Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Carter woke up to find that Santa came while he was sleeping. He couldn't wait to open presents so we let him go ahead. He had a blast opening presents from santa and everyone else. Audrey was more into eating the paper than ripping it off the boxes so Carter was happy to help. We had the Grahams and Stricklands over for an early Christmas dinner. It was nice having the company. I forgot to get a picture of the group and to have one of them take one of us. So here's our family Christmas picture taken with the timer. Thank you to everyone for making this Christmas another great one. The kids (and us) were spoiled again! More pictures to come.

Santa X2

A couple of weekends ago Moms & Tots had their Christmas party. Carter enjoyed playing with the other kids and all the yummy snacks. They even got one of the internal med residents to dress up as santa for us. Some of the kids really thought is was neat and others couldn't run in the other direction fast enough. The following weekend we went to the mall to get a nice picture of both kids with santa.

Carter's cookie masterpiece. Yes, he ate the whole thing too. Can we say sugar high!?!

Carter wouldn't sit on santa's lap but he did tell him what he wants for Christmas and gave him a hug.

Audrey wasn't sure what to think

Here's the picture I got with my camera at the mall. Audrey once again wasn't sure about it but Carter was excited to give him his list we typed out.

Christmas decorations

The first weekend of the month we put up our Christmas tree and decorations. We even put lights up outside for the first time this year. Carter really thought that was neat. He was a HUGE help with the tree putting up 90% of the ornaments. We just had to spread them out a little afterwards.

Audrey checking out the tree. Of course the tree and ornaments ended up in her mouth.

Carter hard at work. He would empty a box and tell us he needs more ornaments. He did a great job and best of all it keep him busy for quite some time.

Audrey pulled the nutcracker ornament off and played with the hair on it.

The next morning Carter noticed that St. Nick came. He is hugging the bumblebee stickers he got.

Other happenings

We have had a nice fall this year being able to spend a lot of it outdoors. Carter loves the park and Audrey is at the age that she can start enjoying it too. Here she is liking the swing.

Carter posing at the top of the slide. What a ham!

Audrey is quite the character these days. One of her favorite times of day to goof off is dinner time. I captured one of her silly faces. Tita Angela liked making a face like this when she was little. :)

Audrey likes to play with her sippy cup rather than drink out of it.

Taking advantage of another nice day we took Carter across the street to ride his tricycle. He had his hood up because he said that makes him a super.

Sweet big brother

Carter is such a good big brother. Even though he occasionally has a hard time sharing some of his toys he is really sweet and caring. Here are some moments I managed to catch on camera.

Carter loves to sit in the glider and read to Audrey. After diaper changes he tells me that Audrey wants him to read to her. It's really cute to hear some of the stories he comes up with. Audrey enjoys looking at the pictures and sometimes tries to steal the book from him.

While I was getting their clothes so we could get going Carter decided to help out. I came back into the room to find him brushing her hair and trying to put her bow in. So cute!

My two monkeys enjoying a morning snack out of their snack cups. Carter wanted Audrey to sit right next to him.

Carter is all excited that Audrey can crawl now. He's been wanting her to be more mobile so she can play with him more. This particular morning Carter put all these toys on Audrey to make her into a monster. I think he wanted her to chase him. So this picture is more of an example of how she puts up with him but it's still cute. :)

Here he is trying to help her drink out of her sippy cup.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving almost a week late :) We had a potluck with the Grimms, Grahams and Spanns (other surgery resident families). We had a ton of food and it was nice spending the day with the other families. It was a lot of fun to see how much the little ones have grown since the last time we were together and watch them interact.

We managed to get a family picture which doesn't happen very often. We snapped it just in time too. Chuck had to go back in shorty after taking it.

Carter fed Lee and Audrey puffs and cheerios. It was so funny to watch. They were like little birdies sitting there with their mouths open. If Carter wasn't fast enough they would try and reach for them themselves.

A group picture
left-right:Ashley Spann (Matt wasn't there he was on-call), the Grimms (Meredith, Lee & Little Lee) us and the Grahams (Paul, Noah & Laura)

Audrey is chasing after boys already! She kept climbing on Lee and Noah and patting their heads. They weren't too sure about it trying to get away each time.

Sneaking a taste of dessert :)