The Phelan Family Adventures

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The pool is open!

Well last week summer arrived in Columbus! It was in the 80's-90's almost everyday. Everyone at our house was dying! The bright spot in that is that our pool opened on Memorial Day weekend. Charlotte is a water loving lady! She and I went for the first time on Sunday and then Kevin joined us on Monday. She was in heaven! Splashing, playing, smiling and just loving the water. Over the fall our pool upgraded the baby pool and added a water play feature. It is awesome. Charlotte is the perfect height and loves to play with the water as it flows through the tubes. Almost the whole time we were at the pool she would say "weeeee weeee weeee" while she was in the baby pool. It was precious to see how much joy and fun she was having.

Kevin has been working super hard on our yard and landscaping and it is looking great. He has literally been working since March (since we had almost no winter this year) on everything. I will try and post pictures but it will not do all his hard work justice. Charlotte of course loves to "help" Daddy pull weeds and mulch. She prefers to play with the mulch and not keep it in the beds but o well:)

Milestone Update
Points to ears consistently--points to eyes, mouth, nose, hair, belly button and toes....sometimes:)
Obsessed with Asa-unfortunately Asa wants nothing to do with Charlotte but it doesn't seem to deter her
Starting to use fork and spoon--she loves them and is learning
Loves playing outside and going on walks
Runs...everywhere!
Very independent...wants to do most things herself
When an airplane flies by she points up to the sky
Climbing

A few photos from our recent trip to Oregon. It was our first time away from Charlotte for any extended period of time. We had a great time. Lots of fun memories and a great time to reconnect as a couple. A big huge thanks to my parents for keeping Charlotte. Kevin's mom was also able to come down for a couple days as well. Charlotte got lots of grandparent time and we got lots of time for ourselves!

Astoria Pier

Astoria Column

View from our Astoria hotel...very pretty

Pacific Ocean

Pretty flowers on a hike

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach

More pretty

Willemette Valley-Wine country

View from our balcony from our Inn in Wine country

Gorge Waterfall

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter and overdue update

I can't believe this past weekend we celebrated Easter! Time is flying by! Kevin and I were talking as each holiday comes around we can't believe it has been a year since the last one! Last Easter, we were celebrating Charlotte's baptism and Kevin's confirmation. Crazy! This Easter weekend was beautiful and wonderful. Charlotte had a great time at her first Easter egg hunt. She actually picked up 4 eggs on her own and placed them in her basket. It was a beautiful fun day. On Easter my whole family attended morning mass and then had brunch. It was yummy and fun to spend time with family. We then spent the rest of the day working in the yard and getting the porch ready for the spring/summer season. A fun and productive weekend...awesome!

Charlotte is now 15 months old. She had her check up and is in the 70% in both height and weight. Our little well proportioned lady:) She continues to be in the 98% for head....for her big brains! We got a healthy report from our pediatrician which is always great.

Milestone update
Says "asa" (our dog's name) which comes out "sa" but we figured it out
Says "shoes" and continues to be obsessed with them since about 4 months old!
Says "all done" and she says this A LOT
Discovered her knees and loves to kneel
Loves playing outside and loves rocks
Signs "eat" and "more"
Waves hi and bye
Gives kisses and hugs....my favorite

Love of the week
A week from today Kevin and I will be on a plane traveling to Oregon for our vacation. Charlotte will be staying in Ohio with Gramps and Grandma. We are so very excited. We are going to miss Charlotte and Asa but are very excited for relaxation and adult conversation!

Loath of the week
My allergies are in full swing and I hate them. I am allergic to tree pollen, which is that fine green dust you see on everything now. It makes it really hard for me to be outside. It is so beautiful outside and a little someone I know loves to be out so it is rough. Can't wait for them to be over!

At the Franklin Park Conservatory with Mommy

Funny face

Love the paths at the Conservatory

Easter egg hunt fun with cousins

Egg hunt

Her bounty

Easter

Easter photo in pretty clothes

Grandma and Gramps

Uncle Evan and Charlotte

Easter basket

Reading new book with Gramps

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

First Birthday Party

I want to start off saying I really enjoy crafts, party planning and small details of parties. I always underestimate the amount of time things are going to take and the amount of time I have to work with. I am pretty sure I've been excited about planning Charlotte's first birthday party since I survived the first 3 months of motherhood. I realize this party was totally for us ( the parents) to celebrate the fact that we survived (and thrived some of the time) our first year of parenting! I have to give props to Pinterest and Jess's blog (http://themcclenahans.blogspot.com/) for my party inspiration. I also have to give a big shout out to my mom for helping me construct the decorations, my in-laws for helping the day of the party, my brothers for general help the day of as well and most of all Kevin for dealing with my craziness that always gets ramped up at these times!!! The party was a huge success. We had a huge turn out and got to see and visit with tons of friends and family. Charlotte had a great time playing with her friends and the balloons that were floating around the house. She sat with us and opened all her presents without any fussing or tears. For a final thank you, my friend Sarah saved the day by taking control of the camera. Lesson learned that before the party designate an invitee as "the photographer" or it won't get done. I wish we had more photos of all the attendees because it was so fun seeing everyone.

The theme: Highlighting photos of Charlotte's first year of life and "time capsule". In the invitation, I included a notecard for people to share their thoughts, love and prayers for Charlotte to be opened on her 18th birthday. I loved the idea and think we are going to do it for any future kids we bring into this world!

A few photos of the party layout