Boys Night

I'm in Orlando for a conference (just one night so there's no potential for a run-in with Mickey or Minnie). so Charlie enjoyed a little bit of a boys night with BJ and Uncle Marty.  The pictures are a little fuzzy, but it is nice to know that no matter what else may have happened while I was away, Charlie was clean and fed.   

Apparently he chose to sit next to and share some raisins with Uncle Marty after BJ had the audacity to administer ear drops and I can't blame him - that kind of mistreatment shouldn't be tolerated.

Thanks for visiting Uncle Marty and for being such a good audience member for one of Charlie's first official tantrums! 

Bring Back the Fun People

This weekend has been pretty low-key after some really fun weekend visitors.

Two weekends ago, the Osterhaus crew came to stay with us and to attend one of Arch's (he's the head coach) games at the Wells Fargo arena.  It was a mini-Wartburg reunion before and during the game, except this time there were about 9 kids to keep track of.  Times have seriously changed.  After the game, everyone came back to our house and it was really fun to see how well the kids got along.  I failed to take any decent pictures (I did snap some when we all met for dinner, but will not post those because it was of certain people mid-bite...you are welcome Jen O), but I did get a good one of Paige - what a cutie! 

Paige is a little younger than Charlie and weighs about half as much so I gave a lot of "be gentle Charlie" comments.  Charlie's favorite things to carry around are these blue and green rings so he wasn't too keen on surrendering the green one to Paige.  Luckily, there was a 5 second window when Charlie didn't realize that Paige had her hand on the ring as well and we were able to snap this picture.

Last weekend, the fun continued with a visit from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jan.  True to form, Grandpa and Grandma spent time with Charlie doing pretty much whatever he wanted, like pushing him on the tricycle and giving him a ride in the wagon.

I feel that I owe an apology to all JCPenney photographers throughhout the world.  I may have made some comments in the past about how unimpressed I've been with their attempts to capture Charlie's smile.  Well, karma would like me to acknowledge that I can barely get him to even look at the camera, much less smile.  

After Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jan left to go to the ISU basketball game, Aunt Molly, Emma, Claire and Hannah arrived to celebrate the Super Bowl with us.  Charlie had a ton of fun showing off for his cousins and even got to participate in his first craft with the girls.  Molly brought these foam sticker type things and although Charlie was into the social aspect of it, he didn't really like the things sticking to his hands or high chair tray.

 

During the Super Bowl, Claire, Hannah and Charlie discovered that a partially deflated air mattress made the best bouncy toy that one could hope for.  There was parental supervision, but let's just say that during one particularly simultaneous flop by Claire and Hannah, I caught Charlie and we both fell over.  It may have been the best moment of Charlie's life so far.  If I wasn't so concerned with catching kids as they came flying off of the mattress, it would have made for a great video.

We rooted for the Steelers at home as Uncle Mike rooted for them from the Super Bowl.  Check out the intensity below...I think Emma had to stand up at one particular time when we thought that the Steelers were going to make a comeback. 

Thanks to all of our visitors for bringing the fun.  Charlie is always upset when visitors leave and has seem thoroughly unimpressed with my attempts to entertain him this weekend.  I'll try to bring back the fun people soon Charlie, I promise.

Finally, Charlie had a touch of the flu this week so he stayed home with me on Friday and bonded with the pink fuzzy robe.  What can I say, it's the best friend that me or Charlie Boy could ask for.