'Jesus is at home'

Today while Charlotte and I were driving around we were listening to Brooks and Dunn 'Red Dirt Road'. Of course I only know the chorus which I was belting out with the windows rolled down.

Charlotte picked up on one part of the chorus - 'It's where I found Jesus.'

So she stopped my singing by saying:

"Mom! Mom! Jesus is at home. Let's just go home. We can find him there."

........

Tonight we were putting puzzles together and apparently I was either getting impatient and putting them together too quickly or hogging all of the pieces because Charlotte grabbed my hand as I was about to put one down and said:

"Whoa! Wait. You need to share. Whoa."

Then as I put her down to bed tonight and gave her a kiss she reminded me that I needed to be better at sharing...

Sheesh. Well excuuuse me.

our little angel

looks can be very deceiving...

{My mother and I were shopping in an antique store a few months ago. I left to use the restroom and came back to see this. My mother posing Charlotte next to this angel. She kept saying "Mommy Mommy look at me, look at me." Then she'd pose with her little head down and stay still.}

swimming downtown

Last Friday Ben was post call and it was well in the 90's... so we headed to the water. There are beaches all along Lake Michigan downtown Chicago. We grabbed a picnic lunch from Fox & Obel and headed to a beach that had maybe 30 people hanging out.

 Ben realized after swimming, jumping, tossing Charlotte around, and dunking down into the water that his iPhone was in his pocket still... oops.

He packed it with these silicone packing pouches for 4 days and it WORKED.

Miracle.

We love Chicago.

the past few weeks...

 My tiny best friend and I went to the movies yesterday. It was cold and rainy. And I had zilch planned for the day. So we headed out to see Mirror Mirror loaded with snacks. I told her it was a Snow White story. She liked it but kept waiting and waiting for the "I'm Wishing.." song to be sung. So she sang it for them.

Below: the first attempt at getting a picture at the end of the movie. She wouldn't stop looking at the screen.

.....

Charlotte got a play house for the heck of it and of course the afternoon we decided to put it together it poured. Ben only had that afternoon off before a crazy week so we covered up and went to work. Charlotte was a big help...

.....

 The art virtuoso.

The next Kandinsky.

.....

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Wisconsin to camp. After Ben worked 107 hours that week it was a much needed time away.

Below is the ONLY picture of me with Charlotte. Thanks, Ben...

 I was worried about a 2 1/2 year old around a bonfire, but she had fun throwing marshmallows in from a safe distance.

 Is it cheesy that I had her wear girl scout shirts the whole weekend?
And here's Ben in his ever-present-whenever I hike/camp hat he bought in Bolivia a few years ago.

 One of those days it was in the 90's so we headed to a lake to go swimming. She LOVES the water. At one point Ben thought I had her hand and I thought he had her hand and she went under... for awhile... oops. We're great parents. I snagged her right up and she spit the water out and said "whoa.." then continued jumping around.

 She was pooped on the way home. Can't ya tell?!

 Ben gets a kick out of this. If you can tell there's a "baby on board" sign and then the bumper is dented and sagging. Anytime we come across this baby sign and a crunched car he thinks it's hilarious and takes a picture.

 We drove about 5 hours northwest of Chicago into the rolling hills, forests, and cornfields of Wisconsin. I love that state. She did great in the car, slept like a champ in her own mummy bag in the tent, and only got 3 mosquito bites (compared to Ben and my countless ones).

Side note: one afternoon we stumbled across a flea market in a forest. I kid you not. These people had tents and tables set up amongst the trees and bushes. It was amazing. Enamelware, old kitchenware, old windows, old pallets, farm equipment, old milk jars.... it was a vintage/country/primitive gold mine. And ridiculously cheap: enamelware teakettle $4, old blue mason jars $1, old farmhouse windows $5. 

I could have gone crazy.

But I didn't.

I bought 2 old windows for $5 each.

That is some serious restraint.

Cub's Opening Weekend

Last month we went to the Cub's home opening weekend.

We loved it.

 Charlotte helped Ben eat 2 hotdogs and some lemonade.

 and snacked some more while helping Ben keep score.

 Two buds watching the game with their matching hats. Anytime he's home and it's still light outside they put their hats on and grab the Cub's bat and ball we bought at this game and go play.

And now that baseball season is upon us, there is always a game on.every.single.night. 

one of those weeks

We've had one of those weeks where we really feel what it's like to be a resident's family.

The new rules for resident doctors is that they can work a max of 16 hrs a day and must have 8 hrs in-between shifts. Which means Ben leaves at 7:30 or so in the morning to get to work by 8 am. His shift is over at 12 am (16 hrs later), but he still has to finish up patient notes, call in prescriptions, or heaven forbid an interesting case wanders in that he wants to see... Which means he strolls in around 1:30 am or so. I waited up for him once, but every other night I wake up sometime in the early morning and notice he's asleep next to me. 

I've seen him maybe an hr and a half this week and Charlotte has seen him about 30 minutes total. She usually wakes up at 7:30 right before he leaves and hugs onto him for a few minutes and then says "See ya yater, daddy. Go to work!" then runs off to her breakfast. This morning, however, as she was hugging him she said "I 'missted' you so much!"

So it's been just Charlotte and I. Two peas in a pod. She's been my sidekick as I've redecorated the house, stripped and repainted my dining room set, gone running, shopped, taught activity days at church...

But boy am I excited for a break from her. As much as I love her =)

So here I am waiting for him to come home in the next few hours and passing my time watching the Notebook.... gosh I love that movie.

She loves putting Ben's dress clothes on when he's finished with them.

Love her.

dancing and singing... dancing and singing...

I can't think of a single day in the last few months that Charlotte hasn't gone around the house, store, parking lot, church, airport, playground singing and dancing.

And when I say singing I mean really dramatic vibrato of a Disney song, a conversation she's having with you, or making words up as she goes.

This is usually combined with ballet-esque movements of spinning, twirling, leaping, bowing, somersaulting, and falling to the ground.

 Then time for a drink...

... and nap.