Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up - Pablo Picasso

The Little Gym

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Charlie participated in a sports class at The Little Gym this spring. While the emphasis was baseball, hockey and golf - he picked up a few "gym" tricks as well. (Click to see photos)

The Annual Mulcay Visit

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Scott and Jill came for their annual visit and we had a great Memorial Day weekend. Click on the link to view our photos from Mt. Ranier and Northwest Trek.

It's Good to Be a Boy!

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No more baby bath photos. He's growing up!

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Dude Day - Off to see the Mariners

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Spring Fair

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Bunny Day 2009

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Sugar Overload!

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Easter 2009

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Easter's on It's Way!

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We joined several friends for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny this week. The kids got to meet the EB and have breakfast, crafts and fun. They all joined the EB in a parade around the mall while doing the bunny hop. Charlie and Anna Lee waited patiently for instruction and then held hands while doing the "hop, hop, hop". Charlie informed us later that the bunny was really someone dressed up. Not the real Easter Bunny! We'll post new pics after "the real EB" comes.

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Our little Picasso

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If I had to take a guess at what Charlie would be when he grows up, right now I would say an artist like his Uncle John or just a housepainter. Lately he has dabbled in toothpaste, nail polish, bathtub crayons and anything else that would risk staining carpet, walls and furniture. After almost losing my mind, I thought "maybe he needs a creative outlet". I purchased washable kids paints and let him paint our glass sliding doors until his heart was content. Surprisingly no more "oops" for Mommy to clean up (for now).

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A few of our fav photos with a few of our sweetest friends.

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It's not all about the girlfriends. Here's a great dude pose.

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Two months behind (I know already)!!!

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Yes, I haven't posted in two months and I don't have a great excuse other than we've been finishing up our winter here and the weather has not offered great lighting for good photos or enough sun to inspire me. We've had a crazy winter with lots of snow, but lots of sun mixed in as well. We've experienced several milestones over the last 2 months, some fun, some sad and a 7 year anniversary. Wow! Now that Easter is on it's way and spring is beginning to show up, I hope to have many more photos and stories to share. And while many of you have already heard this story, I have to post it for our memory keeping...

Charlie: You have pretty hair Mommy (while rubbing mommy's head). You're going to get married soon.

Mommy: Really? Well I'm already married to Daddy.

Charlie: (Giggle) No! Boys don't get married, just girls!

Mommy: No, boys marry girls when they grow up. Who do you think you'll marry when you grow up?

Charlie: (brief pause) I'll marry you Mommy!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday.

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Mommy went to ATL for the annual birthday party.

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We said goodbye to our beloved Bailey dog. We miss her terribly.

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Me and My Super Special Big Boy

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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!

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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.

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Serious cookie decorating!

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

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Oprah

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(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

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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

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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!

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The GeoTrax Continues

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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!

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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")

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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

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Sharks!

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This shark is as big as the two kids combined.

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Looking into the fish tank.

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

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Little Maestros

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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???

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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.

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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

2009-01-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

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!

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

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

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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

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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".

A Merry Christmas Griffiths Family Style

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This has been such a special Christmas for us and will always be so memorable. Our first Christmas season where Charlie was able to participate in and anticipate all the activities and excitement. And while we missed our families and friends far away, our Washington friends were such a happy part of this holiday season for us. there was also something special about spending those two special days preparing and celebrating together with just us and our little boy (well Sam and Bailey too!) It was also the most snowy Christmas that I have ever had!

My favorite Christmas stories...

A few days before Christmas we're all three out driving together and the little voice in the back seat says "Santa's not coming to see me." We respond "of course he is!" Charlie says, "No, Santa's not coming." We ask, "why are you saying that honey?" Charlie's reply... "I've been a little naughty." Michael and I both laughed and agreed that while he's been "a little naughty" that he's been more good boy than naughty and "we're quite certain that Santa's going to come!"

Fav No. 2: Christmas afternoon the excitement had slowed down and I asked Charlie of all the presents Santa brought him what's his favorite. He thinks for a moment and responds "the jelly beans." The jelly beans were found in his stocking along with his Melvin the giraffe doll that he has carried around nonstop all week. Funny how kids really do enjoy the simpliest things!

It was a white Christmas for us.

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Charlie made the cookies for Santa.

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Christmas Eve Dinner

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We had a quiet, yet beautiful Christmas Eve dinner for just three. We had turkey with gravy, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole and homemade hot rolls. Mom Wylie and Granny would have been proud!

The stockings were hung and waiting with surprises.

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Santa/Daddy stayed up late putting together toys for the big day.

Sleepy Christmas Morning Baby.

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Fav Santa gifts were Geotrax...

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...and a remote controlled helicopter.

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The stocking stuffers were a big hit.

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Santa brought Daddy a new guitar!

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As the weekend progressed, the Geotrax grew and grew, but notice which kid is playing... uh, I mean working on it.

A Final Christmas Party

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We had a final party Saturday night with 6 families together in total. There were adults present as well, but let's face it... pics of kids eating cupcakes is way cuter than 12 adults eating Chex mix.

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Charlie Griffiths

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We have laughed and laughed at Charlie's latest intro. Approximately fifty percent of the time when asked by a stranger what his name is, his response is "I'm Charlie Griffiths and Nothing Gets in My Way."

I'm certain he has picked this up from some childrens' program, but whether he did or whether it's original material, we think it's rather amusing.

(Thanks for the beautiful photo Jamie!)