August 17, 2012

Charlotte's birthday weekend (last weekend) extended into 4 days of fun!

On Saturday Katie and Charlotte went to a baby shower for Katie's cousin Marty and his wife Kelly. Here is a super cute picture of Charlotte with second/third cousins Faith and Beth.

Charlotte has been giving her birthday balloons lots of hugs!

Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary and we had a great day. In the morning we cleaned (woo fun), then headed off to the Children's Museum for the afternoon (this photo is Charlotte very excited to be arriving at the museum), and the highlight was the evening when Grandma and Grandpa Russell babysat so we could go out for dinner and a movie. Thanks G&G Russell!

More museum photos! Here's Charlotte with Curious George. She is so tight with this famous monkey that she refers to him as just George. 

Here I am passing on my golf skills.

In keeping with 4 days of fun, Grandma and Grandpa Distad took Charlotte (and Katie) to the Minnesota Zoo on Monday. 

Pretty sure we took this picture last summer when we visited the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Distad. It's a classic.

Real, live dinosaurs! Well, ok, maybe not exactly but pretty close. Charlotte loved the Dinos and "roared" throughout the exhibit. Here she is with Grandpa in front of the Gigantosaurus (pretty sure I could have come up with that name).

Here is Charlotte petting the baby T-Rex.

"Well, if Daddy is allergic to dogs can we get a dinosaur?"

She tamed tigers.

And made friends with penguins.

We were all home on Tuesday! Charlotte and I started the day with some stretching...

...followed by push-ups.

Hydration is important. Tip: make sure your water bottle is as big as you are.

Tuesday we checked out the Minnesota Science Museum. It was fun! On Tuesday mornings they offer "Preschool Playdates" and admission is free with a Children's Museum Membership. Hopefully we'll get to take advantage of this perk again in a few months! Charlotte was near frantic running from exhibit to exhibit and she enjoyed the shows about making sound and monkeys. She soaks in everything and keeps reminding us that she does not have a tail, so she is not a monkey (we learned that Apes do not have tails and they are not monkeys).

In other Charlotte quotes of late: "I have sand in my nose, there is sand in my nose!" - it was a booger.

August 10, 2012

Today we celebrated Charlotte's 3rd birthday! She has been looking forward to her birthday ever since attending a friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and she had loads of fun today. When she woke up she discovered a doll house had appeared in her toy area:

 This is the doll house my parents made me when I was a little girl and it is fun to give it to Charlotte. She was a bit thrown off by the door that doesn't actually open..."pretend" can be a difficult concept.

This lucky little girl had 2 gifts that arrived before her birthday to open. Here she is opening a game from the Morrell's, she was more than a little excited. 

Check out this book, Dad! What a cute bag from Aunt Jocelyn, it even says Charlotte on it. 

Charlotte went to school today while Patrick and I worked in the morning. In the afternoon she celebrated her birthday with her school friends while we prepped for her party. Her school did a great job of making her feel special. When we arrived this morning she was greeted with a big round of "Happy Birthdays" and she got to wear a special birthday vest. In the afternoon all the kids had popsicles to celebrate and the kids made Charlotte a "birthday book" of drawings and messages. Then, it was time for the party...

Charlotte's birthday cake! This is the first cake I have ever made from scratch and frosted. I'm quite proud of this attempt and I now understand why I often hear people wish they could open a bakery. I don't want to get up at 3 a.m. everyday, but cake decorating would be fun!

Charlotte's party all ready at Van Cleve Park in Minneapolis, just waiting for the guests. The park is great with 2 playgrounds and a wading pool.

She had fun playing with the kids and seeing family and friends. Here she is posing with her cake, which she patiently waited to eat. 

Leading up to Charlotte's birthday anytime I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she said candles. Here she is basking in the glory of her birthday candles with this fantastic candle-blowing-out face. 

Patrick helped her get a better angle and she blew her candles out all by herself! At bedtime tonight I asked her what the best part of her birthday was and she said "my candles" - aww. :)

Not sure how many more years we'll do this, but here she is in September, 2009, less than one month old.

And here is our happy, healthy, growing 3-year-old. So much to be grateful for.

Speaking of 3-year-old, how does that whole fingers thing work? Mom, Dad, a little help please?

That's it, got it.

It's fun to post some patch-free photos. Charlotte is still patching, but we gave her a little extra time off for her birthday. She wore it all day at school. She had an eye appointment yesterday and we learned that her eyes haven't changed since her last appointment. We go in every three months and if there is no change for three appointments we may be done patching. While I'd like to be done patching, it will mean her eyes are as good as they'll get and I'd love to see some more improvement. Time will tell! 

August 6, 2012

And another weekend has flown by! We had a nice time at Patrick's family reunion on Saturday.

Charlotte enjoyed playing catch with the football. 

And this girl always knows there's reason to celebrate!

She got to try out her fishing skills again. Only this time, instead of slimy fish, she caught a bracelet and magnifying glass!

Family photo time! 

Patrick let loose with some mad hula-hooping skills.

Charlotte braved the inflatable water slide. This climb was successful, but she slipped backwards on her second attempt and decided to stick to jumping in the water closer to ground level for the rest of the afternoon.

That one trip down the slide was a big drop! She looks a bit nervous here, but she was all smiles at the bottom.  

Fun photo op with Grandpa and Grandma Russell!

Here is Charlotte all ready for school this morning. She was very excited to wear the t-shirt she tie-dyed at the Family Reunion. She picked out the design and colors: blue, green, red, and pink.

The latest tube-free adjustment has been Patrick and my blood pressure not increasing everytime Charlotte goes down a slide on her tummy or climbs in any way using her tummy for leverage. I still get a little nervous and then I remember that there is no tube to pull out and she can play on her tummy all she wants!