Catch up!

Here is a bunch of photos from the past week or so. Charlotte was thrilled to have a Skype date with Grandma and Grandpa! I am so proud of Grandma for actually figuring it out! Yay!She fed them all the food in her kitchen!
It has been raining quite a bit, so Charlotte has been trying out her new rain jacket and boots!
She is starting to warm up to the playground after Stroller Strides, but only a little!

She likes giving the turtle kisses!
We are really glad to be back with our friends. Charlotte loves Markus, but doesn't want him to have any of her toys. I guess it was ok that he was looking out her window at the rain!
We have been working on staying in the stroller during Stroller Strides and not crying. It is an hour long class, and she is usually ok unless we stop. I caught her the other night telling her baby that she had to stay in the stroller.
Charlotte likes my new computer too! It is great for pictures! Apparently we are going to have a technology whiz on our hands!
Charlotte helped me do laundry. We have a see through top loader, so she pulled up her stool and after she threw all the clothes in, she stood and watched for a good long time. I put her "out of the house blankie" in and she was very concerned watching her blankie get washed!
She has also been helping take the clothes off the drying rack. She is very good at it, and it is very helpful, except while I was putting groceries away yesterday, she was pulling off all the damp clothes, and of course left them all over the floor!
We are certainly keeping busy!

Monkey See Monkey Do

On Thursday night Sue and Anna came over for dinner. Sue's husband was out of town, so it was perfect to get together! It is much easier cooking dinner for two rather than one! Charlotte and Anna had lots of fun jumping on Charlotte's bed.They were getting hungry so we fed them before Sue and I ate, in hopes that we would be able to eat in peace while they played... fat chance.
They chose other fun activities to do while we tried to eat our dinner!
Anna taught Charlotte how to climb onto the table. Luckily Joli is past the dancing on tables stage, but looks like we might have another one...
The extra booster seat is one of Charlotte's favorite things in the world. It looks so tacky just hanging out on the floor of the living room, but she LOVES it. So did Anna!

They both had to get up on the stool to check out what they were missing... not much.
Charlotte was "cooking" in the kitchen...
I am so glad that I buy things with the hope that they will be used for the intended purpose. Such as these multi colored counters. I had visions that we would sort them into color piles. Charlotte found them and thought they were more fun when you shake the container without the lid on and they go ALL OVER THE HOUSE! Eh, well she had fun. She will figure out how to sort colors at some point right?
We had a nice evening. The girls were either loving each other or Charlotte was pushing Anna down the hallway... We are working on not being so spoiled, I promise! It takes a lot of undoing to stop a toddler from thinking they can have anything and everything they want when they want it! (hint hint Grandma!)

Muffins!

Charlotte and I both slept until about 9:30 this morning! After waking up with her at 3am, for no apparent reason, I guess I needed some rest! (She kept crying and crying, when I went into her room, she sat up and exclaimed "HI!!!". It took some chamomile and snuggling to get her to agree to go back to sleep!) I had no idea until Lisa texted me and I was wondering who would be sending me a message so early... little did I know it was late!! We missed gymboree today, I didn't feel the need to rush and Charlotte doesn't respond well to being ripped out of bed and thrown into the car, so we stayed home. It was a rainy morning so we attempted to watch a movie. She wasn't so into sitting still. Chris called and after chatting for a while and Charlotte starting to get rowdy, I figured I should do something with her. So we made muffins!Charlotte did a great job trying to crack the eggs!
Then she poured in the water and oil!
And then stirred!
Next we put cup cake liners in the pan, she got a little frustrated, but I would have too, they didn't quite fit! I decided we had extra batter left over, so we made mini muffins too!
While the muffins were baking, Charlotte had some freeze dried strawberries for a snack. It was a huge mess, but it kept her occupied while I cleaned up!

Cleaning her up was another whole task!

Finally our muffins were done and Charlotte was trilled!
I think all she has had to eat today is muffins, muffins and muffins!

I'm Sorry...

Not only have I been scolded by Mom AND Grandma for not blogging every day, but now Chris is complaining that there aren't any new pictures of his baby up. So, not that I don't feel bad for not blogging for Grandma and Mom, but when Chris asks... then I really feel guilty. So here are some new pictures from today. After Stroller Strides we played at the park for quite some time! Sue met us with Anna and Charlotte had her sand toys, so lots of time was spent in the sand.Anna wanted to go on the "aldigator", so the girls went on the purple dinosaur together. Charlotte lasted a about 30 seconds before she had enough!
There was a brief moment of playing nicely in the sand together...
Then the fighting began. Charlotte was a monster and after Anna for playing with her toys...
Then she pouted alone when she was asked to be nice and share... guess pouting alone is a more fun option than sharing your toys?
Anna was afraid Charlotte was going to take her shovel, so Charlotte got a shove.
Sue and I stood back and watched them work it out!!! It was very hard not to laugh!
Then Charlotte pouted again...
Anna gave her hugs to make up but Charlotte wasn't having it. She made up for it later by throwing a handful of sand right in poor Anna's face... oh the joys of having toddlers!!!
The playground wasn't very busy today, so Charlotte decided today would be a good day to master climbing up the steps.
She always tries to, but there are usually a bunch of other kids in front and behind her, and she isn't the fastest climber, so it takes her a while! Today she had them all to herself and went all the way up.
She made sure I stayed far away, she wanted to do it HERSELF! I couldn't get too close or I got yelled at!
Of course once she was up, she was too afraid to go down any of the three slides by herself, so I ended up going to get her down... She desperately needs to rough house with Daddy!

Playground Playdate!

Last week we got together with our friends at the park. Us mom's always complain about how the kids wake up from their naps and we have nothing to do with them in the afternoon, so we decided to meet at the park for an hour or so to let the kids play, and hopefully get in some adult conversation. Luckily for us, we can walk to the park! Charlotte was ready to go with her sand toys and sunglasses.She left them on the whole way there too!
She was very excited about her giant shovel she picked out at Target last week. I told Chris when you ask Charlotte if she wants to go to Target she gets a huge smile and yells YESSSS!! I have created a monster.
She did a bit of swinging but was more interested in making Mama take her on the big slide.
The big slide is a twisty slide that the only way to get to is across these "boulders", or up a rock wall, so it isn't something she can do herself. It is really a horrible set up if you ask me!
Charlotte enjoyed playing in the sand too.
Anna enjoyed some snacks and sand!
Charlotte took a nap in the sand too... she proclaimed "night night" and layed down.
The girls liked the dogs that were walking by.
Charlotte was very excited!
Charlotte and Anna compared their water bottles,
And ended the day with hugs and kisses!