its beginning to look a lot like christmas around here!!

charlotte

little bits is a full grown walking machine now. she never crawls anymore and uses her new walking skills to get into EVERYTHING. she is a true one year old in ever way - constantly learning new things, talking up a storm (that no one can understand), getting into everything and testing all the boundaries.

 

but she does it all with the best smile on her chubby little face.

 

 

some her favorite things lately are getting her own milk out the fridge (little miss independent), sneaking off up the stairs if we leave the gate open, sucking on her fingers, playing with and rocking her babies, singing "rock a bye baby" and "happy birthday", dragging pink baby everywhere, playing in the pretend kitchen, reading books, pointing out her body parts and yours, saying "dada" "night night" "bye bye" "upff" "off" "want that" "baby" and "milk".

 

she recently graduated out her high chair to the "big kid" table and she thinks she is pretty darn cool.

 

she loves to dance and "jump" and is so proud of herself with each new thing she learns.

 

she has four molars already and handled teething like a champ... we didn't even know any came through - much less four!

 

 

she is the silliest and happiest little thing ever and we are so proud of how hard she has worked the past few months to become such a great little walker SOO quickly.

 

she is a spirited little girl with a mind of her own - a LOT like her older sister. 

 

these two are gonig to make our lives very interesting in the teenage years :)

 

love you chunky monkey :)

 



growing up...

It's weird to think this is penny's last year at preschool - I register her for kindergarten next month! :(

 

when I see pictures like this one below - I just can't even believe that beautiful little girl is my baby penny - she is suddenly so grown up.  and lord she's pretty.  she is learning Spanish now at school, writing tons of words, teaching charlotte every day how to do something new and just suddenly seeming like a "kid".  I don't know how it happened, but it happened.  my toddler is gone and a gorgeous, sensitive, strong, crazy, intelligent little lady has taken her place. 

 

she loves her friends, playing super heroes, and still loves her dinos.  she is incredibly independent and strong willed.  she is not easily swayed by her friends and has a mind of her own. she is so smart, so funny and just amazing to watch learn.  she is getting more and more interested in reading and writing and loves writing us "notes" and "mail" lately.  she has the best comedic timing I've ever seen on a 4 year old and can use sarcasm like the best of them.

 

she has the biggest heart and is so sensitive.  she cares about rules and wants to follow them but can use logic to get around any rule she wants. 

 

she is perfect.

 

love you to the moon and back penelope anne.

 

and I'm never going to straighten your hair again because you look too old.

 

 

thanksgiving feast!

I missed penny's school thanksgiving feast last year so made sure i was DEFINATELY in town this year for it!  mommy and grandma d went and watched penny and her friends sing "I'm glad I'm not a turkey" and "months of the year"  then we played at school, had a nice lunch and got LOTS of good hugs and kisses goodbye.

 

 

 



thanksgiving 2014

now that it is practically Christmas, I'm finally downloading some thanksgiving pictures!

 

we had a great turkey holiday!  somehow we got lucky and worked  it out so we only had one thing to do each day - was so nice to have full days to enjoy with our families and not rush around. the kids had a blast and were great at all the parties.  and, it didn't hurt that they looked adorable :)

 

 

breakfast with santa

this was our fifth year doing the Notre Dame High School's breakfast with Santa.  they do a great one and the kids always have so much fun watching the dancers, playing the games, getting balloon animals made, and of course... seeing Santa :)

 

charlotte was not exactly "loving" santa claus this year, but other than that little setback they had a great time!!!

 

 

I did a little digging to find penny's santa reaction at that age :)  they look so much alike!