Week in review.

Whew! It's been a busy one. Sunshine and playdates and park and sunshine. We're so happy that summer is finally upon us. The week was full as you can see from our photos. Saturdays are soccer morning and then we have brunch. The afternoon was boys night (Charlie and Daddy) while Mommy got out for dinner and a movie with some other mommy friends. Sunday was church where Charlie really likes the children's ministry at www.designcc.org. Then off to brunch (yes again, we just really like to eat breakfast!) at 5 Spot www.chowfoods.com. Best omelette (spinach and mushroom) and pancakes (with pear preserves) we've EVER had and in case you didn't pick up on it, we're breakfast connoisseurs. Topped off the day with Charlie's first movie (or at least first since he's been old enough to actually watch), WALL-E http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e/. He sat and watched the entire movie.

This week we'll be patiently awaiting the arrival of the Mulcay family www.mulcay.net. Scott and Jill have traveled to the ends of the earth for exotic adventures yet still find us interesting enough to make their annual trip to Washington to visit. We can't wait to see them and share the fun with you.

Lake Wilderness

This is Lake Wilderness. We like to refer to it as "our" lake as do most in the community that live nearby. It's an easy walk to it from our house where we can enjoy the playground, beach area and trails. It's a beautiful hike around it, good exercise and great family time.

Looking for bugs.

Dandelion sword fights.

Sidewalk chalk drawing with Daddy.

Craft Time

This child cannot get enough craft time and I'm not complaining because while I now have the task of trying to consistently come up with new and interesting activities, it keeps the little man busy while learning and using his imagination.

Thank you Nana for the new activity easel. He's going to love it!

Soccer

We just started a new soccer program and Charlie's loving it. It's especially nice because it's Saturday mornings and Daddy can participate. A nice change for both of the guys since typically our toddler activities take place on week days when Daddy's working. C seemed to remember a lot from last year, the difference is now he can really kick and run. He has two little friends on his team that we know from play groups (Dillon and Elizabeth) and I'm sure we'll meet more great families throughout the summer program.

He's ready to pass...

Good kick!

Girls, girls, girls...

Our newest play group consists of 4 kiddos. Charlie and three little girls. Anna on the left and Avery on the right and this particular day Eva wasn't one with us but she is equally as beautiful as these two little ladies. How lucky is Charlie Bug!?!?

You can see more of Anna and Avery via blog links under "Make New Friends".

Teamwork.

First Kiss

This is Elizabeth a sweet little friend that we have been fortunate to get to know. She and her older sister Allyse have been so good to play with Charlie. This week we met them for play time and lunch at the lake. As we were packing up to leave, Charlie and Elizabeth went to give each other goodbye hugs and E offered a kiss which C willingly obliged. They gave each other a sweet little baby kiss mouth to mouth. I would have given anything to capture it in a photo. You obviously can't get a good look at Elizabeth here, but you should definitely check out her and her sister's blog link (under "Make New Friends"). They're both beautiful and C's a lucky little guy to have such a precious little girl give him his first kiss!

We're so thankful that summer is finally here.

Playing at the lake with friends. Seth, Allyse, Charlie (in the water of course) and Elizabeth.

There's a common expression we use at our house...

"IT'S HARD TO BE LITTLE!"

Best Buddies

Charlie and Jack have been "best buddies" or as best as two buddies can be when you're two. They've known each other for two years now and Jackie and I first wished they would sit up, then roll over, then crawl. We didn't know what was coming! It's nice to have another mom that understands the challenges of having a precocious two year old boy. They're beginning to truly play together now and it's adorable. We've overhead some interesting conversations that allow a glimpse at the future to come. "I'm going to put my shoes on and go outside (in the rain) Charlie." An emphatic "No! You can't Jack." As if Charlie is suddenly the voice of reason. Today they were standing together with the pantry door open discussing which snacks they would prefer. I think the plan was to ask the mommies for a treat and if no one responded I feel certain they would have deployed an effort to move a chair and draw straws to determine which one would then climb the chair and the shelves, bypass the organic healthy choices and go straight for those Froot Loops on the very top shelf that they know are not for eating but strictly for craft purposes. Aren't they too cute?!?!?!

Who needs a cleaning service when you can high cheap labor???

Oops! Missed a spot.

Happy Camper.

Our days are full of adventures and exploration lately. Can't wait until we can actually take our first camping trip.

Make sure you have all your supplies.

Snacks? Check!
Thermos of milk? Check!
Pillow for nap? Check!
Flashlight? Check!
Bucket full of cars? Check!

Latest Greatest Mommy Moment

"Mommy, you're the (most) precious, precious girl I ever seen!"

I'm going to remind him of this when he's sixteen!!!

The Poopy Diaries

For some of you this may be TMI, but if you've ever been the one to potty train a toddler, you know that it is one of the greatest milestone in the life of a parent. So I have to anounce that I have not changed a dirty diaper in one whole week!!! We have had 2 accidents in a week (only 2!) and we'll still be in PullUps overnight for probably a long time, but I think we may be potty trained. We even spent the day on the go yesterday with no wet pants and Charlie's first ever successful visit to a public restroom (with his Daddy no less). HOORAY!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy, Papa, Grandpa, Pop and Uncle John! We love you all.

Our Daddy is on his way home right now (20 hours total flight time). Poor Daddy! He works so hard to take care of his family and we cannot love him or appreciate him more for all he does. He flies all over the world and still comes home and plays hide and seek, gives baths, reads bedtime stories and says prayers. Our Daddy is the best!!!

We can't wait to see him in the morning to smother him with hugs, kisses, tickles and some really cool gifts too!

Hope all the great dads had a excellent Father's Day.

Latest Favorite Mommy Moment

The favorite family activities in our house are dinosaur hunting (with a flashlight), reading books, hide and seek, tickles and giggles and the best of all... pillow fights! So this afternoon Charlie and I were having a pillow fight and he falls over on my pillow (greatest feather pillow in the world btw). He says "Mommy smell! This pillow smells soooo good." I asked him what it smelled like. (I'm choking up again as I write this.) "Smells like you Mommy."

We also have a favorite expression between the three family members in our house. "I love you more than all the world."

I love him, more than ALL the world!

Dear Daddy (Days 4 and 5)

We're trying to stay out of trouble and we've had pretty good luck with that. Life has been uneventful except for the occasional outing. Yesterday we delivered dinner to the Howard family. Mrs. Amy is recovering from pneumonia and you know Charlie wanted to see Joshua. We took the boys to the park for a brief glimpse of sun. Boys ran and jumped and climbed. Mommies chatted and sipped hot tea. We made a stop off at the Christian bookstore, which Charlie has deemed an acceptable "mommy store" because they had a basket of cars he could sit and play with and they continuously play Veggie Tales' videos.

Today we ran a few errands and then had dinner, sunshine and playtime at the Danielsons'. Thanks Mrs. Clara for a GREAT meal. We spent most of the weekend thus far, playing with trucks and cars working on crafts and playing with more trucks and cars.

Oh! And we are still going to the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We miss our Daddy!!!!

I'm never certain who's walking who.

For some reason, Charlie thinks walking the dog is the funniest of all activities. Bailey runs and half drags him behind and he just laughs hysterically while trying to run and keep up with her. It's just too funny to watch! Occasionally she gets sidetracked wanting to sniff out a good "spot" and C gets so frustrated that he can't get her back on the track.

Poor Bailey!

I love crafts.

See my new safety scissors.

Surprise!

We have a new pet. Isn't he pretty. His name is Tao. Must be coming from that Mandarin language class Charlie's been taking. We know you'll love him as much as Bay and Sammie.

The potty process continues.

Still working on our potty training. (Who am I kidding? We'll be working on it still for many months to come). Last night, Charlie had gone all by himself and was excited. We're giving high fives and doing the potty dance. I always lay on the compliments and tell him that I can't wait to tell Daddy, Mimi, Nana, etc. He exclaims "Mommy, I want to tell Jesus!" So we stopped and said a prayer to tell Jesus about his his accomplishment. It's things like this that somehow help me keep my sanity when we're down in the trenches.

Favorite New Read

We picked this book up from the library this week and Charlie loves it! Many months ago he became "concerned" about dinosaurs. And let's face it; they're scary looking. So we've tried to make them fun and friendly. Now he's fascinated. This is a great award winning children's book. So if you know a little guy that likes dinosaurs, you should pick him up a copy.

Dear Daddy (Day Three)

Our day began with Charlie declaring "Mommy, just one more sleep!" I ask until what? "Go see JOSH!" He knows he gets to play with his hero Joshua this week and the way we keep track of days is how many "sleeps" we have until then. He gets to see Joshua tomorrow.

We had a nice morning and then met Clara and her babies for lunch at our new Red Robin. Lots of fun, assuming you like to have lunch out at restaurants with the 2 and under crowd. The rest of our day you may see for yourself...

Surprise!

This morning I was getting dressed while Charlie was watching Word World. He suddenly rushes into my bathroom and says "Mommy, hurry I have a surprise for you!" I try to look calm, but I'm very concerned. A surprise from a two year old is typically not a good thing. I make my way to the family room and he says "now close your eyes." I pretend to close my eyes, while he leads me and all the while frantically scanning the room for destruction. He jumps on the sofa in the midst of pillows and yells "surprise!" He had taken every pillow he could find and built a "tower". Whew! A pillow fight quickly insued.

I'm a big kid now!

The potty training continues, but today we made great progress. Charlie went TO the potty, IN the potty all day today! He even went three times without supervision. He just starting coming and saying "look Mommy!" and would take me to show me his success. Maybe we're getting somewhere. We'll be down in the trenches for the purpose of consistency the next few days, so if we don't answer the phone, we're reading books on the potty.

Ice Cream for dinnner?

No way! He ate a turkey hotdog and a tomato/cucumber salad first. We don't typically do desserts after dinner, but he was such a great potty trainer today, that we decided he totally deserved ice cream with sprinkles.

Where's Charlie? Wait! Is that a little fish hiding in the bathtub? Giggle, giggle, giggle.

BTW, do I look just like my daddy here, or what???

I'm so lucky.

If you’ve ever wanted an inside look at the day to day activities and nuances of a toddler’s life, please read on.

Daddy is out of town for a week to Dubai and we told him we would keep him up to speed on what’s happening throughout our week. There will be a bit more special time and treats for Charlie Bug this week because the Mommy has to empty the entire bag of tricks in order to keep up with our busy little man knowing that there’s no backup coming home for awhile. We’ve already had a fun filled two days as you will see.

Just after dinner tonight Charlie reaches for my neck to hug and says “I’m so lucky you’re my mommy.” Ahhhhh!!! Does it get any better than that??? Now I can’t give him total credit for this original thought because I do tell him frequently “I’m so lucky that God gave you to me to be my little boy.” But the sentiment is still the same. Precious are the thoughts of little children. Even the ones like earlier today from the backseat… “Mommy, I’m really, really, really mad at you, now!” I typically respond that I understand and “I’m not very happy with you either.”

Dear Daddy - Day Two

I had one of the best mommy days ever today. I surprised the little man when he woke up and told him we were getting dressed and going straight to McDonald’s! (It’s a really nice one right by our house that is a McCafe (wireless service and lattes!) and it has a great indoor playground.) Charlie loves it. He also loves pancakes! I told him we would play, but FIRST he had to eat all his pancakes. We ordered and sat in the “adult area” first. No complaints and he ate his pancakes (and sausage) like a champ. Off to the kid zone. The play area is a great place we discovered at 10:30 a.m. on a week day. No kids! He had the entire place to himself and I read and drank coffee. Then when the lunch crowd kids starting rolling in, we packed up.

Next stop – the library. Now this use to be a trouble spot for us. Charlie wanted to run, use his “loud” voice and randomly remove books from the shelves. Amazing what a difference a few months can make in one’s maturity level. We head to the children’s area and play with puppets, make a new little friend, sit together and read books (about trucks of course) and finally he sits in a toddler size chair at the kids computer and plays an ABC game while Mommy collects lots of new books for us to enjoy together over the days ahead. We finally left with 6 children’s books, one kid’s video and a really cool kids’ tattoo from the librarian and did all of this while using our “library voice”. As we head home, he tells me he is ready for a rest. Hooray!

We arrive home and after a brief attempt at negotiating the terms of his nap, he sleeps for about two hours. Just enough time for Mommy to prepare dinner for friends that have had a new baby. Charlie wakes up and off we go to deliver a meal to Kiley’s family. We arrive at Kiley’s home and say hello, but Charlie’s somewhat disappointed that we can not stay for a play date. Kiley is a bit confused as well. We meet the new baby brother and Charlie asks what his name is. I tell him Carson at which he replies “that’s a good name Mom.” I think it has something to with the word car.

We finished up our evening with lots of new library books, playing trains and having a very giggly dinner together. And now as I write, he is not in bed, but enjoying Curious George and the latest episode of Super Why. I’m not putting him to bed until I think there will be very little protest. Our day has just been too nice to end on a bad note.

Good night Daddy! We love you and miss you as we always do.

Choo Choo!

We played trains and loaded the cars with Mighty Bites. Turned an old favorite toy into a new and interesting game.

Yummy Cargo.

Bailey followed the train around desperately for 30 minutes before Charlie finally became bored with his cargo and tossed cereal to her and giggled as she tried to catch and retrieve.

Tatoo!

Today's tatoo from the MV Library. Suppose to be a parrot holding a book with the word READ! It's partly worn off and looks a little disturbing, but he's refusing to wash it off.

Sticker for the Day

Got this sticker from "Ronald Donald" this morning and it has not been touched. Mommy has been warned to not remove the sticker. It has been on since approximately 10:15 a.m. Made it through play time, meals and naptime. We'll let you know how it survives the night.

Dear Daddy - Day One

Today was our Mom’s Club’s play group’s play day at our house. We had a small group today; just Charlie, Anna and Kiley. We were all excited to be together for play time and mommy time because the weather has kept everyone inside for weeks. The kids head for the play room and the moms head for the coffee. We had a nice long morning.

After all the girls went home, our busy guy was ready for a LONG nap. The rest of the evening we colored and painted and made mini kid size burgers for dinner.

Night-night Daddy! We love you.

Craft Time

This is Pancake Pete and Pancake Patti. Thanks for the idea and inspiration Ms. Laura! We made them this afternoon and they played soccer together. Mommy was Patti and of course Charlie was Pete. The game of make believe quickly turned from using one's imagination to death and destruction for Pancake Pete! He's crumpled, but still functions pretty well for a paper doll.

Mini kid size burgers just for me?

You know that I'm 2 and I don't like to eat.

I guess I can try it.

Looks suspicious. Is this something healthy?

I'm not sure I like it.

Yummy!

Our Little Lamb

In Charlie's bible class today, the theme was I am Jesus' Little Lamb. The children had a craft project where they glued marshmallows to a picture of a lamb. The teacher apologized to us when we went to pick Charlie up from class. "His lamb doesn't have anything on it because he wouldn't stop eating the marshmallows."

Fancy Appetite

Lately Charlie has become a troublesome eater. That is he has days that he doesn't want to eat anything other than fruit strips and blueberries (per his request). But tonight I had popped a Trader Joe's Fig and Carmelized Onion Flat Bread Pizza in the oven as an appetizer for the grownup appetites in the house. He sees Mommy eating and declares "pizza!" I offered a bite, knowing that it would be rejected. He ate my entire portion of the pizza! Problem solved. While I've been offering lousy chicken tenders, mac and cheese and the like, the child really just wants gourmet choices. He has his mother's taste obviously.

A Great Daddy Quote (by Charlie's Daddy)

You know that you're a changed man when you choose to watch The Jungle Book over the MBA playoffs

A Two Year Old

A two year old is so many things.
A tiny discoverer of butterfly wings.
A hugger of teddies, a sweet sleepy head.
And someone to dream for in bright years ahead.
A special new person who right from the start,
has a place in the family and a course in your heart.
And just when you think you've learned all of those things,
that your dear son is, and the joy that he brings...
A hug or a grin comes with such sweet surprise,
that love finds you smiling with tears in your eyes.

Bambi - Rediscovering Childhood

This week I rented Bambi for Charlie to watch for the first time. It was one of those special mommy/baby days. He giggled and squealed watching the little animals and kept saying "this is a funny movie Mommy!"One of the greatest parts of being a parent is being able to rediscover childhood again in the most pure and innocent way. To see things through the eyes of children can often take away some of the callousness and indifference that life experience brings. You begin to realize that miracles are around us everywhere and everyday.If you haven't seen Bambi in 25 years, you should make a bowl of popcorn and enjoy. It's a treasure!