A Couple of Notes about Charlie

Just a couple things I want to remember:

• Charlie weighed about 20lbs at his one year doctor appointment on November 1st. 
• He's finally starting to cut through both of his two top teeth, at about 12.5 months old. And man, can I just say... that POOR baby. Teething has made him absolutely miserable! We've been living with a steady dose of Tylenol these days and still he's not quite my sweet, happy boy like he usually is. It's SO sad. Hurry up little teeth and let's end the misery ASAP!
• Even though he's been taking steps here and there on his own for a little while, he's getting pretty good at walking! Not a 100% walker yet, but I'd say he chooses walking over crawling maybe 70% of the time now! And he's learning how to turn around corners and things while walking. And figuring out how to walk with shoes on. GO buddy!

And that's about all for now... just wanted to get that down for journaling purposes ;)

Halloween Trick or Treating!

Trick or treating was SO much fun this year! I have to admit, having a kid really brings the fun back! Watching Charlie toddle around carrying his little candy bucket was just TOO CUTE. We were excited to go trick or treating down in Springville at my sister-in-law Meghan's house. She's probably got the BEST neighborhood to trick or treat in, ever! :) We are so lucky!

Here's our little family getting ready to go!

We popped Charlie in the wagon with his 2 year old cousin, Kelan! Pardon Charlie's somewhat solemn expression... he was a little tired, and also when there's just so much to see all around him, he just sits and concentrates while taking it all in. :)

One of the first houses... just learning the ropes with the help of his Daddy:

Grandpa Russ pulled the wagon:

Looking like such a big boy walking to and from the door holding his candy basket. Seriously... we couldn't stop laughing at how cute it was. Go Charlie, Go!!

More of the gang taking up the lead... you can see a bit of Grandma Jill's head, and then Grandpa Russ again, Scarlett, and Meghan!

Got the loot! There's my wonderful mother with her awesome festive pumpkin headband! ;)

Cute little Scarlett was Catwoman from the Dark Knight Rises movie! She looked awesome!

I could barely catch a picture of Meghan's older two boys: Kanyon and Cohen. They kept running (so much energy, those young people!!) from house to house ahead of us. Sometimes they had to be reminded to just wait for a minute, much to their chagrin ;)

Got the candy! On to the next house...

Oh yeah, we have to wait for little Charlie! C'mon buddy! Thanks for the help, Kimma! ;)

Grandma Jill took a turn with Charlie, and Kelan (Spiderman) is just holding his own ;)

Finally, the work is done! Time to EAT the candy!! Or try to, at least. Charlie would gnaw on the candy bars through the wrappers until they were pulverized, and sometimes he'd get lucky and puncture through a wrapper and get some of the good stuff!

"Happy Halloween!", says Charlie Pumpkin, all lit up:

Watch out for those creepy crawlies!

Until next year! Can't wait... Charlie will be able to do it all on his own!! <3

Ward Trunk Or Treat

So my posts are a little out of chronological order, but I wanted to do it this way so all the Halloween festivities were all lumped together! :) Our ward had their annual Trunk or Treat party on Friday, October 26th. That was the day before Charlie's birthday party, to give you some perspective. It was complete madness planning for a birthday party AND planning to decorate the trunk for the ward party! But, in the end, it was all totally worth it!

The weather at the trunk or treat was, in my opinion, just perfect Halloween weather: A bit cold, just enough to nip you in the nose, but not enough that your other extremities become frostbitten and you wish you were dead... or in the Sahara desert. ;)

My wonderful Mom took over the camera so I could enjoy the evening with my family. First, we had a chili/soup dinner inside the church and everyone who dressed up paraded across the stage:

 I was a princess (or damsel in distress, etc) with my protective (and adorable!) guard dragon:

After dinner wrapped up, the fun commenced out at the trunks! I was so excited to pass out candy to the kids while Trev took Charlie from car to car to collect candy. It seriously was the most fun I've had in a while... the kind of fun that makes you feel like a kid again! I'd comment on all their costumes and refuse to give them candy unless they said "Trick or Treat". I know... I'm totally awesome! ;)

Charlie stopped by our trunk and dug some candy out of the bucket! Don't worry... I didn't make HIM say "Trick or Treat" since he can't speak yet! :P I just love this cute candid family photo:

I know some of these pictures are pretty psychedelic. Trying to take pictures at night with no flash results in crazy lighting and blurs and streaks... but you know what? I actually LOVE them! Especially this one of my little man learning first-hand about the joys of candy:

But we did, in the end, want a crisp shot so I turned on the flash. I don't always love the harsh flash look, but that's just what you're gonna get when you want to take pictures at night. I love this next picture because little Charlie looks SO much like me when I was a baby! Such a sweet, fat-cheeked expression on his face!

And finally, a good full-family photo that shows off our awesomely decorated trunk (spiders and pumpkins and a little glowing ghost - oh my!). It also shows our full Halloween theme. Remember how I'm a princess and Charlie's a dragon? Well... Trev is my knight in shining armor coming to rescue me! :D <3

More Halloween photos yet to come!! Stay tuned! :)

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Day Fun

Well I know Halloween was almost two weeks ago, but I've been swamped with so many things going on right now that I haven't had time to hardly look at all the pictures I took, let alone edit them. Better late than never, though, right? Since I have so many pictures from Halloween, I think I'm going to have to do a few posts to split it up a bit! So, to start off, here are some pictures we took on Halloween day. My Mom came in town for Charlie's birthday party and was still visiting on Halloween, so she was able to enjoy all the festivities with us!

We didn't have a lot of time, so I began carving the pumpkin while Trev was still napping. To help keep Charlie contained and entertained, we stuck him in this Costco milk box. And, he was pretty happy about it. That is, until he tipped it over. Oops!

 Sweet boy, looking like he was delivered by the milk man :)

 Those eyes. Those cheeks. <3

Then, after tipping over in the milk carton, my Mom and Charlie and Trev, who had woken up, went out to our "yard" near our apartments to explore! I stayed behind to finish carving our pumpkin masterpiece. And, yes, Charlie is still in his jammies. Haha. I suppose I deserve the laziest mother of the year award!

This tree is so weird. It loses its leaves in clusters and they are still green when they fall! So strange. Anyone know what kind of tree that is? Anyway, it makes for some pretty awesome pictures!

 I LOVE the sunlight in this photo:

 Playing with sticks... one of his favorite outdoor activities:

 Gah. That little foot!

Here's a shot of the extent of our Halloween decor this year. Spiderwebs, nasty spiders, and pumpkins!

Oh, and this next photo collage might possibly be the creepiest thing that happened this Halloween. Eyes are pretty cool, huh? ;)

Here's Charlie meeting my jack-o-lantern masterpiece for the first time:

 I bet this view is what he saw:

Checking out those awesome pumpkin teeth!

Oh... and we purposely carved the jack-o-lantern to look like Charlie, and named it "Charlie the Pumpkin". Can you see why!? ;) They have the same smile!!

More Halloween pictures and fun to come!

Curious George Birthday Party

On Saturday, October 27th at 2:00pm we celebrated Charlie's first birthday with a Curious George party at our apartment. I spent quite a bit of time getting ready for this party, and with a lot of help from my lovely assistant, my wonderful mother who showed up Thursday night to surprise me and help me out, I was really happy with how it turned out! Please enjoy all the photos! The picture above is the strung birthday banner I made from scratch out of paper!

Monkey snacks ;)

Paper circles sewed together to create a paper garland:

New Curious George books for my little man:

Display right inside the door with some of Charlie's new birthday toys:

Below is the full sized picture that is framed above. I didn't want to post this one with his one year old pictures in the previous post because I wanted it to be a surprise for the party, but it was taken that same day!

A good view of most of the decor:

The display outside the apartment door as you enter:

Didn't have enough room in my tiny apartment for the drinks, so they went on a table outside:

My pride and joy... the cupcakes! I made and colored the frosting from scratch. The cupcake toppers are little banana runts:

My other pride and joy... Charlie's smash cake, a banana, also decorated by hand!

Let the cake eating begin! He was a bit unsure at first, mainly because he couldn't reach the cake yet and we were all singing to him:

But once that cake was within reaching distance, he had no reservations digging right in:

And I couldn't decide on just 1 or 2 cake pictures... so you'll get 5 total :P

With cousin Scarlett:

Then it was time to open gifts, although Charlie doesn't quite get that concept yet and got help from his older friends and cousins! ;) He received lots of fun toys, books, and articles of clothing from his friends and family. The cute personalized chair from Pottery Barn Kids that Charlie is sitting in was a gift from my parents for his birthday and Christmas! So awesome!
Pictured below are Gibson Cotner (lower L corner), Trev, Charlie, and cousin Kanyon: 

Playing in his room with some of his friends and other party guests. From L to R: James, Tara, and Gibson Cotner; Hallie Barrett and her dad, and then Charlie.

Many of the family party guests from L to R: Jill (Grandma), my mom (Kimma), Deanna & Kayle, Meghan, and then friends Brent Christensen holding his son Tyler (almost 1 year old) at the bottom: 

Not pictured guests include Grandpa Russell, my dad (who was on Skype for a while!), and Nicole Christensen. Even though it was a bit crowded, it was a fantastic party and I think everyone had a lot of fun!

Oh! And here's what the invitation that I created looked like:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!