Vivacious - adj. vi-va-cious, Lively; animated; gay: a vivacious folk dance.

Here's a little video of Xander sliding at the neighborhood park.

Vintage - adj. vin-tage, Representing the high quality of a past time: vintage cars; vintage movies.

Just messing around with the computer on a lazy Saturday. X is napping and Caleb's at the church finishing up a decorating project. I ran across Scene Moms' blog and saw an application that she had used on a previous post. A program called Poladroid that turns your digital pictures into vintage looking Polaroids, I'm definitely addicted now. Thanks Monica! Here are some random shots from the last couple months...

Our matching family. Look how Xander and Caleb make the same face, they look SO much alike!
Only X can get cereal all over his face when I feed him with a spoon.

Niece Isabella, so cute!
Adam, messing around with our camera.
Sister Misha.

Niece Courtney, being goofey!

Flurry - noun. flur-ry, A light, brief shower of snow.

In honor of the glorious day we're having in Charlotte today (almost 60 and sunny!) I've decided to post our snow day pictures. X's first experience with snow and he was a big fan, until his little hands got cold, I tried gloves, he pulls them off. We barely got an inch, in Minnesota we'd call it a 'dusting', but it was enough to give it a wintery feel, and I loved it. I was glad I got to see some snow, and the night before we got to see it falling...ah, the peaceful snow!!! Here are some lovely snow pictures.
He didn't know what to think but it made him happy!
A very happy mama.
A view down McDowell up to 35th St.
Our little house, a side view.
Another angle.
Front of the house, with snow all over, it's even more cute!

Mob - noun. The common people; the masses; populace or multitude.

Here's a picture I got online from geoeye.com, it's a picture of Washington DC, over the capital building at the time of the inauguration of Barack Obama, the largest and most expensive inauguration yet. You can see huge groups of people from the front of the capital all the way to the Washington monument. I'm assuming there were large screens by the monument itself due to the group of people and how they are situated. This is a larger view, on geoeye.com you can see it zoomed in a litte better. How crazy. Click to zoom in.

Gluttony - noun. glut-ton-y, Excessive eating and drinking.

We spent a nice long weekend with our friend Mary (more pics of that later) holed up in our little house trying to stay warm. Caleb's weekend wasn't as long as mine and Mary's, as he had to go back to work. I think we went to Amelie's French Bakery everyday starting Friday, it's so unbelievably delicious...(ameliesfrenchbakery.com). If you are ever in Charlotte you must go there and have something to eat, it's pretty awesome. They have chocolates and breakfast foods and savories and lunches and the best soup I think I've ever had (ie. portabello and caramelized onions with goat cheese). And, lucky for you, it doesn't matter what time you're in Charlotte as they are open 24 hours a day. Located on the edge of NODA (28th and North Davidson), you're also in the coolest neighborhood in Charlotte and so close to us, come visit, and bring food!
I love the feeling of the place. The design is kitschy and French, and warm and cozy. With the urban feel of the open ceiling and the exposed concrete they throw in large curtains and glass chandeliers, also with a lot of old and mismatched chairs, it's such a comfortable environment.
One little dining area.
Old suitcases turned coffee/lamp table.
A barista taking a break to read.
Don't forget the food...
And the food...
And more food...that is the owner in the back of the picture. The nicest man you'll meet who just wants you to be a happy customer, feel free to ask for samples, but I'm sure he'll offer first.

Wave - verb. To signify or express by a waving movement: to wave a last good-bye.

Here's a video from Thanksgiving that I thought I would put up. I am in a video mode today and have been looking at all the ones we've made since being in Charlotte...good times.

Goings-On - noun. go-ings on, Happenings; events: The American newspaper kept her in touch with the goings-on back home.

Kind of a slow couple weeks so I'll catch you up with what's going on around the house. Mostly just us hanging out and trying to stay warm in a very drafty house. We took a weekend and tried to tighten everything up, stuck things around the door frames, got really big window treatments and hung blankets over doorways. We even counted X's room a loss and cut it off from our heat source (X sleeps in our room during the winter). X is becoming even more of a cheese, knowing what the camera does it's hard to catch him candidly. We also took down all the Christmas decorations, which made me sad, but all the more ready for next year! Here are some random shots from our last week.
A picture of our living room and mostly the kitchen from the front door, it's a very small house, just like we like it, but it's so open it makes it feel bigger than it is. We came from a 4 bedroom house in Atlanta with carpets and a lot of beige, this house is only a 2 bedroom so we crammed everything in it, no wall space available! This house is so much more us we felt at home immediately.
Before we took the Christmas decorations down. Caleb was snapping shots and got this adorable one of the front porch.
I did another painting. This one is kind of Valentine's Day inspired, little hearts and whatnot. I'm trying to paint more, it's a little tricky when it's so cold out.
I'm sad...taking down the tree, it felt like I just put it up! I love staring at it at night, when the room is dark and the lights bounce off the walls and ceiling.
Isn't he just a ham! It's impressive how much food he can get all over his face.
We're in love with Charlotte, there is no doubt about it.

Cuisine - noun. cui-sine, a style or quality of cooking; cookery: Vietamese cuisine; This restaurant has an excellent cuisine.

Got to have some great Vietnamese food over the weekend, perfect for a cold night, I wish I had some right now. Our friends Rob and Amanda invited us out to eat at Pho Hoa, a shop just a neighborhood over from ours. It's so nice to live in a town with authentic foreign food, something that was seriously lacking in the area we lived in Atlanta. Now I'm craving it.
Here's Caleb's dish, mine was similar but I had beef instead of tofu. I usually share my food with X so I don't get to spice it up like I normally would. Doesn't it look good?
He even eats from chopsticks, how big of him! I'm glad we get to raise him with these opportunities, hopefully as he grows he'll keep an open mind to food, unlike his mama, I guess I was a very picky eater as a child. Xander does love his noodles, no matter what country they come from.
Here we are. Feel free to make fun of Caleb's mustache, he does it just to annoy me.
That's Rob, entertaining the baby.
I don't know why I posted this, everyone needs a little X's booty.

Fast - adj. Done in comparatively little time; taking a comparatively short time: a fast race; fast work.

We spent some time at Kasey Kahne's (NASCAR driver) workshop the other week. He was doing a special event for Make a Wish Foundation and I was there to photograph it. While we waited for them to arrive X got to try out some fast moving vehicles, which made his mom nervous and Xander and his dad excited.
Sitting on the 4-wheeler like a pro! Caleb's making plans in his head.
Little man and his papa checking out the Number 9, a very fast car.
Jacob thought it would be cool to see him in the car. X loved that idea, he was giggling like crazy.
Little grin! He didn't want to be taken out.
My boys.
He grew up too fast! How did a little 5 lb baby learn to walk so fast?

Rowdy - adj. row-dy, Rough and disorderly: rowdy behavior at school.

I don't know what it's like to raise a little girl but so far raising a little man has been nothing short of an adventure. I'm pretty sure he's hiding speed somewhere. Xander Carl is the most adorable little thing I've ever seen, even if he's tearing the house to pieces or walking around without a diaper.
Here he is, taking advantage of Mama being distracted. I'm always guarding the rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom, I didn't even think about the extra roll. He snagged it while I was doing my make-up, then I realized I didn't hear him so I went in search of him. Of course he had unrolled about half of it.
Naked man with his work boots still on!
How does a boy get cereal all over his face, eyes and hands when his mama is feeding him with a spoon?
Another naked bottom! Poor little man has been battling some diaper rash, so we've been letting him hang out nakey a bit after each diaper change. Some day he'll hate me for this, but for now, it's too cute to pass up!

Thrifty - adj. thrift-y, Practicing thrift or economical management; frugal: a thrifty shopper.

Happy New Year!!! I have a lot more post coming once I get the pictures uploaded from the camera. We had a very relaxed NYE, same as Christmas, just us and some movies. X happened to wake around 11:30 so we just kept him up to bring in the new year with us as a family, it was sweet. He was ready for bed when the time came, which is always nice. Yesterday we spend the afternoon at a local antique expo. It was a lot of fun, a little chilly, but still fun. I have an unhealthy addiction to broaches, unhealthy because I want them all but I never wear them, I just don't know how. Anyway, they had SO much old jewelry I just took my time. I took a couple pictures. Also, I found the coolest wine rack I've ever seen, and I'm determined to make it mine!
Broaches and necklaces and earings.
A ton of more jewelry, and some cute rings! So much costume jewelry too...
Here's the wine rack that I love. It's so rustic, it would go well with our little house...it's just a shame it's so big and our house is full to the brim. I don't even care, we're going back next month and if it's there we're getting it! At $140, who wouldn't get it?