Grandma JoJo

Grandma JoJo arrived Friday afternoon for Charlotte's third birthday weekend.  Not the third weekend celebrating the birthday, but the weekend of celebrating the third birthday, that is.  Unfortunately, my seriously awesome mom was nearly always the photographer and there is little photographic evidence that she was even here this weekend.  Whoops.

We do have proof that she read Charlotte a book:

Cuddled with Petey Pie (who sadly developed raging double ear infections this weekend) on the couch:

Helped Petey ride the rocking horse:

And baked sugar cookies with Charlotte and NanaB.

I promise that next time we hang out with Grandma JoJo, I will take on more of the picture-taking job and get some gorgeous shots of JoJo with the grandkids.  We can't wait to visit her in the new house in Texas this summer!

Grandpa Spike

It's not every little kid who has a grandpa named "Spike".  Yes, even my father's business cards say "Spike".  There's a vague story about how his name evolved from "Charles" to "Spike" in kindergarten because several other boys shared the same name, but suffice it to say he won't answer to anything else after close to six decades of the appellation.

Anyway, Grandpa Spike was in town most of last week for business before the rest of the grandparents joined him to celebrate Charlotte's birthday.  He has a special talent for amusing young folks, so the kids had a blast enjoying some alone time with him.  We did all sorts of fun things.

Grandpa Spike created a points system for keeping track of whether he or Peter "won" at feeding Petey breakfast.  For the record, I entered the contest late and may have actually won if I had kept track of the bites better.

We went swimming in the pool at Grandpa Spike's hotel and Grandpa taught Peter to walk right off the edge of the pool (because he can't jump) into his arms.  Unfortunately, we had to be on guard at all times because Peter liked to do it whether we were ready or not.  That kid has no fear!

It looks like my dad is wrestling Peter into submission here, but really Peter was attacking a snoozing Grandpa.

Charlotte taught Grandpa her favorite board game.

We went out to lunch.

Charlie Jo enlisted Grandpa's help in assembling her cool elephant card that my sister's in-laws sent.

Grandpa Spike and Peter developed an acrobatics act.

And Grandpa Spike even got Charlotte to go down a 2-story high twisty tube slide at her birthday party. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!

Come back soon, Grandpa Spike!  We miss you!!  (More posts to come featuring the other grandparents!)

Keecher

Charlotte's new love is her toy puppy (a birthday gift from Greatest Aunt Janet and Great Uncle Bart), which she has named "Keecher".  I have no idea where she got that name from, but she was very sure about it.  Keecher makes all sorts of cute noises and rolls across the floor.  Best of all, Keecher came in a little pink purse.  The evil geniuses who created this must be gazillionaires.  Here is Charlotte, telling you all about her new "little buddy".

Now if only I could get her to stop screeching like she's being murdered every time Peter goes near Keecher...

Birthday cacophony

Happy birthday to my sweet three-year-old girl, Charlotte!  To celebrate, Charlotte and her buddies decided to play a special song on the piano.  The results were, well, interesting.  

[By the way, we're thinking Peter's new middle name should be "Me too!"  He has had more fun toddling after his sister and her friends.  This is such a classic scene.]

All of Charlotte's grandparents will be in town this weekend to see their special girl.  I suppose Peter will get doted upon too.  It's sure to be fun!

Speed racer

Scary glimpse into the future...

What more could a girl ask for?

50 cookie cutters -- each one shaped like a different animal.  Charlotte is in heaven!

She and I keep arguing over what kind of animal each cookie cutter is though.  The great turkey v. peacock debate is currently raging.  Sure would have helped to have some sort of a key to help us out.

Workin' at the car wash

Thank goodness Alicia came over right as I was setting up the kids with a "car wash" activity (shamelessly stolen in concept from my sister-in-law, Stephanie).  Who else would know all the words to the song "Car Wash"?  She sang and sang until Charlotte told her to "stop singing, LiLi."  What Charlotte lacks in tact, she makes up for in car washing ability.  Witness:

Yes, those are my glass baking dishes holding the soapy water.  I wanted to make sure the water tubs were too heavy for the car washers to tip over or attempt to carry around.  Peter thought it was absolutely mind-blowing to play with water outside of the bathtub.

We usually don't take bubble baths, so Peter was fascinated by the soap bubbles.  He desperately wanted to pick one up to inspect it closer.  You know the rest of that story.

Charlotte even dried off her clean cars with a towel.  When her bubbles all disappeared, she decided to borrow some from Peter.

When Charlotte's pants got wet, she asked me to "please wash them off".  I told her to just take them off, so we continued the car wash as a pants-optional activity.

Peter was a little confused about the concept.  He kept dipping this car in the water and then licking it.

I decided our car washing adventures were over when I turned around from unloading the dishwasher to find Peter washing himself by sitting in the water.  Charlotte tried to drag him out, but before I could stop her she decided to join him by sitting in the other dish.  I can't wait for it to be warm enough for us to do things like this out on the deck rather than on the kitchen floor!

Dance party in the van

If we fold the third row seat of the van down into the floor, it makes a perfect place for a dance party.  We pump some Yo Gabba Gabba tunes, dig into a Red Velvet Cheesecake Sonic Blast, and accessorize with some sunglasses that Cousin Sonia left in the van.  It's the perfect way to cheer some kids up who have been stuck inside for a few days with an icky cold.  BTW, the RVC Sonic Blast was a little rich for my taste, but it didn't stop me from finishing the whole thing (minus the bits eaten by the kids).

I think I may enjoy watching a little kid try to put on sunglasses just a little bit too much.

Every toddler's dream

A new refrigerator!  Seriously, Charlotte had such a fun time watching the delivery guys install the fridge and she was downright giddy helping me load our food into it.  Even Peter (once he woke up from napping through the entire delivery) giggled with glee when he first saw it, and then he hugged it (the ultimate Peter compliment).  These kids need more excitement in their lives.

We love spring!

Can't you tell?

The dress-up bin gets an infusion of new blood!

Cousin Ellie just sent Charlotte a big box of all sorts of crazy dress-up clothes.  Many of those were actually handed down to Ellie from Cousin Erin and Cousin Katie.  Considering Cousin Erin is just a few years younger than me, this means that the frocks are bordering on vintage!  I didn't have my camera handy for the initial foray into the box, but I was able to get Charlotte to stand still long enough to snap one picture with my cell phone.  Actually, the teeny-tiny red plastic high heels slowed her down quite a bit.  Thank you so much to all of the Taylor family cousins for handing down these timeless treasures!

Notice Peter (sans pants, after a particularly wild diaper change) in the background, having fun with (what else?) some costume jewelry necklaces.  Aren't those some skinny little gams on Miss Charlotte?  She definitely takes after her father's side of the family in that respect, because I have never had such slender legs.

Bigfoot

Is it just me, or do these photos (from yesterday's visit to the doctor) make my kids' feet look ridiculously large?

And lest you think I have little angels who are always this good in an exam room, let me assure you that moments after these photos were taken they were both racing around the room and competing to see who could make the loudest annoying noise.  Otherwise, they were fairly well-behaved.  They both love the doctor's office for some reason.  In fact, Charlotte cried rather bitterly when we left.