sweet, sweet sushi......

For the Rooke's Annual Holiday Cookie Bake-Off I opted to not actually bake anything at all. Instead, I entered this plate of candy sushi into the contest. Yes, it did win in the creativity category, but certainly not the taste. Looks good though....

it happened again....

thanks Nana....

My mom bought this Boo doll for Charleigh while we were at Disneyland. It has become her first real attachment toy. She sleeps with her and is now beginning to insist that Boo come with us anytime we leave the house....

thanksgiving....

Opening this year's ornament from Mamaw and Papa
The 2007 personalized ornament
Assembling the trains with Samuel

Yes, I am aware that I am ridiculously far behind, but we are going to attempt to catch up and in chronological order. We spent Thanksgiving at Josh's folks house. Most of the day was spent playing Wii. We were excited for Charleigh to try her first Thanksgiving foods. We gave her a little of each to try and what did my child eat for her first real holiday meal? Olives and peas. A lot of them too. So much that we finally had to stop giving them to her so the rest of us could have some also. Oh well, it could be worse. She was also a fan of the pumpkin pie.....such a strange child.

disneyland highlight......

Here is definitely one of the top three moments from our trip. I'm sure you will all agree with that.......

disneyland....

This weekend we took Charleigh to Disneyland for the first time. Judging by the squeals of laughter as we rode down the escalator on our way to the tram, we figured she would be a big fan. And she was! We started the day at the teacups (Mommy's all time favorite). True to form as my daughter, she LOVED them. That definitely made my heart happy. From there, we enjoyed the rest of the park. Unlike her mom as a child, Charleigh was more than willing to sleep when tired so the day was much more pleasant with a rested child. Nothing scared her except for when the boats bumped together on Pirates. She did not enjoy that. All in all, it was such a wonderful trip and we can't wait to do it again!

Mommy and Charleigh on their favorite ride
Riding Dumbo with Daddy
Meeting Mickey for the first time with Nana
Enjoying the castle cookie she decorated with Papa's help
Watching the parade on Daddy's shoulders

i know it's mean.....

....but what parent can really help themselves? last week Charleigh woke up after only 30 minutes of a nap seemingly wanting lunch. I obliged this request only to discover this scene about 3 minutes later. Like any good mother who discovers their child passed out in a strange place, my first thought was to grab the camera......

fun in the nursery.....

I am currently doing childcare at our old church on Thursday mornings during their women's bible study. My so-called kids are just Charleigh and a 2-year-old boy named Jonny. It is so fun to watch them interact and play each week. I have recently decided that there are few things are cute as seeing a child sitting in those little plastic chairs in the nursery eating Cheerios....I just love it.

halloween night

halloween night.....

Halloween turned out to be a bit of a marathon for us. Hectic, but so much fun. We started by going to the homes of a couple family members. Not as much for candy as simply to share Charleigh's cuteness with them. Next we met up with the millions of parents and kiddies at the Goens' house. Everyone was too adorable for words and it was so fun to be included in the chaos. We opted not to go trick or treating since Charleigh didn't really need the candy anyways. So we left and picked up Papa (Nana had bible study and Daddy was sick) and went out to Daybreak's harvest festival to visit old friends. Charleigh had a blast playing a couple games and, after some initial coaxing, decided that she LOVES the bounce house......

halloween party.....

Nana's adorable costume, complete with hoop skirt and bloomers
Playing the "lay down and go to sleep" game that Daddy taught her
Charleigh attempting to escape the family picture
This picture just cracks me up. She is actually looking for the little boy who is hiding under the table for hide-n-go-seek. He did not appreciate her giving away his spot. This reminds me of The Wizard of Oz.

We were lucky enough this year to enjoy Halloween in three separate events. The first was a party at Uncle Jamie and Aunt Karrie's house on the 20th, then came the Bridge trick or treating event in Carpinteria, and last, but not least, the big night itself. We had so much fun showing off our little clown in her adorable costume that Nana made for her. Lots of pics were taken, but I'll just share highlights. Here are some from the first party.......

our little pumpkin.....

I think this pumpkin outweighed her, but she certainly tried.
Daddy and Charleigh looking for that perfect pumpkin.
The best one must have been the one in the middle.

Best route? Up and over all the rest.

Awww, I love this face.
Looking for a Charleigh-size pumpkin with Papa.

On Sunday afternoon the three of us along with Nana and Papa went out to the pumpkin patch. I was all set and ready for beautiful shots of my daughter among the fall colors, but mostly I came home with shots of her running. Here are some of the good ones though......

fashion faux pas.....

Who does this child belong to? Are her parents blind? At least then there would be an excuse for this hideously dysfunctional outfit? Let's at least be thankful that she didn't actually going out into the real world wearing this, the trauma ended inside our own home.

one of my favorite things....

I have recently discovered how much I love to watch Charleigh play on her own. Her little personality shines so brightly when she forgets that I am in the room or that I'm watching her. Once I watched as she "washed" her baby doll's face or sometimes she will just be chatting away while playing with her stacking blocks. The best so far has been when I realized that while looking at her books she was "reading" the pages. She would open a page, "read", turn the page, "read" and repeat throughout. It was almost cute enough to make me forget the 50 extremely uncute things she had done that day......almost.

weekly NASCAR update....

So not the best weekend for the boys. A 7th place finish for Tony and 20th for Denny (I don't even want to discuss this. Has he never driven a car before? He wasn't even in a wreck.). Oh well, they are still standing strong at 5th and 9th in overall points. Respectable but not great. Perhaps this Sunday in Texas will go better, or at the very least, let's hope it won't be worse.....

In other NASCAR related news, did anyone see this article about the Congressman who thinks going to a race is reason enough to get an additional immunization for major diseases. Great. As if we NASCAR fans don't have enough of a reputation problem, this is just the frosting on the cake.....http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=jb-inoculation101207&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

and the Chase continues....

For those of you who aren't aware, Josh and I are NASCAR fanatics. Seriously big time racing obsessed. Well, maybe not that intense, but we love it nonetheless. Each week we look forward to where the race is the following weekend and each weekend we watch in sheer anticipation to see how our boys will do. That's right, our boys. As if we own them or as if their success somehow changes our life. Oh well, I guess all sports fans feel as if they are on some type of personal level with their team. I know that most people don't get NASCAR. If that's you, give us time, we will recruit you to our world. I used to be one of those people who was like, "what's so great about cars going in circles?" That was before I learned that it's way more complicated than that. The days of simple rednecks racing is long gone. Now it looks more like MIT educated engineers designing the ultimate package. So awesome. I get excited just writing about it really. So this blog will keep the rest of y'all updated on how the world of NASCAR is going especially as the Chase continues (the equivalent of playoffs for this sport). Also, to fill you in on our drivers. Josh's favorite is Tony Stewart, driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet, and mine is Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet. Here are my wishes for good luck to them both in Charlotte on Saturday, stay tuned for results....

back in the blogging world...

With inspiration from the awesome mommies at church, I have decided to rejoin the blogging world. Obviously much has changed since the last post over a year ago, the most obvious being my daughter. Here are some recent pics by the amazingly talented Ellie Grover. Enjoy!