Hello, world.

Well. It seems like the only time I ever blog anymore is when Shawn's out of town. Which he happens to be tonight. And, obviously, his trips are not all that frequent! Somehow I can manage to break into Christine's blog and write a post...but still neglect our own blog.

So, what's been up with the Fletchers? Charlie started soccer about a month ago. He is an absolute crack-up to watch out on the field. For one, he gets tired after about the first, oh, 10 minutes, so then he'll just start sitting or laying down in the middle of the field whenever he gets a spare moment. During the games, he is absolutely CLUELESS as to what is going on, which way the ball should go, who's on his team, where the ball is at any given moment, or the mere fact that there is even a game taking place... He spends most of the game time looking for me and Shawn (or anyone else he knows) on the sidelines and giving us big cheesy smiles and waves. He will literally be waving and smiling at us as the ball is rolling right past his feet. Sigh. But he sure is cute out there!

The practice and games are all at Deep Creek Elementary School in Damascus, which just happens to have the most amazing view of Mt. Hood from the field:

Charlie's team on their first day of practice:

Getting some pointers from "Coach Mike" - who also just happens to be "Uncle Mike":

We've been having some serious car issues lately (think 3 new transmissions in 4 months). On the way to practice a couple weeks ago, the car decided to - once again - break down. SO, Shawn brought Charlie back home and they had their own little practice in the side yard. It was pretty cute:

Shawn's long-lost best friend, Tim, his wife Helen and their 3 ADORABLE girls came to visit. This is seriously the sweetest family. Oh how we wished they lived closer (hint, hint guys).
Rilanna, Kalanie, Adia & Tim:

Rilanna enjoying a cupcake:

Adia enjoying Charlie's silliness:


We made a trip to Wildwood and walked the trails with this gang:

Trying to get a decent shot of 18 kids, most of whom are 6 years or younger...not easy!

Fun times. :)

Well, Shawn is out of town, and in keeping with tradition I have a date with the TV to watch gory emergency room reality shows and "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" and such, until I can stand it no more and finally crash into sleep around 3 or 4 am, only to have strange dreams about being pregnant with a crocodile or getting impaled by large tree branches.

Night all!

Kindergarten!

Charlie's first day as a big Kindergartner was a success! I'm pretty sure he didn't stop talking from the time I picked him up from school (2:45) to the time he finally crashed into sleep in his bed. It was a 7 hour long run-on sentence, no joke!

Our camera broke (yes, our BRAND NEW camera), so here's a shot I snapped with my phone as we were leaving for school:

There are only 10 kids in Charlie's whole class, which I think is awesome - especially since he's pretty shy and not big on large groups of people. He did great, and was happy all day after, hence the non-stop chatting. :)

Bring on Kindergarten, Day 2!

Some days you just need a good laugh.

Okay. Seriously folks. There are so many things wrong about posting this, and possibly even laughing at this. I truly apologize if you don't find it as funny as we did. I really do.

But OH MY GOSH, this is the funniest thing I have seen in a really long time, okay possibly EVER. I can't even tell you how many times Shawn and I have watched this in the past few days, and just laughed ourselves to tears, over and over. Some days you just REALLY need a good laugh, and this worked for us.

You have to watch this one first, then the next:

Mickey Fisher: I don't know if you necessarily "want" the credit for sharing this with us. But you get it. Thanks, man.