Summer Fun 2013

We had a lot of fun this summer! Blueberry picking, fountain splashing, and a trip to Whidbey Island. Mama and Daddy even fit in some anniversary celebration on 7/11.

4th of July 2013

For the 4th, we went to Gladstone Beach with Zander, Cameron, Heather and Paul. The kids had a great time and the private fireworks were amazing!

Palm Springs Spring 2013

The Wasses love the desert! We were in heaven in our hacienda rental: pool, sun, and did I say sun? We'll be back!

Holidays

We chose this picture for our holiday card because we love Charlotte's huge, joy-filled smile. She is actually swinging on a swing back to back with Carrie Ella. (Photo credits go to Michelle.)

Charlotte enjoyed her 2nd Chanukkah and Christmas, especially ripping the paper off of her presents. We held our 6th annual vodkas and latkes party on December 15th. Grandma and Pops were in Hong Kong, so we just put Charlotte to bed in our room, closed all the doors, turned on some white noise and crossed our fingers. She slept happily through the entire party and we had lots of fun with all of our friends.

We were a little worried about putting up a Christmas tree because of all the tempting items at Charlotte's level. So we put only soft, nonbreakable things on the bottom half of the tree and tied it to the wall so she couldn't pull it over. Of course, Charlotte barely showed any interest in it all. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

Talk to me

Charlotte is a big babbler, and Matt and I sometimes like to pretend that she is really talking. Charlotte, what is your preferred airport when flying into Paris? DeGaul DeGaul DeGaul.

But  over the last couple months, she has definitely started pointing at things and saying some real words. We think dog was her first official word, inspired by her cousin Barkley. Her list currently includes: cheese, banana, bye bye, hand, eye, button, duck, up, hat, and mine. Lots of Dada, but still no consistent usage of Mama :)

For art's sake

It's never too soon to introduce arts and crafts, or is it? Mama and Charlotte had some fun with double-sided tape and some pieces of tissue paper. In between eating our art supplies, we made this:

Then I made some paste from flour and water and let Charlotte have at it. Of course, her first impulse was to dip her entire hand in the paste and put it on her face. But she eventually got the idea and made this:

 Lots of fun. Hopefully she will inherit her father's artistic abilities instead of mine :)

Charlotte turns one!

Charlotte celebrated her first birthday on November 9th. It's so hard to believe she is already a year old, and at the same time, we can hardly remember life without our sweet girl.

We had a birthday party for her with Grandma, Pops, Aunt Liz, Uncle E, Michelle (our nanny), the Maloneys (our nanny share family) and our friends across the street Heather & Paul and their son Zander. Matt and I had a lot of fun with the farm theme!

Matt's artistic abilities apparently extend to icing cakes, sculpting marzipan, and crafting animal hats. 

No surprise, Charlotte loved cake. The video is priceless. Faceplant @ 1:20!

Charlotte had a lot of fun ripping open the wrapping paper and especially loved her new shoes from Aunt Liz & Uncle E and her xylophone from Grandma & Pops.