Alissa and I have been friends since my nursing school days at TCU. We were also bridesmaids in each other's weddings too! (Oh yea, we work at the same hospital too!) It's so fun now to have boys close in age. Charlie is only 9 months older than Preston, but Preston can hang with the big boys!!
We loaded up the boys and headed to East Texas to stay with my parents for the night. The next day my sweet mom treated us all to some fun at Gators and Friends!! (My nieces, Ava and Izzie, and our family friend, Mindy, tagged along too!)
One of the huge gators that welcomed us to the park!
Charlie and Izzie checking out the big gators
First we got some food to feed all the "friends" at the park
You could quickly tell that Preston is a country boy... not afraid of ANY of the animals!!
Then Preston pulled Charlie and Izzie for a ride.
Preston and Charlie feeding the baby camels...
And the cows...
A hairy cow??
Oh yes, they have pony rides too!!
Cute little cowboy Preston and Alissa
He loved the ride
Preston too!
Izzie and my mom
Think he was happy?
Mindy and Ava leaving in the dust
Seriously BIG gators!!!!!
We all gathered around for the "feeding frenzy," where they throw out some meat (I'm guessing?) and the gators come swarming!!! It's CRAZY!!
Ava, Izzie and Mindy with George the Gator
Charlie was accidentally hit in the head with the camera before this take... so he was a little tearful.
Take 2: Charlie loves George now!!
Alissa didn't really want to hold him...
but Preston spotted him!
YIKES look at those TEETH!!!!!
As we headed back to Fort Worth, these boys chilled in the back.
Gators & Friends was a fun adventure and we look forward to going back!
Charlie initially had a fear of the water early in the summer. I kept taking him to the pool but he would only play in the baby pool and had nothing to do with the big pool. As you can tell by this picture, he did NOT like the first three session of swimming lessons.
We did private lessons with Charlie and his friend, Soren.
I previously posted this picture. It was taken after his first swimming lesson... which he hated, cried and clung to my neck the whole time but then afterwards, he played and giggled in the baby pool (as seen here). Silly boy
Then slowly, he started to enjoy it!!
He loved his teacher, Kelsey
And we couldn't get him out of the pool
Charlie can swim! This is probably one of my favorite videos from the whole summer. It's only 14 seconds. My friend, Natalie, is holding him and he's swimming to me. This is when he officially started to like the water!! Yay!!!!!
Charlie swimming to the stairs:
Charlie swimming under water:
Charlie's swimming lessons:
Overall, swimming lessons were a success!! Hopefully next summer will be fun too. Carson and I love to swim and hope our children love it as much as we do.
I've been making notes in my phone since the end of 2011 with Charlie's milestones and cute quotes that he says. Here are a few of the funny ones. Charlie quotes/milestones:
11/30/11 - Who made that sunset? "Jesus!"
12/3/11 - Charlie called a nutcracker a "nut cookie"
12/5/11 - When we were leaving the dentist he said "bye bye thanks girls!" right after he cried during the whole cleaning.
Says "I got you" when we lay him down.
Says "chack-a-milk" for chocolate milk.
Says "wanna hold you" when he wants us to hold him.
Sang his ABCs and Jesus Loves Me at 25 months
12/19/11- He told me "I put tape on tee tee" :) (putting a bandaid on it to make it feel better)
Says "light-tena" for antenna
1/6/12- puts headlamp on and says "Charlie like Polar Express!" (meaning he looked like the Polar Express)
1/10/12- He started organizing the cans in the pantry and said, "Charlie do the dishes."
2/3/12- "I can't want it" (means I don't like it) & "this is Charlie's house" (not our house)
2/2/12- Charlie had an two accidents at school. I asked him, "Where does your tee tee go?" he thought about it and said "in the middle potty"!! (because there are three potties at his school and he tends to be a little OCD so he always goes to the middle potty)
2/11/12- "Not too chocky chocky"... Referring to his chocolate milk being too chocolate
2/12/12- While sitting on the potty he said "I pooping fingers" (because I pop my fingers).
2/12/12- Big milestone: Finally pooped in the potty all by himself!!!!
2/21/12- He pooped in his pull up and was sad so he wanted to tell daddy, I said no only if you poop in the potty do you get to tell Daddy. He thought for a minute and said "prolly Charie tell Jesus?" too cute, I said "Honey, Jesus already knows."
2/26/12- Calls a bulldozer a "bulz woulder" (loader)
3/7/12- In his bed questioning himself: "Is it wred (red)? No. Is it purple? No. Is it gween (green)? No. What is it? bwue!! (Blue)" Talking about his nightlight I think...
3/14/12- Boppa was in town & Charlie was taking off his clothes before he took his bath. When he was naked, he looked down and said "look Boppa I got a penis!!"
He replies to everything we say by saying "that's wright" and doesn't say yes.
3/14/12- Charlie gets a sweet tart when he goes poop in the potty, he was holding one very tight in his hand while Carson was reading him books. Carson told him to eat it, so he pretended to and said "I eat it". He did this twice. Carson pried open his hands and "it's right there, eat it Charlie". First time we saw him pretending.
4/2/12- Charlie said "whoopsie daisy" in the bathtub. (I think his teacher says that)
4/24/12- Charlie, do you want a brother or a sister?"brother... boy" What do want to name him? "Peachy" then he giggled.
5/10/12- I was telling Charlie that he was in Mommy's tummy, and Mommy was in Gigi's tummy... Then he interrupted and said, "and Izzie (his cousin) was in Papa Jess' tummy!" I just laughed.
5/28/12- JJ and Aunt Line stopped by the day after their wedding to get some stuff from our house and when they left for their honeymoon he bawled like a baby asking for them to come back (he was pretty sad to see Justus leave after he had lived with us for two years).
6/13/12- He was holding his leg and kept telling me to "kiss my under tunnel" and I eventually figured out that meant for me to kiss the back of his knee!
6/19/12- Carson came home from work and Charlie said "Where's my money?" because earlier in the day Charlie said "Where's daddy?" and I said "He's at work" and Charlie said "Why?" and I said "to make money for our family"... So naturally Charlie wanted his money when Daddy got home so Daddy gave him some change for his piggy bank when he got home.
7/10/12- When going to bed he said "Oh no! I forgot to get socks!" (seriously will not go to sleep without wearing socks.
7/14/12- I washed Charlie's lion and he didn't like it after i washed it and said, "I don't like him, he's crazy." My friend, Emily, gave Charlie her son, Benjamin's old lion. I told her he loved it and named him "Dolpho" and I told her "Umm... You might not get Dolpho back." When going to bed Charlie said "me and Dopho are friends" and "Dolpho wants to go tee tee and brush his teeth". Melt my ❤!!!
7/22/12- Carson was in Charlie's bed pretending to feed all the stuffed animals. He told Charlie that the bear ate honey and the duck ate bread. Then he asked Charlie what does Dolpho (the lion) eat and he said "dirt" :)
7/24/12- Charlie pulled up his underwear a little crooked and said "oh no my penis is on backwards!!" :)
7/28/12- "I can't eat the watermelon because it has beans!" (meaning it has seeds)
7/30/12- Charlie just said "I rode the train last night in my dreams with Wy-Wy (Whatt), Mommy and Natawie (Natalie)!" How cute is that?
8/1/12- I asked him to say "nurse practitioner" (that's my job) and he said "nurse Papa Jess." Close enough.
8/19/12- We went to see "Born to be Wild" at the iMax theatre and Charlie called it a "movie-ater" then we asked him what he was doing during the movie when he was moving his head side to side really fast and waving his hands... He said "I was wagging my hair!"
8/22/12- At school his teacher said, "Charlie is working very hard and progressing with using his words to express his emotions. He cries less and reacts more!" (this is huge progress since Charlie is so sensitive)
8/31/12- "Uncord it" means push play on the DVD player or fast forward through the commercials.
9/3/12- "When I get bigger I'm gonna drive a Ford like uncle Landon and when I wake up I'm gonna be all naked!!" (not sure what that says about Landon!)
9/8/12- "When I get bigger I'm gonna drive a Bire (fire) truck, I'm gonna go to camp and I'm gonna jump off the diving board!!" (he's got some big goals meet)
9/9/12- Getting ready for church and he says, "Jesus lives in my heart. Jesus makes me happy. Oh and blue makes me happy too!" (because he chose a blue shirt to wear to church)
One Sunday after church we went to the FW Museum to see "Born to be Wild" on the Omni screen. We loved it!! It was the perfect length of time... 50 minutes!
Daddy caught a frog for Charlie
He thought it was pretty cool
I love this craft project from Charlie's school. They made London Olympics 2012 tshirts! How cute is that? They even had an opening ceremony and games!!
Charlie rarely paints at school now because he would rather play in the dirt with his trucks. I get really excited when he does paint for us! He went a little heavy on the paint here.
Hand flower from church
Enjoying some cold watermelon (best picture later)
Putting grapes in his cheeks pretending to be a chipmunk
This was so cute... when a truck drove by at Charlie's school Kyle said "that's the ice cream truck" and Charlie said, "No Kyle, ice cream truck is tomorrow." Well, smart boy... ice cream truck comes on Thursdays not Wednesdays!
My beautiful best friend from high school, Kendall, came over for the night. She's pregnant with a little girl named, Ryan! I could not be happier!! So thrilled for Kendall and Zach. They really are going to be great parents!! Love all three of you
Charlie (with a little help from Mommy) made this adorable clay horse at his friend Mary Margaret's birthday party.
I helped him with this horse picture too
Charlie playing in the rain
Charlie and Daddy racing in the rain
Charlie's first time to eat a cherry!
I seriously love his excitement in this picture. He was so proud of his block tower. Right now when he counts, he says 1-2-3-4-6-7-8-9-10. He's on a trend of skipping the number 5. :)
Yes these are out of order, I love this one of him eating watermelon. I had it printed in an 8x10 because it's just too cute!
Still carrying Dolpho everywhere
A better picture of me, Kendall and baby Ryan! I can't wait to meet her!!!!!!
My brother and I a few years ago :) Well, I put this picture on Facebook for my big brother, Josh's 35th birthday. So proud of him. I love you so much, Joshua!!
Charlie's teachers know that he's a very picky eater and well, he kinda stopping eating all together over the past few months. In August we enrolled him in a speech therapy program called, Monkey Mouths to help with his "moderate feeding disorder." All that to say, his teacher sent me these two cute pictures of his tearing up his raspberries and crackers!!
Charlie and Daddy found a lizard
Eating lunch with Natalie and Wyatt
Wyatt and Charlie eating their cookies!! Charlie did not touch his lunch but he did eat his cookie.
Carson on the right (about 2 years old) and Charlie on the left (2 1/2 years old) both eating watermelon!! I love this comparison picture
Charlie, Izzie, Ava, Gigi, Laura and I had a fun 24 hours together. They came to FW, we had the kids' picture taken together, then went to see Charlie Brown at our church. The show was too advanced for the kids so we just went home before intermission.
One of my best friends from college, Tricia, gave birth to this very handsome boy July 22nd. Charlie and I had the pleasure of meeting baby Campbell. Charlie was quite smitten too! He asked to hold him a couple of times and gave him lots of kisses. We love you Gitts and we're so happy for y'all!!! (I'm not biased, but that is seriously one of the cutest little boys I've ever met)
Charlie's new bath toys. He's 200% obsessed now with everything Cars 2!!
Charlie and Tucker swimming
Tucker has gotten sooooo big and handsome. I like to call him Baby Buc (his daddy)
My friend, Molly, watching Charlie one day for me. Hank and Charlie had a picnic together...
And for eating a good lunch, they got popsicles for dessert!! Thanks again, Molly. Charlie loves playing with Hank because he too shares a love of Cars 2.
This video is just too cute not to post. He's wishing his Aunt Line a Happy Birthday!! He loves his Aunt Line so much. One of my favorite things about this video is his bed head.
The ice cream truck came down our street one day. A very similar ice cream truck came to Charlie's school every Thursday this summer. He either got a Jolly Rancher rainbow popsicle or a red, white and blue popsicle... no variations. Typical Charlie. :) I love that he asks for Papa Jess at this end of this video. He acts more and more like Papa Jess everyday....
After watching the Olympics this summer on TV, we decided it's time to start training our son. Yes that's an ice pack on the edge of the tub to ice down his muscles after his training session :)
