Charlotte's Laugh!

Well, she is starting to laugh!! It is to die for! We just caught a little of it because she see's our camera and gets distracted! Anyways, we have some blogging to catch up on, Christmas and New Years and such. We'll get to it, but for now just enjoy her laugh! :)

Santa, friends, sleep and Christmas! Can't get better than that!!

We have been sleep training Charlotte, and she does great during the day! She is great at napping......not so great at night! Up until recently, this is how she would sleep at night. IN MY ARMS. She would throw out her arms and just own the space on that recliner! I loved having her sleep in my arms and miss it A LOT sometimes. But, alas, I have to go back to work in a couple weeks and she needs to do this on her own. But to document this, I had to have Bry take pictures of us sleeping so I'll always be able to remember those early months.



Having a baby is one of those life altering moments that really shows you who your friends are and who you can rely on and I was pleasantly surprised to have some new people come up to the surface. Like my neighbor, Jeffani. She is just a doll, and is always so willing and nice!! She bought this outfit for Charlotte, and you know I would just die over it since it is polka dots! Plus, isn't this just the cutest picture!!
Lastly, we finally brought Charlotte into my school for everyone to meet, and she was ADORED!! She smiled and was pleasant and made everyone fall in love with her. She even got to sit on Santa's lap when he came to our classroom (special shout out to Janelle who set that all up for my students, SO COOL of her) She was getting so tired of being the center of attention that when I put her in Santa's arms she just snuggled right in and went to sleep!

So Christmas is on the way and here in this house we love Christmas Specials, like Santa vs. The Snowman, Prep and Landing, and all those wonderful claymation classics like Rudolph & Frosty!! But we discovered a new one this year called Cranberry Christmas. The plot is lack luster, and the animation juvenile, but any true Raynes will accept it as gospel once they know all the songs and narrations are done by none other than BARRY MANILOW!! Now, I couldn't just tell you that and not let you taste some of that heaven, so enjoy the clip! But if you want to watch the entire thing come by the house, we have it on DVR, or it is on ABC Family on Christmas Day at 10 am! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

Swiss Family Christmas!

Last Saturday we had a fun day up in Heber with Jon's Fam, Ali's Fam, and Stef's Fam. We were invited to Swiss Days Christmas by Jon and it was a blast! There was a Creche Festival, a Gingerbread House Auction, and Santa was there!! Here are some photos from that lover-ly day! We also got a great group shot of us all dressed up as the Nativity, but we haven't scanned it in. Oh well! Enjoy these!!

Chancelor finally settled to be a sheep, but at the first he kept yelling that he wanted to be Jesus!!


Ah yes, the star and her angel!



Here is the livestock (Roman-Donkey & Chance-Sheep) in the manger! Please note they took care of their own pooper scooper duties! :)
This is how Charlotte spent the day. Bundled in her Car seat!! It was cold!
This is how Jack Jack spent his day, Bundled! but with the added warmth of his Dad!
See! Cute hu! This was most ingenious on Marshall's part.
This is the weird mural on the wall of one of the buildings. Bryan and I looked at her, and if you really take a second to look at her, you'll notice she desperately needs to go to the chiropractor!! Her back is totally out of alignment with her head and waist!
Chane was waiting patiently for his turn at Santa. He was bashful at all.
Alice on the other hand wanted nothing to do with Santa, and wasn't liking waiting in line either! This is her trying to make a dash for it!
Okay, seriously, when did Camryn grow up! I blink my eyes and wow! Look at her so beautiful and tall!
"I want TRUCKS! and...um..CARS!!....and...ah...CANDY!!.....oh...and..please?"
He is such a cute little stinker! :)

Roman wasn't too keen on seeing Santa, until he learned that they were giving out Candy Canes, then he was all over it! He did really well too!
This is as close as Alice would get to Santa. Really, though, I can't blame her! We teach our kids to be aware of people, and not sit on men's laps, and stranger dangers and all that stuff, and then we tell them to go sit on a old, hairy, robed man and whisper in to his ear what we want him to leave us when he sneaks into our house in the near future! :)
This was Savannah's first time sitting on Santa's lap, and we thought we almost didn't get a shot of it cause my camera was dying, but when I got home I realized that I had three pictures of her! We have fully documented this momentous occasion! Way to go Savy!! (Ok, Ali and Marsh, you have your work cut out for you cause both your daughters are drop dead gorgeous! Just look at her!!)

Afterwards, Nate made us yummy enchiladas at Jon's house! Thanks! It was such a fun day! Thanks for getting it all together Jon and Daniela!!

I just can't take it!!!!!

A good friend of mine, Amy Harrison, did a photo shoot of Charlotte, and I'm not kidding, I just can't take how cute Charlotte is!!! Here are a few of the photos of my friend's blog, there are more there so go and take a look!! http://amyharrisonphotography.blogspot.com/ (We're also one of her Christmas Card examples, so check those out!) She did such an amazing job, so if you need a photographer, call her!!


I love this photo of my two loves!!


This one is my favorite!!


She is definitely giving Amy a courtesy smile. She was getting tired :)


Ah....


I CAN'T TAKE IT!! She is TOO perfect! Aren't those eyes just to DIE for!!

Okay, enough with the exclamation marks, but seriously, my little girl is stunning.

Waking Up Is Hard to do...(Imagine singing that to the tune it should go to)

Well, we have a bit of a problem, it could be a small issue for Charlotte. The problem is that both Danielle and I think that her crying is one of the cutest things ever, so sometimes we just let her cry and we laugh at how cute it is. I really like sleep and waking up is not the best thing, and I guess Charlotte got that from me, because a lot of the time she really does not like waking up, it really is a hard thing to do. You don't have to take my word for it, we have proof, and here it is. (enjoy, Danielle and I did)

First, this is Charlotte Celebrating being asleep.

Then she checks to see if there is anything out "there" for her to wake up to.
(sorry the videos are a little hard to see, it is dark)
She can tell there is something worth waking up for so she try and begins....

And then the hard part begins.......

So much to post about!

Charlotte is taking a very long nap (Hallelujah!) and so I can get some blogging done! We have been busy, busy, busy lately!! We had family come into town, Thanksgiving, and Charlotte's blessing! We've had so much fun this past week I almost don't know where to start. Soooooooo....... how about if I start before the family got here!

As I am now rejoining the human race by actually getting more things done than just feed baby, play with baby, sleep with baby...we've finally finished Charlotte's room! It was a mess of boxes and lovely gifts from family and friends that weren't opened or being used so this is a huge accomplishment!! Plus, I think it turned out pretty cute for me not having a decorating bone in my body and no money, and not wanting to paint! But you can think what you will, just don't tell me if you don't like it! I don't want to hear it! :) he he he


I forgot the most important part! Charlotte loves her room! We'll have to take a picture of her in it, but we laid her in her crib and she was instantly drawn to the walls and just sat looking and enjoying! I'm glad she likes it.

Then Bryan's family came into town for Charlotte's blessing. They made it so much fun, and I really appreciate them traveling so far and making it such a priority. I loved having our house full of people I love! It was just such a blast, and we can't wait to see them all again in February!!







There aren't very many pictures of Emalee with Charlotte because she was always the one behind the camera! She was the one who got most of these great shots! Thank you! Thank you Emalee!!

The Kennedy's came to a much subdued Raynes' family Thanksgiving and we had a blast. I sat back for one moment that day and was just extremely thankful for both families, and that they get along so well!


Charlotte was adored by many, as it should be!
But Roman was the star! I think the Kennedy's would adopt him in a split second! They all just love him! (Forgive my ug-ish face, it was a candid photo!)

This is a video documenting the eating challenge between Alex and Jon that will go down in Thanksgiving history! They ate so So SOOOOO much!! You'll have to ask them for the details as to how much, but I think there was something like 8 pieces of pie each! This is Jon getting some much needed moral support from his wife as he is trying to get the winning bite down his throat. Luckily, Alex threw up just after this, and Jon won! I don't think Jon could have gone much further! I don't think any human could have gone much further!! I only wished we had documented Alex's defeat as he hugged the porcelain thrown, it was priceless!!




The next day we had Charlotte's blessing. It was perfect! I cried, and she didn't! My husband did a wonderful job, and Charlotte was surrounded by those that love her, plus there were tons of Thanksgiving leftovers! Who could ask for more!!!














Well, there is plenty more to share from this weekend, but it will have to wait until Charlotte takes another long nap! Keep your fingers crossed for me!! :)