Whoops, Here's what I missed!

Whoops, I just realized that I have missed a months worth of posts prior to Charlotte's 2nd Birthday. Guess I have been busy!! So here's what I have missed:
1. Mother's Day- So the past few years, we have tried to make a tradition out of going to Botanical Gardens for Mother's Day. This year happened to be much more fun since we had a toddler to explore with.

2. Charlotte has really been enjoying the fountains lately. So we have taken a trip to the Children's Zoo, Tower Grove fountains, and the City Garden.

Now that the busy month of May is behind us, I have a few new "To Do"s on my list. I want to work on getting our basement set up for a play room. I want to get new gates installed in our back yard and gangway. And lastly, I want to start planning for converting our upstairs suite into two separate bedrooms. Dang, I have a lot of work to do! I better get crackin'.

Chucks Super Sweet 31st Birthday

Poor Chuck, his Birthday will now always be over shadowed by Charlotte's, and then a few weeks later it is my Birthday. A house full of Geminis. I don't know how me manage :)  But we tried not to leave him out this year by spending the day on the boat down at Goose Creek. It was a fun day for all. But today I am beat after the busy weekend and horrible sunburn. Which brings me to my rant!

We normally use the pink baby sunblock on the right. But as you can see, we lost the top spray piece on the bottle. So knowing we were going to be in the sun all day, I picked up the only "tear free" sunblock that target had. Don't believe it...it is NOT tear free. My poor baby must have rubbed it in her eyes, and then was in horrible pain for about an hour after until it wore off. She couldn't even open her eyes! Never again will I purchase this sunblock. PLUS, I sprayed Charlotte down like a crazy person about every 30 minutes and she still was a little pink after the end of the day. I felt like a horrible mother. Especially when we stopped for CiCi's pizza on the way home. I felt like I was getting that "bad mother" stare.

Other than the sunblock issue, Charlotte had a GREAT time at the lake. While the gang was working on putting the boat in the water, Charlotte and I cruised around the cove on a raft. Once on the boat, she played, ate lots of snacks, and fed the massive swarms of geese that made their way over to us. By the end of the day she was ready to go for another dip. I have never seen her so happy and she was so eager to swim. I could barely keep a grip on her! I am so happy that I have a child that loves the water and I cant wait to go back to swim some more!! Maybe next time we will spend more time at the beach where she can touch :)

Sorry, no pictures this time. I didn't want to risk taking my camera on the boat. Maybe next time.

Charlie's Super Sweet Second Birthday!

You read that right. My baby girl is now a full blown two year old toddler. And just like her diva daddy, she will always have a "super sweet" birthday bash. We decided to go with a Curious George theme, after one of her favorite shows/movies. A big shout-out to Pinterest for all the great ideas.

Can't leave out all the tasty treats on my desert bar!! Chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows, rice crispy treats and bananas with peanut butter, and the most delicious cake balls, Birthday cake, and a personal cupcake for the Birthday Girl. Aunt Jes helped me make about a dozen monkey cake balls, but only a couple made it through the night :( The directions made them seem pretty easy...but in fact they were quite difficult. I recommend anyone trying to make these, to make them much smaller so that they don't fall apart. Grandma helped with the healthier snacks-fruit kabobs and veggie tray.

My last pinterest craft was a DIY photo booth. I had lots of fun creating all the props- mustaches, lips, hats, etc.




And here are a few photos of the day. I am a little sad that I didn't get a good shot of the Curious George dress that Grandma made. I guess I will have to wash off all the chocolate stains from the day and reenact a few shots.

And I don't mean to brag, but I am most impressed with the gift Charlotte got from Mommy and Daddy :) I wanted to get my princess her own little play house. I am not too fond of the plasticy type that most stores sell. Luckily Grandma found this awesome wood house off of craiglist. All it needed was some minor alterations, paint, and a few accessories.

Here is a before picture. Well kind of "before". Once I started painting, I thought I had better stop and snap a quick picture, otherwise no one would believe that I did it myself!

And here is the after.

Isn't it great?!? I even mulched the back corner, put in a small fence, and planted a small garden. Aunt Jes got her a wheel barrel and garden tools. And Grandma and Grandpa got her the most perfect little picnic table. I am so in love with the end result of this project...and so is Charlotte. I just love how she sprints from the back door and immediately goes into her little house to play. I also need to give a BIG thank you to Chucks poker gang for helping move this awkward structure from the garage, up into the neighbors yard, under multiple cable lines, and over the fence.

And THANK YOU to everyone that helped make this Birthday memorable. If you didn't get an invite, I apologize. I wanted to keep things small with just close family and our closest friends. Our house is a little too small to host anything bigger :)

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!!

Tribute to Two

This is a montage of my favorite Charlie videos over the past year. I used to make a montage every 4 months. So this one is a little over due and I had hours of videos to go through. I tried to keep it short and sweet. Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0VVVg21G3c&feature=youtu.be

If you would like to catch up on her previous video montages, here are some links:

0-4 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MhY7KKpBRI&feature=relmfu

4-8 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM3-AJvSR7k&feature=relmfu

8-12 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7dHNb1icqE&feature=relmfu

12-15 months: I cant get this one to load. But you can find it on my facebook page.

I have to admit, I just watched each one and I had to grab a handful of tissues. I can't believe on my once chunky and bald baby girl has grown into such an adorable little lady toddler. When I was pregnant people would ALWAYS tell me "they grown up so quick" and it really is true!! These past two years have flown by and I have enjoyed every single day. Thank you Charlie for making me the happiest Mother in the world.