By a Hairs Breadth

Mama Chanoli and I came within a hairs breadth of having a date night. I can't even remember the last time we we went out together. All we were going to do was a little Christmas shopping and maybe have an ice cream sundae together, but even that had me excited and looking forward to it.

Poor Chuckles came down with a fever and naturally we are in sick-house mode now. Date night was canceled.

Even still I find myself thankful for my lovely wife and her tireless care for the Chanoli gang.

Christmas is already merry.

Chuckles was just sitting on the couch watching Finding Nemo with Silliness on his lap and his arms wrapped around her. A big brother smile was on his face.

Giggles has taken to some extra drama when she gets upset. Recently she paced around our upstairs in tears hollering, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" I still don't know what was bothering her, but it was unprecedented cuteness.

Life goes on in the Chanoli house.

Sometimes even laughter pales in comparison to a contented smile.





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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Laughing and Coughing

I have determined conclusively that laughing is not good when you are struck with a coughing fit.

At this point, nobody in our home has been spared this cold.

Today during lunch, when we would preferably have been enjoying a meal with our church family on our Lord's day, I was struck with a coughing fit. One of those fits where the more you cough, the more it makes you cough so you cough and cough and cough. Giggles was watching this particular fit intently... with a smile on her face.

Just as the fit subsided I looked at her and she said in her cutest little girl voice, "You're a good cougher Daddy!"

This was naturally answered by laughter, and more coughing.

Chuckles, shortly after that was overcome by all the humor I guess. He misquoted someone somewhere, "That's cracking me out."

More laughter... more coughing etc...




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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Words Of The Day

Deewishus, as in "Mama, this toothpaste is deewishus." (Chuckles)


Moo-ah, said after giving Mama a really big kiss. (Giggles)


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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Ok, so I goofed up!

Tonight at Dinner... (a common refrain at this point.)

I was working at keeping Giggles' attention on eating her meal, doing all the weird little things we do to convince our little ones that they really do want to take the next bite.

My trick this time was to point to, (touch, tickle) her stomach and tell her that this was where she wanted to put her food.

It would have been helpful to point out that there was a designated route. No sooner had I said it than both Chuckles and Giggles had their shirts up and were inserting bite sized pieces of pork into their belly-buttons.

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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Friday Evening Trip To The Park

After running errands this evening we decided to stop in the park and wear out the Chanoli gang.

Here's a glimpse of the result.

Mama's new glasses and Silliness's new pigtails

Look like Chuckles is holding on tight?

No tighter than Giggles is holding on!

C'mon Nora!
Hi!

One last slide...
Look at the little tree climber!

We ran across these vagrants sleeping on the bench and decided to wake them up.

I thought you all might enjoy these.

God Bless

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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Enough of corny. We're all cheesy now.

Our little architect of home life builds her first model...

Of course, she tops it off with a giggle...

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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Ok, this one's corny as they get.

Hug your kids. I got in a few today and I recommend it for what ails ya'.

Like I said. Corny.

Chuckles asked me for a hug today. Simple, but oh so valuable to me.




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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

An evening of fun...

Tonight, we decided to take a trip to the pumpkin patch. We all had a great time. I chased Chuckles up and down the rows until one of us was tired out. (Not sure which one it was though.) The boy can run FAST now!
Here's a glimpse of the fun.

Off to the Pumpkin Patch

The fun begins....

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One among us needs your prayers. Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Ok Everybody, Fold Your Hands and Look At The Camera. Yeah Right!

(Laughter can be heard from the Chanoli gang amid instructions from Mama and the sound of a camera turning on)

(Papa chimes in...)

Everybody say Fuzzy Pickles! (click)

Darn. Let's try that again. Fuzzy Pickles! Look over here! (click)

Look over here guys! (click)

Hmmm, maybe fuzzy pickles isn't working. Look over here guys! (click)
>
Woops, blurry...(click)



Well, that was cute, but not what we were after. Here we go, say cheeeeze! (click)

(two or three more blurry shots now occur then...)

Oh well. Let's try again later. I'm sure a couple of'em turned out ok....
(camera shutting off noises)

Treasure Hunt!

Chuckles and Giggles exploring a trunk full of old treasures from Mama Chanoli's parents.


Can't wait to get the old Lionel running for the Christmas tree!

Dinner time

Tonight at dinner we were having steak, among other things. It was very good, hickory smoked on the BBQ. MMmmmm, delicious.

Chuckles' carnivorous tendencies are starting to show. He is my son.

He devoured his share of meat and asked for more. That's a recent development lately.

After we had all finished there was a small portion of meat left and Chuckles asked, "Can I have that big meat?" (big for him at least)

I told him we could each have half of it and he replied that he would like to come sit on my lap and eat it. As he walked over I pulled the meat platter over and he sat down on my knee. He then wanted his own fork, which Mama promptly handed to him saying that a man should be able to have his own fork when he wants, but I had already offered to let Charlie use my fork. He liked that idea. When I handed him his fork which Mama had handed over he said, "Here, I'll use your fork and you can use mine," to which I agreed and handed him my fork. He handed me his fork and we commenced to cut the meat and split in half each bite I cut, after soaking it in the left over juices. We ate it in great enjoyment together.

Giggles had watched this whole affair and said, "That's good sharing guys!"

Mama and I laughed.





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Please link to http://www.welovekaren.blogspot.com for current prayer request updates.

Our family thanks you.
Papa Chanoli

Out of the mouth of babes...

Tonight was one of those nights where we waited just a moment too long to get dinner together, and the kids went wacky. What parent doesn't know that one? So I, Papa C decide to go out and fetch a dinner pre-made. One that I know the kids will love, and that will take some of the pressure off of Mama C.

As I come waltzing through the front door, returning from the dinner errand, Giggles (the observant one) notices the bags in my hand and comes running up with a scream and a big hug with arms wrapped around my legs...

"Oh thank you daddy, that was sooo generous!"

We didn't quite tear up, but both Mama and I had huge smiles on our faces as we laughed. How these children absorb our words and phrases never ceases to amaze me. They just intuitively grasp the context of certain things, and yet other things they have to hear a hundred times before you finally see the result.

Thank God for those little moments that make it all so worthwhile.

PC