Zing, Zang, Zoom!

Yesterday Ben took the day off work (a rarity in our life) and we all went downtown to see the circus! I had never been so it was probably more exciting for me than the girls but they had a blast as well! Here we are waiting for the show to start.

Emma loved the pre-show music with the dancing clowns!

The pictures are not the greatest quality. It was so dark and we were far away. You might not be able to see well but this elephant is holding the girl in his mouth! The show was 2 1/2 hours long. Usually that would be way to long for Emma but she did really well. It must have been a combination of loud music, room to roam (in our seats) and her pacifier. :)

Father's Day & Cookie Fries

As I wrote below Emma was under the weather on Father's Day so Ben & Charis celebrated together. They went out to breakfast, then saw UP in 3D then went out to lunch, then after nap time they went to church together. Emma & I were getting a little stir crazy by church time so I decided to make a special treat for Daddy when he got home from church. This is what we ended up doing. Cute, huh? I found the idea on the internet & it was really easy to make. It's sugar cookie french fries! They're cute & quite tasty too!
(Yes, I plan on doing the brownie burgers in the near future. Let me know if you're interested & I'll invite you over!)

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is always so much fun! We get to eat yummy food and just do something out of the ordinary with our Daddy while we celebrate how much we love him and are thankful for him. So today Ben is taking Charis out to breakfast while Emma and I sit home and sip Pedialyte. So it's not totally the day I had planned (up at 4am changing diaper after diaper after diaper) but that doesn't mean we still can't celebrate our Daddy and show him that we love him! 4 years and 50 weeks ago Ben became a daddy! He's just a wonderful dad and I love to see his soft heart when he speaks to the girls about Jesus and their need for a Savior. Happy Father's Day Ben! Thank you for being a great daddy! Ben & Charis 2004 Ben & Emma 2007
_____
I most certainly cannot forget my own father. Thank you dad for being an amazing example of someone who loves the Lord with all their heart and loves their family. Happy Father's Day dad! I wish I could be with you today but the hug will have to wait just 4 1/2 more weeks. Papa with all 3 grand-girls 2008

Fashion Statements

Today was hot and muggy. Emma thought this was the appropriate dress for 100 degrees with 30% humidity...tank top, diaper & galoshes.

And Charis thought this was appropriate dress for Dance, Dance, Revolution...mismatched bathing suit & knee pads.

Ben was trying to teach Charis how to play and Emma was just making it a little difficult. I was on the phone at the time with my aunt. That's why you'll hear me talking.

Out of the Mouthes of Babes

Charis: "Daddy is funny! He's a good daddy but he's a funny daddy!"
_____
(For those of you that don't know, Mr. Max & Miss Alex are a married couple that don't have any kids yet.)
Charis: "Why does Miss Alex have a job if Mr. Max already has a job?"
Me: "Sometimes before people have kids the wife works too. See now that I have you & Emma, you are my job. Instead of waking up every morning and going to work my work wakes up every morning and comes to me."
Charis: "Do I have a job?"
Me: "Yes, your job is to obey mommy & daddy and be nice to Emma."
Charis: "I also have to feed Chloe and clean up the house. And maybe when I'm 10 I can do more jobs."
Me: "Yes, ma'am! You can count on that!"
_____
Emma: "Cow."
I think that may be Emma's first quote on here! Yay! She's so improving with her speech therapy. She's saying about 15-20 words now. Which is a vast improvement from the 3 words she spoke 4 months ago.
_____
Last week Emma & I were looking at my sister's blog. I would point to a picture of Maddie and say, "Ma-ddie." To which Emma would reply, "Nanny." Then I would point to a picture of Deidre & say, "Deedee." To which Emma would reply, "Deedee." Excited by all these words I decide to try a harder one so pointed to a picture of Jesse and said, "Je-sse." To which Emma simply replied, "Yeah."

Swim Party

A few weekends ago (I know, I'm so out of order) we had the Cassadays & Gilchrists over for dinner and swimming. The kids had a blast! (And so did the adults.)

Noah loves water! I've never seen a baby so happy about being wet! It's great!

Charis is making such a funny face here because her mouth is full of water and after I snapped the photo she proceeded to spit it at me...nice. All the big kiddos. Emma loves to sit in this inner tube in the pool. It cracks me up! The pool is 18 inches deep! After everyone got dried off and dressed Emma & Noah had a slap off before bedtime. They love each other so much. They're like brother and sister (you know, a little love & a little hate).

Girls Day Out

Ben often will take Charis on a "date" so when we came across a few free tickets to see a daytime movie I asked Charis if she wanted to go on a date with me. She told me that girls can't date each other so we should just call it a "girls day out". It was the most fun I've had on a girls day out in a long time. Thank you so much Heidi for watching Emma!

The Once Endangered Smurf is now Extinct

*WARNING: Some images may be disturbing to our younger viewers and those with weak heart conditions. This site accepts no responsibility for smurf nightmares or other related fears brought upon by this post.*
_____
One warm and windy afternoon I casually walked down the stairs only to be horrified at the sight of blue smurf blood smeared haphazardly all around the house. (I can only assume it is from a poor lifeless smurf.) I followed the trail of terror from its starting point at the base of the stairway across the living room floor and up on the red chair where it seemed to stop for a moment before it continued on to wreck more havoc on the mostly cream couch only to hop on to the side table. Just when I thought the damage could go no further I came upon the instigator of it all. In an effort to hide her crimes she must have eaten the poor smurf and in doing so dyed her face & hands a horrible blue.