Catch up (again)

So, here's me again, not blogging in forever and now trying to play catch-up!  Between the busy-ness of the holidays, family visiting in Jan., trying to figure out our move next month and all that goes along with being a wife and mother I have once again slacked.  Here's a quick update on our lives:

 Celebrated Christmas in Southern CA with my brother Micah and ALL of Phil's family!  It was wonderful to see everyone again- it had been almost two years since we had all been together and there had been several new additions since then.

All the cousins!

 Uncle Micah helping Charlie with those walking skills

 Charlie Bear turned one!!  I can't believe a whole year has passed already.  It really did seem to fly by!

 My mom and Lydia were in town and our neighbors Brian and Laura came for dinner. Charles had a birthday feast. Duck lovingly made by Phil, as well as stuffed mushrooms, and a lovely apple crisp to finish the evening.

 We had a great visit with Mom and Lydia, who were here for a week.  We got to show them the area and enjoy a week of beautiful weather.  It was sad to say goodbye, but we look forward to seeing them again in just a few months.

Conquering the mountain...

We live in a gorgeous area, with many, many things to keep us busy!  There's some great hiking in the area, and we try and get out regularly to enjoy the many hills and trails.  The toughest trail in the area is Garrapata State Park, which is a 5.5 mile hike with an 1800ft elevation gain.  Recently, we strapped Charlie on and conquered this mighty peak.  It's definitely a tough climb, but the views from the top were phenomenal!  We got some cute family shots too. :)

Crafting again

I do a lot of crafting but since there's just Charlie and Eva at home to admire it, and they can't comment on my work in anything other than barks and smiles, I like to post it here.  I've made a collective three baby quilts.  One was done using a tutorial I found online and the other two were done based off of pictures I saw on Pinterest and some helpful blog posts.  This is my most recent one, made for a dear friend who is having her second little boy.  It was my first time hand-sewing the binding and what I learned from that experience was "stick to machine sewing".  A hand-quilter I am not!  But I was still happy with the final project and I can't wait to see pictures of her little guy all wrapped up in it!

Ships and seals

Last week a girlfriend and I decided to take our little guys up to Moss Landing.  A tall ship Lady Washington had pulled into port there and they were giving tours.  The ship was a replica of a real one, built and sailed in the 1700's, and had been used in several different movies- including Pirates of the Caribbean as the Interceptor! "Oh the Dauntless is the power in these waters, true enough, but there's no ship as can match the Interceptor for speed".  It was pretty neat to see, though the kiddos seemed less than interested.  Granted, they are only 4 and 9 months old!  A few more years and they might be more impressed. :) On the way out we got some great photos of the Harbor Seals.  They were lining the docks, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

Autumn in Monterey

Fall has come to Monterey.  It is starting to get chillier, the air a little crisper.  It's not like a New England fall (nothing is quite like that) but it's still been very nice.  The fog is mostly gone and the days are clear and sunny.  We had some visitors in Oct. and we got to get out and enjoy some of the sights (and many of the restaurants!) in the area.  My grandma came for a week in the middle of Oct, and then my dad came for a few days at the end.  It was so nice to see them both and for Charlie to get to know his extended family a little bit more!

Charlie has started "roaring" lately, so we ask him all the time "what does a lion say?" and he roars back at us.  Because of this we decided he pretty much needed to be a lion for Halloween.  Hello Costco and their $13 costumes!  He was an adorable lion.  

I pulled out all my fall decor a few weeks ago and discovered I didn't have a fall wreath.  I went to the craft store, only to realize that pre-made wreaths are wicked expensive.  I decided buying all the piece and making my own would be a little more economical.  Turns out everything I bought was on super clearance, and my supplies cost less than $9!  Despite having no plan or design, I think it turned out pretty cute:

Another thing I made was a turkey hat for Charles.  We are running the "Turkey Trot 5K" at NPS this week, so a turkey hat was in order.  He actually keeps it on pretty well, and only yanks it off every 10 minutes or so.  I also made turkey hats for my niece and nephew, and am now working on one for Phil.  Hopefully it will be done in time for him to wear to the race tomorrow!  I haven't crocheted anything in a long time, but it's all coming back to me now, and the hats do work up really quickly.  I already found a snowman hat pattern for Christmas!

This month we celebrated out 5th anniversary!!  I can't believe it's been five years already.  It really has flown by.  We celebrated with a nice dinner out- our first time out without Charles!  Check out this photo of us.  Back from 2004, when we were "just friends"! ;) ;)  Glad the braces are gone, but so happy to still be snuggling up to that good-looking guy.

(Non-awkward) Family photos

Recently we've done quite a few family things together.  I might try and do separate blogs posts about some of them, but we'll see.  We know what a consistent, up-to-date a blogger I am... What I liked about all the different things going on is how many family pictures we've gotten.  I've realized lately that we have about 350 pictures of Charlie by himself for every one picture we have of Charlie with one of us.  We've been trying to remedy that!

Monterey Bay is always a great backdrop for photos!

Atop Garrapata... another beautiful view!

This one was a selfie.  We were trying to get a picture while Phil was in uniform. 

 Not really sure why we're all leaning left. 

On beautiful Bass Lake

Yosemite, at the Sequoia Grove.  We are standing in the trunk of a tree!

Reasons my 8 month old is crying...

I'm sure you've probably seen the site "Reasons my son is crying".  Children cry for all kinds of ridiculous (and hilarious!) reasons.  Charlie is usually a great little guy who isn't too fussy during the day, but this morning was really difficult and I sent Phil a very grumpy text after a few hours.  It went something like this...

Reasons Charlie has cried today:

He woke up

Daddy got him out of bed, not Mommy

I took him upstairs to nurse

I set him down after nursing

He fell over

I was in the kitchen making breakfast and wouldn't let him lick the kitchen floor

I didn't cut his pear fast enough

I put him back on the floor after breakfast

He was ready for a nap

I put him down for a nap

Eva barked

He woke up from his nap

I put him in his seat so I could shower

I burped him after nursing him

I set him on the floor again

I turned the hair dryer on

I turned the hair dryer off

I changed his diaper

I changed his clothes

The dog walked by him 

Blame it on teething, blame it on a tough night, blame it on something!  All I know is EVERYTHING that happened today made him cry.