Preschool Colin is blowing my mind. 

scenes from the weekend

we had another busy and fun weekend.. it's all kind of a blur, but here were some highlights:

Colin-Mommy morning at the zoo.  As usual, the water fountains at the front were far more entertaining than any of the animals.  He's STILL obsessed with the globe at the front entrance.. hard to believe this is the same little guy:

flashback! (ie, not Charlotte):

He was very excited about "stomping out" the fountains.  Also, yes, he has other shirts.  "Later Gator" is a weekend favorite.  

He reluctantly agreed to go see some animals too.  Here is my little billy goat.

and of course a stop at the playground on the way back to the car.

family dinner out Saturday night.. a perfect night on the patio.  Those are my glasses.  Don't ask.

she adores him.

and random, but deserves a picture: Charlotte starting to sit on her own!  big girl! 

ice cream social

our neighborhood had its traditional back to school ice cream social last night.  Colin had been looking forward to this for days, and it did not disappoint.

There was a fire truck there for climbing and Colin was SO excited.

but that paled in comparison to the bounce houses.  Last year he was too scared to go in.  This year, Mike had to drag him out!

He also ate two bowls of ice cream, "with sprinkles."  He's already asking when the next "ice cream party" will be!

baby food: not a fan

Given Charlotte's insatiable appetite, her consuming love-affair with oatmeal, and the fact that we can't even hold her while eating dinner or she will lunge for our food, we were so excited to finally start her on baby food once she turned six months.  I just knew she'd love it.  Naturally, she hates it.  Well played, Universe. 

We started out with sweet potatoes, since they were Colin's first food and he loved them so much.  Probably assuming it was oatmeal, she started out game for this experiment.

Quickly realizing something was not quite right here.

No, but seriously, what is this?  Get it out of my mouth.

Are they serious with this, Colin?

Still irresistably adorable even with a face full of sweet potatoes.

Subsequent attempts have only gotten worse.  She will open her mouth for the first bite, but as soon as she discovers it isn't oatmeal, she clamps that little mouth shut and wants nothing to do with it.  I guess I should have expected this considering she and Colin have been opposites about just about everything else.

But this girl still loves her oatmeal.  Here's a sample of some of her sound effects while chowing down.

rockstar

in case you missed it on facebook, here is our little Macklemore raising the roof to his new favorite song (which if you ask him, is called "the ceiling fan can't hold us.").  Pardon the pause to pick his nose, he's still working on his stage presence.

baby beer

Yesterday Colin enjoyed a major rite of passage.. his first baby root beer!

We actually still have a Dog and Suds drive in here in West Lafayette, and it's almost as good as the old A&W drive in of my youth.  I remember so distinctly sitting in the back of my dad's hatchback, the yellow lights glowing at night, and getting to drink my very own baby beer out of a tiny mug.  (I will confess I do still have one of those tiny mugs, thanks to a good friend and A&W employee who grabbed me one circa 1996 :)

Colin was a big fan.  Some traditions never get old.

The Little Red-Haired Girl

So it's usually hard to tell in pictures, but our little Princess ChaCha Carrot Top is a redhead.  I mean, really red.  This is a more accurate representation of her little head.  

Never in a million years did it occur to me we might have a red head.  I had been harassing Mike since her birth about the red hair coming from his side, until I read up on some basic genetics and learned that in order for a baby to come out red-haired, both parents have to have the recessive gene.  So, both of us and our european genes are responsible, apparently.

When I first got the inkling she was not, in fact, the blonde I thought she was, my good friend Shannon, who has been raising a little red head for the past six years, warned me that everywhere we went, people would stop us and comment on her hair.  That day has come.  Everywhere we go, people want to comment on her red hair, touch her hair, ask us about her hair.  Its kind of bizarre, but I don't think Charlotte minds the attention.

After a long Saturday of these conversations while out shopping, at a housewarming party, and at the farmer's market, Mike and I decided she needs a onesie for when we're out that says:

1.  Yes, it is red.
2.  No, we don't know where it came from.

But I have to say, her hair is adorable, and sets her apart from the crowd!