potty progress

A little update on Charlotte's potty training progress: she is pretty much done -- the promised Christmas gift from daycare!

Apart from being excited about flushing...
















...her favorite parts were:

reading books...

...and cheering herself on, happily chanting

"Go Charlotte,

go Charlotte" ;-)

the pack

Charlotte loves to be where baby Noey is. (In fact, she wants to play in his room most of the time.) And Penny, being the good herding dog she is, wants to be where her kids are... so we find this pack of three quite often together ;-)

snow day!

One of
the great things about seasons, are snow days.






The first snow of the winter season shut down DC today... With government offices and many others closed, we all enjoyed a day at home together mid-week ;-)

So we went on a winter walk: Charlotte went sledding for the first time and wanted to do it again & again, Noah bundled up and enjoyed snoozing in the fresh air, and Penny loved running and rolling through the snow. And we all built a snowman together before heading back inside for some hot cocoa.

A big high five for a wonderful winter day!

noah, noah what do you see?

I see a big bear standing right in front of me!

Noah, 3 1/2 months

brown bear, brown bear what do you see?

I see a little baby bear lying in front of me!

Noah, first week

spooky

After we picked out our pumpkins at the farm, Charlotte "carved" her first jack-o-lantern this year.

"We" drew the design on it together, scooped out the seeds and cut the face out.

When we asked her what expression the pumpkin face should have: spooky or funny, she chose SPOOOOOKY -- of course ;-)

Good job, Charlotte!

take your pick

Apart from crazy summer heat & humidity, and some already freezing winter temperatures... we have very much enjoyed the beauty and variety of seasons in the past months.






























In October, we had a wonderful day out on "our" local farm that we already visited in July to bring home some peaches and blackberries. This time, we went to pick apples and pumpkins.













Charlotte had fun eating apples and looking for the prettiest pumpkin, but she LOVED playing in the haystack best. Noah enjoyed some scenic al fresco dining in the apple orchard and pumpkin patch ;-)

milestones

Although he still raises an eyebrow at the thought of it, Noah has become a pro at tummy time and really enjoys it for long periods now.






No surprise...

... with all the good company, fun entertainment and loving encouragement he gets from his sisters!





And after rolling from his stomach back onto his back for the first time this Saturday -- much to his delight, Noah is excited to do more :-)

giving thanks

We started a Thanksgiving tradition over the past month -- every day, Charlotte "filled out" a HAPPY card (as she calls it) that we put onto our 'Giving Thanks' tree.

It will be great fun to review these over the years with the kids during the Thanksgiving meal. Here are some of our favorites from Charlotte's gratitude at 2 1/2 years old.

Not surprisingly, she often painted what she dearly loves (Rosa, Noah and the rest of the family), recently experienced (Halloween, friends we saw), or is currently learning/ occupied with (new words, puzzles, geometric shapes, potty training) -- Charlotte's world, so to speak.

Daddy was a bit disappointed though that he was dropped off the list one day in favor of pullups and underwear...
Mama luckily made the cut ;-) Another day, Daddy was however one of the select few -- together with hexagon!

For our part, we are thankful this year for two healthy & happy children, a sweet sweet doggie that loves them dearly, and our new family home.

four seasons!

Talking about the change of seasons with us and at daycare, Charlotte has been very excited about Fall:

On walks she noticed how the leaves change color and fell off the trees, loved to collect them, and had great fun jumping through piles of them. Charlotte was also thrilled to get her first pair of rain boots and her very own umbrella -- because jumping through puddles (and dipping your hair into it...) is even more fun.

Now that we live in a four-seasons climate again, Charlotte can't wait for snow to come so that she can go sledding. After all, we have continued to read her favorite Christmas book throughout the year ;-)

siblings

For those of you confused by the last post:

No, Noah did not already start sitting at 3 months old.

No, we did not photoshop the picture.

No, we do not put him in dresses and tights ;-)

Yes, those were snapshots of baby Charlotte that we discovered in the archives.

And YES, our babies totally look alike!

We are already curious what Noah will look like when he's 2 1/2 years old. And if he'll have the same devious laugh like big sister Charlotte - ouch!

We should do a 2011 vs 2013 quiz sometime...

ball

So, yeah, this might as well be Noah in a few months...