Friday, February 29, 2008

Some Stuff I Love

Pictures of "puddles"


Having a booster seat in our car


Going to play at the park, and bringing a banana-shaped pouch filled with "ABC's" along



Sentences I may never understand (accentuated with lots of "growling")


Having our son's 2 best friends be his cousins








Making toys out of random objects found around the house.
Case in point: my breast pump is a "fan" in this picture.


"Swiding"


"I'm feeding my guys, mama."


Aunt Christine


Monkeys


Pigs

Hippos


Ladybugs

Zebras


Giraffes




And this little critter...


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Thursday, February 28, 2008

I am a thief, sorry Christine!

I'm shamelessly stealing content from Christine's blog (thanks, Christine!), but these 2 videos of Blake (Charlie's cousin) and Charlie were way too cute to resist. These boys are so darn funny together!

Here they are roaring like lions. This is one of Charlie's favorite things to do lately - I often hear, "No, mommy, I not Charlie, I'm a lion, ROAR." Or, a kitty, a duck, a pig, a cow, a dog, etc:

Here's Blake feeding Charlie:

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Rainrock Video

Here's the little video I made of Rainrock - this is for you Rainrock girls. I miss you guys so much.
- Mars
PS: Make sure your volume is on!

Friday, February 22, 2008

He can read! He just doesn't know it yet.

Charlie has been working on "phonics" (sounding out letters) for a few months now. He is to the point where he will look at a word and say the sound that each letter makes as he reads each letter in the word. For example, today he read the word "club". He looked at the word and said slowly, "Kuh-La-Uh-Buh", as he pointed to each letter. Cool, huh?

Okay but here's the funny part. He could just leave it at that and call it good and I'd be super impressed. Amazed, really. I mean, he's only 2! But, he then tries to repeat what the word is that he just sounded out and every single time he thinks the word he just read is "dog". No matter if he just sounded out the word "cat", "book", "best", whatever, he will then triumphantly exclaim, "DOG!" So, today, it was, "Kuh-La-Uh-Buh. DOG!!!" Cracks me up. And he is totally clueless, just so proud of himself. He must wonder why people write "dog" all the time and why there aren't any other words in the world to write. :)

Today, we went to the library, or as Charlie says, "Da libary". I've taken him in the past, but he just hasn't gotten it. Today was different. He had a great time picking out books, reading them, putting them back and picking out more. Fun! He did such a good job and I'm continually amazed at what a good-natured, well-behaved child he is. Shawn must have done something right while I was gone. The kid is an angel.


After "da libary", we went for ice cream, just Charlie and mommy. That was super fun. I have never taken him before, but somehow he knew he wanted "choclit" ice cream. Hmmmmm...has someone been giving my kid ice cream? Come on, fess up! Mom, I know it was you! Anyways, we had a blast.


Yes, those are M&M's AND sprinkles. I can spoil my child if I want to.
It's not every day that we get to go to ice cream! :)

In the end, he really only ate about 4 and a half bites anyways. Here's what was left:

Last but not least, Charlie cooked dinner tonight. Okay, well, he helped ME cook dinner. Mac and cheese. He poured the noodles in, added the butter and milk, and stirred it up real good. He was so proud of himself. And Christine, you are right, if they make it themselves, they eat more of it. I think we're on to something here.

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PS: Greg and Andrea, don't know if we'll see you at church on Sunday, but good luck on Monday. We hope everything goes smoothly for you and little Aubrey comes fast and easy. Well, as "easy" as LABOR can be... :) We can't wait to meet her.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

You know you're in the ghetto when...

Driving down Division yesterday, this is the sign that greeted me.
It almost sent me running, screaming back to Rainrock...

Need a closer look? "HAM BUTTS". Yes, they are selling butts, by the pound. Butts of ham. To eat. For dinner. Who in their right mind would eat the BUTT of ANYTHING?!?!?!? And what would you serve on the side? Ears? Elbows? Noses, perhaps?!?!?

Sheesh, and they said MY eating was disordered...
Speaking of which, I am home now. Here's a shot of me on my way out of Rainrock. That's Lepha sitting in my car - she is one of the therapists, and all the girls behind it are the other clients.

This is Lauren

The sweet greeting I got when I arrived home.

Dinner time.

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Sunday, February 3, 2008

2 weeks!!!

Yep, I'll be home in 2 weeks!  I'm so excited.  :)
Some recent pics...

Shannon, Alex and Nikki.  Shannon was my therapist, this was right before she left - she is an amazing woman.  I really miss her.  Alex?  Alex is just plain awesome.  Nikki is probably my closest friend here at Rainrock.  I love her to bits - she is hilarious.  Oh yeah, she's also my fellow prankster.

The performance of a lifetime.

Me, Polly and Lauren

Arm wrestling Lepha (I lost)

My little knitting apprentice, Lauren. 
This is at the bowling alley - she's choosing knitting over bowling - yes!

Polly, Adriana, Lauren, Lepha and me at PF Changs.