Happy Birthday Charlee Sue!

We can't believe our baby is already 3! Went by way too fast. What a blessing to have such an amazing daughter. We can't express enough how happy we are as a family! Here are some of our favorite highlights of Charlee's third year.

- She's a Movie Buff. Her current lines are, "And that's the way the cookie crumbles, and that's the way uh huh uh huh I like it uh huh uh huh!" - Bruce Almighty. And "One More Thing! ( Then pretends to judo chop you into the wall.) - Uncle from Jackie Chan. She can even identify certain songs with certain movies! Like Linkin Park with Transformers, and "I'm a Believer" with Shrek. If we say a Movie Line, she can say which character and movie it's from.

-Her favorite songs are Tomorrow from Annie, Journey to the Past from Anastasia, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC's and Jesus the Soccer Star. ( With all motions to songs.)

-She has started DANCE this YEAR!! (WAAA HOOOOO!!!) She's definitely her mama's baby. When any song comes on, she will run to the living room and start moving in her own way to the music. Not the same move over and over but different things every time. I ask her to show me how she feels about the song, it's AMAZING! ( I think So You Think You Can Dance has been a positive show for her! I can't wait for her first dance recital in a few weeks!

-She has MANNERS. She knows Please, Thank You, Excuse Me, May I please Have....., No thank you, and she has just learned the difference between Mam and Sir. It's pretty darn cute when she puts her phrases together :)

-Her brain is always at work. She loooves to take things apart and put them back together. She will choose figuring out a car seat buckle over playing hide and seek.

-Charlee's career as a debater is already on the rise! She is very good at turning the situation around so she gets what she wants. If mommy and daddy aren't on their toes, she'll win :) Or if she gives us that, " Pa-Leeeeeezzz Mommy?" How can you say No to that cute face?

-She's not afraid to get dirty. Our princess will walk around in her pink fluffy high heels and a feather boa one minute, then will be helping daddy raise the car the next.

-She broke her first bone this year. God, I hope she doesn't have her Mommy's curse!

-She has a compassionate heart. If she hurts someone, she's the first to apologize. If either of us are upset, she gives hugs and kisses and says I love you Mommy/Daddy. If we are cold on the couch or fall asleep, she brings us a blankie and "tucks us in" Sometimes with Gossie. (Her stuffed Duckie) And best of all when we come home from a hard day at work or school, she greets us at the door with a running hug and "MOOOOMMMMMMMYYYY!!!!!" Reminds us why we work so hard :) On Thanksgiving I explained why we need to be thankful. I gave her the "their are other kids who don't have beds" speech....she said, " well Mommy I want to go give all those kids beds so they have a bed too!" I told her one day, we will :)

Her favorite places to eat are Islands and Red Robin. The entire staff at Islands know her by name. And she knows all their names too. (Before I started working there!) As a matter of fact, she even orders for herself. (Lem-o-dade, Hamburger with ketchup, just ketchup and carrots and applesauce AND fren fries Please!)

She can say Drift and Good Morning in Japanese. (Makes her Daddy proud!)

Happy Birthday Honey, Mommy and Daddy love you more than anything!
Group Ooopie, Kisses and Tickles :)

From The Mouth of My Babe.....

Showing Compassion-

Last Week.....
I had just returned home from my first shift at Islands during the day. I was changing into my work clothes for Ruth's Chris that evening. Charlee came in the room, so went the following conversation....

Her: "Mommy are you going to work again??"
Me: " Yes honey, I just got back from Islands work, now I'm going to Ruth's Chris work"
H: " So you had to work all day at Islands work now you going to Ruth's Chris work?"
M: Yes honey
H:" Why do you have to go to both works?
M: " Well sweetie, Mommy has to pay the bills so we have food to eat and a place to sleep at night. Both jobs will help make that easier for us."

I continue to get dressed. Isaac comes in the room and starts laughing, he tells me to turn around. There she is trying to put on the black pants I had just worn at Islands. I asked her, "You Silly Goose what are you doing?"

Her: "I'm going to help you pay the bills Mommy."



Just Plain Hysterical,

This Evening.....Between Charlee and Daddy
Dad: " You are such a little girl!"
Charlee: " I'm not little!"
D: " Your Little because your short"
C: " I'm NOT SHORT, don't you call me short FAT BOY!"

I am walking through the kitchen to the table to eat dinner with Charlee and Daddy. I almost slip on the floor, but catch myself.

Me: " Oh boy I almost died there."
Charlee: " Oh that's ok Mommy!"

Ahh...precious moments :)

Halloween!!!!

I can't believe it's taken me almost 2 weeks to post this. In a nutshell. Halloween this year was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! To kick it off, my gracious manager gave me Halloween Night off!

The weekend before, we had Nevaeh, so we took the girls to the Harvest Carnival at the Presbyterian church. They had fun getting candy, playing games and jumping in the bounce houses.

Friday night (the 30th), we had some friends and family over for our annual Midnight Feast! It was a Potluck this year and we had some amazing dishes. Isaac made the best meatloaf, Kris made lasagna, Seth and Fran brought yummmy 7 layer dip and Waldorf salad, James Kennedy made chicken catchatori, James Madison brought a delicious pasta spinach salad, Liz brought fresh fruit with a dipping sauce, Calista and Travis brought some freaky looking deviled eggs (aka brains....lol) , Joe and Jen brought pumpkin cheesecake, and I made my famous Pumpkin Pie (thanks to my wonderful mother-in law!) it turned out awesome!! Charlee got to dress all pretty and stay up late with the big kids :) We had a great time enjoying some wine and eachother's company. Uncle James (Madison) got to stay the night with us.

In the morning we woke up to the best pumpkin pancakes EVER! (from Babeuh of course) then spent the morning watching Batman, The Dark Knight. We all loooove watching Heath Ledger as the Joker. This movie instantly became a Halloween classic for us :) After the movie, we dashed to the Thrift Store to find something that resembled the Joker for Isaac's costume (always last minute....lol) Ironically, we found his whole outfit in less than 30 minutes. Including the PURPLE dinner jacket!! Thank you Palm Springs! lol! After, we dressed up and took Charlee trick-or-treating to GG's house, Donna's house and to the mall. Aunt Sarah took her to the Harvest Festival at church while Babeuh, Calista, Travis and I hit the road for Seth and Fran's house. That is when the real fun began :) We had a few hours at their house to prepare ourselves for the night. Have some warm up beverages and lots of delicious food! Then called a few cabs and rode down to Main Street Huntington Beach where all the big kids ran wild in costumes and ALL the bars were open! Boy was it fun acting my age for once. We were responsible, but had a GREAT time! Every bar had a dj or a live band, what a treat! I think pics will say it all from here......hope everyone had a HAPPY and SAFE Halloween!!!

This guy didn't know what was coming to him! haha

End of the night. 2 Happy Babeuh's :)

The gang at the end of the night

We found Wall-E! (We took this for Charlee :)

Care for a Bite?

The Monsters of Hollywood

Our First Beverage

The Boyz

The Devil and Harmoine casting spells on eachother

The Devil and his Zombie

Hey, we had to preserve the makeup! lol

The fam at the mall

The Joker and his baby

We put a spell on you!

GG, Bean and Bill

The girls at dinner

Yummy Brains

The Harvest Fair