In memory of President Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away yesterday evening at the age of 97. He was the Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 13 years- since Rob and I were in high school.

I will personally always remember President Hinckley's warmth and humor, as I'm sure many others will as well. We had many opportunities to hear him speak in our years at BYU, and he always conveyed his great love for both the Savior and the restoration of the Gospel.

We will miss our prophet dear, but at the same time we are sure of the joyful reunion he must be having with his dear wife Marjorie, and we are secure in the knowledge that the Church will move on as it always has.

President Hinckley's words to the hymn "My Redeemer Lives" express his unfailing faith in Jesus Christ.

I know that my Redeemer lives,
Triumphant Savior, Son of God,
Victorious over pain and death,
My King, my Leader, and my Lord.

He lives, my one sure rock of faith,
The one bright hope of men on earth,
The beacon to a better way,
The light beyond the veil of death.

Oh, give me thy sweet Spirit still,
The peace that comes alone from thee,
The faith to walk the lonely road
That leads to thine eternity.

15 months, snow days, and a biker dude?

First off, Charlotte had her 15 month check-up on Tuesday! She is now 21 lbs. 2 oz (25th %) and 31 inches long (75th %). So she is still our long skinny Peanut.

Also this past week we have had some very cold snowy days. Charlotte tested out the sled in the living room with her polar bear (a good choice for an advisor on all things snowy I suppose.)


And then we got all bundled up and went out to play. :)

She didn't like that at all! She only wanted to stay on the part of the walkway that I had shoveled and watch the snow fall from the sky. It was like it was some sort of magic substance that she didn't dare to actually touch.


Finally, on Sunday we visited Joshie and his parents and had a nice dinner and watched football. Charlotte and Josh played very nicely together- but Josh kept wanting to kiss Charlotte and she wasn't really happy about that. It was adorable though! He'd kiss her hand, or her head, or wherever he could get a hold of her. LOL You can see how stoked she was about all of his advances. ;) They did have a good time playing together though- Thanks Spiveys for a fun evening!

Snowfort

Charlotte would like to introduce you to her most favorite companion.

This is "Snowfort."

Snowfort is a polar bear that Rob received as a Christmas gift at a work holiday party when Charlotte was just 2 months old. Charlotte loves Snowfort SOOOO much, that no matter how much I wash his face, his nose is still all gray from her sucking on it and giving him kisses. She sleeps with him almost every night and would take him everywhere with her (if we'd let her.)

Now we seek out books at the library that feature polar bears. Our favorite so far is A Splendid Friend, Indeed. We also love finding the polar bears on each page of the book about Noah's Ark that Aunt Elizabeth sent for Christmas. We also like the Little Polar Bear books by Hans de Beer.

Oh there are so many polar bears in children's picture books!

Best buds.

Portrait of the artist as a young girl

The artist at work.

Charlotte is definitely a lefty. I'm glad she enjoys coloring with the crayons she got for Christmas. She also likes painting with the Crayola toddler paints- but BOY is that a messy experience! So we've only done that twice so far. ;)

Here is Charlotte's first drawing that she did "all by herself."

And here is her first painting that we did together on Christmas day.

happy new year

We hope that you all are having a very happy new year so far!


A few months ago we noticed that the faucet dripped in our upstairs bathroom. Despite trying 3 different stores we were unable to get a part to fix the faucet, so we just shut the cold water to the faucet off. Well, that worked for a while, but then it started dripping again! It was time to replace the faucet. But if we were going to do that, then I wanted a new vanity too. :)

So, on Saturday, we put a new vanity into our upstairs bathroom. I am very happy with it. I am even more happy about the fact that we did it all by ourselves and didn't have to call our very handy home teacher for reinforcements and/or advice. Yay us! ;)

Next will be the mirror and lights to match!

So that is pretty much all our news. Oh, also, we decided that "ring around the rosie" can only be fully appreciated in video. Charlotte wants to do this EVERY day since Victoria taught it to her.

a very merry Christmas

We hope that you have all been enjoying this holiday season!

We spent the weekend in PA visiting family and friends, and then enjoyed a quiet Christmas morning at our own home for the first time. :)

Victoria Burd taught Charlotte how to play "ring around the rosies."
They had a lot of fun playing together!
What a difference 2 months makes! Charlotte had no clue about unwrapping presents at her first birthday, but now at 14 months she was suddenly a pro.
As you can see, no one really paid much attention to Charlotte.
She had such a nice Christmas!

PS- One of Charlotte's gifts this year was a potty from mom & dad, and she was really excited about it. Today after naptime, she peed in the potty for the first time!! She is getting to be such a big girl! ;)

It's a wonderful life

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Good times

On Sunday, the Spiveys came to visit and Charlotte and Josh actually had FUN playing together! Previously they would just stare at each other OR live in denial that there was another baby around. Rob and I (especially) had fun talking with Kris and Lindsay as well. (You can only talk to a baby all day for so long before your brain starts to atrophy.)

Strike a pose.

I am just totally in love with this little outfit.

(And of course, the super serious girl wearing it too!)

I think Charlotte might be okay with reading books all day.

Last night I was reading her Goodnight Moon. This book has suddenly become way more fun to read since Charlotte recognizes the things I say and points to the correct objects- "the red balloon, the mittens, the three bears sitting on chairs, etc." So anyway, there is a page that says, "Goodnight air" and when I read that, she turned around and touched my hair and smiled.

Yup, that's right Peanut, "goodnight hair." :)

Oh Christmas tree

I love cutting down my own Christmas tree! :)

Well, okay, truth be told I love finding my own Christmas tree, and having a tall, strong man cut it down, and haul it, and tie it to the car, and put it in the tree stand for me. ;) This is the tree that Rob, Charlotte, and I chose at the second Christmas tree farm that we went to. The first one only took cash... who carries cash anymore?!?!

This is our tall, strong (and handsome!) Rob getting down in the snow and mud and cutting down the tree.

this is the tree all decorated in our living room. The ribbons were an experiment this year- I'm not sure how I feel about them.

This is Charlotte discovering the tree after waking up from her nap. I said, "You picked a good tree, huh?" And she said, "Yes." :)

Ho, ho, ho-ld it right there Santa!

I took Charlotte down to Santa's workshop in Westminster on Saturday to meet Santa Claus. She was okay right up until I put her on his lap.

When I took her back after taking this picture, she threw the candy cane at him. Santa was pretty understanding though, and said he knew she was usually a very good girl. ;)

long time, no post

Hellooooo friends and family! :)



I apologise for dropping off the face of the earth. We traveled to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with the Anderson clan there and had a great time.... unfortunately, we came home and immediately all got sick. It's been a long week of pink eye (all 3 of us!,) runny noses, coughs, fevers, and trips to the doctor (4 times in total.)



We seem to be somewhat on the mend now though. Rob is back to work, Charlotte is back to playing, and I am back to the blogosphere. ;)



Here are a few snapshots from our trip.

It was great for Charlotte to get to play with her cousins-

Johnny 5 was pretty patient with her.

Joseph and Uncle Rob liked doing puzzles together.

Savannah, Charlotte, and I played with this really neat counting toy.

Read it again!

Charlotte with her Grandma Anderson. :)

Ok Go- Here it goes again

I know it's been seen like 24 million times...
but I just love this video!

our budding fashionista

This morning she insisted on wearing her pink dress shoes... okay, no big deal.

Then after her nap she brought me the green ribbon and wanted it on her head... well, I have done that before, so alright.

But the BIBS?!!? She started bringing them to me, and we put them on her, one at a time- by the time I took this picture she was wearing three of them.

Anyway- she marches to the beat of her own drum.

Just one more thing to love about her. ;)

movin' and groovin'

This is how we often find Charlotte sleeping at night- head wedged into a corner, butt in the air, arms tucked underneath, and sometimes with a stuffed animal stuck under her tummy too.

And these are some of the things that Charlotte knows how to do. She loves techno and trance music. (Just like her dad!) And sometimes when a slow country song comes on, she shakes her head "no".

Trunk or treat!

We had a great time at our ward Halloween party on Saturday night!

As you can see, we all dressed up... Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, and Toto.

Charlotte LOVED being a puppy... although she wouldn't "woof," she'd only "grr." The puppy head was enormous on her and kept falling down over her face, but she didn't seem to mind. She just kept right on walking around.

She also really enjoyed handing out candy to all of the kids. (Yeah, it's a bad picture of me, and yes, there is a giant nose in our trunk behind the candy bowl.)

Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Charlotte turned ONE on Friday, Oct. 19th.

On Saturday, we celebrated with family and friends in PA.

Aunt Pam kept sneaking her cheese curls.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and Charlotte got her first chocolate cupcake.

She knew exactly what to do with that!

Daddy gave her a bath afterwards and they both put on clean clothes.

Yeah, she got pretty messy.

(If you click on this picture, you can see Charlotte's first tooth which finally came in last week! She has 2 of them now and is working on the third.)

Here are a few other birthday girl stats:

Charlotte now weighs 20 lbs (35th %) and is 30 inches long (79th %). She's a long, skinny Peanut! (I'm tempted to be a little concerned about her weight, but she eats like a horse and the doctor told me she looks fabulous, so I guess it's all good.)

Charlotte has short blond hair and big brown eyes.

She loves to sing songs, go for walks, and read books.

She loves puppies SOOOOO much! (She's going to be one for Halloween.)

She mostly says, "Mommmm," "Dad," "here ya go," "oh," and nods yes and shakes her head no. She also babbles a LOT and tells stories to her favorite polar bear- Snowfort- when she is in her crib.

Pakistani Kima is one of her favorite dinners. So here is the recipe...

In 3 tbsp. olive oil saute: 1 c. chopped onion and 1 clove garlic (minced).
Add: 1 lb. ground beef or turkey and brown.
Add: 1 tbsp. curry powder, 1-1/2 tsp. salt, a dash each of cinnamon, ginger, pepper, and tumeric, 2 c. cooked tomatoes, 2 potatoes (diced) and 2 c. frozen peas or green beans.
Cover and simmer 25 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Serve with rice.

Pumpkin day is here!

I love this time of the year!

My family always had a tradition of going to a local farm and picking our pumpkin before Halloween. Rob, Charlotte, and I did that today and we had a great time! We went to Baugher's (just up Rte. 140 from Westminster), took a hay ride, and picked out our perfect pumpkin for carving.



Maybe later I'll post pictures from the carving... but here are a few more from our morning.

a walk in the park

This past week we quietly celebrated our 2nd Anniverary by spending the day at the Washington DC temple where we were married. We've also been busy playing at the park and getting ready for Halloween and Charlotte's 1st birthday... which is less than 2 weeks away now!

Time flies. :)

Charlotte and Daddy climbing the "rock wall" at Westminster City Park.

Charlotte and Mommy on the slides.

Push me higher!!!

A funny thing happened on our way to playgroup

Well, actually, it started much earlier in the day than that.


Rob called me from work this morning to let me know that he had accidentally taken both sets of keys with him and was concerned that Charlotte and I wouldn't be able to go play with our friends. No problem! I located the spare car key and retrieved the spare house key from its outdoor hiding place. I put both in my pocket and we continued to get ready to leave the house.


I got Charlotte dressed and fed, switched the laundry, did the dishes, brushed our teeth and hair and then decided to change my pants. (Some of you can already see where this is going- but just wait- it gets better. Also, the reason why I had to change my pants is a whole other story- but would surprise absolutely no one who knows how I can be.) So, clean pants, diaper bag, book for storytime, and Charlotte in tow and out the door we go... now where is that car key?!? DOH!


Yup, I thoroughly locked us out. Even the hidden key was locked in the house. I called Rob to share in the experience and we had a good laugh about it. Then I called to say we wouldn't make it to playgroup. Charlotte and I found many ways to entertain ourselves- we went to the park, read our book, played in the leaves, picked flowers, and worked in the garden. Luckily the weather was gorgeous and I even had the camera in the diaper bag so we took some fun photos. Then after 4.5 hours, Charlotte started to fuss. She was understandably tired and hungry and I had no way to help her, so I called our friend Kristen.


Kristen came over and kept an eye on Charlotte while I worked on breaking into the house. Rob had done this once before (pre-hidden key) and had told me on the phone what to do. I won't go into details- because it would be pretty dumb to tell everyone on the internet how to break into my house- but I will say that it involved a very tall ladder.


I hate ladders. They are right up there on my list of things to have nothing to do with- along with ferris wheels and those really tall slides at carnivals. Kristen offered to do the climbing, but I felt that it was my baby that needed to eat and so up the ladder I went! And, thankfully, made it into the house without injury. It had never felt so good to be in my home as it did right then.


There is no moral to this story- unless you feel like suggesting one. Just thought I'd share it.


Here are a few pictures from our morning out...

Wordless Wednesday