Tardy, Belated...grr...just LATE!

Is it seriously already the end of January?  Is Charlotte almost 13 months old?  Did I just download December 2010 photos in January 2011?!?!?  Sigh sigh.  I suppose some things never change.  I was always late to Calculus class.  I suppose I'll always be late to blog as well.

Okay, Christmas 2010.  Charlotte's first Christmas.

She helped me wrap presents throughout December.  She especially loved the ribbon.

She met Santa Claus.  Yes, I know I posted a photo of her and Mr. Claus before.  But you'll love this one.  Charlotte absolutely adored him.  Just look at that big smile.

And of course we had a Christmas tree, complete with Charlotte's first ornament (see bottom right corner).

Finally, here are some photos of Charlotte enjoying those presents on Christmas morning!

So from our family to yours, we hope you all had a very Happy Holidays and are enjoying the joyous (and if you live in San Diego) amazingly warm and sunny New Year!!!

A Cricut Christmas

I love my cricut.  Think of it as a printer that cuts instead of prints out ink.  It's amazing and I think that everyone (especially Kandice, if she is reading this) needs to have one.  :)

While the holiday season is already over, I wanted to show you some of the cricut projects I made last month. 

Here are two Christmas cards.  How cute are those reindeer?

I also made a TON of pizzelles (Italian wafer cookies made using Grandma Smith's family recipe) for my co-workers.  I packaged them in ziplock sandwich bags then made these cute labels for them.  This is probably my favorite project of the season.

And here is the Christmas card we sent out this year to family and friends. 

Hope that everyone had a very Happy Holidays and Joyous New Year!  Photos and posts about Christmas, Charlotte's Birthday, and New Years Eve to come.

True Love

Early morning conversations with my 2-year-old niece, Vivi...

me:  Vivi, do you love Charlotte?

vivi:  No.

me:  No?!  You don't love your cousin?

vivi:  No.  I love Diego. 

Yes Charlotte, there is a Santa Claus

I never took a photo with Santa Claus.  As a kid, I would look longingly at those fake North Pole set ups at the mall and wonder why I never got to sit on Santa's lap and ask for anything.  But gosh darnit, Santa is going to be a part of Charlotte's life and he's gonna be big!  Charlotte, meet Santy Claus...

Hmm, she actually wasn't too happy about meeting the jolly old dude in red.  We got one photo, however, where her back wasn't arched and where she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs.  Note the fear in her eyes...

Merry Christmas!!!

Go Navy, Beat Army!

We headed up north to watch the Army-Navy football game this year with one of my co-workers, who is also an Academy grad.  I sadly didn't take any photos, but the food spread was phenomenal!  Amazing chili, ribs, cheese steak sandwiches, super cute football cake pops...yum yum yum!  Full disclosure - I don't think I watched one bit of the game.  But I was told that Navy won.  :)

Here's a photo of Charlotte and Patsy in their Navy gear.  Patsy was the perfect and exceedingly adorable hostess.





Mahalo Days

There is so much to do this December.  Christmas cards to mail out, presents to wrap, cookies to bake, parties to plan!  But before I get ahead of myself, I must share some memories from November!

The family spent a lovely holiday in Kauai to just get away from it all.

Charlotte and Daddy did some surfing...kindove...

We ate shave ice from JoJo's (seriously the best of the island).

Charlotte hung out at the beach.

Charlotte laughed at all the roosters (Mommy was born in the year of the rooster).  :)

And we went on some pretty long hikes.

Then there was Thanksgiving, with about 22 people total.  Needless to say, there was a lot of food and not many leftovers.  On Friday, after Justin finished some Black Friday shopping, his Uncle Eric and Cousin DJ came down from LA to visit. 

Charlotte's thinking - there are WAY too many men here...

Cousin DJ played with Charlotte the entire time!

We all had a fantastic time sharing stories, catching up and just hanging out.  And I even got Cousin DJ to do some Cricut projects.  Check out the 3D house and robot we made!

But now, I think it's time to trim the tree, warm up some cider, and sing some Christmas carols.  It's now officially the holiday season!!!!!  So excited!

Roseola Infantum

Charlotte got sick this week.  She had a high fever of almost 104 for four days. We took her into the hospital twice.  They looked in her ears, tested her urine, touched her belly.  Everything looked fine.  Probably just a virus, they said.  We were just so scared.  Since leaving the NICU, this was Charlotte's first time getting sick and I had no idea what to do.  I called my sister a dozen times.  What do I do???

My sister, the super doctor pediatrician that she is, predicted roseola, a virus that causes a sudden high fever then, once the fever breaks, causes a rash to appear.  But the only well you can confirm a diagnosis of roseola is after a rash appears.  Well, big sister was right.  Charlotte's fever broke this afternoon and these red spots started spreading all over her body.  It's not contagious, painful or infectious.  Just not pretty.  Anyways, Charlotte's doing well now and we're looking forward to getting some sleep again.  :)

Despite the fevers this week, we were still able to get some laughs out of our baby girl.  Enjoy!