New shoes

I am jealous. Charis and I went and got her keen sandals today. I really want a pair but I need to wait. Anyway she likes them and I think they are really cute.


We went to Whole Earth and so I let her play with all the toys too.

ABC's

Lately I have been asking Charis what songs she wants me to sing after storytime as part of her sleepy time routine. One of her favorites has been the ABC's. Tonight, she asked to sing it alone. The first time she did it perfectly, but when I got the camera she made a few mistakes but it is still great!



Our camera is not good for the video, so the picture is not visible when the light is bad. But you can still hear Charis' ABC's. I am a very proud Mommy!

Uncles and Dominoes

For the past few nights, one of Charis' "uncles" has come over and played dominoes with Charis before her bed.

Charis really enjoys spending time with both Uncle Nut and Uncle Skot. And now she loves playing dominoes with them.


Then last night, Uncle Nut came over for dinner and games. And had some art project that he wanted to collaborate with Charis on. Charis did really good trying to draw with him.

Dominoes

Monday, June 23rd was Charis' 2 1/2 Birthday! We shopped for Evie's birthday at toy joy, played with the Bradley friends and then I finished the day off by teaching Charis a simple version of dominoes.


Then we asked Daddy to play. Daddy loves dominoes and plays with his friends whenever they can. So it was a lot of fun for all of us. Charis is so happy!

Bradley Friends

The Bradley class that we took when I was pregnant still tries to get the kids together for playdates every month. Charis, Kris and I were all able to go.


Mostly the kids played in the pool and the adults talked about schools. Charis loved playing in the water but was a little nervous about the slide. She has never been on a water slide; it was really slippery.



They also had bird eggs inside the gardening bag that was hanging on their wall. Charis loved looking inside it!



She also loves their swing! And loved going high.

Happy Birthday Evie!

Kris, Charis and I went to Toy Joy to get our friend Evie a birthday present.


She is turning 2 years old today. I know we should have gone sooner so that we could send it to her but this was our first day together in a while. SO she will get her present a little late.


Charis had lots of fun looking for toys for Evie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVIE!
Sorry we were not able to be there, but we will see you soon.

Talking to bugs

My daughter is so weird! We have been getting a lot of rollie pollies in the house lately and Kris has taught Charis how to make them roll up and pick them up and take them outside. So today I found her talking to them for several minutes and then relocating them outside.

I love her so much!!!

Swimming with friends

We have been nervous to go swimming since Charis got her glasses but Tuesday was the day. We are mostly concerned because Charis is suppose to wear them at all times but of course can not when she is swimming. A bunch of my friends were going with their kids so we decided to go.


Charis got to play with two of her favorite boys. Jeremiah (3 1/2) & Caleab (2 1/2).


Jeremiah is learning to swim, so he thought he would teach her how to blow bubbles and put her face in the water. He had a lot more luck with her than I do. She got comfortable with everything expect putting her eyes underwater.


Then we went for a swim together. She loves "swimming" on my back!



Sorry the video is a little long but I can't figure out how to edit it yet.

Fun day of unexpected traveling

Charis and I decided to take the bus to the Children's Museum today. We were running late after watering the plants, so I packed up her breakfast and we ran to the bus stop four blocks away.



We have never ridden the bus in Austin so I was not quite sure how it worked. They do not stop at every stop, I now know that you have to signal the driver when you want off. Because of that and the construction on the road that we wanted off on and trying to keep Charis seated, we missed our stop.


So since we were already late to the museum story time, we decided to keep riding the bus until we found something better to do. Charis loved the bus!!! It was a lot of fun looking out the window and pointing out everything that we could see. Once we were really far away, we saw a library and her glasses shop. We got off and got her glasses adjusted, made a new appointment and then went to the library.



We played with the toys and chairs and read lots of books. But when we were ready to leave, I had to call Kris to look at the bus schedule. It was leaving in 5 minutes and we still needed to check out our books, so we ran to the bus stop again. This time the bus was late and so we got to sit and wait for it.



Once we got home, I realized that we did not eat breakfast. So we ended our trip with eating our breakfast at 12:00. It was a fun day of unexpected traveling.

Happy Daddy's Day!

Charis let both Kris and I sleep in. Then Kris went biking, while we made him a card and unsuccessfully looked for fireworks.

Charis told me everything that the card should say and what pictures to make. Then I cut them out and Charis glued them on herself.

Kris and his daddy went to see U2 in 3d and then we all had dinner together. Hopefully it was a good Father's Day for Kris.

Puppets!

Today, I took Charis to Book People to see a puppet show. She really enjoyed the first few minutes ...

But then got upset. It was suppose to be the Wizard of Oz but it was a simplified version with not a very interesting narrator or storyline. They kept going on and on about how important the script was and the narrator. They also kept stopping the story in the middle to tell jokes about how bad the acting was. Which was not good for a room full of 2 to 5 year olds.



But at the end they let all the kids come meet the puppets and Charis even put one on her hand. She thought that was the best part.



Then she insisted that we read some books.



And we played with all the display toys.



Charis and I had some really rough moments but some fun mixed in also. By 7:30, I was exhausted and Charis was tired. She had another nightmare that woke her up from her nap. So I let her eat in the living room and we watched one Gilmore Girls. I think she likes that almost as much as cartoons.



When Daddy got home, he made a puppet and put on a little show for just her.



Then while Daddy and I were eating, Charis put on the puppet and put on a little show for us.

Krazy Kids

Getting goin' is hard sometimes eh? Sometimes daddy stayed up til 4am, only to awake to your beautiful child-song 3 hours later...so again today's blog will be about the coffeeshop.


We finally got out of the house around noon today to be greeted by the 90+ degree Texas sun. A short ride to get coffee, and hopefully keep Charis entertained. Like clockwork, her good buddy Connor walked in the door 5 minutes after us with his dad Angel. Usually Connor is with his mom, but unfortunately she was at her fathers funeral in Arkansas. Wasting no time, the 2 "C's" attacked the pile of board games, this time selecting "Upwords". Missing a few pieces the main objective has become to place all the letters on the board in as little as time possible. This video is pretty funny, and if you listen to the background adult commentary you'll hear the owner comparing their chanting to those creepy kids in Nightmare on Elm Street! Classic.




After talking to Connor's dad, I found out that he was born in the same hospital as Charis just 15 days later! No wonder they get along so easily. I could tell that he was definitely getting to cut loose with only dad around. He was notably dirtier (boys...), and downed 2 of those cups of milk you see him with. Oh, and his t-shirt says "Holy Frijoles" (that rhymes in Spanish) it means holy beans...it cracked me up.


One of the cutest things about these two hanging out is how they work the parents as a team. For example, when it was time to leave they both pouted in unison and positioned themselves in a hard to reach corner of the cafe. Only after I offered Connor a ride in our bike trailer could we get them any closer to the parking lot.

Man, that sun is hot! 100+ for like 14 days now...ridiculous. Enjoy your Spring people. Oh, BTW (by-the-way for you non-texters) Chairs got her new-new glasses today. They're the much better pair with transitional lenses and higher quality all around. We like them better already. We'll post some pics soon. I am beginning to see some changes in the way she is maneuvering, and I can tell her depth perception is improved. This is important for Sam and I to see, since we are still being convinced of how bad her eyesight really is. We want the best for out little girl, and will accept nothing less. She is my world. -Kris

Biscuit Brothers

Today after church, we went back to EyeMasters and asked them to adjusted her glasses. They heated the plastic and bent the earpieces and bridge to fit her face. Why couldn't they do that yesterday? But then again, by the time we got home from the Biscuit Brothers, it seems like they were slipping a lot again.

We also went to a fundraiser birthday party at my church that had the Biscuit Brothers performing.


They had activities to occupy the kids while the biscuit brother where setting up. Charis got a cow tattoo.

Then colored a paper guitar.


Then the show started and it was great!



They sang, danced and played fun music.



They even sang "You are my sunshine" which made Charis so happy that she hugged Kris and ran up to the stage. Kris and I sing that to her every night.



Charis loved both of them and acted a little shy meeting them, which is so out of the ordinary. She called them "the brothers".



She even got to eat a little bit of birthday cake.



To finish it off, she played with a few kids in the water of the baptismal fountain.

Garden, Forks and Glasses

On Saturday, Charis and I went outside to do some gardening and playing. While I weeded and put out new mulch, Charis played with sidewalk chalk, played in her new rock planters and ended up going inside. She was feeling sick so she asked to go in, normally I have to beg her to go in. I let her watch a movie while I finished up.

Then I gave her lunch early so we could get a nap and go get her new glasses by 3:00. But the big event was that she learned to stab her food with the fork. She has always just scooped everything and I never thought of teaching her. She loved trying it on her rice cheese pasta!
Finally we got her glasses! We went to the bike shop to show Daddy. Everyone loves them and gives her lots of attention. But they just did not seem to stay in place, they were constantly falling down her nose. But she did great only one little fit about wanting to take them off and then perfect the rest of the time.

At sleepy time we showed her where her new glasses go to sleep and then Kris read books to her and the normal routine with the added bit of putting her glasses to "bed".

Or these glasses

We found these glasses and the lenses would be free with her insurance. Since we did not use insurance on the other pair.

So these might be her second pair.

I really like the color and the inside are funky with all different colors.

Coffee and Conner

Chica and I stopped by Irie Bean to get my fix, and hopefully see some neighborhood friends we know.
She always makes sure to greet everyone, then heads straight for the coloring books or the mountain of well-worn boardgames. After a good session of pebble relocation out back, we returned indoors for my refill, and saw a male version of Charis named Conner. Charis and Conner get along famously and were very excited to see each other again.
They get into laughing fits, dance, hide, play follow the leader, and get really sad when it's time to go.



It's nice to talk things over with other parents who are raising kids in the same atmosphere as us, and hear their take on parenthood.
My praise goes out to all of you who survived another day and can still look forward to the next. It'll be over before we want it to be. -Kris