Zonked

It must have been a long, hard day at school.

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Getting into the Holiday Spirit

As has been the tradition since before Clara was born, we celebrated the Season with our dearest friends last weekend.  The girls decorated gingerbread houses and had their fill of candy.  

We continued our festive weekend with a visit to Santa.  Both Clara and Charlie were a little shy, but Clara didn't leave without telling Santa that she wanted a princess watch and some binoculars.  

After visiting Santa, we cut down our Christmas tree.  Clara and Charlie were there too, but wouldn't pose for the picture.  Maybe by the end of next weekend, we'll have our tree decorated.

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The Dentist

Clara had her second visit to the dentist this month.  Her first visit in June didn't go so well.  All the dentist had to do was look in her mouth, count her teeth and check things out.  Clara sat in the chair and screamed the whole time.  So, this time around, I was prepared for the worst.  Amazingly, Clara sat perfectly still with her mouth open the whole time.  The dentist scraped, polished, and flossed without a peep from Clara.  And, no cavities!

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First Snow

The day after Jared left for deer camp, we had a nor'easter.  It's not uncommon for a nor'easter to dump a couple feet of snow in a short time.  Luckily, we only got a couple inches this time.  Clara couldn't wait to get out and play in it.  I've never seen her get dressed so quickly.

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Halloween

Disney's version:

The Ward's version:

Uncanny, isn't it?  

Princess Tiana and her frog celebrated Halloween with a parade and parties at school.  After the school parties, we went trick-or-treating in Concord.  Clara took home a bag full of candy.  She's already thinking of next Halloween.  Charlie just couldn't wait to get that annoying hood off his head.

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Happy Birthday, Charlie!

On October 21st, Charlie turned one. We celebrated with a few of his closest friends, including Grandma and Grandpa Carlson. We were so excited that they made the trip to visit with us. Clara was eager to show Charlie how to unwrap and play with each of his presents, what a good big sister!

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Ut-Oh

Does it count as a word?

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Story Time with Clara

The following story is rated PG for some adult language. To the best of my knowledge, all characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Transcript:
Clara: Leah has a mom, and her name is Halloweah. She has a dad and his name is Halloweenie-beast.
Me: Halloweenie-beast?
Clara: Yup.
Me: What did their family do?
Clara: Her family does, she spits. And she says, "stupid" and "dammit."
Me: That's not ok to say, is it?
Clara: She says that.
Me: They must have different rules than we do.
Clara: Yup.
Me: What else does her family do?
Clara: Um, my family and my friends, and I have another friend whose name is, um, Charliveeliva.
Me: Charliveeliva? What does Charliveliva do?
Clara: She has blue hair and red eyes.
Me: Is she scary or is she nice?
Clara: She's nice. She does bad things.
Me: Like what?
Clara: She has trees in her mouth.
Me: She has trees in her mouth?
Clara: That's a bad thing. And when I go to her house, she hit me, on the cheek.
Me: What did you do about that?
Clara: I telled her to stop hitting me in the cheek. She hit me right here.
Me: Did it hurt?
Clara: Yeah, but it goes away. Mom, I want to take a picture.
Me: Are you done with your story?
Clara: Yup.

The End.

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Drunken Sailor

Last Sunday, Charlie took his first real, unassisted, forward steps.  Of course, he wouldn't let me catch it on video until last night.  He's made a lot of progress this week.

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Pasghetti

We probably should consider installing a garbage disposal in the tub, but for now, we just pre-wash in sink.

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Camping, a Train, more Camping, and a Hike

In an effort to steal some family time before hunting season and cold weather arrive, we've been camping. Two camping trips in three weeks. The main event during the first camping trip was a family ride on the Conway Scenic Railroad. You may remember that we rode the same train during a camping trip last year. This time, Charlie was able to enjoy the ride too. It's fun to look back at how much Clara has grown.

After dinner by the campfire and some leftover sparklers, we went to bed tired and happy that night. Then everyone (by everyone, I mean the entire campground) woke up at 1:30 in the morning to Clara screaming that her ear hurt. After hours several minutes of screaming, a short walk around outside, and some Motrin, Clara settled down and went back to sleep. We woke up early on Sunday to pack our things. Jared apologized to our neighbors and we headed home via the pediatrician's office. After some antibiotics to treat Clara's ear infection (first one in over two years, great timing), she was feeling much better.

Two weeks later, we decided to tempt fate and go camping again. This time, we went with our friends, Eric and Brooke. It was Labor Day weekend, so we sent the guys up north early to stake out a campsite at one of the many first come, first serve campgrounds. To make a long story short, the guys chose one of the only reservable campgrounds and set up on one of the only reserved campsites. While Jared and Eric were out to lunch, the campground host and the Sherriff packed up our two tents, six sleeping bags and pads, five camp chairs, camp stove, three coolers, three bins of food, and a table cloth. I won't mention that the reserved site they chose was right next to the site we had two weeks prior, because I can't explain how they didn't know it was reserved. Luckily, Jared and Eric were able to retrieve all our things and set up camp again at another campground.

We spent Saturday morning hiking to the waterfalls. It was a beautiful day and everyone was anxious to stretch their legs. Charlie rode/napped in our new backpack. Clara rode half way in the other backpack and hiked the rest herself.

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Window Washer for Hire

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If You're Happy and You Know It...

Clap your hands!  This is Charlie's new talent.

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Camping!

Our camping trips have been slowly evolving. When it was just Jared and I, we would often backpack to a remote site for a long weekend with a tent that weighed just shy of four pounds. Hiking ten miles a day would be nothing. Then came Elsi. One of her first possessions was a doggie backpack so she could carry her own supplies. She didn't slow us down much, just took up some extra space in the tent. Then came Clara. Now we had to look in the "family camping" section and invest in a monstrous six-person tent that comes in its own backpack and weighs nearly 20 pounds. Needless to say, our backpacking days are over for a while, but we won't give up camping. Clara has her own sleeping bag and usually tells us when it's time to go to bed in the tent. Then came Charlie. I was nervous that he wouldn't share our love of camping based on the failed attempt over Memorial Day weekend, but last weekend, he proved me wrong. We spent three nights at Pillsbury State Park in Washington, New Hampshire with our good friends, Amy and Jay and their kids, Anna and Jack. We had a great time.

There was plenty of dirt and mess.

There were sparklers.

There was definitely snoring.

There was sun and sand.

There were boat rides and fishing.

There was a wood chopping lesson,

and a dance lesson.

(video)

Even though Charlie was already in bed during the dance lesson, he is convinced that camping is a good time!

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Clara's Birthday Party

We celebrated Clara's third birthday with some of her closest friends at a local playground that had a kid's pool. We had perfect weather for a pool party - sunny and in the 90s. Everyone cooled off in the pool before a picnic lunch and burning more energy on the playground. It was a great day.

(slideshow)

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Teeth!

Two teeth (and some Cheerios) have recently made an appearance in Charlie's mouth.  Hopefully, this explains why he's been waking up every night since the Memorial Day tent incident!

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Vacation - Part 2

After a weekend in the big city of Chicago, we were glad to leave the public transportation behind and head to the Upper Peninsula for the rest of our vacation week. Here are some of the notable events.

Clara got her first fishing pole and tackle box for her birthday - pink with lights! She caught her first fish in Gaylord before we headed to the cabin. It was this big!

We arrived at Baldy Lake on Tuesday afternoon. The kids loved walking from our cabin to the neighbor's cabin on the trail that Grandma and Grandpa built.

We had a bonfire, went for boat rides, played on the beach, went fishing, and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.

We celebrated Clara's third birthday with a few presents, a fish fry with the family, and cupcakes.

With four kids under the age of 5, three dogs, three parents, and two grandparent, we were surprised that only one kid fell in the lake! Clara was glad Aunt Jenny was right there to pull her out. Someday, she will be glad that I didn't have my camera handy to document the incident. Darn.

We broke up the long ride home by staying at Aunt Chris's house on the lake in Port Huron. It felt good to stretch our legs on the beach.

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