Charlie Juggles

Check out Charlie's new talent - juggling!

Charlie's 2nd Birthday

We had so much fun celebrating Charlie's 2nd Birthday this year. We had the family over for hamburgers and cake, and since Charlie LOVES Minnie Mouse, we had a Minnie Mouse themed party! She was very spoiled (of course!) and recieved so many loving gifts from her family.

Daddy and Mommy got her a Minnie Mouse kitchen, fully equiped with a oven, sink, blender and toaster. She had a blast! Here are some pictures!

Charlie Meets Mickey and Minnie

Well, it took two grueling days to make it to Mickey and Minnie's house but we made it. We battled hunger, sleep deprivation, crankiness, and two severe lightning storms. But oh, was it ever wort it. Check out the video of Charlie's encounter with the two tiny toons...

Charlie and the Great Bouncy Ball

So Nana and Poppy got Charlie an early Birthday present - a bouncy bouncy ball with a handle so she can hold on and bounce. At first glance, this had DISASTER written all over it. Charlie has a knack for being a bit of a daredevil already, so you can imaging what we, as the overly protective parents of a child who's already had one broken arm, were thinking.

Immediately, we all surrounded her with pillows and ourselves to see how this was going to go over on her first try. We would help her sit on it and tell her to hold on to the handle then bounce. It proved difficult for her to multitask, as she would focus on boucing and forget to hold on to the handle. Then she would concentrate on holding on to the handle, but forget to bounce. We all figured it would be a toy she could "grow into" and our plan was to put the bouncy ball up and only allow her to play with it under our supervision.

Well, the first thing she asked for when she got up the very next day after receiving said bouncy ball was...you guessed it - "I wanna bounce on the bouncy ball!" So I begrudgingly grabbed the bouncy ball from its "safe spot" high from little hands, and told her to take it to the carpet (so as to minimize many tumbles to the ground from this torturous toy. We basically repeated the same routine from the night before. She would be able to either bounce or hold on, but not achieve both tasks simultaneously. It was kind of funny because she would start off holding onto the handle with her hands, but as soon as she started bouncing with her legs, her hands would fly free and she would basically roll down the ball on her back slowly onto the floor. And all the while she would be grinning, which made for a funny visual.

So I thought it would be good video to capture so I ran to get the recorder. Well, something clicked (no, not a broken bone) but when I started recording, she started bouncing like a seasoned veteran - as if she's been boucing for years. And the jibber jabber was hilarious. This is honestly the first time we've ever been able to capture something cute, as normally by the time I clumsily collect the recording device, she's already moved past the act of cuteness, or she gets stagefright and refuses to perform.

So enjoy this little moment. (See Transcript below.)

TRANSCRIPT:
Charlie: And....bounce!
Daddy: Bounce with your legs.
Charlie: (Bounces once)
Daddy: There you go! Good job! Do it again.
Charlie: (Bounces once)
Daddy: Do it again.
Charlie: (Bounces once)
Daddy: Keep goin.
Charlie: (Bounces repeatedly)
Daddy: Alright Charlie!
Charlie: (Stops bouncing)
Daddy: See how long you can do it.
Charlie: I'm jumping really high! (4x) Minnie, I'm doin it. Come on, Minnie. Let's bounce together. Let's bounce together. Bounce, bounce, bounce. Let's bounce together, Minnie. Let's bounce together. It's minnie's turn. Hi, Minnie! Minnie's bouncing together. Minnie's bouncing together. Okay, Minnie, I'm gonna... Right there. I ??? bounce ???. Come here, Rascal. Come on, Daddy. Let's bounce together. Oh I think ???. Alright. Ready, get set, bounce! (Bounces repeatedly) Look Rascal! I'm bouncing!

My little Tinker Bell! We went to visit some friends of ours a few weeks ago, and their little girls were playing with all sorts of fairy costumes and wings. Charlie had a blast putting on the wings and running around like a little princess, so I found these wings at Target, get them home, and she won't have anything to do with them! Go Figure! I had to bribe her to pose with them. At least she likes the headband Boo got her!!

Went to Aunt Ninni's Birthday breakfast and Nana put our hair in pigtails! Too Cute!

Little Ballerina

So, for Father's Day I dressed up little Charlie in her ballerina suit and took her picture to put inside Daddy's father's day card. This was the most "Ballerina" type pose I could get from her. :)

Charlie's Trip to the Zoo

A few months ago we decided to go to the Dallas zoo and check out the new "Giants of The Savana" Exhibit. Charlie loved seeing the Elephants and Giraffes, but in the childrens section of the zoo we noticed they had pony rides! This was her first time on a horse and she talked about it for days afterwards! She just had a ball!
In this picture, I see a little girl, not my baby anymore! She is soo cute!

Yep, the parent of the year award goes to........ Just kidding! Poor little Charlie Shay. She is a climber, so when she fell off the end of a church pew we thought she might have been a little banged up, but we were shocked to find out she broke her little arm.

She has been such a trooper! We have had the cast on for two weeks now, and the doc said she has two more to go! At least at the check up, we did decide to go with a water proof cast, so that bath time and swimming time are now a little easier!

She never complains about the cast, or tries to pick at it. She just goes about playing and running around just like she always has. Such a good little girl!

Summer Time

Just Chillin!
Dreaming of the summer sun!

Stuff Charlie has been up to!

Charlie working with Boo in the Garden! She loves going outside to pick the "Pretty Flowers". She leans down and tries to smell them, but she blows out instead of sucking in. It is sooo cute!

We went to the Arboretum and let her loose in the open field. She ran so hard! I could see how much fun she was having running around without having to hold on to Mommy's hand. Unfortunatly, at the mall, if she didn't hold on to Mommy's hand, she would take off and never look back! She has a very adventurous spirit, and she is very independant!

We have been very busy learning! Charlie can spell her name, if you ask her to. She can count to 13, but then says fourteen about 5 times until I finally have to say 20! Yay! She knows her colors, and the letters of the alphabet. We have a little puzzle of the USA and she can show you where, Texas, Utah, California, and Montana are. I know, random, but you have to start somewhere!! ;)

Pictures

These two pictures were taken exactly 1 year apart! She has changed so much, it's incredible!

Last weekend, our neighborhood put on an easter egg hunt. The flyer said the 0-3's would start at 9:30, so to be sure we weren't late Jeff, Charlie and I got there around 9:15 and decided we would walk around the park and look at the ducks while we waiting for the hunt to start. Well, as soon as we set foot out of the car, the glistening eggs immediately caught Charlie's eye and off she went running to gather them all up. Of course, the hunt didn't end up starting until 10:00. So for 45 minutes we had to wrangle an 18 month old to keep her from running out and getting any eggs.

As people started arriving and kids started getting restless, the organizer told everyone we had to stay on this winding sidewalk before she said go. 10 minutes later, after kids are screaming and running out into the field and parents getting restless and impatient, they decided we had been through enough torture."Get ready!" We told Charlie to get her basket. "Get set!" We lined her up on the sidewalk and told her to get ready to run and get her eggs (i could feel the excitement building). "Go!" As all the hundreds of kids ran passed us, and Jeff and I were running out to the eggs in the field, I look back and Charlie Shay is just standing there........ staring like she just saw a ghost. Won't move. We keep telling her "Come on, get your eggs!!!"" Won't move!

After about 5 minutes I looked up, and each and every egg was gone! Charlie is still standing there wondering what the heck all these crazy people were doing! Jeff and I both just looked at each other and laughed. After all the waiting and build up, our little pumpkin just had fun watching everyone else take off and grab their eggs! Between the two of us, Jeff and I had grabbed two eggs each. So, at least we made off with four eggs. Charlie has so much fun with those 4 eggs. We hide them around our house and she loves looking for them!

I think Easter day we will have our own little easter egg hunt and she can grab as many eggs as she wants!! ;)

Today is a day to celebrate! I FINALLY got a bow in my child's hair!! She finally has some hair! Yay!!! She looked just precious, for the 5 minutes it lasted. She just couldn't help herself to reach up there and yank it out - but o'well. We tried, and believe me, I will keep trying!!!

I had to intice her by showing her Minnie Mouse's bow and how pretty it looked, and so she decided she wanted to look like Minnie too! I said to her "Do you want Mommy to put a pretty bow in your hair, like Minnie Mouse? to which she replied, "oh tay!" with a giggle and a laugh!

Snow Day!!

Oh what fun! Overnight it snowed about 4 inches
of snow in our part of town, and it snowed the entire day today, which is really unheard of in Dallas. I think the totals were about 7- 10 inches of snow!

Charlie kept looking out the window, saying "snow" all day, so Daddy got off work early and when he got home we bundled Miss Charlie up tight and we all went outside for some fun.

You can barely see her shoes! They are buried!

She LOVED it! She ran around in it. Daddy showed her how to make snowballs, and how to throw them at Mommy! Our wonderful next door neighbors had made a huge snowman with their kids that day, so we took Charlie over to show her what a real snowman looked like.

She decided she wanted to hug the snowman! What a sweet girl!

When we decided it was getting too cold and wet, and that we wanted to come back inside, of course, she was not very happy about that at all.

Hopefully the snow won't melt right away and we can go back out and enjoy again tomorrow!

She won't forget this for a while!!