Christmas Recap

Christmas Tree Hunting 2012 - One of our favorite holiday traditions...

Charlie managed to scrape enough snow together to make himself a snowball

Trouble!!

family picture by our tree before cutting it down

Decking the Halls...

unwrapping our nativity pieces

(makes mommy VERY nervous!)

Emanuel and Charlie "helping" with the tree garland

Charlie's tree outside his room with all his ornaments

Ben's mid winter's nap

He was quite content lying on the floor 

looking at the tree lights before falling asleep.

the boys after Christmas Eve Mass

Christmas morning - that smile says it all!

Ben might have been a little overwhelmed...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Charlie and Ben!

I know we are a couple days late, but that's how we roll lately! Life has been insanely busy and we have much that we should update you on, so hopefully in the coming days and weeks we will have many more posts. We are doing well and the boys are great. We wish you all the best this holiday season. Thank you for continuing to follow us on here. May this next year bring you much love, friendship, and happiness. 

Daytona Beach

There is something very surreal about having a beach day with sun and sand all while listening to Christmas carols on the radio. We had a very special day though and Charlie had a great time taking full advantage of everything beachy!

nap time to the sound of waves

awesome sand castle with Daddy

proud builders with their finished product

Sheri and baby Blake!!

Grammy cuddling with Ben

running from the water

Think he's having fun?

:-)

Charlie footprints in the sand...

Disney World: Day 2

Our second Disney day we headed to Disney Studios bright and early (by sleep deprived vacation standards) to have breakfast with some of our Disney Junior friends. Charlie was definitely a little taken aback by how big they were in real life but he recovered in time to collect signatures and get pictures taken. 

smiles on the shuttle bus :-)

Charlie and his hero, Jake

June from Little Einsteins - another favorite!

Daddy and Special Agent Oso went through the 

"3 special steps" for taking a photo together 

 - resulting in this great pic! :-)

Handy Manny was super nice and came back to see us a 

second time because Charlie was too nervous the first time around.

Funny faces with Daddy while shopping :-)

Disney World: Day 1

Amid all the typical holiday time chaos, we also took a trip to Florida to meet our new nephew and cousin and to see Grammy and Grandpa D'Angelo's new home. We made a stop by Disney for a couple days since we were in the neighborhood! :-) It was a great time!

Two boys who should have been very sleepy as 

we had just arrived at our hotel hours past their 

typical bedtime. The Disney Magic was too 

much for them to miss though!

We had lunch with Pooh and all his friends at Magic Kingdom.

After some initial hesitation, Charlie was super excited!

Ben didn't even seem to question the logic 

behind giant stuffed creatures stopping to say hello....

Such a great smile on my big boy!

The conversation a few minutes before this was taken went a little like this...

DAD: Charlie, you want to go up to the buffet and pick out a cookie for dessert?

CHARLIE: Ummmmmm..... ok. But Mommy, if Tigger comes to our table, you YELL for me!!!

My little musician getting his drum beat groove on while we waited in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride

He rode Dumbo... Three times.

Grammy and Grandpa

Stopping for a photo op while collecting signatures

Goofy is GREAT at peek-a-boo!

Ben did great chilling in his seat as we traveled through the park

Cinderella's castle all lit up for Christmas

4 months

Monday marked Ben turning 4 months old. Its hard to believe its been 4 months already, but it also seems like its been so much longer than 4 months - - strange, right?? He is getting to be such a boy. The past couple of weeks he has taken on a chubbier appearance - which with Charlie. always meant a growth spurt was right around the corner. He's already so big, that its hard to imagine another jump in his growth. People who ask how old he is are already shocked when we tell them he's only 4 months. He's such a sweet boy though. He has learned that he loves to be picked up and held and will often start crying just to get this treatment. He eats like a champ and is a great sleeper. He's still having some reflux problems, but we will FINALLY be getting him into the GI specialist on Friday. Hopefully they can give us some help since I feel like we've tried most everything at this point without any real change. And now, though we haven't spotted any progress, he's showing all the signs that he is probably teething. He is not rolling yet - there's a whole lot of baby there to move in order to roll! :-) But he loves standing up (with support of course) and has recently started using the bouncer. He is super observant and aware of everything around him all the time. He has also recently developed an amazing belly laugh that is just music to anyone's ears. He is so easy going and lovable. Cannot wait for all the exciting times coming in the next couple of months!

(I had a mini photo assistant on this one, in case you
couldn't tell! He loves his little brother like crazy!)

Green Lakes and Fall Photos: Round 2

Fall is such an amazing time of year around here and I LOVE taking fall photos. We had a beautiful day last week and I took the boys out to Green Lakes for some fall photos. I promised Charlie a stop at the playground if he cooperated. I think the results were worth the bribery!