How did this happen???????

My brother Rob and his family were in Houston this weekend interviewing for a job. They spent the greater part of Monday and Tuesday in the airport trying to return home to Arkansas. In a last ditch effort to get home they flew to Atlanta hoping to connect here and get home. Well, as fate would have it. . . they got stuck in Atlanta.

Needless to say I was thrilled! This meant that I got to meet my new nephew TJ! They were able to stay and visit most of the day today, and I had so much fun. It was really fun to see my brother as a parent, and also to see how interested Abby was in the baby. Here's hoping you get stuck here again soon!

Abby Grace and TJ

Charlie, TJ and Abby

Nutcracker Birthday Party

When Abby informed us that she wanted a Nutcracker Birthday Party, I got a little excited with the possibilities!

What Nutcracker party would be complete without a bunch of ballerinas? So Abby and I made tutus for all her little girl friends.



Here is Abby waiting at the front door for her friends to arrive.


Once everyone was here we walked through the Nutcracker story, but made it into a scavenger hunt. There was the holiday party where they found a toy with their name on it, next they found their sword (candy cane) to fight off the mouse king. We also visited the enchanted forest, the castle, and were visted by the Sugar Plum Fairy. (We took some major liberties with the story.)








Here are all the ballerinas with their bags of loot from the scavenger hunt.


Next the girls painted their very own nutcracker. It didn't end up too messy. And our little ballerinas were REALLY into it!






Thanks to everyone for helping make Abby's birthday week so fun and memorable!

Charlie ouchie update

I have had several questions about Charlie's eye . It is starting to heal nicely, but he has developed a black eye from the injury. :(

Whenever he looks up and the mantle and sees the stocking hangers, he touches his nose and says, "ouchie!" So sad!

My Abby Grace is 4!

It is the end of an exhausting day, and I don't have the strength to write out a detailed narrative our the birthday festivities. Plus, pictures speak a million words!






So cute of Charlie I had to add it in!



Since Mamita and Papa Carlos drove all the way up from Orlando to be with Abby for her birthday I thought it would be nice to take a photo of them together. Abby didn't think so! On the other hand Charlie was cool with it.

Today

Today started out with so much promise. We woke up early to start our Christmas decorating. The kids were really excited!

Bad picture, but two really happy kids.


Abby wanted to help put the star on top.

And if Abby did it, Charlie wanted to do it also!

Here is the finished product.

But this is where our story takes a turn for the worse. Notice the very beautiful but HEAVY stocking holders on top of the mantle. Well, our Charlie decided to take a tug on the snowman stocking held up with the letter "Y". Of course the stocking holder went tumbling, and hit the bridge of his nose. . . OUCH! :(

He took it like a CHAMP, but it looks aweful! This is about 30 mins after the incident. Yep, that is still a smile.

Doesn't that look ouchie?


Here he is tonight before going to bed. The photos just don't capture how swollen and icky it looks.






And after a tough afternoon, he found his smile for the camera tonight.

My Carlos

Let's face it, this blog exists to post photos of my kids and talk about the cute things they are doing.

As a departure from the norm, I would like a moment to highlight my cute husband.

Here are my two Carlos's together. Just like father, like son.



This weekend Carlos decided to tackle a home improvement project that has been irritating him since we moved into this house. In my mind I thought it was a small project. When I came to inspect the progress I found that he had completely taken the door (frame and all) off trying to figure out why everything was not square.


I got really nervous that the trim had been taken off and the carpet had been pulled back. I mean really, who just takes their house apart???? Carlos just calmly told me to relax, and reminded me that he was not my father (no offense dad!)

Unfortunately, I did not think to take a picture until he was putting everything back together.


This morning he was trying to get me to make cookies for his home teaching families. I told him if he wanted cookies to make them himself, so he did. So if you get a plate of cookies from Carlos today, know that this is the first batch of cookies he has ever made on his own, and he did it just for you!

The kids wanted in on that action.




What a sweet cute man. I sure do love him and all the funny things he does.

Twilight

If being such a huge fan of Twilight that I stayed out til all hours of the morning to see the midnight movie premiere is wrong,



I just don't want to be right!

My baby is 2!

On November 12th our Charlie Bear turned 2. Since I just don't know how to do anything on a small scale, his birthday festivities went on for days.

On the morning of his birthday he woke up to a new Thomas the Train set from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Tom.


Big sister was there every step of the way to help him out!


In true Charlie fashion he discovered it was much more fun to crawl on top of the train table.


The only way I was able to get him up to the table to eat breakfast was to bring the new train with him. In fact he and his Thomas the tank engine were inseparable all day. Thomas came with us on our errands, napped with him and ultimately went to bed with him that night.

We had our family over for a little birthday party that night.





Mamita and Papa Carlos sent him a diablo rojo (red devil) just like the one his daddy used to terrorize the neighborhood on when he was a toddler. He LOVES it!


To protect his little noggin. Carlos has joked about keeping a helmet on the boy at all times. Now that he has a pair of wheels under him I decided it was time.




After a day of excitement, this is how I found my baby. All but falling asleep, but finding just enough energy to play with his train for just a few more minutes. Notice his Thomas the Train jammies.





AND THEN. . .

Abby and I made a pinata. We dug down to our Latin roots and created a great balloon shaped party toy. It was messy and time consuming, and Abby loved it!


It took days for it to dry, but no fear. . . it was ready in time for a get together we had with some friends.

Young and old had a great time taking a whack and our creation.







I think Charlie had more fun helping his dad with the rope.


Then it was time for cake and ice cream again. It just never gets old!








We had a had a great time this week. Thanks to all who have helped us celebrate!