Nothing like it

Before I was a parent, I never realized the amazing joy that comes from watching your own child delight in simple pleasures.  There is absolutely no other feeling that can replace being happy because your child is so incredible happy!  We are very lucky to live close to a wonderful, FREE splash park!  This morning we met up with some friends for our first water out of the season.  Oh did Charlotte love it!  At first she was a little cautious, as she tends to be.  But, once she discovered the excitement of running through the water there was  no stopping her!  I have a feeling this will be a weekly outing for us.

One of our favorite places

We spent our first weekend of the summer in Austin.  While we were there, we had the opportunity to show Charlotte around the UT campus for the first time.  It was summertime on a Monday, so the campus was quiet and we were able to get some great shots!  I was very excited to be there sharing one of my top 5 favorite places in the world with my daughter.  I know that there are so many more beautiful places that God made.  However, there is something about the emotional connection I have with this place that makes it a favorite.  It is where I met Mark and together we shared so many amazing memories and friends.  It always feels like coming home.

Summer time!

There has always been something fascinating to me about first/last day of school pictures.  It is amazing how much children can change in the course of 9 months.  I have taught 4th grade for 9 years now and at the beginning of every year, silly as it is, I am still always shocked at how young they look.  I guess because 2 months earlier I had gotten very used to looking at almost 5th graders, not kids just out of 3rd.  Anyways, all of that being said, I have made sure to start the tradition of taking Charlotte's picture at the beginning and end of each of her "school years".  I sent her off a baby and she came back a toddler.  How did that happen?

  Back in August

This summer we are going to work on teaching Charlotte the "true" meaning of summer - chilling, relaxing, swimming, and hanging out with friends and family!  She is at an incredibly fun age and we are really looking forward to getting to spend so much time with her.  After our last day of school today, I was working on getting Charlotte pumped about summer time!

How is that possible?

It seems that every time I look up, Charlotte is changing again!  Today was her last day in the nursery.  Can you believe it?  How can two years go so quickly?  How can she possibly be old enough to go sit in class like a big kid and me not even need a pager just in case?  Actually, I have to brag a moment on my child.  I have only ever gotten paged once for Charlotte, and it was a mix up and they weren't even trying to page me!  Anyways, starting next week my big girl will go to children's church for the sermon and the 2-year-old class for bible class.  I know she will do wonderfully and love it.  I am so proud of my precious girl and the hilarious, sweet, and joyful toddler that she now is. 

With her sweet teachers, Ms. Nicole and Ms. Tianay

Enjoying one last class time with all of the songs and props.

Here was her very first day in the nursery cradle roll class.  Let me wipe my tears away now.

This is my life

So, on Friday my school had our annual Field Day.  This is a day full of great excitement for the students and much patience for the teachers.  At the end of every field day, I go home completely exhausted.  But, it is fun to see the joy and elation on the face of the students as they run from event to event with squeals of anticipation.  Along with field day comes the stories that can only happen on a random "out-of routine" type of day.  Enjoy!

Anecdote #1
At the beginning of the day I laid out each child's field day t-shirt on their desk.  We are blessed with a very generous PTA that purchases a t-shirt for each child.  The t-shirts were wrapped in individual clear plastic bags.  I have an autistic boy in my class that couldn't quite control his excitement about the upcoming day.  He walked in and tore out his t-shirt.  For whatever reason, he pulled the plastic bag down over his head.  Next to him sits a very shy and quiet little boy who is in special education.  However, he had sense enough to know a plastic bag over your head wasn't good.  He reached over to the 1st boy, pulled the bag off of his head and said, "Not safe, man!"  I just had to laugh out loud at the whole exchange.

Anecdote #2
The kids usually get very muddy and wet from several water events that take place.  Some students more so than others.  So, they are instructed to bring a change of clothes.  When we all came back inside and the student had started grabbing their clothes to change into, one of my boys whispered and pointed, "Mrs. Fowler, there's girls underwear on the floor."  I looked and sure enough there it lay in the middle of the hallway.  At least they were clean.  So, I picked them up and proceeded to get to ask about 30 girls if they lost their underwear.  No one owned up to them, so I got to walk around with little girl panties in my pocket for about 20 minutes until everyone had left.  No one ever claimed the lost underwear.  Go figure.

Anecdote #3
We designated one room with a door the girls changing room.  At one point I needed to stick my head in to get someone to come out.  Right in front of me was a girl who had no qualms and was bare-naked.  I got a full view of her bare bottom.  I quickly turned away and closed the door, hoping to never see that again!  Oh my.

It comes around every year

 Happy Mother's Day everyone!  My how time flies!  I am so blessed to be this little girl's mommy.  Her bright and bubbly personality brings joy and laughter into my life each and every day.  Getting to care for, play with, and love on her is the true joy of my life.  Praise God for His many blessings!

Mother's Day 2010

 Mother's Day 2011

Today!

Ready for her own license

One of Charlotte's birthday gifts for her 2nd birthday from her Papaw and Mimi was a Plasma Car.  These cool little cars are for riders from child to adult because they go off of the rider's inertia.  Charlotte had ridden some friends' cars before and liked them very much.  She has been practicing with her own and is getting really good!  She can scoot it uphill, turn it around, and ride down all on  her own now!  Mama, can just relax in the lawn chair and take it all in!  (Which makes for one happy Mama.)

The hard part about getting videos of Charlotte these days is that she immediately wants to see herself!

A Little Time Outside

It was such a beautiful morning outside.  We just had to spend a little time in the great outdoors.  We spend most of our time outside either on our driveway riding in her cars or on the side porch.  The side porch offers us cover with a fan, her swing, her sand table, and the slide in the grass.  I think before too long outside play is also going to have to involve her pool because it is heating up quick, folks!  I also wanted to get a video today because I am loving her all-purple outfit!  

A Zoo of a Day

Our babysitter needed today off, so I decided to take the opportunity to also take the day off that wasn't a "sick day".  Our friends had been asking us to go to the zoo and I have recently been wanting to take her as well.  She knows so many animal names and is developing a memory of what she did that day and previous days.  So, I knew she would appreciate it, enjoy it, and remember it to talk about later.  We had a blast!  Charlotte loved spotting all of the animals and being with her friends Jake, Mallory, Beau, and Ms. Alli.  The morning started off beautiful.  The weather was very pleasant and it wasn't too crowded.  It definitely got hotter and more crowded throughout the morning.  We stayed from 9:30-1:30 and got to see almost everything.  The Dallas Zoo was very nice and a perfect size for young ones. 

Hanging with Beau.  She has loved this little guy since the day he was born.  She is just fascinated by him.  She spent a lot of time holding onto his wagon and I heard her telling other people, "He's Beau!"

 In this picture the kids are standing on a bench and Charlotte can see well.  Most of the day she was holding onto the fence like the "big kids".  She could barely see over the top, but she couldn't be convince otherwise.  She so wanted to do exactly what her friends were doing!

 This is what happens when you try to take a picture with a distracted 2-year-old.  First she was looking.

 Then, I was looking.

 This guy was so close his paw was touching the window.  It was pretty cool. We got to have close looks and encounters with quite a few animals.  The experience was really neat.  We even got to pet a giraffe!

 Ms. Alli helping her see a monkey.

 Beau chilling in his wagon.  He spent 95% of his time in here and didn't complain at all.  What a trooper!

 Here's our group.  Charlotte loved helping to "push" the wagon.  It actually worked out well because it gave her something to hold on to and made her much easier to keep up with!

I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was busy keeping up with this busy girl.  However, I recommend the Dallas Zoo.  I know we will be back again!

My wild and crazy TWO year old!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Charlotte's 2nd Birthday! We had so many of our family and friends who were able to join us for this happy time. Mark and I felt very blessed to have so many people who wanted to celebrate our little girl with us. We love her to bits and it was so wonderful to see other people love her too. We went with a "Wild Animals Safari" theme. This is two fold - 1) Char is really learning a lot of animal names lately and 2) It sure was fun to decorate with all of those animal prints! Here is her invite:

Before the party started we were able to get a few pictures. Charlotte is showing us she is two with her fingers!

The cousins. She had the BEST time playing with them all weekend.

Here is the decor for the party.

All of the kids got to choose an animal mask to wear.

We also made a cute lion craft I found online.

The weather was beautiful and the kids were so happy to run around outside. Nice weather is definitely a benefit to having an April birthday.

Char finally got to blow out her candle. She LOVED having 20+ people singing her the Happy Birthday song. She was in her element!

Yummy, yummy!

Finally, we have lots of friends to help open some fabulous gifts!

And some who were a little distracted :)

Thank you so much to all of the people who were there to celebrate Charlotte turning two. It means the world to us!