well, we had a thanksgiving to remember this year!! at the last moment, our plans did a little switcharoo, & we went out to grandpa edwards's home to spend our holiday!

after my hard work of helping with the potatoes in the kitchen, i promptly decided i'd have a bit of a snooze before the dinner festivities! and then this happened!!!...

um...i apparently i missed quite a bit of activity during my thanksgiving day nap!..but meiko told me all about it (grandpappy's malamute) upon my awakening, because during all the commotion, he slipped inside, & mommy found him laying in the livingroom as cozy as could be!!

as you can see from the story of the pictures, we had a bit of a fire! thank the heavens above no one was seriously injured!! grandpa has a few burns, but he's okay! his neck/face & hands got pretty toasted, even some blisters, but nothing severe. he was preparing to deep fry our turkey, (which by the way he's been doing for at least fifteen years!), when something went horribly wrong! the thermometer didn't seem to be working this time. the peanut oil boiled over the pot, then which grandma mary noticed a huge amount of smoke coming from the pot! grandpa hurried to shut off the propane & shewed the smoke away w/ his hand which was just enough oxygen to ignite our show!! mommy didn't see the actual explosion, but when she ran out there, the flames were higher than the garage!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! thank god uncle luke grabs the hose from the back yard & it reaches to the fire! in the mean time, grandpa is trying to spray the fire yelling to the people across the street "we need your truck" who happen to be watching! they also happen to have a fire truck in their garage!! they have recently moved in and are a satellite fire station! well, as it turns out, the actual fire fighter is not home. oh dear?! so, mommy at this point knows this cuz she ran over to tell them we really need the truck! (duh? can they not see that!! why aren't they driving the truck over here? HELLOOOO!!) however, when she gets there, she hears this girl on the phone say the fire fighter isn't home. OH DOUBLE DEAR!! she runs back to grandpa's, calls 911 from her cell. as dad's friends' say, he lives 30 miles past nowhere, so this could take a while to direct another fire truck here!! after listening to the automated message on the emergency call (yes, she got a robot when she called 911!! what has this world come to??) and responding "yes, this is an emergency" she got the portland emergency dispatcher!! what??? um, okay, we're an hour away from portland?, we have a fire!" "okay, let me connect you to clark county" (mommy about loses her head about now!)

meanwhile, the firetruck from across the street is backing into grandpa's driveway. (interesting..no firefighter? who is driving the truck?) so, turns out, the hose was enough, after a while. the boys who drove the fire truck eventually did get the motors going to run the water truck, but only after curiosity i think. oh what fun!!! as for grandpa's garage, it got singed, but nothing structural was demolished! the rubber on the bottom of the garage door was totally melted, & a couple of garbage cans, but other than a few frame boards for the garage, it survived. only charcoaled, or "distressed" now, as they call it!! long story longer, everyone was really shook up, except for me of course, i was napping! but i still heavily gave gratitude to my angel crew for watching over my family!!

it didn't seem to bother alaska too much, if you look carefully, in the first picture, he's squatting behind the fire truck! mommy thought that was worthy of a chuckle for you!

other than scaring the crap out of us, turkey day, was a hit! just turkeyless! we had plenty of other munchies to finish the day off! grandpa said he could smoke the turkey (so we could still eat turkey~but mommy thought "no more fires today!" so as it turns out, daddy got to cook turkey in our own new oven afterall (thank you GG!-& yes, it is still clean!) he just did it on saturday instead of thursday!!
on a lighter note, i've discovered my nostrils. and i'm currently in the bathtub (don't worry, mommy can see me, not to mention i'm laughing my brains out!!) so i've got both fingers in my nose. mommy has tried several approaches to keep my fingers out, such as "that's ouchie!", or even trying not to smile/laugh at me (which is nearly impossible!) but i've just got to do my own exploration here!

i think i picked up this nasty cold at omsi, or maybe it was the doctor's office, but my throat hurts & my nose is gross! but on the bright side, i get to snooze in daddy & mommy's bed!! too bad i can't cuddle w/ my GG who also has a bad cold! we could be miserable together! hope you feel better soon GG! xoxo

ps, i know my mom's a total blogging nerd!! she tries to say it is to keep you all updated, but i think it's more of a silly attempt of creative expression/escape route for her! plus she says she wants to remember every second of my existance as a little person! but i think she's just an addict! i guess there are worse things she could be addicted to right?

thank god for this little (or large if you have to compare!) one

we also want to send a welcome to miss ariyana bost!! her entrance to this world came nov 20th!! & she's SO beautiful!! congrats to jenn & ian and emma too!! we know you'll be a great big sister emma!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GREAT AUNTIE RUTH & GREAT UNCLE JEFF!!!!

thanks for the letters...almost two decades ago!

a little side note from mom, cuz i'm pooped & am taking a nap!

hi guys! so, i've been putzing around in the attic, trying to give up items that may be utilized by others since we're just storing them (ooh, but i'm such a pack rat, & sentimental to boot too!!!) anyways, i've come across a box of letters. the real deal! hand written letters on papers with the postage stamps & all!! in 1990, stamps were only 25cents!! remember those? internet sure is nice, to have that instant gratification, but this box sure brought back a ton of memories!! for instance...



i'm pretty sure cousin katie & i kept the mailman in business!! holy cow!! we must have written a couple letters a week!! it was so amazing reading through these! & there were a few from vanessa, complete with secret letter coded messages she made & all! a few pictures from jolene, letters from beth. lots of letters from ruth & jeff! even a key chain w/ a buffalo on it. (guess what ruthie, this was for my 13th bday (or 12th?)& it was still taped to the letter, & since i need new key chain (cuz i keep grabbing brian's as my own, i'll put it on my keys today, thanks! also, a package of far side cartoons from you too!!-you must have cut them out of your calander! oh, also, i thought was quite ironic, was one letter from you (ruthie) was talking about not being able to let go of your high school indee shirt & how sentimental you are..as i'm reading this letter from..oh..like 19 years ago!! lol!!)

letters from grandma edwards, lynn, a letter from kelsey asking me not to write in cursive!! (LOL~i, to this day, am challenged w/ cursive!! in fact, in sixth grade, i got a C in cursive-straight A's otherwise, i cried so hard & was afraid to show my parents! obviously i never overcame my proper writing skills~!) i even found a letter from nana (my dad's dad's mom for those who don't know)!! letters from aunt barbara ann when whe was in panama! letters from mikey when he was in the marines! that one made me laugh out loud again, he was saying he was in choir in junior high & high school, but now (then!) he sings like a frog!! anyways, was a crazy trip down memory lane to go through this box...thought i'd give a couple of you some "wow"s & giggles!!...

honestly katie, we wrote alot huh?!?

grandma mary captures my cuteness!!

do my hands say basketball player or what!!

& HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY GREAT AUNTIE CONNIE!!

daddy, mommy, & i all went to omsi last week, a cool little museum with so many things to discover!
i loved the kids section! it was fully loaded with a sand pit & all!!

this was my favorite spot, a cool wheel to spin a windmill type of contraption above my head!

exploring the cave!

when you sat in this chair, classical music suddenly played for you! this was in the mind bender mansion part!

mom & daddy had fun too ;) (here's mama eagle in her nest!)

sand angels in the sand pit!

mommy mentioned to me while i was eating chicken while in my preferred seat of the night, the tupperware drawer, that she's glad daddy is home the next three days :)

hmm, i think i'll adjust this picture...action? how does it look from up there?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA EDWARDS!!!!!

greetings everyone! & HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA EDWARDS!! wish we could have you for dinner or take you out or something today, but i know you're a busy guy! maybe next week?
anyway, i am 18months old today! happy year & a half to me!! (is that all? woa, i've come a long way in 18months! )
so, the doctor said i'm a "good eater". (mom rolled her eye's at this comment!) (maybe it is the sugared up instant oatmeal i eat for breakfast almost daily!) when the nurse tried to get my weight, she laughed when the scale said i was too big to measure on this scale, we had to go to the big boy scale that i stand on! (the little one only goes to 30 pounds!) but the big boy scale said 29lbs. so i guess i 'll just be about 30lbs still!! at 29lbs (my official recorded weight today-no wonder mom & daddy whine about achey backs!) i'm in the 86th percentile for my age! my hurken head, 20", puts me in the 99% for melon sizes. and my height, i'm off the charts! 2'11.75" (or a quarter of an inch shy of three feet! or one meter!)
the only scolding mom got from doc was the sleeping habits & my speech. doc says mommy shouldn't be coming to lay in my bed when i get up in the night time. (i disagreed w/ him strongly-if mommy doesn't come to my bed at night, i just have to get up to go get her!) but she mentioned to him that i've never been a good sleeper. my current schedule? i hit the sack about 1030, sometimes 11pm (i KNOW! isn't that great?-well, daddy isn't home till about 1015..i miss him!) then i'm up around 130-2am, go get mommy. then again, call for her about 330. then we've actually been sleeping in a bit inconsistently to between 700-800am.
and as for my speech, i guess i should have about 15words in my vocab. i Do, but they're not clear. mommy & dadddy & grandma know what i'm saying! so doc said to keep an eye on this. mom's not really worried about my language, she knows someday soon i'll be quite the chatterbox!
mommy said no "flu shot" too, so the doctor warned about me getting the "flu", & how awful it will be...(okie dokie!)
but i did get my other vaccinations, the dtap is required, only one (combo) shot in my thigh, i didn't make a peep, but i turned on my sad face big time & my eyes welled up w/ tears!! my lip came way out! my pretty nurse couldn't even look at me afterword!! then i pulled off the band aid she put over my wound, got my t-rex sticker & proceeded to fall asleep with in moments of our car ride home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREAT GRANDMA BETTY!

and here's todays schedule: whine, whine, whine, whine, be whiney, potty in the potty chair!, whine some more, whine again, continue to whine...thank goodness grandma mary came to take me to the park today! eat some random food since i've been refusing mom's cooking!. crackers & grapes it is! ah, nap time, only to resume my whining post nap :) better go now, i feel like being whiney. whine, whine, whine...whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeee....(get the point?) & i feel i should maybe help mom open that bottle of wine...;)
tomorrow is my 18month check up. that should be awesome :]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COUSIN JOSHUA!!

hello friends.
thought i might share a few current favorites & happenings. (though before i forget, yay cowboys for grandpa edwards & sorry to you cousin dave!! maybe next year!)
okay, well, i peed in the big boy toilet three times today! yay! that was neat. i got a sticker both times! mom thinks that's great since she has a guilty conscience about using disposable diapers!!
i also wanted to tell GG that we love the "eye winker, tom tinker, nose smeller (or is it sniffer!) , mouse eater, chin chopper, choo choo choo choo.." i even ask for it by poking at my eye when i'm real pooped!
my sign language is coming along just fine. i learned "mommy" & "daddy" & "grandma" this week(although "grandma" is dangerously close to "mommy"!). i have my own version of "i love you" the hand one, w/ your thumb, pinky, & pointer out? well , i half way do all my fingers w/ my thumb out! everyone thinks this is pretty cute, so i'll keep that one up! i do the necessary ones like "more", "milk", "eat", "banana","good bye", "train", "firefighter" (this one i do whenever i hear sirens of any sort!), puppy dog (again, my own version!),"cow", "bird", "potty", hmm, that's all i can think of for now!..oh, "diaper" & "change" mommy does, & i know this one but don't sign it myself. i just learned "cheese"..
as for my verbal words: guess what!? i can say "mama" now. even tho i still call her "da". i'm pretty good at saying "dada" & i try at lots of words. mom's been thinking how funny it is that i try to say "bulldozer" & elephant" but not "mama". Lol!! i can say "outside" pretty good. & "up" & "down". "cheese" & "this"(..hmm..what else? ) i decided to say "butt head" after hearing that too! (mommy scolded grandpa for that one!) anyways, soon i'll be talking in sentences & not so much leaving my loved ones to decipher the cave man grunts!
better go for now, shepperd's pie is on the menu tonight & i'm must eat to grow big & strong ya know!! love you~
uncle seany came to visit me tonight, we played catch a tiny bit & peek a boo, & he shared his shepperd's pie with me because i begged. then i knocked over a glass of red wine on his nice pants! (he thought he'd bring over a bottle to share since he really doesn't drink it but he won a package of eight wines at work!!)

dear santa,
i'm not exactly sure who you are, but i remember you being a red man who made my cousin jack cry when we sat on your lap. anyways, mommy told me you're the go to dude when i want something so i thought i'd drop you a quick line. here it goes: ah-hem...
dear santa,
i want a little brother for christmas. :) it'd be really cool to have a little buddy to keep me busy so i don't drive daddy crazy!!
love charlie. ps, i've been a really really good boy!!

sorry cousin dave, we'll be cheering on the cowboys tongiht, grandpa's bday is this week & we want him to have a good week!!!

windy. blustery. wet. okay, really wet. but warm, it must be 60 degrees or so! that's what it's like outside. today was a super fun day to be watching the outside! and, since the wind is so gusty, the airlines switcharoo their flight patterns, so landing planes come really close to my house!! it's is sooo cool!! AND what more?! well let me tell you! it is garbage day too folks!! the garbage truck even had to back up (with the "beep beep beep" & all!!) THEN, the recycle man, even stopped and spent some time in our driveway since he had to switch our bins out! (last week, he ran over our bins, broke one, then didn't replace it?!?! hmm..) and to top it all off, when they came back up the other side of the street, the recycle AND yard debris trucks stopped right out front of my house!! kids, i about exploded!! (see me waiving so fast the camera couldn't catch my hand !!-also, you can't see it in the pic, but an airplane is coming too up by the trees!! b/w the two trucks!) talk about awesome!!! but when they left again, i was so sad, my bottom lip was quivering so, and mommy had to give me a big huge hug! apparently she's been missing me, i haven't seen her much since last week, & this morning she keeps squeezing and kissing me! weirdo!

oh, speaking of weirdos, she now can massage you with her feet!! how freakin awesome is that!?!? here's a little picture of what she's been doing!!

(oh my goodness!! this so very very cool!! i totally kick my butt right now for not having my own space so i can put up some bars to offer ashiatsu, and i can't believe i didn't do this sooner! i've been wanting to for so long & never wanted to spend the cash, but WOW i LOVE it!!! i can't wait to get to work doing this! the picture is uber cheesey-not to mention my body mechanics aren't my forte here, but wanted to give you a peek! definately a motivator for me to find another space to call my own ;)

well, we finally replaced the batteries in the camera :)

i'm thinking about working for NASA, since i've spent the last day and a half on the toaster/microwave and our coffee maker, i'm pretty sure i can figure out anything now. and i believe our space program could use a fine young brain to manifest some nifty new ideas ;)

we've been working on our potty training. and that's all about that! we're working! a while back i was pretty good, but that was so long ago now! just a teaser i guess! now my favorite part is flushing! over & over & over..what a fun little action that is :)

oh, so i went to meet my new pediatrician today. and that's all about that too!

just kidding. he was fine. mommy didn't really think i should've gone in anyway since she was afraid what the doctor said would just piss her off anyways. and so that's the way our story went! a bit of background for you, i've always had what looks like flea bites around me, well, my previous doc (AND the dermatologist she sent us to) said "yup, they look like bites" & "..he'll grow out of it". what? okie dokie then. so, now, i've now begun hosting a rash type ezcema type looking thing on my palms. mommy worries that it hurts me since i pick & rub, & wimper about sometimes w/ my hands. and the browsing online looking for answers, diagnoses, fixes, & preventions that she has done leads her to believe it is a very widely misdiagnosed form of excema that doctor's really don't know what causes it or how to treat it. mommy has something similar that she calls her stress bumps (she gets them when she gets particularly stressed) and it was once (agreeably on her part) diagnosed as dishydrotic ezcema. but another form closely related (dermatitis herpetiformis) is treated (in the holistic medical world) by eliminating gluten. but that is also related to another ...ya know what, you don't want to know all this right?...the result was this when we went to the doctor today. (also you should know we went because mommy called yesterday to ask them how they deal w/ child ezcema just to find out HOW they cover the symtoms! & the lady on the phone wanted us to go in) so today, mister doctor looks at my hands and says "other children have it much worse... it is just dry skin... is that all?"...WTF??? first of all, i wasn't there to be compared to other children. and secondly. mommy is a body worker and has seen thousands of inches of skin and knows what dry skin vs ezcema looks like, and thirdly..yes, that is all doctor. thank you & sorry for wasting your time, make sure you get my insurance to pay you big bucks.

hmm...sorry bout that, guess i was a bit more disturbed than i thought. i just get frustrated ya know. i wish i could just have a primary care healthcare team. with a nutrutionist & dermatologist working together. not some pill/drug pusher who makes his money off giving you drugs to cover up a symptom and then sends you away. AHH...enough on that...on to lighter material!

so the weather has truly changed, but i still want to play outside! first thing in the morning and all day, then even still long after dark!! i love to go out there!! SO lucky for mommy & daddy (grandma too!) that i have covered spaces outside to frollick about! i also almost always head directly for my stroller. GOOD investment grandma! i can take mommy out for a stroll, and an hour later when we return home, i will still not want out of it!!...mommy usually says things like " really? still?" she makes me laugh!

better go for now, ciao. happy voting.

took this

one at the new VERY nice little bar/restauraunt we stumbled upon in pullman! ..i thought of my two favorite boys ;)

ps, mommy's going to change the music to christmas tunes VERY soon, so turn off your volume if you can't bare it before thanksgiving!!!...HA! HA! HAAAAA!!

happy birthday to grandma mary & cousin vanessa!!!

nothing new & exciting to post for you sorry, we're just busy little bees...i've been playing lots with grandma mary & daddy since mommy has been in class. again next week too :( makes for really long days! although she says they're quite fascinating. this week was the psychology of touch. i found it to be very interesting. she shared a lot of it during my bathtime last night. (i was actually somewhat interested, but more interested rather in connecting my chain of toys in the tub, but i used my new listening skills on her, daddy & action taught me to look at her once in a while so she thinks i'm listening to her ;)
anyhow, after my bath (& lecture!) grandma came to play some more! even after playing all day she still wasn't tired of me!! yay!! i love my grandma mary, she always makes sure i have loads of fun :) we did take her to dinner saturday night to a pretty neato pizza joint. but i wasn't interested in sitting. at all. really. not at all!! but my family chowed down anyways & enjoyed it! they took turns following me around the place! i even was able to watch them toss the dough up & around & around!! very cool!!
i better go for now. mom's been on the phone since i've gone down to nap (about 100minutes ago!! i'll be up shortly!), with stupid doctor's offices giving her stupid advice!!! grrrrr..we're all going to the doctor's this month...OOH JOY!!
lol, love you.