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

Building Up Character

Every one of us who is a parent knows first hand the diligence it takes to develop good character within our children. We hope and pray as we work at it that our labors will bear good fruit. We seek in all our leadership to build them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

We work at building their intelligence too, and like most other things, that has it's challenges.

Here below is on of those challenges exemplified:

We've all seen these. The blocks that are part of those early stages of training. They aid in teaching colors, the alphabet. The pictures help us to teach them the name's of things.

Please tell me if you can, what exactly should I teach little Silliness that the name of this picture is?

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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

G-g-g-Giggles

Giggles took a bath tonight. Actually she took her second bath, but tonight during dinner she decided to rub mayonnaise in her hair so she scored another soaking.

The best way I know to get Chuckles out of the bath is to subtly change the water to cold until he asks to get out. (It's easier when it's his choice.)

I tried the same technique on Giggles, but with unexpected results. As the water got colder she just acted like it wasn't happening. She'd fill her bath-toy cup up at the spout and dump it over her legs with a shiver and a giggle as she looked up at me saying, "That's very warm daddy!"

Needless to say, I had to see how far she'd go with it, so I gradually made the water colder. I admit, the girl's got a stubborn streak. I had it full on cold and all she did was get a little reluctant to pour it on her legs until she looked up at me with a slight tint of blue coming over her, "I think I'm done with my bath now" she said. Standing there with a nice thick towel to warm her, I asked if she wanted to dump the water on her legs one more time. She didn't look too thrilled about the idea, but she did it.

I guess it's ok to be a little nervous about how that characteristic will play out when she's a teen. I think I'll pray about that one tonight.

For now it's cute.

I bet that nice towel felt good.



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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

Chuck chuck chuckles....

Tonight, I was standing in the bathroom and Chuckles came strolling in with my little half of a broken comb in hand. With an innocent look on his face he asked, "See how my head is handsome?"

I must have had an affirmative yet confused look on my face for he clarified, "I combed it."

Can you keep from grinning at that?



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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)

Pure Silliness

Here's a little Silliness for your blogging enjoyment.

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!

Woops

Mama Chanoli doesn't like it when use the word "fart." She has good reason to, as demonstrated by last night at the dinner table. I just have a hard time bringing myself to use her alternative, "boomies."

Last night Chuckles, at the dinner table no less said, "I farted."

I hung my head.

Mama looked at him after giving me a look I could call chastisement and then asked him, "Was that you?."

He nodded.

She asked, "Or was it that car outside?" to which he started chuckling and said, "yeah," with a sideways glance back at her and another good chuckle.

Mama started laughing, which caused what must have been a startled expression on my face after the look I got from her but I was laughing to.

In explanation Mama said, "I think he just cracked his first joke!"

That's my boy.

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

--<<( Smiles )>>--

It does my heart good to hear from you Melanie and Nan. I have resolved myself to be more diligent in paying attention to the things the little ones do and say so that I can post it here. Mama Chanoli calls herself a blogette because she likes to read but doesn't like to post, so I have taken up the torch and we'll see how far I get with it. Our love to you both and your families.

Todays funniness is watching the little ones learn the Nicene Creed. Giggles can't quite wrap her little mouth around the words "visible and invisible." It comes out more like "vibido and imbibido."

I can hardly get her to not dance while she says the words too, but today she said the first three lines with very little help.

God bless you all.

PC



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The God of the Bible and the Christ are my first love and loyalty. Next to God, come Mama Chanoli, Chuckles, Giggles and Silliness. Next to them come my dear brothers and their families.

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

Overdue

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The God of the Bible and the Christ are my first love and loyalty. Next to God, come Mama Chanoli, Chuckles, Giggles and Silliness. Next to them come my dear brothers and their families.

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

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

Bad Papa!

Ok, So I've spent considerable spare minutes playing with html code for fun and goofing with my other blog as if it will ever have more than the one faithful reader (Gotta love Marie,), but in the mean time The Tale of Three goes neglected.

In the mean time, Chuckles has turned four, and at any given moment he has a chance of informing you that he'll be five in ten minutes. That's not a direct quote, but it's close enough to get a chuckle out of me.

Giggles has taken to dancing. She's actually quite practiced, but you just hafta' love the 2 1/2 year old gracefully flailing arms. It's the fluttering eyelashes and the smile that really melt me though.

Silliness has decided it is time to assert her will. Needless to say, that's not so silly in the eyes of Mama and Papa Chanoli. She can go from smiling to barking in 0.5 seconds or less.

Chuckles came out of the restroom the other day after extracting something he wanted from Silliness' hands, to which she responded with a loud audible outburst. He was nearly in tears as he announced, "She barked at me!"

How do you not laugh at that?

On a serious note, there is one major event in the life of our extended family that has commanded a fair amount of our attention and nearly perpetual prayers as our thoughts gravitate continuously toward someone very close to us. Most anyone who reads this blog and has any clue who we really are will already be aware, but just in case someone stumbles across this blog and happens to actually read it, please take this link to another blog and at the very least pay attention to the prayer requests listed there. If you are a believer in Christ our Savior, then please lay your prayers before the throne of our gracious God and add your voice to the chorus of petitions that are being laid at His feet for Karen.

If you are not a believer in the Christ of the Bible, then I know that Karen and anyone else who matters to us would want you to rather pray that God would soften your heart and bless you with the gift of faith in Him.

Either way, take a look at what has occurred in little more than a week at the time of this posting and see why we as Christians turn toward God with humility and tears of thanksgiving. There is a testimony that will reach deep into your heart at www.welovekaren.blogspot.com

PC

The Chanoli Blog

With a little favorable providence, this blog will be a study in the exploits of three adventurous children as narrated by us, their parents who are lovingly aliased as Mama and Papa Chanoli. Our little ones will be referred to collectively as Chanoli, since that word abbreviates all three of their names together. Individually we will refer to them As Chuckles, Giggles, and Silliness. See below for a better understanding of who those names refer to.)

Mama Chanoli is the love of my wife. She endures all the challenges that every stay-at-home mother of three faces and manages to tolerate me while keeping our home, and still finding time to make me remember why I fell in love with her in the first place. First and foremost, she is living proof that God is merciful, because He has given me more than I ever could have asked for in a good wife.

Now for the characters in our story:

Chuckles is our almost 4 year old son who thinks everything on earth that fits in your hand is somehow capable of launching a projectile. If it shoots, has a sword, or is in any way related to horses, he'll be paying attention.

Giggles is our 2 1/2 year old Daughter. She is truly a princess whose largest concerns in life are what color she is wearing today and which part of her body her imagination just injured. She's also the cuddly one in the family, if you can get her to sit still for more than 15 seconds.

Silliness just plain IS a cartoon character. She's our youngest daughter at just over 1 year old, but as far as she's concerned, the world is hers to toy with. She has her brother and sister in training and is working very hard to train Mama and Papa as well.

We'll look forward to seeing how this whole blog concept turns out.

More than likely this blog will be posted too rarely at best, but on the odd occasion we might get the mood to update family and friends or wax eloquent. We'll see how it turns out.

Call it a test of sorts.

God Bless,
Papa Chanoli