Pigging Out in the Park

Every Labor Day Weekend Spokane puts on a food and music festival called Pig Out in the Park. They have about 60 different food booths for you to choose from and bands playing all day/night long. I have to report that Matt did much better this year (last year he had Zips and Papa Johns). He actually ventured out on his own and came back with a chimichanga with black beans and rice.Above is Matt sharing his cheesecake on a stick with Charlie. Oh and that's our friend Anthony giving Charlie bunny ears.

Is it just me or do Matt and I look alike in this picture? I heard somewhere that you tend to pick a mate that looks something like you because whether you want to admit it or not you find yourself attractive. I'm just realizing right now that I may have done that.

Finally a Little Help

I guess the key to getting Charlie to pitch in was to actually get the broom out. Once I started sweeping this afternoon Charlie immediately tried to grab the broom from me and take over. I tried to think back to last time I swept to try to remember if he acted that way and I realized...it's been a while since I've actually gotten the broom out.

Guess it's time to negotiate an allowance for this kid.

He's a Ring

Charlie's definitely a Ring. He went crazy when he saw Matt shooting hoops this evening. I took a little video on my camera so you could see how happy he was to be out there with his dad. There's no sound so just imagine a baby laughing and giggling throughout the whole video.

Reconsidering

I popped into Charlie's room this morning to find him emptying his dresser and interviewing other blankies for the position of first mate. The white one, made by a friend's mom's neighbor, has been the only one in his eyes since about his 1st birthday. (By the way, I don't know why all this is underlined and blue, I could use some tech support right about now.)

We Camp

We're Rings, we camp. Having an infant with a cold, slight temperature, and occasional diarrhea doesn't stop us. We're going for the Parent's of the Year award this year and we thought taking our sick 16 month old out in the woods for the weekend would help get us some votes.

We just ended up staying 1 night and for the record we think the mountain air helped clear up his congestion. We got home around 6 on Saturday night and by 8 he was playing, eating, and laughing like his usual non-sick self.

No Real Topic...

This is kind of a non-topic post. It's just some random photos from the past week or so.

Charlie charging for the camera.

Photo of Charlie's foot, taken by Charlie.


Escaping from a diaper change mid-change.

Note to Grandma Cheryl: if you're reading this you might want to wipe down the seat of the car before any other kids stop by to ride it. I don't think we remembered to do that before we left.

Playing Wii with Dad.

The Finnegans Have Arrived!

My sister, her husband, and their little baby Caden have officially moved to Spokane. As of today they're both gainfully employed and have a place to live (Grandma's condo) until their house in Phoenix sells. We're so excited that our little guys will get to grow up together! The picture makes it look like the boys are not so happy about it but I think the problem had to do more with Charlie's obsession with grabbing the camera than anything else.

Charlie's Dad the Officiant

Last weekend Matt performed the ceremony for his buddy Ryan's wedding. I was able to snap 1 quick picture before Charlie stood up, pointed, and said duck! Da Da would have made more sense but I think he saw a picture of a duck before he saw Matt. After that we made a dash for the door -we spent the entire ceremony outside. I'm not sure why I was expecting him to stay quiet, he's become quite the constant talker lately. Matt got lots of compliments though so it sounds like everything went smoothly. If I remember correctly Charlie's crying because he saw the camera and wanted to play with it. Except for a few small outbursts like this one he was pretty good for the 5 hours we were there.

Some of the bride's cousin's really wanted Charlie to hook up with this other little girl and shake his booty. He wasn't into it though - I think he still prefers to dance with silverware.

Greatest Day of Charlie's Life

Last weekend we went over to the west side of the state for a friend's wedding. Our friends the Booths were kind enough to let us crash at their house which was perfect for Charlie because their son Logan has some pretty great toys.

Below is a modern day Radio Flyer. Complete with 2 drink holders per seat - and we're not just talking about regular drink holders - these fancy holders could hold juice boxes or cups. After we discovered Charlie hated the Radio Flyer Kerri brought out a new toy for him (we're pretty sure he only hated it because it semi-involved sharing). The second Matt started pushing him in the little car below he went crazy with joy. We seriously couldn't get him out.

Even Logan was forced to take a turn pushing him. When we tried to take him out so Logan could have a turn he'd throw the biggest tantrum. Thankfully Logan kind of enjoyed pushing so Charlie got to ride in the car pretty much all afternoon.

This is just a random picture of Matt playing in Logan's fort...the biggest kid of all right?

A Game of Mini-Golf

By mini I'm of course referring to Charlie and the size of his clubs.

Matt and I both demonstrated how to hit the ball for Charlie. He could do it, however he preferred to just swing the clubs around. He hits the ball pretty well in the house though. He does little laps around the living room hitting and chasing his ball. It seems to keep him entertained which I guess is what's important at this age right?

Charlie's Fortress is Finished!

Matt spent the day finishing off Charlie's swing-set. To get up to the platform part Charlie has to figure out how to climb either the rock wall or the rope ladder. He's only 16 months old but I think by Fall he'll be scaling the rock wall no problem.

Thanks Husband for building Charlie such a great playground!

Charl'dini

Just a quick little funny story. I was sitting in my computer room this morning reading emails semi-ignoring Charlie who was playing behind me. When I was done I turned around and he was playing with a diaper. My first thought was that he took it out of the garbage by the bar area (yes, we have a bar in our basement). Then I started thinking 'why would there be a diaper in the garbage by the bar? We never change him down here.'

So I reached up his shorts just out of curiosity and I hit bare skin! He somehow managed to take off his diaper by reaching up his shorts. The leg snaps weren't even undone.

Now that's something I'd like to see Houdini pull off!

Fancy Pants

We went to another wedding last weekend and Charlie mixed up his outfit a bit. He chose to go with the plaid pants instead of the conservative brown cords. We received so many compliments on his pants it was just ridiculous. He was seriously fighting the ladies off left and right.

No family photo this time, picture the last one though but with Matt and Charlie in the outfits above and me in the standard blue polka dot dress.