MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hanging Christmas lights with Daddy... and lovin' every minute of it. Yummy, these lights taste good.

Charlie was about to get in the bathtub and instead we ended up having a little photo shoot. Hope everyone appreciates the modesty!!!

Check out that BUM!!!!!

All I Want for Christmas is...

... NO MORE TEETH!! Our little man is not so little anymore. Charlie has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR TEETH coming in. (Why we felt the need to torture him even more by holding him down and prying his mouth open to take a picture I am not sure.) Charlie has been a trooper though. He is putting anything and everything in his mouth and chewing the heck out of whatever it may be. It kind of reminds me of a dog playing tug-of-war, he'll have his blanket in his mouth and shake his head while growling.

"You remind me of your Dad!"

My dad passed away 4 years ago on November 30th. I am so grateful for the life he led and for the example he was. This is the poem I read at his funeral. Also, I love this picture, I think I was 4 or 5 and it is from a day we went fishing while we were visiting family in Texas. It made me proud when people would say I'm just like you,

I've got your round face, big cheeks, & manly legs; yes, it's true!

You and I would always eat the fastest as we sat down each night for dinner,

Everyone else took after mom, maybe that's why they are a bit thinner.

Sometime our stubborn ways meant you and I did not always get along

If I was right and you were right, who would admit they were wrong?

We enjoyed playing pranks, like waiting for Steven after a church dance,

We nailed him with the hose and water ran down his pants.

Even though we are alike, and that means the world to me,

I still have a lot to learn because you're all I aspire to be.

I am grateful for your character and all the fun we've had,

Having you here when times were tough made it all not seem so bad.

You had so many good friends whose lives you deeply touched

That special way about you, everyone loved so much.

As a father you counseled, guided, and lead with all your might,

Teaching us to seek for truth and strive to choose the right.

You were one with great courage, you had faith in Heavenly Father's plan,

And though it's hard to see you go, you've left the mark of a valiant man.

You see, I miss you so much, but I am doing my best not to be sad,

Instead I will strive to live up to the phrase: "You remind me of your Dad!"

6 Months

It is hard to believe that Charlie is half a year old already. He has been such a sweet baby and so much fun to have around. Adam confessed to me the other day that he thinks he's kissed Charlie more times than he has kissed me... sad, but true!! Charlie has such a happy disposition, he got the stomach flu over Thanksgiving and he smiled through it all. After not eating much for a few days, I knew the little Buster was feeling better when he woke up and started freaking out because he was STARVING and wanted to eat that very second. He has mastered the art of eating; he loves his rice cereal and just about anything else that comes near his mouth. He weighs 17.6 lbs. and is 27 in. (75 percentile). Our boy is growing up too fast! One of my favorite things is Charlie's "lipless" smile (like he is doing in this picture), it makes him look like such an old man.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Vegas for Thanksgiving. The week consisted of eating tons of food, watching football and going shopping!!! I ate pie for breakfast every morning and we stuffed our faces with left-over Thanksgiving dinner all day long. Adam watched every football and basketball game on every sports channel; sometimes even multiple games at a time. While the boys sat in front of the t.v. the girls went shopping. I got to see Sherie Koch in action by going shopping with her and Rachel at 4 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving... we found some great deals! The week ended with about half of the gang getting the stomach flu, including Charlie. It was so sad to see our little man so sick, but he managed to smile through it all. Four generations of handsome KOCH men.

My two favorite boys!

Charlie helping Daddy and Dadoo Richard hang up Christmas lights.

Rice Cereal

It comes as no surprise that Charlie LOVES to eat. I was not sure how he would take rice cereal just because I have heard from so many people that it takes a while for most kids to enjoy it... not our little man. Charlie was so into it that he tried eating the bowl, we could not spoon it in fast enough!!

Happy Halloween!!

Charlie had a great Halloween hanging out with friends. He was up until almost 10:30 p.m. ... the little party animal.

5 months

Charlie is 5 months old now (officially on the 26th). We had to postpone the 5 month picture because Adam was out of town with the camera and then the day he got home Charlie scratched his face up. (I promise I cut his fingernails but I guess the corners got too sharp.) The little buster attacked himself... what a true BOY... with scratches, bumps and bruises already! Charlie is rolling over now; he has not perfected going from his back to stomach but he turns onto his tummy to fall asleep at night. Buster continues to drool like crazy, but no teeth yet. He has a new found passion for sticking his tongue out and sucking on it, it's pretty funny! Our little man got in trouble for the first time of his life a few weeks ago. Without getting into too much detail Charlie tried to chomp down on a "mommy sandwich"... let's just say, teeth or no teeth, it is PAINFUL. I said "no" really loud and Charlie proceeded to look up at me and grin... little punk! He is also a nosey guy and has started to get distracted while he's eating. He will eat for a minute or two and then poke his head up and look all around, especially if there is any noise. My mom calls him snoop... which eventually turned into "snoop dogg". We are having a blast and loving watching our boy grow up... even though it is going way too fast!

Weekend in Vegas...

We took a trip to Vegas last weekend to visit family. We surprised Adam's brother, David, for his birthday. Adam went golfing with the guys Saturday morning, we all went to the Koch family BBQ in the afternoon, and then we went to the BYU / UNLV game Saturday night. It was a fun-filled weekend and we all had great time with everyone.

Here, Charlie is loving hanging out with his cousin Hailey. "Rise and shout the cougars are out..."

"...GO COUGARS!!!!"

The boys hanging out Sunday afternoon; a little football and some ribs, what could be better?

Riley's Farm

This past weekend we went to Riley's Farm; it is a fun place with apple orchards, a pumpkin patch, and flower fields. The guys were not too excited about the drive there (it's just northwest of Palm Springs) but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves once we arrived. Picking apples while the little Buster sleeps in the sling.

The B.F.F's with their basket of apples frolicking through the fields.

The gang.

Our trip to Texas...

Check out our trip to Texas on the Graham Fam blog on the right.

A trip to TEXAS.

We had a great time in Texas. Here is a recap of our week:

Day 1: Emily and Nora watched a movie and took a nap while Grace and Charlie watched Baby Einstein and took a nap.
Day 2: We celebrated Ben's birthday by taking cupcakes to all the med students, making Cafe Rio's pork burritos, and having chocolate mousse for dessert.
Day 3: We drove to some outlet stores and went shopping. Emily got her very first speeding ticket on the way there. The kids were super good in the car and very patient while we were shopping. We got some great DEALS!!!!!

Check out all those bags...

Day 4: Uncle Stevie came down Friday night after school and spent the weekend with us. We took the kids to a pool at one of Emily's friend's apartment complex. We had planned to go to this pool at the park but it was closed for a "dog festival." Emily went to see if it was open and there were dogs in the water having relay races and the city pound guy in a dunk tank. The park ranger looked at Emily like she was crazy for asking if the pool was open. He said: "Yes ma'am it's open... for the DOGS!! Good thing we had a back-up pool to go to.

Day 5: We went to church (sadly, we did not get a cute church picture of the kiddos). We had fun just hanging out with Uncle Stevie.

Day 6: We drove about an hour and a half and met up with Aunt Tami and Uncle Steve in Corsicana. We met at Walmart and sat outside on some lawn chairs and visited for a while. Then we went to lunch and walked around town. They were so sweet and super happy to meet Charlie and Grace.

Day 7: Photo shoot! Emily and I had a photo shoot before she took us to the airport. Charlie and Grace were being hilarious. Charlie would not stop sucking his hands and Grace was being super wiggly and she wanted to attack Charlie. We got some cute pictures out of it though.

4 months

The little Buster is 4 months old. He is a very happy, content little guy who has found his voice and babbles all day long. He still loves sucking on his hands and fingers (both hands at the same time now) and has started to drool like crazy. His latest thing is sucking on his bottom lip, even though he does not have much lip to suck on. Charlie has mastered traveling and has been a champ flying all over the place in his short 4 months of life. He giggles at just about anything and the only time he gets really ticked is when he is hungry or tired... big surprise! Nurse Priscilla weighing Charlie. The stats: 15 lbs. (5oth percentile), almost 26 inches (90th percentile), head 16.5 inches (75th percentile).

Charlie with Dr. Harris. He was giggling like crazy because the stethoscope was so cold... then came the shots and the smile quickly disappeared!

The big four month old.

Nursing the babies!

Ryan has this thing with Alli where he asks her why she is getting so big. Usually the response goes something like this: "I want to get bigger so I can get baptized and have a slumber party!" Since I have had Charlie things have changed a bit. Now the conversation goes like this, Ryan: "Alli, stop getting so big! Why do you want to grow up so fast?" Alli: "So I can get boobies and feed my baby milk like Auntie Nora!"

Patty cake

Water baby!!

Charlie LOVES the water. We were in the pool for almost an hour over Labor Day and he just chilled the entire time. Maybe it reminds him of the womb.














He does not mind the water in his face either. The more splashing and choas that was around him... the happier he was.

Sweet, innocent, Zachy-boy causing trouble?

Alli and I practicing our George Washington hair-do's.

3 months.

It is amazing how quickly time flies. Charlie is three months old and cuter than ever. He is giggling like crazy and he talks like we can actually understand what he is jabbering about. He has discovered his hands, so they are constantly in his mouth. He occasionally chokes on a finger or two that goes a bit too far back in his throat; it's the funniest thing! Charlie often eats to the point of falling asleep or being in a "milk coma," but as soon as I sit him up to burp him he goes nuts. It is like he is realizing the food fest is over and he can hardly handle it. His latest thing is he likes to have his eyes covered to help get to sleep. There are times when he is hysterical and as soon as we cover his face he calms down. "Little Buster" is Charlie's newest nickname... I am not sure how it came about, but I can imagine it happened while his feisty personality was in full effect. Until next month...

Charlie with his BUDDIES!!!

Charlie and Zachy-boy hanging out on the couch after a fun day at the beach.

Shelley, Evan, and Skylar were in Carlsbad last week for a family reunion. We met up with them at the beach and Evan was so excited to meet his cousin Charlie.

Our friend's Ben and Shelley moved down from Utah for the summer for an internship. Their little boy Grant was born about a month after Charile and we had a great time becoming new parents together. The two boys were instant friends so we figured what better than a snuggly stroller ride? (I think Shelley and I were more entertained by the whole thing than either of the boys were.) Here is a picture at the beginning of our walk...

... and this is how the walk ended!!