Easter with the Family

We were doubly blessed at Easter this year because Charlotte's birthday was on Easter day. Because we had her birthday and Easter all in one weekend, we were lucky enough to have my parents, brother, and my sister's family all with us for all of the Easter festivities. The holiday was so fun this year because Charlotte was old enough to really be able to participate. As I was looking through all of my Easter pictures, I couldn't help but smile. I know that one day Charlotte will cherish these as much as I cherish the old pictures of my siblings and my cousins on Easter Sundays growing up.

Charlotte got her first experience with dying eggs.

I put all of the kids in old t-shirts to save their clothes. I was trying to get a picture of her but she wanted to give me the stink-eye instead.

She finally decided to smile!

Easter morning we had two Easter egg hunts. One in the back yard for the little girls and then one in the front yard for my older niece and nephew. Charlotte had been practicing finding eggs in the house for a few weeks. I guess we should have practiced outside because she was completely thrown at first. Then, when she started picking up the eggs she realized the previously empty eggs were now full. After each egg she wanted to stop and open it. It really slowed down the hunting process!

This is what really Easter egg hunting looks like. Go get 'em, Titus!

Uncle Jeremy is good with helping to reach the high spots.

Below are some completely precious pictures of the cousins. I am just so happy we have these memories together and look forward to many more years!

And we'll have fun, fun, fun . . .

When my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning, my first thought was, "Wow, 8:00 sure was a lot better than this.". Then, at random moments throughout my day I kept thinking to myself, I would much rather being playing with Charlotte right now. But, alas, life does go on and I did have to return to work. However, Charlotte and I had a great time playing together over Spring Break. We recently discovered a park close to our house that is within walking distance. It only takes us about 8 minutes to get there. Greatness, right? We visited it several times throughout the week.

Char had to sport her sunglasses to be prepared

Drumming away

This park has a tire swing and she loves it!

I love this action shot! Off to the next thing.

We also got to have several play dates with our friends! She loves playing with Jake, Mallory, and Beau.

Here are my official "bug spotters".

Little Picasso

Swinging with friends is the best!

Spring Break was just long enough to give me much need relaxation and down time, but just short enough to make me desperately crave summertime. I am looking forward to our summer break with great anticipation. 11 more weeks. I can do it, right?

All about Charlotte

Before the frinzy of Charlotte's 2nd birthday and Easter is upon me, I wanted to take some time to record things I want to remember about her at this age. I can't believe that Charlotte is almost two! And yet, the days of her being a little baby seem so long ago. Her personality blossoms more with each passing day. Mark and I are just eating it up and loving being parents to this little one.She is such a little cutie pie! Selfishly, I love having a little girl because I enjoy picking out her clothes and doing her hair each day. I just think it is so fun! She has a great little personality when we are out shopping, which leads to a lot of "Oh, she is so cute," comments. She knows how to play it up. She loves saying hi and bye-bye to people in the store, particularly the cashiers.
Charlotte loves being a little helper, as well. We frequently hear the phrase, "I help" when we are working around the house. She likes to help put clothes in the washer and dryer and is pretty good about helping me put away her laundry. Vacuuming alongside me with her vacuum is also a common occurrence. One of her favorite things is to "help" Mommy cook dinner. She gets her stool and stands beside me while a mix and fix. She is sometimes reluctant to put away her toys, but usually we start singing the clean up song and she jumps right in to help.
Her vocabulary has just shot through the roof! There is no way I could ever type how many things she is now saying, but she picks up new phrases on a daily basis. She is a little parrot, so watch what you say. She can count to 10, sing the ABC's, and is starting to learn her colors. Some of her most common phrases are:

up please

thank you

my show (when she wants to watch TV)

mommy's phone (when she wants to play on my phone)

my babies

I play

go outside

home - Daddy, Mama, Oreo, and Char-Char (she loves listing our family members!)

Wooo (when something unexpected happens)

Yay

All done

My tummy's full (when she is ready to be done eating)

There are so many more and I just love hearing her little voice! Oh, and one thing we love (but know she will grow out of) is that she refers to most animals by their sound, not their name. For example, she calls dogs woof-woofs, and rabbits hop-hops.

This little girl absolutely adores her baby dolls! We play with them multiple times a day and she carries them around frequently. She also loves playing outside, whether it is in our backyard, driveway, or at a local park. Her favorite outdoor activity is swinging. Inside, she likes to play with her puzzles, blocks, balls, cars, and stuffed animals. We also have a huge pillow that she loves to bounce and crawl all over. She thinks she is quite the little comedian. She will tell "jokes" like saying that something is pink when she knows it is blue and then she laughs and laughs at herself.

This a video of her counting. The beginning is a very good glimpse into her personality.

In this one she is "singing" to her baby. She is saying "rock the baby" which is a version of the rocking song her Grammy sings to her.

Singing Angel

Can you tell it's Spring Break? Three days and three posts! In the past 6-8 weeks Charlotte has really started singing a lot. She has always loved music, but now she is singing along to everything, whether she actually knows the words or not! She loves her Praise Baby DVD's and will belt it out in the car when she gets the opportunity to watch them. Most Wednesday nights on the way home from small group we are showered in the sweet sounds of our daughter singing praises to God.

This was on the way home after school last week:

Sweet moments

One time last week Charlotte and I were sitting on the floor playing. I got cold and wrapped up in a blanket. Then, she came and sat in my lap and wanted to wrap up with me. We sat there and sang songs and rocked for about ten minutes. I was just such a sweet moment with my little girl.

Just like her Mama

Everybody knows that people have a tendency to be more left-brained or right-brained when it comes to the way they think and solve problems. There is no denying I am a right-brained gal. I am starting to see theses same traits in my little Charlotte. She has always had what Mark and I call "OCD" tendencies about certain things, like keeping her hands clean. As she is getting older and starting to play more independently, we are also seeing her inherited organization gene from her Mama coming out. The following pictures have been taken over a span of about 3 weeks. She will disappear for a while and when we go to look for her, we usually find something like this:

So proud of herself

One day after school as soon as we got home I set out some of her puzzle to play with. I went into the other room for a few minutes and came back to do her puzzles with her and found this.

We haven't even mentioned her tendency to line things up to her daytime babysitter, so I had to laugh out loud when I got an email at work from Ms. Lisa with this picture saying that Charlotte does this just about every day!

I guess I can't deny that she's mine!

Blast from the Past

I have had this little table since elementary school. A few years ago my parents were cleaning out the shed and were going to get rid of it. I couldn't bare the thought, so Mark and I stuck it in our attic. Charlotte is finally old enough to use it, so today we pulled it out and cleaned it up. She was so excited! She kept saying "Ooooo" as I pulled each chair and then finally the table out. At snack time this is where she wanted to sit. Then, tonight she decided that all of her little friends needed to join her.

I'll Take It!

As a friend's son said recently, "If it isn't going to snow, I want summer to hurry up and get here." It has definitely been a mild winter with lots of pretty spring-like days. We get out and enjoy it whenever we get a chance to. One of those gorgeous days was on Valentine's Day. I loved watching Char run around and have a grand 'ole time!

Looking at the pretty flowers that Daddy brought Mommy.

Thoroughly enjoying her pom-poms!

The Suite Life of the Fowlers

We were recently able to attend a Mavs basketball game . . . for free . . . from box suites. That's right folks! I said free, suite seats. This year I have a student whose father works for the AAC. I was able to get this sweet suite hook-up from him. Nice pun, huh? Anyways, we were so glad to share this very fun night with our friends Justin and Alli. This may have been a once in a lifetime deal, but I choose to think optimistically. Anyone have any more free tickets you would like to send my way?

Here lately

I know I've been absent from blogger for a while now. I have no excuse. I simply haven't taken the time to do it. We have mostly been busy hanging out and watching out little girl grow. She is just changing all of the time. For example, just yesterday she started sitting her a "big girl chair" instead of her booster seat at the dinner table. Her vocabulary is exploding and she repeats so much of what we say. We better watch out! Here are few cute pictures and videos I have captured recently.

Having fun playing in Mama's new boots

Just chillin' in the car. The sun is directly in our eyes the entire way home, so we have had to get creative with sun-blocking.

Relaxing and watching some T.V.