You are the sweetest..

I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU! to those of you who still peek in on my blog, during my abscence of posting. :) That makes me smile..thank you all!
When I finally do get back on here I will have a lot to update..there have been a lot of changes and stories to tell. :)
Happy weekened to you!
xo
Charin

First kiss :)

I just had to share, today when I went home on lunch I puckered up to give Colin a kiss and he reached over with both arms and pulled me to him and kissed me, right on the mouth :)
Awwwwww :) Can't believe my sweet boy will be 7 months old tomorrow!
I can't wait until my silly computer is working again, I need to share pictures of my beautiful babies. :)

Front page news...

So I am still without a computer at home, but this was worth sneaking a quick post on a different computer today...our local newspaper had a front page article saying that our local fair purchased *Michael Jackson's Ferris Wheel from the Neverland Ranch!!!* Isn't that crazy?! So next week, everyone that goes on there for a ride will be sitting where Michael did. Kinda creepy, even though I adored his music. :)
P.S. Jessica, I thought you might be interested in hearing about that! ;)

I'm still alive, promise :)

I have not been on here in SOO long! Things have been completely crazy and I have lots to share when I have time...and also when I get my home computer fixed, as it has decided to crash. ;)
Miss you, sweet blog friends! :)
P.S. I was asked out by a 50 year old today..awkward!

Uh oh!

Katie and I were in the checkout line at Wal*Mart this evening and Katie kept sneaking glances behind us. :) After a few minutes she said "Mama, there's a kid!" and I told her that it was a boy, not a "kid" haha :)
Anyway, this cute little boy said hi to Katie and she said hi back (while blushing a little bit and hiding behind her hands) :)
He smiled, she giggled, and then he tickled her on the cheek. She giggled LOTS more, and said "You silly boy!" and kept straining to see him while I was putting the bags in the cart.
When we had to leave she said "Bye boy!" and he said bye to her too...once we got out to our car she said "Where's the boy?" so I told her that he had to stay with his Daddy. ;)
We were pulling into our carport when Katie said "Where's the boy?! I gotta show Daddy!" :) :)
HAHA!!! :) Way too young to be bringing boys home to meet Daddy, sister! ;)
I thought all had been forgotten until just a few minutes ago, I was rocking her and reading her bedtime stories when she said "Mama? That boy...he tickled me...so silly!" "Where's the boy? I like him! I gotta tell him nite nite" :)
And then....she whispered "I love you, boy!"
True story. Did I mention that he had to be at least 6 or 7?? She likes older men. :)

Wish list :)

All of this from Pottery Barn...don't care that it's for teens :)

These cute paintings by Elsie :) A gumball machine...for my living room! Oh yes :)
This adorable apron, minus the garter and gloves! haha
Lots of cute cardigans, even though it's not close to Fall
This adorable hat for Colin :)

What are some favorite internet finds of yours lately? :)

baby*baby :)

Here are some *much* overdue pictures of Katie and Colin from the past month-ish! :)
We have been so busy that I haven't taken nearly as many as I'd like...especially of Katie, because I can't take them of her late at night when things settle down like I can with Colin. ;) He doesn't mind if I'm snapping pictures of him after 11 at night :)
They are both growing SO fast, it's hard to believe that she's almost 2 1/2 and he's three months old now!
Here are some new things in Katie's world..
*She is loving when I break out her flash cards. And she's doing such a great job with them! I have a set that's for ages 4-6 and she got 50 our of 53 right the first time ever! So proud of her :) She's been mentioning "school" quite a bit lately, so I've been working with her on pre-school books that we have thanks to Aunt Jessica :)

*Every single night Katie wants me to read three books while I'm rocking her to sleep (yep, I still rock her to sleep. :) I didn't want to make her give that up after Colin was born..it's my time just with her and I think we both treasure that) :) we always read The Going to Bed Book, and a WonderPets and Blues Clues night time book :) Kevin can't help but laugh when he's in the room and Katie has decided on a random book that she'd rather read instead. I always make up and ending, because normally it will be saying something like "The frong jumped over the rock to play!" and I add "and then he lays down, and he goes night nightttt" haha :)

*She has been keeping an eye on her toes, and when the polish starts to wear off she says "pink, Mama! Paint them!" :)

*She is still doing an absolutely wonderful job of being a big sister :) She's always helping with him, and keeps him entertained when I have my hands full :)
She has even named one of her tiniest baby dolls Colin, and I've caught her "nursing" that baby a few times :)

*She has decided that when she's in the bathtub, she's a mermaid :) She giggled for a long time last night when I said "Come over here, little mermaid! Let me wash your hair" :) Or she'll say "I'm a mermaid! I gotta swim" :) :)

And here are some new things with Colin..

*First of all, he is sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!! I can not tell you how happy that makes me. :) He started at 11 weeks old and has been going strong, except for a few exceptions. I love that he is such an easy baby, so completely sweet and perfect :)

*He weighs 17 lbs now! :) I love that. He has the cutest squishy cheeks and legs :)
He actually weighs over half of what Katie does :)
(My Mom said that I make buttermilk. haha)

*He's starting to play a lot more. We have a toy bar on his swing that he'll kick at, and I love to watch him. He'll raise one eyebrow and I can tell that he's concentrating so hard! :)

*He's starting to talk a lot to us :) My favorite..I love when I first come home from work and pick him up and he looks at me and starts smiling and cooing :)

*He still only cries if he's needing something..can I say again what a sweet little boy he is? :) :)

I miss this girl already

I miss my sister Jessica so much already! ;) It's been a week since I said good bye for her to move to Alaska...I miss being able to see her whenever I want to. :) The last couple of weeks before her move I was over at her house about 3 or 4 times a week and I loved it :) :)
Kevin took these pictures of us on her last night in Arkansas and I'm so glad that we have them. :)
P.S. I will back soon with lots and lots and lots and LOTS of new pictures of my babies! :)

Best finale ever! :)

Did you watch last night? :) I loved it, I think that was the best finale I've ever seen from AI! :)
I'm so happy for Kris...I loved him *almost* as much as I love Adam. ;)

P.S. My blog will be going back to "normal" again soon...It's been neglected lately.
I have been trying to soak up all the free time I can with my sweet sister and my nephews who are moving to ALASKA this Friday!! :( I am going to miss them sooooo much...I've been in denial about the whole thing, I think. ;)
I'm happy for her family though, because her husband got a great job and they'll get to experience a whole different culture. But Alaska seems way too far away right now. :(

WOW

Read about this amazing baby girl here...Kayleigh's Story
P.S. Crystal, I saw this on your blog and I'm so glad I did!

Happy Mother's Day!! :)

I saw this poem on this Mama's blog and this postcard on postsecret and thought they were beautiful :) Being a Mama really is the greatest thing in the world! Happy Mother's Day!



Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.


Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.


Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.


Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.


Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.


Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

Cuteness from Katie :)

I just wanted to share a few of my favorite things that Katie has said lately...she is such a silly girl!! :)
The other day I walked past our cat's food bowl and had a piece of cat food stuck to my foot. I said "Ewww, Katie! What's on the bottom of Mama's foot?" and she looked at it and frowned, then said "crackers!" :)
For some reason that just really really made me laugh, so she started laughing too. Except she didn't know *why* she was laughing, so she looked around to see what could be so funny. She looked at the computer and saw a picture of shoes that I had pulled up and said "Oh, Golly! Shoes!" and giggled some more. :) :) :)

And just now, as she's watching her Daddy mow the back yard, she said "Hey! That's my house!" when she thought he was getting a little too close. :) :)

Charin's a *bad* blogger!! :)

I have been away from here for too long! It has just been sooo busy...but I will be back soon. :) :)
Hope your week is going well! :)
Charin

My beautiful boy! :)

I got the pictures back from jclare studios today, I had to share! :) These are the two that I bought digital negatives of, so I can make prints for family and friends...there's lots more but you would have to come to house to see them. hehe :)
I can't get over how much Colin has already grown! These were taken at 2 weeks old, and he's 7 weeks old now..gosh, it goes by so fast!
He's smiling a lot now, laughing for us once in awhile, staying awake *lots* more during the day (and night! haha) and just melting my heart. :)

I also wanted to thank all of you for your sweet words about going back to work this week..it was tough leaving Colin and Katie behind after being with them 24-7 but I'm doing ok. :) I had 600 e-mails to read at work and lots of changes in the bank to catch up on so that helped the time go by quickly! :)
Katie had the *best* time staying with my sister too! Up until yesterday Katie and I had been over at her house every day for 6 days, so Katie was really getting used to spending lots of time with her Aunt Jessica and "boys" (cousins Jathan and Jared) :)
Yesterday Kevin was back to his normal work schedule so he enjoyed having both babies home with him...I think he was a little nervous about how it was going to be having two to care for but of course he did great :) and so did they.

Well, I am going to finish baking some turtle and snickerdoodle cookies, mmmmmm! And get Katie ready for bed.
I hope to back soon with lots of scrappy pages to share! :) I got the CUTEST stuff from Scrapbook Addiction and some really cute tags from Shabby Chic Crafts that I can't wait to use. :) And Albert and Veronica from Shabby Chic Crafts sent along a stash of little boy tags and icons for me to use, they are so sweet! I can't wait to play with them . :)
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Charin

Over way too soon :(

I can't believe that my maternity leave is over, and that Colin is 6 weeks old already! :( Gosh, this time has just *flown* by!!
I have really loved being home with Colin and Katie and spending so much time just being with them without a crazy schedule rushing me and dictating what happens when. ;)
But it will be nice to have a paycheck coming again! :)
I know that I'm going to be sad tomorrow, and will probably shed a tear or too.
It's going to be a long day, I won't be able to see them on my lunch break like I normally would either because Kevin's working day shift (an odd occurence!) so they will be staying with their Aunt Jessica (who they absolutely lovvvvveee!) :) several towns over...too far away to drive on lunch.
Man, I sound whiney don't I? :)
I will just miss them!
I'm going to get some things ready for tomorrow before bed so I will just leave you with my cute boys face :)
Back soon!
Charin

Happy Easter! :)

Moreover, Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures;
(I Corinthians 15: 1-4 King James Version)
Enjoy your free gift this Easter! ;)

Family :)

I found this article on simple mom and loved it, wanted to share. :)
As a young Mama I think it's so important to develop our own routines and traditions for our family...it's something that I am constantly thinking about and wanting to improve on. (Note to self, spend less nights eating dinner in the living room and more at the kitchen table!) :)

Here's the article from their site, hope you enjoy it too. :)

Every Friday, no matter how hectic or stressful the week has been, my husband and I have a ritual to celebrate the weekend’s start. We crack open a bottle of wine, plug in the iPod to its speakers, and roll up our sleeves in the kitchen. I make dough for the pizza crust, and my husband chops, sautees, and grates the toppings.

In the spring and summer, we open the kitchen door that leads to our balcony, where we have a view of the bay, the kids playing in the courtyard, and the evening breeze. The sauce I made in bulk has thawed, and because we work together, dinner takes 30 minutes max to prepare.

Our four-year-old daughter enjoys topping the rolled out dough with sauce, cheese, and veggies, and the baby plays with the Leap Frog fridge phonics. While the pizza bakes, we whip up a simple salad. Our background symphony is anything from Jack Johnson, to Sufjan Stevens, to Coldplay, to Mozart, to Ella Fitzgerald, to The Shins.

We then sit down to eat, either at the dining table, or on the balcony. Oftentimes, we end with a simple dessert and coffee, and when the kids go down, my husband and I break out a board game.

It’s a great start to the weekend.

The Importance of Family Rituals
This little tradition of ours isn’t complex or costly, and it takes no advanced planning (except for the pizza sauce, which I’d make anyway, for dinner). But it’s something we all look forward to, and it’s become a little something that says “home” to us.

Kids love traditions and family rituals, because it fosters a sense of belonging and security. They also thrive on routine, so rituals only add to that need.

Adults who work outside the home can really benefit from a simple family tradition to look forward to on the ride home. And adults who work inside the home can anticipate that ritual as something to mark the end of a work day. I know I do.

Don’t Wait for a Holiday
Sure, those Labor Day barbecues or Thanksgiving backyard football games are great. But don’t wait for those holidays on the calendar to create a family ritual. Make traditions part of your family culture, and celebrate them often. Make it part of your family’s mission statement.


Photo by Rosana Prada

Here are a few tips for creating that tradition of yours:
• Keep it simple. That way you’ll do it regularly.

• Keep it inexpensive. That way, you’ll look forward to it, instead of letting financial anxiety build up.

• Include the whole family. If your husband doesn’t enjoy cooking, make it a popcorn-and-movie tradition. Or if your kids are too young to enjoy Trivial Pursuit, make it a weekly walk to the park.

• Do it regularly. Monthly is great; weekly is even better. By definition, a ritual is done often.

• Make it fun. I say either make it relaxing, or make it active. Veg with a Netflix rental, or hike the nearby trails.

• Make it true down time. Turn off the cell phones and laptops, and don’t talk business.

Chances are, you already have some sort of family tradition. And if not, there’s a bourgeoning one within your troops, and you only need to make a concrete plan. Do something fun as a family over the next few days, and who knows - maybe you’ll start doing it each weekend.

He's SO going to win! :)

TEAM ADAM!!
Soooo did you see Adam's performance on American Idol last night? :) :) He is SUCH a good singer!! Man!
I text my vote in for him every week. ;)
And Simon giving him a standing ovation?!? I don't think that's ever happened on the show before! :)
The guys are so strong this year. Who's your favorite?

We're girls, Mama!!

Katie saw my pink nail polish bottle sitting on the coffee table from my pedi the other night and she said "toes, Mama?" :) I love that she wanted me to paint her little toes..then fingers. Then she looked at my bare fingers and said (For real!!) "We're girls, Mama!" and handled me the bottle for me to paint my fingers. :)
Silly little girl! :)

New Years Eve plans ;)

Well, I don't know about you but I've been invited to a New Years Eve party in London by one of my favorite singers. :) Darren Hayes..you know, from Savage Garden. ;)
I had to tell him I regretfully couldn't make it. Haha :)
The truth is he sent an invite to everyone that's on his friends list on Myspace, but it was still funny to receive a personal invite from him. ;)





New Years Eve With Darren Hayes
Posted By:
Darren Hayes



Hosted By:
Darren Hayes






When:
Thursday, Dec 31, 2009 7:00 PM



Where:
CLUB COLOSSEUM
1 NINE ELMS LANE
London
SW8 5NQ
View Map

Already? :(

I can't believe that I will be back at work next week! More than that, I can't believe that Colin will be 6 weeks old this Thursday! Unbelievable how fast time flies.
I'm really going to miss being with my babies 24-7, I have loved being a "stay at home Mommy" :) I'm sure eventually I would miss work..I do have a great job that I'm very thankful for. But for now it just seems way too soon to be going back.
I have a long to-do list pegged where my work schedule normally goes, and it's filled with things that I want to do in the coming week before getting back on a strict schedule. Some of them are boring necessities and some are just for fun, like being sure to take Katie to the park at least once. ;)
I'm marking some off of the list tonight, even though I should be resting up since I'm trying to fight off an infection. ;) (One of the not-so-great side effects of nursing!)
Here's to a great week!
Charin

She's so so so silly :)

*She likes to say that her Mama is so so so so so silly :)
*She has started saying "Are you serious?!" when people are telling her things
*She has called myself and her Daddy "blockheads" a few times. Thanks a lot, Charlie Brown! ;)
*She has been getting out of her bed and coming into our room (or the living room if we're still up) every night at about midnight. She is always carrying her bedspread with her and saying "Heyyyyyyy!" when she sees us. That usually means that she winds up sleeping in our bed the rest of the night. I'm not quite sure how to work on that one, since a lot of nights Kevin is gone and I have Colin to take care of too. She doesn't go along with the "go back to bed, Katie" routine. :)
*She is finally starting to get interested in potty training! :) She hasn't actually gone yet, but she's sitting on the potty a lot, which she wouldn't do before
*She says "Go Mama, go Mama!!" when I get out of bed after she's been saying "Mama, get up!!!" early in the morning :) I think that's so funny...if she's going to drag me out of bed at least she's encouraging. :)
*Says "Katie wants you. Colin. Daddy! (Or Mama)" When she wants one of us to hold Colin...she hasn't quite figured out how to word it yet. :)
*Still loves her brother soooo much. :) She gives him lots of kisses and snuggles every day. :)

Look who's smiling! :)

Colin gave me his very first smiles today, right when I was snapping pictures!! :) :)
Made me so happy :) I'm so glad I have his first grin on camera! :)
Speaking of pictures, these loaded in an odd order..but it's midnight and I'm too tired to fix it. ;)
We got back today from an overnight trip at my friend Magan's house, it was so much fun. We ate yummy food, watched Fireproof (really great movie!) and the kids played on the swingset and colored the sidewalk and each other's hair with chalk :)
(And I had to share my little Colin's cute tiny feet, I snapped that picture the other night)
Good night! :) :)
Charin

My day

*Taking a trip to my Mother-In-Law's school to show off my little Colin :) Getting completely soaked...not the best day for a road trip! ;)
*Coming back home and immediately changing into pj's...at 4 in the afternoon! haha
*Noticing how big Colin is getting and how much he's starting to hold his head up and wanting to spend time looking around instead of sleeping :)
*Putting Katie's new Dora the Explorer bedding on her big girl bed that got put together today (go Daddy!) Hoping that she sleeps the night with the change in bed :) She was really excited about seeing it built and she started kissing her bedding when I put it on. Silly girl! :)
*Pricing items for the yard sale that my sister and I are having in a few weeks. I'll be sooo glad to de-clutter our house! :) Speaking of which, if you are local and have children she and I are both selling tons of kids stuff..I'm selling lots of Katie's clothes and she has lots of books and toys for sale :)
*Cooking the ultimate southern comfort food, cheese grits :) and drinking a Pepsi while I eat them...ooopsie. I shouldn't be drinking Pepsi, I know..but it's so good! :)
*Cleaning and thinking about how much more cleaning I have to do ;)
*Calling my best friend Magan and planning a trip to see her next week! Can't wait :)
*Blogging about really random things :) :)

Silly silly boy :) :)

Pictures of my silly boy and his cute face (and feet!) today :)

Today...

*Kissing these sweet faces a million times :)
*Spending time with Katie and Colin in my bedroom while Katie watches Shrek/I fold laundry :)
*Slowly getting this dirty dirty house clean...I have a lot of things that are more fun to be doing! ;)
*Keeping a close eye on my little noonie thief, Katie :) We really need to break her of the pacifier..and I think it's funny that as soon as it leaves Colin's side she's trying to take it :)
*Deciding to spend some time snuggling on the bed with both of them...housework will always be there :)
*Taking nerdy self portraits because...I am a nerd. Basically. :)
*Watching You've Got Mail tonight, love that movie :)
*Planning on photographing a wedding Saturday :)
*Realizing that every single sentence I've written has a smiley face on the end of it..so happy to be this happy these days :)
*Just finding out that my take on the scribble project is featured on their blog!! Eeek! :) Feeling very flattered, and wishing I was about a million times better at drawing :)
*Planning my day tomorrow..and I'm off to go kiss my babies face again :)
Good night!

My heart melted :) :) :)

When I saw this sneak peek of Colin's pictures on JClare Studio's blog today!! :) I can't WAIT to see the rest!!!! :)
Jennifer is my favorite photographer ever :)

I have missed you, scrapbooking!! :)

*sigh* I have missed this soooooo much!! I hadn't scrapbooked a single page since October, crazy!! So happy to be feeling better and back to my old self. :) ( I stayed up till 2 am scrapping, that's proof that I'm obsessed again! haha)
Katie made her Mama feel good about these pages, she said "Ooooh, Mama!! So pretty!" when I was putting them in the album today. :)
I hope your day is a great one! We're busy trying to get things crossed off of our to do lists and spending lots of time snuggling with Katie and Colin. :)
(P.S. He's going to get his first "real" bath today, no more sponge baths because his umbilical cord finally fell off! Yay!!" We'll have pictures to share for sure.) :)

Sooo random :)

I am all about random updates where I post about a little bit of everything...but you've probably noticed that by now. :)
So here goes, ready? :) The lovely Rachel had posted on her blog awhile back about the scribble project and I had a little fun with it last night :) I am *not* a very talented artist, as you can tell. haha :) But it was still fun!


I also wanted to share a few favorites from American Idol this week..who's watching? :) (Danny's a favorite of mine too, but I couldn't find a decent video from this week to upload)
Adam has some serious pipes! :) I think he may be my favorite now, awesome awesome voice :)

Matt. He sounded really great last night!


A few other randoms...
*my baby boy is already two weeks old!!!! Where is the time going? :( I'm so enjoying every little second with him, he's precious :)
*Katie has slept through the night for the past 6 nights, yay! I'm really proud of her for that. Of course, we still haven't put together that toddler bed like I posted we would. I hope she makes that transition ok. ;) (I'm a little jealous of Mama's who can say that their baby slept through the night at three months!)
*My pictures still aren't here. I really really want to scrapbook! :)
*Tomorrow we are going to see my favorite local photographer, Jenn to have Colin's pictures done! I can't wait, she does such a beautiful job. :) And Crystal loaned us the *sweetest* baby cocoon and hats for him to wear, it is going to look so sweet. :)
* I just ran out of time to blog :) Katie's going to bed and Colin's going to be hungry soon. More later! :)
Charin

I was expecting a big envelope of fresh pictures from scrapbookpictures.com to be in the mail tonight and they weren't there...I'm so disappointed because I am really really ready to start scrapbooking again!! Eeek! :) It feels so good to be able to say that, it's been almost a year since I really have. That's just crazy. ;)
I can't wait to start scrapping both of my sweet babies faces :) I am so grateful to finally be *feeling good* again, to where I want to scrapbook!!! :) :) :)
(P.S. I love you scrapbookpictures.com...and I realize that since I just ordered Saturday I really shouldn't expect them in this soon. haha)
That's all for today, I'll leave you with a few more pictures of my little prince. :)