Whoops!

I forgot that I had artichokes simmering on the stove when I left home the other night. When my husband got home later, he walked into a cloud of smoke. Luckily, there was still a house for him to come home to since he got home an hour and a half after I had left. I tried to save the pot, but with no success. Our house smelled like campfire for two days. If anyone got a whiff of campfire at church on Sunday, that was us...

A Day with Charlie-bean

This post is going to be a little long. A certain sister-in-law of mine (I won't name any names, but it starts with an L and rhymes with hippy) has been harrassing me about putting up a new post. Unfortunately, there isn't really anything interesting for me to post about right now, so I thought I'd give her a little taste of what I see/do all day.

C greets me in the morning with cheerfulness!

And then she joins me and Adam in bed for morning scriptures and prayer. She started folding her arms this past month.

Then we say our goodbyes to Daddy.

Next, I throw the little mess into the tub to get fresh for another day.

After the bath I put clothes on her, do her hair (which she is finally cooperative about!) and we brush her teeth.

She feeds herself breakfast.


And we're working on her telling us when she's done eating.


After breakfast Charlie-bean plays with her toys for a while

until we run errands (if there are any to run). She LOVES the car and throws multiple tantrums a day when we don't let her go to the car.

After errands we come back home for lunch and a nap.

After naptime, she plays for most of the afternoon. This wouldn't be complete without playing with the shoes and reading some books.

Usually Daddy comes home during this time, but he had to work late so we ate dinner without him and then went for a walk.

We came back home and put on her jammies and cleaned up the toys.

Then we sit down for a nice cuddle, read a book, sing some songs, say a prayer and say good-night!

Mail

Charlotte points to the mailbox every time I take her outside. She's fascinated that there is paper in there sometimes. When we checked the mailbox today, there was a package for her.Hmmm...what's in the envelope from Mimi?

{{{BOWS!!!}}}}

Even one that matches today's outfit!

And, a little thank-you video from Charlotte (The "gimme" hand motions at the beginning are because she wants me to give her the camera. Her actual "thank-you" gesture comes after that...she gets confused between the thank-you sign and blowing a kiss. Mimi, it can be whichever you want it to be.):

The Queen of Corn

I'm a firm believer that happiness is found in the small things of life. Like corn. And babies.
I'm reminded of this every time Charlotte eats corn on the cob. She enjoys every single bite as though it were going to be the last time she'd have the priviledge of eating it.

Fresh Produce Makes Me Giddy

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle this past week. It's written my Barbara Kingsolver (you may be familiar with her novels, The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible). This book accounts her family's experience with eating only local foods for a year, and it is one of the most interesting and inspiring books I have ever read. In a very entertaining way, Barbara Kingsolver has opened my eyes to the importance of knowing where our food is coming from and also the joy that is found in preparing food at home. I think this book is especially close to my heart because I was raised in a home where food preparation meant family conversation.
I won't go into all the details of the book, but it has inspired me to make changes as a consumer. The first step I've taken is buying local produce. Last night my friend, Sarah, and I ventured out to Countryside Farmer's Market which we found through the website Local Harvest. It helps locate local farms and markets. Can I just say that I have been missing out! I honestly had no idea how much fresh produce was available so close to my home. I got eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, watermelon, potatoes for so much less than the grocery store. Another plus, everything I've tried so far has tasted much better. I can't help but get a huge smile on my face everytime I think about all the delicious meals I'm going to make this week. I'm excited to try new vegetables next week that I was a little hestitant to purchase this time.
Through all of this though, it makes me feel good to know that I'm giving a boost to the local community. Hardly any of the money I spend on produce at the grocery store makes it back to the farmers who produced it, but 80-90% of what I spent yesterday does. I LOVED talking to the vendors about their produce, livestock and families. Being able to make a personal connection to my food and where it came from has helped me become more grateful for it.
I encourage you to read this book. It will enrich your life and touch your heart and families, I promise.

One Foot In Front of the Other

Charlotte's been taking steps for a while now, but it's been really hard to get any good videos of it. Everytime she sees the camera, she crawls as fast as she can to me. I've given up, so these will have to do.

Charlotte's First Birthday Celebration

Yesterday we celebrated C's first birthday. We decided to have a toga party as the theme.Not really. I just thought it was so cute when Charlotte came down the stairs like this (her arm was originally in the sleeve).

We had a few friends over to celebrate by eating cake and ice cream. I wanted to put up this video because after we sing the Happy Birthday song you'll see Charlotte fold her arms. She's waiting for someone to say the prayer. Lately, she's been folding her arms during the prayers and it's so cute! You can also see her blowing when Adam has her friend Kaia help blow out her birthday candle.

Our neighbor works at a bakery and made Charlotte her very own smash cake for her birthday. Charlotte loved the cake and loved making a mess.

Here she is opening a few of her presents (she was one very spoiled birthday girl!) :)

Charlotte has brought me so much joy in my life! I couldn't have asked for a better baby. I am so excited to watch her grow and develop through out the years, but there is still a part of me that will always long for her to stay my little baby.

...Summer...

I didn't expect it to come this year, but it has. The fleeting longings for the upcoming autumn season (pumpkin patches, apple cider and colored leaves). I love fall, but winter always trails right behind, and I'm not especially fond of winter. This summer has been mild. So here I am, in July, waiting for summer to really come. This morning I realized that it's probably not going to get much more summer-ish than this and that I should probably start doing some summer-y things before I'm wishing next March, April, and May for summer to appear again.

So, I took Charlotte to a fun park today, and she decided she'd rather play in the wood chips than on the playground.When we got home Charlotte and I shared a popsicle (her first).

(Charlissa...I know what you're thinking! Wet wood! I only ate the outside edges of the popsicle and kept the plastic wrapper around the part of the stick you hold so that I wouldn't come in contact with the wet wood. As soon as I felt the stick was getting near, I gave the popsicle to Charlotte.)

After she was covered in red juice so I tossed her in the sink and let her play for a while.