Whiskers

Me: "What were you doin?"

Chuck: "Making whiskers on my face"

Of course...

Charlie's First Day of School 2010

My little buddy started school this year in the 3's class and walked right in as if he owned the place. I was worried since he has always had big sis by his side, but he knew the drill and was excited to be there and meet new friends. Oh, and momma is happy to have some "me" time. Thank goodness for 3 hours of time to myself a couple mornings each week...summer about wore me out! I mean, how many more times could I apply sunscreen?

Here's to another great year!

This little man plays hard and rests hard...he fell asleep after school on my tile kitchen floor. Yes, this is for real...

Charlie's birthday

My little buddy turned 3 in May. My little buddy is not a little buddy anymore. My little buddy is a wild-man, a super-hero lover, a sports fan, a rule breaker, a challenge taker and now he is my Big Buddy.

Charlie, you make us laugh until our bellies hurt. You've never met a stranger and you speak to everyone you see. You light up a room with your wit and smile. You play rough but you are learning how to be tender too. You are a Big Boy and Daddy and I love you so much.

The man of the hour:

Uncle Michael picked out this golf set and glove, Charlie slept in the glove for a week straight:

The girls got into decorating super-hero capes:

Charlie's celebration at school:

Mimi and G-daddy swallowed some UNC pride for this gift...now that's LOVE:

Backfire

Charlie has switched to his new big boy room and the transition had been going pretty well. This past week though, he wakes up really early, like 5 am, and comes into our bed to bother us for the rest of our precious sleep. Then, if we give him no attention, he goes into Haley's room to bother her. So today I went to get a door lock so he can't get out of his room. I let him fuss a while this afternoon during naptime only to check on this:

Imagine diaper cream coating everything...greasy, hard to clean up, stinky, painful waste of the hour of rest time I was looking forward to gettting this afternoon. Psyche.

First Day of School

Summer is over and school has started. As much as I love a routine, I am bummed to see the lazy days of summer behind us. Don't get me wrong, I love some time to myself, but the beginning of school actually stresses me out. I feel like I have so much to remember...bring in supplies, pictures, fill out forms, volunteer for carpool, chapel, treats for teachers, sign up for holiday parties, make play doh...the list goes on and on! It is all worth it in the end though. I see how much they have learned and look forward to all they will learn this year.

Compare how much they have grown by looking at last year. Wow!

Lovin' my 2-yr old man...

Charlie turned two on May 19th and the day was full and exciting from start to finish. We started at Mimi and G-daddy's house with a birthday breakfast. I think we sang "happy birthday" 5 times before he even ate his bagel and oatmeal (complete with a birthday candle thanks to Mimi). Charlie and I headed over to Duke for his appointment and even this is a treat for him (Charlie loves Dr. B). Once we made it back to Charlotte, we had a family celebration and Charlie played with his favorite birthday gift, matchbox cars! What a cheap year for gifts....these things are $.97, just Five of these made his day!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy, loved singing to you today (all 50 times). You make me proud!

Before He Turns 2...

Just wanted to show off my little man and his newest talents. This video is pretty typical of him lately, he is VERY full of himself! He turns 2 on May 19, so I will have some pics next week of the many celebrations!

Charlie is famous!

Charlie made it on T.V. today!!! Here are some links to his appearance on GMA and another associated press clip:

http://video.ap.org/?t=By%20Section/U.S.&p=&f=AP&g=0315dv_peanut_allergies

He is wearing a light blue shirt at the end of the video...Mimi is in the background too!

Breakfast with Santa

Gosh, playing catch-up stinks...Christmas seems like eons ago!


I am sick of typing, so here are some pictures of breakfast with Santa at Carolina Golf Club:

Weekday School

All I can say is, Thank the Lord for weekday school (WDS). My kids have had a great experience and I have always loved their teachers. Equally important, I love this time to myself each week. On the last week before the holidays, I had lunch with Haley and stopped in Charlie's class for his Christmas party. As you can see, they love their school buds.





Haley having lunch with Regan who has a severe dairy allergy. Regan has a special table and we can send in a "Regan-safe" lunch so she has a buddy to sit with. Haley gets so excited when she gets to sit with her!

The "girls" table: Burkely, Sarah Katherine, Fifi, Lulu, Liza and Anna

Those shapes are hysterical, huh?

Charlie's New Do!

I know this is B-O-R-I-N-G but this is my version of a scrapbook, so I have to post Chuck's first haircut! We went to supercuts for the big splurge and he did not seem to be bothered by the snips, snip, snip of the little baby hairs (maybe the lollipop had something to do with this).

Henry and Charlie "talking"

My good friend Lindsay brought Henry over for lunch the other day and it was so cute to see Henry and Charlie play together. Henry just turned one, so he is showing off his stellar walking and talking skills! Here is a funny video of them "talking" to each other. It is more like a grunt, but the back and forth is just too cute!

First Day of School

I feel like I blinked and now Charlie is going to preschool...

Haley was so proud to show Charlie the ropes and they both entered their classrooms without a tear! What a great day!!!

God is so good to have blessed me with these precious children...

The sun has been getting to me

I am soooo far behind on posting photos...the hot summer days are so draining that I am too tired to update our blog! Funny, because I still have time to check everyone else's website, ha ha!

Ok, so if we back up to the first of July, that is when Charlie really began walking. Here is a video that shows how proud he was when he finally figured it out! OMGness, is there anything cuter than a baby learning to walk?

First Steps...

Charlie is trying to walk more and more...he has lots of battle wounds to prove it too! Here a little snipit of him giving it a try!

"Just Say No" to Peanuts and Eggs

We found out the hard way that Charlie is allergic to Peanuts, so we went to the allergist this week to test for other things. Charlie is also allergic to eggs, so now I am learning how to change his diet and keep him safe from these allergic reactions.

Here are some photos from the skin test yesterday. If you look close in the picture of Charlie's back, the top right shows a D, representing dairy. The numbers 2 and 3 swelled up which indicated that he is allergic to egg yolk and egg white. Haley came along to support her brother and keep him occupied while we waited for the results of his test. We will find out more in a week from the blood test.

June Trip to Raleigh

We made it up to Raleigh for a long overdue trip to visit Mimi and G-daddy. Charlie and Haley absolutely loved spending time at the pool and especially loved playing with Jake and Cole. We were sad that Riley and Dane were not there, but our August beach trip is coming up soon!

While we were there, Haley dressed Charlie up in Mimi's dress-ups. He did not seem to mind, but I do think Scott was bothered. Charlie also got to pound on the pinono (as we like to call it)!

We also got to hang out with our good friends, Matt and Misty. We had a great Mexican dinner in downtown Raleigh and I got to indulge in Goodberrys for the first time.

Corn on the Cob...

Charlie loves to eat corn, especially straight off the cob! Great timing too, since the farmers market has the most delicious corn this time of year. He also blew some kisses for the camera and did some typical 1 year old squealing! I tried to get him to say "mama" but he did not want to show off that much...he did say it for the first time this week though!

Charlie's Birthday

I can't believe little Charlie is 1! Time has gone by too quickly for me, I really had to sit back and absorb yesterday...at first, typical Mary fashion, I wrote it off thinking that he has no idea what is going on and that I would enjoy not having to do a party until he got older and knew the drill. Then, I got to thinking...what was more important that celebrating Mr. Charlie on his birthday? Absolutely nothing...especially not the things I was doing (laundry, working out, cleaning). So I got our family together for a great afternoon of celebration for our King Charlie! He loved his cake that Haley decorated and he really loved his new legos from cousin Caroline. Thank you also to Mimi and G-daddy for the precious outfits and pjs! What a special day, one I will never forget...I am so glad I did not let my little Charlie's birthday go by without a memory!!!