Ladybugs, Deer and the Digital Age

It's been animal month in the Charlebois home, starting with the long-awaited and highly-anticipated ladybug cake-making day. Our friend Etta had promised Ruby a ladybug cake for her birthday back in September. Being an avid hunter, September was a busy time for Etta, so we finally got around to doing it now.

The ladybug was looking really cute...

...and then we let Ruby do the sprinkles. :)

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The other day I realized the girls had been playing in their room quietly for a suspiciously long time. When I went to check on them this is what I found.

Every single stuffed animal was tucked neatly into bed, the lights were out, and the fan was on for "white noise."

Then I looked down at my feet and realized they had dumped every toy out of their cubby boxes in order to create those beds for said animals. :)

Yes, they did clean this mess up themselves. They are actually pretty good at that. :)

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We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with the Charlebois clan. Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday, I think. As quoted from Blue Bloods (the TV show) the other day, "There's no gifts, no pressure, just family and good food." The girls made super cute turkey crafts using their hand and foot prints. Ruby had help with hers, but Rae did hers all by herself, even the cutting.

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JP did finally get a deer on the second-to-the-last day of the rifle hunting season. You may not believe this, but Rae was very, very excited to be a part of the butchering process. I promise you, I chose the mildest of the photos to post here tonight. :)

Rae got to hold and use a real knife for the first time. She was very cautious about it, and did very well. Just look at her face when she finished her first cut!

Etta came over again yesterday and today to help us prepare all of the cuts, and now our freezers are full of lean, fresh, hard-earned venison.

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Yesterday I walked out of the bedroom and found this scene in front of me:

JP had set them up this way while I was folding laundry. I guess we are living in the digital age.

Today Ruby was playing Tic-Tac-Toe on my iPhone, but it was set to a 2-person game, which means she was both "x's" and "o's." Every time she won (which, clearly, was every game), she would scream and laugh, "I WON! I WON!" It was hilarious.

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Rosie is so big right now, and she knows it. In fact, she thinks she's as big as Rae and Ruby and should be able to do everything they do. Like her biggest sister, she loves to climb on anything and stand triumphantly on top with a huge, chubby grin on her face. She is talking a lot more, too, and communicating her needs very well with words like, cup, num-num, up, all done, night- night and outside. She can fetch me her shoes and hat when she wants to go out and looooooves to read. The other night she kept bringing me a square cardboard coaster and pleading, "Book, book!" She's sneaky and stubborn and unbearably cute, and I love her to pieces. :)

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I'm so excited for Christmas this year, especially for the surprises we have planned for the girls. We are not huge on buying gifts, but this year there are a number of small things we've found and picked up for them, and I just can't wait to see their faces. I'm hoping to get Christmas decorations up tomorrow after church, and hopefully we'll get our tree soon.

Today Ruby turned to Rae and randomly asked, "Rae, do you still love me?" Rae's response melted my heart: "You don't ever have to ask that. I'll always love you." These girls are the sweetest things ever.