Merry Christmas!

It's been a bit of a rough time around our house over the last month. Mommy got very sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital, but now she is home (feeling yuck still, but home!) and we are looking forward to a special Christmas together.

Our grandma came to help and we have more visits from grandparents in the next few weeks (thank goodness!). Grandma and Anna took us to see Santa and we weren't too sure about it. In fact, we made Grandma sit with us and we preferred to stand. Charity checked this crazy guy out for a minute......and then decided this guy in a red suit was scary!!

Are we done sitting with this crazy guy yet??

We hope you and yours have a blessed Christmas and New Year!

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there were two beautiful princesses...

who got to parade around their school like it was a grand ball room...

while the queen watched from the enchanted forest with a little pumpkin:

For a royal snack, we enjoyed donut holes and apple cider (don't worry, it wasn't made out of poisoned apples...the kind queen tasted it for us first!):

The little pumpkin was hoping for a fairy godmother to turn her into a princess too...

Bippity, boppity, boo! Poof! Maybe not a princess, but Tinkerbell will do! Now the little pumpkin is a sweet little fairy:

Throughout their journey to acquire all of the sweets in the land, the princesses and tinkerbell encountered many fine enchanted forest dwellers...

The queen and her princesses traveled far and wide to get the most delectable treats they could find:

And then, they found the handsome king!

The fairy godmother (or fairy babysitter as she is also called) was along for the journey as well:

Ding Dong! Do you have any treats to offer us, your fine princesses?

The handsome king was relegated to also being our coachman and pack mule.. he wasn't very happy about that:

The journey was a smashing success and the princesses were able to acquire all they set out to find. In the end, everyone lived happily ever after!

Yee Haw! A First Birthday Bash!

Oink! Baa! Moo! Neigh! It's Charity's First Birthday!Beware, folks! There are lots of pics of the big barnyard bash (and Mommy didn't even take her usual pictures of all of the party decor details--imagine that!).

I'm enjoying candy corn in little mason jars that Mommy gave everyone for favors (with Charity's pic on the top of them with white and red gingham lids).Mommy and Daddy can't believe that Charity's first birthday is already here!
We had so many wonderful guests enjoying the party with us. This is our wonderful Anna and her pals. Anna's sister brought Charity a VERY popular gift--the trampoline! Charity the jumping bean loves it.

This is the pic mommy used on my invites. I look like a little farmer, don't you think?

Speaking of a farmer, Grandpa had the greatest farm outfit just for the day. He looked just like he came off of the real Butcher farm!

Hmmm...what is this?

I better investigate...

Oh yes, it is delicious! Yum, yum.
Mommy bought me Georgetown Cupcakes (a local favorite and a TV show) and they were wonderful per usual. We love Georgetown Cupcake and were very happy to share them with our friends.

Here, Daddy, you try some...

Grandpa and Grandma sure came ready for a real hoedown. We all had so much fun down on the farm!

Ok guys. That's enough picture taking. (But Mommy and Daddy had to have a pic with the birthday girl!)

Howdy, partner; I'm farmer Elyse!

You can't quite tell here, but Mommy made our little bandana flowers for our overalls to add a special girly touch.

What a fun day it was! We love being silly with Grandma!

Here is just a taste of some of the decorations. A 12-month banner of Charity's first year:The food table:

The dessert table:

The sweets table with four delicious varieties of Georgetown Cupcake (...once again, YUM!), homemade white chocolate lollipops, bandana wrapped candies, mason jars with candy corn, Cow Tales, and just a general overload of sugar:(Sadly, Mommy didn't get a pic of the drink table, the awesome bandana banner that said "Happy Birthday Charity," the farmer pics of Charity throughout the house, or the decorations outside...she will hunt down some of those pics from someone else and hopefully show them to you soon!).

Happy Birthday Charity!

It has been a busy month with preschool and lots of other fun fall activities! Our blogging has been very far behind, so prepare yourselves for LOTS of pictures and posts!! We are very excited to share our many adventures with you!

We'll start with Charity's birthday. It was so much fun having two grandmas and a grandpa here to celebrate with us. On her actual birthday, she was so lucky to open presents, hang with grandparents, and have loads of fun! We are very "helpful" big sisters:

We love our grandmas!!

Charity: I just love this sweet little baby. Now I can play babies just like my sisters.

Birthday squeezes from Grandma:

Can you believe it, folks? A whole year come and gone and I am one healthy little bear. What a wonderful blessing a year can be!

Happy First Birthday, Charity! We all love our little Charity Bearity!

The First Day of School

The day has finally arrived! Today we started preschool and we were so excited to meet our teachers and explore our classroom. Mommy came with us today for a special day together and then tomorrow we start all by ourselves. Of course we had a special "first day of school" outfit and shoes that Mommy saved just for this day. We were very excited to wear our new sparkly shoes and "school clothes."

We also were very excited to don our polka dot backpacks. Each one has our initial on it so we can tell them apart.

Can you believe we are in preschool? How time flies! Here's to a wonderful year of playtime fun in our new class.

Elyse: We did have one little snafu when I was very upset to leave my new class. Of course some kids cry when they leave their Mom and Dad, but I shed a few tears when I had to go home and leave the fun of my class!

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Oh My!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are a-okay! After last year's tree-through-the kitchen incident, we were worried about more trees through our house, but no tree house for us this year! We are safe and sound (and even have power, unlike lots of people in our area).

Summer Fun

After our fabulous trip with Grandma and Grandpa, we decided to venture down to Richmond, VA to visit our good friend, Anna. We had the most amazing time exploring all kinds of adventures. We went to our first ever bounce house, the Richmond Children's Museum (so fun!), a very cool outdoor mall, a pool, and tons of all around fun!Charity: Watch out world, here I come!

We met Anna's family and quickly felt like we were part of their family. This is Rebecca, Anna's sister and she is now what we like to refer to often as our "very good friend."

Every single day was packed full of fun in Richmond, so we were quite tired. This picture we were sleeping until 10 am...the longest we've EVER slept in!Once we got back home, we have spent many days swimming, mastering the slip-and-slide, playing with friends, and trying to stay cool.

Charity: I like the water fun too! There is so much mischief behind this sweet little grin.

Mommy got a beautiful tea set for her birthday so we can have the best, fanciest tea parties. This summer has been a splendid showing of sipping, sampling, and serving delicious tea (or our drink of preference...apple juice).

Summer has been so much fun in the sun, that we hate to see it go.