Charley and Jackson: November 2011

Holiday smells

Pumpkin and pecan pies smell awesome.

Alfie the cat smells good for cat, but she's got nothing on pie.

Turkey Day

We had a pretty awesome time at Grandma and Bumpa's this Thanksgiving.

We astonished Gary with our piloting abilities . . .

. . . and lots of silly fun with Bumpa.

We showed Great Grandma K how our tag reader works . . .

. . . and Daddy did his best to help Great Grandpa C finish a tough crossword puzzle.

Before we knew it, the tryptophan set in. Wait a minute, we didn't even eat the turkey. So, what was it?

About time

We have been waiting and waiting and WAITING for it snow. Today, it finally did. We are so happy.

We did a bit of work, but instantly remembered how hard it is to shovel those early snows.

When our work was done, Will and Sean came over to play. We had tons of fun "sledding" down our driveway, across our street and hopping the curb in Mr. Dick's yard across the street.

We were having so much fun that we actually put snow BACK on our driveway to help us go faster.

When it was time to come inside, we decorated pre-designed turkey's with more frosting . . .

. . . and lots of marshmallows and candies.

They were delicious, of course.

Breakfast of champions

Store-bought cinnamon roll dough pressed in a waffle iron. Need we say more?

The greatest haircut store

All of our haircuts have been at a regular haircut store. Little did we know that there was an even better place go, right down the street. Who knew Michelle could cut hair so well.

We were a little nervous when there was some technical difficulties with the clippers.

She got them working again and we ended up with some great haircuts. Having Quinn (and Will) there with us was icing on the cake.

Not an ordinary strawberry

This one is better. It's made of fondant.

We made them. They were surprisingly simple. Just form it . . .

. . . and poke some tiny holes in it. Piece of cake . . . er . . . fondant.

"I want a ticket to the airport."
-- Charley said while listing gifts he wants for Christmas.

"A what? You want to go to the airport??"
-- Mommy asked, a little confused,

"Well, I want a ticket."
-- Charley repeated.

"To go on an airplane?"
-- Mommy attempted to clarify.

"Yes."
-- Charley responded.

"Anywhere in particular?"
-- Mommy asked.

"South Carolina, GrandmaJeanLand or Fairbanks, Alaska."
-- Charley elaborated.

The grandest day for corduroy

Today is the day, 11|11|11, the day that most resembles corduroy. To honor the occasion we wore our corduroy.

Daddy got a little carried away. He wore FIVE items of corduroy: pants, shirt, tie, vest, and jacket.

Let's just say that when you get that many dudes in that much corduroy, silliness definitely ensues.

Why does it have to be work?

Just because it's called "yard work" doesn't mean it can't be fun.

We helped Daddy rake the leaves in the backyard and it was way more fun than work. We moved all the leaves into the garden to decompose over the winter.

Then, it was GO TIME. We ran into the leaves . . .

. . . jumped in (helmets came in really handy here) . . .

. . . and started throwing the leaves into the air.

We can't decide if it was more run to let the leaves land on our heads or watch them land on Daddy's head.

BIG jobs need a BIG pen

We received so many gifts for our birthday, it just might take us until our next birthday to finish the "Thank You's". Luckily, we have these massive pens to help expedite the process.

Even so, all this writing is exhausting.

Dolphin trainers

Check out the awesome wet suits Aunt Lori got us for our birthday. Now we're really gonna be ready to battle the Smelly German Pirates next time we see them. And when we're not battling those Smelly German Pirates, we'll continue working on becoming dolphin trainers. We're getting pretty good at our signals.

We were dressed in our Chip and Dale costumes when we opened the box and it was a REALLY hard decision to get out of the costumes and into the wet suits.

Tea for five

After our great showing at the doctor's office, we went out for tea and treats.

We tried on all kinds of great hats . . .

. . . and added sugar cubes to our caramel apple tea.

It was so much fun.

It's pretty good being five

In case you didn't hear that we're five . . . as in, you haven't spoken to Jackson since October 26th at 7am . . . we are.

We went to the doctor today for our yearly check-in. We're both healthy, which is nice. And we're both allegedly growing, though not a lot.

Charley weighed in at 33 whole pounds and 42 inches tall (below the chart and 50th percentile respectively). Jax is 37 pounds and 43.5 inches tall (25th percentile and 65th percentile).

We both were looking perfectly healthy and tested through our hearing and our colors and our knowledge of what spoons are for.

Unfortunately, we were not able to hide well enough to avoid getting the three shots we needed.

Perhaps more importantly, though, we have had an awesome start to being five. We had the most fun Halloween, EVER! We got to see Aunt Jen-Jen again, and even cried when she left. (Although Jax asked Charley if he was crying because the doggie and kitty were leaving... you know, the games on Aunt Jen-Jen's phone... I won't tell you the answer.)

We got everything we could have ever wanted and more for our birthdays. We have no idea how Christmas is going to ever live up after this birthday! Scooters, Coaster Cars, Wet Suits... Books, Magazines, TWO Remote Control Cars... New Comforters, the only Pajamas we'll ever wear again... you name it. We got it. We haven't even started on the thank you notes, and we really, really should because we will never finish them at this rate!

There has been a little confusion as to why we're going to preschool still since we know that you go to Kindergarten when you're five, but Mom's trying hard to get that one sorted out. We're going to keep working this year on being the best swimmers around (we're getting there). And if we're lucky, we'll make it to the age of six. Some days our "independent thinking" leads Mom to believe that we just may not make it another day . . . let alone another year!