Kindergarten

Dear Charlotte, 

First, I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with our blog the way I should have, especially since there is no baby book, but my Instagram is up to date for you to view one day and look at all of our adventures. This however was more wordy than Instagram could ever be. 

You my dear will be starting school. Real big kid school. I'm so incredibly excited, scared, sad, happy and more for you! You're five years old now! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday you were my tiny peanut who needed me for everything. Just a small baby in my arms every chance you could be. 

Now you can run and jump and play and dance and sing. You've made friends and even got a kitten, that you're doing a very good job taking care of. You're becoming your own person more and more everyday and I'm so proud of you, and still can not believe that I am the lucky duck that gets to be your mommy. I'm thankful for that everyday. 

The last five years have truly been the best most rewarding of my life. Watching you grow and learn and change, is something indescribable, but now we are entering a new chapter. 

I hope you always stay this kind and sweet. You're very cautious when exploring new things and places, you watch other make mistakes and try to avoid them, that will serve you well, but I also hope you take some risks. 

One of the things I love most about you is your joy in the simple things, and how you always find it. No matter where we are or what we're doing, you'll stop to pick up a penny, or a feather or point out a plane or a bird or a school bus or the most beautiful flower, things I would normally just walk past and not even see. You look at them or pick them up with such joy and wonder. This is something I hope you never lose. It's something I'm learning from you. To be more aware of all the joyous things around me. 

You are smart, and brave and kind. Sleep well tonight, for tomorrow you will move mountains, and I will be there to support and love you unconditionally every step of the way. 

Love, 

Mommy 

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny!

Well, my resolution to update more has NOT panned out well! I am sorry for any of you faithful readers who have been itching for a Charlotte update. 


For Easter we did something extra special.  We went to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny! Boy was it fun! This was my first time going to one of the Zoo's breakfast events, even though we have been zoo members for over a year.  I chose this event because I love breakfast and animals and Easter. We were fortunate enough to have people come with us on this adventure! Charlotte and I were joined by GG, Aunt Jenna, Cousin Holden and Holdens Grandmother Mary. 


I should start by saying how impressed I was with the organization of the event.  While standing in line, they told us what table we would be seated at.  It was nice to have assigned seats.  It was a sold out event, so I imagine it would have been sucky to fight for a table with enough sits for the six of us.  The best part of this event is that Holden and Charlotte were free because they are under two.  A lot of times places who have kids free under two, require the kids to sit on laps, so I was pleased to see they had seats for the kiddos too!


When we walked into the mansion house, it was decorated for Easter and all the kids got a free small stuffed animal.  Charlotte chose a duck.  Then we found our table, and boy did we luck out, we were right near the food and where there was a set up for Easter bunny pics!


We went to eat first, and the food was great. I should mention they had Hershey kisses decorating the table, so of course Charlotte ate one of those pre-breakfast.  They had mini muffins, apples, bananas, French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. YUM! I had about an entire plate of bacon, one of my favorite foods, that I don't buy or cook, so I gotta stock up.  The hashbrowns kinda sucked but everything else was great.  Charlotte ate a lot of mini muffins, eggs, and a French toast stick. 


While we were eating the Easter bunny came around to meet everyone, he stopped at every table.  Charlotte LOVED the Easter bunny, she cried when he left and spent the rest of the breakfast looking for him.  She met up with him several times.  In our family photo she wouldn't turn around for the camera because she was hugging him.  She found him to show him the craft she made too.  It was too cute! I liked how accessible the Easter bunny was, much better than the mall. 


They also had a craft table set up, it looked like two different crafts, however Charlotte only did one.  She got to color a bag to collect Easter eggs in.  She had a great time coloring and it was nice they had activities to keep the kids busy. 


The description of the event said to look out for the zoo's animal ambassadors and their handlers for pictures and things.  This was the only disappointing part of the event (although didn't make a different to Charlotte) The animals were two rabbits, which were super cute, but it was in a pen, and you couldn't pet it or really get your picture with it.  Charlotte had fun looking at the rabbits and waving to them (if you ask her what a rabbit says, she says HOP HOP HOP, so she spent time shouting HOP HOP HOP at them) but it was disappointing you couldn't pet them, when we saw the Flemish Giant in the zoo, we were as close as we were during that breakfast, so it wasn't anything extra special, so a little disappointing, but didn't ruin the event in the least.


After the breakfast we got to tour the zoo, which was a lot of fun! We did the Easter Egg Hunt at the Bunnybonanzoo event they had and went around to look at all the animals!


It was a great day! Charlotte laughed and ran and had so much fun! She is so grown up and engaged in activities now.  It is impossible to have a bad time when you hang out with her.  All in all, the Breakfast with Easter Bunny Event is recommended.  I hope we are fortunate enough to go next year :)

OBX wedding week!

We just got back from a week in the Outer Banks for my brothers wedding. Does anyone else get the post vacation blues? Or is it just me? Whenever a vacation is over, I ended up crying. It's quick and passes, but I'm always sad when it ends. It's worse now that I have Charlotte. I spent a week relaxing, and watching her little face full of joy and happiness, I got to have extra time to cuddle and play, a luxury I don't have working two jobs. But, I always wonder, will she even remember these times? Luckily I take a lot of pictures and am working to blog more frequently so we both can remember our adventures, so this is for you my baby girl. 

Dear Charlotte, 

We went on first big trip together! I was scared to make the drive alone, but you were such a trooper, and we made it both ways safe and sound. 

We went to the beach EVERY day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Jumping waves and watching the fiddler crabs scurry around were your favorite activities. We also made multiple sand castles, played catch on the beach, blew bubbles, turned you into a mermaid, and hunted every day for shells and other fun beach Finds! We saw horse shoe crabs and Dolphins. We even rode in the back of the truck down the beach in search of wild ponies, and although we didn't see any you squeezed with joy every bump we ran over. 

We went out to dinner one night, just you and me. You ordered your favorite - Mac and cheese. You did a great job, and insisted on taking my credit card to hand it to the waitress yourself. 

We baked! We made cookies, and hot diggity dogs! You did most of the work and proclaimed you were a "cooker girl". 

We spent a lot of time with our family, GG and Mr Rob, Uncle Jason and Aunt Liz and your cousin Holden and Aunt Jenna and Uncle Andrew. 

We played games, and did puzzles, we swam in the pool and you, loved the big house! Your favorite thing about the house was the mini frogs! They were everywhere. You caught so so many of them, and even saved some from the pool. You collected them in a cup several mornings in a row and took them to the house Uncle Jason was staying at and delicately put them on the trees "because frogs like trees".

You went to your first wedding! You wanted to look like a princess and requested to wear your Rapunzel dress and crown, you were so beautiful! You ate Mac and cheese and tried a hush puppy, which you loved! You played with the other kids at the wedding, and had a lot of fun with them. 

Your face lit up all week, with every wave, frog, and hug. Never lose the joy you find in the small things. 

I love you forever and a day, 

Mommy

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlotte turned 4!

It's been awhile since I have updated, but we've been busy. If you've been following along since day one you must know that already. The best place to follow us now is Instagram! I seem to post our adventures there the most. Search #lifewithcharlotte or username: jessicaandlotte 

On to the post! I wanted to post Charlotte's birthday, as we reached another milestone and had a blast together! Charlotte turned 4 this summer, and she still loves Frozen and asked for a Frozen movie party. Well as usual, I set about to make her dreams come true. I rented a movie theater brought the frozen DVD for everyone to watch on the big screen! Charlotte loved it, we had popcorn and cake, played and sang along and danced. 

We also spent a day at Hammerman beach with friends, and on her actual birthday she dressed herself up, and wanted to go to target to spend her birthday money! She got a doll and a stuffed puppy! 

At four years old, she is still very talkative. She loves talking, about everything and anything. She loves frozen and all things princess. She loves to dress up, only likes to wear dresses now, which at times can be a fight. She weighs almost 30lbs, which is hard to believe, she was just a tiny 5lb peanut when she was born! She is kind and caring, sometimes funny. She is very cautious. She is not the first one to jump in to do something, she takes her time, and gets nervous, but will ask for help and keep trying! She finished her first dance class and said it was fun, but prefers soccer. She is still my everything! 

Every birthday is bittersweet for me. I miss the sweet smell of a baby and long to hold her in my arms and rock her the way I used too, to always keep her safe. But watching her grow and change and learn everyday is such a joy and a privilege. I am always so proud of her, and so grateful that I was chosen to be her mommy. I hope she always knows how special she really is, how much she means to me, and that everything I do, I do for her. 

 

Blowing out her candles! 

 

Birthday girl all dressed up! 

 

We all got glow sticks to use in the theater! 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Trip!

So here's something tough about being a single mom...vacations. First, I work two jobs, and not because it's fun, but because I need the money. So I don't have a lot of extra cash laying around for a vacation. Second, when this amazing baby girl was in my tummy, I had big dreams of all the trips we'd take as a family. But obviously that didn't work out. So it's just me and her, and well sometimes that's hard. It's hard to always be on and do everything myself. But even when it's just us two, it's still always amazing. Just different, and sometimes that brings up some feels. 

The good news?! I have Ana amazing family. This was the second year we were able to stay with my mom and Rob at his condo (free of charge!!). It was an amazing trip! The best part of having family around is that Charlotte had her cousin to play with, I had other adults to speak too, and my own mom to make me pancakes :) 

We went to the beach and/or the pool everyday. I finally got a tan. We built a sandcastle, dug for sand crabs and jumped waves with GG. We had a fun night out at the boardwalk, French fries and rides and games! We had a fun morning on the boardwalk too where we rented a surrey and road up and down the boards! We even flew a kite on the beach. I am so lucky and thankful to have been able to create these memories for Charlotte and myself. I look forward to this every year! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elf on the shelf

I, like I'm sure everyone who is reading this, has undoubtably seen the elf on the shelf pictures all over the interwebs. Charlotte is 3.5 this holiday season so I thought she'd get a kick out of it! Prior to starting it out, I posted in a moms group I'm in "elf on the shelf, yay or nay?" And received mixed reviews. I figured, why not? Let's try this thing out! 

To start, I feel like the Elf is a little pricey. But what are you going to do? I added a little skirt for our elf, because obvi. She comes nicely packaged with the book, which was important for us, as we didn't know all the rules. 

The first thing the book instructs you to do is make the Elf. What did Charlotte choose? Elsa. Of course she chose Elsa. Other rules include, no on can touch the elf or she loses her magic, she can't talk back, but likes of you talk to her so she can report to Santa every night. 

Well, coming up with ideas wasn't too difficult, because Pinterest. But existing them was a different story. Also, sometimes I'd get ready for bed, and be excited about finally sleeping and then forget the stupid elf and have to get out of bed and come u with something fun! 

The elf is not poseable. Pinterest lies. And her hands were sewn together, so I did cut them at some point. A lot of people I know where more clever than I and added some small wires into the arms/legs to make the elf more flexible. This single mom does not have time for that. 

Overall Charlotte really enjoyed having Elsa around. It actually helped us in the mornings getting ready for school/work, because it gave her motivation to get moving and get downstairs to find Elsa, so that was a plus. 

Honestly, as annoying as it was, it was also incredibly fun to watch her little face light up! I'd do it all over again, and now have to next year, because she's already talking about it haha! Here's the kicker though...I LOST the damn elf. She's somewhere in the house, but not sure where? I moved her and then had to set up a giant castle, and have no idea where I placed her...oops, but I figure I have a whole year to find her right? 

I'm sharing some of Charlotte's favorite elf mischief :) if you're on the fence about doing it, just go for it, nothing beats the look on her face in the mornings :) 

Ice Skating!

So in an effort to post more regularly here  I am! I'm hoping to at least post the BIG things. And today, I felt like it was a big day for my kiddo! 

Ever since seeing Frozen, she's been asking and begging to go ice skating.  Last winter she was 2.5 and I just didn't think she was ready, but I figured it would be worth a shot this year! Well, I did what any good, terrible ice skating mom would do, I reached out on social media for help from you guys! Luckily my friend Stephanie, or Neph, as Charlotte lovingly calls her, answered my call for help (luckily lots of others did as well, as I foresee a lot more ice skating in our future)! She happened to have her nieces/nephews in twin this weekend, so we planned an outing! 

I wanted outdoor skating so we hit up Glen Burnie ice rink. It was small, but not tiny. It was a little wet thanks to the glorious sun we had today. I felt their prices were reasonable, and, the young guy behind the counter was so sweet and let Charlotte skate for free and free skate rentals because it was her FIRST time, and she was just so excited and smiley! 

One of the good things about this place is they had tiny size skates, starting at toddler 7, which is her size! Another place I looked at started at size 9, how bummed out would we have been had we showed up and they didn't have her size?! We got the double blade skates, which was a huge help. 

She loved putting them, and walking to the rink in them. Charlotte is a very cautious young lady, she doesn't jump right into things, she watches and then does, and doesn't always go all in, so I was afraid she'd miss the experience. Also this was my first time in the ice in YEARS so I told her I wouldn't be able to skate with her at first, not until I got my bearings. I was afraid she'd throw one of her three anger tantrums about that, but she was happy to skate with Neph, until I was able to get situated. 

She took to it right away! At first only walking on the ice, but later was learning to glide :) they had little buckets the kids could push around and that worked well too. She even wiggled her hips to learn to go backwards. At Glen Burnie, you pay to skate for 2 hours, she last 1.5 hours which was wayyyy longer than I expected. 

After skating we walked next door to food lion and got some mini cupcakes TREAT YO SELF! 

Everyday I am amazed and proud of this kiddo. I know I say it in every post, but seriously, how amazingly lucky did I get in being her mommy? I love her more than the whole world and am extremely proud of her for sticking to something she really wanted to do, and proud of her for listening to instructions from those around her to do it well and learn how. We will definitely be skating again this winter :) 

And yes, I am "that mom" that made her kid wear a helmet. #sorryimnotsorry