Bye Bye WA House

So we finally sold our house in WA. We have been renting it out for the past four years and decided to put it on the market for sale in early May. By the end of September the house was sold and although I will miss the house for the many memories we have there and the great neighbors, I am SO happy to be done paying two mortgages. Fare-thee-well sweet home and may your new owners love you as much as we did.

It's Official

Three years ago, on this very day, I gave very painful birth to a beautiful little girl, Charlee Marie.

Charlee is a sweet and sensitive little girl who will always be the first one to cheer you up when you're sad. She's full of personality and has a sense of humor far beyond her years.

Up until the last month she has called Dillon, Danny and I'm sad to see it change. Just another sign that she's growing up. She still says hun for here, ee for where, along with a few others.

Charlee has always loved babies. She often has one tucked under her arm and I don't see this tradition changing anytime soon.

She is the biggest cuddler out of the three and she loves having her arms and back scratched.

She is also the only picky eater we have. She would live off of sugar if we'd let her.

I wish there was some safe way to slow down the growing process because it really is breaking my heart to see my baby ageing before my eyes.



We love you Charlee!

Charlee's Birthday Bash

Poor Charlee's party didn't really get planned until two days before the event. Just the same I think it went over really well and the kids all seemed to have a good time. Here's how it went down...

Charlee's Dora Adventure

Fist we had the Map.

The kids had to get through the Magical Mud Swamp by
hopping from stone to stone.

Then they had to cross The Musical Bridge where they were asked musical riddles by the older kids before allowed to exit the bridge.



Finally they had to swim through the Balloon Lagoon to get to ...

Treasure Island



After all this they played with balloons, opened presents, and ate yummy food.

Dance

A lady in our ward is teaching her three year old twin girls how to dance and invited Charlee and a few others to join in for free. She does such a great job with the girls and they are really enjoying dancing together. It's going to make it hard when I actually have to start paying for dance classes.

All Aboard

A friend and I took our kids on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
It was a beautiful ride and the kids really enjoyed it. We got off at Indigo Lake to let the kids run around for a couple hours before the train came back around to pick us up. In a matter of minutes the kids had stripped down and dove in. We, of course, weren't prepared for this, which made the ride home a little interesting, not to mention that we didn't see the
"No Swimming" sign until one of the kids pointed it out to us after leaving the water. But it passed the time nicely and I'm certain we'll never see any off those people ever again.

Shaker Lakes

We did a little family hike around the Shaker Lakes. It was a beautiful day and some of the trails were overgrown which made it exciting for the kids. I was impressed with how well the kids did considering how long the hike was. A couple miles at least and even Charlee made it all on her own.

Charlee's First Day of School

A few friends and I are doing a co-op with our three year olds two days a week this year. It's been going really well and Charlee really enjoys going to school with her friends.

Last Camp Out for the Summer

Three days living in nature is a good way to get your fill, for a while anyway.
The kids were peeing all over the place and looking nastier than I've ever seen them. We ate tons of junk and had a lot of fun. I'd say we're ready to put the camping stuff away for the season.

The kids put on a show.

They made paint out of berries.

They caught some frogs.

Charlee got very used to "going" whenever and wherever she wanted. We're still working on getting her past that.

The boys building some kind of fort.

I had to post a picture of this perfect fire. There is something about having a fire going that gives you this great sense of survival. Travis does a great job of building the fire. He can get a perfect fire going in no time (without using lighter fluid like I do).