Me and My Super Special Big Boy

Laura took this candid picture on Saturday and it's my favorite new photo. I'll admit it's possibly because I love that he looks JUST like me here and as he gets bigger he's really looking more and more like his daddy. I'm holding on to those few fleeting baby moments as hard as I can. I just love this little guy "more than all the world" as we say at our house. And I'm so glad that I get to watch him and help him grow.

Today Charlie and I were walking through Wal-Mart and he's trying to stay close to mom, but typically straying and stopping and begging for me to look at this toy, that snack, etc. He's not paying attention to where he's walking and an elderly man almost hits him with a shopping cart. I'm explaining to my wandering child that he must stay close and I apologize to the old gentleman for getting in his way. The man stops me, laughs and says "Honey, he's just a boy. That's what boys do." He tells me that he had 3 boys and 2 girls. "The boys were always being boys and the girls were always being princesses. That's just the way they're made."

The rest of the day, I thought about this and told myself to remember to be thankful. Every jump, growl, howl and roar. Every pillow fight, wrestling match and hotwheels race. All of these are what make boys... boys. And all the princess dresses, Dora movies, screams of drama and fits of giggles are what make all of our sweet little girlfriends... girls.

Making Cookies!

The Meyers family invited us over for a fun afternoon of homemade soup, snacks and cookie decorating. Charlie and Anna are adding the frosting. Mommies supervised while Daddies played Wii and enjoyed some freshly decorated treats. Thank you so much Scott and Laura and thanks for sharing the photos.

Avery enjoys a pretty cookie too.

Serious cookie decorating!

Charlie's latest mean face. We call this one "the mean eye".

Oprah

(This story has to be prefaced, so bare with me. My mommy schedule is hectic! 2 playgroups per week, preschool 2 days a week, hosting church group, attending birthday parties, participating in Mom's Club events, helping friends, visiting the library... And then there's the 5 to 6 dinners per week I prepare for my family, healthy breakfast/lunch/snacks that must be prepared for Charlie, laundry, laundry, laundry, 3000 square feet of house to be kept spotless, does Daddy have his dry cleaning before he leaves for his flight? Groceries, Target, Costco, pet supply store, and can I squeeze in a little gym time?!?!... Do you get the idea? So the point of this is that I NEVER watch daytime television. However, I do record Lost, American Idol, watch our share of Netflix videos and of course I do record OPRAH.)


Charlie and I are in the pharmacy this week and I'm making a quick run to pick up one item. I stop near the magazine rack to look at something and my favorite little voice comes from behind me and yells "Look Mom! It's Oprah!" He sees the "O" magazine and continues to point to "It's Oprah! It's Oprah!" The entire pharmacy staff and all 6 people waiting in line turn and laugh (loudly) looking for the precocious child and of course to see the "Mom" who obviously sits around all day doing nothing but eating bon bons and watching OPRAH!

Child Dedication

I'm a bit behind on this post and forgive the photo (I obviously wasn't the one with the camera). But last Sunday, our church http://www.designcc.org/ held our Child Dedication. Since we've only been at our new church home less than a year (they've actually only been meeting for just over a year), we decided that Charlie wasn't too old to "dedicate". Twelve children and they're families were recognized in all! For those that are unfamiliar with this, it simply means that we as a church recognize these children as being entrusted to us as parents and as a church family and we will pray for them, teach them and raise them up according to God's will. Hopefully you can see us on the right and the family on the left are friends James and Jamie with their 3 little boys.

The Beginner's Bible

At the Child Dedication, our pastor and his wife (Mark and Karen) gave each of the children a copy of The Beginner's Bible. We have had several childrens' bibles and devotional books that we've tried to read to Charlie, but he tires of them quickly. This one on the other hand, he loves. We're over a week in now and he still wants to read this at bedtime every night versus his library books or favorite standbys. Sometimes he even just picks it up by himself and looks through the pages at the colorful illustrations. Some of his friends were over and up in his bedroom last week and I heard him say "Hey guys! Look at my new bible."

Go on and admit it! Shades, sneakers and a Jamba Juice smoothie. He's one cool kiddo!

The GeoTrax Continues

So for those of you that don't know this story, this is our GeoTrax train and airplane set. "Santa" brought Charlie the main terminal with an extra train add on as well as a little extra track. The week after Christmas, Daddy was on vacation and had a little extra time on his hands, so 4 trips to the store later this is what Daddy and Charlie and put together. Yes it takes up half of the playroom now, but the kids seem to love it. Another Daddy was over the other day and said "Wow! I really like Michael's train set!" Hee hee. It has been fun to watch M and C have dude time together.

ZooLights!

Friday night we took a stroll through Point Defiance Zoo along with the Meyers' Family for a night of ZooLights. www.pdza.org/page.php?id=435 The zoo decorates the park with more than a 1/2 million lights for the holidays. Beautiful! Viewing was extended an extra couple of weekends due to our snow and wintry weather delaying travel for many in the area.

Charlie and Dad (yes he's now graduated to "Dad")

The aquarium area of the zoo was a big hit. The kids loved watching the fish and it gave us all a chance to step inside and warm up.

Charlie and Anna

Sharks!

This shark is as big as the two kids combined.

Looking into the fish tank.

Every visit to Point Defiance Zoo has to end with a carousel ride.

Little Maestros

On Friday playgroup visited the Little Maestros series sponsored by the Bellevue Philharmonic www.bellevuephil.org. The kids were surprisingly attentive and seemed to enjoy it. I wasn't sure what Charlie would think. While he embraces his creativity through crafts, he typically requests that I "stop singing Mom" or "turn your music down Mom". He's definitely not going to be a rockstar. Piano maybe???

We made the quick road trip from Maple Valley to Bellevue with Avery and her mommy. Always more fun when you can ride in the back seat with a friend. They discovered that they have the same thermos (different colors of course) which prompted a toast to apple juice.

These two crack me up! They typically don't want to pose for the camera that much (probably because their mommies are shutterbugs), but ask them to make silly faces and they'd pose for an hour.

Merry Belated Christmas Party

Our kids missed the last couple of school days in December due to snow, so we missed our preschool Christmas party. They made it up today and it was worth the wait. Our little angel really looked like a little angel boy as did the others. They were all sweet in costume!

Charlie and Ian don't look like the two most likely little angels. I think Lil' Rascals is more like it!

Our little angels jingled bells and sang about Jesus' birthday. Hooray!

Happy New Year! It doesn't get more exciting than this.

Even though Charlie and Jack don't look like they're ringing in the New Year, we all had a lovely evening. I just couldn't get a great shot of these two together. They're busy boys anyway, but put them together and there's no sitting still.

The Wimmer family invited us over for playtime, take out from Thai Ginger (yum!) and a few festive beverages. We stayed until the boys slowed down. When we arrived home we were delighted to see fireworks in our community and were able to watch a 10:00 p.m. show out our back patio door. After that the three of us crawling into Charlie's bed for stories and snuggles and all fell asleep before the stroke of midnight. We think we may have started a New Year's tradition of snuggling and storytime; that is until Charlie is old enough to kick the parents out of bed.

Smelliful

Have you ever noticed that young children have their own vocabulary and definitions of words? Today's word is smelliful. If something is pleasantly fragrant it is "smelliful".