What's new?

What have we been up to lately? Well, mostly this...

(Sorry, camera phone pic...but yes that is charlie in the coconut bikini)

And this...

(Photo blatantly stolen from Christine's blog)

Yes, that's what happens when the oldest kid in the group happens to be female...Ellie! Christine and I are now taking donations of MALE THEMED dress-up clothes. :)

More to come...

For Ellie

Dear Ellie,
Thanks for letting me come over to Charlie's house. I'm making lots of new friends here. Earlier, I took a bath with Jack-Jack and Tigger.

Now I'm off to hang out with some of my other new buddies.

See you tomorrow,
Your Friend Kermit

Blame Rock Band

So, I realized I haven't blogged in just over a month. So sorry. I blame Rock Band a hundred percent. That game is ADDICTING!
But not all is lost; my drumming skills are really improving! Not the best pic, but that's me on the guitar, Mike Miller drumming, and Shawn singing.
Charlie's been into his "Nacho Libre" mask lately. He wore it for about 2 hours straight the other day, even had to ride in the car with it on.What can I say? He's a special kid...and yes, his sandals are hooked together.The cousins shooting eachother - the boys had to wear their masks, of course.

Ellie's preschool orientation. Her first day is this Thursday, September 11th. Unbelievable.

Charlie's first try at a posicle - not so impressed. He stuck out his tongue to touch it about 3 times, and then he was very much done.

Mike and Christine shoved into the rear-facing 3rd row seat in the volvo station wagon - Shawn and I are up front... three kids in the middle!
We drove all the way out to Sandy like this, and got some very funny looks.

Charlie got his Halloween costume and wanted to wear it right away. He's gonna be the cutest lion in town. :)

The Toddler Bed Saga Continues

7:15 pm: We put Charlie down in The Toddler Bed
7:30 pm: Charlie falls asleep in bed, sitting up, with a Cheerio in his mouth, chokes on the Cheerio, falls backwards out of The Toddler Bed, smashing his head on the wall and on the heating register
7:35 pm: Back to sleep
11:00 pm: This is how we find him:

11:05 pm: Charlie is placed back into The Toddler Bed once more

TO BE CONTINUED...???

Our son, the photogenic one...and his friend, "Qed"

"Charlie, look over here. Charlie!"

"Come on, Charlie, look at mommy, I want to get a picture of you with your cousins."


"Oh my gosh, look at all these M&M's!!!"
Ha! Got him. Look at that sneaky little face, though. :) He was so mad at me for tricking him into looking...

Here's the only shot I managed to get of the whole crew on our trip to the zoo:

Charlie, Jackson, Cody (the little foot sticking out of the stroller), Melissa - plus baby #5 in tummy, Levi, Lucie, and Oma.

Enjoying Oma's birthday cupcakes


Charlie helped make them


...and eat them.

The other day, Charlie wanted to spell people's names with his letters.
We've got (in the order he requested): "Christine", "Ellie", "Daddy", "Charlie", "Mom", "Oma", "Qed", "Opa", and "Yaya".

(No, we don't really know anyone named "Qed". Charlie put those letters together, asked what it spelled, and then decided that "Qed" was his friend and therefore I was not allowed to remove his name from the list.)