Big Boy

Yes, I am doing some major catch up work on my blog, I've mostly been lazy.

This handsome boy turned 18 months old in July and he thinks he is at least as big as Anna and Max. He is such a busy guy these days . . . here are some of the things I want to remember about Charlie at 1 1/2 years old . . .

• He is, of course, off the charts as far as height and weight. He is 34 lbs and 36 inches tall. Big boy!! Hard to carry. Good to wrestle with.
• He loves to be outside and has tan little arms and legs and bright white hair after all the summer fun we've had.
• He loves to chew on anything made out of yarn, and when he's falling asleep he chews on his blanket.
• He likes to pretend to be a doggy so I will scratch his head. It makes him drool. Just like a doggy.
• He loves fruit and cheese and milk and spaghetti, and pretty much everything we've ever put on his high chair tray.
• He likes to point and grunt and sometimes scream in order to communicate. I heard Anna telling someone one day that Charlie can talk. Then she explained "For Mom, he says Ma. For Anna he says Na, for Max he says Ma, for Grandma he says MA!!, for more he says Ma, and for milk he says, Ma Ma." It's kind of true. It's Charlie-talk and we all understand it pretty well. No need for English yet.
• He gives regular kisses and silly kisses. If Charlie is downstairs and he hears someone wailing upstairs he hustles as fast as he can to find the sad person and kiss them better.
• He bites. Really hard. We're working on that.
• He is tough. Maybe that just comes with being the littlest guy.
• He is obsessed with cell phones. If he thinks you have one in your pocket that you're not handing over, he will pat you down. Doesn't matter who you are.
• He loves to read books. He will sit for so long and read with me. He also loves to point at pictures of our family and say who is who. He also loves to color.
• He is not so much a fan of nursery, but he goes (lots of credit to his teacher here), and he is always so proud of himself when we go to pick him up. He is a big boy!

We love you Charlie Robert!

Date Night

Max and Anna ready for their date night. This is the typical garb they wear--pretty fancy. Taylor and I have a date night at home after bedtime on Friday and Max and Anna decided to follow suit, so every Friday they put these fancy clothes on over their jammies, eat a treat in their room together, and then watch a moving in bed. Pretty much fun. I am so glad that my two little kids love to be together most of the time.

Anna

This big girl is five years old and going to Kindergarten in a week! Anna turned five last week--I'll have to post the pictures we took of her fun birthday, but for now, here are a few pictures of Anna from this past summer. What a girl! We love her to pieces . . .

Art Show

Summer Happenings

There are a lot of them . . . we have been a busy family.

So, Charlie learned to run fast (look at him go) and where he really loves to run is away from me. He also has a new favorite animal friend--his toy snake. He plays with his snake and makes him eat his food and kiss everyone and talk snake talk. It's amazing how little kids are when they start playing pretend, it's pretty adorable. Also, I hope this doesn't traslate into me taking care of any real snakes when Charlie is ten, because I do not think that snakes are adorable.

We went with the Cash gang to the Lehi Roundup Rodeo--a summer activity that is dear to my heart. We left Charlie home with a babysitter since I was afraid he would fall through the bleachers. He probably would have--we dropped Anna's shoes as well as a hamburger through them. Charlie probably would have been next. Max wore his boots with his shorts. It was awesome.

We have had two very special Daddy dates. I don't have any pictures of the first, but Max and Dad slept at the Dinosaur museum, and it was the best night of Max's life. Uncle Wesley even got to come and Max was feeling like such a big kid. He came home with all kinds of interesting fossil looking things and dinosaur knowledge.

Anna and Daddy went to a Daddy Daughter Ball, and it was the best night of Anna's life. Apparently they announced "Princess Anna and her Daddy" when she walked in, so it was officially a real ball. She took the whole thing very seriously as a real princess would.

We had a family camp out in our backyard to test our ability to camp. The funny part was that in the morning I woke up after what I thought was a rough night all around and was thinking "We are definitely not going camping." The first thing Taylor said when he woke up was "Well I think we just proved that we can totally go camping!" Hmmmmm. It was a lot of fun though. Good memories for the kids--that is what I tell myself.

I love summer. I love summer. I love summer.