Wrestle Mania!

Charlie loves herself a good wrestle match on the floor.   She dives right at us w/ tongue out and shows no fear.  It's hilarious.  She giggles and giggles.  It's turned into one of my favorite past times.  Whenever she has a giant grin on her face, I'm happy.  Also, I've lost track of the number of times she's almost nailed Wade right where it counts.  One of these times she's gonna get him good and I'll have a little chuckle.  :)

Planning her attack mode!

Diving in!

Ahhhh!  I've got her now!

Post wrestle snuggles!

xoxo~
Kel

Whoa! Sledding is intense!

Charlie's first time sledding.  She LOVED it.  All she could say over and over was "whoa".  It was so fun taking her out!  I'm so glad the weather was perfect for it!  Warm enough for me to run around w/o gloves and cool enough that the snow stuck around for a bit!  Perfection!

Happy hump day!
Kel

A trip to the MN Children's Museum

Sunday we decided Charlie is finally old enough to enjoy a trip to the Children's Museum in St. Paul. Since she is finally up and walking all the time now we figured she'd like to see all the neat stuff and maybe even interact w/ some other kids there. I looked online prior to us heading there and realized it was actually free entry 3rd Sunday. This was nice but also meant that the place would be PACKED. So we decided to go there later in the afternoon to hopefully avoid some of the crowds.

It worked a bit. There was no line to get in luckily but the place was still a zoo. It didn't help w/ all the parents w/ strollers totally ignoring the 'stroller parking' signs and clogging up the exhibits. I realize you need to bring a stroller if you have a baby but there is no reason to have one of those huge things blocking everything for your 3+ year old. Just a little common decency would be nice. Oh well.

Regardless we had a lot of fun and it seemed Charlie did too. She looked like she was in awe of most things and really enjoyed the toddler play area. We'll definitely be going back although I'm not sure if it will be on another of the 3rd free Sundays day. It may be worth the $9 admission to be able to roam and enjoy the whole place w/o having to worry about your kid getting run over by a stroller/bigger kid/aimlessly walking parent/etc.

Here are some pics from the day. It wore Charlie out too which was nice. :) Oh yeah, and how do you like her adorable Puma sweats? Thanks Brad & Erika!

Wordless Wednesday

Pudding face needed a bath. :)

Weekend recap: Boy or Girl?!?!

Still loving this fish eye lense (it's hilarious!)

Wade has been in Monterrey since Sunday and so it's been almost a week since Charlie and I have gotten to see him! We miss our hubs/dada! Luckily he comes home this afternoon! Yay! Since Wade was gone we spent some time down in DeMo over the weekend.  I threw out the idea of a ladies night on Friday since I'd have my parents to watch Charlie and was so excited when most of the girls said they could make it.  We went out to eat at Trostle's Dish which serves tons of different tapas and it was soooo tasty!  After a delicious dinner we headed to Bradley's Pub to continue on the night of celebrations.  After all, we had several things to be happy about.  I was down visiting, there was an engagement for Jenni, and we got to find out the sex of Kara and Todd's baby earlier that afternoon!  It was so great to see my ladies!  And we even ended the evening picking up Todd and his friend Conor and singing some karaoke.  Oh yes, it was that kind of night.  :)

Charlie and I had the privilege of joining Kara and Todd for their big sex reveal ultrasound on Friday afternoon!  We were so excited to find out and of course the ultrasound tech made us wait until the very last minute to find out!  It seemed like it took forever!  In the end though it was determined that Kara and Todd are having a little BOY!  Oh boy!  We don't know what to do with boys in our household!  It definitely will make things interesting and I'm oh so super duper excited to get to meet the lil booger in June!

Charlie & Uncle Todd

We are so thrilled for them and cannot wait for June to hurry and get here!  Charlie can't wait to have a baby cousin!  She loves babies!!!  :)

She also loves doggies obviously.

In other news, Charlie is now walking 99% of the time.  It's about time!  She's been able to walk for about 5 months now but just chose to continue with her little butt scoots.  No longer!  She's now up and walking (soon to be running I'm sure!)  She's such a little toddler now.

We have an escapee from diaper change time!

We had some quality family time the rest of the weekend and watched the superbowl and ate and drank a lot.  Charlie got her first tutu thanks to Auntie Kara and a pretty headband from Omi and looked absolutely adorable in them! 

Pretty as a princess!

It was a great weekend besides the fact that Wade was missing.

Charlie loved our old school keyboard!

Omi & Charlie

Hugs~
Kel

Toddling around!

My pretty peanut

This girl definitely has a personality!  Just in the last month she's changed so much!  I'd been told that around 18 months you'll really start to see their personality and they'll start to talk more and interact more w/ you and others and boy is that the truth.  Charlie will be 18 months old this coming Monday.  She's talking more although just one word, no sentences yet, she's throwing tantrums (yay!) and she's showing me what she likes/dislikes.

The things she is currently loving:
*  Shoes (she takes after Mommy on this one!)

Sparkle shoes!!!

*  Purses/bags
*  Animals and animal sounds
*  Headbands, barrets, bows, etc.

She kept handing me more to put in her hair so who am I to say stop?

*  Her "lovey" (aka blankie)

Lovie snuggle time!

*  Ranch dressing
*  Bath time

*  Lotion (her legs are SO dry this winter and she loves having me slather the lotion all over them!)
*  Cartoons
*  Wrestling/tackling us on the floor (she giggles like crazy!)
*  Books

Learning her shapes!

*  Music and dancing
*  Popcorn
*  Stickers
*  Climbing stairs
*  Elmo

Taking Elmo for a ride

*  Walking!!! 

One sock on, one sock off - the only way to stroll

Yes, that is right!  After being able to walk for the last 5 months but choosing to continue w/ her adorable gorilla butt scoot, she is finally up and walking!  Every now and then she'll sit down to scoot somewhere when she wants to get there fast but the walking is definitely beginning to win in the selected mode of transport!  So exciting!  She's still slow at it b/c I think she is afraid of falling but she's really good at it and hardly ever falters.  I'm sure next thing we know she'll be running around this house!  This spring will be fun outside!

Charlie and I are heading down to Des Moines tomorrow night to visit family and friends.  And the BIG reason we're going is so we can be there first hand when Kara and Todd find out the sex of their baby!  Yay!  We are so lucky to get to join them!  I can't wait to find out.  Friday morning can't come fast enough!  The only thing I'm dreading are the car rides alone w/ Charlie.  I usually sit in the back w/ her and Wade drives when we go long distances but since it will just be me and her she will have to entertain herself!  Let's hope it goes well.  I really don't want to have to drive w/ her screaming at me the entire trip!

Lastly, girl can still make one helluva "mean face".  It cracks me up, she loves to make me laugh, so she does it over and over.  It's a never ending circle of faces and laughter.  She also still makes her "ooooooooh" face constantly.  It cracks me up as well.  She's such a goof.