Christmas letter 2012

Sorry I couldn't send a letter out to everyone, have a very Merry Christmas!!

   My name is Charsty Babb, and I'm preparing for the world to end on Dec. 21st. The universe is imploding because of a temporal distortion. (That means time is speeding up exponentially!) I'll try to explain. You see, it all started back in May. May 3^rd, to be exact.
   On May 3^rd, my life once again changed forever. Ariella Cheyenne was born, and she was perfect. I noticed the temporal distortion shortly thereafter. We found out that we were moving from Alabama to Arizona and had less than a month to move. Ella was 5 weeks old when we made our trek west. I accounted for missing hours of time then simply because I was busy with a move, a new baby, and fitting as much friend-time in as possible before we moved. I didn't realize that I hadn't lost hours simply by being too busy—the hours just weren't there anymore!
   Somehow, without my ability to account for the time, Ella is now 7 months old! Yes, I said 7 months! She loves food, toys, and getting toted around the house by Akira. She is the best real life doll, with her sweet nature, her smiles, and her desire to be right in the middle of the action!
   You may think that I have gone crazy, thinking that time is speeding up, but I have more proof for you skeptics. Aurora is about to turn 3! Ever since Ella has been born, Rora has been a big sister! How did that happen? Where did my baby go!?! She loves to read, and we sit down together often to work on learning her letters. She is picking them up quickly and her joy is infectious! She loves to do whatever Kira is doing, especially crafts. Give her a pair of scissors, paper, and glue, and she will be quiet for hours! She loves to dance and is so excited that, come January, she can start taking classes. She already comes up to me and shows me 'Tondoo, ba-mon' (Battement Tendu). Every time I turn around, she is doing something new, and her hair seems to grow an inch each week. (I know that it's all part of the temporal distortion. . .)
   So you're still a skeptic? I have yet to wow you with my evidence? Let me try again. Last night Kira noticed that her tooth was loose. I felt it; sure enough, it was loose, but just barely. This morning whilst eating her breakfast (Yep, you guessed it!), she lost her tooth. Less than 12 hours later! We both know that isn't possible. . . Somehow I missed up to two weeks of time! Who knows what tomorrow will bring! Perhaps she will be in toe shoes (her dream) instead of ballet slippers. This Saturday she gets the opportunity to be a soldier in The Nutcracker. I hope time slows down a little so I can enjoy it! Kira started playing the piano this year and is learning to love it. It's so fun to watch her figure out which note to play next. She loves all her extracurricular activities: dance, piano, home school meet-ups, weekly trips to the library, etc, etc. She
is quite the busy young lady!
   As for me, time is slipping by ever faster. I'm sure I don't need to give you any more examples—by now you must have become a true believer. Until the universe implodes, I will continue to keep myself busy. I am homeschooling Kira. I love being able to watch her learn and grow. In church I have the honor of being Rora's nursery leader (my favorite calling), and I enjoy watching her interact with—in her words— "my nown friends."  I am extra thankful that Ella still loves to cuddle and nurse. There is just something so magical about the special smiles and secrets that a baby has while nursing. On the off chance that I am wrong about the end of the world, I have decided to better myself through my sewing skills. While I never will claim to be a seamstress, I have started taking great pleasure in being able to create clothing. I enjoyed making everyone's Halloween costumes this year. Rora was Alice in Wonderland, Kira was the Queen of Hearts, Ella was the White Rabbit, I was the Cheshire Cat, and Josh was the King of Hearts. The girls had a blast with it, and Rora still insists occasionally that I call her Alice, not Rora. Wish me luck in my current sewing endeavor, making matching Christmas nightgowns for the girls!
   Josh, of course, is all on board with the world's ending. He, however, is spending his time trying to figure out how to survive it. His most time-consuming hobby right now is shooting. I happen to enjoy it as well and it makes for a perfect (And free!) family date to the range each week. He is still working for Verizon Wireless as a supervisor in technical support. He is enjoying the new environment here in Arizona. His greatest pleasure right now comes from the fact that, as Rora says, "Daddy is my favorite."

And so, as time speeds by faster and faster, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! That is, if the world is still here then!

 

 

A Visit to Vernal

   We took a trip out to Utah this past week.  The drive there was great.  The girls were so quiet and well behaved.  They scrapbooked almost the entire way.  It was really cute!
We arrived Friday afternoon and then Saturday morning we drove out to Vernal to see my Dad's parents.  They hadn't seen Ella before and I really wanted them to meet her.  Monica and her girls came with us making the drive fabulous since Dad and Tanner had all three girls with them while Monica and I only had the babies who slept almost the entire way. 

   I'm so glad that I went to Vernal.  The best memory of the day happened when the girls were coming out to the living room from the bedroom, they'd take one look at my aunt and run screaming back into the room because she was a monster.  Unbeknownst to the girls my Grandpa got down on all fours and hid in the doorway.  As the girls passed he scared them.  It was so fun to watch them play. 

 


  

Grandpa getting up from scaring the girls



                                                        The girls had to take a break from playing to nurse their babies



Ward Halloween Party

I am so on top of the ball right now!  *knock on wood* 

    We got back from the Ward Halloween party about an hour ago.  The chili and pie were delicious, the company was good and the girls had a blast playing the games and trick or treating around the church! 
My favorite game by far was angry birds.  It was so fun!

Kira playing angry birds.  She didn't knock any down.

Rubber ducky race with her friend.

Rora knocked them down on her first try!  Ok, she might have had a little help ;)

Top left: Trick or Treat!

Middle left: ghost toss

Bottom left: Pop the balloon

Middle: Isn't she just so adorable!?!

Top right: Rora was a little unsure...

Kira LOVED every second of it...

isn't 6 such a fun age!!

Bottom left: Face painting!

Happy Halloween!! 

Mother Nature Farm

   A couple weeks ago we went on a field trip to Mother Nature Farm.  It was a little dissapointing compared to Lyon or Tate farm in Alabama, but overall the girls had a blast and that's what it's all about...not the fact that the hay ride went past a junk pile and they didn't just picked their pumpkins out of a pile, there was no corn crib, etc, etc.  But it was fun.  Kira's friend Emma is also homeschooled and the girls had fun playing together.  Josh was even able to go with us since it was on his day off. 

 Girls are so silly!  Kira had just gotten her camera and took a million pictures!

 I told her to go stand over there so we could see how tall she was and this is the pose I got.  :)

 I am in love with this pic!  The sky was so pretty that day!

Her first pickle! 

Calling all the Monsters

Kira has worked really hard the last few weeks learning the calling all the monsters dance. She performed it at Stagecoach days yesterday and did fabulously! They even let Rora dance even though all she did was look like an adorable zombie. I am so proud of my girls! Way to go Kira and thanks to DSPA for giving her such a fun memory!

Shooting

A few couple months ago we bought a cricket for the girls to shoot.  There is a great range about 30 minutes from our house that just happens to be near a chipotle. (My all time FAVORITE place to eat!)  We have been going shooting as a family date about once a week.  The girls love it.  Kira is getting quite good at hititng the target and (if allowed) will sit there shoot, load, shoot, reload, shoot, etc, etc.  She only stops when we tell her it's Rora's turn.  It's quite nice not to have to reload for her after each shot.  Kira says her favorite thing about shooting is shooting her dress and the target.  She just had a 'monster' dance performance where we made her a zombie (it's cheap!) She got to shoot her dress and had a blast with it!
Oh, and Ella is just oh so adorable and has no problem wearing the ear muffs.

 Yes, she is nursing...Oh so adorable!!  I am exploding with love for her!!

School

   Kira is in kindergarten this year.  We started the year doing the k12 program.  My intent was for her to quickly get through the kindergarten material and move onto first grade, where she is academically.  Not the case.  The work was so tedious.  She started sailing through and stopped paying attention.  Which scares the daylights out of me since I sailed through a few years of school and had to re-learn how to work when I finally had a teacher who challenged me. Anyways, she stopped trying and was sailing.  So even though she made the honor roll for the first quarter of school, I pulled her out and am now officially homeschooling her. 
   Part of me is terrified that I will mess her up, but the larger part feels at peace and is excited to see her being challenged and grow.  I love the idea of catering the lesson plan to her.  I know it's going to take more work on my part, but I know that the more work you put into something, the bigger the reward.  So on to our new adventure.  Wish us luck!

Meet Andromeda and a Camping Trip

Welcome to our family Andromeda!  We hope that we don't run you to the ground to soon and that we can have many, many memories made with you!

Well, we bought a motorhome.  We took her camping this week to Roosevelt Lake.  It was such a fun trip, even if we failed at cooking.  Next trip will be better...It can't get much worse! 
Kira's favorite memory was throwing rocks in the water. 
Rora enjoyed looking for Brownies.
Josh enjoyed just spending time together as a family.  Oh, and his hike with Kira.
My favorite was playing UNO with everyone.  Rora saying 'Oh shucks" when she had to draw cards and both girls laughter as Josh drew card after card after card. 

I love my little family and the memories we make.

I can't believe that my baby girl is 6.  Where did the time go?  It seems only yesterday I was figuring out that I would rather hold her while she sleeps than have her cry it out.  Only yesterday while I held her tiny hand and cried with her as she lay under the bili lights.  Only yesterday when she said 'Mama' for the first time, when she smiled a milk smile.  When she buried her head in my chest and held my hair to go to sleep.  Ah, I love my girl so much!  Happy Birthday Kira!!

How old are you? 6


What is your favorite color? Pink
Last year: pink and purple

What is your favorite animal? A pony
Last year: A pony and a horsey
What is your favorite food? macaroni and cheese
Last year: chicken noodle soup and cereal and milk


What do you want to be when you grow up? A horse rider
Last year:  A ballerina and ballerina teacher.
This one really surprised me.  I thought for sure she would pick Ballerina again with how much dance is currently consuming her life...

What is your favorite book? A little Dinosaur
Last year: The Nutcracker
What is your favorite song? I love to see the Temple
I LOVE that this one didn't change.

What is your favorite TV show? Angelina Ballerina
Not surprising, this one didn't change either...I told you dance was all consuming...
What is your biggest accomplishment? I'm getting good at my Nutcracker dance.
Yep, dance again. ;)
Last year: Vacuuming my room and the living room - I'm kind of sad that her current accomplishment doesn't help with the housework!


What is your favorite season? Christmas.  (me: that isn't a season) Winter. Why? because it snows and I like snow. Last year: Winter. Why? because it's cold and it feels like it's going to snow. And Christmas.

Sadly, we now live in Arizona so there is much, much less chance of snow than in Alabama...did I mention that its October and at 6:30 (just past dusk) today it was 97 outside...will it ever get cool!?!
Where would you like to go for a vacation? Camping again.
Last year: Disney World
I'm good with both her vacation ideas. 
What is your favorite activity? paint.  I'm really surprised at this one.  She doesn't ask to paint very often.
Last year: Dance class
What is your favorite place to go for dinner? Chipotle.  Because they have those yummy chips and yummy beans.
Last year: Red Lobster
I love Chipotle too!  Great choice Kira!
Who is your best friend? Brooklyn
Last year: Eli
It saddens me that she didn't pick Eli.  They have been best friends for so long, but alas, we don't live near them and while she looks at his picture at least twice a week, (yes, she still LOVES her photo album!), they don't get to play together anymore.  I am glad that she has a couple good friends here.


Kira just started piano lessons, she is reading Pioneer Sisters, a Little House on the Prairie early chapter book, she loves being the big sister and will gladly take Ella and play with her or just bounce her when she fusses.  She dances everywhere.  Her laughter lights up my life.  Her live is infectious.  She has changed me more ways than I can count.  I am so blessed to be her Mother.  Happy Birthday to my Princess.  I love you!!

*This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, this is pretty much what everyday looks like around here.  Love my girl!