Charlotte's Birthday

Charlottes birthday was on November 4, and we were in Grandpa and Grandma Ribbens' neck of the woods for this special day. It was not a very planned party, but we got the essentials: pizza, balloons, cake, a party dress, and plenty of people who love her to pieces!

here's daddy and Charlotte opening a present

here she's wearing a beautiful hat from a couple of her great aunties, and tasting a new bracelet

mamas makin silly noiseshere we are with Grandpa and Grandma Ribbens

eating pizza (check out the gap between her teeth....hehe)

when it came to her "smash cake", she didnt want to get dirty, all she wanted to do was pick off the big dot sprinkles and eat them one by one....

such a girly girl, I think I was hoping for a mess, but she wasnt really even into the cake part.

here she is with her one guest that was in her age group, Hudson. He gave her the cutest little purse and accessories that she loves! these two were so fun to watch together!

and uncle Donavan who she adores!

and great grandma Rath

She had a great time, she LOVED being the center of attention!

she's a busy little thing

check out her squishy arms...they're like marshmallows

we've been playing alot around here......tea party anyone?

....so we moved

We are not just on a Vacation, although it seems like we are.

Sooooo much has changed I'm not sure where to start! My last post was about how Grandpa and Grandma Ribbens were coming for a visit (and that same weekend we had some CRAZY decisions to make) Aaron had applied to all kinds of companies closer to the midwest when I was preggers with Charlotte, and we really didn't get much feedback at that time, so we decided that this was probably God's way of telling us to settle in SoCal. and buy a house. and embrace our church family because our "real" families were so far away. so we "settled down" i felt like God had given me a peace with not being physically close to the family I longed to be near............

then in July Aaron heard from a company(near Denver) that must have saved his resume. They wanted him to come for an interview. yikes.... so he went, we figured what the the heck, might as well do it, what have we got to lose?...................and in the end of September,they ended up giving us an offer we couldn't refuse. yes, we just bought a house in April, SOOOOOO we found some renters.

and then we said alot of quick "see you later"s because Charlotte and I has to fly to Kansas City to meet the newest addition to the fam! who packed up the house you ask? why, Aaron did. I packed Charlotte and I a suitcase to last us three weeks and left everything else to dear hubby......... talk about giving up controll! I kept telling myself that really in the big scheme of things it really shouldnt be that big of a deal who packs up my stuff, it's all gonna get to where we need it eventually.....

we arrived in KC just hours after Roman Joe was born. and fell in love immediately. we then spent the next 1 1/2 wks with the new little guy and his momma and daddy.

and then we were off to NE to grammys house for a visit untill Daddy FINALLY got to NE. we missed him so.

and now we're here. in CO. we already had some snow. it's kinda strange. so I vow to do some blogs about the deets asap. All three of us had Birthdays (charley mae turned 1 on Nov. 4.... yes we were at grandmas house to celebrate) and we have so much more to show and tell!

were getting ready

for Grandpa and Grammy Ribbens to come!
they fly in this afternoon and
we can't wait.....
we're squeeky clean

and brushed

and ready for some Nebraska loving

from grammy and grandpa

yiiiiipppppppeeeeey!

Dear Charlotte,

you are 10 months old today. WOW.

I am crazy about you! You are my little cuddly snugglemuffin. You have an extreme flair for drama. You love baths, really love water in any form. You love going to the grocery store, where you never fail to draw attention to yourself. People cant resist your geeky little smile, it's like you are just waiting for strangers to look at you so that you can win them over. it pretty much always works. Its either that or you give these strangers your furrowed brows, which is something you inherited from me, but makes me wonder if you will be a thinker like your daddy.
you've been pinching me alot lately, I think it's a comforting thing to you. You jibber jabber like crazy, it makes me so excited to hear you, I cant wait till you say lots of funny things. You still mainly say dadadada and nananana. I can already tell that you are incredibly silly and can usually get you to laugh pretty much anytime I want by hiding and suprising you, or doing a fake laugh. You often look to me for approval in new situations to make sure everything is okay. I am the center of your universe, and I love it, although Its pretty fun to see you get excited to see your daddy come home from work.
you are mommys little helper already. You are happy to be doing whatever I am doing. You like to "help" empty the dishwasher and "fold" laundry with me. you even will give the clothes a lil shake before you fold them just like you see me doing. You have very strong fine motor skills, but you are not really into the whole crawling gig. You prefer rolling to get to your destination.
You like eating cheerios. You love "brushing" your own teeth while mommy brushes hers.

you're hair is wispy. Just tonight your daddy and I were laughing at the way it moves in the breeze. Both your daddy and I love to rock you to sleep, and love that you are always a little snuggler in the morning. You alreay have a "thing" for elmo. You are our social butterfly... you do NOT like when I leave the room. You love to jump in your rainforest jumper. You love the outdoors. You like to pull/pinch your dad's ears. You roll your ankles. you love love love music and dancing.

You are my ray of sunshine.

Love, your mamamama (hopefully you'll get my name down sometime soon)

they see me rollin....

and mommy's been swiffering the floor

....ALOT

and eating cheerios

with her 6 teeth ....7&8 are coming through on top too.

she likes to cut teeth two at a time (and spend many an hour awake at night bonding with mommy.)

and we have a lil waving and clapping going on too. and she yells "dadda" @ the top of her lungs

.... but not a mamma yet

....unless shes crying, then we sometimes hear a "mumm"

shes soooo fun.

we love her so.

inspiration

this is great.....

from here

I am inspired. I think i will make a version of this to hang in our living room. and change it up a bit.....adding a few things like READ YOUR BIBLE and

take cute photos cause guess who bought a fancy cannon rebel digital slr from craigslist this weekend?my hubby

I really dont want to live in a house where the TV is always on. I already know the lineup of shows on PBS. I dont really want Charlotte to. ( Plus Mr. Noodle freaks me out.... )

(and we need to hang out with Lydia and Ruby cause they do great activities all the time)

....a while back Charlotte broke my camera

......and I havent bought a new one yet :(
~hard decisions i tell you!
A fancy schmancy one that would TOTALLY be worth it
B cheap lil one I can stash in my purse/diaperbag

~after all CHA CHA managed to break the last one (which was our third nikon...yikes)
i obviously dont have the best track record....

~so no camera and a little chubby 9mo. old gooker that does things that deserve to be documented

~shame on ME!
i'll add buying a camera to the do list along with going to the dentist(its been at least a year and a half)
and the eye dr.(I have been wearing my last contact pair for i dont know how long)
TIME HAS FLOWN... i used to be so good about dr apts and stuff (I guess its called motherhood?)


we've been quite the traveling girls these days
to Dillon CO for a family trip (my mom and dad rented a house for july4 wkend)
and a whirlwind trip home for Lindsey's baby shower

(thanks Linds, for doing such a good job with your blog updates... I can just link mine to yours and "cheat"? hehe andthanks for emailing me some of the phone pics I have sent recently so I'd at least have SOMETHING to put up...you're just so much cooler and more tech savvy....)

and finally,
YES CHARLOTTE, you can get out of the suitcase honey, I think we're done traveling for a little while (untill baby Leif gets here at least)

ohhh the big kids.

these kids have to be some of the coolest around......Elena, Charlotte, Sam, Christian, and Shepard
where do I begin? We stopped in for a visit around noon, and ended being there for hours. the day flew by! SOOOOO much fun! I dont even think "lil"Charlotte cared if I was around or not.

You see Elena and "big"Charlotte (yay for another cutie named Charlotte)are so used to caring for their youngest brother Shepard, that their mom and I could pretty much hang out and chit chat the day away. I couldnt get over how much "lil"Charley LOVED these kids. shes my little social butterfly.

Elena and "big" Charlotte each had a baby ......and mommy had break.....

the girls took on a "movie date" (baby einstein)

and Shep shared his toys.

"BIG" and "lil" Charlotte. cute.

I wish I would've included their super cute mom in the picture. she makes this parenting gig seem like no big deal.......she ONLY has 5....Elena, Charlotte, Samuel, Christian, and Shepard.

shes like wonder woman. her kids are the cutest, most well behaved children, I hope to have it rub off on little lumpy lou. that would be nice.
~we hope to hang out again soon!~

happy fathers day!

to my husband and the father of my child......

~the way you look at our daughter with such adoration
~the way you talk to her with the highpitched voice i didnt even know existed
~the way you RUN to her when you get home from work 'cause you missed her so bad all day
~the cute little made up stories you tell her (who knew you had THAT talent?)

thanks for being such a great father. its so fun to watch!

pool party

tea party anyone?

Benjamin

This is Charlotte's friend Ben aka Bdub (he and his daddy have the same nickname.so cute.)

these two will be getting into shennanigans soon enough...dont they just look like little troublemakers?

His mom, Amanda.....well, we really like her too. She is not only a wealth of baby information, but a Rachel Ray in the kitchen, and has a great library (hello Francine Rivers' mark of the lion series. AWESOME).
yup. she's pretty much great to have around.

did I mention she makes a mean lemon drop?

...with fresh lemons off her tree....(they're my fave)

and here Charlotte and Benjamin hanging out......
notice Bdub with his fakester yawn/stretch combo. a classic.

c: he thinks I haven't seen this trick before. puhhhleeeese I know what your tryin to do

bw: alllllriiigghht I've got game, homies!

busted. look at that face! such a cutie he is. I'm glad they're friends.

wait.....do they even know they're friends? i dont think they have a choice in the matter. Mommas know best! we have it all planned out you see,

they're gonna think we get together for them to play

she was OBSESSED with his puppy slippers.....I think she was a little jealous.

and he looks all "stop playing with my puppies already, can't we go play something else?"

we could watch them all day. so fun.