Yes We Can

Barack Obama was in Raleigh today, and Evan & I were able to make it to the rally (a rally in Raleigh - gotta love that). I took a few photos, but these were taken by a guy with a much better zoom lens.

28,000 people waiting in line


The crowd inside the Halifax Mall


The man himself


It was completely amazing. There was a little girl standing next to me, probably about 8 years old, jumping up and down to get a glimpse of Obama. A few feet away was a man who was easily 75 years old. The positive energy was so overwhelming, and I'll admit to getting little teary eyed by this enormous and diverse crowd chanting "YES WE CAN" together.

Pumpkin Patch

Our annual pumpkin patch trip was difficult to schedule this year. After 3 rainy Fridays in a row, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather on Sunday (and the fact that Tanisha's bun is still in the oven). We started out on a "spooky hayride" - lot of animatronic spiders, ghosts, etc. down in the woods.

"Look at that scary thing!"


Out of the woods


Our next adventure was a donkey ride. He asked to do this, and I wasn't sure how it was going to go over. He wanted me to walk with him on his first ride, but went by himself on round #2.


After watching a little girl get her face painted, he decided that was next on the agenda. I can't believe he sat still for this....


but the kitty didn't survive for long! She was pretty much scratched off by lunch time.


Here are a few shots of picking out pumpkins (there were several rounds of this - he and Zayveon ended up decorating their first choices) and some shots with Tanisha (2 days past her due date!) and Zayveon. Going for the big one...


and finally settling for one more his size.

Killed by Cuteness

After bath and before bed, one of us reads to Charlie in the twin bed (the "big bed") in his room. Last night was my turn, and he wanted to snuggle with me when we were done. He put his arm around my neck and said, "Stay here with me, mommy, ever ever after." I'm posting this mostly to prove to him in ~10 years time that, at one point, he actually did want to hang out with me.

Regression & Progression

Charlie is going through few interesting phases. The first involves him saying he's a baby. I hear this is a normal part of being a toddler, but sort of funny how it just cropped up. He's been wanting us to cut up his food, carry him around and just generally snuggle him when these "baby" moments strike him. He wouldn't eat dinner the other night without sitting in Evan's lap:



But then in other ways, he's so grown up. The other new phase is him asking, "What happened?" any time you respond or react outside of the realm of normal conversation. Even more than ever, he wants to figure stuff out and do what we do, and is getting so much better at expressing himself. He was in the shower with me the other day, and wanted me to hold him. He put his head down on my should, let out a big sigh, and said, "This is nice." And when Evan shaves, he wants in on the action.

Little Politico

Poor Charlie is stuck in a house with election-obsessed parents. Evan & I have both been volunteering for the Obama campaign, and I recently took him with me to the campaign headquarters to pick up a yard sign. He looked up a the huge poster of Obama, and here's what transpired:

C: That man is scary!
A: Why? Because he's so big? Don't worry, buddy: He's normal-sized and super-nice.
C: Him super-scary and super-nice?
A: You know who is super-scary? Sarah Palin.
C: Sarah Palin is scary?
A: Yup.

Sarah Palin made a trip to Greenville, NC, last week and Evan & I were talking about it. As soon as I said her name, Charlie said, "Sarah Palin is scary!" This was possibly my proudest parenting moment to date. Unless you count this:

Langest Laster

Whenever my sister or I were laying down, stretched out, my Omi would say, "So ein langes Laster!" This loosely translates to, "What a long truck!" (I think the alliteration helps.) Charlie was sprawled out on the bench in our living room the other day, and he just looked so . . . long!

Kitchen Catastrophe

Charlie loves to help us in the kitchen. We had some time to kill before nap a while ago, so I figured we'd make some pound cake. I had just pulled the arm of the mixer up to scrape the bowl, when Charlie turned it on! Here's what resulted:



He was really upset at first, but I got him calmed down and then ran for the camera. I should have taken a picture of myself, too - it looked like someone threw a cake batter malatov cocktail into the kitchen! Charlie recovered pretty quickly once he realized that he was covered in something delicious :)



We went for round #2 in the kitchen last week when Isabel & Heather came over. The weather was awful, so I figured sugar cookies would be a good distraction. This time I had the foresight to unplug the mixer when it was idle!



While we were waiting for the cookies, the kids took off for the play kitchen - which is delightfully free of batter, dough, etc.

No, No You Don't

We were at Marbles (a kids museum in town) this morning. Charlie loves the train tables, and easily spends 3o - 45 minutes just moving the trains around the tracks. Evan & I were watching him play this morning, and another little boy sidled up to Charlie and stood there for a while. Charlie finally glanced over at him and gave him the most imperceptible shake of the head, as if to say, "Don't even think about it." It was so utterly priceless, we could not stop laughing. Charlie is so physical and verbal about his wants, and that made his response even more hilarious.

Lake Lure

A few weekends ago we met Evan's family at Lake Lure, which is conveniently halfway between Raleigh and Atlanta. We had a great cabin just a short walk from the lake. The weather was beautiful and we had a fantastic time.









There was this great little waterfall by our cabin. Of course, I had to get a closer look, and in the process set a terrible example for Charlie!




Back at the cabin, we stripped Charlie down, which he was very excited about. He was running around yelling, "I'm nude!" I think this picture is definitely going to get some attention when Charlie brings home his first girl- or boy-friend.


I love these pictures of Charlie and Grandpa Horejs




Dean, Lauren & Evan off to go kayaking

Labor Day

Catching up as usual...here are a few photos from our Labor Day weekend in Georgia, where we celebrated Evan's mom's birthday.





Grandma & grandpa took Charlie to the fire station to check out the trucks up close. He got pretty lucky and got to get in the truck!





Backtracking a little here, but this is when Charlie first got this hat, which has has already made a debut here. He's completely in love with it and it figures heavily in all of his dance routines.