Christmas Card Picture 2011

Just wanted to post a quick note about this years Christmas card picture.

I am a sucker for the beautiful, professional photos that we have been so lucky to have the past few years thanks to my good friend Lindsey. But I promised Mark after Charlie's 1 year photos that we would take a break from the professional pics. And I was actually considering using one of those pictures from July (see them here). I really had no idea what I was going to do... and if you know me, that is very out of character.

Anyway. I was hanging out working on my headstand one night (that's normal, right?) and the kids were watching me and trying to do it too. I told Mark to grab the camera and tripod and we helped them work on their handstands against the wall. And it didn't hurt that they just happened to be wearing matching Christmas PJs (not planned, I swear!). Throw in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and wallah!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

As soon as we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, we pulled out our artificial Christmas tree to get ready to decorate, only to find out that it didn't work anymore. Poor Mark spent hours trying to find the ONE bulb that had gone out... to no avail. And it was next to impossible to pry the lights off the tree so we could replace the whole strand.

So we decided (I mean, Mark decided) that 2011 would be the year that we got a REAL Christmas tree. We headed out on Dec 3rd to find our tree. Ella was pretty excited and it took forever (it was freezing outside, by the way) to find one we could all agree on.

Here it is Mom & Dad!

Yep! That's the one.

Mark loaded her up...

...and brought here in the house.

I wish I could tell you this story ends well. Our poor tree died almost immediately after we brought her home. Apparently you are supposed to cut the stump at an angle so it can take in water? Who knew!? It was awful- if you barely touched the tree, about a thousand needles would fall off. But we made her stay until Christmas Day! Santa needed a place to put our gifts! :)

Thanksgiving 2011

I am SO SO behind in my blogging... which translates to... life is busy as HECK with 2 kids. So here goes... my attempt to catch you and myself up to date.

We visited Kansas City for Thanksgiving and my Dad's retirement party the following weekend. It was probably a bad omen when Patti called us the night before we left to tell us that Caroline had thrown up. But we decided to go anyway... needless to say, the stomach flu made the rounds at my parents house that week. First Caroline, then Charlie and Mark and finally Patti got sick. Not fun. We quarantined ourselves to the house most of the time we were there so we wouldn't infect anyone else in KC. All in all, I'm glad we went on the trip and were able to see everyone... but it was rough. It's actually good I am writing this over a month after our trip, because now I have some perspective. LOL

Here are a bunch of pics from our trip:

Charlie & Caroline had a blast playing together.

And Charlie was a huge fan of Caroline's playhouse (aka. the cardboard box).

Ella cozied up to Grandaddy (and his iPad) for some quality time.

More C&C playtime

The weekend wouldn't be complete without some yogi headstands.

Finally feeling (somewhat) healthy, we headed down to the plaza to see the holiday lights.

All of us together at the lighting. I just LOVE Mark's mustache. Don't you? (It's awful, I know... but at least he raised a couple bucks for a good cause, right?)

Ella giving Caroline an early Christmas gift-- a shopping cart. Caroline loved it! Ella did too! I think she played with it ALMOST as much as Caroline during our visit.

We finally got out of the house and went for a short lunch visit to the Cowies. Ella had a blast with Evie and Nora...

...and Charlie put up with all the girls pretty well.

Our last day we took Ella ice skating at the rink across from my parents house. This was actually her 2nd try at ice skating... which went way better than the 1st (see post here).

Most of her "skating" consisted of Tom holding one hand and me holding the other so we could pull her around the edge of the rink. Baby steps!

Thanks for taking me skating Uncle Tom!

The "Becky" sweater

Here is a picture of me at age 6 and Ella at almost 4 years in the same sweater! :)

Just wanted to share.

Snow!

We had our first big snow earlier this month and Ella LOVED it! She got all suited up and played outside FOREVER! I finally made her come in because I was afraid she was gonna freeze her bottom off.

Charlie, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with the snow and was happy to hang inside with me! LOL

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Herbs!

We had more than enough Halloween (and candy!) to go around this year with parties at school, with friends, and even a Halloween birthday party... plus the actual day of Halloween! The kids definitely wore out their costumes!

It was especially fun because this was the first year Ella REALLY "got it". She went up and down our entire block and got all the candy she could before she was just too tired to go on! It was a blast and so fun to have our neighbors with us for the door-to-door fun.

Here are some pics from our various Halloween events...

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend. We had great weather and picked out some great pumpkins!

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend. We had great weather and picked out some great pumpkins!

Charlie 15mos

Charlie is 15 months old this week and he had his well-baby checkup on Monday.

Weight: 24lbs 14oz (55%)

Height: 32.25in (85%)

Head: 19 3/8in (92%)

I have been horrible about pictures and updates lately, but make sure to check out my youtube account (link is on the left side of the blog) because I try to be pretty good about posting videos. Here's one from today:

Everything checked out great at the doc. Charlie is pretty much on target for his age. And even though I FEEL like he is speech delayed, the doctor tells me that I need to stop comparing him to his older sister. He is actually right there with all the other boys his age. :) A side note from the doc- she says she can predict with almost 100% accuracy that Charlie will be over 6ft tall. We'll see what actually happens!

Ella plays soccer!

Ella started soccer this fall. It's a program for kids 4 and under. No practices and 6 "games" the whole season. Sign me up! Here's some pictures from Ella's 1st day.

First Day of School

Ella and Charlie both had their first day of school on Tuesday, September 13th. There were a few tears but both kids love school and there are hardly any tears in the mornings now.

This is Charlie's first time ever attending school. He is in the youngest class at Hope (the 1 year old room) and he is the youngest kid in his class. He only goes 1 day a week, Tuesday from 9:30a-1:30p, and his teachers are Ms. Jen and Ms. Gina. So far he seems to really love his class and is actually starting to try and talk! Maybe its because most of the other kids in his class are talking!!

This is Ella's 2nd year at Hope Preschool and her 3rd year in a school program. Ella attends school Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-1:30 and her teachers this year are Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Rich.