Happy Birthday Charlie!

For months now, Charlie has been talking about his birthday.  This much-anticipated event had been carefully directed by the birthday boy, who informed me innumerable times that he needed a "Ranger party."  This presented a few challenges, since Party City does not exactly have a "Ranger" themed birthday party pack, and the Ranger itself wouldn't fit in our backyard.  The whole birthday was so fun this year.  I don't think I've been so excited about a birthday since I was a kid, and Charlie's reactions did not disappoint.  My parents were in town and had the day off, which made it all the more fun.

We started out with streamers and balloons.  Both the birthday boy and his partner-in-crime were so pumped to wake up to these.  They must have run through the streamers 20 times. :)

Charlie was so excited about finally being the birthday boy that I heard him calling to my mom, as he headed downstairs for breakfast, "Ahhh, there's a birthday boy coming down!"  

And he was so excited when he got down and saw...presents!

He immediately jumped on his bike...

(which Evie "rode" when Charlie wasn't looking)

...and then dove into the presents!

These swords have been a huge hit.

But the biggest hit of all (of course) was his very own Ranger!  Thank you Papa and Ahh!

Not sure how Miss Mousy managed to get her hands on these...

Loading the Ranger ON A TRAILER (if you don't know Charlie, you may not be able to understand how exciting this is).

After breakfast (which included waffles with candles!), we took the new (balance) bike for a test ride.  I think Charlie likes it, although he has reminded me several times that "on my next birthday, I need a bike with pedals."  Got it, buddy.  Love the gratefulness. :)

After a trip to Safety Day (post to come) and an attempted nap, it was party time!  Here is the "Ranger party" set up.

My Charlie's Ranger cake.  After working on this until 1 a.m., I was making sure this was prominently displayed! :)  Charlie LOVED this cake--he found it impossible to nap because "I can't stop wondering what my Ranger cake is doing!"

It took some fast talking to convince Charlie that these favors should go to our friends, not into our pockets...

The bounce house arrived early, and we had so much fun playing it.  Charlie and Evie were in heaven!  (And Clint and I were too...I still love a bounce house :).

The big three-year-old!  He ran around like a drunken sailor for 3 hours.

Miss Mousy, ready for the party to start.

 Our family.

 Charlie and Nico were wild men!

 I think we ended up with 30+ kids, but between the bounce house and the playscape, it didn't feel too crazy (except for meal time, but luckily, that was relatively quick :).  I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but I had a really great time at the party.  I actually got to visit with a lot of the guests, and was so glad so many of our fun friends and family were able to come!

 Charlie was a blur for most of the party, but I could usually find him on the swing with Blythe, playing wild games with Uncle Sam in the bounce house [this was one of Charlie's favorite parts of the party; at the end of the day, he told Sam, "thank you for playing with me in the jumping castle.  It was so fun!"], or running between the two.  He was sweated down at the end, but SO happy.

 Sweet Colin.

 Palmer.

 Some of our younger guests.

 Cake time!  It was amazing to me how the kids gathered around like flies as soon as the cake appeared. :)

 Soooooo excited.  He had been waiting all day for this!

 Sweet Erica, helping Charlie out.  Once he figured out that she would rush around for him, he was thrilled.  He ordered water, more cake, and then napkins to clean off. :)

Napkins, please! 

 Charlie and Blythe, his very fashionable dining companion.

 Charlie LOVES a party and was so happy during and after the big day.  Evie, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed.  She was not so sure she liked 30+ kids and their parents invading her backyard, and let me know of her disapproval by insisting that I hold her the entire time (well, not the entire time, but she did become remarkably more clingy after Clint inadvertently left her in a swing :).  This face (below) exemplifies her feelings about Charlie's wild birthday party:

You know how you don't know what a good thing you have until it's gone?  That's how Evie felt about her quiet house and yard.  She was really, really happy after the party ended, and celebrated with some alone time in the bounce house.  She had so much fun!

 Charlie's Perfect Day ended with stories from Uncle Sam.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Happy Birthday sweet Charlie.  I cannot believe you are 3!

Evie: 18 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that my baby girl is 18 months old...and not so much of a "mouse" anymore.  Evie is exercising her vocal cords and becoming more and more of a presence in our house.  She has strong opinions and although she is generally sweet and funny, she has a temper like no other (ok, maybe like one other, but since that one is the one writing here, I'm going to go easy on myself :).  She has been trying out some loud screaming when things don't go her way (and by not going her way, I mean a banana being opened the wrong way, food being cut incorrectly, the wrong drink presented to her, a toy being put away prematurely, etc.) and a bit of hitting and hair-pulling if other little people get in her way.  Hopefully we can nip this in the bud!

Miss E has been talking quite a bit more since she got her tubes in her ears, and it's so fun seeing what she says.  Her favorite words are "Caga" (for Charlie), "Dada," "Mommy," "Papa," "Ahh," "Pawpaw" (I love hearing both her and Charlie saw Pawpaw--they say it in a very pronounced way in order to make sure we don't confuse it with Papa), "Mimi," "NOOOOO," "yeah," "backpack" (she has to have this on as we go to and from school and screams when it's time to take it off), "eyes" (this always includes a dramatic pointing out of the eyes), "bow" (she refuses to leave the house without one), "bobby" (my uncle's name--once she heard this word, she decided she loved saying it and decided to assign it to her most beloved object, her paci), "moon," "horsie" (her new favorite animal), "dog" (her prior favorite animal), "poopies" (for the potty), "malk!!" (for milk), "agua" (for water; Charlie is fascinated with the fact that "Evie speaks Spanish" and thinks that Spanish is some kind of special baby language :), "all done" (this is always accompanied by very dramatic hand motions, thanks to my attempts to teach her the sign for "all done"), and, her very favorite: "hulp me" (for "help me," a phrase we hear about 100 times a day, but it is SO cute :).  She is also very into "up" and "down" right now, and quite pleased with herself for mastering those concepts.  She loves to throw her hands up in the air and scream "uuuup," and drop them down and say "dooooowwwwn."  She is also working on her manners, and says the cutest little "peas" and "thank you."

"NOOOO" and "yeah" are two of her most frequent words right now.  We hear "NO" quite a bit, and often in a very loud, shrieking voice...not my favorite.  "Yeah," however, is really sweet.  She says it very softly and seems to love her ability to indicate her agreement.

Evie is still more shy than her gregarious, extroverted brother (but, in all fairness, who could NOT be more shy than Charlie?).  She tends to cling to me in new situations and anywhere where there are unfamiliar people, but she is pretty outgoing and silly in situations where she feels more comfortable.  She can get really goofy at home, and loves silly dancing, jumping off things, falling on the ground dramatically, licking walls (weird, I know!), playing wild games of chase with Charlie, and doing just about anything to make us laugh.  She is turning into a Daddy's girl, and is now frequently choosing him over me.  Clint was carrying her around the house this morning and she was happily proclaiming herself "Dada's gurl!" "Dada's gurl!"  I think if she didn't have him wrapped around her finger before, she probably does now. :)

Evie loves reading (particularly when she gets to do it one-on-one; she gets a bit frustrated when her brother is involved, as he takes over a bit), and loves pointing to things in books.  She is fascinated with pictures of animals and loves to practice her animal names and animal sounds.  Her animal sounds are the cutest thing--she does them very loudly and enthusiastically for me. :)  She will happily "read" books on her own as well--her favorite thing to do is read "Pat the Cat" and take the money out of the ATM machine and put it in Daddy's wallet.  She and Charlie fight over this so much that I had to hide the book, but I really think E would do it for hours if I let her.  She doesn't sit still for long, though; her favorite thing to do is climb.  She climbs on anything and everything she can climb.  I've gotten used to it at home, but she terrifies her teachers with her ability to quickly get up to a high place.  She also loves swinging, sliding, running, and playing outside.  She is trying her best to master Charlie's scooter and I think she'll have it figured out before long.  

Speaking of Charlie, he is her very favorite person in the world, and most of her day involves following him around and taking part in whatever activity he is doing.  Sometimes this results in a fight, but for the most part, the two play really well together.  They laugh and squeal a lot, and get into a fair amount of trouble, but they are pretty sweet to each other.  I love to hear them "talking"--Charlie is constantly asking her questions and she tries her best to respond, but she does better when he just gives her a command. :)  I love watching them together, as Evie is often imitating what Charlie is doing without being quite sure what she is doing.

Although she loves Charlie's "rucks," she also has a girly side.  She loves purses (and backpacks), and will try to carry any bag she can find on her arm.  She loves to stuff them full of whatever small toys she can find.  She also loves bracelets, bows, and her baby dolls. I pulled out one of her old bottles for her to feed them with, and she has been loving that.  It is so cute to watch her clumsily cradling them, stabbing at their faces with the bottle, and making loud smacking noises. :)

We thought she was going to be super tall (based on her 90% height at her last 2 check-ups), but it turns out they may have measured her incorrectly at her last check-up, as she appeared to have shrunk a bit at her 18-month check-up (where they appeared to get a more accurate measurement).  So it turns out that Miss E is more average (in size only, of course :) than previously thought:

Weight: 23 pounds, 10 ounces (40%)

Height: 31.75 inches (50%)

Head: 18.75 inches (75%)

Here is my sweet, feisty (as our pediatrician aptly described her) baby girl, on her 18-month birthday.

The mouse is surprisingly strong--this rock was huge!

These pictures crack me up.  Watch Evie eat some dirt...

...become horrified when she realized what she was eating...

...brush off her hands in disgust...

...and bend down to chow down on more. (??) What a nut!

I love that she is not bothered at all by the fact that Charlie just sent a stick flying centimeters in front of her face. :)

Sweet mousey, we love you so!