visiting St. Nick

We went to an outdoor mall in Louisiana and had to visit Santa, of course!

All the cousins crowded around Santa and voiced their Christmas wishes.

It was the perfect family activity for the day after Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving

...this picture sums it right up!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.

Little C loved playing with his cousins as they danced, watched movies, played wii, played in the backyard and ate treats together.  Makes me wish they lived closer to us.

It was a crazy Thanksgiving with our family as well as a few families from Luke's ward, just like the Thanksgivings I remembered from my childhood!

I feel so grateful for my family, they bring so much happiness in my life!

our weekend

Our weekend was full of colored pencils and coloring books.

We spent time with family eating home cooked meals, playing monopoly deal (of course), and watching LOST after the little one fell asleep.  

Yes, the hubs and I got his mom and brother into the show and it's so fun watching it over again!

It was a nice weekend and we are looking forward to our Thanksgiving holiday with my family in a few days!  I love this time of year!

the end of our day includes...

barnum's animal crackers

Charlie III eats animal crackers because...

a.  he loves animals

b.  he loves sugar

and

c.  he loves snacks

puzzles

We went to a toddler story time yesterday and enjoyed every minute!

We read books, sang and danced, watched a short movie and made a craft.

Quite eventful for a story time!

Charlie usually can't wait to get to the children's section in the library where

he can play with the wooden puzzles afterward.   He is pulling me all the way to the small tables to get first dibs on the puzzles!  He means business when it comes to puzzles!

I'm getting some ideas for Christmas, I love Melissa and Doug puzzles as well as these vintage puzzles!

plans for Thanksgiving

 

image

 This year we will spend time with family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving!

Little Charlie will see all of his cousins on the Dellenbach side which include Ella, Logan, Lydia and of course, Azzie.  I'm looking forward to cooking, baking and shopping with my momma and sisters!

visiting The Biltmore

 We visited the beautiful Biltmore Estate yesterday.

The estate is nestled in the hills of Ashville, NC with lush landscaping, 

lakes and large pastures for horses and cows. 

We had a great time touring the home, even though the little one had enough after the first hour!

We stopped by the market cafe for lunch and finished the tour of the basement and outdoor gardens.

Such a great experience to take a peak into the lives of the Vanderbuilt family.

 

stop for cocoa

We made it to Greenville, SC yesterday afternoon and have loved every minute here.

We settled into our apartment and joined the in-laws for dinner at Trio and hot cocoa at Starbucks.

We walked around downtown the rest of the evening before stopping by the grocery store to stock up on some food.  I love the downtown feel here and all the nice people we run into.  

Everyone seems so happy here, a lot of laughs and smiles being exchanged from strangers. 

The "South" is a special place indeed.

weekend plans

I"m looking forward to a relaxing weekend before we head to South Carolina for a few days!

Remember last year?  Can't wait to visit downtown again!

October birthdays

::    October birthday boys... Charlie (Oct. 25th), Jon (Oct. 22nd)      ::

::    the wee ones playing with grandma and grandpa    ::

::   Charles Sr. and Charles III   ::

::   Moira with baby Rylan  ::

party for Charlie

 We celebrated Little Charlie's birthday on General Conference Sunday.  It was simple, simple, simple!

We invited our family, good friends Mitch and Angie and even had the ward missionaries over!

We had my chili, Becca's cornbread (which I need to get the recipe), Leanna's spinach salad and plenty of dessert for everyone!  We ended the night opening gifts and playing the Dellenbach favorite... NAME game!! 

I am so thankful for this child of light in my life.  He makes me so, so happy and I love him dearly.

trick or treat

How cute is Little Charlie in his costume?!

I had big plans to make him a darling magician costume, but let's face it, he really wanted to be a dinosaur/dragon!  Since he's really into animals lately it was a perfect fit!

Hope you all had a HaPpY Halloween!