Charlie

Last Friday Charlie had his 4month doctor's visit. I hate seeing his pain when he gets his immunizations, but I love these appointments for the simple fact that I get to find out his weight and height. He is very healthy and growing like a weed. I tried to start him on cereal this last week and he wasn't having any of it. He likes richer foods like mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream. I bet he would have eaten all my potatoes if I'd let him. Rice cereal, he just spits it out. So I'm giving him time, he'll eat when he's ready. It's not like I need to fatten him up or anything.
Weight: 16 lbs 14 oz

Height: 24 and 3/4"

The Human Canvas

Leah is quite the budding artist. Any chance she gets she asks to color. It doesn't matter if it's with a pen, highlighter, dry erase markers or crayons. She wants to color. I usually don't let her. I know, I know stifling her creativity, but she doesn't limit her artwork to paper, canvas or herself. She colors on the walls, the carpet, the couch, the door, the television...you name it, it's probably been colored on. When she does get to color I have to keep a very close eye on her. It doesn't matter that I say color only on paper, she has to try different mediums for her creations.

Workin' at the Car Wash

We have had such unbelievable weather lately, I just had to get outside. We spent the morning vacuuming pretzels and goldfish out of the car, courteous of Leah, and since it was still nice we all when out to wash the cars. What I wasn't prepared for was how enthusiastically Leah wanted to help "warsh" the car. She was all over it. She kept saying "warsh the car" over and over again. She was even a little too good at dumping out the bucket of water when it started getting low. I think she wanted to watch it fill up with bubbles again. It was warm out, but not warm enough to play in the water. That didn't stop Leah, she wanted to run through the sprays of water. By the end of our car wash, she was pretty soaked and cold and went straight up to the bath tub. Charlie sat in the garage and watched us wash.

Captain Derek

This morning we attended Derek's promotion ceremony. He received word last week that he was up for promotion to Captain. It's not a surprise to us. We knew it was coming, just not when. We were all happy it was happening sooner this year than later.

The Ceremony was held outside at Derek's Battalion Motor Pool. The ceremony itself is short. The Battalion Commander said some nice words about Derek, his official orders were read.

Leah removed his old rank from his uniform and put on the new rank.

I pinned his new rank on his barret.

This is a group picture of the new captains with family members that were present.

dress up

I was fortunate enough to snap some pictures of Leah's first attempt at dress-up. I usually end up missing these moments because I never have the camera handy and they last such a short time. By the time I find the camera, she's done doing whatever it was I wanted to capture.

She's not very good at it yet. I'm sure that will improve over time. She had a lot of fun walking around in Dad's hat and her favorite blanket.

Northwest Trek

Yesterday we did something different, we left the house. Derek was in the mood to go hiking and get outside. Thankfully the weather cooperated with us. Since sadly we will be loosing our family, Cadence and Jonathan, that live so close to us. They are moving to Arizona in a week. We decided we better get together and go do something fun. We headed out towards Mount Rainer to Northwest Trek. It's a large wildlife sanctuary. I had heard about it but never been before. They have a large area that is open roaming for the non-meat eating animals. We were able to take a tram ride around the park and see all the different animals they have. The only ones that remained ellusive were the moose. I was sad, I really wanted to see a moose again. After the tram ride we wandered around the rest of the park. They have trails that wind through the fenced habitats (these are for the meat eaters). The kids had a blast and we had a pretty good time too. I'd definately go back again.

Leah and Iain walking around the park. Iain was a little helper, making sure Leah was alright. She had falled down just before.

This goat was right up next to the road. I could have touched it if I reached out the window.

Leah and Derek on the tram.

The geese with a great view of the wildlife park.

a day in the life

Siblings. These two sure do look alike.

I finally got one that shows Charlie's single dimple.

Leah at the breakfast table with her new invention, the banana holder.

When the mood strikes, I bundle up the kids and out we go to brave the nasty Washington weather. This day it was only misting and we had a nice walk. I wish I felt like taking them out more, but I've turned into a whimp and I don't like getting rained on. Last winter Leah and I went out rain or shine, well there wasn't much shine, but we were out all the time.

Super Chuck Bob!

Derek took this picture of Charlie. He looks like he's about to fly away and save the day. We were getting ready to eat dinner and I draped him with his spit cloth. He likes to play with it and eat it. He's at the point where everything is going in the mouth.

Snow Days

Does Snow taste good?

Yep, snow is good!

We live in Washington, what do you expect to use as a sled? It only snows 2-3 times a year, mom found a tarp in the garage and towed the kids up and down the street. It was a work out, all those kids together were about 80lbs. The little girl is Lara and the boy is Ethan, they are Leah's good friends.

This closed down the schools for the day and made most of my neighbors afraid to leave the house. We had a great time playing in the snow for the morning before it melted away. Leah goes to the window almost everyday now asking for the "snose".

I love my brother!

Leah does love her brother . . .

sometimes a little too much.

She loves her bath time and Charlie's bath time. She likes to help clean Charlie, washing his hair and rinsing him with her duck cup.

This is my Family

I wanted to start a family page. I think it will help me stay more up to date with those around me that I love. I love going on my family's and friend's blogs to see what's happening in their lives. I don't think I'll be posting everyday...but I'll try to do it as often as possible.