Last time I posted we had just finished up our Christmas in Disneyland and started settling into the new year.
A lot has happened since the new year and we are excited to share it with you-
During Christmas, Charlize opened a lot of presents but still really didn't get the hang of it until my birthday a few weeks later. Then, by Grandma Warren's birthday she was ready to tear into the wrapping paper before anyone was ready. Here she is helping Grandma open presents:
"Grandma, just hand it to me and I'll do it for you!"
Grandma finally sat back and just let Charlize do it.
Thanks Grandma!
Nick decided to take his girls out for a Friday night bowling date.
Quentin and Becca joined us. This was Charlize's first time bowling and she had so much fun!
He's got the moves!!
Charlize really loves Becca . . . but then again, who doesn't!
Such a cute little girl
Daddy helping Charlize bowl
For family home evening the following Monday, we decided to make our own bowling alley with paper cups. It didn't go as well as we had planned, but it was still fun.
Being stuck inside all winter, Charlize and I have had to come up with lots of fun things to do indoors.
One thing we never get tired of is playing dress-up.
She just loves her apron
And Charlize always enjoys playing with her Little People doll house:
We also enjoying coming up with new sensory bin ideas.
This one isn't as messy as other ones we've done, but it was still just as fun.
And, since Charlize has been trying to feed herself using utensils, this was a good practice.
All you need is a couple of empty containers, utensils, beans and uncooked pasta-
then just dig in!
One nice surprise we had in January was getting to see a BYU basketball game.
My dad scored some tickets to the Gonzaga vs. BYU game in Spokane and invited us to go. Even though it was going to be a long trip and late night, we decided to bring Charlize along; she had so much fun!
She was the cutest fan in the whole gym!
During half time, Grandma took her out for a break and they ended up over behind the Gonzaga student section. While she was dancing some students came up to my mom and said that she was so cute except she was wearing the wrong team on her shirt!
Go Cougars!!
Charlize has always been a good helper around the house. She enjoys helping me clean and do laundry. She also likes to help in the kitchen. Here she is helping me bake muffins.
It is also a plus that she get's to wear her apron!
For those rare occasions when I don't let Charlize help me in the kitchen, she is good about finding activities she can do on her own. She enjoys playing in her own kitchen along side of me, but she also enjoys just sitting at her table playing the ipad-
Here she is just chilling in her little chair watching cartoons.
While I was cleaning out closets, she found her Halloween bucket and had to pack it around all morning.
Charlize playing in the bath tub-
She especially loves pretending to be "Ho, Ho, Ho" or Santa Clause
A little Mommy time:
So, this isn't my best picture but, I just had to throw it to remember how cute she is when she cuddles.
In February we celebrated my dad's birthday:
Yep, that's a Traeger BBQ!
Now you know why he looks so happy.
After the guys got the Traeger put together and the meat on the grill,
Charlize helped Grandpa open the rest of his presents.
Cute Story:
In January we helped Charlize learn to say "Happy Birthday Grandma" for my mom's birthday. Then we went right into practicing "Happy Birthday Grandpa." It took her a little while to figure out the switch from Grandma to Grandpa. During all of this, we were also trying to teach Charlize to say "Thank you." One day, after giving Charlize a treat, I asked her, "What do you say?" I was expecting her to say "Thank you", but instead, with lots of excitement, she said "Happy Birthday Grandpa!"
What a cutie.
Later in the week, Grandma and Grandpa took us out to Dairy Queen for some belated birthday ice cream:
A few days after helping Grandpa open presents, Charlize got to open a few of her own for Valentine's day:
She got a new coloring book and Nina the Ballerina dress-up doll:
When Daddy got home, Charlize opened her present from us:
A new reading book and crayons for the bath tub.
Charlize really enjoys coloring, so I thought she would enjoy doing it in the tub.
In February, we got some good news from Nick. Back in October, we sold our first house and moved into an apartment. We knew it would be a short stop there while we waited for another house to come up that we could flip. Unfortunately, no houses ever came up for sale that would work for us. So, after lots of waiting, Nick finally decided he would build a house instead of flipping a house.
Since building a house and paying rent for an apartment can get expensive fast, we decided to move in with my parents while we are building. On moving day, Nick and I got up early to finish boxing up last minute things. Nick also wanted to get Charlize's crib taken apart before all of our helpers arrived. Nick waited and waited and waited for our sleeping baby to wake up but she decided to sleep in.
Here is what he found when he went in to get her:
So precious-
I just love a sleeping baby!
Don't worry, Nick didn't have the heart to wake her.
In the middle of February, Nick broke ground on our lot!
We are so proud of him and all the work he has done. He found a great lot, he designed the house
and drew up the plans, and now he is doing all the leg work to keep things moving.
Here is where we are at:
Sorry, we didn't get a "before" picture, but just imagine this space with lots of weeds and
trees and uneven ground. In the picture below the ground has already been cleaned off and leveled out. Nick is just hunting around for property corners.
February 8, 2013
The prep work for the footings is done:
February 12
The footings are in and we are ready to prep for the foundation wall.
Look at how happy Nick is:
February 15
Work begins on the foundation wall:
February 26
Foundation wall is done; getting ready to pour the slab:
March 4
Finally, the cement truck arrives to pour our slab:
March 6
The slab is done, drying and waiting for the framers to start their work:
March 7
The framers have started their work; here are the outside walls waiting to go up:
March 8
For part of our Friday night family date, we went over to check on the lot.
The outside walls are finally up:
When I buckled her into her car seat to leave I asked her where we were and she said "Zzzzz house" . . . interpretation- Charlize's house. I think she is just as excited as her daddy!
Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far.
Nick has done a lot of work to get us to this point but he has had some help from family and friends.
At the end of February, while Nick was busy on the house, Charlize, my mom, and I skipped
town to go visit the Quigley's in Utah.
Our first stop was Discovery Gateway Children's Museum.
The ball center:
A little play house just her size:
Jamie + Luke and Colt + Adaline drove down from Idaho to join us for the weekend.
Playing at the water center
After a fun Saturday at the museum, we relaxed on Sunday and got ready for a busy week.
Monday morning we went to get pictures of the little ones.
handsome Hayden with his cute sister and cousin
We might be bias, but we just think our little girl is so cute:
After pictures and a nap, we headed up to Salt Lake for dinner with my Grandma and Grandpa Warren and family. On our way up, we stopped to do some IKEA shopping.
We put Hayden in charge of watching Charlize.
I'm not sure who had more fun!
Tuesday morning we took the kids to Tiny Ville- one big room filled with kid-sized furniture and toys made to look like a little town.
That afternoon, we enjoyed some time at home playing with Play-Doh:
Everyone made a snowman and we sung "Once there was a snowman" a hundred times:
bath time with cousin Jocelyn
Wednesday morning we went to mommy-and-me play time at Jump On It:
Charlize enjoyed jumping more than she did the slide, but I still made her a couple of times.
She was a good sport.
Wednesday was a busy day. After Jump On It and naps, we went up to Provo.
Our first stop was Fat Cats for some bowling.
and I'm embarrassed to say she got a better score than me.
After bowling we made our way up to the BYU creamery for dinner and ice cream.
Then we made a quick stop at the WILK to get some BYU souvenirs for Nick.
It wouldn't have been a complete Utah trip without a visit to BYU.
Thursday was a quiet day. Hayden was at preschool so we took the girls to the mall to play.
Friday morning we hung around the house while Hayden was at school again. After naps we went to the dollar theater to watch Wreck-It Ralph. This was Charlize's first movie theater experience. She sat so good through all the previews and the first part of the movie but once she got tired of licorice and popcorn she had a hard time sitting still. It was still really fun, though.
Now, we are settled back into our daily routine at home and just enjoy watching the progress of the house.
And, just in case I haven't bragged about Charlize enough, there are just a few more things I want to share-
She is always learning new words and I feel like we even have a full conversation now and then where we both understand what is going on. Here a couple examples:
Charlize: Looking out the window, "Hi outside!"
Asking mom, "More outside?"
Mom: "No, you can't go outside, it's too cold."
Charlize: "Brrr. Jacket? Hat? Go outside?"
Mom: "Ya, I guess if we wore a jacket and hat we could go outside.
On the day we were moving out of our apartment, Charlize was watching from the window as everyone showed up. She saw Grandpa Warren and said, "Hi Grandpa." A few seconds later, Grandpa Wright showed up- "More Grandpa! More Grandpa!"
Nick went in to get Charlize from her nap. She was holding Minnie and said, "Minnie poop?" Then she sniffed Minnie's bum and said, "No poop."
She is so good about always saying "please" and "thank you",
and saying "amen" at the end of prayers.
She always says, "love you" back when we say it to her. There have been three occasions that she has said it to me first and my heart just melts when she does.
She is such a smart girl and there are so many things that I don't expect her to understand but she does and she is so cute about it. I am so proud to be her mom and learn from her every day!
Charlize loves to color, take baths (especially with bubbles), read books, dance, and brush her teeth.
Her two all-time favorite things are to play hide-and-seek and sing songs.
She is really good at counting (2, 3, 2, 3, 2) and finding but we are still working on the hiding part.
Charlize is always humming and singing. She knows so many songs-
Clean up, ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, Popcorn Popping, Sunbeam & so many more.
Here is my favorite video of her singing Sunbeam with her dad. This is a cute video just to listen to her sing but it is even more precious to see her with Nick.
Thanks again for keeping up with us, especially since I had a lot of catching up to do.
We hope you are all doing well!
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