Introducing Charlie

We finally got to bring Charlie home to live with us!  I am so excited to have a baby doggie.  Before we got him Momma and I talked about how he was a baby and we would need to teach him how to behave and where to go potty (outside!!).  It is hard work having a puppy but he is so much fun!  And seriously, he is the cutest thing ever!  Check him out!

Charlie really wants to be pals with Lucy, but she is not so sure of him.

So he will lay down and slowly scoot over closer and closer to her and then look up at her adoringly.  He has not won her over yet, but I know he will!

Momma made sure Charlie had a hedgehog toy.  It was Logan's favorite and is the ultimate perfect dog toy.

I think Charlie agrees!

 Charlie in action....

 I mean, really... isn't he CUTE??!!

 Charlie likes to lay down while he eats his meals. He finds our tile floor to be kind of slippery so he just lays down and gets comfortable to dive into his food!

 

 We went outside to play and Charlie found a great stick to chew.  In case you haven't noticed, chewing is a big thing in Charlie's life right now!

 Tasty stick!

 Then Charlie went to hide in the ground cover.  Logan used to lay there too.  

 Our sweet Charlie.

We love him!

Safari School: Elephants

Momma and I went to Safari School at the zoo!  We learned all about Elephants.  It was really cool.  First, we got to see the elephants take a bath and talk to the keepers.  Then we went to a classroom and learned all about elephants!

Here the teacher is showing us what a trunk is like.  This is not a real trunk, just something for demonstration purposes!

Did you know elephants have 4 teeth?  And they lose their teeth several times throughout their lives.  This is an example of ONE elephant tooth!  It is bigger than my head!

This is an elephant tusk.  Our zoo has Asian elephants, so only the boy elephants have tusks.  In African elephants, boys and girls have tusks! 

 Here is a real elephant foot!  It was hollow on the inside.  And it was gigantic!  The teacher showed us the enormous file they use to file the elephants toenails.  That would be hard work!

 After our lesson, we made a craft!  I really liked that part!  We made an elephant face with a paper plate and some construction paper.  Mine turned out very well, I must say.

And then we played a game!  We had a bucket of water and 2 sponges and we had to soak up the water with a sponge, run to the pitcher at the end, squeeze the water into the pitcher, and then run back to the bucket so someone else could have a turn.  It is like how an elephant drinks with his trunk.  He slurps up water, holds it in his trunk, then brings it up to his mouth and squeezes it out again!

 I ran fast with my sponge!

We did a great job and had a lot of fun learning about elephants. 

I sure hope we go to another Safari School at the zoo!

Hide and Seek

We went to the park to play hide and seek after church!  I like to hide in fairly obvious places and call out "I'm over here!" when Daddy or Momma are looking for me.  It makes them laugh!  Here were some of my hiding places... can you find me?

What a fun morning!

A cold front!

Oh what a blessing it is to have great weather!  We woke up on Labor Day to AMAZING weather.  It was simply lovely outside.  In the morning we went on a bike ride to the park by our house.  I haven't been to a park all summer!  It was so fun!  But the best part of the day was after my nap!  We went to another park and had a PICNIC!  Yahoo!

There is a nearby park that recently got a splashpad and new playground installed.  We have gone to the splashpad a few times, but have not been able to play at the playground as it was too hot to get on the equipment!  But now, with our "cold front", we could play!  For those of you outside of Houston, in our cold front the high for the day was ONLY 93 degrees!  Yes, that might seem warm, but it was beautiful and breezy and there was really low humidity AND 93° is WAY less than 105°, which is how warm it has been here lately!

 Poised and ready for the slide!

 Check out this cool bridge!

 As you can see, I STILL love the swings!

Higher, Daddy!

 There is even a climbing wall at this park!

 These two poles wiggle around - it is a tricky move but I can do it!

 Our picnic.  Daddy planned a fabulous meal for us!

And as an after dinner treat, we had yummy lacy toffee cookies.  

DELICIOUS!

I sure hope this great weather stays around for a while!

Dancing...

Since I have taken my dance class, I wear my ballet shoes as much as possible.  I even wore them to bed!  So, after church on Sunday we had a dance party in the kitchen!  Check out my moves!

Obviously, this is not ballet dancing.  However ballet shoes make ALL dancing better!

We are dancing to my favorite song, Luck.

I tried to teach Daddy some of my moves... 

I love to dance. Any music, any rhythm, I am ready to boogie!

Dancing school!!

As you know, I have taken gymnastics for the past several months.  Now that I am 3, I can take dancing classes!  So when Momma asked me if I would rather take gymnastics or dance, the answer was obvious... DANCE!!  I have talked about ballet and tap dancing for so long, and now I can finally take classes!  

Our first class was on Saturday.  It was WONDERFUL.

Momma couldn't get over my cute little ballet shoes.  They are so small because I have little feet!  They didn't have the pink ballet slippers this small!

 At first I was a bit nervous to be in the class so Momma went with me.

 We learned how to put our feet in first position, and plié (to bend).

 And we learned to relevé (to lift).

 And we chasséd across the floor!  

(That means "to chase" as one foot chases the other.)

You can also see Miss Rita, my teacher!

 I liked the chassé!

 I learned a lot.  After doing ballet, we did some tap, too!  Oh my goodness it is incredible to make tap noises with my shoes!

I think I am really going to enjoy dancing school!

School days, school days...

I started preschool this week!  I am a big girl!  I am now in the Panda classroom with Miss Angie.  It is great.  It happens to be right next door to my old classroom, the Ladybug room, so Miss Samantha and Miss Alise peek in on me sometimes to say "hi".  I like that a lot.  

I got a new backpack for preschool.  It is AWESOME.  In fact, when we first got it, I wanted to wear it ALL THE TIME and would put random things inside so I could carry them around the house.  Momma told me that backpacks are not for wearing while you sleep or take a bath or eat at the table, but other times are ok!

 

 Here I am walking at school with my new backpack!

You can't see from the picture but my backpack is blue and has trees and owls and deer on it.  It is called "woodland creatures".  I love it.

 Momma, are you coming??  I don't want to be LATE for preschool!

As soon as we get to the classroom, I put my lunchbox in a cubby and hang up my backpack on a hook with my name above it.  Then I sit right down because there is always something fun to do when we first get there, like play with PLAY-DOH!!  

Preschool is GREAT!