Charlotte's Third Birthday

Well I sure hope you girls forgive the inevitable neglect that the blog will endure from time to time over the years. Quite a lot has happened in the last couple months and big things are still happening. Our return from the beach ushered us into rapid packing of our rental house, closing on our new house, moving, unpacking, Charlotte's birthday, and now preparing for your daddy's deployment. I will get to updating you on our  cozy new home and how we fare as dad heads out for awhile. The important part right now is Charlotte's third birthday.

You are such a smart little girl! You have been talking about how you are two, but you will turn three on August nineteenth for six months now. We have been practicing holding three fingers up for several weeks now and you were thrilled to have it mastered by your birthday. We had a small party at our home with friends and Chrissy and Poppie. Dora the Explorer is your favorite in the world and of course asked for a Dora cake. In the past, I scoffed at the mothers that went crazy with character themed parties. But when your little girls says something is her favorite and she wants it on her cake, mama joyfully obliges. I asked a friend from church to do Dora, Boots, and Swiper cupcakes and you were very excited with them! We had a few of your friends over to celebrate and play with you. It was so fun to see you share your cupcakes, presents, and toys. Daddy and I are so proud of how kind, polite, and considerate you are to others. You have a giving heart and you warm our lives every single day.

Smarty Pants

As I sifted through old videos of you girls tonight, I came across some amazing ones of Charlotte. I don't think I realized at the time, just how smart you are. You were verbal at an early age and always very compliant. I had and still have so much fun teaching and loving you.

In this video, you are 18 months old and we are outside our house on Sunny Slope Dr. We were playing with chalk and we had been working on identifying the letter of your name. You did that as well as carry on a conversation with me.

In this video, you are 20 months old and doing one of about 10 puzzles we had around the house for you. I love how you ask, "is it?" when you don't know what something is. Obviously, you had nearly mastered it and I realize now what a feat that was at not even 2 years old.

You continue to amaze your dad and me as you near 3 years old. I am so thankful for your learning spirit and kind heart.

Walking Girls

It sure hasn't taken Olivia long to go from walking to running. You're 12 months and 1 week and you walk probably 50% of the time. I can say, "Olivia, walk to me!" and you will pop up from crawling and walk on command. You also like to push anything you can get to move...Charlotte's little wagon, her baby stroller, even a kids' sized chair. Your sweet big sister cheers you on when you walk around the house, causing you to crack up laughing.

Charlotte, you began your first steps on your birthday and didn't really get going until you were about 13 months old. I didn't blog back then so I'm going to include your video of walking as well.

I have to admit, I'm a little sad after looking through old videos of you when you were the age Olivia is now. Feels like it was just a few months ago and it scares me to know that the next few years will fly by faster than the last few have. I wake up every morning genuinely excited to spend the day with you two and soak up every moment to love you and teach you both.

Independence Day

We had a great Fourth of July, spent at home with our little family and friends. Your daddy had two days off work and we purposefully had no big plans. We all felt spoiled with his extra time at home. He is such a wonderful daddy to you girls and gets better as time goes on. We spent some time on the back porch with lots of water since it's been so hot. We also went out to our garden and picked lots of vegetables to make a salad for our cookout.

We had Tori & Steve and their son Aidan as well as Laura & Ben and their son Rex over to our house to grill out and shoot fireworks. Olivia, you were ready for bed by 7pm and slept right through all the booms happening outside. Charlotte, you stayed awake past your usual 7pm bedtime and enjoyed the fireworks. However, you were pretty cautious with the ones daddy was lighting on our driveway because they were a little too close, even though you were safe. You liked seeing them light up in the sky, far away. Finally, about 8:30 pm you told me you were sleepy and wanted to go to bed. Your dad and I are so thankful that you told us in such a nice way instead of getting grumpy. You have always loved your sleep! Meanwhile, our friends and their kids sat out on the driveway, watching and lighting fireworks until nearly 11 pm! We had such a wonderful time together and with our friends.

Birthday At The Beach

Happy First Birthday, Olivia!! We were fortunate enough to celebrate your birth at the beach this week. Your sweet daddy continued his tradition of making his girls' first birthday cake. You loved his homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing. We opened presents and your big sister helped you break them in this week. Practicing your walking skills has now become a priority of yours as well as growing two front bottom teeth. We discovered your love for all things beach...sand, sun, waves, and seashells! Grandma (your great-grandma) and Gma enjoyed hearing you talk out the world's problems and couldn't believe how much food you eat! Here are some pictures to really tell the story of the week.

You two loved the party hats and Charlie thought you had to wear them
any time you ate cake the rest of the week.

Olivia definitely enjoyed the cake daddy made her!

Pretty typical of our family right now.

Fun with new birthday toys!

Olivia crawled up to sit on mommy.

Playing on the porch after hosing off the sand.

Big girl standing and walking!

Most of the crew, minus daddy and Olivia (who were in the tent taking pictures).

Big girl knows what to do on the beach. Daddy and Charlie
plotting something!

Afraid if you took your eyes off the fish, they'd get you!

Our sweet family.

The Clemmons'

Charlotte trying to keep Olivia from crawling into the water. 

Memorial Day 2012

I hope that as you grow up in our family, your dad and I are able to respectfully teach you what Memorial Day is all about. Yes it means you're off school and that dad is out of work for the long weekend and that might be all the holiday is to most of America. But as a military family, we can't help but to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country. To stop and put yourself in the shoes of the spouses and kids (several who we personally know) who lost their husband and dad to war really puts the holiday into perspective. Your dad and I chose to honor those soldiers with a Crossfit workout called Murph. This is a workout created in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, age 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan on June 28th 2005. It consists of 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 air squats, and 1 mile run. Since we were out of town visiting family and couldn't participate in the event at CrossFit SolaFide, we decided to do the workout together at Boiling Park in Canton, GA. You have the option to partner during this workout or do every rep by yourself and that is what we committed to doing. I am mentally weaker than your dad and 1/3 of the way into the workout I asked him why we didn't split the reps between the two of us. He somberly responded with, "Because there's a man who can't do any of these reps and his family wishes he could." Needless to say I toughed it out without another complaint. Your daddy is such a strong man and provides such stability and love for this family.

It was brutal but we got it done side by side...every rep.

Once we finished this doozie of a workout, we headed back "up the hill" to Chrissy and Poppie's lake house. Gma and Papa had made it to the house by then and you girls were in heaven with both sets of grandparents with you for the weekend. We really enjoyed getting away for the weekend and being able to relax with our family.

Family lake time!

Too precious for words.

Forgot to mention the epic blowout that Livi had in her car seat and PLAYED in!
This was the most still you'd ever been during a diaper change and I was thankful for it
as I changed you in the van. It's like you knew how gross it was. Had to wash your whole car seat.

Developments Every Day

What an exciting phase of life we are in right now! You girls amaze your dad and me every day with the new things you learn to do. When your daddy comes home in the evening, I have to catch him up on all that you did that day. Here are some of your recent developments...

Olivia is saying "bye bye".

Olivia's favorite word is "ball".

Charlotte's first time up to bat.



Charlotte's developmentally appropriate drawing of the family.
Circles for head and body with limbs coming out and a face with eyes, nose, and mouth.