Diaper Gymnastics

Charlie absolutely loves his new trampoline and Max and I continue to realize that it was the perfect gift for him. He has started doing all kinds of tricks on it. Max has taught him many different kinds of jumps, such as in outs, twists, front to back, and high knees. It is so fun to demonstrate these to Charlie then he immediately wants to try them for himself. It's cute how at first his coordination is not quite on but he figures it out pretty quick and gets excited to try any trick we request of him. Charlie also makes up his own tricks and loves to show them off to us. A couple nights ago, Max decided to try some gymnastic tricks with Charlie. This isn't recommended in the trampoline manual but Max was a great spotter and counter-weight. Here are some pictures of the gymnastic tricks. (feel free to ignore the laundry and other messes in the background)

First, Max showed Charlie that he could hang on the bar and bring his legs up.

I love Charlie's concentration here!

and then do a flip.

Charlie was eager to try this new trick on his own. Max spotted and guided him. Sorry about the blurry pictures, he was just moving so fast.

He eventually fell into Max's arms upside down....but seriously, this kid is so strong.

They then tried a couple tricks flipping over the bar.

Charlie was so happy to do tricks with his daddy that he gave him a whole bunch of hugs when they were done.

And that is the diaper gymnastics. In the meantime, Charlie starts a gymnastic class at the community center in 2 weeks, we are so excited and from the looks of things...he's going to love it!

Ringing in the New Year

New Years! I was trying to remember past New Year celebrations and I really can't remember that many of them. I think that would have to make this one my favorite. I guess it could only compare to when Max and I would go to church New Year's dances together as teenagers and dance with each other the whole time. Yup, pretty magical. Anyway, I loved this year because of the simplicity of having an in-home date with the man I love most. Last year was kind of a bummer because Max had a deadline with some homework and had to spend pretty much all hours working on it so he took a 15-30 minute break to ring in the New Year then went back to work. (Alright, so I guess I am starting to remember past celebrations)

So here is a little bit about what we did this year and some of the highlights of 2013

We had random snacks for dinner. Please note that the meat is Venison actually caught by Max's brother. We haven't tried our venison summer sausage yet, but this one is sure delicious. We also, had soup, garlic bread, and canned peaches for this random dinner. 

We felt absolutely NO DESIRE to keep Charlie up until midnight. We thought that maybe we could keep him up until 9 to celebrate East Coast New Years which would commemorate our East Coast trip of 2013. We were able to do this but he was completely ready for bed and about to lay down to sleep. We put him down and started our in-home date, which actually started with our "square one" tidying up (dishes, toys and other things that are left out) and Max climbing in the attic to connect a vent...then our date really started. We showered and reviewed the goals that we had made the previous New Year (as part of our 15 minute celebration last year). We had never done this before and decided that it would be a great tradition. We had a lot of success coming from these goals. 

 

1. Weekly Planning: We both did this when we served missions but didn't really continue afterward. With our schedules getting busier we decided we really needed to make a time to go over our week. This was a huge success this year. Every Sunday night after we put Charlie to bed we go over the calendar, make goals and checklists for the next week, do meal plans, make a grocery list, balance checkbook, pay bills, balance the property ledger and enter receipts. This has been so wonderful for our family's organization and we are happy to continue it into this year. 

2. Job: Max started working with Grow Construction last January and it has been great for our family.

3. Preggo: Yup, that happened. 

4. Healthy Weight: Max and I both made significant improvements to our health and fitness. 

5: Max get Diploma: He officially finished his last undergrad requirements and got his diploma last January. Within 24 hours of finishing his last final, he was offered a job where he is working now. What a Blessing. 

6. Charlie will walk: He was 13.5 months last New Years and still not walking but definitely strong enough to do so. He started walking a week later after we purchased a living room rug. 

7. Family outings: This we have definitely improved on since we are no longer students and Max didn't have to work crazy salesman hours during the summer. Our outings included 3+ trips to the beach, hikes, 3 camping trips, lots of OMSI, Target trips, Tacoma trips, rafting (without Charlie) Washington DC, New York, Gettysburg to name a few.

8. Visit the temple every other month: This was not completely achieved but we made significant improvements since last year thanks to our baby sitting exchanges with Kerri and Corbrett and my mom always willing to babysit.

9. See Les Miserable. We got tickets to see the movie last Christmas so I was pretty excited to go see it. 

10. Paramedic certification: This was not completed. Max still wants to get his national certification. (His previous/current certification is only good in Utah)  

11. Finish house: We have lots of projects still to do in our house so Max was kind of bummed when he saw this goal. On the bright side, we have a functional upstairs bathroom and the yard is much more under control. Also, Max has had to put many more hours into the other houses on the property that were in worse condition than ours. He has had to deal with 2 dramatic eviction proccesses and flipping 2 houses that needed significant repair work. When it comes to fixing our stairs or cupboards or getting good renters in the other houses, the renters come first. Point is, huge wonderful changes and progress have happened on this property and 2014 will be the year for carpeted stairs and functional kitchen cabinets in our home.

 12. At least 3 pages of Rhapsody in Blue: I think I gave this goal up by March. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is the hardest song I've ever attempted to learn and it is 30 pages (15 minutes) long. I set this goal because I didn't have much reason to make myself practice the piano and I hated that I wasn't using my talent. I did learn to play through those 3 pages better but still not fluidly. Since then though, I've started playing for our church choir and giving piano lessons so I know my talent is not going to waste. 

Alright, so I'm sure that is more detail than you wanted to know about our goals and successes of 2013 but I'm glad I wrote it down for my personal memory. It also helps me really see how blessed we have been in this last year. Life is so good. 

Anyway, back to our Ringing in 2014 celebration. 

Max and I decided to play a game because that is not usually something we make time for with just the two of us, and we both enjoy it. We played Would You Rather, I think we made up half of the rules but we had a wonderful time and laughed until our stomachs hurt. It was then just after 11pm so we decided to indulge and make new goals for 2014. 

Sparkling Cider and Chocolate covered strawberries with my Love, it doesn't get any better than that. 

Just so you know, Max and I rarely drink carbonation so sparkling cider was enough to get us tipsy! 

 And here are some more goals for 2014 we'll see what we can get done! 

   

I don't think we wrote this down but I'm pretty sure we should add "more late night in-home dates" because we truly had so much fun. I think we'll especially need them as this new little boy comes to join our family!

Happy New Year to you all...Life just keeps getting better!

Christmas time!

This year we had three days full of Christmas feasts and gift giving and receiving. It was a busy time but oh so fun. On Christmas Eve we always go to my Grandma Roemhildt's house. We enjoying going there because we get to see many family members that we only see once a year. It is also neat to see so many people of different religions coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ. My Grandma works really hard to make sure everyone has a gift specific to them. I'm sure it is a lot of work with all her children, grand children, and great grand children. We ate a nice dinner then cleaned up and opened presents.

The dancing Santa is a favorite decoration. There were multiple times Charlie tried to shake his hips just like Santa

Green Grandma's elaborate tree.

My beautiful cousins Julia and Catherine

Charlie Santa

And here are my precious brothers...haha

It's so fun to watch my curious little boy open presents. 

We had a lovely evening then took our sleepy little boy home to get ready for Santa to come. Max and I finished some last-minute wrapping, prepared breakfast, and did anything else that needed to be done before going to bed.  We were a kind of excited to see Charlie's reaction when he saw what Santa brought him. Christmas with a two year old is like we get to be kids again. 

Justin's stocking is on the right, he ended up not staying with us for Christmas but we made sure he got his stocking later!

Charlie woke up around 8 am. He must have known something was up because he busted through his childproof door and came into our room. I really don't think he understood that we were going to open all the presents that morning but it is funny that this is the year he started coming in our room and jumping onto our bed. I went downstairs first to put our French Toast Rafael in the oven and turn on the Christmas music. I also wanted to get ready to record Charlie seeing his gift for the first time. I tried to include the movie, I hope it works because I usually don't have any success with putting movies on here.

Charlie jumped for awhile, we then peeked into our stockings to see what Santa had left us. Charlie got animal crackers, a pomegranate, and some gymboree bubble.  

I love how it APPEARS that he is being patient. 

Max got a new white church shirt, and a kiwi, and I got a kiwi and some peppermint body wash. We all got pistachios and peanut M&Ms. After we had enjoyed our stocking contents. We went to the table to eat some delicious breakfast. We had French Toast Rafael, Grapes, and Bananas. We filled up then went back into the living room to attack the presents under the tree. 

Charlie opened the Avocado from Grandpa Roemhildt

He then appeared to wait patiently again while daddy opened the truck from Grandpa Roemhildt. He was so excited about the truck that he didn't want to stop playing with it to open anymore presents. That's another thing that's fun about this age, they don't need much to be entertained and they are grateful for what they get.

He then was not-so-patient once he saw how cool the truck was. 

Max spoiled me with many things to make me feel beautiful, which was much appreciated because I feel huge right now and I don't like to spend money on myself. He gave me all kinds of lotions, body washes, and candles. Charlie likes to smell the candles...and I like to pretend to smell candles.

They kept saying "awesome" back and forth because thy were so excited about Daddy's gift. 

Max has been wanting, I may even dare say Needing, a saw for awhile. We finally got him one for his Christmas gift. Both Charlie and Max were excited about this one although Charlie still hasn't been allowed to touch it once it was outside of the box. 

Charlie also got some animal magnets. 

Charlie and baby brother got matching fire truck jammies that will hopefully fit them both next fall!

We enjoyed playing with our new gifts for awhile then had some leftover butternut squash soup for lunch and put Charlie down for a nap. As Max was coming out of the shower he found Charlie jumping on his trampoline. He had busted out of his room again and came down to play some more. Max put him back to bed. After we both showered we thought it would be a great idea to take a nap. Charlie, of course decided to wake up just as we were falling asleep. Max kindly got up with him and let me sleep a little bit more. I'm not much of a napper so I slept briefly while Max took Charlie to a close playground. I then got up and we got ready to go to my Red Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and more family time. For some reason I didn't take any pictures there but we had fun and Charlie loved playing with his (my) cousins. 

We went home full of delicious dinner and desserts. Just before we left, my amazing husband and little brothers did a quick cleaning project for my grandma that she wasn't able to do for herself. I love that my husband jumps at the opportunity to serve my Grandma. 

The next day (the day after Christmas) Charlie woke up way too early. I think the staple has started to bother him more because the last couple of nights he hasn't been sleeping as well and he has been playing with it more. It is probably itchy. We are so excited to get it removed tomorrow. Anyway, with him waking up super early, Max at work, and being exhausted myself, we were having a grumpy morning. Charlie was throwing fits about everything which is not normal for his usually calm temperament. Luckily he was able to go down for a nap just after 10 and slept for quite awhile. We planned on meeting at Max's Uncle Jay's house between noon and one but I definitely did not want to wake up my sleeping grumpy baby. Luckily Max got over there on time and was able to help set up tables. We left shortly after one and I was significantly disappointed that there wasn't any Christmas music on the radio. When we got there we really weren't surprised that everyone wasn't there yet. I'm sure glad I didn't wake up the beast, he was actually much happier after his nap and when he got to play with his cousins. 

We ate a delicious turkey dinner shortly after we arrived. They then cleaned up the tables and soon after it was gift giving time. 

Brent and Lisa

Shadow and Judy

Grandma Annette and Mum-Z

Brayden must have been tired after eating all that turkey!

We got to have a special visitor come and deliver presents. My father in Law makes a pretty great Santa.

He hand delivered a quilt made by Charlie's grandma. He was pretty excited about this

Charlie was spoiled again from all his family members. 

Charlie loved the bells. 

He wouldn't even look at the camera because he loved them so much.

So I took the bells away to get a picture of his face and this is what I get. 

Charlie had fun watching August play games. 

Santa with his kids. 

Once again, the most popular toy in Jay's house. 

Charlie got a police set from Uncle Jay that he was pretty excited about. 

And that is about the end of our Christmas adventures so I better post this before it disappears and I have to do it a third time.