Ice storm

Well, tis' the season for ice storms!  It started raining Friday night and by Saturday morning, everything was all iced over!  Check out the ice on the shrub:

And here's our pine tree out front. It lost one branch yesterday:

And two more branches today!

And who needs icicle lights when you have real ones!

Looks like we're going to lose this pine tree on the side of the house.  Poor thing!  This tree had already lost the top of its truck about 5 years ago in another ice storm, prior to us moving into this house:

And this pine tree... "How LOW can you go???"

Bobby was out working in the yard cleaning up and noticed these trees up the street.  Wow!  I guess we're lucky that we still have power in our neighborhood!

So what do you do on icy days?  We stay home and play the piano, of course :-)

That was yesterday and unfortunately, today - Charlie was having a tough day with a fever.  So it was snuggle time with Mommy on the lounger chair with the boo-boo pack (thank you, Grandma!) on the forehead.

And once Charlie was back upstairs for his nap, it was Graham's turn with Mommy.  Mmm... yummy banana bread!

And then, not too long after that... another Charlie-and-Mommy session with the boo-boo pack on the forehead.  Looks like no break for Mommy!  

And Bobby always wonders why I stay up so late at night for "me" time!  

Update on the Pridgen boys

Well, Charlie is finally walking! At 16 1/2 months, he is finally getting the hang of it:

He will still occasionally grab my finger and drag me along everywhere for support. It's very cute/funny when he does that. Actually, he'll grab your hand when he needs you to do something as well, like pick up a toy or get him some food.
We've also upgraded Charlie to a forward-facing carseat.  He's so excited about it that even after a few days, he would still say "wow" everytime I put him in his seat!

Charlie is now sitting behind the driver's seat - basically taking over Graham's previous carseat. And now, Graham is in a booster seat - another milestone!  By the way, I asked Graham why he shut his eyes in the photo and he said that the light (flash) is too bright!
The boys are definitely growing up fast... and obviously still need to learn how to play together!

Snow!

So after returning from New Jersey, the boys ended up not having school on Tuesday because of the ice accumulation on the neighborhood streets.  So, what do we do on a day off?  We play in the snow!
Graham was quick to grab his shovel:

So busy!

Charlie wasn't sure what to make of the snow:

We went looking for animal tracks. I'm still not sure what this one was:

Deer tracks:

Bird tracks:

Delivery man tracks!?

Well, it was time to build our snowman.  I'm not sure how much the boys really helped:

Although, I'm not sure if anything would have helped this awkward looking snowman!

The snow was really soft and fluffy - I couldn't even make a good snowball! So we had a mound for a snowman. Ha!  If anything, he lasted quite a few days :-)

Visiting Grandma & Pop-pop

As promised, we finally made it up to New Jersey to visit Grandma and Pop-pop.  It was a short trip and unfortunately, Bobby and I ended up losing our voices!  It was quite funny how we would hold a conversation by whispering. Ha!

Anyhow, the boys had a good time with Grandma and Pop-pop's place.  They "cooked":

Graham loved lounging on the new couch:

Of course, at Grandma's - there's always cupcakes:

Yummy!

And lots of cartoons:

There was a quick visit from Uncle Doug and Graham obviously enjoyed it:

Later that week, we did get a chance to visit Uncle Doug again, along with everyone else in the family - uncles, aunts, cousins, and even the dog.  Charlie kept saying "woof, woof" everytime he saw the dog.

Charlie met cousin Madison for the first time - the only granddaughter among a family of boys in the Pridgen family!

Charlie really  enjoyed playing ping pong for the first time too:

Graham, on the other hand, was having fun trying to blow the ping pong ball across the table instead:

Obviously, Charlie was on a mission trying to get the ONE ball on the table:

Once ping pong was over, it was building with the train set. They really enjoyed doing that:

When it was almost time to go, I had changed Charlie into his PJs.  For whatever reason, he decided to just lay on his brother!  I think Graham was a little annoyed at that:

We weren't sure if we were going to fly home as scheduled but the weather looked like it was going to hold up just fine. It just started to snow in NJ when we were departing:

We had a connection to make in Chicago and literally just ran from one plane to the next.  And this is what we came home too.  Brrrr...!

And this is what Charlie decided to do at the baggage claim while we were waiting for daddy to pick up the car:

He wasn't throwing a tantrum or anything like that.  He just decided to crawl away and turn around and lay down on the floor!
Well, once we were home, it was back to our usual routine before bedtime (even at 10 o'clock at night!).  Yogurt!

I wonder how much yogurt actually gets into Charlie's mouth!

Thank you Grandma and Pop-pop for a great visit (and all the new clothes for the boys!).  As we were leaving their home and when we were driving back to the house in Tulsa, Graham would say "I miss Grandma and Pop-pop" or "I miss New Jersey".  Awww... it was too cute.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  

Somehow it didn't feel like Thanksgiving. Perhaps it was because everyone had the sniffles and cough, except for me (knock on wood!).  Bobby said that I was not allowed to get sick!

We couldn't really decide what to do for dinner - go out or cook at home.  Our dishwasher was sort of acting up.  The soap would not dispense during the wash cycle! I thought it was those wash tablets but even the liquid soap didn't work either.  After about 4 washes, we decided to just leave the dispenser open.  Hopefully it was just the way I arranged the dishes that particular time.

In the end, we did decide to have dinner at home. And just like the last few years, it was meatloaf for Thanksgiving dinner!  And corn bread.

Yes, a lot of corn bread!

We didn't have any greens. Corn is a vegetable, right?  Anyhow, Charlie's belly was not 100% so perhaps the idea of edamame (our constant supply in the freezer) wouldn't have been too good for him.  He wouldn't eat his meatloaf but at least he liked the cornbread. He is so insisted sometimes about feeding himself with the spoon or fork. I'm not sure exactly how much of it ends up in his mouth vs. his bib though!

And for dessert, no pumpkin pie but blueberry pie instead.  I have yet to make our favorite pumpkin cheesecake pie. Perhaps this Sunday, when the neighbors come over for tea!

Charlie is (almost) 16 months old

Ok... not quite 16 months old, but I'm always late in his monthly updates!  Ha! Not this month :-)

Charlie is really starting to comprehend things around him.  He can say quite a few words now including "all done" and "bye" - which he kept saying over and over again during our recent doctor's visit. The doctor was quite impressed! But poor fella is struggling with quite a cough lately.  He has a little dip in his growth chart with his weight now - only in the 10th percentile at 21lbs 10oz. He has started to become quite picky with his food lately. But somehow he manages to tell the difference between chocolate/candy and everything else! As for height, thankfully he's a little bit better at 30 1/2" tall (25th percentile).

As usual, Charlie loves his excavators or "digger" as he calls it:

He's learning to play more. He was quite clever with this stacking toy:

Once he got the first one done, the rest were a lot simpler with the stand up.  Look at that concentration!

And he's started to learn how to ride on the little trucks.  He loves making the "beep, beep" sound when the truck backs up:

Hmm... looks like he was staring at the TV there too, just like this brother!  And oh, Charlie is almost walking now!

He can take about 5 to 6 steps on his own. But gosh, by now I thought he'd be cruising along at 16 months.  I suppose what he lacks in steps he gains intellectually.  Charlie is starting to be quite good with animal noises and playing peek-a-boo too. Too cute!

He loves imitating his big brother Graham.  Hopefully Graham won't teach him too many bad things!

Graham is 3 1/2 years old

Graham is now 3 1/2 years old!  Can't believe it... our little boy is growing up so quickly, although he is barely tipping the scale at 32 lbs and 38" in height.  He's such a talker though - can't get him to stop! We're slowly but surely teaching him how to recognize his alphabets and number, but talk about a short attention span!

Let's see... what does he love doing these days:  Definitely loves to sing - he loves singing to his music CDs while in the car.  He's definitely hooked to the TV!  Even while you're trying to take this photo, as you can see here:

And even while little Charlie is up in the same chair taking a pic, Graham's eyes are still glued to the TV!

He loves to run, jump (especially into rain puddles), dance (we can't find the dancing video!), play pretend - he loves this one, for example: pretending to weed-whack with a waterhose/wand, pretending to be a store clerk "What would you like today, sir?".  Graham has got quite the imagination!

And oh, he is finally potty-trained!  Well, he still wears a pull-up/diaper at night but during the day, he does really well now. He's even actually standing up to pee. "Just like my daddy", he would say :-)

And we had the chalk out today on the driveway and who knew Graham is quite the artist too!  Can you guess what he drew?

You got it!  It's a Happy Squid!  :-D  And then, the Happy Squid got some hair:

Ha! Too funny! I just love his imagination!