Check This Out!

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon this program to create these neat posters. I found it again today so I made one for Leah.

Seth was not even two years old when we took that picture of him. He has changed so much!

Don't worry her middle name isn't Bean, that's just her nickname!

Life w/The Charlton's

This past week is seriously a complete and utter blur. It was week 2 of our mini session of swim so we would no sooner get home and then have to turn right around and head out the door for swim. I haven't gotten out for a walk in two weeks and I desperately want to, BUT it is raining again. Roland had a work function at Boldt Castle Monday night so my brother came over for dinner and kept us company. On Wednesday I went out to dinner with some friends to bid Rachel a farewell. Those damn military wives make the best of friends and then they have to move away. We all had some good laughs and ate and ate and ate for two hours. I even saved room for dessert, well sort of. I ate two bites and brought the rest home for Ro. Last night was the last night of swim. It is 5:58pm and the kids were excited to get in the pool when the fire alarm goes off so we all had to evacuate the building IN THE RAIN! Luckily Rod and Lee took the kids and let them hang out in the back of their truck. I do have to say that over the two weeks of swim, Seth had the most spectators. Many of our family members took the time to either come and watch Seth swim or help me with Leah at home. We thank you for that!

This weekend is super busy. We have a family wedding, dinner with friends and a special Father's Day luncheon at our house on Sunday. Needless to say, I need to hit the grocery store tonight to prep for the fun filled weekend of food and then head to my Mom's to raid her closet for the wedding.

I also only have 4 days left of work and two weeks until our vacation! We have tons and tons of fun activities planned for the summer and I can't wait to get started!

New Toy

Leah's 1st mobile!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my Grandpa a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! We already celebrated this past weekend, but today is his actual birthday. I called him about an hour ago and he said his big plans for today are to go to The Diner for dinner tonight and then to his favorite restaurant The Clipper tomorrow night! It sounds like he will get his fill of good food.

We love you Gramp!

Parenting 101

Last night after swim class we were getting changed and Seth says to me, "Mommy, Sophia has a butt crack." Stupidly I laughed and said, "Yes she does." The laugh gave him free reign to think that he could say "butt crack" whenever he wanted to. We needed to put an end to it so after many warnings, he ended up losing his nightly cookie because he wouldn't stop saying it. He even said to Lee, "Hi Mr. Lee butt crack."

It is super tough because it is truly funny, but not appropriate. So while I'm telling Roland about it at the dinner table we both have to turn our heads because we are dying laughing. Oh the crazy things kids say!

Celebrate Good Times

On Sunday we celebrated my Grandpa's birthday and just about everyone in the family was able to attend so it was extra fun.

Tom, Justin and my cousin Chris

Gram

Uncle Wayne, Gramp and Uncle David

Miss Leah and Poppy
Master griller for the day

Grandma and Leah

My grandparents have the old game trac-ball so we all played that for what seemed to be hours!

Out w/the Old...

... and in with a brand new high chair!

We sold our big old high chair that Seth had because it was just too big and bulky and I bought a new one that sits on top of a regular chair. I love it and it is such a space saver. Leah loves it too as you can see. We are going to start cereal very very soon so we tried the chair out last night and got Leah's seal of approval.

This is the sign you see when you walk into Good Dog Charlie's in the Bay! I love it and needless to say we kept our kids close to us. We don't need them to be awake all night long and there will be no more dogs in our future!

Letterboxing Part II

After our adventures we went to the Bay for dinner and ice cream. It was raining, but we didn't let it stop us from finishing out a great day!

Waiting patiently (ha ha) for his pizza!

Leah's 1st trip to Alex Bay

After some good food, ice cream and a little shopping therapy we finally called it a night!

Letterboxing Orientation

Saturday night we took the VERY EXCITED Castana family on two letterboxing adventures. First we headed towards Redwood to what was called "Calling all Mousekateers." Kristen called and asked if we needed to wear sneakers and bug spray. I very quickly said, "No, not this time, it shouldn't be too far in the woods." HA! I learned my lesson. We definitely needed sneakers and the bugs were crazy. We laughed it off though.

The boys were so funny, they kept singing the Laurie Berkner song, "We're Going on a Hunt." Roland even printed them out treasure maps for the car ride.

We found the box...

and opened it up and found the book and stamp! They were so excited when the stamp was a giant Mickey Mouse head!

Kristen took all sorts of notes and stamped her first letterboxing book! The second box was in Alex Bay and it was raining pretty hard by that point, but we pushed on and found it. Leah slept through both treasure hunts,but woke up in time for dinner at Cavalarios Bayside.

** I have some pretty funny pictures of both boys going to the bathroom in the woods, but I decided not to post their naked bums. Jacob said he had to go first and of course whatever Jacob does, Seth has to do too! So I have two of the cutest pics of Seth and Jacob's naked bums in the middle of the forest.

I lots more to share about the weekend when I have more time so stay tuned!

We wanted to help Eric show off his brand new ride!

I'm sure Seth will want to sit on it when we come to visit to be like his Uncle Eric!

Thumb Sucker

This video might make you a little dizzy. I had to capture a thumb sucking moment!

This is what she looks like when she is sleeping with her thumb. I think my parents will agree that she definately looks like me with her thumb in her mouth as I was a thumb sucker until I was in the 8th grade. So there may be braces in her future if she sticks with it. Right now it is too cute!

Our Little Babbler

I can watch this over and over and it makes me smile from ear to ear!

I have been promising Seth for weeks that when it warmed up I would treat him to something from the ice cream truck. Well we have WAITED AND WAITED AND WAITED, but it hasn't warmed up too much so yesterday I heard the music and we rushed to get a special treat. Seth's eyes lit right up when I told him we had to hurry to the ice cream truck before it drove away. The funny part of the whole experience came much later in the evening when Roland picked Seth up to take him to swim. He must not have looked at his face directly until he got him to WHS because as soon as he went to get him out of the car seat, he hit panic mode and thought Seth was bleeding on his lips. Seth calmly said to Roland, "No Daddy, I ate a Popsicle from the ice cream truck!" I tried to wash it off, but that red dye wasn't budging!

Busy

It has been the busiest week ever and I can only blame myself. We ended up signing Seth up for this 2 week mini session of swim. It is 4 nights a week for 2 weeks. Thank goodness is isn't until 6pm, but still it is a mad dash to get everything done and to get us out the door by 5:45pm. By the time 9:30pm rolls around I am completely exhausted and ready to crash. Seth on the other hand is loving every minute of his swim class. I think that he needs to try a little harder and kick a lot more, but it will come in time. Right now I say that he will be in 1A forever, but we will just have to wait and see how he progresses. Leah has been doing great! She is so exhausted when she gets home from Pat's that she crashes at some point in the evening for a cat nap and then sleeps like a log at night. She joined us for swim class last night and just took it all in. She is becoming quite the little busy body. She is looking all around and doesn't miss a trick. Roland is extremely busy at work this time of the year and he is always putting out some sort of fire in the Pepsi world. Who knew that soda could have so many crisis'. I am wrapping up all of the end of the year projects here at school and starting to clean and put all of my junk away in my classroom. Only 11 days left!

Milestone Moment

We tried the backpack for the very first time with Miss Leah on Saturday and she loved it! I can't believe how big she is getting, FAR TOO QUICKLY!

Castana's BBQ

Well, all I have to say is WELCOME HOME LEE! This was the first official party that Kristen and Lee have had since Lee came home last fall and it was nothing short of spectacular. I seriously ate far too much and then payed for it dearly on Sunday. There was tons and tons of good food, the kids had an utter blast with all the toys and the huge yard to play in and the adults were able to sit back and relax a bit AND eat! I have told Kristen that her house has magic powers because just about every time we come over Leah takes a killer nap and she in fact took a 2 hour nap during the party on Saturday.

Deep concentration

Grill Master Lee

Fudgesicle Smile
The resident jokester

Leah with her Fairy Godmother

Bubbles and Popsicles YUM!
I am sad to say that I didn't get any pictures of Kristen (AKA The Hostess with the Mostess) I thought I had everyone covered but I was wrong. We had a fabulous time and you can totally throw a party whenever you would like. We will be there!

Father's Day

The 1st Saturday of each month Home Depot offers a kids clinic and this month the kids were making a Father's Day project so I thought that I should take Seth to make it for Roland. I am not all that handy when it comes to tools. I can hammer your basic nail and use a screw driver, but that is about it. I was a little nervous to take Seth, hoping that I wouldn't make a fool of myself. Seth was ready to go, he loaded himself up with his hard hat, his Handy Manny tools and his Home Depot apron and he was ready to go!

Handy Seth

Believe it or not his Handy Manny tools worked well, but I convinced him to use the REAL tools.

Adding the final touches

BFFs for LIFE!

It wasn't very exciting so Leah took a cat nap!

Leah's 1st Parade

Last night felt like the real start to the summer. It was the annual Jefferson County Dairy Parade. We have only been going to this parade for 2 years now, but we have enjoyed ourselves each year. Last night was also Leah's first time at a parade. She did what any typical 3 month old would do and that is sleep a little, watch a little and then sleep a little more. Seth is a huge fan of any parade, even more now that he has caught onto the fact that you get candy at parades. We try and hit each parade here in the north country during our short parade season. Last night Seth was in his glory because just about all of his close friends were at the parade so he was able to play and laugh and watch with his buddies.

Seth with his BUDDIES! (Maya, Sophia, Jacob and Morgin)My 2 favorite boys!

The best picture of Miss Leah taken yet!

My favorite girl!

Relaxing because the parade was an hour late!
Mr. Lee and Jacob

Maya has the BIGGEST smile I have ever seen!
The kids were fascinated with this life size piece of pizza!

You will see us next at the Can-Am Parade in Sackets in July!