Christmas Celebration!

We had a very fun Christmas with Nana Evelyn from Georgia, Gramma Debbi from Iowa and GiGi and Bopa. I'll post more photos later about all the fun we had with Nana, but here are some of Christmas. I also realize I need to post photos of our Christmas celebration 2 weekends ago with Grampa and Grammy! They will come.
The birthday cake we made for Jesus! This one was a lot less messier to make than the one we made previously for my birthday! I've already decided that each year I'll take a photo of the cake and see how they progress each year!


Family photo


After Charlotte opened up her Elmo blanket we made for her. (I do say we because Greg helped tie all the ties!). I hope every year she gets as excited about her gifts as she did this year, without us having to spend all our money on the latest and greatest whatever! We got her gifts that were personal, yet inexpensive and hope to do that all her life, and we just pray we will train her to get excited not about the money we spent, but the thought we put into her gifts plus all the fun we have celebrating the birth of Christ!

I'm the Rock Star

I got the Premier Designs newsletter in the mail today and I was listed as number 16 in the north central region (IL, WI, MI, IN, MN, MO, NE, SD, KS, IA, ND) of having a top home show!!! I suppose Margaret also needs to be the rock star for being the hostess with a $2,138.50 show!

What we've been up to

So, I've become a blog slacker lately as we have just been so busy! Charlotte and I headed up to MN last Friday for my sister's baby shower, and stayed there until Tuesday. Then we came back, went to the circus on Wednesday night, Thanksgiving on Thursday, shopping on Friday (yes at 4 am-well that was just me!) and shopping and decorating the house for Christmas on Saturday, and I'm sure I'm missing a few of the other things we have done to keep us so busy!

Now that Charlotte is almost 18 months she is saying new words on a daily basis. Her new favorites include "Abby," my 7 year old cousin and "Marc," Ava's daddy, and "fries". She can also hold a complete phone conversation as she did yesterday with Gramma (my mom) and Gigi (my grandma.) She even said "Howareyou?" to my mom on the phone.

Now that she's getting bigger she is also able to experience new things like riding the train and carousel at Mall of America and staying up way past her bedtime to go to the circus!

Here are a couple of photos from the past week.

So the whole weekend we were in Mn Charlotte kept grabbing her swimsuit and swim diaper saying "water, water" and I kept having to tell her later, with the hopes of going to the hotel pool. On Sunday night after she had her jammies on she pulled out her swimsuit again and said "water". Now I felt bad I didn't keep up my end of the bargain. All she really wanted to do was wear her swimsuit so I let her sleep with it on over her jammies and told her she could go swimming in the bathtub the next morning. When she woke up on Monday, with the swimsuit on over her jammies, she said water (what a good memory she has), and I filled up the bathtub so she could go swimming. Then in comes Bentley, Kimberly and Alan's dog, and I said "Do you want a bath too bentley, and in she jumps (while really she stepped in and only got her legs up to her knees wet.) Charlotte loved it!



Sitting with Abby and Great Aunt Jenny at the circus.
Charlotte did amazingly well for staying up 2 hours past her bedtime for the circus. She danced, clapped, and was in awe with the elephants, acrobats, dogs, tigers, clowns, and human cannonballs!

Ewwwww, Gross!

Yes, Charlotte is licking Greg's toes!!!!!! Ewwwwww, gross! It all started in fun and games as I was showing Charlotte how to tickle Greg's feet, then before we knew it she had her tongue out and was licking his toes! We figured she did it because Greg always eats her toes, an activity that is now gong to stop! And of course, she continued to do it because we couldn't stop laughing!

More Please!

Tonight was girls night for me and guys night for Greg so Charlotte joined me at Maria's Mexican Restaurant with Kelly, Jenny, Christina, and Lisa. The night started with many frustrations such as leaving my cell phone at my grandparents and then having no high chair at the restaurant for the first 35-45 minutes we were there (plus not very good service overall)! Charlotte provided much entertainment throughout! (Just to clarify it was fun, good entertainment, just in case there are those of you saying "Oh-no Charlotte was causing trouble!")
Anyway, the best moment of the evening came at dessert. Lisa ordered flan that she was willing to share with everyone. I got a bite for Charlotte, and then a bite for me. I really didn't think Charlotte was going to like it. Then she said "more, please," over and over again. I said no, that it was Lisa's dessert and gave her the spoon thinking that would suffice. Charlotte licked the spoon completely clean and then promptly handed it to Lisa saying "More please!" It was the funniest thing and got a lot of laughs. However, on my way home, as I pondered her actions, it was eye opening. Charlotte is starting to realize that when mom says "no" she can ask someone else who is going to say "yes." (Mom, now I get it.)

Mischief

I'm sure I'll have a lot more posts in the near future titled this way!
Greg and I were preparing for our trip to the post office when into our bedroom toddled Charlotte with a train of toilet paper behind her! (And she came all the way from the bathroom in the hall and not the one in our bedroom.) It had to have been at least 15 feet of toilet paper! The best part (besides the laughs that it gave us) was that it didn't break, which allowed me to write to the company to say how strong their product is (Charmin). Anything for a chance to get free toilet paper!!!!! Also, Charlotte loves blowing her nose, which you can see she does with the T.P. (Thanks mom for teaching her that skill!)

I Heart Matt and Al Photos

Here are the long awaited photos!

The Conniver

Sounds like a good movie, right?!? Only if the star is sweet, but conniving Charlotte Devyn Foster. We're at Gigi and Bopa's and Charlotte wanted a banana. I didn't want her to sit in the death chair so I asked her to sit on the floor. No problem. There she sat, asking for bites of her banana which I would then give her. She even said "banana please." Then I decided to just give her the rest of the banana. She then promptly got up and I said "Charlotte you have to sit down to eat, otherwise I will take your banana away." Good, she sat down. Then she got up again and walked towards the fridge. So I said, "OK, give me the banana." Does she give me the banana? No! Does she sit down and finish it? No! She stuffed the rest of the banana into her little mouth!

I Heart Matt and Al!!!

Today we braved the alarm going off at 5 am and headed down to NBC Tower to see Matt and Al and of course get on national TV. It was crazy! We didn't end up being interviewed by Al (or Matt) although I would say Charlotte was the cutest baby out there!!!! Looking for us was like Where's Waldo! Kimberly called from MN and said she thought she saw us, but when I looked at the spot she said she found us, I couldn't even see us! Must be that super big screen TV they have! :) We did tape it, and yes, there are glimpses of us (more of Greg due to the 10 inches he has on me), but you'd have to know where we were. Now, although we weren't interviewed on The Today Show we did have some good interactions and photos (photos will be posted when I'm not so tired!) Charlotte at one point was crying in the background when they were showing the clip of Second City (thus you couldn't hear her) but someone said "Oh, a baby's crying!" (Not sure if it was a producer who was upset or just another fan). Matt Lauer then turned around to see us and I said "Sorry," and he said, "It's OK, we're used to it, Al cries every morning." At another point Greg had Charlotte on his shoulders and Al said, "That's a really tall baby back there."

It was a fun, crazy morning, especially since Charlotte did not take it very well for the first 2 hours we were there, but then she totally was hamming it up. One time we are on TV behind Al and Art Smith, she was clapping (and pulling the girl's hair in front of us!)

Oh, and yes, we got individual pics of Matt and Al. They are both so sweet! Lots of people were calling Al's name for photos including me and he looked at us, and said "Yes, with the baby." For Matt, we were afraid we missed our chance, until he came back out to do the intro for the west coast, and then he quickly got out of there. I started following saying "Excuse me," He turned slightly but I don't think he saw me. I was turning away dejected, but then a producer said, ""Go after him. He will take a photo with you." So I did and said "Excuse me" louder, and he saw us, stopped and took his photo with us!

We're Gonna Be On National TV!!!!!

Tomorrow, Monday, Matt and Al are coming to Chicago and we are going downtown to see them. (For those so not in the loop, Matt and Al are on The Today Show!) I LOVE The Today Show, so when I heard they were coming I said I would be there! And of course, because we have an adorable daughter, I'm sure we'll get on camera and Al will probably ask what her name is and how old she is since he does go ga-ga over cute babies! And the best part is that The Today Show is national so friends and family far away can see us! So check us out and tape us if you can!

Saying Goodbye

Today was my first (um, I mean second) day back at work. And of course, this would have to be the day Charlotte decided to sleep in. At 7:10 I decided to go wake her knowing that I would have to leave in 5 minutes. I gently explained that I had to go back to work and that I would miss her tons and to give me a kiss. As I walk towards the door, I prepare for the worst, expecting her to cry and scream. Well, the worst DID happen. As I was about to leave standing by the open door Charlotte saw her Elmo balloon. STUPID ELMO! Charlotte did NOT cry, scream, or say goodbye to me and instead ran towards the Elmo balloon! I even stood outside the condo door waiting for her to cry. I know, it's pathetic. It was hard to leave before when she would cry not wanting to leave my baby, but then I knew she missed me. Now when I leave she runs towards Elmo, not caring one bit that her mommy was going to leave her.

(I'm justifying that she did not cry today because Greg was home with her and of course Charlotte knew she was in good hands with daddy, but I swear, she better put on the water works tomorrow when I leave!)

Answer to prayer!

I am going back to work!!!! I received an email yesterday saying that everything is in order for me to start next week! I don't know if I'll believe it completely until I am actually in my classroom at St. Malachy! The learning center was supposed to call today with final details and protocol, and didn't, so I am a little worried. Just have to continue praying, I guess!!!

For those who live on a one income budget, kudos to you!!!!! I like to think we are pretty frugal and spend wisely, but it is difficult!!

Let's also pray that next week's posts aren't "Argh, I hate being back at work!"

Making Cake (and messes)

Charlotte and I had a fun and messy mommy/daughter time as we baked a cake for my birthday today! Charlotte is an excellent helper-she threw away the egg shells, added the water, mixed the cake mix, and added the sprinkles! And the best part was that we didn't have to clean up! Thanks Greg! I love you! (I do realize that Charlotte is going to have to learn to clean up her messes and as my mom says, you should always clean as you go in the kitchen, but that is quite the impossible task with a toddler helping!) The cake was very yummy and a special treat, but the biggest treat was teaching my daughter a skill that I love to do and we had a blast doing it!

A bigger treat came today when Charlotte said "Happy Birthday" to me!

What the nine people who read my blog have been waiting for!

Yesterday I installed a counter on my blog, so now I know nine people read my blog. (Actually it's only 8 because my visit to the blog yesterday counted as 1!)

The 8 people who read my blog are waiting for a new post. Today I was going to write a few different posts from the last few days, but now I decided to just do one mega post, which I'm sure will disappoint the 8 people who read the blog.

Here are the highlights!
Saturday-a surprise birthday party for moi thrown by my wonderful, caring, loving, very sneaky husband, who had help from my fantastic and also sneaky friends! It was great! Pizza, cake, ice cream, balloons, streamers, presents, and most important 7 adults and 4 toddlers whom I love very much!


Sunday-Tuesday-a trip to Woodhaven for me and Charlotte to see my mom, gramma, and grampa. This was Charlotte's first time eating at Dairy Joy, a drive-in in Hinckley, IL and a tradition to stop at on the way to and from Woodhaven. Now, Charlotte's first time to Woodhaven, we did stop at Dairy Joy, but considering she was 5 weeks old, she didn't eat anything. On our way to Woodhaven she ate almost a whole cheeseburger by herself! Don't tell her though that on the way home, I did stop for an ice cream cone, while she slept in the back seat! Once at Woodhaven we biked, played at the playground with bopa and gramma, ate lots of ice cream, and drove on bopa's lap. (Now, before anyone calls DCFS, the speed limit at Woodhaven is 20 miles an hour, plus everyone leaves Woodhaven on Sunday, leaving it a ghost town during the week! *Additionally, my grampa can get away with anything when it comes to Charlotte because they are just so cute together and he would not put her in harm's way. This is also the reason Charlotte ate a lot of ice cream because bopa would give it to her and I just didn't have the heart to take away that joy from him and her!)
* These are only things my grampa can get away with, just in case anyone else was tempted to try.




Yesterday-Foster Family Fun day. Yes, we are still getting Foster Family Fun days because I am still not back at work. I went to get fingerprinted in the morning though, which would be a start, but I couldn't get fingerprinted because of lack of communication. I really think I should start a "When Will Nicole Go Back to Work" Pool. It would cost $5 to submit a guess and then the winner would split the money with the Foster Family (cause after all, I am the one out of work!) We got treated to lunch by Dave and Maria, former coworkers of Greg's who are a great Christian couple and are so giving! Then in the afternoon we went to the Nature Museum for a fall campfire for toddlers. It was very similar to toddlers, tunes, and turtles, but there was a campfire and marshmallows (which Charlotte did not like!)

Birthdays and Free Stuff: 2 of My Favorite Things

What better way to celebrate a birthday than with free stuff (besides the obvious gifts!) The marketing people at the below restaurants sure know their way to a girl's heart!

Noodles and Co-Free Noodles dish (no purchase necessary!) Charlotte and I went their last year for my birthday and you bet I'll do the same this year.
Red Robin-Free Gourmet Burger. No purchase necessary. (I LOVE RED ROBIN by the way!) They are still down on my list because they are only located far out in the burbs!
Bennigan's-free entree with purchase of another entree. Not as great as Noodles because you have to buy something
Famous Dave's-They only give you a free dessert, so the least favorite of them all.

My birthday is still a week away and I'm waiting patiently for my favorite one-a free like it size ice cream from Coldstone! (the only problem with them is that you now need to sign up at their website and log in to get their coupons.) I like the ones that automatically show up in my inbox!

Summer's Not Over Yet!

So just when you think that summer is over in Chicago, we get a heat wave! And of course, we took advantage of it and the fact that I am still not back at work. On Tuesday Charlotte and I walked down to the beach for mainly sand play, until Charlotte saw a dog near the water. Of course this meant that Charlotte wanted to go see the dog, and thus going to see the dog meant that she saw the water and thus wanted to get in. Now before commenting on how could we go to the beach and Charlotte not notice the water at first, I'll explain. We went to the big beach (Loyola Park) and sat far enough away from the water that it wasn't so tempting. Plus where we sat we were on a slight incline so while we sat we couldn't see the waves lapping up onto the beach, plus I had Charlotte very occupied with the sand!




On Wednesday we headed to GiGi and Bopa's for Foster Family Fun Day. They too thought summer in Chicago was over as they had deflated the pool. It didn't take long to set it back up and for Charlotte to enjoy it!



She is just so cute in this shot!

Yummy Sunday

Sunday afternoon we headed for Eli's Cheesecake Festival! What can be better than a free festival that features cheesecake? NOTE: The event is free but everything else once you get there costs money, including the cheesecake, even though the ads said free cheesecake samples. They did have free cheesecake samples but they were so hard to find (go figure!)

Anyway, we still had a grand time watching cooking demos and picking up some yummy free recipes and tastes of the food that were made at the demos! And yes, we did get some cheesecake. (For a dollar donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository we got a slice of cheesecake!)

Here is Charlotte eating a whole apple by herself! What a big, healthy girl!



And, since we were at a cheesecake festival we had to let her try cheesecake! She loved the chocolate cheesecake! (And of course she had the cheesecake after eating the apple first!)

Big, Bad Adult

So when we came home from church on what I want to be a relaxing day there was trouble on the other side of the fence. We came in the back with the bikes and out front there were probably ten middle school and high school boys from the church around the corner fighting. I chose to watch for awhile and then something in me kicked me into action. I had made it up the stairs halfway still observing when I decided to run down and yell at the boys to get out of here. "Stop what you are doing and go where you belong!" Surprisingly, they actually listened!
What motivated me to action?

Maybe it was because I went through many torturous years in high school and middle school being picked on and I wanted to stand up for the little guy.

Maybe it was because on our bike ride home I was already angry because twice two cars went through the stop signs without paying any attention to me, Greg, and Charlotte on our bikes as we were at a stop sign.

Maybe it was because I miss being in the classroom and having an impact on students' lives.

Or maybe it was because Charlotte was with me, and I want her to know that fighting is not tolerable or that when she starts dating (yikes) she shouldn't pick a boy who thinks its cool to fight with others. Although she's only 15 months I want her to learn from me to stand up for the little guy or girl and step in to change the behavior rather than sit on the sidelines and watch.

Toddlers, Tunes, and Turtles

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and after a morning filled with running errands, it was time to get out and play! We invited our friends Roxanne and Anni to Gompers Park for a free event (gotta love free stuff) where kids got to play outside with puppets, animal costumes, books, wheelbarrows, and see live animals and hear music from a musician with Old Town School of Music.

Charlotte loved the chinchilla, whom she kissed and laid her head on. I don't blame her! They are so soft because they have 50 hairs come out of each hole on their skin! We also petted a hedgehog, held a chick, and fed a pig! It was the perfect thing for our animal loving girl!

Our Last Foster Family Fun Day

Well, at least I think it's our last as I hope that I have a contract and can start back to work next week. Although I'd much rather continue to have Foster Family Fun Days, we need the moolah! We started out the day arly as Charlotte must have known it was last Foster Family Fun Day and woke up at 6:30. That was good because Greg went to get the hitch installed on our van for our bike rack at 7 am (thanks G and G). When he got back we went to Lincoln Park Zoo where Charlotte had a blast roaring in the lion house and ooh-ooh ahh-ahh in the ape house! She much preferred to look at the posters and pictures of the apes rather than the real thing. We then headed to the farm in the zoo to pet a goat, moo at the cows and help in the kids' garden. We picked beans and onions and Charlotte was a rockstar pushing the wheeelbarrow to the compost pile! We headed back home with a $5 hot and ready large pizza from Little Caeser's , ate lunch and then took a family nap (the best part of FFFD) if you ask me! Our day ended by putting our bikes on the bike rack and heading to the Forest preserve trail to ride a few miles!

15 month checkup

Today was Charlotte's 15 month check up at the doctor. She did fabulous. We walked in and Dr. S. was in the lobby saying how big she was and where was the baby that she used to be. Then she introduced us to her own baby! What? I didn't even know she was pregnant the last time we came in at Charlotte's 12 month appt and I like to think that I am a pretty perceptive person to notice that someone was 6 months pregnant at the time. Did that baby really come out of her? Especially since she looked like she was back to wearing regular clothes! I must figure that she only gained 7 pounds- that of the baby! No maybe she gained 8, that of the baby and the placenta! Once we got into the office I did ask the nurse if she had really been pregnant and she said, "yeah I know." Even up to her due date people in the office couldn't believe she was about to have a baby!

OK, so back to Charlotte. She saw Dr. D. today and she did great. She's over a "whopping" 20 lbs now. And yes, her weight is the perpetual concern of mine! The doctor is not concerned because she looks healthy and is still on the charts. It does look like Charlotte may end up with height like mine. She only grew a 1/4 inch over 3 months and is now in the 25% for height. She is in the 20th precentile for weight and only gained 9 oz. over 3 months. I really know I shouldn't be concerned about her weight, especially since she is SO active, but what is a mother to do but worry about her child!

Charlotte got 2 shots today and only cried when I took her snacks away prior to the shots. (Of course I didn't want her to choke as she screamed in pain and agony while getting pricked.) SHE DID NOT CRY ONE BIT WHILE GETTING THE SHOTS! Amazing!

Great News!

Greg's dad, who is a Union pipefitter, will now be working in Evansville, Indiana. This means he will be back living in Ingraham, IL (about 4 hours away) rather than Georgia! We hope this means that we will be able to see him and Pat more!

Reunion Reflections

So last night was my 10 year high school reunion and just like high school I survived! It was fun, mainly because I was with my bestest friends from high school and caught up with other great friends there. Here though, are some of my brief reflections of the evening.
Unlike some of my former classmates I did not need to have alcohol to have a good time (OK I did have half a glass of wine to help take away the butterflies in my stomach). I don't know if people from HS were using the reunion as an excuse to drink a lot or maybe they are still in the partying, drinking kind of mode. One guy said to me " 4 hours of open bar and you are sober. Not a good thing," and I responded, "No, it IS a good thing."
I do wonder how many people, possibly due to heavy drinking or maybe just to relive high school were going to hook up with former classmates for the night, just from observing how people were "dancing" on the dance floor.
I did want to mingle, but found that people from high school intimidate me. People I didn't talk to in high school I STILL couldn't talk to 10 years later, even though I knew them back then and did want to see what they were up to. (However, the people I did catch up with, Barbara, Alex, and Cheryl, so, so, so glad that I did!)
In the memory book some people said high school was the best years of their lives. However, these are the same people who said their favorite memories were skipping classes, and taking extra lunch periods!!!!

Above L to R: Cheryl, Jenny, me, Kelly, Barbara, Agnes, and Alex

Oh My Goodness.....

It's finally happened!!!!!

Nicole Foster is a blogger! What, with all the spare time I have-ha! I've just started and Greg has already claimed he knows this is going to be addicting to me. I'm going to need to try to prove him wrong on that! So my blogs probably aren't going to be as up to date as others, or nearly not as funny, but hey, it is a good way to tell of Foster Family happenings. Plus, this will ensure that we upload our photos often and not be like the kid hanging in the air over a swimming pool saying his mom forgot to print his picture.

Dancing Queen

Yeah, so this will be the first and last time you will see our daughter dancing on the tables! OK, maybe not the last time, but definitely not when she's 13 or 16 or 18. Just like it is cute when babies have words on the butts of their pants, but come on, when they are 13, 18, 21, or yes, even 5, not so cool!