Charlotte's "early" birthday

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the lakehouse again this year, and since Charlotte's birthday is just a few days after, we had a mini-birthday for her again.  This lucky duck is going to start thinking it's normal to have three birthday parties!

Those candles just didn't want to blow out!  After having some strawberry cake, both Charlotte and Paige enjoyed playing with her presents.

Charlotte eventually gave up on the toys and went back to the cake.  She used a candle to lick the icing (her favorite part), so it looks like a chicken got at it.

After the cake, we headed outside to play and take an official "I'm three years old picture".  (Just what every kid wants to do - take pictures!)

Charlotte was all about playing in the tall grass.  She was pretending she was a pirate and pulling the grass as hard as she could.  Most of the pictures I nabbed had some part of her body moving because she was all over the place.  But the three that turned out I just love.  In the middle one, doesn't she look so proud to say "I'm three" instead of two?

Poor Paige wasn't too happy about the pictures because it meant I wasn't holding her OR paying attention to her.  (Turns out she wasn't feeling too terribly well, as we found out the hard way...yuck!)  So there aren't any happy Paige faces in here.  But once she calmed down a bit, she sat and played with the grass and dirt for a spell, all the while paying very close attention to what Charlotte was doing.  Every time Charlotte moved, Paige's eyes followed her. 

We tried to get one last picture out of them, but Paige wasn't having any of that.  This face is as good as it got - it went downhill from there.  I can't blame her though, when you feel bad, who wants a camera in your face?!

Necklace habit

Paige has discovered her love of necklaces.  She piles them on, as thick as she can get them, no matter how heavy or tangled.  It's kinda funny, because she still isn't walking, so you can hear her crawling towards you from the necklaces dragging on the ground! And this starts first thing in the morning, after her milk but before breakfast, hence all the pictures in pajamas.

Actually, they don't have to even be necklaces - she also loves to layer headbands!

Update on Paige

My sweet little hams, they are growing up and up and up.  We have been having a lot of fun lately doing nothing special, just being kids.  The weather has been yucky, so the majority of this fun happens inside.

Paige is starting to master some things that will move her closer to independence.  She gets at least half of the food in her mouth when she feeds herself!

She's becoming more interested in the things that her sister likes to do, like watch movies, play on the "pad" and play with toy animals.  She doesn't quite know what we're playing, but she knows the animals are supposed to jump a lot, so that's all she does. 

She is starting to communicate in her own Paigey way.  I wouldn't call them words per se, but she gets her meaning across more and more.  Unfortunately, her tubes have come out again, so she's having a hard time hearing, which means her speech will probably be a bit delayed. 

Meanwhile, she does LOVE music.  I don't know if in the second picture she's biting the guitar or listening...either way she's happy!  She's even gotten to where she'll dance sometimes.  So cute!

Halloween

Halloween came so fast this year! We kept it pretty low key, as usual.  Charlotte was a mouse, Paige and I were cats, and Daddy dressed up in a tux.  Charlotte kept saying she was Gus (the fat mouse from Cinderella) and Paigey was Lucifer (the mean cat from Cinderella).  Let me tell you, I got quite a few weird looks when she told that to everyone she met!

We stopped by our next door neighbor's yard first.  Charlotte was so shy at first, we could NOT convince her to say "trick or treat." Daddy knelt and gave her a pep talk and everything, but she still refused.  Finally we all gave in and just gave her the candy. 

Once she got to eat that first peice of candy, all the shyness disappeared!

Then we went trick-or-treating with our friends the Rileys.  Charlotte literally screamed and jumped up and down when she saw Parks dressed up as Superman (not that she knows who Superman is...).

Paige had so much fun walking around behind all the big kids.  She did not join them up at the door, but she ended up with her fair share of candy, thanks to a big sister that shares so well.

For days afterwards, this is exactly what Paige did with the candy - pull it all out of the box, usually shaking it as she did, then loading it all inside again.  She wasn't too crazy about eating it.  She definitely doesn't take after Charlotte, or Mommy! 

Sandbox fun

The weather has been just phenomenal lately, and we have been enjoying the chance to be outside all morning, hence the pajamas. It's so great play in the sand now that Paige is older and doesnt try to eat it.  She will dig in it for an hour straight happily.  Charlotte is taking the opportunity to cook her dalmation toy a delicious breakfast of sand.  Yum!

Camping trip in October

At the end of October, we went camping at Huntsville State Park with our friends the Rileys.  It was a terrific weekend for it, not hot at all, and mostly clear skies.  It ended up being quite an answered prayer situation, because originally there was rain in the forecast, along with chilly temps, but it ended up just lightly raining overnight.

We got there and immediately set up tents, because we knew the kids would have a ball playing in there while we finished up everything else that needed to be done.  And boy did they!  Paige played peek-a-boo with anyone walking by (she kept covering her face with her shirt) and Charlotte, Parks, and Cana jumped their little hearts out on the air mattress.

It was pretty chilly, though, once the rain blew in with the front. We were perfectly warm in our tent with all four of us squeezed in, so we didn't notice.  The rain was great background noise, and after an awesome crying fit from Paige, I think we all slept as well as you typically do when camping. In the morning, it had dropped into the upper 40's and there were many layers worn by all.  We sported some pretty weird outfits, but at least we were toasty warm.

Our campsite was right across from the lake.  Beautiful view.

This was the first (and only) hike we did.  Everyone had so much fun.  Parks was in charge of the map and he and Charlotte were out front for most of the hike.  The trail we chose was a two-mile loop, but it took us a couple hours to complete it.  Toddlers don't move at a lightning pace, and Paige investigated lots of things and insisted on walking while holding on to our hands.

About half-way though, Paige got tuckered out and took a short nap on Daddy's shoulder.

We stopped at a bridge and got some of the cutest pictures.  Parks and Cana's really turned out well.  Ours, not so much.  Paige was furious that we tried to leave her on the bridge alone.  Then the big girls came to make her feel better. Isn't that so sweet?

The sun was shining in the most beautiful way through the trees.  It was so nice to be outside and not in an hurry, just slow-poking it along.  You notice so many more things that way, and realize just how much we have to be grateful for besides things.

When we made it back to the campsite, it was so chilly we had to make a fire mid-day.  All the kids kinda broke up and did their own thing.  Charlotte and Cana dug in the sand, Parks cleaned his dad's Jeep with a tiny green puff, and Paige played with pine needles.

A delicious spaghetti dinner was enjoyed by all, then some (more) s'mores, and then we packed up, sat around the fire until bedtime, and drove home.