Christmas Festivities

We decorated cookies on Christmas Eve and Charlotte
went crazy with the sprinkles. One cookies had
almost half of a bottle on it.


Simon wasn't too interested in decorating, just eating.
He ate 3 cookies while we decorated.


Dave made the orange rolls for dinner. I was so
impressed, so I took a photo before they were cooked.


Simon and Charlotte were watching "The polar express"
while we finished making dinner. Simon, of course, was
lounging on the ground with Frankie.


Simon dressed up as Joseph for our nativity


I ended up being Mary because Charlotte
wanted to be the angel. I know it was
because of the gold on the costume.





So, Charlotte went upstairs to get baby
Jesus and this is the doll(outfit included)
that she came down with.


Our friends the Serlos came over for
dinner on Christmas Eve.


Simon wore his new safety goggles all morning.
The next day we went to Target to grab
a few things and he insisted on wearing them.
Most people looked amused, while a few
looked almost offended.

Went to see santa and the grinch came to our house

So on Wednesday of this week we went to the museum that is right by our old house in North Durham. We saw a bunch of our friends there and the kids had a lot of fun. Then we went to the mall that is near to the museum to see Santa and ride the train. We were in the bathroom and Charlotte was asking to ride the carousel, I told her I only had enough cash to go on 1 ride and she needed to pick one. When we came out of the bathroom a lady was standing there with a $5 bill and said she wanted the kids to be able to go on both rides. The kids were so excited. After they rode on the train and carousel they went and sat on Santa's lap. We got home after being gone about 4 1/2 hours. I noticed a couple of presents were out from under the tree, so I asked Simon if he did it. He said "Yes". I then noticed that a bunch of presents were missing and asked him where they were. He said that he put them outside in the garbage can. I was totally confused and kept asking him about it. I then put him down for a nap and called Dave. I explained that almost every present under our tree was missing and I think someone came and stole them. I came down the stairs and noticed that my laptop was missing and then I knew we had been robbed. I think I was in shock for the first day or two. I couldn't fathom that someone would actually come and steal our Christmas presents. We found that at least 21 presents were taken along with our camcorder, laptop & Dave's Ipod. I now think that maybe that sweet lady at the mall that gave us the $5 kept us out of the house long enough that we avoided seeing these people in our home and getting hurt. The first night I could hardly sleep, but it is getting better now.

At the museum they have a dinosaur exhibit that

is storing just a few dinosaurs that will go across the road

on the "Dinosaur trail" the trail was originally put together

in 1967, but all of the old dinosaurs are either gone or crumbling.

They are building 150 dinosaurs to put on the trail in 2009.

Simon and Charlotte played with these sand beads

forever.

There is an old train at the museum that the kids

love to play in.



Looking super excited on the train at the mall.

Loving the carousel. We brought Charlotte to this carousel

on her 1 year birthday.

Gingerbread houses & blow up slides

Today we went to tk jungle which is a huge room
full of blow up slides and such. There were dinosaurs,
Nemo, Mickey Mouse, a Gorilla, etc.

Charlotte and her friend Taylor from school.


It took Simon at least a half an hour to
attempt any of the rides, but once he went
on one he had so much fun.



Charlotte was mad at me because I wasn't waiting
at the bottom of the slide when she came down.

We decorated our gingerbread house on Sunday. I

think the kids ate as much candy as made it on the house.

Charlotte and her friend Isaac. The carousel behind

was made by Isaac's sister Kaylee and displayed at the

Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill.

This is Simon's favorite toy right now. He

found it in his toy box a couple days ago and loves

to make different shapes out of it.

Charlotte at ballet class. Here you can see

where she cut her "bangs"

Haircut #2, Ruined home movies, bad week

I thought Simon would be terrified of Santa
But he sat on his lap and said "my name is Simon"
and told him that he wanted a vacuum and tool chest.


Santa came to Charlotte's Christmas program
at school.

This week started out with me laying in bed on my stomach and Charlotte coming in and grabbing my backside(thinking it was my stomach) and saying "mommy, your tummy is getting a lot bigger" Then later Simon let me know that "Frankie" the blankie had pee peed in his pants. Now Frankie goes to the bathroom a few times a day. A couple days ago I cut the back of Charlotte's hair because it was a few inches longer than the sides. The next afternoon I found some hair in the garbage can and asked her about it and she informed me that she had cut her hair. I couldn't tell where she had cut so I wasn't too worried. Later I opened the fridge and there was random hair all over. I started to wonder....Then I was pulling her hair back to put in a clip and found a 2" wide section in the front that was at the most 1" long. It sticks straight up. It was almost exactly a year ago that Charlotte cut her bow out of her hair at school. I tried every punishment I could think of, including buying Simon a toy and licorice while at Target and not letting her have any. She didn't care though. Then yesterday the bomb hit. Charlotte had her Christmas program at school so I got out the camcorder to record it. The tape inside was full, so I put the full tape on the desk and got a new tape out. I am sewing some nativity costumes for the kids this year and I was working on them for about 10 minutes after we got home before I was going to put Simon down. Anyway, they were playing quietly in the other room, so I thought. I came in and found the camcorder tape on the ground along with a 5 inch piece of the film. I realized that this tape was started when Simon was born and in an instant it was gone, never to be seen again. Not sure if it was the drama of the week, pregnancy hormones, or what, but I put Simon in his bed for his nap and just went to my room and cried over the tape. Charlotte came up and had drawn me some pictures to make me feel better. I was devastated all afternoon about the tape being destroyed. When Dave got home I told him and he said "it was just pictures, we have other movies from our camera" I am still trying to recover, but it is a new day and I am feeling better.

Finally starting a blog

This past month has brought a bunch of new changes for our family. We found out that we are moving back to Utah next June. We have been in North Carolina now for 7 1/2 years, so it is with mixed emotions to be moving back. Simon moved into his "big boy bed" a few weeks ago and this past week he was potty trained and he weaned himself of his binkies. One day this week at naptime he told me that binkies are "Yucky" and hasn't wanted them since. Charlotte is obsessed with unicorns and mermaids and of course "My little pony". Dave just went to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago for a conference and he is in Asheville this weekend for a course. He is super busy this year but he is doing a bunch of stuff that he loves, so that is good. We look forward to life when he isn't so busy. We have 2 months left until baby #3 comes and the kids are both getting very excited.


Charlotte with her soccer coach


We got Charlotte's ribbon on a package. Was perfect for soccer


Taking a break during the game


This was Charlotte's last game of the season.


Charlotte and friend Gabe on Halloween night


Charlotte and Simon at the ward Halloween party


Charlotte and her class at her school Halloween party


I braided Charlotte's hair for the first time. She told me it is
cute when she tilts her head like this.


We went to the lake with some friends 2 weeks ago.
The kids started out with clothes on, but slowly....





Simon just enjoyed rolling around in the sand and posing
for the camera.


and throwing sand all over his face


Enjoying some yogurt


Simon loves to get in this crock.



Again rolling around in the dirt. This is at the farm where
we went with Charlotte's class to get pumpkins.



Charlotte and her pumpkin


So Frank (Simon's blanket) has developed a personality lately. He
gets happy and sad and in this photo Frank was hungry so Simon
put him up in his seat. We got a new blanket for the baby and
Simon was very excited to introduce Frank to the new blanket.


Charlotte and her good friend Lydia playing dress up


Simon riding around on Rody without any clothes, but of
course Frank is there for the ride.


Charlotte has taught Simon about making silly faces. This is up
in the mountains when we went to Tweetsie Railroad.


At our cabin in the mountains. We went with our friends the Silcox's.


This is a stage coach the kids all played on near the eating
area of Tweetsie.


Charlotte was really scared of the train ride. This isn't even the
Tweetsie train, this is a small train that takes you into a cave with
singing fluorescent mice.


Simon riding up to the top of Tweetsie


Simon and Charlotte celebrate on his new "big boy" bed