After School Pick-up

Sam made some snazzy masks around Halloween.  Charlotte graciously wore her's once she saw Sam wearing one.  Also, note the apple.

Cousins

Thanksgiving

We try and keep them on the same side but Charlotte kept taking off and standing on the OTHER side of Livy.  It was hilarious.

The Statue and the Goof 

Grandma's Visit

Jeremy's mom had planned coming down for Charlotte's birth but ended up not being able to make it last minute.  So she made up for it and stayed with us for 2 weeks over Charlotte's first birthday.  Those two were quite the pair!  Charlotte warmed up to her right away and even took her first steps the FIRST day Grandma watched her!

It was so precious to hear her laugh and laugh at Charlotte's grin.

Oh, the markers.  She finally figured out how to open them a few weeks ago and they are now off-limits.

For a while there she ALWAYS had markers in her hands.  We'd take them away to put her to bed, show her that they were by the door (for when she woke up) and she'd go right for them when she got up.  

Cheeeeeese!

UPDATED:
I totally missed it, Grandma left a comment a while back:

 Grandma said...

Grandma Lepper enjoyed coming from Arizona for two weeks and had fun with the girls. The visit was scheduled so I would be there for Charlotte's first birthday. Kimberly had a schedule written out so Grandma could do her best to keep to Charlotte's routine and to be there when Charlotte took her first steps. Grandma kept a daily log about Charlotte's busy days-- some of them were more than two pages long! Of course that was the only thing Grandma had to do, until we picked Samantha up from school! The day that it was raining was interesting--how to keep the girls dry in the stroller, while Grandma frantically pushed the stroller home. If I had looked there was large umbrellas in the entry closet. The couch in the basement was very comfortable. I'm short enough that the length of the couch was perfect. I should have brought back the feather pillow with me. I'm fond of feather pillows. I was to fly back home the ninth--due to flight times being pushed back, it meant I could stay the night at Lincoln airport or Denver. There were three customers trying to figure out how they could get th their destination that evening. Third time at the counter the young lady told me about a flight for Friday. Thank goodness Jeremy was able to come get me from the airport. At least I then had a comfortable place to sleep besides the airport. Love to all and I'll miss seeing the girls grow day by day

The Pink Sisters

Samantha and I recently had a "date" and visited the Pink Sisters.  This is a big deal for them as they are a contemplative order and spend most of their time in silence.  They LOVE seeing all the kids.

Samantha is at this faze (please be a faze) where she gets really excited about something and then as the moment approaches she gets very cautious and observant.

And clingy.  The closer we got the closer she got.

Then, right as it was her turn she turned into this weird crazy ball of sounds and refused to speak words until I got down to her level and..well, I don't remember what I said, but I got her to stop.  Seriously, it was weird and kind of embarrassing.  The poor nuns didn't know what to think and were looking at me for "cues" as to how to talk to her.  I was as dumbfounded as they were so I just started talking to them.  

When we got to the LAST sister in line she finally showed her true self and was so sweet, talkative and asked them to pray for a baby brother for her and for her migraines to go and stay away.

Then we went for ice cream.  Because why not?

Impossible to get anything but a hand-shot with this one!

Apples

Charlotte l.o.v.e.s. apples.  Seriously, she SAID "apple" before "mama" and "dada" (heck, she STILL doesn't say "mama" but will walk into the kitchen and demand an "abpuh").  For a while now I've just been able to give her a whole one and let her go at it.  That's one advantage to being an early teether!

Do you two need a room?

See that apple there?  There are always 3/4 eaten apples like that literally collecting dust all over the living room and car.  

Signing-Roll

Recently the whole signing/communicating gig "clicked" with Charlotte and she follows me and Jeremy around with her signing books yelling at us until we read them to her 15 times.  I'll never forget the evening when I sat on the couch and as I read one to her she carefully watched me, then would look at the book and then me again as I signed them and pointed and helped her "practice".  After about 5 times through one particular book she had 1/2 of them down and she was SO proud of herself and actually performed for Samantha.  This is a big deal as Charlotte is NOT a performer.  She'll do something only if it pertains to the situation, but NOT when mommy asks.

So, that is why this video is such a big deal.  I got her to perform.  On camera.  With Samantha as a "translator".  She has a few more signs she can do, but I decided not to push my luck!  It was so hard not to squeal with excitement and call Jeremy over (which would have shut down the performance instantly).

So here you have it:

Please

Thank you

All done

More

Hat

Dog

Cat

Book

Apple

Bird (that was the first time she'd done it!)

Bye-Bye

Missing:
Baby (I swear she can do it and does it so well)
Down
Dada
Eat
Drink
Bath-time
Swing
Help
Phone
Hot

Asking for help

A Guide to Disney Princesses

Elsa 

Pocahontas 

Tiana...with a shirt that is WAY too big.

Inseperable

Cousins

Way back at the end of August.  Still only one walker.

The level of excitement these two reach when they see each other at each gathering is way beyond adorable.

Olivia would stand up and "run" and Charlotte would start her "scoot back while sitting" routine.

But then Olivia got all confused and would come back to "inspect" Charlotte.

"Hey, look what I can do!"

"Hey I can too- oh, wait, were we done doing that already?"

She finally realized that Charlotte wasn't ABLE to walk and so came back and sat thisclose to her.

Chillin.

Starting to run and going in crazy back-up-mode again.

They so desperately wanted to be outside with the big-kids.  Note who is taller!

All the cousins!

Spiders

This year has been CRAZY for spiders in our neighborhood.  They were not inside, just outside, but they'd make these HUGE webs.  They were beautiful, but made it very hard to use the garage (covering 1/2 of the doorway!!) or the deck (the whole doorway would be blocked) or the swingset (from one-end to the other, I'm not exaggerating) or walk under a tree (from one random leaf to the grass).  It was insane.  Samantha eventually learned to look where she was walking and to find a stick to "clean" the playground before she played on it.  I, personally, learned a LOT from watching them.  This kind was super-fast at making webs.  We'd watch them "fix" their webs while we ate dinner or just check-up on them if they were in an out-of-the-way spot.

Such concentration...I loved the toes!

What, I have a web?  What?

Bookworms

Although they are almost three months old, these picture still ring true to how 80% of down-time is spent for the girls.  Samantha reading Baby-Blues and Charlotte snuggled up somewhere with her "B" (means both "book" and "binky")

New Career

Jeremy and I have been discussing for YEARS now what Jeremy was going to do after youth ministry.  Most youth ministers last 2 years.  He finished with 14 under his belt.  We were ready to move on. With a growing family, it was getting harder and harder to juggle the out-side of the office commitment that is required. However, the HUGE looming question just hung in the air for years.

What would he do next?

It was quite the ordeal, with lots of roadblocks, but- like it always happens- the road that we took ended up happening almost too easily.  Jeremy kept trying to apply at one particular place and kept getting rejected, only to have another place CALL HIM and ask him for his resume.  Then they offered him the job THE SAME DAY of the interview.  The hours are 8-5, the pay is exactly what his previous two jobs combined here (he was working part-time at my high-school as a tech assistant).  There's room to grow, and although he was really uneasy about starting something in a completely different field, he l.o.v.e.s. it.  Seriously, I get texts almost every day about how crazy work is and how much he loves it.  What is it?  Desk-top help.  The details are "ho hum" but it's like God created a job and said, "I shall call this job ".  

Anyway, the downside currently is that he's a contracted position, so that means no benefits. And a contract that has to be "renewed' every few months.  Which means NO flexibility for time off (one of the HUGE benefits to his previous two jobs).  Plus there's the whole learning to live on a weekly paycheck of hourly pay vs monthly paycheck of salary pay.  But, we've been blessed with great health so far this semester and have only needed me to stay home twice.  

And even though he doesn't have any days off like he used to (snow-days and holy days) he says he actually feels more relaxed due to being able to come home and be "off" and having two full consecutive days "off" every week.  It's been an amazing change and we feel so blessed.  It's also a huge relief that we didn't realize was there- not knowing what was next.  But here we are!

One of the last Sundays with donuts with the teens!

Zoo 2014

Ok so I think it's pretty well known now that I really don't do the zoo thing.  The smells are just too much.  So it's become Jeremy's thing.  This year he went with the Hnosko kids and father as well.  These three spent a LOT of time together this summer!

I don't know what was going on in these (honestly, I'd forgotten that this event happened until I was looking for picture to post to catch up here.)

So, sans captions, here they are: