December '11

Snuggling with their pillow pets, most likely watching Mickey Mouse

Charlotte takes her coloring very seriously. She loves making books and would go through an entire ream of paper in a week if I let her. She has passed the phase of coloring an entire sheet with one color and is actually quite artistic and creative. Naomi's drawings still need interpretation, but her paper full of circles and doodles are adorable :)

Reading the Grinch with Daddy

Homegirl has style, right?!

And this is one reason I know she'll be a great big sister! She got down on the floor to talk and play with her little cousin, Katie Joy.

Charlotte's favorite Christmas present, by far, was this Rapunzel dress. When she opened the box and saw it, she couldn't get her jammies off quickly enough to get the dress on!

The girls playing with their new Leapster and "computer".

Giving Daddy a big hug, telling him "thank you" for all of their Christmas gifts.

A few days after Christmas we went to St. Augustine and rode the trolley around to look at all the lights. How cute are these kids?!

Happy Birthday, Naomi!

Our "baby girl" is two, and I can hardly believe it. Two years ago this "little" one popped out at a whopping 9 lbs, 3 oz. See that tiny little finger of hers? That's the one we've been wrapped around since the day she was born.

She is quite serious and independent. Tell her to smile and this expression is often what you'll see. She likes to do things on her own terms. Oh boy, are we in for it! :)

She has such a sweet spirit and is caring for others, with the exception of when she's bullying her big sister. Often when it is quiet and we go check on her, we will find her playing with her toys, entertaining herself. This is something Charlotte rarely did at this age, so we're enjoying the independent nature of our second born.

Just like her big sister, she loves to play dress up! No outfit is complete without the crown and the shoes. A true princess!

She is more careful and reserved when it comes to trying new things. Sometimes she can be coaxed into it if she sees Charlotte trying it, but more often than not, we cannot convince her of something if she has made up her mind otherwise. Stubborn. She must get that from her daddy :)

She loves her big sister. Even though Naomi is often picking on and bullying Charlotte, she loves to do whatever she sees her big sister doing. We are asked on a weekly basis if they're twins. While I do think they look alike, Naomi definitely favors her Daddy (she looks JUST like his pictures at this age) and Charlotte is a mini-me.

Naomi is a nurturer, a mother to her baby dolls, and cares for them sweetly. She feeds them their bottle and will tell us "Shh... Baby sleeping. Need to be quiet." Because of this and her independent nature, I think she will transition well to being a big sister.

Even before she was using words, her facial expressions said multitudes. Her vocabulary is exploding and she keeps us smiling with not only what she says, but how she says it. A few of her Naomi-isms...

"Juice" sounds an awful lot like a Summer's Eve feminine product

"Pacie" unfortunately sounds like slang for a woman's body part or a cat

"Grinch" sounds like she is talking about a female dog

She has a mischievous nature and will quietly find trouble to get into. As her personality continues to develop, it is easy to see that she will make sure that she does not fade into the background as a middle child, that is for sure!

Naomi Faye, we love you dearly! When you were born, our hearts grew more than we had imagined possible. Your smile and the way you say "I love you, toooooo!" melts us to a puddle. We cannot wait to see how the Lord uses you for His glory!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girls!

On Saturday we had the girls' birthday party at Gingerbread Acres, a horse farm about 10 minutes from our house. Charlotte has been talking and asking about her 4th birthday party since her 3rd birthday party so she was quite excited about it! Naomi enjoyed seeing her friends but isn't as big a fan of all the attention as Charlotte is. Despite not wanting to ride the pony (or even pet one of the mini ponies), I think she had a lot of fun.

Naomi did laps around the van when Jared first brought them over :)

How cute are these girls?! And doesn't the warning sign add to the festivity?

 I labeled a lot of the food to fit the farm theme. The popcorn was "Feed".

 Oreos = "Tractor Wheels"

 It took me several hours, but I made the cake! The barn was a store-bought pound cake and the rest was pink lemonade flavored. I found the idea on Pinterest and it linked to Family Fun, which gave detailed instructions on how to assemble it. It wasn't complicated, just time consuming. But totally worth it when the girls saw it and got so excited about it!

 The farm cake had chicks...

 Pigs...

 And cows... But no horses. Charlotte pointed out that she was having a horse party and there weren't any horses on the cake. She doesn't miss a detail!

 After the safety spiel, we were asked if we had any questions. Charlotte popped her hand up and confessed that she had already fed the goats. Sweet girl!

 Naomi wanted nothing to do with the ponies, but Charlotte hopped on with no fear. And homegirl made sure she got to wear the pink helmet!

 So excited!

 Sweet Ella rocking her boots on the farm!

 Some of the party guests! The Riccis and Gambinos.

 Hannah, being coaxed into riding the pony. Can't you tell she loves it? ;-) It took her a minute, but she did get used to it and even wanted to ride again.

 Naomi found other things to occupy her time. They had games set up for the kids to play.

  My nephew, Donaven, let all of the girls go first. What a gentleman!

 Naomi, dismissing whatever Angela was telling her. She's quite stubborn!

 She figured out the best way to jump rope. You run and swing the rope behind you. Much easier than the traditional way!

 They also had a hay ride for the kids, which they all loved.

 Naomi, quite content to watch everything from the other side of the fence

 Charlotte had to ride on the other pony too!

 The kids had a blast feeding the goats. Charlotte had a clean conscience after she confessed she had fed them before she was told she could.

 Samantha was playing in the dirt with the stick and couldn't figure out how the ground kept getting wet

 The banner I made the girls

 The whole spread...

 "Vegetable Garden"

 "Hay Bales" (Sidenote: I am incapable of making rice krispy treats that don't fall apart.)

 The girls blowing out their candles

 One of the gifts was a sweet tea party tray. It was made by my sister-in-law's parents. They do custom wood working of just about any sort. We have quite a few of their handmade pieces in our home!

 Jared and I gave the girls each a scooter. It has two wheels in the back so is more stable for them to ride. Charlotte's has princesses, Naomi's has Tinkerbell. They both love them!

 My best friend, Shannon, drove up from Melrose for the festivities.

My mom was a ton of help. She was there early to help me get things set up.

The girls had a blast and are already talking about their next birthday party. Hopefully we can get away with a joint party for a few more years!

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

It's hard for me to believe that four years ago today, we were holding this sweet little baby for the first time.

We made the mistake of blinking and now she's already four. I'm not sure how it happened, but our baby is no longer a baby. She's officially a big girl and does not hesitate in telling you so.

She's a snuggler, thumb-sucker and she still loves her cross.

She is spunky, sassy, and full of life. She loves playing with Naomi and teaching her new things. Here, she is apparently teaching her the art of hide-and-seek.

She loves to sing and even makes up her own praise and worship songs. While not always theologically accurate ;-) it is so sweet to hear her sing praises to our King.

I'm not sure where she gets it from, but she has bossy tendencies. Here, she is telling the girl behind her to "Sshh!" because Charlotte felt like she was singing too loudly during the performance.

She keeps us in stitches with the things she says. Here is a sampling of some Charlotte-isms that will give you a glimpse into her personality...

"My back is a disaster... my neck is killing me!" (Dramatic, much?)

"Mommy, how do you spell PUPPY?" I tell her "P-U-P-P-Y. "Mommy, when we get home, can Naomi cuddle with her P-U-P-P-Y?"

"When you get blood on you, and you fall down, and your eyes close, and your tongue sticks out... That means you are SO dead!"

"Daddy, if you give me a dollar, I will play something else with you."

When I was spending many hours of the day on the couch with "morning" sickness, she asked, "Mommy, what can I do to make you feel better?"

One day last month she helped me make dinner and I asked her what she thought her Daddy would say when we told him. "I think he'll say, 'Oh snap!'"

She saw a tattoo on the foot of a friend of mine and came to tell me, "Mommy, I've never drawn on myself before," then proceeded to ask how old she needed to be to have writing on her.

She saw the Siri icon on Jared's iPad and said, "Daddy, push that button. You can ask her questions." (We don't have Siri on our phones but she's seen the commercials and has already figured out how it works!)

Sweet Charlotte, we love you so much. We're excited to see how the Lord uses all that passion He's given you!