Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving back in Cascade.  Charlie's obsession with lawn mowers and the four-wheeler was in full force so Charlie was lucky enough that BJ and Papa Steve indulged him.

Charlie and BJ on the first four-wheeler ride.

It didn't take long for Papa Steve to fire up the lawn mower...never mind that it was stored away for winter...

The second four-wheeler ride.  By this time, Charlie took over driving and Copper refused to miss out on the action.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with both sides of our families and Charlie loved spending time with his cousins.  He also developed (in time for these pictures) this underbite/scrunched up smile.

 The unique smile continued in this picture with Hannah and Tyler.

We hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving.  I am particularly thankful for a certain underbite/off-center smile.

He's A Fan

After a fun night on Friday night with Aunt Jenn and Uncle Ben (sans any pictures), we met Steve at the Iowa State basketball game on Saturday and Charlie loved it.  Between the pep band, the crowd, and keeping tabs on Cy (Charlie liked to wave at him from a distant but didn't want to get any closer than 20 yards), we all had a great time.

At first, Charlie was in awe of everything that was going on around us.

 Then he wanted to get a better view so he decided to stand.

This is how Charlie spent most of the 2nd half - standing in the aisle clapping whenever a basket was made and dancing to the pep band.   He even started to say "no no" whenever he heard the whistle blown.  I think that it is safe to say that we have a little basketball fan on our hands...and BJ couldn't be more thrilled.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

Charlie wasn't feeling the whole costume thing last night (never mind that we had 3 for him to choose from), so he "helped" pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters when he wasn't busy taste testing.  When we had a lull in trick-or-treaters, we danced to a YouTube version of The Monster Mash.  My Zombie impression killed.

I knew that daycare planned a little "Monster Walk" through the hospital today, so I tried to get Charlie excited about his costume.  I strongly encouraged him to choose the cowboy ensemble (the most "casual" outfit compared to the full-on dinosaur and lion ensembles).

 When it came time to get dressed, Charlie wasn't feeling the bandana or the cowboy hat.

We finally convinced him to try on his hat (which started to look more like a sombrero than a cowboy hat at this point) and I managed to catch a full-on smile...too bad that this eyes were closed.  Maybe my goal for 2012 should be to catch a picture with his eyes open AND his smile.

Meeting Bryn

We were very excited last weekend to go to Kansas City and meet Bryn, the newborn daughter of our friends Nick and Catherine.  Over the last few weeks, we've seen pictures of Bryn and her birth announcement, which have been great but can't compare to holding the real thing! 

Amazingly, the excitement of meeting Bryn resulted in even worse-than-normal picture-taking by me.  Ignore BJ's half-closed eyes and focus instead of the cuteness that is Bryn.  Bryn snuggled in on my shoulder for awhile before resting on BJ's shoulder.  I could have sat with her for the entire day!

A picture of the new parents (sorry for not catching you with your eyes open Nick).  Don't they look great?! 

 A close-up of Bryn resting with her dad...pure sweetness.

 Charlie was pretty good during our visit and especially loved running around Nick and Catherine's backyard
and trying to pick up their gigantic cat, Miller.

  
It was a short visit and we were sad to leave, but we hope to see Nick, Catherine and Bryn again after the holidays.

The crib-to-bed transition (or lack thereof) continues to drag BJ and I through the ringer.  Charlie is going to bed like a champ, but continues to wake once in the middle of night and then for the day around 5:30-6:00 (about an hour before he used to wake up).  We've tried a couple of different techniques in the last few nights but haven't been successful quite yet.  Although I'm sure that Charlie would consider the transition a huge success as BJ or I end up sleeping next to him on the extra crib mattress for a few hours each night.  How fun!  A sleepover in his room!  Too bad the crib mattresses aren't intended to provide adequate back support for adults in their 30s.

The Power Has Shifted

So Charlie figured out how to get out of his crib last week and we've been trying to regain some power ever since.  It started last week when he was a little off around bedtime...I'm not sure if it was because he was getting his two-year molars or we're starting some of the toddler personality changes or what.  Anyway, he woke up one night around 11:30 and I began the painstaking process of rocking with him and trying to get him to go back to sleep.  After an hour and a half I finally gave up decided that he needed to have some time alone to try to get back to sleep.  I walked into our bedroom and told BJ that we might have to listen to Charlie cry for a little bit. 

It turns out that he yelled more than cried - yelled for me, then for BJ and even Copper at one point.  He was very mad and wanted everyone in the neighborhood to know it.  About three minutes passed when the screaming suddenly stopped.  For a split second, I thought "wow, I'm glad he settled himself down so quickly."  The next thing I heard was the pitter patter of little feet running towards our bedroom.  The ridiculous thing is that my first reaction was absolute fear for my own life.  There is something about the sound of someone running toward me in the pitch-black house in the middle of the night that scared the daylights out of me.  BJ and I both sat straight up in bed and gasped, "he got out."  You would have thought that we were dealing with a monkey.

Charlie was all wound up and the rest of the night was a disaster.  I had high hopes that the initial crib-jumping incident was a fluke but the next night Charlie jumped out of his crib within five minutes, opened his bedroom door and marched out to the couch with his blankie in hand and gave us a few dirty looks.  It's been a rough couple of days but Charlie finally realizes that he can't leave his room when it is bedtime and he went to bed tonight without any problems.  He's still waking up once a night and is a little disoriented, but I figure that we'll deal with the middle of the night craziness in the next couple of days.

BJ went to Wartburg this past weekend with some friends so my sister and her 3 girls came to keep us company.  As always, Charlie loved the extra attention.

 I loved that Claire (complete with a post-bath head wrap) wanted to read Charlie a story when he was having his bedtime snack.

Finally, we had a family photo session this past Friday and it went so poorly that the photographer refused to charge us.  There were about 30 mph wind so Charlie's eyes were all watery and our hair was all sorts of crazy.  To make matters worse, we took Copper since the session was outdoors and Copper found some fecal matter to roll in as the photographer was trying to snap some pictures.  BJ would describe the entire afternoon as a debacle.  I'm hoping that we can be creative with the few pictures that the photographer was able to take. 

Grandparentpalooza

We've had a busy last couple of weekends with a visit last weekend from Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bill and a visit this weekend from Nana and Papa Supple.  Both sets of grandparents had the pleasure (?) of attending Charlie's toddler music class on Saturday morning, which usually results in Charlie jumping in the corner the entire time and BJ and I foolishly participating by ourselves.

The weather was great last weekend so while BJ and my dad golfed on Saturday afternoon, my mom and I took Charlie to the park.

I tried in vain to convince Charlie to sit down and take a picture with my parents before they left.  At this point, Charlie was giggling and my parents were holding him upright.  Charlie finds his uncooperativeness during my picture-taking adventures absolutely hilarious.

Charlie had lots of extra hugs for Grandpa before they left...I think because his hugs are more like a tackle and Charlie loves all kinds of roughousing.

Yesterday, we took Charlie and BJ's parents to the pumpkin patch after Charlie's music class.  We took the hay wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and Charlie was enthralled to be that close to a tractor that was actually moving.

Three generations bound and determined to have fun at the pumpkin patch (ignore Charlie's scowl in this picture).  The weather was great - it was sunny and breezy.

Maybe a little too breezy because our hair didn't stand a chance and Charlie refused to take his eyes off of the tractor driver when we were moving.  I think that he would have ridden in the wagon all day if we let him.

Enjoying the corn maze.  It wasn't long before Charlie decided to break in his new pants by sitting in the dirt and running the dirt through his fingers.  I guess he's just a farmer at heart.

Venturing out into the pumpkin patch to pick out the best pumpkin that his dirty little hands could find.

I thought this was cute because I though that Charlie was taking a little break in the pumpkin patch but then I realized that he had tripped over the pumpkin vines and was caught.  At least I got a picture before his panic really set in.

 Helping Nana and Papa scope out the pumpkins.

 Following our stroll through the corn maze and the pumpkin patch, we went to feed some of the goats, which Charlie loved. 

 Absolute joy that the goats were eating out of his hand.  This morning I had a blueberry in my hand and Charlie bent over to try to lick the berry out of my hand like the goats.  Why is that he mimics the goats eating habits after a brief encounter but he's completely oblivious to the "toy picking up" habit that he's seen us do every night for the last 22 months?

 I'm not sure which hair was crazier - the goat's hair or Charlie's hair.

Following the goat adventure, we took our crazy, wind-blown hair over to the ponies for Charlie's first pony ride.

 There was one unflattering picture of BJ that I am not posting, but feel the need to explain.I kept reminding him to hold onto Charlie with both hands while he was on the pony.  I think that BJ was saying "do you think I'm an idiot?" in the picture, which was probably the same time that he stepped in pony poop.  I didn't feel that a verbal response was necessary.

Following a long day of music class and fun at the pumpkin patch, Charlie's head began to get pretty heavy and we headed home.

Thanks to both sets of grandparents for visiting us the last two weekends - Charlie loves the additional playmates!

What We've Been Up To

Nothing exciting except for Charlie's first attempted crime. 

There was an incident two weeks ago when Charlie and I went to the local post office.  We waited in line for a very long time behind an older woman who seemed a little quirky but otherwise OK, and ended up assisting with her attempted break-in to another vehicle. 

We spoke with the woman for approximately 5-10 minutes while we were waiting in line and I should have known that something was off when the woman reached the front of the line, didn't seem to have a question and promptly left the post office.  Charlie Boy and I purchased our stamps and headed out to the parking lot to find the lady standing at a vehicle next to our vehicle.  The lady (potential thief) looked exasperated and asked if I could help her try to get into her vehicle.  Of course we could!  We would love too!  Where are your keys? 

Anywho, Charlie and I go over to assist the potential thief and I start to feel like something was weird because the interior of the vehicle contained items that I would place with someone in their 30s or 40s, not 70s.  But the lady was still so nice and kept telling me how Charlie looked just like her son when he was a boy that I didn't question her.  About two minutes into this escapade, another customer left the post office, headed to the vehicle where we were loitering and trying to insert the "keys", gave us a dirty look and got in the vehicle and drove off.  What?  Did Charlie and I just spend the last few minutes trying to open the car doors for a woman that had no business being inside the car?  Just as I was about to ask if the woman needed to be returned to a nursing home or other "monitored" facility, a younger male (her son I presume) appeared and ushered her away.  I was so speechless that I didn't get a chance to explain the situation, introduce myself or say goodbye to our new friend.  I'm very happy that I did not call AAA on this woman's behalf and that her son appeared to return her to wherever she lives.  On the flip side, I'm a little distraught that I was so easily convinced to help someone attempt to commit a crime in the broad daylight.  I called Charlie "juvie" for the rest of the day and will have to remind him of his dance on the brink of a life in crime for a long time. 

Otherwise, Charlie is usually on his trike when we are outside or on his "bike" when we are in the house.  Here he is annoyed that I was snapping pictures.

 Even when he stands at the window, he must be touching the bike in some capacity.

 We have some window Halloween decorations and for some odd reason, Charlie will pull one off of the patio door, set it on the seat of his bike, do a lap around the living room and exchange the decoration for another one.  In this picture you can see the pumpkin decoration set on his bike seat.  Like I said, a little odd.

 Practicing his senior picture pose...

 Having fun with BJ on the couch, but reaching out for his "mama" when BJ finally tackles him.  It is all fun and games until you need your "mama" to come and save you.

 Following the bike and wrestling adventures on this particular night, I was filling the tub with Charlie's help (he usually throws in the washcloth and squirts a couple of drops of bubble bath) when I turned around for a second and saw that Charlie climbed into the tub with all of his clothes on.  Instead of helping him out like a good mom, I grabbed the camera and caught some of the action.

Trying to climb out without me noticing that he climbed in.

 Seeing me see him in the tub, fully clothed.  This is his "oh shoot, I might be in trouble" look.

This is his "we're all good look" - she is using the camera so it can't be that bad.

We hope that you all had a great week, that you didn't commit any crimes and that you remembered to disrobe before taking a bath.