Our First Santa Pictures

We weren't going to get Santa Pictures done this year but last week when we were at our MOMS club Christmas dinner guess who showed up???? Yep! You guessed it!! Santa!

Charley enjoyed looking at Santa but was not about to let him hold her. So the photographer suggested that we sit next to Santa and that worked out great!

Here are our first pictures with Santa

Here are some other cute pictures that we took at our MOMS club Christmas dinner.

Hanging out with Daddy

Waving at the Christmas tree! We have taught Charley to wave at the Christmas tree to discourage touching it. Now every time she sees a tree she waves at it! Too cute!

Posing with the presents

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Thanksgiving Rewind

Holy cow I can't believe it's only a few days until Christmas! I am trying my best to stay one holiday ahead on our blog. Here is our Thanksgiving Rewind!

For Thanksgiving week Auntie Masha drove down to visit us from Happy Camp, CA. Happy Camp is very close to the Oregon border. She worked as a wild land fire fighter this past fire season and decided to stay!

Auntie Masha isn't a kid person, her words not mine, but I think we may have converted her because she had a great time hanging out with Charley!



Hanging out with Auntie Masha




On Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at our house in Rocklin with Auntie Masha, Oma, Lou, and Pop. We decided to keep things simple and ordered the Holiday Feast from Mimi's. It was yummy!




Everyone loved watching Charley while we waited for dinner!




Allen and Marilyn recently sold their homes in the bay area and moved to Sonora. They have been eager to show us their new home so on Friday we packed everything up and Masha, Charley, Darrin, and I drove two and a half hours to go visit them for the weekend. Masha was a good sport about listening to children's music the whole trip in the car!



Allen and Marilyn's new home



A deer we saw in the backyard.

On Saturday Marilyn's son Gerrin and his wife Kristen and their baby Gemma came up for the weekend along with Kristen's parents. It was a full house. It was really fun to watch Charley and Gemma interact since they are only 2 months apart. On Saturday afternoon we had a big Thanksgiving dinner and then went for a walk around Allen and Marilyn's new home.


Playing with Gemma and Gerrin



Gemma just loved Auntie Masha!




Playtime with Gemma






Here are some goats that we saw on our walk after dinner

On Sunday before we left we drove to the airport to see Allen's new shop.



Grandpa Allen in front of his new parachute shop



Inside the shop with the new packing tables

We had a great Thanksgiving! Both in Rocklin and Sonora!
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Aunt Jo's Visit

My Aunt Joanne lives is North Carolina and the last time we saw her was three years ago when we went to visit her family for the 4th of July. She called us in September and said she would be attending a training in Colorado. We figured if she was coming all the way out to Colorado then we had to bring her to California to meet Charley.

Hanging out with Aunt Jo

Playing with Aunt Jo

During her visit we took Aunt Jo to the Sacramento Children's Muesum. My friend Kirsten is a member so she was able to get us in during her members only evening. It was a bit farther away then I was expecting and many of the activities were a bit too advanced for Charley but they had a water table and she loved it! The kid was drenched! They also had a cute toddler room that Charley enjoyed.

Charley loves the water table!

Hanging out with our friend Ellie

Super busy in the toddler area

Thanks for coming to visit us Aunt Jo! We love you!

Happy Halloween

Our family absolutely loves Halloween! This year I decided, months ago, that Charley and I would be a Halloween duo a witch and black cat. Darrin joined our spooky theme and dressed up as a Vampire. Charley looked so cute in her black cat costume. But next year I will have to remember to wait till Halloween gets a bit closer before purchasing her costume. It barely fit her! Charley was a bit out of sorts the week of Halloween, a combination of teething and recovering from her birthday. Grandma said she had a baby hangover! But she really enjoyed going trick or treating and seeing all of the other kids in their costumes. Darrin and I were super excited to have trick-or-treaters! In all of our years in Hayward we never had any trick-or-treaters. We really enjoyed handing out candy and seeing all of the costumes  in the neighborhood.

Posing in our costumes

The cutest witch and black cat ever!

Our little cat has got the crawling down!

The pumpkins Darrin carved

There is a house a few blocks away from us that is super duper into Halloween. The man who lives there has been setting up his yard for over a month and everything in his display he has made himself. It is pretty creative and perhaps a bit disturbing. Here are a few pictures that Darrin took of the house. These don't really do it justice but you can get an idea.

Yes that is a fire breathing dragon!

The spider house!

Happy Halloween from the Silver Family

First Birthday Party

On Sunday October 28th we had Charley's 1st Birthday Party at our house with about 20 of our close family and friends. It was really nice to be surrounded by people who have supported us this first year as parents.

Charley's birthday is very close to Halloween but since we have many years ahead of us of Halloween themed parties we decided to do A Goodnight Moon inspired party since that is her favorite book. Darrin, Uncle Sheldon, and Auntie Jennifer did all of the decorating and it came out great!

There were so many people at our house that we thought Charley would be a bit scared but she was anything but scared! She was quite the social butterfly! Hmmm, I wonder where she gets that from?

Entertaining her guests

My favorite picture! My sweet birthday girl!

Waiting for her birthday pie!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday!

Blowing out the candle

Mmmm pumpkin pie! She didn't dive in but she enjoyed it!

Charley had so much fun at her party but it wore her out so we decided to wait till later in the evening to open her presents. It was our after party! Grandma, Grandpa Allen, Lola, and Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Sheldon all stuck around for our after party.

Her gift from Grandpa Allen

Opening Grandma's gifts

Relaxing and watching the World Series with Grandpa Allen

Thank you everyone for helping us make Charley's birthday such a special day!!

Birthday Weekend Festivities

We are so blessed to have so many family and friends who wanted to celebrate Charley's first birthday with us! Instead of one day we had an entire birthday weekend!

On Saturday Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Sheldon came to stay with us to help us get ready for Charley's birthday party on Sunday. We took them to the park and to a local pizza parlor for dinner. We get a little nervous because evenings can be a bit dodgy for Charley but it was super loud at the pizza parlor so we felt pretty safe.

Showing Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Sheldon how we swing

At the pizza parlor

More Presents!!

Opening her shape sorter from Auntie Jennifer and Uncle Sheldon

Authentic Hawaiian dresses! Thank you Auntie Jennifer and Grandma Keyes!

 

 

Auntie Jennifer's mom Stephanie got Charley the boppin bugs! Thank you Stephanie!

So nice to be with good friends!