Uncle Mark's Put Put & Driving

Charlie loves getting into Uncle Mark's old cars when we visit. Usually Drew is right next to him, but this time he was driving solo. I was able to snap these two cute pictures. It's good to see he has both hands on the wheel in the first picture!

Charlie has become a very active backseat driver these days. He likes to tell Pete and I which way to go in the traffic circle, we scream when we go under a bridge, and he tells us to slow down when we hit the divots in the road. His best contribution is when he shouts at us to stop because the light is red. He also tells us we can go when the light is green. He definitely picked this up from the book Go Dogs Go. Hopefully all this learning will lead to a good driver when he turns 16!

Bath Mohawk

Charlie's hair got really long again. As you can see from the picture, he got quite a mohawk in the bathtub. Just a fun little picture to share!

Wagon Buddies . . .

Some of you may remember this picture from WAY back. This was our first photo shoot with the boys that my cousin, Melissa, did for us. You can find her here: http://melissamooradianphotography.com/. I can't believe how little the boys are! It brings back many great memories of them as babies. After we took that picture, we decided that we were going to try and get the same pose of them in the wagon through the years. We tried one time last year, but the boys were having nothing of it. Charlie and I were visiting with Kelly and Drew last week, and Charlie decided to pull the wagon out of the garage. My camera was close by and the boys were cooperating, so we had a little photo shoot! I'm so glad we got the picture. We are really looking forward to the times in the future (teenagers, graduating from high school & college, and maybe even wedding days!) where we can recapture this picture. So, I hope you enjoy the first update, and I'll be sure to keep them coming over the years!

Future Spartan!

Well, it looks like we may have a future Spartan on our hands! Charlie has been singing the fight song with us for quite some time now, but he won't ever do it with an audience. I was sitting in the kitchen last night, and he was walking around the kitchen singing the song. I asked him if I could video tape him doing it so he could see himself, and he was all about it! I'm so glad I finally got it on video!

Before . . . and After.

Well.... here are the before and after pictures of Rocky. The first picture is directly from the website where he was purchased. Notice how stuffed he is when you first get him. Ok... are you ready??? Here's the after picture!!!

Needless to say, Rocky has been very loved... and this is his third one! The grey part of the paws (which no longer exist on Charlie's Rocky) are the part he sucked on. They were no longer grey, but a yellowish color. Eventually a hole would start to appear in the paw, and Grandma Hrodey tried her hardest to keep stitching him up for her grandson. Eventually, the holes couldn't be repaired, stuffing would start falling out, or Charlie would pull it out, and now you see the end result. Oh.... Rocky.... how we love thee!

The Adventures of Rocky

I came upstairs to find Charlie like this the other day, so I just had to get the camera. For those of you who don't know about Rocky (the dog he's sucking on).... here's his story. Rocky was given to Charlie twice when he was born. Mimi (my mom) bought him one, and so did Anna & Jack (Charlie's California cousins). Rocky is a Blah Blah stuffed animal (http://www.blablakids.com/) and we were introduced to these animals when we moved out to California. All the kiddos, Anna, Jack, and JD had one, so when Dylan and Charlie were born, they received one also. Rocky's real name, according to the website, is Licorice, but we thought it might take awhile for Charlie to say that. So, we decided to call him Rocky and keep the tradition going. * Rocky is what we called Charlie while he was in my belly. So, this love filled relationship began very early on with Charlie and Rocky.

At first Rocky just kept Charlie company in bed when he slept. Later on though, we realized that Charlie somehow started sucking on the paws of Rocky for comfort. We didn't think much of it to begin with, expect that Rocky went everywhere with us... no matter the time of day. Flash forward to 2 years later. We have been through 3 Rockys. For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting Rocky, you know that he is a little... well... for lack of a better word... stinky. Ok, Uncle Mark, he's REALLY stinky. Rocky is pretty much a disgusting stuffed animal dog that no one wants to touch or smell, but he is Charlie's BEST friend.

We are on our last Rocky. Charlie only gets him now when he sleeps... he's not allowed to leave his bed. Breaking him of the habit of taking him everywhere was definitely a process, but we did it. We tried cutting off the paw to get him to stop sucking on it, but he just started on the other paw. A couple nights ago, we heard Charlie crying about 30 minutes after we put him to bed. When we went up to check on him, he had pulled ALL of the stuffing out of Rocky's arm (there was a hole already in the arm). So, Rocky has two knots tied at the armpits to keep the rest of the stuffing from coming out, one arm is a paw-less hanging mess of strings, and the other arm is limp arm with a dangling, chewed up paw on it. So, needless to say, Rocky is coming into his final days. I am half tempted to leave him home when we head down to my parent's place on Sunday and try to kick him of the habit. I still have a couple days to decide.

It's been a great adventure with Rocky, and it saddens me to know that I cannot keep him in Charlie's life. I really wish I could get him to just snuggle Rocky instead of suck on him, but I don't know if that will happen. So, there's the story of Rocky. I will get a before and after picture of him to give you an idea of how "used" he is.