Charlie the Amazing Gargantuan Head Holder Upper

 To capture this amazing feet of infant strength I had to patiently wait like a wild life photographer waiting to capture the breech of a great white jumping to attack a seal.  For a long time all he did was lay his head on the bed sucking on his fist.

 Then breech.  His head was up.  I was quick on the camera and caught the moment for your viewing pleasure.

 It was very impressive.

Future Architect

Viola built this pretty amazing structure all by herself.

Charlie's first trip to the playground

 And as you can tell he loved it.  He slept through the whole thing.  We sat under the playground equipment to be out of the scorching sun. 

 And I had to include this one of Viola.  If only I could have gotten Charlie and Viola making this face in one picture.  But there are limitations to taking cell phone pictures under slides of two children one of whom is strapped to you. 

Purple Fingers

Viola loves to snack on frozen blueberries. 

 Plus you get to have purple fingers and a purple tongue.

Charlie is a morning person...

...Brian is not.

Flower Shoes

These are Viola's absolute most favorite shoes. 

 They are worn almost every day, as you can see.

Rain!

 We really need rain around here.  Hopefully they got some up at the fire.

Viola celebrated with this rain dance.

Then she put her rain coat to good use.

"I drew a letter"

 Viola was so excited this morning when she drew an "f". 

 A face commonly seen around these parts.

 Then she drew some "t's"

A good job for a big sister.

Viola helps out by bouncing Charlie in the bouncy seat.  He seems to like the attention from his big sister.

It's not always cold in Colorado

 I took the kiddos to Super Target this afternoon.  I chose this particular destination 1)because I had a gift card and 2) because I needed groceries and other items and this required getting them in and out of the car only once.  When we headed home I thought to my self "man it's hot" then I looked down at the car's thermomiter, 107.  What?  I didn't know it got that hot.  Then I said "well it can't get any hotter"

 Mere minutes later...

Thankfully this does not include humidity.  Dry heat is more tolerable but I must admit Target's air conditioning felt amazing.  We don't have it.

Slinging on Papa

 I was taking pictures of our friend's the Vander Wilts last night so Charlie went for a ride on Papa.

 So cozy.

I made this blanket for Charlie...

...and he likes it.
He's been asleep for a long time.

The Lion Book

Viola "read" her favorite book to Charlie this morning.

The Boy

 Charlie enjoys some time on his belly.  I think that he has the gas.  We got some gripe water today, hopefully it will help.

Viola wanted to be in the pictures too but she would not put on pants so she had a little bit of a fit.  It didn't phase Charlie.

Some times you have to protect your brother from photographers.

Viola protected Charlie from the Mama paparazza.

Diaper Laundry

Charlie took a ride in the laundry basket while helping with the diapers. 
Yep, that's right we use cloth diapers.

The Fire

I'm sure that most of you have heard that we have a large fire burning out here in Colorado.  We are not in danger of the fire burning our house down but we are dealing with a bit of smoke and ash.

It is causing some pretty amazing sunsets though. 

 Here is the sun seen through the smoke.

Saturday Morning in the Basement

 Charlie wore his Green Eggs and Ham onesie.

 Viola wore this adorable face.

 Then Charlie had a diaper change.

 And a bath.

 Then there was some sibling hand holding. 

It was a good morning.

Charlie's Eyes

 It's really nice when this one is awake while not crying or eating.

Crazy Lightening Storm

 Brian captured these lightening pictures from our driveway last night. 

Babies like to be hugged, and cuddled, and loved.

 Viola wanted to hold the sleeping Charlie after dinner tonight and decided that the bopy would be the perfect way to do it.  She was right.  He slept right through his big sister love session.  And she was quite pleased with the whole thing.  And I got some nice photos of them together.  It worked out well for all.

 She is looking enormous next to him.  When did she get so big.  Today I asked her to cuddle with me and she said that she was too big and that I should cuddle with that baby.  But then later I did sneak a little cuddle time out of her while she watched Thomas the Tank Engine.  Thanks Thomas.

Charlie Naps Best in a Bundle

The very cool monkey behind him was his gift from Viola. 

Papa the Mighty Steed

Papa is nice for sleeping on top of.

First Outing as a Whole Family

We had a couple of things to do around town so we loaded up the family truckster and the diaper bag and headed out.  Charlie did not get out of the car and slept for most of the adventure until a diaper explosion caused him to cry all the way home.  It was mostly a success.