Yankee Candle!

Very sorry there was no post yesterday, the day just got away from me.  But I have some more photos of our trip to share today, hopefully that makes up for it!  We took a trip to the Yankee Candle Company, what an awesome place!

This cool car was in the car air freshener section of the HUGE candle room.  Im talking rows upon rows of candles! Every scent you could possibly think of including pine trees and harvest.. which I happened to like.  There was even a place where you can make your own candle; pick out the scents, fill up a jar and have them melted into a candle.  Little made one as a souvenir for Gramma, she loved it! 

Santas workshop was a huge room full of wall to wall toys, was pretty much every kids dream!!  We wrote a letter to Santa from Little (written by Mama), in the letter Little asked Santa for a ball for Christmas.  

We stumbled upon these shelves of Little's favorite animal toys and it took awhile but he finally settled on a Dada, Mama and baby deer.  Im sure it was hard for him though because it was like tiny animal heaven!  Hmmm that sounded weird..

Hopefully this test run with "Santa" will help when we take him to see Santa in December.  His picture last year was terrible (ly funny) and I promise i will share it here! Oh and that hair is crazy, we love it!

The Christmas section was AWESOME!  There was snow, a little Christmas town and a toy train that ran above us around one of the rooms.  There was a room of Christmas trees, a room of ornaments, a room for the Christmas town and smaller rooms of much much more.  Definitely put me in the holiday spirit.

Of course I had to show the Halloween town that was set up, I especially love the pumpkins.  

Outside there was music, food and balloon animals waiting for us.  Little loved the flowers and the commotion.  We didn't get as many pictures as we would have liked at Yankee Candle, there was so much to see. But that happens when you're trying to wrangle a crazy toddler while oohing and aaahing.  But we all really enjoyed our trip to Yankee Candle and would love to go back one day.  I have more photos that I will be sharing throughout next week, Ill try and give you guys a break from our New Hampshire fun!  That last photo is hilarious, Im not sure what he was doing exactly but Im gonna call it a strut!

<3 Mama Chuca

Park Days

November 2010

February 2011

March 2011

September 2011

March 2012

September 2012

As I was looking through iPhoto today, I noticed that we have a number of pictures of our little family at the park!!  When Little was born we had a park literally 2 steps away from our tiny apartment and we took him there often.  After we moved it got a harder to take trips out to a park, which is when we decided to sign Little up for Gymboree.We didn't take photos every time we went to the park, but I wanted to share a few shots of Little from when we did remember to bring the camera along.   The weather is getting more and more pleasant these days so I foresee many more park trips, hopefully I will be catching some more huge smiles from a happy Little swinging in the park in the near future.

<3 Mama Chuca

26 Months

 

Favorite Foods:  Little didn't have much of an appetite the a few days ago, he just wouldn't eat and we were worried.  We made it a point to cook his favorite foods and buy his favorite snacks but he wouldn't budge, it didn't help that he had a stomach virus for a day or two.  Then all of the sudden he was back to his hungry self and we were so relieved!! Loving mac and cheese, rice, chicken, pasta, ice aqua and all the usual! Thank Goodness!!

Watching:  Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo, Little Bill and recently he loved Lilo and Stitch!  Still cutting down on TV, but we're a little more lenient now that Little goes to school full time.  Knowing that he spends his day learning and playing at school with his friends makes us feel a little better when we let him watch a cartoon or two. 

Reading: Happy Halloween Little Critter, The Very Hungry Catapillar, Potty and any bookhe finds laying around.  He usually picks up about 3 or 4 of his favorite books for us to read at bedtime. 

A few of his favorites:  He has been trying to sing! If I start singing he starts a little hum, more of a sing songy voice, and he repeats the last word I say at the end.  Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's- just little tunes like that.  Dada and Little have created a game; Little names our family (Dada, Mama, Jude) and then jumps or throws himself on the bed and laughs like crazy.  Little loves putting all of his little toys to sleep, carrying around Stitch his stuffed animal everywhere, lining all his toys up and making them jump off whatever they are lined up on.  For some reason all of the sudden NO is Little's favorite word. He doesnt scream it or get upset when he says it, he just simply says,"no" when you ask him a question.  

Mama: Can we try on this sweater?

Little: no

Mama: Come on, its gonna be cool! Look it has a dinosaur on it!

Little: no

This is pretty much how our conversations are now, not too fun.  

A few of our favorites:  He has been trying to count, he can count to 5 on his hand...sort of.  He'll start to count his toys but sometimes he gets confused and his numbers get mixed up.  Either way he's trying and we are encouraging him, he definitely has 5 down though!  Little is talking more and more, he can repeat everything we say which is good because I do want him to learn.  But a huge new development is that he is starting to say 2-3 word combinations on his own! While we drive he says "go under trees" and he'll say "no wohw wohw" (no dog), I love it. Ive been working on manners with Little lately, its so cute hearing him say tantu (thank you) and peeece (please).  Every Friday Little brings home the work he's done all week at school, it makes me sooo happy and is my favorite thing about Fridays!

Watching Dada and Little run around the park I kept wondering; how on earth Little was going to grow up to be as big as Dada. Its a funny thought, thinking that this tiny little boy who is eventually going to be a huge guy like his Dada.  Chances are he'll look just like his Dada, since everybody tells me he already does- I don't see it!  I got really excited thinking about the fact that I get to watch this kid grow up, I am one lucky Mama!

<3 Mama Chuca

WOWZA!

Photos taken with my phone at our favorite restaurant, oh theres a tortilla too.

Yesterday I found myself staring at Little and throughout the night asking Dada,"Doesnt he look older today?" or saying "I think he might have gone through a growth spurt".  Only to realize today that yesterday he turned 26 months!! How could I have forgotten? Yes I do have a lot on my mind with the new house, the wedding, invitation designs for a party, an upcoming trip and a whole lotta work stuff.  But how could I have forgotten that my sweet little boy turned 26 months?! And I definitely owe you guys a monthly post!! I promise tomorrow I will have Little's Monthly post full of photos and tidbits of what this kid is loving and doing this month.  Besides wondering why my son looked like a big boy last night, we also pretended to be Mama and baby monkeys.  I would put him over my shoulder, make monkey noises and pretend to eat bugs from his hair.  He, in turn, laughed like crazy and ate bugs from my hair, then we tackled Dada who was obviously from another monkey clan.

<3 Mama Chuca

Weekend Recap

He's not crying or sleepy, he just didn't want to be photographed!

HELLO HELLO!! Here is the rundown of our weekend!!

On Friday we had dinner at Tia Linda's house and watched the movie What to Expect When You're Expecting.  Which turned out to be hilarious, Elizabeth Banks always makes me laugh!! Oh and Dada would definitely be a member of the Dudes Group!

Saturday we had a big yard sale, we usually have a big one every 6 months.  This one was a little smaller than usual but there was a pretty good turn out.  Although most of the time we end up just trading goods with each other.  Ill usually trade a couple of Little's old outfits to Tia Rachel for baby Noah (her 1 year old) for some of Cousin Rene's old toys (he's 7).   One woman's size 5 toddler shoe is another woman's slightly used lego set, this works out pretty well for us!  After that Little and I stayed in because Dada had to work, due to the new iPhone!  Little's daycare gave us homework that I worked on that night, we had to put together pictures of family for a book that will be made.  So I had a couple of pictures of the family printed and Little had a blast going through them over and over again, quizzing me on the family members.  Whenever I asked Little if I could take a picture of him, he would smile and throw his face into the blanket!

Sunday, Little went to Gramma's house to watch the football game with Papaw so that I could have lunch with my girlfriends.  I needed a little bit of girl time, thank goodness for loving grandparents!!! That night we went to dinner with a good friend of ours who we've asked to be our wedding photographer.  He said yes (YAY!), we are very excited about it, he mostly photographs bands and has quite the eye.  We ate pizza, caught up and Little was a very well behaved big boy!!

Today Ive been very excited about our new home we will be in next month!! Ive been dreaming up canvas's and art I want to make for our new walls.  Im even thinking about wall colors, Ive always wanted a yellow kitchen!! Right now I have a lot to be grateful for and Im very excited about all the new things headed this little families way.

See you tomorrow!
<3 Mama Chuca

Big Boy

I know I've said before that I have a big boy but I think its really starting to sink in with this Mama.  This big boy of ours has become a master builder lately.  He received a small lego set for his birthday and when he remembers he has it, takes it out and builds away.  He'll build a towering car and say "MAMA big brrroom", in return I tell him what a good job he's done.  So over and over he builds a huge car or airplane, calls me to look and then knocks it down to rebuild.  I also find him reading to himself, or at least a version of reading.  He sits with a book and flips through pages saying... uh nuh...uh nunhh...uhn uhnhuh.... in a sing songy voice.  He could possibly be mimicking my voice when I read to him, either way its darling to watch. Does this mean he's ready to start learning to read?? Ok ok I won't get a head of myself!!

Yesterday I went to pick up Little early from daycare and caught the him doing the cutest thing.  I walked inside and saw him in a little line of kids (his age) all walking with their hands behind their back, he was walking and laughing with another kid.  WHA?? Hold the phone!! He can be good, follow directions and have fun without Dad or I around??  Perhaps I haven't been giving him enough credit.  When he comes home with me I see a little baby turning into a big boy, but maybe I already have a big boy.  All the times I worried about him being at school alone, I never even stopped to think that he is a big boy who can handle it!  Part of me thought he spent the hours we're apart thinking about me, as I do here in my office about him.  But no my big boy is learning and laughing with his friends at school, as he should be.  I can not wait till he can actually come home and tell me all about his day. 

<3 Mama Chuca