Oh Charlie

First Scenario

Jane: (Screaming) No Towie, No Towie, Aaahhh!

Mom: Charlie, give her back her sippy cup right now!

Charlie: Mom, just listen to me. Every time she has her cup I just get really thirsty.

Second Scenario

I was using a large tape measure to get the specs on the room.

Charlie: Wow Mom, I didn't know you could do that, you have so many talents!

Third Scenario

When Jane is in trouble and about to be put on time out, you can always hear Charlie yell "Janey run for your lives." As if she has more than one.

This Week

So far this week has been fun and busy. I feel like I am getting into my groove a little. I'll tell you a little about Sara. She lives in my neighborhood and loves to go. Luckily for me, she keeps making me a list of all of the things I need to know about the town. Here's what we have done this week....

Tuesday - I went with her to a little "pretend" preschool that she does with another lady. They let Charlie and Jane join in class. Both of my children were more interested in playing with the different toys in the house then sitting and listening. Looks like I have a lot of work to do in this area. Later that day they decided to take a bath together in the kitchen sink. I didn't realize how big the sink was until after I took the picture.

Wednesday - We all went to the library for story telling hour. After we arrived we found out that it doesn't start until next week. So we had our own impromptu story telling. That lasted all of 10 minutes then we spent the rest of the time chasing Charlie and his friend Hanna through the aisles.

Thursday - Today we went to the W.A.R.F. which is a new aquatic facility here. We met some other ladies and their kids and we all had a good time playing in the water. Afterward we went to Chick Fillet, which is all the rage here because it's new and has a play area for kids.

(Hanna, Charlie, Jane, Kyle & Jacob)

This pose of Hanna's reminds me a little of our good friend Isabelle from back home.

I just got back from a book club meeting which I will really just call a girls night out. Let's be serious I haven't read the book. I was just going for the social interaction. The ladies were a lot of fun and turns out that most of them hadn't read the book either. Apparently it's just a good excuse to get out of the house.
(Angie, Tammi, Lori)

(Sara, Irene, Melissa, Lindsey)

This week was a good one to get to know a lot of different people. We still haven't heard on our house and I don't know where we will be living but as soon as I found out you will all be the first to know.

Thank You Disney

We don't have cable and so we have been watching a whole lot of Disney movies lately. The house favorite seems to be the new found Cinderella. (Jane doesn't care about the tv so this is all Charlie.) He likes to rewind on all of the songs. And here was our conversation........

Charlie: Mom, I wish the birds would wake me up like that.
Charlie: Can we find some mice like that so I can talk to them?
Charlie: I wish they would help me make my bed.
Mom: I wish that too.

The other day I came into the kitchen to find Charlie "helping" me by unloading the dishwasher. I found every item from the dishwasher in a line around the counter and island. He explained that he was being Ratatouille. I realized he wasn't being the delicious dish, but instead the Rat named Remi from the movie. He is fascinated with cooking and helping me cook. I tried to show him how you stack the same dishes together but he didn't like my version and thought that his was much better. Of course by his version of emptying the dishwasher he was really just creating more work for me but it was cute right?

Later that day Charlie " helped" by getting into my makeup and giving Jane a makeover. Well at least that's what he calls it. Sadly for Jane, she has inherited my wispy gross hair. Sorry sis.

Gift of Tongues

It's true, Mike and I have the gift of tongues. Sometimes we even amaze ourselves. Here are some of the words that we hear throughout the day…..

Word -- Translation

Poxkapole -- Popsicle
Femes -- Things
Oly tow -- Holy cow
Whying -- Crying
Towie -- Charlie
Bucano -- Volcano
TT Doe -- Cookie Dough
TT Tat -- Kitty Cat
No nuts -- Donut
Munch -- Lunch

Heet dod -- Hot dog

Wawa woks -- Fireworks

Hatch you -- Thank you

Who hacks -- Fruit snacks

Babbage -- Garbage

not to be confused with

Babbette -- Blanket

Jane always keeps us on our toes. We laugh a lot thanks to Janey. Her new found love are these sweet Dora glasses.

Our Walking Trail

Our favorite thing to do everyday is go on our neighborhood walking trail. It is so fantastic that sometimes we do it twice a day. Isn't it beautiful? I can't get enough of it.

For a girl who doesn't talk, I sure am hearing a lot of "I do it"

Charlie loves to lead the way while his sister drags behind.

Here is a list of some of the things we have seen on our walks......

• Big ol bugs
• Butterflies ( lots and lots of Monarch's)
• Hawks
• Squirrels
• Bunnies
• Turtles
• Ground Hog ( or something like it)
• Frogs
• Blackberries
• Dogs
• Humans (have I ever mentioned that Charlie is convinced that he is not a human?)

A couple of pics to back up my story......

There are so many turtles here but they are usually hanging out in the green mossy stuff. This picture is pure luck.

We have also met several other "Maggie's" in the neighborhood, they just all happen to be dogs.

Otter pops, always a good way to end a walk when we are all sweating to death.

Luray Cavern

We decided to take a drive to the Shenandoah Mountains to find some good hiking trails. The drive was beautiful as we drove through the trees and hills. Mike and I are surprised at how "hilly" it is around here. I think we both pictured it to be flat open spaces but it is a lot like Oregon. We passed through several old historic towns. One of these towns had a building with a sign that read....."Antique Tables Made Daily" Does anyone have a problem with this? We thought it was a little strange. We became side tracked when we came upon a tourist Cave site.
The cave was huge. We were able to take our big double jogger through it easily. The kids were having a good time as we twisted around in this large cave. There is even an Organ in there that plays off of different stalactite's all throughout the cave.

Toward the end of the tour Janey biffed it and took a boot to the face. The screaming in the cave was oh so loud.

Afterward we tried to find a local burger joint because those are always better. I knew we had found the right place when we walked in and saw this menu board.

The food was yummy and the kids had been so good. Even our little Maggie enjoyed the day.

Outside of the little place we found the Ten Commandments. I thought these had been protested out of the country. Nice to know that there are some places still standing their ground.

Museums and More

Last week we went to the Air and Space museum. It was awesome. When I was a child I didn't think Museums were all that great. ( Probably because in school we went to the same one every year, boring, but they did have a stuffed two headed calf. I always thought that was cool.)

This one actually kept my interest. There were cool airplanes everywhere and we even saw a giant space shuttle. Charlie wanted to climb in but everything was roped off.

We were able to keep Charlie's attention for almost an hour! That is a feat.

We've had many requests for a picture of our house. Let me start off by saying that it's a rental in a great neighborhood. The home definitely has it's rental qualities. For instance the home has been a little beat up but I think it was probably lovely with the original owners. The last renters never paid rent or utilities and so we had a hard time getting all of ours set up. They were worried that we were the same old people assuming new names. They also took many liberties with the walls. Yikes.

For those of you who don't know him, this is Jesus. He is hanging above each of our doorways. We love Jesus, this just isn't my way of showing it. But, in this rental we will let him stay. There are some doorways where he is missing but don't worry there is a big hole where the screw used to be holding him in.


This is our place. I am not unpacking so there are boxes all over. This home is not in our price range. I love the neighborhood and would want to stay but we are still waiting to find out about the home we placed an offer on. No news yet.

Lesson Learned

Today Charlie and I went on a walk in our neighborhood walking trails. I wanted to get in a good workout and I invited him along so that he would stop pestering his little sister Janey. We started out at a good pace but at every crossroads we had to stop and make a critical decision. This path or that path? I know it sounds cute and all but it was getting on my nerves a little because he would stop and doddle and I wasn't getting my heart rate up enough. That's when the racing began, we started racing and walking and more racing. Things were getting better but then I think I just tuckered him out.

Along the walk we saw some soda bottles so I talked to him about littering and that the next time we came we could bring some bags to pick up all of the garbage we found along the trail.

We stopped to eat wild blackberries. They are all over this fun trail. Again I tried to speed him up and gave him a little lecture that next time he would be riding in a stroller. ( I knew he wouldn't like that.) He started to join me at that point and the next thing I knew he was behind again! Aagghh! I looked back and he was picking up sticks and throwing them into the bushes. When I was about to get on his case again he said " I am cleaning up the trail so Heavenly Father will be so happy." And that 's when I knew I was blowing it. Here I was trying to hurry him up when I should have just been enjoying our time together. So that's what I did. I slowed down. I started helping him throw the sticks.

Next we found some more blackberries. Every time he would eat one he would rub his tummy and say "mmm yum". Then he surprised me again letting me know that we needed to say a prayer and thank Heavenly Father for these delicious berries. So we did. Charlie said a cute little prayer. Then we went on with our slow paced walk. By the end I had to carry him but I didn't mind this time. He taught me a good lesson today. The walk took about 4 times longer than I had anticipated but it was also 100 times better.

Little Changes

• Bugs, more than I've ever seen in my life. Bugs I have never seen before. Big, loud and everywhere. My children are going to have awesome insect collections in science class.
• I didn't realize until moving here that Charlie has never smelled cigarette smoke, pretty lucky for a boy who's almost four. Every time we pass someone who is smoking he plugs his nose, makes a yucky face and loudly says "Mom, what's that gross smell?"
• There is a Starbucks in every grocery store. I knew that Starbucks was popular and on every corner but every Grocery Store? Weird. The shopping carts all have cup holders. I guess it's hard to grocery shop without your cup of joe.
• No more Grandma Sycamore's bread. Each time I ask a local what their favorite bread is they look at me like I am strange. No local favorites here.
• People just stop and chat with me. Everyone is very friendly.
• I've had four different people stop me and comment that I have my hands full. They think that three young kids is strange. Wait till they see what my true potential can be, 5,6,7,8?

Leaving Home

We've had a lot of fun with family and friends trying to milk out our "last" everything. We have packed up our home and moved East. Here is our last week in a nutshell. The moving company came and packed up all of our belongings. Then we moved in with the Hansens ( My sister and her family who are always so good to us.) One weekend we went up to Park City and enjoyed dinner with our great friends the Keiths, Aarons and McGowns. We went to Baja Cantina, a restaurant we all enjoy. While up there we went on the Alpine Coaster, a version of the Alpine Slide but much better because you can go so fast without tipping off. (My pictures for this are on my other computer so you'll have to check Matt and Shannon's blog for pictures.)

On the 27th we blessed our little Maggie. She was so good and her dad gave her a beautiful blessing. Thanks to all of you friends and family who joined us that day.

Later that evening we had a party at Rich and Anne's (Mike's brother) they have a fantastic yard and we enjoyed food and visiting with people that we love.

Tuesday I was able to have lunch with my girlfriends. We've had fun together and been able to rely on each other with questions and the occasional boredom we suffer.

Tara, Shannon, Summer & Shauni (Jen couldn't make it.)

My sister has spent the summer re-doing her pool.

This put a big damper on our summer. So the pool was finished two days before we flew out but they still had to fill it. Thursday night the pool was getting close to being full.

She added a rock waterfall and slide. Mike just couldn't resist the ice cold hose water and took a plunge. He made our night. It ended up being a busy and crazy week.