies

-snickerdoodles

-chocolate covered pretzels

-and some others I cannot remember....

and a cookie just for Grandpa, made by Charlie: 

Nutcracker on Ice:

And then Sunday we went to the Galleria to say HI to Santa. I was truly SURPRISED by Charlie's reaction. I was expecting to have a picture something like this:

Nope. Charlie LOVED Santa. Which is a total shocker because she is all about the stranger danger, especially with big hairy men. But as soon as Chuck put her down, she walked right up to him and started jib jabbering away. We put her up on his lap expecting a total melt down and she started playing with his stuffed animals. We even got a smile out of her!

HOLY GROWTH SPURT!

When I was pregnant I signed up for weekly baby update emails and I still get them. LOVE THEM. Normally they are right on track. As I am reading, "around this time your baby should start pulling up on couches, chairs, etc." or "your baby may begin drooling like the Niagara Falls" or "picking her nose", you get the picture. I look over and Charlotte will be doing that exact same thing as I am reading it! It's crazy how dead on they are. Well this weeks update mentioned that around 18 months toddlers growth spurts start to slow down. Not my child. She is still growing like a freaking weed on crack! Seriously. Look at this picture. I swear these jammies were on the ground last week. Now look at them:

And then I look back at photos 6 months ago. I cannot believe how much she has changed! For instance her hair:
12 months-


18 months!:

Wow, right? My baby girl is growing up. (tear). Other than Charlie growing like a weed, nothing new and exciting has happened lately. Last weekend Charlie and I did take a trip to the Science Center. Just us girls. Normally I dont like going out in public with her. She tends to throw loud and embarrassing tantrums. But this trip was acutally quite enjoyable. There was really nothing for her to destroy, which was great. I just let her run wild like a crazy child! She did walk into several window displays. They really do keep the glass clean at the SC. I watched an older child run full steam into a glass display. Hit so hard it almost knocked him unconscious. At first I was concerned, but then laughed my ass off. It would have been a big winner on AFV if it was caught on tape. lol.  

I wonder what was going through her head here:

She stood in this same spot for about 30 minutes looking up at that big ol' dino. And occassionally would tense up and give an evil laugh- you know what I am talking about Aunt Jes. Here is one last clip. Explanation: She has been trying really hard to JUMP lately. She is so darn cute :)