It's all about Charlotte

This blog contains an assortment of pictures for the last couple of weeks. Most of them are pictures of Charlotte (notice title) because she LOVES to have pictures taken of her and is constantly fighting to get into the spot light.

This first picture is the only picture I have from my birthday. Well, the day after actually. I had quite a surprise when two of my sweet friends cornered me as I pulled up to tutoring and basically kidnapped me to go with them. I was willing after I heard we would be getting pedicures, dinner and dessert with a movie at the end. What a nice treat! This doughnut was the from the famous Voodoo Doughnuts and is a peach fritter. It was pretty delicious- but there isn't much there that isn't. 

 Next is a picture of Jesse's Sunday stations. We have been staying home a lot due to sicknesses and I really want Sunday to be our day of worship so I have tried particularly hard with Jesse to keep it that way. If anyone has any suggestions in this area for a four year old, it would be appreciated! We do a sunday puzzle book, sunday pictures to color (printed off LDS.org), reading the friend, and a craft if I can think of one. I think he seems to enjoy it. 

 Making faces together. She is such a ham!

 So happy to see herself!

 I had to throw this in because Jesse looks so grown up in this picture!!!! He has just shot up the last couple of weeks and I cannot believe that just in a short year he will be in kindergarten. (Well a little over a year..)

 Each morning my kids are GREAT sports to let their poor tired mama sleep in (who has battled with grumpy kids all through the night most nights) and they play together. Jesse typically gets into the crib with her. I am just waiting for the day when Charlotte learns to climb out of her crib. I don't think it is too far off...

 We went on a family hike one Sunday to go see a nearby waterfall. It is a short walk next to a river and is very pretty! 

 Here is one of the many sticks that Jesse found on his hike

 Charlotte likes to climb on everything.....

 Jesse by a blooming tree close to our house. I love this road during the spring time because all the trees along it are decked out in their finest. 

 Another day we went to the newer Vancouver Library that has an AWESOME children's section full of educational activities. This particular activity you have balls that you drop down and roll along a bath and then they fall on chimes to make music. They stay at this toy the longest of them all...

 At the same library, you can go up on the top floor and there are plants and trees and benches to sit and relax. The kids loved that too and we stopped to take a snack break. :)

 Andy is always exciting to use his new canning tools! He got a Victoria Strainer from his parents just a few months ago and this was the first time trying it out. We did so many tomatoes that he has a blister on his thumb still!

 My Charlie Bug

 Climbing again. We haven't made much progress in the potty training area but I'm not worried. She likes to wear her underwear but not to always want to do it. She is starting to get more and more irritated with her diapers when she has a wet or dirty one, so I think it is right around the corner!

 We have always had a booster chair with a tray at the table for the kids and I finally broke down and got a high chair for Charlotte. It is big, but keeps her contained, is easy to clean, and she LOVES sitting in it! She has sat in there up to an hour just hanging out and eating snacks the last couple of days. Charlotte sitting quietly is simply unheard of around here...

 And Charlotte again-she has loved for me to put "pretties" in her hair lately. I have a bunch that I made before she was born and now I can finally put them to use! And I made a frame with ribbons to hold them all! I thought I was forever destined to have a tom-boy who didn't ever want me to do her hair. Next we will try painting toenails sometime...

The week ahead looks pretty uneventful, but I am glad for that. In fact, all of May looks pretty low-key so I am hoping to have lots of time outside and crafting and other fun activities with my kiddos. So thankful I have my little munchkins! 

Catching up

We keep busy here at the Summer's house. Some days I feel like they depend 100% on me to entertain them- especially when the TV is off. But the nice thing is that Charlotte is finally getting to an age where she can play WITH Jesse instead of just scream at him. We are going to start cutting down our media intake. I have been doing this slowly over the last couple of weeks, and it has been nice. SOMEDAY I want to get to where we have one special day for that. We'll see. So here are a few of our happenings:

A black eye. Thanks to the couch.

Grandma and Grandpa decided to come visit AND we moved. Not many pictures there as you can imagine I had my hands full. But my MIL was VERY helpful as you can see from this picture and (thanks to her) Charlotte requests to go on walks everyday.

We made it to the park one of those few and far between sunny days. It has also been the only day I have put Charlotte in shorts. LOVE it!

Some days when they go to bed I can't help but go into their bedrooms so I can re-remember how innocent and sweet they really are. Bed times have been rough around here so when I can go into his room and see him so peaceful, it helps bring back a little of my own peace.

This kid LOVES to draw. Here are a few of his fabulous drawings.

a rocket..

Playing at the mall- we love the play structures for kids there, and sometimes it helps my sanity to get out of the house on rainy days.

Old news, but I can't help put our little Oliver into this post. He will officially be a part of our family in August, but we talk about him and think about him everyday. :)

Funny picture of Jesse (hair is WAY too long), but I had to show off the second black eye in two weeks. Thanks to the kids at the mall play structure.

Charlotte is talking more and more and in this picture she is saying "mo" or "more" in her little world. She LOVES to enjoy my smoothies with me each morning.

I LOVE this little bug! But if all girls all mischievous, independent, strong willed, stubborn, and screechy as her......lets just say I may be hoping for boys from here on out :)

She cannot get enough of the camera! She is always saying "cheese!" when I have my phone in hand knowing that that is what I take pictures with.

And most recently we have been trying out potty training. We're just kinda testing the waters and seeing how she feels about going. She hasn't actually been successful yet, but she sure likes to sit on the toilet, sing a song, and then get off. And she loves wearing underwear (who wouldn't after 18 months of bulky diapers??).

I love their cute little bodies when they start wearing underwear!

Shout out to my husband!

Sometimes I am so amazing by the patience of my husband. I have said this before but we make the perfect tag team. These last months have been rough with my low energy and general moodiness. But he gets home and (most of the days) picks up right where I am lacking- energy to entertain the kids or keep them occupied. One night he got home just in time for bedtime and he had them so wound up over the next 20 minutes with horsey rides and rough-housing. They LOVED it!!!

Then he somehow got them to both sit down and read a book with him. Yeah, that has never happened to me in my life. So I am thankful for him. And that he works hard to provide for our family, often going above and beyond what is necessary. And I am thankful that he loves our children and is such a wonderful Dad and partner to me. Without him the kids would probably have cold cereal every meal.

Although I know my kids love me and we have fun during the day while Andy is gone, they sure love their Dad.

February- Picture Overload!!

Here are some of our many doings this last month.

It SNOWED! We were pretty excited and while Charlotte took a nap went out and made our friend the snowman. We had to get creative with the decorating- there were no rocks around.

Had to make a snow angel!

A fort made a few days later to conquer the feeling of cabin fever. If I recall, after it snowed it rained and rained and rained for many days. So we had to think of something!!

Jesse doing one of his "chores."

And switching over the magnet. He has always been such a good helper but now he can feel like it is worth it. We tally up his doings for a week and if he gets enough full days of getting chores done he gets a treat. Lets see if we can stick with it!

FHE one night- we decided to play mouse-trap and Jesse was pretty excited!

OOH it's not raining, quick- run outside and play!

My goofs in the bathtub- they are both so silly and I am often soaked when we are finished.

Charlotte loves to copy what her brother does. So here she is, being the little lemming that she is....

Jesse at his third dentist appointment. Just a cleaning but he was still scared. The dentist came around after the cleaning to check out his teeth and when he went to put the mirror in Jesse's mouth Jesse closed his mouth around it so he couldn't get it back out again. It took a little coaxing to get him settled down but he survived! And so did I :)

Being goofy with my little ham

Jesse loves to draw his family now. He is so darn cute and puts in the cutest details!

At the Doctor's for a four year old wellness check. He is growing great! He is in the 95th percentile for his height, and the 85th for his weight! At least he is proportional! And they did an eye check for the first time which he did well at, thank goodness. You could probably hear him at the other end of the office shout the shapes out. Here he is "getting a hug" from the blood pressure machine.

Some blueberry scones I made one morning for breakfast. They turned out so yummy, so if you want to try the recipe it is here

Jesse playing at photographer.

Charlotte playing at photographer. Typical girl- only wants to stare at herself. :)

Our canning for the month. We found some yummy peaches and blackberries that we had to use and here they are. This was just the first night and second night filled up the whole counter. We also made some chicken stock that we use for soups and gravies and various things.

I get in these baking moods and another morning I made lemon blueberry muffins. I think they were a hit and they turned out super delicious. Another recipe found here

Jesse being goofy...I love this crinkly smile :)

AND most recently I was able to take a mini vacation with a group of ladies from my ward relief society. We rented out a cabin owned by a lady in the stake and it was LOVELY! Here is the view out to the Oysterville bay.

And a (not so good) shot of the actual cabin. It was quaint and cozy.

And one of my favorite parts was riding a scooter on the small-town back roads. It was too much fun and made me want to go out and buy one!!

We passed through Astoria on the way home so had to make a stop at the Astoria Column to get some exercise. It was super foggy. I was with Delaine Smith, Amy Duvall, Brittania Anderson, and Shana Harper (who wasn't pictured). Such a fun group!

We also stopped for lunch where a few of us braved oysters. Not me. This picture was followed by gagging and spitting out of the slimy appetizer. UUGH!

So my month has varied between busy and lazy. Both are welcome at the times they come. I look forward to March with not much planned besides moving into a new home which will be another new adventure!