Swimming, airplanes, and an auction.

Among the fun things we have been doing with Aunt Esther this month are swimming, watching planes fly, and a ward activity. Charles likes to be an active participant!

We went to an indoor pool and let Charles splash around. He enjoyed the "float boat" he got for his birthday and the feel of being moved through the water. We watched Esther do some laps with different strokes; she is quite good! Below is a picture of Charles climbing in the locker room.

Then we had a picnic near an aviation event so we could see a bit of the planes flying around. We only caught glimpses of the WWII planes that were flying but we saw several private planes that were coming in. The picture shows Charles in my sweatshirt, looking, Esther said, like a "fairy god prince".

Our ward youth put on a dinner with a dessert auction as a fundraiser for their camps. The youth made some impressive desserts and everyone bid to buy them. Charles figured out how the game worked--the auctioneer (who was a friend who had babysat Charles before) talked and when people took turns raising their hands he would point to them. So Charles started raising his hand too! I'm sure all the laughing and cheering helped him keep doing it. He won some delicious almond roca and chocolate bars for us (not for more than we already planned to donate luckily). No one was surprised then at church when he joined in sustaining (or opposing).

Also, we got a nice post card from my parents in Venice, my pregnancy is going well (sometimes I feel baby girl kick and roll around), and Aaron is having some missionary conversations at work.

Fun fun fun!

Other pictures: Esther and Rosie cuddling, Charles looking like a s'more, and Charles thinking vinegar and olive oil are "milk".

One is One

Charles is one, and very fun, and ever more shall be he so.

We had a party with a few friends from our ward, I wish we could have had everyone but it was great, and filled our apartment! I have learned that even when we only plan to be somewhere for a short time, it is worth it to get involved and make friends. We might be moving soon (more on that later) but we really love the people here.

The party had a safari animal theme, and it did turn out to include some adventures. Charles found a bottle of bubble blowing solution and took a few big gulps of it. Luckily it was non-toxic and he was fine, but he was upset that it was so yucky and had to take a little nap during his party. We woke him up to open presents and eat his cupcake.

For his birthday Charles also had yummy foods, and packages from grandparents! Thanks!

Tiny Joyfulness

You all know this already, but for the blog record, we are pregnant! A few have asked us if this one was a surprise and the answer is mostly no, mostly.

When we wanted to get pregnant with Charles it took us 8 months, which is nothing compared to the years that some families have to wait, and it seems short to me now, but it felt long to us then! So, this time we were eager to start trying as soon as possible in case it took a while again. We thought 18 months was about as close as we would like to have our children so we started there but we were prepared to be patient and maybe get pregnant in the next year or two. To our delight, we didn't have to wait!

I'm sure having two little ones so close will be an adventure, continuing into their teen years, overlapping missions if it is a boy, etc. but I'm confident that it will be grand! I'm sure there will be overwhelming days; maybe that's what it means in Psalms, "my cup runneth over." So many blessings! We are very grateful for our little growing family.

Bacon Days

In February and March Aaron and I had our birthdays. We ate lots of yummy food (the highlight of Aaron's meals was bacon), spent time together, and had Charlie to entertain us. We had nice birthday wishes and mail from family and friends. Thanks!

Recently we have ventured to the museum of flight in Seattle and out to a few parks. It's great to have friends from our ward to do things with, and to have some increasing sunshine.

Aunt Esther the Traveler

We were lucky to have the fabulous Esther stay with us for a few days!

Here is what we did:

"We don't want any adventures here, thank you!" Bilbo

3/4

Charles is 9 months! We went to his pediatrician today and he is in the 50th %tile for weight, 85th for height (almost 30 inches--we will be getting a new car seat soon!), and 98th for head circumference. He is healthy and well. And cute.

He is a climber; he holds onto a table or counter edge with his hands and pulls himself up while trying to use a chair leg or the inset of a cupboard door for footholds. I've told him he needs gear to do that but they don't seem to make it his size.

He is also starting to show more interest in music and dancing. I was dancing to pandora and he watched me for a minute and started bouncing along :)

He is gradually sleeping better (yay!) and enjoying new foods.

The grown ups:
We are looking at houses around the Lake Stevens area. I am teaching a few violin students, which is fun though I don't feel very professional.