I Spy…Charlotte Having Fun With Daddy

Tonight, after dinner, Charlotte wanted to play with her I Spy Bag.  She very energetically bounced back into the dining room and asked if we wanted to play with her – so sweet.  Wayne took up the challenge and it was Game On! 

The I Spy Bag is something Charlotte’s found in her Easter basket this year.  Wayne and I also have a much smaller version for the toddler {diapers no more, you know?} bag.  Anyway the fabric bag has a clear vinyl “window” so that you can manipulate the rice inside to find each hidden treasure/artifact.  They also have laminated cards attached that show you what mystery items to look for.  {Charlotte calls that “The Map” a la Dora The Explorer}  The I Spy Bag is a little like a treasure hunt and so far it has been hours worth of fun! 

Tonight, with the addition of a magnifying glass Wayne and Charlotte picked up last week the hunt was REALLY on!  I enjoyed watching them play (very serious explorers) with fits of giggles and an “Ohhhh, Man” every few minutes.

By the way – I know Charlotte’s expressions are so animated that it looks like these photos were staged….but they weren’t.  She was just having THAT good of a time with her Daddy!    

Happy Birthday Nonie Marg!

What's with that tongue?  :)

Charlotte started off wanting to make Nonie Marg a birthday card, how sweet!  Then half way through decided she just wanted to draw a picture and write her own words?!?  Charlotte says the picture SAYS “Happy Birthday!”  :)

 

Charlotte Painting With Daddy

Tonight while I was fixing dinner Charlotte really wanted to paint and asked Wayne to paint with her.  They used these neat watercolor brush pens that have the paint right inside of them.  After you “paint” with the brush you can use water on a clean brush to dilute and move the paint around.  They had a blast and created MANY works of art in the thirty minutes or so it took me to get dinner on the table. 

It was so nice to watch and listen to them have fun together.  They talked about colors and on Wayne’s part a lot about NOT making a mess JUST for the fun of it.  But my favorite part was when Charlotte told Wayne:

“Good Job Daddy!  You did good on your art project, I like your colors!" 

 

How sweet is that little girl?!?

Dress Up With Daddy

This afternoon while Charlotte was at home with Wayne they played dress up.  

I can see from the pictures Wayne took that they had a great time together.  Charlotte really likes to pile on as many costumes as her little body will hold and then bounce on her bed…sometimes until the clothes start falling off!  :)   

While reviewing the super cute pictures he took I came across the last picture…a naked Charlotte, strategically holding a cowboy hat, bouncing on her bed.  Wayne tells me that at one point Charlotte was DONE with pictures.  He decided to take some photos of things in her room to practice with our new camera.  (Those were neat too!)  When he looked back at Charlotte she was NAKED, bouncing on her bed and just LAUGHING her head off.  

Cupcakes

On the way to preschool today, Charlotte asked me if I could bring cupcakes to school for snacktime.  I think she was thinking about her school birthday celebration a few weeks ago.  Charlotte was really disappointed to learn that I did not have any cupcakes to bring; we’d not made any…. But I assured her we could make some when we went home later. 

I was very surprised to pick her up from school and some of the first words out of her mouth were that we needed to go “right” home and make cupcakes…she remembered?!?  Sucker for baking with my toddler that I am…off we went!  As soon as we got home she morphed the project into “Making cupcakes for Daddy” so I suggested we add Reese’s Pieces as a surprise.  Halfway through filling the cups, I asked Charlotte to add THREE pieces of candy to each cup.  Mostly just to challenge her to count THREE out each time.  However, true to her spunky self, she insisted on doing FOUR in each cup…with quite a few in her mouth in between!   She did really well counting FOUR out for each cup, only one of the cups got a HANDFUL of candy!   (She also NEEDED to taste every ingredient before it went into the mixing bowl…YES, that INCLUDES the raw eggs, flower, oil, etc.  I think she learned her lesson about the final batter tasting better than each individual ingredient!)

Charlotte was VERY pleased to present her Daddy with a yummy desert when he came home from work.  BUT not so happy that we had to eat dinner before diving into the cupcakes.  Poor kid!

She surprised Wayne and I both by NOT wanting frosting on her cupcake…silly girl!  Anyway, they were YUMMY!  Thanks for the great idea and good work baking, Charlotte!