Even though she's three, I still love taking pictures of her asleep.
Out of order picture, but whatever.
Our full Christmas tree.
The last preschool session we had in December I was teaching and in charge of the Christmas party.
I was not feeling too hot that day so the kids decorated a Santa face, sugar cookies, had lunch, watched some Christmas cartoon, and played.
Luckily, my friend (with a much bigger house) hosted it.
Christmas Eve
Ben had to work so he headed in around 6:30 am.
Then I get a text around 8 am saying he's already heading home.
There weren't many admissions at the hospital over the weekend and they didn't really need him to stay since he had to work Christmas Day as well.
So we headed downtown to ice skate!
She not only LOVED it, but was numb from how cold it was and still refused to leave.
Can you spot them across the way?
This was after she FINALLY agreed to give it a try.
She was so excited.
Waiting for the zamboni to finish its job.
First time around.
Sorry. Out of order.
Getting her teeny tiny skates on.
These were the smallest size they had which was only one size bigger than what she normally wears.
Luckily I was prepared and brought an extra pair of socks just in case.
It was only $10 to check them out and you could have them for as long as you wanted. They weren't sure Charlotte would like it so they gave them to us for free.
Boy were they wrong.
We definitely tricked her into trying it.
Ben went around a few times to show her how fun it was and when he came around the last time I told her to give him a big hug.
He did and then started skating away holding her.
They took one loop around and she was sold!
Below she's in line to get skates saying;
"No way. No way. No thank you. I'll just watch."
Watching Ben go around a few times.
Starting to trick her into getting on the ice...
Unfortunately we had to wait in line for 30 minutes or so which got her worked up and nervous about trying.
I'm glad we pushed her a little at the end because she absolutely loved it. I want her to experience little scary/new things like this while she's young so she doesn't grow up to be a wuss. =)
I stayed for about 45 minutes then headed to the car to warm up and move it since our parking had expired. I waited for Ben's call to tell me they were finished and had to wait almost another hour.
She got to the point where she only wanted to hold one hand. Then she stood up on her own for awhile. She loved it. It was a good way to spend Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning.
Around 6:30 or so this little poo snuck into our bed to snuggle and sleep until 7:30 or so.
It was kind of fun waking up to her little face Christmas morning.
She loves loves loves to color and draw.
I love that she still loves Toy Story right along with princesses and Angelina Ballerina.
Her princess tent was given to her by my sister.
She was thrilled.
The aftermath.
Took us a few hours to open everything after skyping with family.
Loving a new tutu from her uncle and aunts in Utah.
Christmas night bath using her new Cinderella bubbles from Santa.
Skyping with my family using her new headphones they gave her.
Ben left for work that day around 6pm so we were able to spend the day with him.
New Year's Eve
Ben worked until 7 or so then we headed to the zoo for Zoo Year's Eve.
We looked around at the zoo lights again, but all she wanted to do was play on the big toys.
So we did that for a loooong time.
Checking out a sleeping grizzly.
Sliding down the tiny slide.
We never leave the zoo without riding the carousel.
It costs $1.50 for members... hello!
We were invited to the coolest party from a friend in our church. There was even fire breathing..?!?!
But... Charlotte was pooped so we headed home.
I know. Lame.
The rest of the night was spent playing cribbage (yes, we're 70 years old).
New Year's Day
This pretty much sums up Charlotte:
in a tutu painting.
Some dang fine dip I made.
Ben was able to come home early from work on New Year's day so he made us waffles.
Yum.
The rest of the day was spent in pjs, watching football, and playing games.
The rest of the day was spent in pjs, watching football, and playing games.
Charlotte's version of dominoes.
Afternoon nap.
Please ignore my fist under my chin. Apparently I'm prepared always to defend myself.
Charlotte is a hit and miss napper these days.
I could totally put her down, but bedtime seems to get later and later on those days.
But every couple of days she asks to snuggle and will fall asleep with you for an hour or so.
Love it.
Holiday sum up: It was good! Obviously we would love to be with more family, but during residency that just isn't possible. We were lucky Ben's work schedule was pretty light even if he did have to work every single blasted day. But the holidays with the three of us in Chicago will always be special to look back upon one day. I love my tiny family. And I love the city we only have a year and a half left to live in = (
Gosh I'm going to miss it.
Okay, so the second week of January (or so) friends of ours started hanging out again once they were back in town or family of theirs left.
We were thrilled, because when you live thousands of miles from family you depend on your friend's company =) a lot.
Free day at the Museum of Science and Industry
And a random picture of her ready for church.
Other random tidbits:
-Preschool also started back up this week (thank heavens).
-I joined a gym (free joiner's fee in January!) a few weeks ago and meet up with 2 friends every morning Monday through Friday. It's so much more motivating when you have friends text the night before making sure we'll all be there. It also doesn't hurt that one of those friends played on the BYU women's volleyball team and can kick your butt in anything athletic. We've also all started a cross training class 2xs a week that has us wanting to throw up at the end of the hour... in a good way =)
-My mother is flying in tomorrow evening and staying with Charlotte for a week while Ben and I vacation in the Caribbean. Hey! If you knew the hellish schedule this man has 11 1/2 months out of the year you'd be happy for him.
-Next month my sister's FIFTH child. That's right. I said FIFTH... will be born so I'm planning on flying back for that. Not that I'll actually BE in the room because that'd just be gross. I already have to be around for my births which is plenty.
-I only have two months left of being in my twenties. That is so depressing.
