First trip as a family to Holden Village

Holden Village is part of the Lutheran tradition. It is a wonderful space for rest, hiking, education, worship and communal living. We were blessed with the opportunity to live in the Village for several days. Our days were wonderful, but the nights a struggle. We believe that living with 200 people, flirting, playing with friends and being out of his environment, made it very difficult for good sleep. I didn't take my camera out much during our stay. The last one here has the back of one of Charlie's buddies at Holden, Jack. They had tons of fun playing together. So much so, that I couldn't get a photo with them both looking at the camera.

Trip to Yakima to can tomatoes & see family

We recently returned from a trip to can tomatoes, visit family and Holden Village. Ironically, I did not get any pictures of tomato canning. Something about having tomato juice all over your hands, leads to no camera time. Anyway, here are a few shots from the remainder of the weekend. Charlie loved playing on his grandparents farm with his aunt Erin!

Charlie loved the new grass that grandpa Bud planted. He kept running and then falling flat on his stomach. Each time a huge laugh came out of him. Here is a shot of one of his landings.
Uncle Will invited us to come watch him load up his truck with hops. Here Charlie is holding tight to his own vine of hops and studying what his uncle is doing. The next shot is Uncle Will on top of the bails and Tom and Charlie on their way to see him up close. We had some awesome clouds!

Corn, Finger Painting & Friends

Our little picky eater has figured out the greatness of sweet, summer corn. After watching his parents eat off the cob, he now will only eat corn off the cob. Here is a picture of him enjoying his corn.

I bought Charlie a set of finger paints. We have now created two pictures. Charlie doesn't quite get the concept of needing to put his fingers on the page - he tries to shake the paint off his fingers. However, he was really proud of what was created. These two pictures are now on display at our home. For any other young parents thinking of doing this. We learned quickly that nakedness is the best way to go.


Emmett came over to eat lunch and play with Charlie. Tom and I enjoyed having Dana over as well. Although the boys aren't looking at the camera, this is a good shot of them playing on the couch.

New Couch

Tom observed that Charlie could use his own chair. We finally got him a little couch yesterday. He has been screaming and getting so wound up playing with this chair. I took several pictures that I'm not able to post here as the little guy is naked. However, there are several that show how much fun he is having.

August Celebrations

August has been a month of family gatherings and parties for the Seattle Wagner clan. I did not take many pictures at the wedding celebration for Will and Erin. However, I really like this picture of Madeline and Ella singing "Froggy Went a Courting". They did an awesome job!

This past weekend, we spent our time in Spokane celebrating Grammy Dorie's 90th birthday. There were numerous parties and a small photo shoot. This is a shot of Charlie looking at the fountain at the Davenport Hotel, where we had a wonderful lunch.

Here is most of the family that gathered. As you can tell, this was not Charlie's favorite part of the weekend.
Charlie devoured a bowl of whip cream. The evidence is below.

Play time under the table.
Charlie was scared of this statue. We thought we would get a great picture of Madeline and Charlie on this bench. We were wrong once again.

Food. Food. Glorious food.

Well, we have gone to see the Pediatric Endocrinologist and have established a relationship with Dr. Kletter. Although little Charlie was not given a diagnosis, he is certainly delayed in his growth. One of the things that the doctor told us to do was to attempt to increase his food intake. We are working on meal times as well as allowing him to graze as often as he desires. He is one messy eater these days. Yesterday he posed for me at the end of his meal. Every time the camera came out, he smiled and laughed. We had great fun. Here are a few of those shots. As a random tidbit, the food on his tray is gluten free pizza, yogurt, baked beans and chips. He is really digging the baked beans and grilled onions from the pizza.

July fun

Yesterday we took Charlie through ToysR'Us for some necessities. We ended up buying Charlie a new toy and he has been enjoying playing with his new Little People Farm. Some examples are below:

The boys posing for mommy on a rare hot summer day.
This picture is for our friend Tracy who sent Charlie this shirt. He thinks The Dead are pretty awesome!