That time of year again

Today I met Mindy for our first pedicure of the season. Since Tony was working, Charlie tagged along. He really enjoyed napping on his momma the entire time.

Here's the little guy resting away. He didn't like the massage chair, so I had to turn it off.

I was telling Mindy that I needed to clip Charlie's nails and the lady doing Mindy's toes said they could do that for me, free of charge! It was nice because I get so nervous every time I try to snip those tiny little nails. Here's a picture of Charlie's "manicure".

Tiny Dancer

I believe Natalie's dance recital has been on our calendar since last fall, and yesterday the day finally arrived! I went over to Kasson early to style up a ballerina hair-do for the little princess. Charlie was pretty stoked because this meant extra aunt/uncle/cousin time! He even got to meet Connie and Duane (Mindy's parents).

Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures during the recital, so I just have some posed shots to share. I understand completely to hold the pictures: at Natalie's January practice recital, there were parents holding up their iPads to take videos. This completely blocked the view for those around them. How rude (as Stephanie Tanner would say).

Some pre-dance cousin time.

How sweet is this picture!?

The tiny dancer

I stole this from Mindy's blog, but here we are with the kiddos!

It was fun to watch Natalie up on stage. She was by far the cutest girl up there, although I might be biased...

Sunshiny Smiles

Charlie and I have been enjoying this beautiful spring weather the past couple of days. Unfortunately, Tony's been cooped up at work. Luckily he gets to take his patients outside and play sometimes.

We've utilized the extremely wonderful stroller from the Knutson/Sutter/Millard gals several times! I've also discovered the app "map my run". I hit start and it uses Google Maps to follow my route and calculates the distance, time and how many calories I burned. I have discovered it is 1.11 miles from my house to my parents house. I also discovered that stopping at Kwik Trip on my walks to get a doughnut really defeats the purpose...but it sure was a tasty treat!

I just uploaded pictures from my camera, and I MUST share some good ones of my little man.

Here's his open mouth smile!

His heart breaker smile

His cheesy smile

His bashful smile

My mom bought this pack n play for us, and Charlie just discovered the stars hanging above his head!

Since I post so many smiley faces, I figured I should show his sad face too. 

Gallery Wall

Michaels had a great sale on frames a few weeks ago, so I decided it was time to make our stairway have a wall full of pictures. Today Tony and I worked to put it all together. I'm so happy with the results! I couldn't take a picture straight on...

Save big money at...Target?!

If you know me at all, I shop for what I need when I need it. I'm not a "garage saler", nor am I a "couponer". I typically do not think about saving money until it's too late, and I just NEED the product. My goal for the spring/summer is to start being a savvy shopper!

Today I made progress towards my goal. I downloaded the Target app yesterday and noticed that it lists the sales/clearances for the week. I went through and "clipped" all the products that we typically use/eat. Today, Tony and I went shopping! My mom and brother took the little one to make it a little easier. We filled a shopping cart FULL of things we use on a regular basis or groceries we needed.

As we were checking out, I noticed the sign for the Target Red Card. You save 5% every time you shop using it. Well...I am a frequent Target shopper, so I was intrigued. Come to find out they have a Debit Red Card now. The money comes directly from our checking account. No need to worry about credit interest rates...SO, we enrolled.

To sum up our shopping experience:

Received $10 in gift cards for certain purchases made
Saved $8.09 from using the Red Card
Saved $34.23 from shopping sale/clearance priced items

TOTAL SAVINGS on products we needed to begin with: $52.32!!!

Next stop: Hy Vee and Fareway advertisements and Stewartville City Wide Garage Sale Weekend!

SLEEP!

I won't brag about this too much, but I do have to share. It is currently 4:30am and we put Charlie down to bed at 9pm. This is the FIRST time we got up in the night. We are actually starting to get some quality sleep, and so is he! I'm told we are very lucky that he is sleeping this long this early, and I know we'll have nights where this isn't the case. But it sure does feel good to sleep longer than a few hours at a time!

Here are a few smiling shots from the actual camera (not phone) from yesterday morning.

Charlie's Smiles

My phone is overloaded with smiling Charlie pictures, so I had to get them on my computer in order to take more! I figured I probably should share them with you all! If you remember, Charlie's first real smile was on Easter and it was with my dad. Now he's smiling at all of us, not just Grandpa Buck. Although Grandpa Buck sure does get a lot of smiles still...

Bath time is usually full of big smiles! He loves when I pour the water over his head to wash his hair.

I said "let's take a picture for Grandpa Buck" and he just went crazy with the smiles. 

This was for Cheryl, my Aunt Amy's mother-in law. She gave him this cute onesie!

I walked into the bedroom one morning, and I discovered this happy baby. 

He just wouldn't quit smiling and giggling away. 

Floortime fun!

Bouncy seat smiles

I love waking up to a happy baby. This was Charlie this morning during his early morning floor time. 

I just captured this one a few minutes ago. He looks SO big! 

Yes, you have guessed it. I take a lot of pictures of my little man. I just can't help it!

Sam's Big Day!

Today is Sam's official first birthday, but we headed to the Miller household last Saturday to celebrate a little early. He is getting SO big! He's not quite walking yet, but he sure gets around fast! I showed up a little late since I was at class, but Tony and Charlie were there in time for lunch.

I showed up for the fun part: gift opening! I was SO excited about the gift we got Sam. I bought it over a month ago. It's a Little People Batman and Joker car chaser toy. Super cool! I hope Charlie's into superheros so we can have fun things like that hanging around our house eventually.

Here's the big boy opening a present all by himself.

But he had MANY helpers!

Relaxing while his friends open his presents. 

Nothing quite as fun as a kazoo. He was just a humming away!

We had such a fun day, but I cannot believe he's already 1! Time really flies! I suppose I'll be repeating myself next March when Charlie turns 1...

The Last Prom

I feel like I've been going to St. Ansgar's prom grand march forever! Well, I guess I have the past 5 years...Michelle is now a senior, so this was my last grand march there.

I know Chelle is my cousin, but she was by far the most beautiful girl there (inside and out). Skylar, her boyfriend, wasn't too bad looking either!

Here are some shots captured:

Here they are walking around the track at grand march

Sisters!

The Hemann family

Their little girl is growing up!

Charlie attended his first prom. He even wore his tie for the occasion 

Cousin shot!

Oh boy....

Charlie loves his Iowa cousins!

The couple one last time!

We'll be heading down to Iowa for Michelle's graduation party in less than a month. Wow..I can remember when she was born! Time flies!

I Love to Read

Somehow Charlie has already started to collect a large amount of books! Tony and I have been having fun reading through the books, but just this week Charlie has started to really pay attention when we read to him. He'll look at the pictures as we read and laugh here and there.

Even Luna likes his new box full of books

Here's story time tonight before Charlie's bedtime bottle. 

All is well

Dad just sent a text that the surgeon called and Mom is out of surgery. Everything went great, and she is off to recovery! We're heading out the door to go keep Dad company and visit Mom!

New Knee!

Today's the day my mom has been waiting for! She is getting a new knee!

If you don't know my mom, she's been hobbling around for the last few years on a bad knee. Olmsted Medical was putting off her surgery until she felt pain 24 hours a day! Finally this winter, she was referred to Mayo, and they told her to get in right away for that new knee! She put it off as long as she could. She was having a hard time realizing she would be done teaching for the school year.

Yesterday was her last day of teaching until next fall. Charlie, Tony and I went to visit her on her last day. Her students were so sweet: wishing her well and giving hugs.

Last night she was told to report to Methodist Hospital at 5:30 am to prep for surgery. They wheeled her into the operating room at 7:30! Charlie, Tony and I are heading up soon to spend time with Dad while he waits patiently.

We pray that everything goes well in surgery, and Mom has a quick recovery!

Here she is all ready to go!

Baptized in Christ

Today Charlie was welcomed into the church through the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Baptisms always make me tear up. I'm not exactly sure why, but this one was no exception! It was so special that Pastor Anjanette was able to do the baptism since she married Tony and me about a year and a half ago.

At Bethel, after the baptism, the pastor walks the baby around the sanctuary, hands him to a member of the congregation, and the member brings him back to the parents. It's a symbol of welcoming him to the congregation. Pastor Anjanette chose my friend John to bring Charlie back to us. The three of us (and even Charlie) went together on the service trip to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, so Pastor A knew it would be special for me.

We had a difficult time picking Godparents for Charlie. All of our siblings/wives(soon to be wife), are all very faithful people. We knew they would all make excellent Godparents for Charlie. So...we asked them all! Charlie has 3 Godmothers and 3 Godfathers! What a lucky boy!

Here's my mom and dad with their little grandson!

Here's the crew of Godparents minus Kate. She had to be out of town for a conference this weekend. 

Tony's parents and their little grandson. 

4 generations on T's side. 

The beautiful cake my cousin Hannah made for Charlie. She's so talented!

Here's a 4 generation shot on my side!

The Millers visit Charlie

Adam and Emily came and met Charlie on the day he was born, but Josie and Sam have been passing around some sick bugs, so they FINALLY got to meet Charlie last night. The Millers brought us a delicious hot dish and dessert, and we had a grand time!

Sam's getting to know his new buddy Charlie. I don't know what Tony and I will do when Charlie gets to be Sam's age. He was on the go the entire time!

Josie loved holding Charlie. She was so sweet and gentle with him. 

All the toys were out of the box, so Sam thought he should hop right in!

Josie was reading bedtime stories to Charlie!