First of all Charlotte is obsessed with trampolines. We were at my sister in laws house the other night and Charlotte spent the entire evening jumping on the trampoline. I loved, loved, loved watching her jump and play and be SO HAPPY! So I pulled out my iphone to take pictures of this joyous girl so we could all remember this happy time. This picture just made me smile. Can you see what is missing/wrong in this picture? Pretty funny. 

LOVE. THIS. GIRL!!! 

More on our lovey

Story of my life, I'm behind on posting. I have a lot to post about but can't seem to find one of my camera cords to download pictures from my camera. So until I take the time to go searching for this camera cord, iphone updates is what you'll get. 

Charlotte is such a funny girl. This is by far my favorite age so far. She can still be such a hand full at times, but for the most far she is hilarious and so much fun to be with. I have to document some of the things she's into lately or saying so I don't forget! 

Lately all she wants to do is be outside. Charlotte tells me every morning, "bubbles outside", meaning she wants to blow bubbles outside. The funny thing is, if we do actually blow bubbles while we are outside she loses interest in about 2 minutes. More than anything she just wants to be outside. 

She also loves to be our "helpers" while we are outside. As you can see in the picture below she is wearing my gardening gloves. I had been working outside wearing those gloves pulling weeds and Charlotte demanded to wear them. I obliged and we put that girl to work! Charlotte also loves to help mow the lawn by running next to Mike as he goes back and forth, she'll also pick up grass clippings and hand them to Mike or I. We never know what to do with the grass clippings other than throw them away but it's sweet of her to want to help. 

Charlotte is really into expressing or acknowledging hers and others' emotions. She has had a problem with hitting others, yes I'm not proud of this habit, so we've told her many times that when she hits someone it makes them sad. So Charlotte will talk about hitting someone for example her cousin Will (sorry Will!!) then follow it up with, "Will sad." Yes Charlotte Will is sad when we hit him! But on the sweet side she'll run up and give me a big, tight hug and say, "Happy now!!" Or when we are reading books she also points out when she sees a tear drop or someone is sad, she point out when someone is laughing that they are happy, or if she can tell it's an angry face she'll say,"NOT HAPPY". 

Speaking of NOT HAPPY, Charlotte was in a wicked mood yesterday, she woke up from her nap grumpy and so Mike and I were talking to her about trying to be happy because we were on our way to a party. We were in the car on the way to make a quick stop at the store before going to the party when Charlotte in her very mean, angry voice said, "I NOT HAPPY NOW." Mike and I looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh. Yes Charlotte, we KNOW you are not happy, you've made that very clear by your actions this afternoon. Oh that girl. I had no idea life could be so hard at 2.

 As one proud momma I have to say it's pretty awesome she can recognize these different emotions and point them out. It shows me two things, 1. this girl is already so dramatic and 2, she's very intune with her emotions which I think overall is a good thing. 

Charlotte's auntie Emmy bought this shirt for Charlotte and truth be told it's one of my favorites. It's so soft and I think Charlotte looks darling in it.  She's growing up so fast! 

You would think looking at the picture below that Charlotte and Emily love each other so much. Well for about half the time they get along well and do love each other and the other half of the day I have to shield Emily from Charlotte's hitting her or try to stop Charlotte from randomly shouting at Emily, "STOP IT EMMY!" It's quite exhausting trying to keep two of my favorite people happy and make sure they are getting along. I can't live without either of these girls and Charlotte is just going to have to learn to love and appreciate Emily. Secretly I think Charlotte gets jealous when I'm talking to Emily so much. Charlotte is so used to having me all to herself that when Emily comes around I think she knows my attention will be split and she doesn't like it! 

And as always Charlotte is always trying to wheel and deal us. If there is something we have to do such as change her diaper, give her a bath, eat breakfast, go to the store, clean up her room etc, she'll tell us what she wants to do first. She'll say, "play animals first, then eat," or "listen Simba first then change diaper." Such a pickle but pretty clever.

Charlotte is currently obsessed with Lion King. Promise she's only seen the full movie 2 or 3 times in her life. I promise, I don't just let her sit and watch movies. But we listen to the soundtrack all the time. I now know all the words to all the songs now since we have to listen to it every time we are in the car, even for a drive around the block to church. It's wearing on me but I can't stop listening to it because it makes her so happy and I love listening to her try to sing the words. Plus I have to admit I would so rather have Charlotte want to listen to "Simba" than all the crap that's on the radio.

Charlotte loves to take all the pillows off the couch and jump into them. The girl has no fear.

She loves jumping on our bed while listening to music. 

Charlotte does not like to pray right now. Hurts my heart. She does all she can to wiggle her way out of saying prayers before putting her in bed.

As I type this post and she was sitting next to me, she looked at the picture of her and Emily and told me, "No Emmy." Sigh.

Charlotte still loves to put her arm around me and kiss me on the cheek. Favorite thing ever. 

She has the sweetest laugh and loves to be tickled. She asks Mike and I to chase her and tickle her. 

Another one of Charlotte's favorite things is to RACE! You know as a runner and racer this is one of my MOST favorite things too! I took her to watch the SL half marathon/marathon a couple of weeks ago and now all she wants to do when playing in the backyard is race. We line up against our fence and she says, "On your mark, get set"....then she takes off running and after about 10 feet yells "GO!", then I'm allowed to start running. She could do this all day. I love that she loves to run and race. In no way do I want to force the girl into running but I would secretly love if she wanted to be a runner. 

I'll stop for now. Thanks for indulging me once again on another Charlotte post. I just have such a terrible memory and I know the only way I'll remember these funny things is by writing them down! 


Cheers to our crazy, strong willed, oh so sweet Charlotte. She makes our life complete! 

Moms rock

Saw this on my sister's fb page.

I dare you to watch this without shedding a tear!

Click on the picture to watch. :)

Good luck.

Charlottisms

Few more things about my Charlotte I have to document so I don't forget.

1. Lately she's been saying, "Momma heavy," when physically trying to get me to move somewhere. Thanks Charlotte. :)

2. I probably hear more than 50 times a day, "I don't wanna to," this phrase comes out in like one long word. It's pretty funny however when I'm trying to change her diaper if she would just let me change her diaper, I could change it faster than her saying, " I don't wanna to!"

3. I've started talking to Charlotte about moving to Cincinnati. I know she has no idea what is happening but I guess I'm hoping that by talking about it a lot it will make the shock of not seeing her grandparents so often a little less. So a number of times during the day Charlotte says, "Momma, Choo (meaning Charlotte/you) and dadda move Cincinnati. Together." I'm at least glad she realizes we are in this big adventure TOGETHER.

4. If she is enjoying an activity she jumps up and down and says, "Yay! Fun!"

5. If we would let her Charlotte would have every toy in bed with her when she takes a nap or goes to bed. But atlas, we allow her baby to be in her crib with her and that's it. So in an effort to make the transition from playing with toys to sleep time we've taught to Charlotte to kiss her toys and tell them night night. Works well surprisingly. So the other day we had been playing and it was time to take a nap and without being prompted at all, Charlotte picked up her plastic white chair for her baby, gave it a kiss and told her high chair, "night, night." Most of the time the kisses are reserved for stuffed animals and babies but this time her plastic high chair was lucky enough to get one. Funny girl.

6. Last one. We do time outs at our house. We don't use them often but in the appropriate situation we'll put Charlotte in a time out. Today after trying to change her diaper, and having her fighting me on it, hitting and kicking me, I sighed in frustration and threw my hands up in the air. Charlotte then got up and said, "Time out" and put herself in time out. I didn't fight her on that one, luckily after a minute in her chair she got down and let me change her diaper. Smart cookie.

Thanks for the indulgent. Can't get enough of this silly girl.

Ok just a couple more I had forgot to post earlier.

Charlotte loves to listen to music in the car. Her favorites are "Cuckoo, Cuckoo" (So Long, Farewell from Sound of Music) "Unshine" (You are my sunshine), "Try", (Jesus once was a little child), and "Do", (Do-Re-Mi, from the Sound of Music). Charlotte has also been known to sing Adele's, Rumor has It and Someone like you.

Something else Charlotte says ALL THE TIME, "My TURN!". This one is getting old fast but I have a feeling we'll be hearing this for a looooooooong time.

fashionista

Charlotte like any 2 year old is wanting to make her own choices and assert her independence and individuality. I don't have a problem with that. I want Charlotte to be a strong, decision making girl. But....there are a few choices that are beginning to drive me crazy that I'm just having to let go. I can't fight with the girl all day long, so one of the first battles I've given up on fighting is her choice of clothing. Most days it really isn't a problem but there have been some days where Charlotte has seen an article of clothing in her closet or drawers and has been set on wearing that article of clothing. So I'll let her go with it. The following pictures demonstrate her awesome fashion sense. Truly these have all been on her own doing, I've just been the pawn who has actually put the clothes on. And of course these are all from my phone so the quality sucks.

First up the hat. She got this hat as a party favor at a birthday party. It was such a darling party and at the party I was fine with her wearing the hat but didn't want it to come home with us. We were almost out the door of the party without the hat when the host stopped us and insisted on us taking it.

**I should add that seeing Charlotte wear the hat so much and seeing her so happy in it has made having the hat home with us worth it. :)

We went to St. George in February and took Charlotte swimming in the indoor pool. Since then Charlotte has not stopped talking about swimming. She put on her swim diapers in hopes that we would take her swimming. Sorry Charlotte, not going to happen for a bit.

We were doing so well with this outfit then she saw her striped jacket and wanted to wear that instead of her nice cream jacket. Stripes galore.

Don't mess with this polygamist.

Luckily this outfit never made it out the door. Yikes.

After dance one day she saw my pink, snow boots and sported them with her outfit for a bit. I like the way the boots go all the way up her leg!

This time Charlotte demanded her pink robe, pink hat, yellow shoes and my sunglasses be pu on together. Quite the outfit, she an accessory loving girl.

You remember her love for headbands and necklaces and wearing them any way she wants? Yeah, she hasn't gotten over that obsession.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

My darling friend and running partner Tara P, gave Charlotte some of her girls old clothes and Charlotte has wanted to wear them every day since! Some of those clothes include this darling brown jacket and pink polar bear jammies. Both so cute but not so cute together.

And lastly for the past couple of weeks Charlotte has been obsessed with wearing her "comfy clothes" Mike's so happy about this outfit decision but I'm so sick of seeing it. Doesn't matter where I hide her "comfy clothes" she finds them! Even though I went to BYU, I'm a Ute fan, I enjoy the football games, can cheer for them and be happy for a win from the Utes, but I think any sports' t-shirt can be ugly and over worn.

But then once in awhile Charlotte will surprise me and pull out a darling outfit like this and I'm reminded having a little independence and choosing her outfits isn't so bad after all.

Wheelin and dealin

This picture has nothing to do with this post.

It's just one of my favorite pictures of Charlotte and I.

This is the story of my life. Where I am there Charlotte will be close behind. Can't complain.

Luckily we haven't had any more pushing Jesus talk. Don't get me wrong she is still talking about pushing others, just not Jesus. ; )

As of lately Charlotte has been wheelin and dealin with me. Last week while we were playing at the park, Mike and I had warned her for a good 5 minutes we would be leaving soon, hoping it would ease the tantrum that would for sure ensue when trying to get the nature loving girl in the car. We had gotten Charlotte about 20 feet from the car by kicking a soccer ball across the field, letting her kick the ball as she went. When I told her it was time to get in the car, the girl stopped in her tracks held up her one pointy finger and said, "One more kick".

Oh I'm sorry Charlotte, I forgot you're the one who calls the shots. Of course, kick away!

Today we were in the car coming home from a friend's house during lunch time. The minute we got in the car she asked for a snack. Not shocking if you know my daughter at all. She loves her snacks. I had planned ahead and brought cheddar goldfish crackers for her, knowing it would be close to lunch time when we would be leaving. After giving her a couple of handfuls I told her we were all done and we would eat lunch as soon as we got home. What did Charlotte do? She stuck up her one pointy finger and in the nicest voice possible said, "One more cracker. Please, thank you." **Please, thank you is used in the same sentence. She doesn't quite understand you say thank you AFTER you get what you've asked for.

What did I do? Gave her two more fish crackers.

Crap. She owns me. I'm a sucker for the pointy finger ONE MORE!

Pushing

I've been looking into printing my blog into books. Did you know it's as easy a few clicks with some websites? Seeing how easy and decently priced it is, I'm motivated to keep up this blog! I hate that it's already been so long since I've blogged. We've had a lot going on and I hope to be posting more often.

Don't be fooled by this sweet, innocent looking face.

Yes Charlotte is absolutely darling and can be such a sweet, good girl, but don't mess with her. She's one tough cookie. Lately we've had to have a lot of discussions in our home about being nice and not pushing. Charlotte will out of the blue say something like "push Emily, "push Fisher", "push momma". It's not like she goes around pushing people, but she definitely will let you know if you are in her way or she wants you to get out of her face. And since she has been talking about pushing so much, Mike and I are consistently trying to talk to her about not pushing others, being kind, being soft, being nice, you get the idea.

Well tonight during Family Home Evening, we were looking at pictures and talking about Jesus, when Charlotte all of the sudden said,

"PUSH JESUS."

Ummm what?

No Charlotte, we don't push Jesus, in fact it would do you a lot of good in this life to be nice to Jesus.

Oh I love my feisty girl. She keeps us on our toes.