A Party for Sam & Audra and a Weekend in Seguin

We spent last weekend in Seguin, celebrating Sam & Audra's engagement and enjoying family. I love weekends like this when so many of our family members are in town--it makes small town life so fun! On Friday night, we went out to eat at the Gristmill (a favorite of ours as it was the site of our rehearsal dinner :) with my family and Audra and her parents. Charlie even got to join in on the outing and loved it. He was quite well behaved and enjoyed all the attention he got at dinner--especially from his doting Papa. :)

The happy couple.

Another happy couple... :)

Charlie got a little antsy toward the end of the meal. I think everyone took a turn walking him through the restaurant, which made the meal quite relaxing for me!

On Saturday, the boys went out to the ranch. Papa let Charlie help him drive his truck. Luckily, he's been practicing his driving in the car carts at Central Market.

The big party for Sam & Audra was on Saturday night. Charlie stayed behind, but we took a picture with him before we left. This is Charlie BEFORE his realized he wasn't going with us...

The party was out at our cabin, which was such a great venue. It has never looked prettier, thanks to all the work my Mom and Aunt Dede put into the decorating. I love the antique Valentine's cards they put on the mantle.

The cake table...

The party planner putting the finishing touches on everything...

And Sam and Audra arrive!

Future sisters. :)

Audra's sweet sister, Jennifer, flew in from Amarillo for the party.

The lovely Moore women.

On Sunday, we did our final visiting around Seguin. The Reeds came over for a visit and, as usual, Charlie was thrilled to see them and to have all the excitement that comes with them. He was very interested in Baby Katie, but she was not so sure she wanted his grubby little fingers all over her. :)

Smiling at Jack and Julia...

On Sunday evening, we took Charlie for a tour of Seguin. The little prince wouldn't stay in his stroller, so he got the royal treatment.

We walked by my parents' first house in Seguin. Isn't it the cutest thing??

Obligatory shots on the world's largest pecan...

This is what Charlie does when we tell him to make his "cute face." :)

We also made a stop at the fountain. We couldn't get Charlie to look away from it for a photo. :)

And, finally, we had to visit old Juan Seguin himself.

Clint came back to Dallas on Sunday and Charlie and I followed him on Monday (Valentine's Day). We were greeted by the most fabulous spread of gifts--Charlie and I got a bike trailer, Charlie got a helmet, I got a wonderful tray of sweets, and beautiful flowers. We still can't figure out how Clint got all of this done after arriving back in Dallas late on Sunday night, but we felt very special!

Someone isn't quite so sure about his helmet yet...we're hoping it grows on him. :)

What a wonderful weekend!

A Little Heartbreaker

Charlie has been working hard on his Valentine's cards. The highlights are below. :)

Eat your heart out.

Heartbreaker/crumpler.

Flirty eyes.

Overwhelmed by love.

Between photo shoots :), Charlie and I attended some fun Valentine's parties. We went to the Lakewood Valentine's party, where Charlie and George enjoyed crawling/running all over the Lakewood CC, and to my MOPs group Valentine's party, where Charlie was extremely thrilled with a large basket of fake food (if you look closely, you can see that he couldn't turn his attention away from the food long enough for our photo). What fun!

The Littlest Gymnast is Growing Up

Charlie and I have been going to the Little Gym for a while now (we started going weekly once I quit working). Although the classes can be just the teensiest bit cheesy :), Charlie thoroughly enjoys them and, as a result, I do as well. Charlie is pretty fearless, so he often is the demonstration baby for new moves. He loves his role as the teacher's pet. :) With the cold weather this winter, Little Gym has been a life saver!

Here's Charlie on the bars. We just tried this for the first time two weeks ago and he did really well--he hung from the bar on his own for quite a while!

Demonstrating leg exercises with Mr. Barry. :)

Doing something amazing on the parallel bars (although that baby doing some plank move in the background might be more amazing :).

This is Charlie's girlfriend, Sydney. She gave Charlie his first kiss (on the lips!) recently. At first he was stunned and not sure what to do. But he quickly recovered and started crawling after her. :)

Charlie loved doing flips over the bar this week. He has his "I'm very excited" face on. :)

Charlie spends most of his time chewing on the bars...

...or chasing Sydney. :)

Thanks to the Stoltzes, we had a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday. They hosted a great party with wonderful food and aside from spilling artichoke dip on their couch :(, we had a great time. :) Charlie really had fun. He loved being out and about past his bedtime and loved his big audience. He was smiling and batting his eyelashes and at the women and talking (loudly) to everyone. He loves Ann and Brad, and was so happy to spend some time at their house!

Brad is a big Steeler's fan, so he wasn't so happy with the result. But Charlie loved his Steeler's towel.

Charlie adores Ann. It is so funny--every time we are with her, he cannot stop staring at her. Case in point:

Another of Charlie's favorite girls, Blythe, came to play with him as well. Blythe dressed up for the occasion, and Charlie was particularly impressed with her pearls. :)

Thanks for a great party Ann & Brad!

Charlie's First REAL Snowstorm

Winter storm 2011 has been insane! Dallas has had almost a full week of ice, snow, and below-freezing temperatures. After having everything shut down due to ice and sleet on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we got hit with 6 inches of beautiful snow early Friday morning (I don't think the people coming into town for the Super Bowl were as thrilled as we were :). Although it's still pretty cold, it is getting a bit warmer (the temps got up to 40 today), and Charlie and I have ventured out a bit in the snow. Charlie seemed so bewildered the first time we went outside and everything was covered in bright white snow. I don't think he had any idea what had happened to our yard. I so hope it does this again when he's a bit older--Clint and I were dying to take him sledding. :)

He was so excited to get down in the fluffy snow. The fact that it was freezing cold really did not seem to bother him a bit!

I don't know if you can tell, but Charlie is sitting on a trash bag since I didn't have a snowsuit to put on him (I've been cursing the sales lady at St. Bernard Sports who swore I wouldn't want one for him in Dallas). I think Charlie inherited his mother's gift for creative (ghetto) snow apparel. When I was four, it snowed 12 inches in Seguin. Since it almost never snows in South Texas, we didn't have snow boots, but that didn't stop us--apparently my cousins and I ran around all day with ziplock bags wrapped around our sneakers. :)

Charlie didn't stay on the trash bag for long--he was eager to dive in. :)

Our front yard on Friday morning.

We've spent a lot of time watching the snow inside where it's warm(er). I think Charlie has enjoyed having some time to explore the house, but we are looking forward to getting out and about again!

It's COLD Outside (and In)

It is COLD in Dallas today! It is -3 outside (with windchill) and, thanks to our drafty old house, not much warmer inside. :( The winter storm swept through yesterday, shutting everything down (except the hospital...poor Clint is still working hard). The roads are very icy, and Texas drivers do not know how to drive on ice, so everyone is very stirred up. Charlie and I haven't ventured out yet, but we're getting a bit stir crazy, so I'm guessing we'll get out before too long.

Our house is so cold that I have Charlie in his warm hat and another layer of clothes under his sleeper. We've also been wrapped up in our Slanket (thanks Dad :).

Cabin Fever.

The icy view from our front door (this is as far as I got :).

I've been coming up with inventive indoor games. Fort building and pulling up on the dishwasher are the current favorites.

When Clint got home last night, he built us a fire in our fireplace. It was SO warm and cozy; just the perfect end to our cold, cold day. Charlie really loved the fire--I think he could have stared at it all evening. Clint and I tried to give Charlie his bottle by the fire before bed, but he couldn't relax enough to eat--the fire was just too enticing. :)

Stay warm everyone!

Play Date with Trey & Nate

On Sunday, we had a fun play date with two of my friends from work and their little boys--Elizabeth and Trey and Beth and Nate. It was so good to see everyone and the boys seemed to have such a good time together. Trey and Charlie are so funny together. Trey really seemed to remember Charlie and got so excited when I brought him downstairs after his nap. He talked to him nonstop, which fascinated Charlie.

Here is little Mr. Personality. Trey is such a fun baby--he is talks and laughs and smiles constantly. And he's adorable. :)

They were SO excited to see each other. They immediately wanted to touch each other's faces (and I think there might have been a kiss or two :).

Adorable little Nate joined us after his nap. He is 5 1/2 months old and SO cute. He has the sweetest little smile.

Nate loved Charlie's exersaucer. Charlie is typically not a huge fan of this, but he became much more interested in it once Nate got in.

Thanks for a fun play date everyone!