Wonder what these three are talking about?

Lights and Choo-choo's

We braved the chilly December air to enjoy an evening of lights at Lewis Ginter's Gardenfest of Lights.  We came last year too but this year was much more fun with Charlie able to run around and really take things in.  The highlight (and lowlight when we had to leave) is a train room they have with the old timey trains like Grandpa's.  Afterwards we also drove to a few houses on the Richmond Tacky Light Tour.  Of course we took the camera along...

All bundled up!

"Do you see these choo choo's?"

Train table!

Can't take his eyes off it long enough for a picture

One time with Dad...

...and one time with Mom.

Vegetable garden of lights

Sitting on stoops

The vegetable garden from up high

Christmas Card Outakes

As is our tradition, we had fun posing Charlie and Marl for a holiday picture.  The premise was them eating Santa's Christmas cookies by the fireplace.  There was no problem getting them to sit still and eat cookies... getting them both to smile or look normal was another story.

Sharing... marl wasn't too excited about getting near the fire

Charlie is happy though

Mmmm

Taking a milk break

Ta-da

Giving Marl a taste

And then taking one himself (yes, we let that happen :( )

"This is strange but I'm having fun"

This was almost the shot for the card... best to the theme for sure

Oh Marley, what are you doing?

Holiday fun!

Christmas through a 2-year-old's eyes... how awesome!  We've been having such fun around the house getting in the Christmas spirit...

Trimming the tree

A trumpet!

Making cookies (not sure why he was naked)

Santa is checking on the cookies

Looking good!

Playing a little baseball while we wait

Looking good!

Santa's coloring book

I wonder where he gets that cheesy smile from?

Finishing touches

Ta-da!

Eating cookies

Just like in the "Mortimer's Christmas Manger" book

A visit to Santa 2011

We made our way over to the mall today to visit Santa.  This year is so much fun with Charlie beginning to learn about Christmas.  We don't have many Christmas books except for "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which we have three copies of... needless to say it is on heavy rotation.  He is particularly interested in Santa ("Sa Cla") so he was very excited to go visit him.  He just lit up when it was his turn but got over the shyness and climbed up and told him that we wanted a Percy and an Elmo (both toys of Sams he loved when we stayed there over Thanksgiving) and that he was a good boy.  This parent stuff is pretty awesome at moments like these.

They had a choo-choo at the entry!

Santa gave Charlie a coloring book.

The official shot!

A big dude

Today, Charlie wore a new outfit to school... "dada's shirt and ba-ball shoes."  He has turned into such a big boy lately... he has seemingly turned a corner and is talking non-stop now and he also officially potty trained.  While I'm glad potty-training was easy for us, it certainly catapulted him into big boy territory sooner than I was ready for.  Whenever we slip and call him a baby he corrects us saying very matter-of-factly "I'm not a baby, I'm a BIG boy.  Babies wear diapers, I wear underwear."

This outfit is just the icing on the cake...

Thanksgiving in Cary

We had a nice little turkey day down in Cary with the Lanes.  Allison and Phil hosted their first Thanksgiving and did a fantastic job!  They had a HUGE spread for 20 people and it was all simply perfect.  It was a great day too so Charlie, Isabella and her other cousins had a big time playing outside in some leaves.  Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Charlie and I missed James at the finish line of hist half marathon so we took the victory picture back at the house :(

Hugs

Daddy making a pile

More cousin snuggles

plus Isabella's cousin Maddie

Helping out

Wish we had a video of this.  Charlie "sang" on the mic at full volume for a good 20 minutes.

Giving Granny a kiss before heading home

Busy weekend