the Hugger

4 more days 'till Frisbee the Elf on the Shelf goes back home (at least for a while).
4 more days 'till the threats of "behaving or Santa will not come" just don't hold as much weight.
4 more days until we realize the space we have in the mini-van is still not enough when you have to pack clothes and presents.
4 more days until our girls are beaming from ear to ear with the excitement of Christmas.

It's hard to tell who is more excited for Christmas. Mom & Dad or Charlotte & Maeve. There is just something wondrous about leaving cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer the night before. Something magical about watching your kids rip through presents buried under the tree on Christmas morning. We are thankful for what we have and if you took all the gifts and boxes away, we would still be blessed with the best gift ever, our family.

Maeve has been practicing her I Love You's lately and it melts our hearts. Today while sitting on the couch next to Charlotte, out of the blue, she looked at her big sister, and said, "I love you Charlotte" and proceeded to give her a giant hug. Charlotte in the meantime kept watching television, like nothing happened. I on the other hand was ready to break down at the love this kid has for her big sister.

Maeve is a love bug. A lot of people say that about their kids, but for Maeve it is true. She loves giving hugs. Loves being held. Loves being carried around the house. She doesn't get glued to a television. She gets glued to your chest, resting her head on your shoulder, squeezing you as tight as her little body can. She is, for lack of a better word, a hugger. My hope for Maeve is that she always stays a hugger. That she will always prefer the warmth of a hug over the bright lights of an exciting television show. So we take the hugs she gives us. We cherish them. Never knowing if she is going to grow out of being a hugger.

Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte. We cannot believe you are 4. The time flew so fast and you are such a little grown up girl.
You had fun picking out the theme to this birthday. We all went to Target to look at the plates. You saw this beautiful plate with a fancy (as you call it) dress and had to have it. When mom told you it was for a wedding you said "then I am going to have a wedding birthday" and that you did. You also love my little pony so we added a little of that to the party as well.
You and mom picked out your dress at Mom's favorite store Nordstrom. You were so excited to wear it. Nanny made you a veil from some of the decorations. You flapped your arms in such excitement when you saw yourself all ready for your party.
We couldn't be more proud of the little girl you are. You are a sweet daughter always telling us how much you love us. You are very patient with your little sister. You ask every morning if she is sleeping b/c she is who you want to see when you get up. You are caring, silly, enthusiastic, animated, quirky, passionate and intelligent. Happy 4th Birthday Charlotte, we love you so much.

Thanksgiving

We made the road trip to Vermont for a great Thanksgiving. Charlotte loves being at Nanny and Grampa's.



This is Uncle Bob's birthday cake. Charlotte could not wait to get her hands on this cake. She must have asked 452 times if it was "time" for cake.


Trying to get a decent picture of mom and Maeve. Did not quite work. Never managed to get one of the girls in their cute dresses, maybe next year.



We were all glad to meet Jackson. Maeve and Charlotte just loved him.


Alex and Maeve cooking a turkey dinner..yum!


Charlotte, Grampa and Dad went Christmas tree hunting. They found the perfect tree.


However, Charlotte was determined to cut this one down. Luckily for us, she didn't manage. It was a pretty sad looking tree.


Grampa and Charlotte having a blast together as usual.

Fall

You smell that Oliver? That is the smell of Winter coming. Hard to imagine fall is soon to be over. Time just continues to speed past us at record speeds. Winter coats ready. Mittens ready. Leaves raked.

Charlotte keep your eyes peeled for snowflakes. We had a couple of snow showers over the past few weeks, but they came and went pretty quickly. Dont blink or you could miss it.

Yes Charlotte. Winter means Christmas and we know what that means just by the look in your eyes. But lets not get too excited. Take a step back and enjoy where we are. Fall. It still is Fall after all.


Fall means leaves and leaves mean fun. The girls had fun playing in the leaves. This was Maeves first year where she could really play in the leaves on sunny brisk day. Little does she know that we cheerish warm days like this, especially heading into what always seems to be a long cold harsh winter. Ugh. We will take every warm sunny moment we can get. While raking leaves, dad spotted a birds nest just under the tree. Charlotte was a little sad there were no eggs in the basket, but was very excited to find it.




The girls were both very excited for mom who hosted her first Matilda Jane party. All the girls love the clothing and mom seems to have found her calling in life with this one. Lets hope she gets added to the Matilda Jane team!

These kids

Car rides are an adventure with a 3 year old and an 18 month old. One thing is for certain, neither child sleeps and the adventures keep getting crazier and crazier. It doesn't matter if its a quick trip to the gas station or a day in the car. There is usually some singing, some crying, and lots of yelling. Mom decided to quickly run in the grocery store. The girls were ready to get out of the car. Dad threw in some relaxing music, hoping it would help "calm" them. Nope.


Maeve continues to amaze us with her vocabulary. Asking us "You Like?" when seeing us snacking on anything. You can truly hold a conversation with her at this point, she will answer your questions and tell you exactly what she wants. She sings her ABC's although does have a little trouble with some of the letters. She has "ABC" down and "EFG". The rest is hit or miss although for an 18 month old I am impressed. She can also count 1 through 10. She has been doing this for a while but really knows her stuff now.

We joke that she is way too smart. Combining her mini genius with her temper mom and dad half joke that she will be in reform school in no time. One day I have a feeling we will be looking back over this blog saying, yes, we knew it when she was 18 months old. Lets just hope she doesn't venture to the dark side!

Charlotte has been such a trooper with her bossy little sister. She even has been taking the smacks that Maeve throws at her. She has been really patient and loving to her little sister. Let us not mistake, Maeve LOVES her big sister. From the moment she wakes up Maeve wants to know where Charlotte is and what she is doing. But Maeve gets mad and when she gets mad she hits and throws temper tantrums. It just happens that Charlotte is usually nearby when this happens and she bears the brunt of it. Charlotte you are a good girl and thank you for being such a great big sister!

Lifes Lesson 658 Losing Gracefully

We love Halloween. The girls love to get dressed up and love going to the school gym for the town Halloween Parade & Contest. Last year Charlotte won. The year before she won. This year neither Charlotte nor Maeve had a winning costume. Charlottes exact words when she found out she didn't win, "I'm dissapointed"! It's ok honey, there is always next year.

Maeve was a lobster, complete with french Chef chasing her around with a pot! Charlotte was a Princess-saurus. She had a big sign that read, PLEASE FEED THE PRINCESSAURUS CANDY! I for one thought they were both adorable.

As for trick or treat, it was crazy yet again. It did rain, and while at times it seemed slower than usual, we still managed to go through almost 800 pieces of candy. The Slosbergs and Reeves came over to help hand out candy and join in the fun. Thank you for the great Chili and mixed cocktails! Halloween is always such a fun night in town.

We Love Fall

There is something magical about fall. It could be the change of colors. It could be relief from the heat and dog days of summer. Or it could be that falls begins the season of holidays. In reality the reason why we love fall so much is that it gets dark early and stays dark in the morning. "What?" you say "You like the dark?". Well exactly. Seeing darkness at 6:30pm and 6:30am helps our girls go to sleep and more importantly stay asleep. So we love it. For the past two days we have enjoyed children who have slept until 7am. So much better than the 5am mid summer wake-ups!

The weekend was spent in Vermont and we were able to play host to the Robinson family, Dan, Rachael, Amelia, and Issac. They had never been to Vermont. Being from Britain dad thought it would be fun to bring them to the Battle of Bennington Monument where the Green Mountain Boys defeated the British Army thus beginning a turning point of the Revolutionary War. It wasn't as funny as it was when it played out in his head. We had a fun and glad they were able to make the trip. The kids did so great together!
Charlotte continues to be Charlotte. Making us laugh with her goofyness. She melted dads heart on the car ride in Vermont, just blurting out, "Dad, I love you". Yes he is 100% wrapped around her finger.

Maeve is now speaking in full sentences. "Sit in Mammas Seat". "I want a tookie". "I shut it". On the car ride home Maeve was getting a little fussy being strapped into her carseat.
Dad said, "Maeve can you say we will be home lickety split?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say doggie?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say cat?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say Mom?"
Maeve "No."
Dad "Can you say Yes?"
Maeve "No."
Dad (thinking he will pull one over on her) "Can you say No?"
Maeve "Yes!"

This kid is smart. Way too smart for her age but she is so damn cute. We will be in for it when she is older. No doubt. But she makes us laugh and every single second of every day we are so proud of our girls.

(Maeve and Charlotte riding a scarecrow horse at the pumpkin patch)
(all the kids running and playing)

(this one was NOT scary)



(the pumpkin patch)


(Maeve very excited at the prospect of playing with scarecrows)

(copy cats)


(Charlotte & Amelia)

(Maeve found a scarecrow just her size!)

(Charlotte and Amelia playing in the grass at the monument)(Sisters)

(View down Monument Ave in Bennington)(Shelby Maeve & Rachael)

(Standing in front of the monument)
(The moose and the Ronans)
(Charlotte proving she is a big girl by washing her own hands. She wants to do everything herself)
(Maeve at Orvis making friends with a stuffed dog)



PS. We also had some special guests visit us last week from South Carolina. Aunt Colleen, Aunt Sharon, and Grammy came for a night. The girls were very excited to see them and Charlotte was excited to bunk up one night with Grammy.