A Halloween Message from Charlotteberry Shortcake

I, Charlotteberry Shortcake, would like to wish you all a berry cool Halloween!!

I would also like to share with you some photos from Halloween Past. I've had some pretty fun costumes, except for my first one when Mommy used some crazy creative juices to stick a pumpkin hat on my head and call it a costume...I hope my little brother or sister gets a better first Halloween outfit!!

Speaking of my little brother or sister, we'll find out which one I get on Monday morning. If you haven't visited our online baby pool - do it soon! We'll be revealing the big news next week :)


Halloween 2007

Not even the real Dee Dee Doodle herself looks this real. I scared myself with the authenticity!!










Halloween 2006

I really loved being a ladybug, but the hood was a bit much...



Halloween 2005

Seriously, Mommy and Daddy - this was the best you could do?!?

I wonder what I'll be next year...?!

The Power of the Penn State Pumpkin

I knew there was something special in the air yesterday...

My mommy doesn't have ANY crafty bones in her body. She is seriously craft challenged, so when my friends Avery and Evan came over to watch the Penn State game with us and Mommy surprised us with a package from Michael's, I knew it was going to be a great day.

Mommy bought us all craft pumpkins. She gave us lots of stuff to decorate and create our very own Penn State pumpkins.


We laid out the supplies and got to work. We knew that these pumpkins could be a good omen for the outcome of the game. If we made good pumpkins, then Penn State would have a chance of FINALLY beating the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe.


Avery took the challenge of creating a superb Penn State pumpkin very seriously. What Penn State pumpkin doesn't have great blue hair?!

Evan was equally serious about the task - he actually got more paint on the pumpkin than on himself!!


The Ohio State players have those silly Buckeye stickers that they put on their helmets for good plays - I decided my pumpkin needed some sparkle blue stars to represent all the good plays that were to come to Penn State that night.


We were quite proud of our creations. Since Mommy had stepped out of the box and came up with the idea to make our pumpkins, I started to get a good feeling that Penn State would step out of its box and defeat the Buckeyes on their home turf. The pumpkins HAD to be a good omen!!


We knew we'd need a lot of energy to cheer on our Nittany Lions, so we loaded up on a yummy dinner.


My future husband and I decided a little karaoke was necessary to pass the time while we anxiously awaited kick off.


One last dance before our pre-game warm up. Big Jim brought some Penn State music, and we paraded around the family room waving our pom poms and getting pumped up!














Mommy has a new night game ritual of enjoying a frozen mocha Coffeez right before kick off - she says they help her stay awake for the whole game. When nobody is looking, she sneaks me a sip!! Sorry, Emmet, no Coffeez for pugs!

It was FINALLY game time, so we positioned our pumpkins in a place where they could 'watch over' our Penn State players and send them good luck vibes.

Looks like the gang is ready!!

We needed a picture with Daddy, too, so Amy took this shot.

After the pumpkin creating, dinner, pre-game warm up and Coffeez, the game began. Even though I didn't get to see the whole game, I knew it must have been good when I started to hear hooting and hollering from downstairs. I woke up to the great news that my beloved Nittany Lions went to the Horseshoe and DEFEATED Ohio State. The pumpkins worked!!

Stay tuned for more pictures of our weekend - a day after our wonderful win, we decided to celebrate with our friends by doing something Mommy has NEVER done before, even though she grew up in Lancaster...

The Curse Is Broken!!!

Last weekend, Mommy, Daddy and their Penn State friends took an RV up to the big Homecoming game against Michigan. When Mommy returned on Sunday with a big smile on her face, I knew that Penn State had FINALLY defeated Michigan!! Mommy and Daddy said that while it was really cold, they had a blast with their friends. Then Daddy said that I am never allowed to set foot in the RV park at Penn State until I am a grown up. I wonder why...


Since this is my blog, I had to put a photo of me in the post. This is me acting as Mommy's sous chef while she baked some yummy Penn State whoopie pies for the tailgate. Mommy's normally not a very good baker, but I gave her some pointers while we worked.

Don't they look so good that you just want to scream, "Whooooopieeeeee!!!!"

My Fair Lady

A few weeks ago, my cousin Drew Higgins attempted to turn me into a "Fair Lady." I told him repeatedly that I was Princess Charlotte Doolittle. I wasn't sure how much fun a princess could possibly have at a fair, but I gave Drew the benefit of the doubt and joined him at the famous Lampeter Fair.



Mr. Higgins took my hand and off we stomped through the parking lot towards the fairground. I'll be honest - the smell in the air startled me. Mr. Higgins explained that it was pure, unfiltered Lancaster County air.


I soon discovered what Mr. Higgins meant by unfiltered. As cute as these cows were, they certainly didn't smell like anything in my princess castle. Being the princess that I was, though, I smiled for some papparazzi photos.


Mr. Higgins was disappointed that we wouldn't be able to see the pig catching contest (to take place the next night when the weather was supposed to be very rainy), but he showed me these fabulous pigs as they slept. They didn't smell like roses, either, but they were very cute!!


As we admired more of the farm animals, I learned quickly to ignore the smell and enjoy their cuteness. Being around all of these animals at the fair is lots of fun!


After eating a yummy fair dinner and walking through some tents, we came upon the tractors. One wouldn't normally think of a tractor as a mode of transportation for a princess, but since my daddy, the king, designs tractors, I had to test these out to see if they were worthy of my princess hiney.

Turns out they were! This one was designed very well, King Daddy!!


Look, King Daddy! Here's another one of your tractors. This one isn't nearly as big as the ones that you actually design, but it still looked huge to this princess and her fair teacher!!

Thank you so much Drew Higgins, Aunt Amy and Uncle Darin for inviting me to the fair and trying to turn me into a Fair Lady. I had a blast, and this princess will go to a fair anytime with you!!

Rock the Vote!

OK, people! It IS election season, so why are so few of you voting in our online baby poll?! It's even easier than voting for our next president - all you have to do is go to the link on the right hand side of this blog, predict if my new sibling will be a boy or a girl, when he/she will be born, and how big he/she will be - all from the comfort of your own home :)

Mommy is even trying to think of a prize for the winner...stay tuned!

I know it's been awhile since I've posted - I wanted the news that I am going to be the BEST big sister EVER to sink in. Now that the baby is out of the bag, I'll be back to posting regularly. Coming soon - photos from our trip to the Lampeter Fair, our trip back to the Buckeye State, and a Barbie that just won't stop singing...see you soon!!!

A CNN Breaking News Story

We interrupt this blog to bring you breaking news from Charlotte's Noteworthy News:

Stay tuned for more information!!!

A Lesson In Dutch Culture

Last month, Mommy and I invited Amy, Big Jim, Avery and Evan to visit Dutch Wonderland with us. It is a great local amusement park with lots of rides for little kids like us. I was SO excited for a day of rides, food and fun.

Little did I know that Professor Big Jim would take the opportunity to teach us all about Dutch culture.

He had so much fun telling us about the Netherlands that we didn't mention to him that the Pennsylvania Dutch are actually descendants of German immigrants. He was having too much fun 'educating' us about the other kind of Dutch!!!


When we first arrived, we stood at the measuring post to see what rides we were tall enough for - Big Jim said that this kind of measuring tool is very common in Holland, and that they appear on every street corner.












We drove fun boats - Big Jim informed us that boats are a main form of transportation for the Dutch since their country borders the North Sea.



Big Jim and Evan had fun driving their very own Dutch boat shaped like a log.


Monster trucks are very popular in the Netherlands. They are used to drive between the windmills.


Holland is famous for its cheese, so of course milking the cow to get their special Dutch milk is an important job.


For those families who can't afford a monster truck, a horse and buggy is the next best thing!!!



We worked up quite the appetite learning about the Dutch, so Big Jim and Mommy stood in a loooong line for the yummy Dutch cuisine of pizza, sandwiches and macaroni bites!


Since the Netherlands is a very flat country, they build slides all over the country to give kids the chance to experience the fun of a hill.

I chose not to experience this part of Dutch culture. Mommy was not upset with my choice.


You thought Venice was the place to go for a gondola ride? You're wrong!!! The Netherlands is the place to go!!

Notice the orange seats. Big Jim had a very fun nugget of info - he asked if we knew why Dutch athletes many times wear orange when there is no orange in their flag? He told us that originally the flag did have orange, for William of Orange, but the orange dye turned red when left outside, so it was eventually changed to red. Sorry about that, William of Orange!! At least the athletes still pay tribute to you!!


Next we were off to Duke's Lagoon. Duke is a very famous dragon in Dutch legend. He would leave little gifts for children when they left out their clogs at night. They were usually gifts that involved water.


More slides to entertain the mountain-challenged citizens.


I'm not sure if this is a traditional Dutch pose, but it sure did make me laugh!!


Learning about Dutch culture is VERY tiring!!


















As always, we had a BLAST with Professor Big Jim, Amy, Avery and Evan (who is my knight in shining armor!!)

***While Professor Big Jim did share lots of educational stories about the Netherlands with us, some of the stories told in this blog entry might have been embellished a bit. After all, this trip was over a month ago, and we might not have paid as close attention as we should have. We love you, Professor Big Jim :)

Dancey Dancey School

This morning I went to my very first "dancey dancey" class!

I was so excited that I didn't even hold it against Mommy when she dressed me in a leotard, tights and ballet shoes that were just TOO big for me (she swears that she looked everywhere for smaller sizes, but I'm sure she could have searched a little bit longer...)



After getting over the shock of having elephant ankles and knees, we drove through the deluge known as Tropical Storm Hanna to get to the studio. We were informed that the first part of class would be tap, so I had to change into my brand new "loud" shoes.









Like a good dancer, I got onto my mat in the circle and listened to the teacher as she tried to teach us to tap our sticks to the beat of the music.

(That's me to the left of the girl in the blue - I made sure that Mommy knew that Jules wasn't following the rule of wearing a black leotard and pink tights to class. I may be a graceful ballerina now, but that doesn't mean I am stepping down as policegirl of the preschool world.)


I didn't want to make too much noise (contrary to my singing philosophy) - notice that I am the only dancer still on my mat.


Miss Melanie finally convinced me to tap onto the loud floor - of course I only agreed when she told me I could hold her hand and lead the girls one way around the circle.



Whew!! Loud tap time is over, hand me my "dancey dancey" ballet shoes!!

Simba who?? I got to wear the lovely lion mask during our animal dance. Of course everyone thought I was just a regular lion - little did they know I was a lady Nittany Lion!!


Policegirl Charlotte here again, making sure all the girls stayed in line while waiting to do our animal crawls.


Have you ever seen a better monkey crawl in your life?? Quick - throw me a banana!


Class ended with my favorite - the scarf dance. I twirled and twirled until I couldn't twirl anymore...

I had a blast at my first "dancey dancey" class. I can't wait to go back next week!!

After class we went home, had lunch, then left for the York Fair to see the Doodlebops Live!! I didn't even notice the tropical storm falling all around us at the outdoor event...Mommy says she is still recovering from the day, so she'll post the Doodlebop pictures another time. Stay tuned!