Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Charlie Does "Boy" Right

We went to Pocatello for fall break.  We got to go to Charlie's first wrestling tournament.

Charlie excels at the "I seem calm but I'm going to do my darndest to kick your butt" look.

Boys wrestle so fast their arms are a blur.

Boys know how to puff out their chests with pride.

Know what's cute?  A little boy that wrestles like crazy but still will share his medal with his baby sister.

The last day we were in Idaho, Charlie was ready to go hunting with his dad. 
That kid is ALL boy.
WARNING WARNING WARNING!
STOP SCROLLING NOW IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH.
 
Charlie even does it up boy style on broken arms.  One spill on the slide and two broken wrists plus four additional fractures.  Everyone seems to be recovering okay- him from the ER trip, and Liza from the shock of receiving one of those phone calls from school we all dread.
 

I think sometimes Charlie's parents wish he wasn't QUITE so good at being a boy.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

What a Difference a Year Makes

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since we left for the Philippines...sometimes it all seems like a dream!  This time last year we were just settling into our apartment in Fort Bonifacio and attending our branch for the first time.  The girls don't talk about our life in the Philippines very much, but it comes up often enough that I think that they do remember many things about it.

Kiki was learning about the letter "E" and her teacher had informed the class that the whole day would be about elephants.  She wanted to take this picture of her and me riding elephants in Thailand. 
She was able to show the whole class.  I asked her, "What did the kids think of your elephant picture?"  She said, "It was weird...there were some kids who hadn't even ridden an elephant before!"
I guess that six months abroad IS long enough to permanently change your child's perception of reality. 

A couple of other things Kiki has said lately: 
We were watching The Daily Show, and Jon Stewart said "Bulls**t."  Kiki said, "Hey!  He just said half a swear word!"  I'd love to know what she thinks the other half of that swear word is, because I'm pretty sure I'd like to start using it.

Also, the other day she told me that she was sick of being the little sister and she wanted to be somebody's BIG sister.  I told her, "No problem.  I'll just have to have another baby and that will fix that."  She gave me this look of disgust/anger/pure hatred and replied, "Never mind."