Christmas 2012

Get ready for picture overload.  Jacqi, Brian, Austin, & Callie were in town, Christmas overload occurred, and I took lots of pictures of it all. :)

This girl will melt your heart in a second:

Such focus:

I think Charlie looks so much like my Grandpa Gonigam.  I would love to see a baby picture of him!

Love for Aunt Jacqi!

Callie & Charlie LOVED each other!

We made several attempts at a good photo of my mom and dad with the kids.  This will have to do. :)

Just like Mommy. :)

This face is AWESOME.

Reese left cookies & milk for Santa & some carrots for the reindeer.

When she woke up on Christmas morning and saw all of the presents, she was SO excited!  Her reaction was priceless.  Every year just keeps getting better!

It took her a few minutes to realize that the stockings were full too.

Reese's gift to Charlie was this glowing seahorse.  He has slept with it every night since & it really seems to soothe him!

She even snuggled the clothes we bought her (which was a nice contrast to chucking them over her head to get to the toys from our other Christmas celebrations).

Daddy bought her DJ Lance, which completes her Yo Gabba Gabba collection. 

She also enjoyed climbing into the boxes after the unwrapping was over.

One of Reese's favorite things is going grocery shopping.  Santa must have known, because he brought her a shopping cart, shopping bags, and a cash register. 

Doesn't my mom look young and gorgeous?  

Sisterly love. <3 p="p">

The Floridians took advantage of the 1/16" of snow that we got prior to their arrival.

Reese and Austin both loved this slinky.  And fought over it frequently. :)

Austin looked ADORABLE in these pajamas with his freshly combed hair.

This guy....MELT.

We also attempted several cousins pictures.  None of them turned out great, but I had to share all of these because Austin's progression is hilarious.

My heart.

And our attempt at setting up the tripod & using the self timer.  Which is why I'm so awkwardly positioned (and probably sweaty from running back and forth so many times).  But it made my mama happy. :)

Charlie's first snowfall.  (The first one that we were home with him for anyways, which is the only one that counts in my mind.)  It was a pretty lame showing of snowflakes, but I had to get a picture of him in it to match this picture of Reese (awwww, vintage Reese!):

Just doing some push ups.  No big deal.

And that's it!  Happy New Year!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!!!

Charlie turned 6 months old today.  We celebrated his half birthday by baking him half of a cake.  

Keep reaching for that cake, buddy.  You don't stand a chance at getting a taste. :)

And a month ago, he turned 5 months.  Oops, I guess I've been slacking on blog updates.

I'll recap the rest of the month as quickly as possible.  I turned 29 again.  So did Matt.  We made Matt this poster for his birthday.  And by "we," I mean the kids were very cooperative in accompanying me to the grocery store to get supplies. 

Charlie has gotten happier and happier (and cuter and cuter, if I may brag a bit).  He's finally getting a little bit of hair!  I don't mean to rub it in, but I think he has more than Uncle Jeff now. It was debatable at Thanksgiving, but it looks like Charlie is pulling ahead to be a clear winner in that contest. ;)

I don't know exactly what's going on here, but I would venture to guess that despite how sweet it looks, I probably had to throw down the camera & save Charlie from bodily harm immediately after taking this picture.  That's just usually the way it goes.  Immense sweetness is usually followed by physical aggression.  It's a give and take.  

Reese has wanted to hold Charlie a lot lately, which is pretty comical since he is about 20 pounds.  She gets him in a good headlock to hold him nice and safely though. 

He's so curious about everything she does.  

This melts my heart.

We put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving.  Reese had a blast helping us decorate it, and she gets very excited for us to plug all of the lights in each day. 

And, of course, I had a little fun with the camera & the tripod once the lights were up. :)

On December 1st, our doorbell rang and Reese found this little guy sitting on our front porch.  

We were pretty perplexed at first, but Reese opened the box he was sitting on, and everything was explained.  It turns out his name is Buddy, and Santa sent him to live at our house until Christmas.  Each night, he travels to the North Pole to check in with Santa to let him know if Reese is being a good girl.  When he returns in the morning, he hides in a new spot for Reese to find him when she wakes up.  

Reese doesn't really care about any of that.  She's just glad he brought her some donuts (covered in snow from the North Pole).

She was not pleased when she woke up a few mornings ago to find that he had been playing with her blocks.  We had to have a quick talk about sharing toys with our guest. 

She did think it was pretty funny when he wrapping papered the toilet.

This past weekend, we started Charlie on solid food.  So far, he has enjoyed a little bit of oatmeal and some carrots.  Reese loves to help feed him.  

Charlie has a new move that is making me very nervous.  It's making me very nervous because it's making him mobile.  I am not ready for two mobile little people in this house.  He starts out in this plank/push up position & then propels himself forward.  It's pretty cute and hilarious.

I've also been catching him on his hands and knees a lot. 

On Sunday, we went to Brookfield Zoo to see the light display.  The weather was gorgeous, so everyone else was there too.  My mom came along, and we all had a great time. 

And lastly, here are some pictures I took of the kids in a little mini photo shoot. You'll notice there are many more pictures of Charlie than there are of Reese.  Believe me, this was her choice. 

I love these chubby toes.

And my absolute favorite: