Trick Or Treating At The Caribe

So since our seminar this year fell on Halloween FLEA decided to organize a Trick or Treat event throughout the hotel for the little kids – okay I mostly organized it. My sister Sancha and her family (Erik, Jake & Brennan) came too! Jake was so funny with his costume changes from Mr. Incredible to Wolverine – knocking on doors and yelling “trick or treat-ING”. Brennan could not have been cuter toddling around in his dragon costume – I just wish the camera had been out for that. Charlotte had a lot of fun watching the colorful costumes run by her while she was perched comfortably in her stroller.

Also, I have to note that later that night Wayne and I took Charlotte with us (and the FLEA Probate Team speakers) to dinner at The Venetian Room – a VERY fancy restaurant. She was an angel – THANK YOU CHARLOTTE – she is almost always great at restaurants but we had her out till at least 10:30pm without complaint!

MBC Halloween Party

Today Charlotte and I celebrated Halloween with our friends at Mom Baby Connection. All of the kids looked SO cute in their creative costumes. We had a frog, pumpkin, strawberry, alien, cat, Pebbles, Tiger, two Sock Hop Girls, Risky Business Baby, fairy, hula girl, etc… What a great party!

Am I Too Young For Therapy?

My friend Sonia gets all the credit for taking this great picture of Charlotte in her chicken costume. I can only imagine what Charlotte must have been thinking…

Punk Rock Baby

Here is a picture of Charlotte in punk rock mode – complete with chick scull leggings and a Ramones onesie – oh, with attitude to match!

Happy 8 Month Birthday Charlotte

Charlotte At 8 Months Old

Charlotte Morgan Chambers At 8 Months Old

* Nick Name: Charlotte Bunny
* Eye Color: Greenish Gray
* Words: Really Da-Da is the only thing she says and although she has been saying that for a few months it’s becoming less and less indiscriminate.
* Favorite Song: She likes to hear any kind of music and shakes her head to “dance”. Daddy hums video game theme songs to her, puts her right to sleep! Mommy is still trying to remember the words to all the popular baby songs but also sings Charlotte songs from the 50’s.
* Favorite Game: “I’m Gonna Get You” which is our version of warning her that the tickle fest is about to begin. She also likes Peek-A-Boo and over the last two months has gotten so good at this that when you put the blanket over her head she pulls it off SO FAST it’s hard to get “Where is Charlotte?” out before she has the blanket off.
* Firsts This Month: Two front bottom teeth, waiving, crawling (with one knee and one foot), leaning toward you if she wants you to hold her and pulling up on EVERTHING and EVERYONE!
* Smiles When: Someone sneezes, she is happy, on the spot if she sees Mommy, Daddy, Nanny or Grandma.
* Favorite Activity: Eating the remote, Erin’s phone, Wayne’s glasses, etc.
* Size Clothing: We just started to pull out the twelve month size clothes. As per usual with Charlotte we find that the torso length is a better fit in the next size up. So nine month size is a little tight and twelve month size is a bit baggy. Pant size is now the same as the rest of her clothes (before she was running one size smaller in pants).
* Sleep Schedule: We can tell that Charlotte is in a transitional stage or is it teething? Either way she changes her “schedule” for naps everyday…luckily the overnights are still solid. She is starting to get up a little earlier but we think that has more to do with time change. Luckily she wakes up happy – rarely cries right off – and will play in her crib for at least an hour before she decides it’s time to get out of her wet diaper!
* Doesn’t Like: To be “stuck” anywhere that keeps her from exploring
* Cries When: She is tired, hungry or her teeth hurt
* Must Have Travel Item: Duck lovie blanket
* Eating: A lot of stage two and three baby foods. She is up to three “solid food” meals a day (between one and a half and two jars each meal). Charlotte is starting to lose interest in her formula, down to about three eight ounce bottles each day, which we have to encourage her to eat. At least she has mastered holding her bottle and feeding herself! However, if you just give it to her and walk away she will get distracted and “forget” to finish eating.

Winter Park Farmers Market & Fall Festival

After our yummy breakfast Wayne, Charlotte and I took a stroll at the Winter Park Farmers Market. While we were there we stopped by our friend Jen’s booth and she gifted me one of her ivy kissing balls for my birthday – yippee, I LOVE it! The fruit and veggies looked so yummy but since I am going to be gone most of the week we decided it would be better not to waste the produce. We’ll come back another time to stock up on all the beautiful eatables offerings. Wayne did find a HUGE basket of white daisys for me that I just think is fantastic and can’t wait to put by the front door.

After the Farmers Market we strolled over to the Winter Park Fall Festival and on the way took a few moments to enjoy the other “calm” side of the park. Charlotte LOVED watching the pigeons and talking to them. We did do a walk through the festival and enjoyed all the noises and sights of so many families having a great day. Unfortunately, the activities were geared towards older children so Charlotte was on the sidelines this time around. But we really had a great morning and feel like in a few years Charlotte would just love the Winter Park Fall Festival too.

Erin’s Birthday Breakfast

This morning Wayne’s mom and sister, Gwen, treated the three of us to breakfast at First Watch! The food was delicious and I defiantly ate way more than I should have – my only defense is that the food was SO yummy! We all enjoyed trying to feed Charlotte yogurt melts – while she tried to throw them on the ground! What a perfect start to my birthday!

Look What I Can Do

This is what happened while I was trying to get Charlotte’s 8 months photos. The days of her sitting still are LONG gone! Now that she can pull up and sorta crawl she thinks she can just do anything…

Welcome Cayden Effie Rowntree

Wayne and I just want to congratulate our friend Ellen and her husband John on their baby girl Cayden! Little Cayden was born just about a week early but mommy was ready ‘I was more than happy to be done being pregnant at that point :)” This is a picture of Ellen and sweet Cayden in the hospital – who looks this good after giving birth?!? We are so happy, Congratulations guys!

Monday mOMArt

This morning Charlotte and I attended a mOMArt class at the Orlando Museum of Art. There were quite a lot of mommies and babies ranging from 6 to 18 months old. Melissa, Kristen, Melanie and Angela from our M&M Group also attended. The Director first took the group into one of the galleries and gave us examples of portraits, talking to us about the evolution of skill, subject matter and colors. It was really interesting and included some beautiful examples. After the brief history of portraiture the group strolled over to Lock Haven Park to meet with professional photographer Katie Meehan. Katie gave a brief seminar on taking photograph portraits of our children. It was such a beautiful day to spread out a blanket and enjoy the shade and breeze. Katie gave us great tips about camera use, overuse of flash, location, set up, subject and perspective. I really learned a lot. Then Katie did mini photo shoots with the babies. Charlotte loved being outside and had fun examining the grass and leaves. She was her usual quite self, just taking everything in. These are some of the photos I took, trying to use Katie’s tips. The professional photos will be available soon for purchase and I will try to post those when I get them.

Marcie & Ryan’s Anniversary Dinner

Tonight we were invited to help in a surprise first anniversary celebration for our friends Ryan & Marcie Pegg. Marcie’s parents planned a grand surprise dinner, including most of the wedding party, for them at the hotel they were married at ALMOST one year ago. Wayne, Charlotte and I had a great time celebrating with everyone and wish them MANY MORE HAPPY YEARS TO COME! Thanks to Paul and Daisy for including us and as always, making us feel like family!

Pictures With Mommy & Daddy

Pickn’ Pumpkins

Hooray!
Today we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch to find pumpkins that were “just right” for celebrating HALLOWEEN! The weather was gorgeous – cool and breezy, perfect for our trip to the patch. Charlotte was so much fun; she just loved the pumpkins and kept trying to EAT them! As usual Wayne and I took our sweet time picking THE ONES and loved the addition this year of a little pumpkin for little Charlotte. As fun as this year was, we can’t wait for next year when she will be toddling around!

Visit To The Pumpkin Patch

Charlotte's Halloween Scrapbook Page

Halloween Puppies

Don’t Valyn & Raimi look cute in their Halloween bandannas?

Pine Castle Pioneer Days

Well this has been a big week for Chambers Family outings and this morning we added another adventure to our week – Pine Castle Pioneer Days. This is an annual festival that I remember my parents taking us kids to ever since we were little. Sancha and I have decided that this event really starts the fall season for us.
It has changed a lot over the years but they still have the petting zoo, face painting, bounce house, pony rides, settler camp, cane mill, quilters, storytelling, hayrides, crafts, etc. The BEST part is the fresh homemade lemonade. Lemonade is a MUST!

Today we met up with my mom, sister, brother in law, nephews, friend Jen and her two girls Devon and Norah for a fun, if HOT, morning. Charlotte as usual was a trooper and really just enjoyed strolling around for the most part. Wayne and I found her a cute Halloween book that has goggle eyes and makes character noises. We finished our stroll with thirst quenching lemonade, fries, BBQ pork sandwiches and a root beer float – YUMM! We had planned to stop by the Pine Castle Christian Academy’s Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkin but were all too hot and tired to do more than get home for a midday nap. Fall Festivals really tire us out; I hope next year the weather is a little cooler!