mommy loves you, daddy loves you, the grandmas love you...

Many times when we are putting Charles to sleep, we tell him all the people that love him. It is a very long list. This past Christmas he finally got to meet all those people (including Santa Claus). We have lots of pictures to post all about our holiday trip to California and Utah. We will start with these from his stay at the Wheatley's!

Beepity-Beep, Beepity-Beep

Every night at 7 we have a bedtime routine: read a book, read a scripture, sing a song, say a prayer, and give kisses. Then we stick the pacifier in Baby Charle's mouth and its time for sleeping! We have been doing pretty good keeping up with this, so we are proud of ourselves. Charles likes his books, especially the one about the trucks. :)

Music Fairy

Last Thursday a piano showed up on our doorstep. We still don't know who sent it. Who is this mystical music fairy? At any rate, we have begun lessons with Charles. Thank you anonymous giver of pianos.

Official Post of Baby's First Word

Baby Charles is so advanced - here he is saying his first word . . .

Oolitic

Pronounced with a long "oo" (OO-lit-ic), Oolitic, Indiana is probably my favorite so far among the quaint small towns that we have visited since we moved here. Named after the oolitic limestone that covers Southern Indiana, the town sprung up and received its name during a "stone rush" in the early 1900s.

The most notable thing in town is the statue of 1930s-40s film hero Joe Palooka who resides right next to the cottage-like town hall (not pictured). Erica LOVED the Oolitic Antique Mall, which was by far the largest commercial building in town (at least 5 or 6 spacious rooms) and varied in its offerings--but she refrained from buying anything. Despite not receiving our patronage, the antique mall does seem to be doing quite well, judging by its Main Street location right across from the town hall cottage and its ownership of the adjacent Oolitic Park (unfortunately not pictured). The mall also owns the only bench in the park. It probably also built the small fence to enclose the tiny space; the park is roughly equal in size to the town hall cottage. We also took a necessarily brief car ride through the town and saw most of the houses first-hand, as well as the now-closed-but-formerly-K-12 Oolitic Public School.

Maybe next year the Oolitic school will hold a Haunted House event like the also-shuttered public K-12 school in Mecca, Indiana--"Home of the Mecca Arabs" did last Halloween. If they do, it will perfectly complement Oolitic's already-picturesque quirkiness--and might just earn another visit from us!