Ten on Ten

Early morning shopping

 Stealing mommy's coffee mug

 Bubbles

 Talking to Daddy through the window

 Trees in bloom

 Girls got style

 Fedora Lego time

 Playing with her new BFF, Jane

 The cutest little guy ever

 Playing with our kids where we used to play together!

An incredible day

10 on 10

 The start of every morning...after changing a diaper of course

These people are on top of things...

Despite this little girl being in the best mood I've ever seen her in, this is the face she made when I pulled out the camera

Tea party

 Going for the camera

 Pacifier positioning of choice

Reading together

Smiling sweetly

Baldies

Elmo and Ricky Gervais for Charlie while I made dinner

Whats Charlie Wearing Wednesday(s)

Buckle up...here comes three weeks worth of cuteness. 

Pajama day...sometimes we here at the Fulton home are a bit...lazy.  And sometimes jammies are too hilarious not to document.  Resulting in the first ever (I think) pajama WCWW.  We have a box of hand me downs from my nephew Mitsuki, and some of these gems are direct from Japan.  Some of these Japanese items have non sensical Engrish English on them...like these bell bottoms.

The pants say (in cursive, no less)  "Nice to meet you.  Love, Kids Zoo".  Awesome.  And, as usual, the top is a simple white onesie from Carters.  Moving on...

Our friends Andrew and Sara were here last week from Santa Rosa to meet Charlie.  Charlie was immediately showered with gifts, and she got some awesome boots that were sent with them from our other friends, Alison, Jason, and little Cora.  Here's Charlie rocking her Hatley rain boots, which are covered in little birds and flowers (and totally match the coat that Sara and Andrew gave her.)

She's also wearing a Carter's top bought with a little pink and white polka dot romper at Costco for $5ish way back when.  And, the H&M jeans she's sporting are also from Alison and Jason, sent before either she or Cora were born.  We had an awesome time with Andrew and Sara (and their little boy on the way) and can't wait to see them and meet the Superbaby.  We're hoping we'll get to see Alison and Jason and finally meet Cora sometime this year too. 

Lastly, yesterday Charlie played the part of a ballerina (until she pulled her bib off and covered her shirt in peach puree.)

She is wearing a white onesie ruffle tee from H&M ($3, I think), a Circo tutu with polka dots under the tulle ($6), and a interchangeable flower headband from an Etsy shop that no longer exists.

The stubborn girl no longer wants to sit and pose, hence the book and standing shots.  But, she's still stinking adorable, so I'll let it slide.

Six Month Photo Shoot

Buckle up - there are a lot of pictures below :) My sweet friend Laura of E&O Supplies has a vast amount of talents, not the least of which is photography. I asked if she would be willing to take pictures of Charlie and she really delivered. We had brunch with Meghan of Zimbags, and used her beautiful neutral home as a backdrop. The pictures turned out amazing, and here are some of my favorites (it was really hard to narrow down, be glad I didn't upload all 56)

Seriously great pictures, right? Big thanks to Auntie Laura for making this possible!

Made By Me Monday

For Christmas, my friend Laura spoiled me with crafty goodness. I found this owl puppet pattern by Sara Lucas in the goodies and thought it would make a good friend for Charlotte.
I chose completely different colors for Charlie's owl because the fall colors seemed a bit dull to me.

Once I saw how dark the body was, I decided to make this the boy owl, and have a girl owl in process, with light grey and white "feathers", and a pink belly.

It turned out pretty cute, considering I had to learn a lot of the techniques as I went. And Charlie seems to like it (most of the time).

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Today Charlie is supporting the non profit organization, Zimbags. Zimbags is a local organization that is effecting global change, employing Zimbabwean women and paying them fair wages in an effort to extend their shockingly low life expectancy. Read more about their mission for change here.

Charlie is wearing one of her three Zimonsies, a Gerber onesie featuring a design made by a woman in Zimbabwe.

Her skirt and leg warmers (as well as two of the Zimonsies), were a gift from Meghan, one of the happy bag elves behind Zimbags.
The skirt is Circo brand, and the leg warmers are Babylegs...which are awesome.

One last thing, since Charlie has been wearing these every day for the last week:

Since Charlie's feet are her new favorite toy, I can keep her occupied for endless periods of time by using these Lamaze feet rattles that my little brother got her for Christmas. I highly recommend these to and new moms.

Happy Birthday to my Original Baby

Today my husband joins me in the last year of our roaring 20's. (Yes he's younger than me, cradle robbing runs in my family. My Grandma had 8 years on my Grandpa.) Our amazing friends Ryan and Meghan are coming over to take care of our tiny, and sending us off to Tim's favorite restaurant for dinner. We are so excited! It's been a l-o-n-g time since we've eaten out. I made a cute colorful "Happy Birthday" bunting rather than pull out the shiny metal birthday banner I bought years ago. I thought this was more fun and personal. It should be a happy night, full of little black dresses, yummy food, laughter, and later games and cake with Ryan and Meg. So excited!

Made by Me Mondays

The day before Charlie was born was my last day of work. Tim and I knew that when we started our family, we wanted, more than anything, for me to be able to stay home. My passion and desire is to be with Charlie as much as possible, to teach her, to learn from her, to love her and dote on her, to do everything I can for her.

To be able to do this, we've had to make a lot of sacrifices. Tim has to work two jobs, we've had to cut all extras out of our budget and live the leanest we've ever lived. Worth it? Absolutely.

So, when Christmas time rolled around, I was faced with the biggest challenge I've experienced in this lean time...no buying presents for people, something I love to do. Thankfully, there is a never ending amount of crafting to be done, so in our need for creative gift giving, I was able to make, among other things (jewelry, mounds of cookies, etc...):

Yarn Wreaths with Felt Flowers:

I found a tutorial on this a few weeks before Christmas and made one for my Grandma in traditional Christmas colors:

It took me awhile to decide if I liked it, but eventually I determined I did.

(Bonus shot, Grandma with her great grandkids on Christmas Eve)

Once I decided I liked it, I made another in less traditional colors for my sweet friend Laura. I was even more uncertain of this one, so much so that I didn't initially give it to her, giving her only the jewelry portion at first. Later I decided I was being stupid, "slyly" asked her if she was familiar with the yarn wreath fad, and eventually presented her with the wreath, assuring her that she didn't have to like it. She did though, and happily hung it up right then.

What do you think of yarn wreaths? Is this something you'd buy in an Etsy shop? What would you expect to pay, and what color combos would you like to see? Any input it welcome!