Busy and thankful.

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday and sadly I didn't get a chance to write anything that day.  We had a great day at my grandma's house, complete with Charlotte getting shut in the pantry and then saying through her tears "I want to live at Granny Great's!"  The food was amazing.  Everything just turned out so perfectly.  I'm serious, when that turkey came out of the oven I about burst into tears.  It was a thing of beauty.  Good work Mom!  And of course we were all very thankful.  Court and I sat at the rowdy table where some of the conversation was questionable, but fun!

The busy ones in our house have been Charlotte and Victoria, both working on some new skills.  

On Monday morning I made the spur of the moment decision to potty train Charlotte.  Today is Saturday, and I'd say she is officially potty trained.  It was surprisingly easy and fun--mostly because of the funny conversations I've had while hanging out in the bathroom with my 2 year old.  She has only had a handful of accidents and there have only been a couple of tears shed.  She gets 3 mini marshmallows for doing her business, and when she graduates from the little potty to the big people potty she will get a new My Little Pony. 

Victoria has been getting closer and closer to full-fledged walking.  She isn't even 9 months old yet!  I've seen her take about 10 steps at one time.  She is very careful and measured about walking.  She takes a step, regains her balance, then takes a couple more, etc.  She can even pivot mid-walk and go a different direction.  She is most brave when there are two objects she can walk between, like the piano bench and the couch.  Her balance is so great.  She is a busy kid, and for the most part entertains herself with the toys and the pets and the remote control.  She also can say a few "words".  They are very rudimentary but I know what she's talking about!  She says "oh yeah?" which is something I say A LOT.  She says "da" for dog.  She was trying to say kitty yesterday.  She of course says "dada" and "mama" and she can make a big sloppy kiss sound when you ask her for a smooch.

Today I have been listening to Christmas music and getting out our decorations.   We don't have room for our Christmas tree in this house which is kind of sad, so I'm trying to deck out every other surface that I can.  The tree was going to go in the downstairs family room, but we decided to put Peter in the downstairs family room instead.  Ho ho ho!  I made a Santa Claus painting last night at Sister/Cousin Craft Night that I'm pretty proud of.  I'm going to make another something to go with it and then I'll probably post pictures.  It's pretty killer.  I love this cheesy Christmas music.  Takes me right back to my sequined days of high school.  Aah.

I didn't do the best job of documenting all who were there.  In fact, there was a certain teenage boy cousin of mine who I'm sure was there but I didn't see him at all.  Weird.

Charlotte and Wyatt--Gimme some space man!  I'm trying to use the facilities.

Kristen and Ashley are so pretty.

Jesse and Freddie--I love how Freddie actually looks like Kristen in this picture.

Charlotte and Sam--Sam is our family's version of Napoleon Dynamite.  He is freakin awesome.

Charlotte and Henry--Avert your eyes from Henry's nostril.  Made you look.

Victoria and Court.  I don't see the resemblance that every one else is talking about.  Okay, okay.  I do.

Thankful for my man!

Beautiful Amy and Charlotte

2 Things of Beauty