Funny Sleeping Habits

Recently, when Kris and I check on Charis before we go to bed or during her nap, we have been finding her with things in bed. She has been getting books, animals, games, even putting her glasses back on but this time I thought this was so funny I had to share.
She must have gotten up and gotten her pig hand puppet. She was talking a lot before she feel asleep and must have been pretending to do a puppet show and fell asleep with her hand still in the puppet. I am probably the only one that will find this funny, but I don't care. I really want to remember things like this.

Hats and Hiking

I have been working on learning how to knit a hat recently. And I finally finished one for Charis. It only took me two or three days but I have tried several other times and had to rip it all out before finishing. This time I got it right!
Charis thought it was great and took it with her on her hiking trip with Daddy.

They went hiking for a couple of hours on the green belt. They both had a lot of fun! I love that they can do this stuff together. We love doing fun stuff like this as a family but it is really nice that when I am sick or just need some time alone, that Kris and Charis can spend some great time together. The father-daughter bond or connection is so important and I love that Charis has such a great daddy!

Christmas morning

Around 7:30, (Charis does not know to be excited and wake up early yet) Charis woke us up by sneaking into our room. We spent a few moments hugging and cuddling before explaining that it was Christmas morning - Jesus' birthday and that we had surprises in the living room. She had seen one of the packages that was from our neighbor for her but this was the first time she had seen the rest of them. She got really excited.First I read Charis the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2. I like doing this first so that she will grow up understanding what Christmas is really about.
Then Kris and I agreed to start a new tradition this year. We will be giving Jesus/God a present (a commitment of time, resources or something meaningful) and thanking him for some of the gifts He has given us this last year. We write it down on a card and put it in His present.
I really enjoyed doing this and think that it will be fun to look back at them after several years and see what we have written. Charis enjoyed it too! She had fun thinking of things to have us write and then getting to color on hers.

She wrote:
Thank you Jesus for colors!
My gift to you is running around and singing!
Love, Charis 2008

Then it was presents time...
My favorite part was that we made time to let Charis play with each gift a little after opening it.
She really loved it! Not only was she getting some cool new things but she was also getting one on one undivided attention from both Kris and me.Her last present was furniture for her doll house that she got for her birthday. It was great when she realized what it was she grabbed a few pieces and ran to her room to put them inside it and play.
We also have a tradition of getting Charis a Christmas ball or ornament every year.
This year we got her two!
And of course she got to hang them on the tree. Which she loved!Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Kris had to work, so Charis and I decorated the house for Christmas. Katy came over to give me some of Charis' birthday party pictures and stayed for a little bit to help with the lights.Charis was so excited to help decorate the tree.
Then we decorated the rest of the living room with things that Charis' made in school.
We went to the Elkinton's for dinner and singing and Christmas stories.

The rest of Charis' B-day

After the birthday party, Kris, Skot, Charis and I got Pei Wei and took it home to eat and watch Charis' favorite movie Mulan.

Then Charis napped and we built her art easel from the Henrys. Thanks guys she loves it!
She played with all her new toys until dinner when Nut came over. Then we decorated our ficus tree as a Christmas tree.
Charis spent the rest of the night reading us books and entertaining us.
It was a great day!

Charis' Birthday Party

Finally, I was able to get the pictures off our broken camera. So now I have a bunch of catching up to do.

Charis' Birthday Party

We decided to have Charis' birthday party at the Wildflower Center but I still really wanted to decorate the house for her when she woke up. She loves the balloons and decoration.
We all ate breakfast together and then headed off to the Wildflower Center for her party. Sommer and I had decorated the "little house" the day before so we got there in time to blow up some balloons. Once people began arriving, we started making bag puppets. Kris and I cut out all the pieces before hand and the kids got to glue them on and decorate them. It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.
Then the kids played a little and danced.
Next, we read Charis' favorite book and the inspiration for the party theme... Dragon dancing. It is a book about a little girl on her birthday who goes to school and her teacher reads a book about dragons. Then the kids decorate dragon parts including a birthday dragon hat and go off into this imaginary world of dragon dancing.Then we made dragon hats.
Then cake and presents...
I made a butterfly cake, cupcakes and a round cake. Charis loved it!
Then we opened all the amazing presents. And as the kids were leaving they got a chance to dig around in the sand for insects to take home.
It was a great party and we all had lots of fun!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARIS!
WE LOVE YOU!

Giving toys away

Every year around her birthday and Christmas, we clean out Charis's room (and our house) and choose some toys and clothes to give away to other kids that need them. This year she helped more and even understood what we were going to do. I want to teach her the importance of giving to others. She helps me give food to the homeless and pick up presents for the kids at the Children's shelter and I want her to learn how to give from what she has also.Saying goodbye to her toys and playing with them one last time.
She is getting good at playing by herself for short periods of time. Right after we organized all of the toys she was keeping, she went to her room to color while I packed up the car.

School B-day celebration

Since Charis' school will be closed for the holidays on Charis' birthday, we decided to celebrate a little earlier at school. I took pumpkin and chocolate chip muffins, chocolate milk and party hats to her school for their snack. Charis said we could not have a party without party hats.At school, they set out the calendar months on the floor in a circle around the sun and Charis walks around the months with the world to symbolize every year she has been alive. At the end of every year she and I got to tell them something about that year of her life. Charis was very excited about doing this.
Then she got to turn the music box which played Happy Birthday and the teacher's gave her a birthday ribbon - she treasured the ribbon all day and even insisted on wearing it to bed. Then hugs for everyone in the class. Next the class sang Happy Birthday and Charis blow out her candle. Praying and eating. Then time for playing outside. Charis' had a hard time with me leaving, but when they came back in, she got to unwrap her book that she was giving to the class. Then she got to "read" it and that made her happy again.