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Charlotte Lynn English has earned several nicknames. Two of them are Charlotte Hornet (after the now-defunct NBA franchise; when she cries, we say she’s stinging) and Charlie B’s (which is short for Charlie Bananas, which has no real meaning and is absolutely not a nod to Johnny Bananas of Real World/Road Rules Challenge fame).

We were able to find a costume that suited both pseudonyms.

(Charlotte appreciated the significance.)

In wardrobe, she was a great sport.

Then she got into character. Here she is playing the Charlotte Hornet, stinging loudly.

Ellen and I had talked about getting beekeeper outfits. But since our general Halloween festivities were so minimal, we would have ended up just hanging around in beekeeper outfits, which would have scared the dog and neighbors (and the Queen Bee herself).

Charlotte eased into the trick-or-treating game.

Her Great-Grandpa showered her (us) with candy. At this point, the bee had lost her boots. (Later in the evening, Bailey would steal a boot, and I had to bribe her with the false promise of a Fun Size Nestle Crunch Bar.

And by dinner time, her pink Winnie the Pooh hat had replaced her antennae, and she called it a holiday. We’ll start planning for Halloween ‘09 tomorrow. Anyone have any family costume suggestions?

Ellen dressed Charlotte in purple velvet today, and Charlotte loved it. Here’s proof…

(That hair is looking mighty red.)

With an eye on Christmas Card season, we’ve been working on posing Charlotte and Bailey. In addition to starring in the photo, Bailey serves as Charlie’s manager.

“What’s that, baby? You can’t hold your head up any longer?”

“Photoshoot over. No more pictures.”

At just over three months, Charlotte isn’t walking yet. But she’s sure getting good at sitting around.

Projectile spit-up on a chair enough times and it’s yours.

This seat’s perfect for dog watching.

Coming next weekend: A minute-by-minute photo diary of baby’s first Halloween.

A long, long time ago, Nick Coder and Emily Graham were married at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia. For weeks I’ve been promising to post the photos I took during this blessed event, and tonight I’m finally following through. But I must admit I did not take the photo above. None of my pictures accurately captured what the day was all about, unless the day was all about Sean Meakim engaging old German men in impromptu political debates. I stole this one off Emily’s Facebook page. (Apologies for any copyrights I’ve infringed.)

Here’s what else our camera captured…

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Good weekend for pictures. Here’s one of Baby Charlie with each of us.

Charlotte’s already gunning for mental_floss cover girl status.

Charlotte got her little hands on a (non-hardcover) promotional edition of The Mental Floss History of the World.

She couldn’t put it down. (To be fair, she couldn’t pick it up, either.)

Some parts were scary.

Others were downright horrifying.

But if she could talk, she’d be telling everyone she knows to pre-order their copy from Amazon before October 27th (if you do, you get six free months of mental_floss magazine). For a time last week, the book was in the Top 20 of Amazon’s bestseller list. Now it’s back in the triple digits.

Let’s see if there’s a Baby Charlie Bounce.

Today is our fourth anniversary. As per tradition, I’m posting some photos from the wedding (see how we commemorated the second and third anniversaries).

This year, in addition to a few “look how great we looked!” shots, I’ll be posting some “before they got hitched” pics featuring now-married couples who witnessed our vows.

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I get the question all the time. “Jason, is there a way I can learn more about history while simultaneously helping raise the profile of your employer?”

I would be thrilled to hear that you headed over to Amazon.com and pre-ordered The Mental Floss History of the World. It’s our first hardcover book, and if it does well (like “bestseller list” well), it could really open up a lot of doors. That History of Dogs book that Bailey and I want to co-write? It could happen.

Order now and you’ll also get six free months of mental_floss magazine, which you can either send to a magazine-enthusiast friend or enjoy yourself (or tack on to your existing subscription).

Plus I’ll owe you a medium-sized favor. Think it over. And be sure to let me know if you do choose to purchase. I need to know to whom those favors are owed.

Congrats to my father-in-law, who today was elected as a Trustee of his shore community. He ran to shake up Ocean Beach (Unit III), and he was elected by a landslide. I’m not sure what his actual duties will be, but if they involve shaking hands and kissing babies, I know he’s mastered the latter. I look forward to walking the beach with him next summer and feeling important, the way Malia Obama would.

Charlotte opted for jeans today as she and her mom were gallivanting all over town.

Tonight I joined these fashionable ladies for some power walking at the Short Hills Mall.

I, too, changed into jeans. Track pants and a Yankees’ Melky Cabrera t-shirt (with a hint of toothpaste marking the interlocking NY) would not have been mall appropriate.

The weekend plans include a visit to another area cordoned off for commerce, but this time, it’s outdoors. The first Livingston Street Fair is on Sunday. We’ll let you know how that goes.

In case you were wondering, Charlotte’s favorite sites are the Drudge Report, Politico and TVTattle. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s a quick round-up of some recent pics.

Last month Ellen was asked to take a turn as guest columnist for Towerview, the Duke publication for which she formerly served as editor. Now her cameo appearance is online, and it turned out great. Well, except for the grammatically overzealous copy editor who changed the commonly accepted phrase “five minutes or less” to the awkward “five minutes or fewer.” So don’t hold that part against her.

Head over to DukeChronicle.com and read her story.