Tag Archives: Charlotte

Out of the mouths of Isaac and Charlotte:

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Charlotte announced one morning that she had three dreams last night.  One was good and two were bad.  The bad dream was that ants would turn her socks into “sticky socks.”  The good dreams were (1) watching something change colors that is not sticky and (2) sleeping in a downstairs room.4921775489_3d381973ff_b

One day Isaac excitedly proclaimed “My reading skills almost go the whole way!”

Charlotte has been telling me that she’s growing up.  One day she was so convinced that her growth was obvious that she told me Dad would say “Oh Charlotte, you’re growing up.” when he saw her after work.  The other day she said “Mom, you’re growing up.  You’re growing up to be a grandma!”

Charlotte announced:  “When I grow up, I will be a mommy and I will have 4 kids.  I will name the first  one Isaac and I will name one Charlotte and Charlotte will be first, but not very first.”

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Charlotte Reads

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I’ve been tutoring Charlotte in reading and she’s making good progress.  I’ve been using a book I bought as part of my teaching program at BYU (Teaching Children to Read by Grant Von Harrison).  It teaches a variety of skills including blending, sight words, and reading for comprehension.  She is doing quite well with each skill.  Blending has been the most challenging of the lot.  Her tendency is to sound out individual letters, but just in the last week or two she has started really blending the sounds much better.  Her reading fluency is good and continues to improve.

Here is a sample of her reading skills.  I post this with the idea that this is the sort of thing that grandparents would be really interested in watching, but friends and casual blog readers may want to skip the video

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Matching

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Charlotte has a few favorite things to wear and unfortunately they don’t really match each other.  We have been discussing what matches and what doesn’t match lately.   Here’s the transcript of a recent conversation on that topic:

(Charlotte comes out wearing a brown shirt that says “I heart Chocolate” and a pair of colorful Hawaiian shorts.7.16.10 Charlotte (1))

Me:  Charlotte, those clothes don’t match each other, you can wear either the shirt or the shorts

Charlotte:  The word Chocolate is white and there’s white right here on my shorts.

Me:  It doesn’t match.  You can wear your blue shirt with those shorts or jeans with that shirt, Jeans match everything.

<<Charlotte runs off and comes back wearing pink pants>>

Me:  Charlotte, those pants don’t match

Charlotte:  They’re my pink jeans.

Me:  Only blue jeans match everything.

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Our Vacation, Day Three

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Remembering how much fun everyone had at the beach on Day 2, we just assumed the next trip to the beach would go just as well.  We made plans to go to the beach with my cousin Brent’s wife Natalie and their kids at the beach next to my Aunt and Uncle’s condo.  Unfortunately, both of the little girls started to cry almost immediately and wanted nothing to do with either the sand or the ocean.  My aunt Dee and I took the little girls to he pool while Zach and Natalie played with the big kids on the beach.

Poor Nicole must not have been feeling well, because she didn’t leave my Aunt’s arms to play in the pool.  She clung to her and even fell asleep in her arms in the water.8.6.10 at the pool (2) Zach brought the big kids over to play in the pool and wash all the sand off their bodies.  He reported that they built a nice castle and a canal system, but we have no pictures since my camera was with me at the pool.

We went back to our room and decided to get ready and drive home since the kids were kinda sick and the last two nights of sleep in our room were less than restful.  Everyone showered and got dressed.  Zach went to fill the tank with gas and fetch some lunch (shrimp from “The Sea Shack”) with one of our remaining food vouchers while I packed up all of our things. 

We drove home by way of Charlotte, North Carolina.  It added an hour to our trip, but we really wanted to be able to take our Charlotte to Charlotte.  We arrived around 8:00 PM and had a late dinner at IHOP in Charlotte.  Everyone enjoyed chocolate milk, pancakes, bacon, sausage, crêpes, and coloring.8.6.10 In Charlotte, North Carolina (4) 8.6.10 In Charlotte, North Carolina (2)8.6.10 In Charlotte, North Carolina (3) By the time we were done with dinner, the sun was setting and it was starting to rain.  We drove to downtown Charlotte to see the skyline and look for buildings and signs with Charlotte’s name on them.  Unfortunately our van’s wipers were terrible and it was pouring rain.  By the time we pulled into a parking lot  so that we could get  a picture of Charlotte in Charlotte it was completely dark and pouring rain.  Zach hoped out with his umbrella and the two big kids and they all came back soaking wet.4868745083_ae23ced16a_b8.6.10 In Charlotte, North Carolina (7) Before we could drive out of Charlotte, the rain poured down so hard that it was almost impossible to see the road so we pulled over to wait out the storm.  After about 15 minutes, the storm died down enough for us to drive on and we were soon out of the storm and on our way home.  We arrived home in the wee hours of the morning.

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Charlotte Sings and Ila Laughs

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Sorry to those who may be tired of our recent video dump, but I just can’t help but post two more that I took today. 

Here is a video of Charlotte singing a song about Ila while Ila accompanies her on the rattle:

And here’s a video of Ila laughing:

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Keeping Kids Quiet in Church

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Lets face it, that hour of Sacrament meeting is challenging on Sunday morning when 5.2.10 Sunday Morning (8) you have young children, possibly when you have older children too, but I don’t know about that yet.  I spend a lot of time and energy fretting about how I can keep my children in their seats behaving well and for the most part we don’t do too bad.  Having Zach on the stand now has presented some new challenges and I have not completely figured out how to deal with our children without him.  So this particular blog post has two purposes: 

1)   To keep a record of how things are now, including a record of how they used to be and how we came to do things the way we do them and

2) To solicit ideas on how to improve the way I do things.

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Charlotte Quote

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For some reason, Charlotte has advanced the following theory more than once, but this last time that she said it, I wrote it down (maybe two weeks ago).

“Ila thought I was a boy when she was in your tummy and when she was born and saw me walking, she was so happy to see I was a girl!”

7.3.10 matching shirts (3)

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Co-Conspirators

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Charlotte and Paul have been the best of friends.  They have played together almost continuously since Paul arrived.7.12.10 Charlotte and Paul They shared some frosted cookie.  Charlotte told Paul that if you mix the blue frosting with the yellow frosting you would get green frosting.7.12.10 frosted cookie (3)Their fingers and mouths were not the only thing that became that bright blue color. . .

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Injury Update: The Grisly details

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We’ve been on the phone detailing injuries to families for the last few days, but I know we have some close friends and family members who get their updates here, so for the benefit of them, as a proof for compensation after a traffic injury and for our written record, I will write the details of the injuries sustained during our car accident on Friday night.  Since the pictures are a little gross, you will have to click the ‘Read more’ link at the bottom of the page to read about them and see the pictures.  If you follow us in a reader, I’m sorry because you may not have the option to skip looking at the entire post.

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Paying Attention

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Note: I know it’s probably a little gauche to blog so soon after an event like this.  However, I want to get my feelings sorted out and writing is a good method.  Might as well update everyone while I’m at it.

I left the house this morning in a somewhat grumpy rush.  Often I’ll forget my morning prayers during my usual routine, so I’ll pray in the car before I pull out.  I was in enough of a rush this morning that I only really prayed for two things; that I’d be safe and my children would be safe as we traveled about today.

2010-07-09 2010-07-09 Van Disaster 001

For some reason, my attention wandered and I did not see that the light was red.  We got hit on the driver’s side, smacked a pole on the passenger side, and wound up where you see us.  As we were smashed from side to side, I was calm; I’m generally calm enough when these things happen, but I felt for some reason that things were fine.  I had reason to doubt when we saw the children.

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Posted in Family History

Independence Day

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I reflected back to July 4, 2004 during testimony meeting today.  That year, the 4th also fell on a Sunday, it was when Zach blessed our first Child. 

Our celebrating mostly took place on July 3rd this year.

Video = While throwing Snaps, Isaac shows off his missing tooth, Jackson shows off something else.

7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (3)We lit sparklers during the day and then again at night.  Nicole held one too, but when it started the “popcorn” phase, she dropped it in the grass and ran away.  7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (10)The kids enjoyed chasing parachute fireworks.

Poor Nicole was scared of all the fireworks.  She hid under my chair or hugged me or Aunt Dee whenever she saw Zach approach the launch site. 7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (7)She was even worse in the evening.  She spent the majority of time under my chair, mostly with her face buried in the grass and her feet sticking out the front of the chair.  A few times she sat in my lap and hugged me.  When I tried to turn her around, she gripped the back of my chair over my shoulder and wouldn’t let go.  I had her facing towards the fireworks once, but she covered her eyes the whole time and refused to look.

Decorate your own fruit pizza7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (12)

A movie (Shaun the Sheep) helped pass the time until it was dark enough to light more fireworks7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (14)After fireworks we drove home.  A good time was had by all and luckily, bedtime was simple: 7.3.10 Celebrating the 4th (15)

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Dress-ups

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Nicole has been walking into the living room wearing other people’s shoes so frequently, that I thought she might enjoy playing with the dress-ups.

She put everything she could possibly put on, notice how she is trying to pick up a 3rd glove to put on.6.30.10 Dress-ups (3)Once she was all decked out, she didn’t smile and dance around, she just started playing blocks with everything on as if nothing was out of the ordinary.6.30.10 Dress-ups (11)Charlotte put on her ballet slippers and picked up two purses and announced that she was “a mom with slippers on.”  I was proud that she dressed up as a mom instead of a princess. 6.30.10 Dress-ups (17) Then she was a mom with a tail.6.30.10 Dress-ups (15) Isaac put on a tiger hat and tail and he was done.6.30.10 Dress-ups (19) Even Ila participated, although not really by choice.6.30.10 IlaThe End

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The Trophy Giver

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Charlotte dubbed herself “The Trophy Giver.”   She was building with blocks and built a  trophy for me.  I asked her what it was for and she said it was for “cleaning up.”  Then she asked me to make trophies with her. IMG_0637 I made a yellow one which she said was for Ila for “wiggling.”  A blue and green one was for Isaac for “playing games.”  A red one had to be for grandma, even though grandma says her favorite color is blue-green, Charlotte knows it’s really red.  She said that Grandma’s trophy was for “doing all the things that she does”.  She also said that “when Grandma gets tired of doing all the things that she does then she would have to sleep.”  Grandpa’s trophy was for “all the time he is with grandma.”  Later she put the trophies for Grandma and Grandpa together and said that the trophy was “for both of them for all the time they spend together.  Dad’s trophy was for playing more games than Isaac and she gave herself a trophy for someone who likes pink.

As we skyped she said she would give Aunt Hedi a trophy for something but I can’t remember what it was, I just remember that it was amusing.  She thought Aunt Laresa should have a trophy for being good and Aunt Bethani would have a trophy for being happy and having orange hair.

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Charlotte Quotes and a Story

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“I have a frown because I have my favorite cup, but not my favorite, favorite cup.”

“Do you know that carrots like to be food?” (the picture below is of a carrot on a toothpick, referred to by Charlotte as a “Carrot Popsicle”)6.17.10 Isaac's Birthday (59)Last week we were at the park for a High Priest social, when Charlotte announced that she had to go.  I took her to the bathroom and then decided that I should go as well.  Unfortunately, I neglected to notice that there was no toilet paper in my stall until it was too late.  I called to Charlotte and asked for some toilet paper.  She passed the most pathetic single ply I had ever seen under the stall to me.  So I asked for more.  Again she sent one little single ply.  So I told her that I needed 5 pieces of toilet paper.  She sent back one ply ripped into 5 pieces!  Thanks Charlotte!

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