Cousins.

Charlie and Junie are so lucky to have so many cousins close in age as well as some older examples to look up to. They got to spend time with almost all their cousin on both sides of the family over the holidays... and oh what fun they had!
Charlie and Gracie modeling Grandma Graham's glasses.
A little teeter-totter action with Josh.
Abigail, Addie, and June looking incredibly cute in their matching pink dresses.
Big cousin Alli watching after June-bug.
The classic tub picture, we are missing Addie and Josh but for sure they could have fit.
June and Shea enjoying some bananas in their matching pj's.
Noah, the best baby sitter around, holding June. She loves him!
Jordan showing Charlie the seriousness it takes to play video games... and to be a teenager!
Evan and Char-char enjoying some grapes, PB&J, and a good laugh.

Horns

Charlie got these two random bruises on his head and we have no idea how he got them. While we were staying at my mom's house over the holidays the he was constantly getting into mischief, bopping his cousins on the head, and spending much of his days in time-out. When my sister saw him she said, "Hey look, Charlie's horns are starting to poke through!" So sad, so funny, but so true.

Party Hardy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We had an awesome New Year's Eve. Thanks to my party-planner sister, Emily, the kids did not miss out on the fun. It all started with some party hats, then the cousins all sat on the back porch and threw "poppers" on the cement, followed by some serious gaming.
Charlie had a blast! I am sad I did not get any pictures of June but she was in the background of it all enjoying the chaos. The kids played musical chairs (Alli made sure she won every time), they raced toy cars down a ramp (Adam made sure Alli did not win every time) and they played a few rounds of Duck-Duck-Goose.


Here is the party planner in full effect. After organizing all the games and activities for the night we decided that she needs to open a Daycare!
A little dance party...

Some Martinelli's...
And some celebrating...
Then off to bed. The "kid party" started at 6, was over by 7, and they were all sleeping by 8. That is what I call a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It was MERRY and BRIGHT.

9 months.

This little lady keeps growing up and I wish I could stop time. June has been such a love-bug. We have spent much of the holidays away from home and she has loved every bit of attention she has gotten from family. She has had to adjust to new sleeping arrangements while on vacation but if ever she would wake up crying, all it took was a little cuddling and then she was fast asleep. One night I held her in bed with me all night, just because I didn't want to let her go. June has taken on the nickname "buggie", short for June-bug I guess. She is army crawling all over the place and has tried pulling herself up a few times. She just got her third bottom tooth, just like Charlie did at this age, but for some reason the fourth one is no where to be found, strange, I know. June has started waving and saying "hi" which sounds like "HAA!" and she loves to clap, especially when she's excited. I have gotten an occasional "mama" but "dada" continues to be her favorite word. Her hair is long enough for a baby ponytail, which I think is the cutest thing ever.

A little Christmas carol...

A MAGICAL night.

It was Friday night, the rain had been coming down hard all day long. The plan was to go see Santa at the Irvine train park, but was it really worth it to drag the kids out in the cold rain? YES, it was so worth it, it was a magical night, at least it was for me! The rain stopped as soon as we got in the car to leave- magical. Then, the parking lot was empty-magical. Free parking- magical. The rain kept the crowds of people away so we really had the entire place to ourselves. The kids ran around, we all goofed off and took some pictures.

The Three Stooges.
June, Brin, and Easton experienced their first Winter Wonderland but it looks like engineer Easton did not appreciate the heavy load he had to carry.

The magical night continued with NO LINE to ride on the train.
Here, Charlie is taking in the MAGIC along with Reagan and Lukie-Duke!
Another magical picture in a very GAY sort of way!
... and the engineer (I thought my double chin was bad.) I'm mean, but on a "nice note" Adam is hot!
June was in a total awe (or frozen with fear) of Santa, she would not take her eyes off him.
(see what I mean)
I thought Charlie would freak out and refuse to sit on Santa's lap... WRONG! Luckily his buddy Reagan went before him and showed Charlie how it was done. Reagan jumped up on Santa's lap and in true girlie fashion and began rattling off her list of sparkly tights, glittery dresses, and fancy shoes. Then, Santa gave her a candy cane and Charlie was sold! He ran up to Santa and climbed on his lap.
A funny conversation took place between Charlie and Santa.
Santa: "So, what do you want for Christmas?"
Charlie: "PRESENTS!!"
Santa: "Okay then. Have you been a nice boy to your baby sister?"
Me: ("NO!")
Charlie: "Yep."
Santa: "What does your sister want for Christmas?"
(By this time Charlie was standing on the ground facing Santa) Charlie paused and thought for a minute, then he looked beyond Santa, up at the backdrop and responded...
Charlie: "A blow horn!!!!"
Me: "A BLOW HORN???"
If you take a closer look at the picture above there is a gold trumpet right above the gold tinsel. That is what caught Charlie's eye when Santa asked him what June wanted. The funny thing is, ever since that night Charlie's one and only request now is for Santa to bring him a blow horn too. What the heck? Where in the world is Santa supposed to find a BLOW HORN? The night even ended with a hug for Santa. Truly MAGICAL!
(Oh, and then one more magical surprise, hot cocoa and sugar cookies tailgate style- thanks Blads.)

You better not POUT, I'm telling you why...

(Santa might be making one less stop this year.)

Hungry, hungry, HIPPO.

It is 9 a.m. and Charlie has eaten:

• a bowl of cereal
• toast with peanut butter
• 2 medium sized bananas
• a cookie (I gave in)
• a dime, which he choked on and I had to give him the heimlich maneuver

...now we are off to COSTCO to buy more food.