Thanks Daddy

Chuck is a wonderful daddy. He loves his girls so much and does such a great job teaching them and showing them how much he loves each one of them. He goes out of his way to find things that will enrich their lives.

Last Saturday, Chuck spent several hours of heavy lifting to bring home this wonderful piano. Leland has been wanting one for some time now, and you can see the joy in her face as she works on a lesson with her Dad. Chuck has been scouring the classifieds for weeks to find a free/cheap piano. One day he found 2, so he rented a truck and with the help of a friend went and picked up both of them. This beauty now graces our home with music of little fingers. The other piano is also in our house, but has several non-working keys. We are trying to find a new home for that piano.

The other night Chuck brought home a box of hot, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yummy! The girls loved their treat. Lucy wasn't so convinced at first what all the excitement was about. Chuck had to convince her to take a bite and try the doughnut. The flaky icing concerned her so much that she started to eat her doughnut without lifting it off her plate. She is so silly.

After hearing how cheap the leftover Halloween costumes were at Wal-Mart ($3-$5), Chuck suggested I go get some dress ups for the girls. We even hit up a second Wal-Mart in town when he came home from work, just to make sure we got a good variety. Isn't Leland the most adorable pirate?!?! Lucy was very persistent that she wanted this princess gown. She wore it for hours even though it's 4 sizes too big for her.

Chuck is patient, understanding, loving, and helpful. He is the best daddy to little girls. I am so grateful to have this man in my life.


We love you Daddy!

4 months old

Charlotte deserves a post to herself. Poor girl is in the stroller, missing out on pictures all the time. Here are some pictures of her I took with my sister's great camera.

Love those blue eyes!

She is such a good natured baby. She loves smiling at others and Lucy even got a big belly laugh out of her the other night. She loves getting all the attention from her sisters and she loves her cuddle time with Daddy at night. She is a great sleeper, once you get her to sleep. She fights it so hard sometimes.

4 month stats:

14 1/2 lbs - 75th percentile

25 1/2 inches - 95th percentile

Costumes

Lucy was so cute as a witch in the best costume. Leland wore this witch outfit the past 2 years and it came from one of Chuck's sisters. The hat is the best. Leland wanted to be a princess, but I really didn't have a fancy dress for her to wear. I let her search through my box of fabric and choose her favorite. She couldn't decide between 2 of them, so I made her a simple reversible dress. She named herself a Star Princess.

My mom got Charly a Baby's 1st Halloween onsie, but I left it at my sister's house last weekend. We had several choices of costumes for Charly, but the only one I got a picture of her in was her cow outfit. I had a great spider costume for her to wear at our Ward Trunk or Treat, but she was not in a happy mood, so I never put it on her.

Here is Leland and two of her friends at the Trunk or Treat. There was also a chili cook-off. I made a white chicken chili and proudly took 2nd place.

I took the girls to a Halloween party at an assisted living retirement home.  After a magic show some of the residents had candy to give out. They were just sitting in chairs in the main area and I think many were confused on what to do with the candy.  We had fun, but it was a bit chaotic. The girls enjoyed playing with friends that also came.

That night, Chuck took the girls trick or treating to some houses on our street. It had rained most of the day and was very hot and humid by the time they went out. They all came home sweaty and tired. Chuck slipped on someone's front steps and badly bruised his tailbone. He has been in a lot of pain, but is finally getting better.

"Carving" Pumpkins

After we got our pumpkins on Monday, I set them out on the front porch until we had time to decorate them. A hungry little squirrel decided to help us start the carving process and enjoyed a nice little snack.

We opted this year to not do the traditional carving, but used Mr Potato Head-like features to decorate our pumpkins. It was so much fun and so easy. The girls loved that they could do it themselves and they could change the faces around if they wanted.

BTW - I got the kits last year after Halloween when everything was on sale. So go check out the sales tomorrow.

The whole "spooky" family.

Our little Lucy has been a frightened by the holiday this year. Everything was so scary to her. After we decorated our pumpkins she did not like them hanging out on our kitchen table. We had to turn them around so she would even walk by the room. I tried telling her they were just silly faces and she eventually warmed up to them and would give them kisses, but the next day they were scary again. This little fear made shopping a little easier for me, since there were Halloween decorations everywhere, she would stay right by me and even requested to ride in the shopping carts.

Jumping

Last weekend we went down to NC for about 24 hours to celebrate 2 cousins' birthdays. My sister had a joint birthday party for her daughters. It was great to see her and her family. See pictures from the party here. We are so excited for her girls to come stay with us while they go on a cruise.

Pictures: above left - my sister and Charly in their gorgeous backyard. Above right - our girls and their cousin Emily.

I LOVE her camera. I really would love to have a nicer camera than our point and shoot one...someday. But for now, when I am with her I take advantage and try it out. Leland and Lucy had fun jumping over dad from one air mattress to another. I love Leland's facial expressions. Lucy couldn't quite make it all the way across, poor Chuck.