Christmas.New Years.Caribbean.First Haircut

Okay, so I just might be completely caught up.

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Helping Daddy put up the Christmas lights.

I found her one day shoving cheese in her mouth. It was hilarious.

They took a nap on the couch together and woke up quite happy.

Alright, so it was Christmas Eve and we were driving home from a friend's house and remembered we had zilch for stockings. Nothing for each other's and nothing for the little bug. So at 8 o'clock Christmas Eve the 3 of us headed to Target. And tried on masks. Of course.

This Christmas it was just the 3 of us. Ben had to work the week before and after. Luckily he had that weekend off. It was a lot more fun than I first anticipated. We woke up Christmas morning and she played with her kitchen and stocking stuff until it was time for church.

Then we came home and skyped opening presents with my family and with Ben's later in the afternoon. It was nice and quiet and relaxing.

Dancing. Of course. There is LOTS of dancing in this house.

One of her favorite gifts. Buzz pjs from my sister Laura.

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The next week we headed to Austin, TX for New Years.

Ben's grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins live there. His parents and one sister were also able to make it too. We played games, ate good food, shot fireworks, ate at Sandra Bullock's restaurant, golfed, worked out, slept in, and saw some movies. It was a great week visiting with family we don't see very often.

This is our cousin Hans. Charlotte has a bit of a crush on him.

With Auntie Jenna

Watching fireworks with our cousin Hailey.

I have no idea what she's giving her to drink. You never know with Jenna =)

Lovin' on Hans again.

So one morning Jenna and I went to work out at the gym and I came home to find my kid planted in front of the tv with a bowl of chips in her lap. Ben and everyone else were playing games (see below).

We LOVED going to Texas to see this family. If we had the mulah I would fly out there every other month. NanaMoo went to Ireland with us and we became two peas in a pod. I love that woman.

She did awesome on the drive too. We drove straight there (16 hours) and on the way back we stopped in Little Rock for some southern food and spent the night in Memphis.

Right before we left I took her in to the doctor because she was really sick. I took her into to see Ben and he examined her and saw she had an ear infection and had a fellow resident write her a prescription and we were out the door and on our way in 30 minutes. I think I'm going to like this married to a doctor thing.

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Our cruise: was amazing. We went for a week and left from Miami then went onto Key West, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. It was ridiculously cheap. Like ridiculously.

My good mother flew out to stay with Charlotte and that little girl was in heaven. They went to the zoo, park, made cookies and valentines, had Chicago pizza, and shopped.

First we arrived in Miami and had a few hours to burn before we headed out on the ship.

Miami is... interesting. Very interesting.

We saw lots of chihuahuas. Most were dressed up which was a little creepy.

The best black beans/rice and plantains.ever.

Our first stop was Key West. LOVED IT. I could have stayed the whole week here.

We mainly shopped, stopped on the beach, and toured Ernest Hemingway's house.

Oh, and tried the most amazing KEY LIME pie.

Hemingway's house.

Our ship at the port.

Every night you sit at the same table at dinner so you get to know the others sitting at your table pretty well.

This is Bob and Kim. Hilarious and drunk.all.of.the.time

And this is Danielle and Don. They were really fun and we actually met up with them a few times to hang out.

There were 2 nights we got to dress up for dinner. Anytime is a good time for Ben to break out his bow ties.

Every night they had movies projected out on the deck with popcorn and snacks. One night we watched Pirates of the Caribbean. On the Caribbean. That was pretty fun.

Grand Cayman Islands

We went out on a boat ride and snorkeled (hence the red marks on our foreheads below) around a sunken ship and then some coral reef. I almost ran into a jelly fish and started swimming backwards to avoid it and slid right against some coral reef and scratched up my thigh. What an idiot...

But it was definitely my favorite thing we did all week long.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

It was gorgeous and ghetto. Which is to be expected from a third world country I suppose.

We shopped. Well, I shopped while Ben negotiated prices.

He even negotiated to get us on tours cheaper. Thank heavens he was game for that because I would have given them exactly what they asked for.

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L

We visited the oldest plantation on the island and had a tour.

The 'great home' was built overlooking the main waterway where the slave ships from Africa would enter on their way to the West Indies.

The final day on the cruise was a sea day. We played miniature golf and had races down the water slide. We laid out alllll day.

Admiring my scratched up leg from the coral reef.

On Saturday morning we disembarked in Miami and had the day to hang out. We hung out at the beach, ate some fantastic crab, and went on an art deco architecture tour.

Hanging out on the beach and soaking up as many rays as possible before we headed back to snowy Chicago. I was so tan it looked like I had been gone a month instead of a week.

My mom and Charlotte picked us up that night and the little bug was asleep. In the morning she was thrilled to see us for about an hour. Then she was back to hanging out with Grandma.

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Some random in-between time from January.

Charlotte trying on her backpack and then holding hands with Theron watching Toy Story 3.

Pretending to sleep to get out of going to church and reading in bed with Daddy.

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Charlotte's first haircut... finally!

This kid had the loooongest hair. I couldn't bring myself to get it cut so if it looked long and ratty I'd put it in pigtails or two tiny toots. But it was past her shoulder blades so it was finally time. My sister Carrie cut it since we're in Washington for a visit. The first is a before pic that I took really quick.

To get her to sit still Carrie bribed her with a new princess plate and white tutu that she has worn every day since.

Below is her staying at home/chillin outfit that she still insisted on wearing her tutu with.

And I can't really explain her pained expression below... whatever.