Meet Charlie

This is Charlie.  He's our Elf on the Shelf

Caden gave Charlie his name.  He wanted PapaGaga, but we decided that name was taken.  Then he wanted Charlie Brown (dude is on a serious Charlie Brown kick right now), but we decided that name was taken too, so we settled on Charlie.  

Charlie arrived the day after Thanksgiving and his job is to watch us and report back to Santa whether we should be on the naughty or nice list.  We're not allowed to touch him and he's not allowed to talk to us.  Every night after bed he flies back to the North Pole to hang out with the Big Guy.  In the morning he flies back to our house before we get up.  He watches us from a different spot every day.

So far Charlie has hung out on our mantle (see above), climbed up our Christmas tree (no pics of that one), read Caden's books,

and gone fishing.

Charlie has a pretty good gig, I think.  I'll let you know what other kind of mischief he gets into between now and Christmas day.

Caden likes to talk to Charlie and tell him all the good things he's doing ("Did you see me share with Asher, Charlie?").  Yesterday he asked me how many bites of sausage he needed to eat in order to make Charlie happy.  

Yessiree, welcome to our house, Charlie!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!  Our turkey day was fab.u.lous!  

We went up to Gram's house to celebrate this 'lil Butterball's first Thanksgiving...

I know, could you just die from the cuteness?!?

...and this big guy's fourth Thanksgiving (which, just in case you're bored, you can read about here, here, and here)

Can we please just have a moment of silence for "Happy Gangs-giving?"  Caden is now so big that he says it the right way this year.  Sob!

They were both moving too quickly for me to get a picture of them together, so these individual ones are the best I have to offer.  Maybe I'll reenact Thanksgiving later this week :)

Our celebrations actually started a few days early.  On Tuesday my friend, April (and her 10 week old sweetie, Maxime) dropped off our annual Thanksgiving chocolate turkeys

We told Caden that he could eat his IF he found the one with his name on it.  

Success!

On Wednesday evening, JZ and CP went up to Gram's house for a sleepover and to help her "cook tu-key and cookies."  JZ used to do that when he was a kiddo and he was super excited to get to take Caden this year.  They both had a ton of fun and *I'm sure* were super helpful to Gram!

In the morning they watched the Macy's Day Parade  - which was amazing because there were Spiderman, Charlie Brown AND Buzz balloons.  Wow.

Asher and I stayed home and then joined everyone after his morning nap.  Just like a terrible mom and blogger, I did not get any pictures of the food, tables, or people, but trust me it was awesome.  I somehow got out of cooking and cleaning (note to self - have a baby who "needs" you every year!).  We had 20 people at our tables and it was such a fun time!  We ate (and ate and ate...), the boys watched football, the girls made crafts, and the littles played with trucks...

...and video games.

Sorry for the awful cell phone pictures, JZ needs and upgrade!

This fall hasn't been the easiest season of our lives, but we still have so much to be thankful for!  We're healthy, have two beautiful boys, and are surrounded by such GOOD people.  After all of the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pie, we weren't just full, we were fulfilled!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday: I Love You!

Playmates

Caden and I have waited for this moment for a long time - the moment when when he and his brother could really play together.  

Tonight, that moment happened!  

Caden pulled out his blocks and started building with them.  Asher wanted to play too, so he started chewing on them. At least they were next to each other, so I'm going to call that "playing together."

It was pretty amazing to see Asher sit up for a good 45 min, bend over to get a block, right himself, chew on the block, and pass it from one hand to another.

It was even more amazing to see how happy they both were to be together.

But, the best part was watching Caden take such good care of his brother.  When Asher couldn't reach his blocks  Caden would hand them to him and kept saying, "Here's another block Asher.  Do you need the red block?".  He was so sweet to him!

It was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen!

I just know that these two are going to be the best of friends (at least most of the time!) and I'm so excited that I get to be around to watch it!

1st Time Bowling

A few weeks ago we were looking for a fun, family friendly Saturday evening activity, and we decided to take the boys bowling for the first time.  We called up our buddies, the Pouliots and headed to a nearby, old-school bowling alley.

It was awesome.

Caden had the world's tiniest bowling shoes

and the world's greatest bowling instructors

He started out by rolling the ball down the alley,

but we soon realized it was going to take forever to bowl 10 frames when the ball was going 1.54 mph.  No joke, the alley measures the speed of each ball and displays it.

So the nice guy that worked there brought over a ramp for CP to use.  

That sped the process up some.  

Asher also had a great time bowling.

He decided that the balls were a little heavy, so he used the ramp too.

Loved it!

The boys weren't the only ones that rocked it!

JZ won the prize for best bowling skills - he bowled while holding Asher at the same time.

We had so much fun!  After our game (yep, just one) we all went out to our favorite Chinese restaurant. It was such a fun night with some of my very favorite people!

8 Months

Sweet, darling Asher boy turned 8 months old on Friday.  

He's now sitting up really well on his own (but I still wouldn't leave him alone on concrete)

You'd never know that this cutie has been sick for a week (not bad, just a tummy bug that is taking forever to pass).  He just keeps smiling through it all!

He's getting so big that tonight I was able to put both boys in the tub together and bathe them at the same time - they loved it!

Yes, I did photoshop in hats on the boys' parts.  They'll thank me later!

Somebody was pretty psyched to be a big guy like his big brother

And here are the boys side-by-side at 8 months.  Just to be different, Caden is on the left and Asher on the right (just kidding, that's what I always do!).  

I think Asher has really changed a lot in the last month. He's turning into such a little man!  He's getting close to crawling but isn't quite there yet (that's a lot of mass to move!).  He gets up on all fours and rocks, but he can't figure out how to move; however, I expect that by his 9 month update he'll be on the go.  

Basher, you're getting too big, too fast for your old Mama (which, by the way, you're saying.  You just don't mean me yet!). I'm trying my best (and succeeding very well, if I do say so myself) to enjoy every little moment with you.  You instantly steal the hearts of everyone you meet.  Today at church you had a line of ladies wanting to hold you!  You smiled and cooed at all of them, but I'm happy to report that only Mommy could fix it when you were tired and wanted to snuggle.  Slow down just a teensy bit, will you big guy?