A Christmas Story

Well Christmas has now come and gone and I think all in all it turned out really nice. Charlotte was so much fun. We didn't have a lot of money to buy her stuff but between everyone she got a lot of gifts and she is still pretty small so even one new toy is a big deal to her. We got her a little sesame street laptop computer for babies. She is always pushing the buttons on our computer so she really liked all the buttons. She also got some bath toys, and a few different learning toys. The one thing she got that she really likes is the V_smile Baby. She loves playing with the buttons on the TV and this allows her to play learning games on the TV. I am glad I got it. At first I thought it was kind of a dumb idea, but Jim said she would like it and we could sit and teach her shapes, colors, and words. He was right, she really likes it. Then she made a huge haul from her Grandma. Jim's mom got her a ton of stuff. She bought this little rain forest play center. It is really neat and Charlotte really likes it. She also bought her these dolls collector dolls, clothes, books, and she made her a little Christmas picture frame. She is really talented when it comes to making stuff by hand. Jim always complains about her making us stuff but I like it and the stuff she makes it really cute.Grandpa Dave and Grandma Monya gave Charlotte a 50 dollar savings bond and a cute Christmas ornament. I seriously don't know what we did to deserve those two people. Charlotte loves them so much. Charlotte also got a really cute pink rocking horse from my brother Pete. It is just her size. I thought it was really nice that he did that. I wish I could have done something for him and his his wife. I felt the same way about my two nieces. This was the first year I couldn't do anything for them. I felt so bad. I always tried to make sure they had a good Christmas, but this year we just couldn't do it and it killed me. I know they understand but it still makes me feel bad. I had both of them out here for the day and it was nice. The got Charlotte a little Tigger rug and a cute little handmade blanket. It was really a nice Christmas. I made a huge Christmas dinner. We had Chicken, Ham, and I made my first leg of lamb. It wasn't as good as Kerie's but it did turn out nice. I really wish we had been in London for Christmas, but things just didn't work out. I am determined to get there this year. Jim knows how bad I want to take Charlotte there, so we are looking at maybe Easter or during the summer holiday. I really wish we didn't live so far apart, or at the very least that it didn't cost a small fortune to fly there. I miss all of them so much. Well I think that should cover it. I am glad the holidays are done, but I am happy with the way things turned out. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I posted a Video of Charlotte on Christmas Morning, Take a look, it is below this post.

Charlotte's First Christmas Video

Ho Ho Holidays

OK the Holidays are finally here and I am having a ball with Charlotte. She loves the Christmas tree and the snow. She is now walking on her own. She can walk across the living room without any help. It is so cute! She can now say bubbles (which I believe has to do with her bed time song!) uh oh. Which is so funny. Whenever she drops or throws something on the floor she looks at me and says, "uh oh". It is so funny. She also says Baby, Puppy, and sometimes cat. I just can't believe how fast she is growing. I can't wait until she opens her gifts. I know she is going to love unwrapping them. Christmas will be enjoyable again.

Jim and I did our Christmas shopping last weekend. What a headache that was. There was so much traffic at the mall it was nuts. We finally got to Toys R Us and we did really good with the money we had to spend. (which wasn't a lot) We even ended up getting Charlotte her birthday present. I was a little worried at first when Jim showed it to me but this was something he has been looking for, for a while. SO what is it you ask? Well it is the smallest power wheel I have ever seen. I didn't even think they made power wheels so small. It is for ages 12-36 months. Jim is convinced Charlotte is the next Nascar champion in training so he has to get her on something motorized as soon as possible. I honestly do not think she will be able to do anything but push the button and run into the wall, but she does love when Jim pushes her around on her little Tigger scooter. So I agreed to it and I guess we will see what happens. I think she will catch onto it by summer and then she can ride it outside. She already climbs on and off her scooter by herself so maybe I am underestimating her. I know Jim will work with her until she gets it. It should be fun to watch. We are doing a cupcake theme for Charlotte's birthday. I got her a shirt that says I am 1 and a little hat that says it is fun to be 1. We are going to do a small little party here for her. We will invite the people who are close to her and I think she will love the fact that she is going to get her own little cake. I really can't wait.

Christmas dinner is going to be lamb this year. I am a little uneasy about making it because I have never done it. When I go to London Cherie's oldest daughter Kerie always makes the most amazing roast dinner you could imagine. SO I have asked for her help in cooking my leg of lamb. When she cooks it, it is the most amazing dinner you could imagine. She is the Queen of roast dinner. Honestly I wish I was just there eating her dinner instead of trying to screw up my own. But I will give it a shot. I was just going to cook a chicken and a ham but we were at Dave and Monya's last night and Dave convinced me to cook the lamb. He has never had it before and he was to chicken to cook it for his dinner because he didn't want to screw up his dinner. So he convinced me to possibly screw up my dinner instead and then allow him to try it. So Isaid what the hell and I am going to give it a try. To cook it right that is. I will let you know how that turns out.

I made a crap load of cookies this year. I finally have all of my grandma Lasse's cookie recipes so I made all of them. They all turned out really good. I absolutely hate making the shortbread cookies though. They to be perfect every time, otherwise the just don't work. I made 5 batches and three turned out the way they are suppose to. Which isn't bad because this was the first year I have done it on my own. The sugar cookies were to die for. I changed the recipe slightly just because I am not a huge fan of almond extract. But they were really good. I made a plate for my Uncle Bob and took it to him. He was pretty happy. He hasn't had the shortbread since my grandma passed away, so he was in heaven. I also made plates for Dave and Monya, Steve and Kimberly. (Our neighbors) Jim mom, my dad, My brother Pete and his wife Vicki, I also made a huge batch of Shortbread for my brother Charlie but he hasn't got it yet. All in all it turned out really good. So thank you Faith for giving me the best gift in the world.

I really hope everyone has a good Christmas, and if you are waiting for a Christmas card from us don't hold your breath. I never got them in the mail so I will send them next year:)

All by myself

Charlotte is at Monya's this afternoon and before I start on the paper work I have to do I decided to take a moment for myself and update my blog. Monya loves having Charlotte and Charlotte loves being at Monya's so it is a win, win situation. She is convinced she isn't going to have a grandchildren of her own so Charlotte is her baby fix. Her daughter Rachel even thanked me for letting Monya get her baby fix, that way she stops bugging her to have a baby.

So Charlotte is almost a year old and I can hardly believe how fast time has went. She is trying to walk everywhere. She thinks it is so funny though that she usually ends up falling down laughing. She has her top two teeth in and is working on two more. She now points to everything, and wants you to tell her what it is. She loves to look at photo albums of Jim, myself, and of course Charlotte. She loves to look at herself in the pictures. Her new words are "at" for cat and "uppy" for puppy. She seems to forget the first letter of the words. It is cute, but we keep trying to get her to say it right. Jim has taught her to do the angry face. It is so funny. She scrunches up her face and she thinks she is so funny when she does it.

As far as the rest of my life it has been filled with pictures and movies and slides. I am really getting tired of scanning pictures. I want to be done with it so I can move onto researching and putting together the rest of the Allen book. I am really hoping to get the movies done by Christmas but if the transfer unit doesn't get here soon that isn't going to happen. I am hoping it will be sometime this week or next. I started to go through the movies and it is surreal to watch my grandparents and mom. I wish for one more day with them both. This is going to be such a gift to our family. I really don't know how to thank my Uncle Rick and Aunt Cecil enough for trusting me with these movies long enough to get them transferred. This is going to allow these movies and slides to be preserved for generations to come. It is really awesome.

The picture below is what I woke up to the other morning. It was the first snow fall of the year. I always love the first snow fall. It is one of the reasons I have come to like living in Wisconsin. You go to bed one night and the world is grey and brown and everything looks dead and then you wake up the next morning to this...... It is beautiful, white and clean. It is like a fresh start. Of course any snow falls after the first are not so nice or really necessary in my book. I really do hate winter, but the first snow fall is the best. Charlotte was pretty amazed at the outside world too. It is so much fun to see everything for the first time through her eyes. Every single thing in this world is new to her. It so awesome to experience.

Jim went hunting opening weekend and he dressed Charlotte up in some of his clothes. Little did he know that she would be the only "Dear" he would see. I really feel bad for him. There are two things that Jim loves (Besides myself & Charlotte) Racing and Hunting. Every year as this time of year comes around he gets depressed. He use to go hunting with a guy he worked with at Cardinal Glass, but then he moved to Washington, well since then Jim really has no place to hunt. It kills him every year to drive through town and see everyone with their deer. Right now he hunts on our neighbors property by Briggsville but it is a very small area and he is surrounded by other hunters, so the only way he is going to get a deer is if the other two guys shoot each other and the third and fourth guy die of heart attacks, and then maybe he would have a chance of a deer getting close enough to shoot. I really wish we had the money to buy some land. He really deserves to be able to hunt. He works his A** off to provide a good life for Charlotte and me, and all he lives for is the chance to go hunting. It kills me that I can't help him. He would be happy to just shoot doe the rest of his life as long as he had a place to do it. I really hope that someday we will have the money to buy a little bit of land and put a nice little house on it. He would be so happy. I really hope that he is able to get a deer this year some how. He deserves it.