Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

It's hard for me to believe that four years ago today, we were holding this sweet little baby for the first time.

We made the mistake of blinking and now she's already four. I'm not sure how it happened, but our baby is no longer a baby. She's officially a big girl and does not hesitate in telling you so.

She's a snuggler, thumb-sucker and she still loves her cross.

She is spunky, sassy, and full of life. She loves playing with Naomi and teaching her new things. Here, she is apparently teaching her the art of hide-and-seek.

She loves to sing and even makes up her own praise and worship songs. While not always theologically accurate ;-) it is so sweet to hear her sing praises to our King.

I'm not sure where she gets it from, but she has bossy tendencies. Here, she is telling the girl behind her to "Sshh!" because Charlotte felt like she was singing too loudly during the performance.

She keeps us in stitches with the things she says. Here is a sampling of some Charlotte-isms that will give you a glimpse into her personality...

"My back is a disaster... my neck is killing me!" (Dramatic, much?)

"Mommy, how do you spell PUPPY?" I tell her "P-U-P-P-Y. "Mommy, when we get home, can Naomi cuddle with her P-U-P-P-Y?"

"When you get blood on you, and you fall down, and your eyes close, and your tongue sticks out... That means you are SO dead!"

"Daddy, if you give me a dollar, I will play something else with you."

When I was spending many hours of the day on the couch with "morning" sickness, she asked, "Mommy, what can I do to make you feel better?"

One day last month she helped me make dinner and I asked her what she thought her Daddy would say when we told him. "I think he'll say, 'Oh snap!'"

She saw a tattoo on the foot of a friend of mine and came to tell me, "Mommy, I've never drawn on myself before," then proceeded to ask how old she needed to be to have writing on her.

She saw the Siri icon on Jared's iPad and said, "Daddy, push that button. You can ask her questions." (We don't have Siri on our phones but she's seen the commercials and has already figured out how it works!)

Sweet Charlotte, we love you so much. We're excited to see how the Lord uses all that passion He's given you!

Forever and a Day

Here are some pictures of the goings-on around here the last few weeks...

Charlotte is in Awana Cubbies and is loving every minute of it! She is memorizing a new verse or two each week and constantly amazes us with some of the things she shares or questions she asks.

At the first sign of cold, we built a fire in the fireplace and made some s'mores, using this recipe. The girls loved it and ask constantly if we can build a fire, assuming that the where there's fire, there's s'mores!

Charlotte is in a stage where she either wants to help you do anything and everything, or she wants nothing to do with obeying and good luck trying to get a simple task from her accomplished. This picture shows her and Naomi in very eager to help moods. Jared has been doing their laundry lately (yes, I know, how lucky am I?!), and he's been getting them to help hang up the clothes. I'm not even letting the fact that the shirts and dresses aren't all facing the same direction bother me. Too much anyway :)

I consider myself a fairly crafty person who can usually whip up something cute in a matter of minutes. Pride cometh before the fall, though. I waited until the day of Halloween to start their costumes. I had to dye some socks, stuff them, sew them, and attach them with ribbon to hang from their arms. Easy, right?

They're pink spiders, can't you tell?! Martha Stewart, I have failed you.

But at least their bags turned out cute!

This is what happens when you tell a three year old that she can play quietly in her room at bedtime. You find her in a bed full of potato head pieces.

Movie night with Daddy, popcorn, and Veggie Tales. It doesn't get much better in their books!