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.

Had a lovely weekend hanging out with my ALL my sisters.

Oh how I love my sisters.

Come back soon Mandy. We all miss you so much already!

2 years! Well 2 years plus a month or so...

4 days after Christmas our sweet little Charlotte turned 2. With this being the last year we'll be in SL for her birthday I decided to throw a party for Charlotte. I'm such a sucker for parties. I don't want to be that mom who goes over the top over ridiculous things but I can't help throwing a themed party once in awhile, especially with all the fun ideas floating around on pinterest. So judge me all you want, but we did have a good time and Charlotte was excited about all of it.

Since this girl, like most toddlers loves animals, especially farm animals we thought we would throw a farm animal theme party.

Which meant:

a pig cake made my the wonderful Dr. Walker. Just another thing that boy is good at doing.

And red checked table cloths with a few animal cut outs on the table.

And for the gift bag farm animals, stickers, a small farm animal plastic toy and pink and white frosted animals cookies. That's it. Not too overboard right? ;)

The birthday girl.

Ok so I did make her horse shirt, and bought spotted cow print ribbons for her hair but really that's it as far as the theme goes. Of course one of the biggest regrets of the night was not getting a good picture of her or of the party really. Story of my life. I guess we are too busy having a good time to take a bunch of photos.

Charlotte and some of her cousins snuck away during the party for a tea party. That was fine by me, Charlotte was happy and entertained and that was all that mattered that night.

We just ordered pizza for dinner, easy peasy way to feed all of our families. Once dinner was finished it was time for dessert. I have to say I was so impressed with the way the pig cake turned out and all the credit goes to Mike. Charlotte was excited about blowing out the candles on her pink piggy.

Pounding her cake and licking her fingers. Thatta girl.

We ended the night be opening presents. Everyone was so generous and Charlotte loved opening her presents.

We were lucky to have both sets of Grandparents, the Rasmussens, the Walkers, the Ericksons and aunt Emily there. Thanks for coming and making our darling feel so loved!

I can't believe how fast these two years have flown. There are some days when Charlotte is definitely a "2 year old" with tantrums with so much passion and that last so long I sometimes want to pull my hair out. But truth be told I love this age. I just adore this girl. She's a riot. So indulge me if you will while I share a few of my favorite things about this girl:

*when she wants to be held she says "hold you."

*Charlotte's favorite thing to do is run up to you, scream "TICKLE" and tickle you, although let's be honest it doesn't tickle at all, sometimes it hurts actually but we all pretend to laugh.

*Charlotte has started a dance class and loves it. She does this hilarious dance move where she lifts up her leg and it almost looks like a dog lifts his leg to do his business. Not the most polite comparison, I know but it's what it really looks like. We get a kick out of it every time she does it.

*She is obsessed with her Santa jammies and wants to wear them every night.

*she loves to jump, tip toe and walk backwards.

*Charlotte can be seriously so sweet sometimes. She'll come up behind me wrap her arms around my neck and give me a great squeeze. Melts my heart every time. She also loves to come put her arm around me when I'm sitting on the floor. I love that she is figuring out how to show her love for others.

*She just got a haircut and it's the cutest little bob. It makes her look so grown up.

*Charlotte still loves her "baby" and her "tiny baby".

*She can unfortunately navigate my iPhone very well and she thinks it's her. It's my fault for letting her play with it in the first place, but I hate how much she loves it!

*She's a funny little ripper and seriously make us laugh so much.

We say it all the time but we do adore our Charlotte so much. She keeps us busy, humbled and tired but happier than ever!

White Trash Christmas Party

I'm so behind on blogging. I'm still posting about Christmas which was well over a month ago! But I couldn't not post on the famous Little Christmas party. As you know our friends the Littles host a fabulous Christmas party each year and Mike and I haven't missed one yet. There is always a theme to go with the party and each year they get better and better. I wasn't sure how the Littles would top last year's Jersey Shore Christmas theme but they did. We had a White Trash theme and it was hilarious. I'm so glad Mike and I brought our camera to capture these hilarious memories. BONUS we had almost all our HS friends there, such good times. As always the Foulgers and Hottingers were missed greatly!

Too bad Mike and I already owned most of our attire. The best part of our outfits, the GIGANTIC MUGS were my sister Katherine's. Thanks for letting us borrow them. It completed our white trash look. PS Mike's beard is real. Yes real my friends.

Long lost twins separated at birth, reunited at the Christmas party.

More white trash goodness from the party.

Top right: Jessica's shiner. Don't worry it's not real, but didn't she do a stellar job with the makeup? So WT.

Top left: What do you do if you can't open the presents? Pull out your huge, rusted knives that are attached to your belt. Good thing Cubby and Jon were so prepared.

Bottom right: You see Ryan and think David Koresh right? I figured that one out and I must say I was spot on with that look alike. And did you see what present he was holding? Walmart is the capitol of WT.

Bottom left: Nothing says WT like a net, see-through jersey.

The men. Aren't us ladies lucky? It's ok to be jealous.

Our lovely hosts:

One of the best looking couples of the night by far. Jon went as far as buying his wig at a professional wig shop. We all take these parties pretty seriously.

If there had been a real contest for the most WT couple these two would have taken the cake.

I can't help but laugh when I look at this picture. No words do justice.

Look Sarah, I got a picture of Nick. He was there!

The whole clan looking amazing!

Man I love my friends. I hate the thought of us missing this party next year. Wipe a tear.

For more crazy Christmas parties click here, here, or here.