Staci and Tony are getting married!

Congratulations! Uncle Tony asked Aunt Staci to marry him! (now he'll officially be Uncle Tony!) We are so excited for you guys! Welcome to the family Tony!!! =)

Our New Pet, Conrad!

Our new pet... Conrad the Betta Fish! I was going to leave it a surprise until J got home Sunday, but apparently he reads my blog. LOL He was pretty concerned that I bought a cat. J likes animals, but he's not fond of animals in the house. Especially cats! I've been trying to talk him into a kitty for a while now since our little man loves kitties. No such luck though. J wasn't going for the idea of a fish tank either... but he doesn't seem to mind a bowl and 1 betta fish. I had to finally break down and tell him what our pet was so he could sleep tonight. Poor guy is going to be nervous the next time he travels... who knows what he'll come home to! =)"What is this?"
"Hi little fishy"
"What are you doing in there? Hold still so I can see you."

A day in the life of my little man

A day in the life of my little man... we started the day with some breakfast. Which for my little guy that consists of him eating half his meal in his high chair and the other half while he's running around. "Got things to do mom! Have to start burning these calories!!" Then it's time to do dishes. "Yep, this one's squeaky clean"
My little helper
Brush our hair and teeth
Then we're off to run some errands. Post Office to mail Grandma and Grandpa Charette a package, the store for groceries, a surprise stop, pick up some lunch and then it's home again.
So, what was the "surprise stop" I mentioned in our errands?
Well, we have a new member in our family!!!
I can't say what, since this is a surprise for daddy too! He gets home on Sunday night and I'll post what our surprise pet is after he gets to meet it.
*any guesses on what our new pet is?*

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

We had a tough week! J was in Mississippi all week, came home for the weekend and now he's in Missouri until Tuesday. Lil' C caught a cold, ear infection and he's cutting 2 teeth AND a molar. Poor little guy wasn't feeling good. But Grandma and Grandpa spent the night Monday and helped cheer him up! Plus it gave me some time to study. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!
Lil' C had so much fun playing with Grandma! Piggy back rides, story time, playing with his little people barn, patty cake... checking out what Grandpa's doing on the laptop. Lets put together more puzzles Grandpa!
What a nice way to end a rough week! Thanks for putting smiles on our faces Grandma and Grandpa! =)

Dinner at Staci and Tony's

My sleepy guy waking up. He's like his daddy... it takes him a few minutes to fully wake up in the mornings.
Babysitting Ryan againOur 'almost' date night out. It was for J's annual formal work party, but it ended up not working out and we had to stay home. Bummer! Is it just me or does my little guy look MORE and MORE like daddy every day? I swear he's J's carbon copy!
Dinner and games at Staci and Tony's house! Tony made some delicious homemade chili, Staci made some yummy corn bread, I made some tasty stuffed mushrooms and we played the game Catch Phrase. The boys won 3 out of the 4 games. Good job guys! Below Tony was reading Lil' C the kitty cat book they bought for him. He loves animals!
Oh what fun it is to clomp around in daddies big shoes. LOL
Playing Catch Phrase, while Lil' C is playing his barnyard game on dad's phone and Rocco is pouting in the chair. What a sad little face on such a cute little puppy. He's not used to being left out.
Little buddies =)

Mexican with Kevin

We went out for Mexican with J's good friend Kevin. After dinner we stopped by the mall so Jasper could play in the fun center again. I ran around with Jasper so J and Kevin could visit a little longer.
He loves the slide. I think he must have gone down it about a million times. Wore me out! I kept my hand behind him when he was climbing up the stairs... just in case he slipped since they were pretty slick and then when he got to the top I had to sprint around to the front of the slide, dodging all the little kids on my way, and then he would grab my hands and slide down.
There was a little girl there with a purple balloon and every time he saw her he would point to her balloon and get all excited. When it was time for them to leave her mom and her gave the balloon to Jasper, since they could tell he really wanted a balloon. This was wonderful since J and I were trying to think of somewhere in the mall that we could buy him a balloon. He was pretty happy about his balloon.

Christmas with the Kortus's

We had a low key New Years Eve this year. Jasper helped me make 3.5 dozen mini cheese cakes and we spent the day relaxing. That evening J and I watched the movie Four Christmas's and laughed until J's sides hurt. I made New York style cheese cakes but in mini form so everyone could have their favorite topping: plain, Apple, Caramel Apple, Blueberry, Cherry, Chocolate and Cherry Chocolate. I think the chocolate was the biggest hit.
We celebrated Christmas with the Kortus's at our house. I made a turkey dinner with all the fixens, a new green bean casserole recipe (which was a big hit), stuffed mushrooms for the appetizer, some new yummy salads Nana brought and the mini cheese cakes for desert. Everything turned out really delicious!
John and Laura
Present time!
Madi opened her first present (one of the many books she got) and was all ready to settle in and start reading. We had to make her put the book down and keep opening presents.
John and Ryan. I just love his little boots! So cute.
After presents the kids (Madi, Livi, Lil' C and J) all headed down to the play room to have some fun. Lil' C, or as I've been calling him now- Jasper is setting the mood for play time with some wonderful music.
Livi thought his play room was pretty neat! She had fun testing out all his toys with him. Here they were playing in his ball pit.
Slam Dunk! Nana and Papa got him a basketball hoop for Christmas and he's already pretty good at making shots!
I'm not sure who had more fun playing with his basketball hoop... him or the other kids (J included). Madi and J played Basketball-Hockey.
Then Madi and Livi broke into ballpit war. They built forts and tried to destroy the other person's fort with the ballpit balls. This is Madi's fort built out of mega blocks and Jaspers table.
And Livi's fort made out of Jaspers tent, pillows and blankets.
The War!
The girls tackling each other after the war. The kids had a lot of fun in the playroom! They were down there playing for hours.
Family photo =)
Jasper reading a book to Papa before bedtime. We had a wonderful Christmas!