July 2010

To start my recap of July, we might as well start at the 4th!!! Chris once again was in Alaska for our fourth of July celebration, but lets just say he was probably warmer there, then we were that night!! Just take a look at what Charli's wearing, and you'll have an idea of how cold it was. Crazy for July. It was a fun night though, the Hilton's in our ward invited us to their dock on Lake Stevens to watch the fireworks, and it was a perfect view, to see all the firework shows in Seattle, and all the local shows off the lake! Brooks slept through the whole shebang, so you won't see any pictures of him:) Over all it was a great night, just super cold.




This is a step up from the year before when Charli was so scared of the fireworks, she spent the night crying, and slept in my bed! She actually enjoyed doing a few sparklers!!




All bundled up!




I didn't get any cool fireworks in this picture, but you get the idea.






One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to go to Chris's Mom's condo in Lake Chelan!! Its beautiful, the weathers always perfect, and you're guaranteed a great time! We go any chance we get! So one weekend, we stole a few of Judy's kiddos, and took off for the weekend!



Chris was really good at finding gigantic pieces of drift wood, dragging them into the water, and making super fun rafts for the kids!

Chris, Torrin, Tiana, Kofi and Charli

Big smiles from Charli and Tiana!

Tiana's great to have around, she's defiantly my little helper, and just loves, loves, loves, Brooks!!

Ahh cute:)

These next pics, are just some random days of summer fun! here is Charli and her cousin bella, at Mukilto Beach, one sunny day

Brooks and his cousin Mateo, who are only a month apart, same day!

Our kids had way too much fun, in our little blow up pool I put in our back yard!

These next pictures are a little backwards, but they are of Charli's first "Princess Party" She was then and still is now our little princess, and I mean that literally! There is nothing she would rather do than dress up and pretend she is a princess. So for her third birthday party, there was no question in what kind of party it would be!




This is Brooks in "the bounce house" We decided to get one for the kids for both their birthdays:) they LOVE it!! Its seriously so amazing, because in the summer it goes outside, and in the winter, and on rainy days, we put it up in our living room, and the kids go crazy!

Charli in her new bounce house

This birthday was extra special for Charli because the one and only "Cinderella" made a special appearance, and even read the kids a story about a princess, and gave the book to Charli!! Seriousy Charli still talks about Cinderella coming to her birthday, 10 months later!! A HUGE thank you to my friend Rachael for agreeing to come to her birthday!! You were a hit!!

When she left, all the girls were telling their parents that "the real" Cinderella was there!! She played the part from start to finish!

Cinderella Getting ready to read a story to the kids

Our future softball player!

All the little Princess's ....and the handsome Prince!

Charli helping Dad set up!

I tired to make the table cute..... but let me say, the slightest bit of wind made that a challenge! Its amazing what a small and I mean tiny breeze will to to paper plates and napkins!! This party was a lot of work, but it was completely worth it! I can't wait to do more birthday parties in the future, especially when my kids will actually be old enough to really remember them! It was truly a perfect night!

Our little Cinderella, in her new Cinderella outfit!

June 2010

So in a word, June was "HAWAII"!!!!! Way back last June..... Yes I know I'm slightly behind on updating my blog.... we were lucky enough to be able to go to the North Shore of Oahu for TWO WEEKS for my sister-in-law Michelle's wedding! Needless to say it was Hawaii, so it was Amazing! Looking at these pictures makes me want to go back so bad, I'm seriously looking at flights on line. These pictures are really in no particular order from our trip, and they just a handful, considering I took about 500 pictures, but anyways 10 months later, here's our trip to Hawaii!!!!


The happy bride and groom, Michelle and Palauni Samumanutafa!!




The reception was amazing full of performances of all kinds, amazing food, and of course tons of family! The night went really late, and my little boy (10 months at the time) couldn't make it! I love sleeping babies!





My sis-in-law's Jen and Kristi had all the little girls do a Tahitian dance at the reception, and it was the cutest thing ever!!! They stayed up all night making the most adorable costumes for all of them!! Charli still loves hers, and puts it on all the time!





Charli and her uncle Keani dancing at the reception! Ahhhh cute!






These are the kind of pictures I get when I tell my kids to smile:)





They're looking good though!

My two handsome boys, before the reception started!

Some days at the pool were so exciting and full of fun that it just wore my kids out.

The last week of our trip, Chris, and and his brothers Rob and Jeff Met some of Palauni's friends and cousins who got them seriously addicted to spear fishing!! This was one of the few pictures I got, because when they really loved to go was about 10pm when it was pitch black. They would use spot lights to see the fish. I can't think of anything more scary than swimming in the open ocean during sharks feeding time. I glad no one got eaten.

Our princess at the beach

Chris outside the AMAZING house we stayed in for the last week, after cracking open this coconut with his bare hands!!

Charli and the beautiful bride!

Trying to get a cute picture outside Chris's parents beach front villa we got to stay at during our first week

Charli Golfing with her Daddy on Fathers Day!

Brooks and his cousin Grayson at the famous Hanauma Bay. This is the most amazing snorkeling spot ever! There are tropical fish and sea turtles everywhere! We even got Charli a little snorkel, and she was able to go out with us, and see all the amazing things, including a huge turtle that she still talks about!

Chris and I decided to spend two nights down in Waikiki, just for fun, and this is just us outside of the international market place!

We found some random person to take a picture of us, and believe it or not, this is one of the only family shots we got on the the whole trip!

We spent a day at the Sea Life Park, and the kids loved it!! There was all sorts of things to see and touch, including a sea lion and penguin show, and an amazing dolphin show!

Charli and Brooks!

Boogie boarding at the beach! All the kids loved this, but I have to say, so did I! I hadn't done it in years, and forgot how much fun it was! I believe this was at Castle Beach.

One day, we took all these kids, and hiked up to the top of Diamond head mountain! Its quite the climb, but worth it at the end.

The view.

There were some seriously crazy long, steep stairs, that seemed to go on forever!!!!!

My boys, at Waimea Bay!

Just another Day at the beach!! We honestly did so much this trip I can hardly believe it. I wish I had the time to post all my pictures, but seeing as I have July through this March still to go, Im gonna leave it as is:) But I will list some of my favorite things we did, for my own memory: Castle beach with the family, Hanging out at the turtle bay pool, lava flows, dinners at the villa, Cafe Rio at Jens house (the night that inspired us to get a bounce house), golfing on Fathers Day, Hanging out with Michelle and Palauni, The PCC, the PCC night show, the amazing wedding, Decorating the happy couple's car, watching my little boy litterly eat handfuls of sand, Charli becoming an expert swimmer, visiting the spot where Chris and I got engaged, walks at night, driving our little rental car, Teds Bakery, Wiamea Bay, Sunset Beach, Haleiwa shopping and snow cones, spending time with my amazing family, and every moment imbetween! Seriously this was the best vacation EVER!!

My little one's lately

BROOKS

I can hardly believe my little man is 9 months old! He's the cutest little guy, and makes me so happy that he's mine every day. Some recent happenings in his life are as follows: He can army crawl which is pretty funny to watch, Food Food Food the kid probably eats 3 times as much as Charli!! He's a super happy kid as long as I'm in sight, He LOVES our little dogs, The TV, Grass, Charli, and crinkling her papers. He's a kid that always has a plan, whether its to get something, eat something, get somewhere, or grab my earrings, he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He growls and makes the craziest noises, which keeps us, and everyone around him entertained. He LOVES bath time, he gives kisses, he has 3 teeth, and he loves to cuddle! I seriously could eat this little guy up!!


CHARLI


I've decided my little Charli is at the best age ever! She has recently come completely out of her shell, and I can no longer call her shy. She is happy and willing to talk to ANYONE who will listen to what she was to say... which usually is A LOT! She will go on an on and on until you sometimes just have to cut her off. She loves to read books that she's memorized, color, and ride her bike! She loves to play with friends and LOVES her swim lessons! Her favorite show is Dragon Tails, and her favorite movie is a tie between UP and Princess and the Frog. She is obsessed with dress up, dancing around the house singing, and looking the the mirror..... She seriously is the funniest weirdest kid ever, and I just love her to death! She likes to wish on stars, put all her babies and animals to bed, and read them stories. She loves to point out any animal she sees, including bugs. She likes to tell different people and animals that they are her best friend in the whole world. Occasionally I get to be her best friend in the whole world, and that seriously makes my day. But most of the time, a worm in our yard, or our dog Callie gets the honor. She's newly obsessed with gum, and I often find her rummaging threw my purse to get some. She likes to put her babies in time out, and our dogs in time out.


Another random thing about Charli is her obsession with smells. All the time she is commenting on how things smell, good and bad (usually bad) and this can get really embarrassing. She even will yell from the bathroom when she's going #2, "Mommy I need to get out of here! It stinks!" So just this morning I was in my yard picking weeds with her.... my neighbor came over to say hi, and got down on Charli's level to talk to her. After telling my neighbor everything she had done so far that day, and re-introducing her little brother Brooks for the tenth time, my neighbor finally got a word in and said "wow you've had a very busy day!" Charli then responded by saying "you need to go back in your house, because your mouth smells like poop." Of course my neighbor laughed, but I was so humiliated! I mean seriously what can you say to make that right! I got mad at Charli, then I tried to explain to my neighbor that she says this all the time, and we don't know why, she just has a thing about smells, and she's always stating that everything stinks, and insisting that she can't go in places because they smell! I took Charli inside, and tried to explain that telling people their mouth smells like poop hurts their feelings, and that even if it does, you don't tell them that. Not sure anything I said sank in, but we'll keep working at it.


My sister-in-law recently said to me that Charli must be a grandmother trapped in a child's body. I think this puts it perfectly, because if you've ever talked to Charli you've heard her say lots of the following things:

You're just gonna love it!

That's AMAZING

I can't believe it!

Anyways......

I have an idea

let me tell you a story about Charli

Oh dear

Goodness sakes

Oh my goodness,

My names Charlotte Emery Pugmire.... but they call me Charli

That's Fantastic.

I have drip drops on my jammies

Mommy you're a wicked witch

Something stinks in here

I have the shivers

Oh and the last thing I can think of about her right now, is that she talks in the 3rd person.... all the time!

For those of you who have seen my Facebook page, You've already seen this video, but it was so funny I had to post it here too!

Good-bye Pluggies!!

After almost 2 1/2 years it was finally time to say good-bye to Charli's beloved "pluggie". I've been considering taking it away for so long, but she loved it so much, I couldn't bring myself to break her little heart by taking it away. But seeing what a big girl she is becoming, and realizing I'm gonna have to do it eventually, I finally decided the time had come. So I asked everyone I knew who had taken away a pacifier for all the advice they had. They gave me all sorts of Ideas! Everything from tying them to balloons and letting them float away, to having Charli trade her pluggie for a new toy, to everything im-between! She only has it at night and during nap time, and I've actually tried taking it away at nap time before, and it was seriously the saddest thing ever! She was crying in her room looking for it, took all the blankets and sheets off her bed, then finally realized it was no where to be found so just laid by the door of her room and begged for it back, mid sobs. I did the worst thing ever, gave in, and gave it back to her. I think it was worse for me then her. So I spent all this time decided exactly what I was going to do, this time and when Chris got home from Alaska I told him all about my elaborate plan. Welp to make a long story short, he put her to bed, and minutes later, comes down with her pluggie in his hand. I heard no crying, or searching. I waited, still no crying. When I asked him what in the heck he said to her, he told me that he said pluggies are for babies. He then asked her if she was a baby and she said no.... she then willingly handed it over, and that was that. I couldn't believe it! She actually slept through the night no problem and has seriously only brought it up like maybe two times since! I don't know what I would do with out my amazing husband. Only he could make things so simple.

Oh, and by the way that is a google image. My daughter does not have a diamond encrusted platinum pacifier

Whidbey Island!

For as long as I've known Chris, I've known that one of his most favorite things to do, is to go to Whidbey Island. It didn't take long, for me to love it too! They have the most beautiful property, complete with a like, and 75 acers of amazing scenery! Although for me to love it, it HAS to be nice weather. There's nothing worse then being freezing all day. Anyways when Chris got home from his last trip, we had a few really nice days, and decided to take the kids over. even the drive is fun, because you get to take a ferry there and back! We went to the property first, to roast hot dogs and have smore's for lunch, and say hi to Bill, then after riding around on their 4 wheeler thing.... (not sure what they call it, cuz it's not exactly a 4 wheeler...) we decided to go down to the beach. This is Charli's favorite, because she LOVES to look at all the tiny little crabs, and collect shells. Seriously you turn over a rock, and there is crabs everywhere. It would probably gross most people out, but Charli will pick them right up, and let them crawl across her hand!

Oh Charli!

Ok. So I know a lot of kids do this, but I seriously think it's so funny. Charli is now super into lining things up! She does it all the time, with everything, so yesterday I finally decided to take a few pictures just to remember this phase!

Oregon!

Not too long ago, when Chris was in Alaska, I very spontaneously decided to drive down to Oregon to visit my Dad and my brothers. It had been way to long since they had seen Charli, and as sad as this is, it was actually the first time they were going to meet Brooks. I'm so happy I went! I actually drove there and back in the same day, but it was completely worth it! Charli is still talking about Grandpa Tom, and Nick and Ben. She actually still throws them and their cats, (listing them by name) into her prayers! It was so much fun seeing how much Charli loved playing with my Dad and brothers. She was the complete center of attention, and could easily get used to that I'm sure! They loved baby Brooks, and it was so nice having everyone want to hold him, and him being the only little baby around for the day! Haha, this is sort of a joke, because there are so many babies all the time around here with all my brother and sister-in-law's living so close! This little trip made me wish so bad that my family lived even closer!

So I had to take a picture of this.... we ate lunch at this McDonalds that was right next to this park we were playing at, and I couldn't believe my eyes! It was the most gigantic play area of any fast food place I've ever seen in my life! I honestly couldn't even fit the entire thing in my camera! It went even further to the right and left! Charli loved it!

Harlem Globe Trotters

So a little while back, Chris's Dad got us all tickets to see the Harlem Globe Trotters. I'll be the first to admit that although I knew I had heard the name before, I had no idea what they were, or what they did. Chris was in Alaska, so when I asked him what to expect he said it was like "the circus of basketball"... so... I was really excited to take Charli, because hearing the word "circus" put all kinds of crazy ideas into my head. Like elephants, animals, and clowns doing crazy tricks with basketballs or something. I felt like the biggest idiot ever.

It was still really fun, he got a huge suite at the Comcast Arena with all sorts of food and deserts, and the kids loved seeing each other and running around the place. I had fun watching the show/game, and thought it was pretty cool. I only took a couple pictures, but you get the idea.