Easter Festivities

We have had a busy couple of weeks, with getting projects going on some of the properties here and finding new tenants for one of the houses. Max has done most of the work as well as work full time. I have helped clean the vacant house to prepare for our new neighbors but that's pretty much it. With life so busy it was a real treat to take a break, reflect on our Savior's atonement and spend some good quality time with the family!

On Friday night we dyed Easter Eggs. Charlie was thrilled and eager about this, so much that the cups of dye nearly toppled over on more than one occasion. He liked to aggressively grab the egg and drop it in the dye. We were happy he got so "egg-cited" about it but I think next time we will probably need to take more precautions to let him participate more! 

While the eggs were soaking, we distracted Charlie with a whole bunch of stickers found in the egg dying kit. 

He had a great time decorating us too!

Saturday night the Easter Bunny stopped by and left this lovely basket for Charlie. He now has everything he needs to start his own garden of strawberries, tomatoes, and peas. We're new at the gardening thing so we are starting small and it will be fun for Charlie to go outside everyday this summer to water his plants. We held off on the candy seeing as we knew he would be spoiled with it later from some other relatives!

We hid 4 eggs for him to find to see if he was that interested in finding them. He did enjoy it! When he noticed one he would get his surprised Charlie face, pick it up, look at it, then put it in his mouth...turning his lips colors. 

Can you spot the egg?

I think he liked his new toys, I caught his playing quietly with them all...

A little bit later Max's family members came over for an Easter brunch that we were hosting.  We made French Toast Raphael and had fresh strawberries, mangoes, and grapes. Yum! Max and his brothers Brent and Justin then filled and hid plastic Easter eggs out in the yard.  Thank goodness for Aunt Lisa who is always prepared with her camera and photography skills. The following pictures I stole from her!

Mr. Handsome

Once Charlie figured out that there were Jelly beans in the eggs he was content just stopping and eating the candy as he went. Many eggs spilled candy in the dirt due to Charlie's eagerness. Apparently Max thought it was okay to eat them out of the dirt...

It took a crowd to get him to put the eggs in his bucket!

It's springtime in our yard!

And a family picture. 

We then were able to attend church. This really helped us focus more on the true meaning of Easter. Charlie was a little restless (1 month until nursery) but during the last hour his grandma went to play with him in the hall so Max and I could listen better. We soon realized how tired we got without our wiggly boy!

After church we rushed off to Charlie's third and final Easter egg hunt of the day. We went to Red Grandma's house who always throws the best hunt around. She even makes sure all the eggs have the same amount of candy and counts the eggs so everyone gets the same amount! Charlie once again opened the eggs as he found them spilling M&Ms throughout the grass.  I wish I took more pictures. It was a fun hunt with all the cousins and second cousins and aunts and uncles!

It was a fun and busy day filled with family and joy! I would like to say Charlie slept well that night...but he didn't and surprise surprise...I found 3 molars in his mouth today.

Healthful Exercise, Delightful Pleasure.

This fun mother and son outing all happened because of a free admission coupon received in the mail! You can't beat free, especially when it is to Oaks park roller skating rink which is full of fond memories for both Max and myself. My favorite of those memories is going together in high school and longing for the "Couples only" skate so I could hold his hand! I wasn't let down, I think there may have even been 2 "couple skates" that evening! Cheesy but true! Anyway, we found out that Oaks Park has a Toddler Skate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the morning. There are songs and dances and even snacks. It started at 10:00am and sadly (lucky) for me Charlie has been sleeping past 10. I finally woke him up shortly after 10 because I couldn't contain my roller skating excitement any longer. After a quick breakfast we were off. 

Healthful Exercise Delightful Pleasure

He still gets to use the "baby" skates

When we first arrived Charlie and I both put skates on. I'm pretty sure other parents were glaring at me for trying to show my newly walking toddler how to skate while putting myself in a more unsteady state. We did just fine but I eventually decided that Charlie could have a better learning experience if I was on solid ground. I was holding onto both his hands for most of this experience so I wasn't able to get too many pictures. Charlie did impress me with how he could scoot around pretty well in those skates so maybe if I wasn't as iron gripped, I could have seen him skate more. He did slip several times but he seems to have great reflexes so he never hit his head, and he didn't cry once!

He paused to find his belly button!

I think he's chasing Chipper the Squirrel. (The Oaks Park mascot)  

This is the reason that this is the best skating rink around, the Pipe Organ! All the pipes are right there above the rink!

No one was playing the organ this time, we just had to listen to silly kids songs. 

Anyway, I'm thinking we will want to go back sometime soon, or maybe when Charlie is a little more steady and can fit into real skates.

Lazy Sunday

I love lazy afternoons where you can just be with your family and not worry that something else is not getting done. I love that Max doesn't have to stress about homework anymore. I love that I get to be a stay-at-home mom and dedicate all of my time and energy into taking care of myself and my two incredibly handsome men! I love the peace that comes from knowing our family is eternal. I love the joy that we feel when we are together.
That being said, here are some very amateur pictures we took together on our lazy Sunday afternoon.

He is actually crying here...

I love my little family!

80th

 On Thursday we got to celebrate this amazing woman's 80th birthday. My red Grandma! She is probably one of the coolest 80 year-olds around mostly because she owns pretty much every nintendo and the like in her home so her grand kids could always have a party there. Even as teenagers we loved hanging out at our grandma's house more than our own home. She would always have homemade cookies and popcorn for us. She is also the amazing lady who patiently taught me piano throughout my life. She is incredibly talented and intelligent and we are so lucky that she is our grandma (and Charlie's great grandma)!

We celebrated with her by going to Reinlander German restaurant where we indulged in fondue and bratwursts and were serenaded by a talented accordion player and vocalist!

And Charlie also got some grandma time 

PS. The accordian player reminded me of the birthday where I was serenaded by one of the best accordianists around....Leah, oh how we miss you!

Spaghetti

Every young child needs some good messy spaghetti pictures! I don't make spaghetti very often so I'm pretty sure this was Charlie's first time trying it...He loved it, and the mess was something to be proud of!

This kid cracks me up!!

And he's done!

That's all, just thought I would share!

Cupid, draw back your bow...

I have come to love it when holidays fall on week-days, I've somehow convinced Max that we get to have a week-day celebration and a weekend celebration, this also rings true for our anniversary and birthdays! This way, we can celebrate twice, as a family of three and as a couple. It's the perfect plan. That is just what happened this year for Valentine's day! On Thursday (day of) Max had to work all day and I was home with my fevery son. Lucky for me, Charlie is a strong boy that doesn't let a fever get in the way of his joy. For the most part he was just as pleasant as usual with only a slight decrease in sleeping and appetite. During the day Charlie and I made a valentine for Daddy! He was also content enough to allow me to make our valentine's ham dinner. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the way to Max's heart is HAM!!  

This year we even made it heart-shaped. The asparagus was supposed to be heart shaped too, I don't know what happened. 

And I just want to throw out a plug for those fudgey delicious cookies right there. Max and I have been trying to eat healthy and since I love to bake it has occasionally made this goal difficult. These cookies however, are "healthy." They are made with black beans and are still amazingly delicious. Try them! I dare you! Here's the recipe...Delicious Cookies!!

As it turns out, Charlie is a ham pig too!

That evening Max and I were able to spend some enjoyable home time together. 

On Saturday, We arranged a Valentine's date for Charlie and my mom. That way, Max and I could leave and not disturb their date. Clever right? Charlie and his grandma enjoyed a candle-lit dinner and some playtime. while Max and I got to hit the town. We haven't been able to go on very many dates in the evening when Charlie has to go to bed so this one was extra special.

We decided to make our date have the whole Valentine theme so we started by playing cupid at Archer's Afield. Max has been wanting to do this for awhile. This archery place was near where we grew up and has a lot of good childhood memories. I was a little intimidated at first when I couldn't get my arrows near the target but I figured it out and we ended up having so much fun.

The awkward pose of the night.

My best shot. 

When our arms got tired we finished and the night was still young. We then went to the mall for a Jamba dinner and in search for a Valentinesy item. We didn't come home with the item we were searching for but we did find an amazing deal on a wonderful king-size comforter which we have needed for our bed. That's kind of Valentinesish right? Anyway, it felt so good to be out on a wonderful date and not feel like we needed to rush home to get the baby in bed. We knew he was well taken care of so we could have a stress-free night.

And seriously, how does a girl get so lucky to have these two incredibly handsome valentines?

Tender moments

There are so many moments that I share with my son that just melt my heart. They may not seem like much but they become the reasons I feel so privileged to be a mother. I feel that I need to document these in order to always remember them because, I know, as he grows they will just become memories.

Holding my sleeping boy: A week or so ago, Charlie had a low fever and it caused him to have trouble sleeping. He was waking up about every hour after we put him down. He was completely exhausted and once I picked him up, he would quickly fall asleep in my arms. As he gets older, I don't get to hold him while he sleeps much, so this felt so good to me. I contemplated how much he had grown and how there is no more room on my lap for his long legs. I felt his unconditional love he has for me and the safety he must feel in my arms.
      That same night, we decided to bring Charlie into our bed so he could be comforted by us all night. I have never really enjoyed having him in our bed because I usually can't sleep, Max held Charlie over by him and cuddled him until the morning. This was Max's tender moment. Especially now that he is working and doesn't see the little guy as often, he keeps commenting on how holding his still and sleeping son was truly special to him.

Books: Charlie has recently been more interested in books than toys. I have been trying to teach him respect for books and how to turn the pages carefully. We have read together nearly every night ever since he was about 3 months. When he was about 7 months he started to get extra wiggly so we read together but he usually wasn't in my lap. Some days, I wondered why I tried so hard when it seemed that we wasn't getting much from this routine. Now that he is showing an interest in books, I feel that we have had a little victory. At the end of the day there are usually several piles of books throughout our living room. Here are some pictures I was lucky enough to catch.

                                             
This one was extra special to me because he picked out one of my Armenian children's books. When I picked out 2 children's books at the end of my mission, I envisioned my future children enjoying them but it seemed like something in the very distant future. But this day, my son plopped down right by my feet and started looking through it.

He's also interested in the thesaurus!?!

I handed him a book to hold while I changed his diaper. Usually when I pull up his pants, he rolls over and wants to play but this time he was so enthralled by this book, he stayed there and continued to "read" it. 

Prayers: Charlie showed us that he knows he needs to fold his arms when we pray. We have prayed with him at meals and together at night for quite some time and we always emphasize that we fold our arms. Last night was the first time that we said "we're going to pray Charlie" and he willingly folded his arms by himself. I got a little choked up because I was so proud of him. Of course, he didn't keep his arms folded the whole prayer, but we felt that he is starting to get the idea.

Understanding: Charlie hasn't been too big on speaking but everyday he has shown us something new he understands. When we say "let's go outside" he will go to the door and wiggle the knob. When we ask "Where's the piano?" he will point or go to it and play a bit. He knows nose, eye, ear, and teeth and will point to them on me. He smacks his lips when we say "Can you give mama a kiss?" He sometimes puts his head on the ground when we ask him to do a somersault.and I'm sure there are a ton more! It is so fun to be able to communicate with my little boy.

 These are just some pictures from a sunny day at the park last week.

 Hide and Seek: All on his own, Charlie decided to hide in his changing table cupboard, at this moment I realized he isn't much of a baby anymore. Just like any kid, he likes to get himself into small places. He even tried to close the door.

That's all I can think of right now but we are incredibly impressed with this boy everyday and feel so blessed to have the opportunity of raising him.