Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Little Rhodes' 2 year birthday party was this past weekend and it was a "Train" themed party. They had a jump house, pizza, balls, and even a train to drive the kids around the neighborhood. Super fun! Charlie has been enjoying reading his "Little Engine that Could" party gift book this week. Last night we were reading it when Patrick walked in and Charlie just looked up and said "choo choo" and went back to the book. Funny man.

Sleepy Man

On Monday Charlie was a little under-the-weather, so we spent the day together. He typically sleeps from 9-10 am and from 12-2pm when he's with me. On Monday we where on a walk in the morning and Charlie took a quick 20 min. snooze in the stroller, but wouldn't go down when we got home (don't you love when that happens??). For the afternoon nap Charlie literally cried for 2 hrs. straight while in his crib. Everytime I went in he acted awake and ready to party. (Usually he will put his head on my shoulder to let me know he is still tired.) So, at 2pm I let him get up. No nap Charlie. We went to the grocery store around 4pm and I let him drive one of the carts around. By 4:30pm this is what I found:

Bless his tired, little heart.

Another week in OKC

The Leclercq clan has recently moved into a new house, so Charlie and I went up last week to help in any way possible. On Wed. I spent the day (sort of) unpacking... except that in the new environment Charlie didn't allow for much work to get done. On Thursday I stripped a bedroom of it's wallpaper. On Firday, I went to Home Depot to collect items for their upcoming garage sale. I also got to go eat lunch with Jul's, which was a much needed break. On Saturday we held the garage sale and decided that we should start ripping up carpet in the living room. On top of all this, I also had baby duty every day from 2-5:30ish (the nannies where there from 9am-1pm every day). Julie and Manny closed on the house Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon the downstairs air condition was out. We spent the weekend in an 85 degree house (miserable). At least the upstairs AC was working. So, not many pictures where taken, but the ones I got are pretty good. The house has a great new play room upstairs.





And a couple of videos:

NO!!

I think we have entered the "NO" phase...

(The bruise on his forehead is from a fall off the couch. We had some restless 2 1/2 and 3 yr olds over the other night who where jumping off our couches. Charlie now thinks he can do the same... except he really isn't there yet.)

Splash Park!

Look how excited Charlie was to go to the Splash Park. So stinkin' cute!

Truckin' Across America

As mentioned, we took Charlie to Six Flags two weekends ago. Bad idea. It was SUPER hot and Six Flags is not that kid-friendly for a 17 month old. Still, it got us out of the house and gave us something to do. Charlie got to ride the small parachute ride, the Batman Wings ride, and train called "Truckin' Across America" which happened to be his most favorite ride. We also stopped for a little water spray, vists with some cartoon characters and super heroes and some food. Not a horrible way to spend a Sunday!

Zoo Saturday

We were supposed to meet the Bates' at the zoo at 9 am on Saturday morning, but due to Charlie's 5:00 am (ugh!) wake up call, he required an early morning nap. We ended up getting there at 10am. First stop was the new exibit, Wilds of Africa. It was pretty amazing. Here Charlie is acting like an elephant:
You can feed the giraffes now! They get SO close.
Charlie enjoyed the jaguars
Hello
Driving the jeep
Charlie liked traveling on P's shoulders
We met up the Bates' after seeing the new exhibit. Here is Ryan taking a ride on a camel. He couldn't understand why we all thought it was so funny.
We hit up the Kid's Zoo at the end for some sliding...
play time with Olivia...
and, of course, water time sans bathing suit (again)

Weekend of activities

Because one of Charlie's new favorite things is to destroy the kitchen cabinets
we have tried to be as active as possible when we are at home. This weekend we went to the zoo on Saturday and Six Fags on Sunday!! I know, we are crazy. But, Charlie was happy and entertained, so mission accomplished. Patrick and I also, thanks to the Allen's, got to squeeze in a night out for a friends wedding shower. All in all, a great weekend.

Birthday Brisket

Thanks to The Lunds for introducing us to this awesomeness. I made Coffee and Chile Braised Beef Brisket on my birthday... delicious!!

Patrick and I have been eating on it all week. We have made tacos:

and pizza (with BBQ sauce):

Charlie likes it best served over a baked potato. Super easy and possibly the best brisket I have ever tasted.

Latest DIY

Since Patrick and I have done our kitchen I have been itching to upgrade pretty much everything else in our house. I have decided that I dislike all of our rugs and that we need a new ottoman/coffee table. Oh, and I took our lounge pillow that used to be on our couch to a tailor and had them break it up into 2 pillows so that we can extend/open our couch. Instead of actually purchasing anything, I switched out some rugs and used coffee tables that we weren't using and now our den looks like this:

And, I scored this breakfast table at a garage sale for $40!! Patrick and I have been eating on the couch for the last few months, so this was definitely a need.

I painted her white to match the room and bought some Ikea chairs...

And now we have this!

4th of July Weekend

Our internet is FINALLY working at our house, so I better get this blog post in fast before the rain takes it away again. We had originally planned to spend the weekend in Spicewood, but according to the weather man Austin was going to see a lot of rain over the weekend, so we switched our plans to stay in Dallas. Saturday was my birthday.... thanks to all who emailed, called and texted. It was perfect just spent with Patrick and Charlie at home...we went to the Lake Highlands 4th of July celebration. It was super fun complete with a train, a petting zoo, a sand box (possibly the highlight for Charlie), balloons (another highlight), men on stilts, and good food. We missed the parade due to Charlie needing an early morning nap, but this will become an every year event for the Allen household.
Petting zoo fun!
There is also a splash park at the LH Rec Center. So fun!! Charlie had a blast. (Again, we failed to bring a swimsuit... when will we learn?)

Special thanks to Patrick for making my birthday so great... he really went all out with Sprinkles cupcakes and my gifts! Thanks babe!

On Sunday, we celebrated the 4th by going to watch the fireworks at Royal Oaks Country Club with the Hamilton's and William's. It too might become a yearly tradition. We kept Charlie out until 10:30!! All of the boys did great. The fireworks started at about 9:30 and by 9:40 Charlie was passed out on my chest. Bless his heart, he missed the whole show! But before that, when he would see a firework he would say "Oh, wow!" So cute.
Rhodes and Charlie wrestling. They would fall on top of one another and roll down the hill and then do it all over again. It is so cute to see them actually playing with one another rather than just beside each other.

Charlie got SO sweaty from all the playing and rough housing he was doing!
Sweet baby Drew
Dean
This was at about 8:30. Charlie just fell over and layed down right in the middle of playing. Poor thing... it was only 1.5 hours after his bed time!

On Monday we went to the YMCA for a family swim. Here is Charlie trying out dada's goggles.

And, I will leave you with this. Charlie has a new face that he LOVES to do. It's so funny, but I'm pretty sure he is saying "You are an idiot" with this new face of his!