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!

Playtime!!

Here some of our fun playtimes! Look at great she is holding her head up!!

Cheese!!!

Here are her first smile for the camera!! Shortly after these were taken, Mommy got to go to the hospital for gallbladder surgery, followed by Charleigh seeing the doctor for the thrush that can be seen in her mouth! Oh well, all are well and healthy now.

Camping in Pismo!

We took Charleigh on her first camping trip to Pismo Beach in June while cousin Shelly was visiting from Oklahoma. She had a great time with all that family around to just love on her! We went to the apple stand, got a sink bath in the trailer (the first of many in her lifetime), and she even slept on the table while Mommy and Daddy ate lunch.

Slippery when wet!!

Here is Daddy giving Charleigh her first tub bath, which she was not impressed with, but she has grown to love now!!

More early visitors!!

Here are some more of our first home visitors!
Cousin Dusty was so excited to hold the baby, but didn't really understand why she didn't talk, walk, or have any teeth!! Next is my friend Rachael from San Diego, Charleigh loved having someone new to feed her. The bottom one is my friend Margie and her kids. They were so fun and had such a great time with Charleigh also.

Mother's Day/Baby Dedication

These are from Mother's Day. We took Charleigh to church for the first time that day because it is when our church did baby dedication each year. So, she was the youngest (and cutest!) baby there. Grandma and Grandpa had to run around the day before and find her an outfit because she was so tiny that none of her clothes fit yet!! She was so impressed with church that she slept through the entire thing.

First photos

These were her first studio pictures. They were taken when she was only 8 days old. She did so well, the lady even commented that she was shocked at how well she did. However, as the very last picture was snapped, she pottied all over Mommy. Oh well, welcome to Mommyhood!!

At home

We are all at home now and doing well. We call her a little monkey because her feet and legs are always curled so funny. She is sleeping fairly well so far. She hates baths though. Everytime she gets one, her daddy thinks that we are torturing her because she just gets so mad and turns all red.

She's here!!!!

Charleigh has arrived!! She was born at 7:05 p.m. on Sunday May 7th, 2006. She weighed in at 7 lbs. and 3 1/2 oz. and was 18 inches long. She is sooo beautiful!!! (But then I have a somewhat biased opinion.) We had lots of visitors and everyone is so excited to see her. I was admitted to the hospital at 10 Saturday night and because she was delived by C-section, we were released on Tuesday night around 7. So far she is a very good baby. Her daddy is so in love with her and she appears pretty attached to him also. The picture of her in the pink outfit and wrapped with the crocheted pink blanket is her coming home outfit. The blanket was made by a longtime friend of my mom's named Sandy Tiner. She made my mom a yellow blanket when I was born and I was brought home in that one, so it only seemed appropriate to bring Charleigh home in Sandy's blanket also.