Christmas Cookies

Charlee is ready for some cookies! Daddy picked out her outfit today and it was a MUST that she wear the hat! We are on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Kosts.

 Notice the bruise on her cheek and the scratch on her nose... and the hat is covering a bruise on her forehead. Seriously

 All the new things to touch. She was so overwhelmed with things to break... i mean touch.

 Singing snowmen was a crowd favorite.

Charlee thought all the candy canes would be better inside the hat...

 I found the ornament that is my favorite.  My grandparents have this and my mom has a few and the best part about them is how they smell.  They are several years old so the smell is fading but man i would tape that to my nose all season to get my fix if i could.

 This is serious stuff.... you must try it. 

 No worries, he wont be driving anywhere.  Maybe for Christmas we can get a new shirt for the tradition.... or not because i think it still looks good and Grandpa is too sexy for his shirt. 

 So this cartoon is about 40 years old... my aunt drew it on the back of the recipe card. Any guesses? Grantie Karol drew "Two people walking abreast" HaHaHa... It doesn't get old..... ever.

 The trees lights were off.... then on..... then off and we were getting confused.  Charlee (Elmo) discovered how to turn the lights on and off.  Little stinker would stand on it.

 Sampling fudge

Poor babies wanted to go outside.... so we put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and they quickly sprinted into the living room and were sucked into the t.v.
We had fun but had to have Papaw drive us home because Charlee was spent and fell asleep as soon as i put her coat on her.  I wish i could bottle her up when she is asleep and loving on me... its pretty much the best thing in the world. Gavin told me today he would freeze her at this stage if he could. I wish they really would invent something that would bottle smells.  I love her breath... even in the morning.  I love the way her hair smells and even her sweaty feet!!! Love them all.  She gives lots of kisses to us now and i must say it warms my heart every time.  Gavin bribes her for kisses.  She hasn't caught on yet.
Christmas moment warning: This is me being extremely Christmas Cheer-Meister but I'm going to tell you that i have a glass of wine, Gingerbread candle burning from Yankee, Disney's Christmas Carol on pause awaiting my return, and I'm waiting on my hubby to bring me some scotch tape because i ran out and then i will finish wrapping presents. Its sick how happy that makes me.  Add some Christmas cookies and hot chocolate..... I'm jealous of myself.

Geniva Groninger (Gavins Great Grandmother) who is 102 years old is in the hospital and is ready to join her loved ones in heaven.  Please pray for a peaceful transition.

Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards are done!! I was a little late this year, but its partially CVS's fault too.  I tried printing them in seconds from the kiosk and only 13 turned out the others were smeared.  And i was a little irritable that morning and in a hurry to get diapers and get back home so i told them i didn't want to wait and i would just do it again some other time.  Waisted time... so annoying.  I loved dropping the pile of letters into the big blue mail box at the post office. I will admit that I get a little too freakishly excited for Christmas cards. Gavin thinks they are a waste of money and no one even cares about them... then i noticed he brought the mail in and quickly skimmed past the bills/junk to get to the ones he knew were Christmas cards... he is a liar, he likes them too.  However, he didn't care about what i picked for ours (i know thats typical for a male) just commented that they looked nice when he saw me stuffing them into envelopes.  He did have a comment when he noticed the return address sticker... If your one of the lucky ones that gets our lovely card this year you may notice they are from a Ms. Megan Armstrong... they came free in the mail from St. Jude and I kinda was lazy and didn't want to write our return address so i just used the festive ones they sent.  Gavin thought i should have hand wrote The Groningers... or better yet Mr. Gavin Groninger.

 This little tradition is from my friend at work Mrs Lisa.  She always makes Holiday cards for the babies at work and last year for Charlee's 1st Thanksgiving and Christmas we made turkeys and trees out of her little footprint.  This year they were bigger... but she enjoyed smooshing her feet in the paint. 

 They turned out so its all good... then you put them in 4X6 frames and get them out every year! LOVE IT.

 She just looked so snowbunnie-ish i had to take a quick picture on the way home from Nanas (her name is  Nina now, Charlee changed it)

 We made Peanut Butter Blossoms at Ninas house... Charlee helped unwrap the Hershey kisses.

 Well really she ate them.  Seriously these cookies are my fav!! I had 56 last night.

 Charlee is kinda obsessed with putting on shoes.... anyone shoes. And I'm really excited about Christmas this year because we (Nina and I) got her several shoes she can wear from all the Princess' closets! I might be more excited than i should, but that happens a lot this time of year. 

 And..... Lots of snow.  This still looks white and sparkly. Did i mention i love Christmas.

More to come we are getting ready to go to my Grandma Kosts for cookie making today...

Gavin is exceptionally happy today because he gets to enjoy one of the several perks of being a teacher... 2 weeks off!! Charlee is so happy to have her playmate home all week this week with her!! She still loves her normal routine of traveling to LaLa's and Poppy's but is welcoming staying in her jammies all week I'm sure.  And her daddy lets her do whatever she wants.  Im pretty sure she mastered the look that melts him already.

Its Snowing

Charlee wasn't thrilled with snow.  She thought she would be.... and it was pretty much a disappointment, she barely made it off the porch.  But I didn't mind, she was ready to come back in within minutes!! Yay

We also are at the age where bruises are a daily occurrence.  She runs everywhere and is kinda rough on everything.  We call her "She-Hulk" 

Charlee still throws everything away in the trash.... babies, ornaments, sippys, remotes (yeah... that would be bad because Gavin would NEVER find it, he has a hard time finding it when its on his lap)

Recently we started having two-word conversations they are hilarious, you should try them.  We try to use her words and then we just start laughing because we are actually communicating with her and its just crazy that you can see her learning and growing before your eyes.

Teething...... my poor little one. Three back teeth and the red bottom that comes with it is giving her a free pass to run naked all day!! Surprisingly she has been sleeping in her bed all night long for about 2 weeks now.  I'm not sure why, but this makes me sad.  I still get to rock her though. 

Charlee wanted to add something to the blog:

n   b     bbbvbb vcvcxzZ     mmmmbcvcxZnnnnnnnbm,m,mm,, bbvcxz

 Props to Gavin because he "made" mashed potatoes last night... he did everything but mash them.  And all the little things you don't think of are HUGE when you don't cook.  I was in my class for work and these were the text i was getting...  "Where are the potatoes?" "Where is the peeler?" "I hope its okay that i put the potatoes in the water before it was boiling" "How in the hell am i supposed to know if they are done?"  It made my class much more tolerable. 

He got it done and he is my hero for doing that!!! Dave and Angie had Chicken N Noodles, Mashed Potatoes, and Corn. They just had their first baby ... little Harvey!!

We went over to Gaston and Jennys for an ornament exchange and all the littles got to play.

 Cousins...

 HaHa....



Baby Its Cold Outside

Better yet... Rainy and sick.  We had an impromptu shopping trip today to the Disney Store (little bit of heaven) and i can honestly say I'm so excited for Charlee to open her gifts on Christmas.  Nina and mommy couldn't choose and went a little nuts in the store.  But who could resist gellies that are heels... and light up... and have the princess' on them???

Poor Papaw... he had to try to rein Charlee the whole time.  We love you for that!

These are catch up pics from before Turkey-Day.

Gavin surprised me this year and had the Crowes over to help decorate the house... he knew i really wanted to get the house decorated because its my fav time of year and so of course we needed some cocktails...

Charlee helped too... She HAD to get up on the counter to help mommy

"I will throw this ball" She broke 3 the dainty little thing

Minnie and Mickey are her all time favs.  She loves them, Mickey got left at Poppys at thanksgiving and Minnie got left at LaLa's for a few days and she was asking where they were the whole time. I think i need to buy extras... and just wondering are the jammies too small?



Its about time

So its been waaaaay too long.  Our computer refused to let me upload anymore pictures... so on "Black Friday" we got a new one!!! So I have been an uploading fool. And got a great deal on Photoshop 9... still learning the basics but man what you can do with pictures! Long story short... I will be blogging soon!

I just learned that earlier tonight at home Daddy was 'rockeyin' Miss Charlee and she was doin her thing with the restless legs... and he asked her if she wanted to go lay in her bed which her response is usually 'uh uh' and slamming her head down and pushing her not-tired eyes closed in an attempt to really try to go to sleep... but not this time... she said 'Yett' (yes) and he had to verify by asking her a second time.... 'Yett'

Daddy didn't believe her.  She flopped down on her belly and didn't utter a peep. Daddy watched the rest of the Colts game. Mommy doesn't believe Daddy.  If you know him, you know that he will let you believe things that aren't true for very a very long time.  I'll have to see it to believe it.

So im just a little sad about my baby not needing us to rockey her anymore.  Its very nice on momma and dadda with the bed time routine... but really?

Oh and Charlee has been in time-out 3 times since Monday.  Trust me, I love the girls sass and that she has a huge personality... but hitting friends that come over to play (sorry Morgan), throwing the cat food (which if we would just get rid of the cats... problem solved), and throwing her food on the floor are things we just can do.  She is a smart girl so hopefully we wont use time-out very often.  fingers crossed.

Pictures soon... im at work so kinda impossible!
G'night

Loving Fall

Let me start by saying I love storms. 

So I worked last night and came home to a tornado warning in effect until 2pm.  Charlee was with her LaLa and Daddy was at work so momma tucked it in for some good rainy-day sleep which is my all time fav.  Went to sleep about 8ish and woke up an hour later to our patio furniture slamming into our bedroom window and the wind blowing 80 mph... seriously was 60! All disoriented, i tried to fumble to get the cell phone that was buried in the sheets (in case my baby needed me) because i was sure a tornado was coming through the house at any moment.  Called Lala to check on Buckets and they were fine, going to go to a safe place just to be safe, then i called my hubby and knowing he was in the middle of teaching, had to ask him if i was going to be okay because i didn't even know what day it was... He said i would be fine, but he had to go because he was in the middle of taking cover with 30-some kids.  I'm sure he is used to me not knowing what day it is since I have night shift brain.  Especially after one hour of sleep.  Just long enough to get into a deep sleep and when you try to wake up and your body has officially shut down your eyes burn like they are filled with sand.  I was sitting in the bathroom in the dark and called my mom just to make sure if i died i will have talked to everyone on my speed dial,  sad part is when I try to talk after an hour of sleep nothing makes sense and I cant speak clearly or correctly.  Quite comical actually. I know, wrap it up... so there wasn't a tornado and about 5 min later after checking all the news channels i went back to sleep. Thank the lord.  It was a crazy morning.

Charlee loves, I mean LOVES to be outside so in all the outside pictures she is Happy.  We were at a birthday party and the entire house was wall to wall with baby toys and Charlee just wanted to be outside.  When I look at this picture I just want to kiss her face off. Man I love her.  This is a collection of pictures that i haven't posted yet, but are all about fall and the excitement that comes with the changing of the leaves... that didn't happen this year - bummer of the season.  I hear its due to the lack of rain we had this summer.  We were visiting Lafayette this weekend and the drive there made Lafayette look even sicker... Gavin even commented that the trees just weren't the same this year.  We chalked it up to the influence of Lafayette on the trees.... I want to vomit when I drive down 65 since I commuted there for nursing school for 4 years.  I just got shivers thinking about it again. I love my job, and I'm very thankful, but I'm not so sure i would do that again. Lafayette kinda reminds me of a prison, and compared to Bloomington.... there is no comparison.  Sorry Tia!

 We were enjoying a fire, hot apple cider, corn hole, and jacket weather.  I was taking it all in before I had to go to work.

Daddy and his baby.  He is so hunky.

 And just a reminder 1 year ago my little girl was only a month old.  Cant wait for this years costume.  Its going to be a family costume!!

Pickin Punkins

Beasley's Orchard

 Its fall, or its supposed to be. Not this day it was blazing hot and i had hoped for jeans and sweatshirt pictures at the pumpkin patch, but instead we were sweating and sticking to the hay on the hayride through the rows of Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees.  It also was the Harvest Festival at the orchard so it was annoyingly packed with people.  We took one of about four tractors that was shuttling families back and forth.  Despite the dust from the tractor getting in and on everything we saw families of all kinds.  A nervous new dad had his two week old son slipped in a baby Bjorn and constantly adjusted his make shift canopy aka: burp cloth to where it blocked out any stray ray of sun from hitting that perfect new skin.  Then there was the family that had been on this hayride several times before and the kiddos knew the drill and were so excited to get their pumpkin they weren't waiting for the ride to stop before they were diving over one another only to be stopped in their tracks by mom and dad... who clearly had been on this ride before.  We are newbies to the tractor ride.  I loved how Charlee just sat there looking at all the people and was quiet and still taking it all in.  I loved that she couldn't decide what pumpkin was hers. I have that same problem.  I loved that she didn't care her cute shoes were covered in dirt and that she fell a few times and got right back up because she didn't have time to cry.  She is busy. 

 Her perfect pumpkin. 

 She will grab your hand and walk you over to where she wants you to go and its like she knows she cant tell you what she wants so she will show you.  I love it.

 She thought she was so big with her cider in a big girl cup.   I had to secretly switch back to juice because lord knows what that would have done to her poor little belly.

 I love her.  She is such and indigo child... thanks to my sister-in-law Jen i now know what that means.  We have a lot of indigo little ones and big ones in our family.

 So I imagine one day taking pictures of Charlee after she has passed her drivers test, spent hours getting ready for her drivers license picture (that you cant smile in anymore... really?) Keys in hand ready to drive off in her new ride... don't be confused when i say new... i mean new to her, not new.  It will be old and sturdy and perfect for a new driver, because seriously she is going to hit something.  You know... backing out, or scrape the side of her car with branches, or just barely hit the car in front of her at a light.  Point is it wont matter because it will just add character.  Hopefully she will have no memory of what we drive around town in now, because she would be mortified... duct tape is involved.
Anyways... I will put those pictures next to these in her scrapbook. HaHa

 Her parking spot.

 This is her "Pretty smile" which we probably should stop telling her to do...

Second parking spot for when it rains. 

Oh and by the way we have a fly living in our house.  I thought they only lived for like 3 days max inside but this is the fly that wouldn't die, i know for sure its been about a week and Gavin even mentioned that there was a fly that is still in our house.  Just another reason our cats are an epic fail.  We went on to name him and add him into our family.  I know what your thinking, and its true... we are big dorks.  Gavin just took a one second break from winning a very strategically played and perfectly executed NBA2K11 game to ask me if i enjoyed being a dork... and i of course replied.... Yep.