She would rather not.

Well, Zoe and I just made our first noman, and guess who hated every minute of it! That's right, little bits. She cried when I put her snowsuit on, cried when I put her boots on her (which is usual), and cried when I pulled her hood up, granted her hair was all in her face. As I rolled the three balls, she stood by repeating "alk, no" over and over. She loves to look at it, but when it comes to touching it, she would rather not. After I stacked the body, I found some sticks and told her we needed a carrot and some raisins, she bolted for the door. We got our supplies, and yes, I even took out the camera! We have a camera that gets used quite a bit, but uploading the pictures is a different story (as I'm sure it is with most). However, I even went as far as uploading the pictures (only added a few), so enjoy!

Noman?

Zoe's ability to relate things without being told really astonishes her dad and I. We had a slight snow last week, less than an inch that Zoe enjoyed looking at and especially enjoyed walking in. She kept asking "Alk, no?" Meaning, "can I walk in the snow?". Well, yesterday morning we were sitting at the table eating breakfast and she looks at us and says "No?" (how she says snow). I tried to tell her that the snow had melted and was no longer there. How you explain that to an almost two year old is beyond me, she just looked at me and said "No-man?" Now, she knows what snowmen are due to the season of the year, but how in the world does she know that you make a snowman out of snow? To you and I that seems ridiculous, and obvious, but to a two year old? I do know, however, that this morning when she wakes up she'll be either confused or exstatic when she sees the blanket of white out the front window. There's even enough for her to build a "no-man".

The Hyper-Color Bag.

This summer the Chalfant clan flew to Kentucky for the Senn Family Reunion, aka Rough River, where most all of Dustin's family on his mother's side still reside. At the River we have a long weekend full of boating, tubing, drinking, eating, and very little sleep. This year, however, Dustin's mom, Gay, thought it would be fun to have a little "Christmas at the River". So without telling anyone, even her husband, she packed the car full of items she found from who knows where, things that would be hard to give away at a garage sale. They included, if I can remember right, a flashy gold purse, a comb, some fingernail stuff, a tacky frame or two, a men's tie, some other stuff, and a Hyper-Color bag. For this "Christmas" event all of the ladies drew numbers, and we went in this room, shut the door (which was a rule, made by Gay), and picked our gift.

As the other Aunts and women-in-law were coming out with their fancy gifts, I was certain that there would be nothing good left, until I saw it... a canvas tote bag, in Hyper-Color! Now, for those of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s, we all had, or wished for something Hyper-Color. Since my older brother had the Hyper-Color shirt, that turned from yellow to brown (I know, gross!), and I think he had one that turned purple to pink (don't ask, it was Hyper-Color), I was always jealous. But now I have my Hyper-Color, in tote bag form, and needless to say, it gets used weekly as Zoe and I take our books to and from the library.

So, here's to Gay. For not only making our library trips easy and convenient, but for the opportunity to have some Hyper-Color in my life. Love you!

Mother Hen

We have come to notice in the last couple of months that Zoe is quite the mother hen. As she absolutely adores our dogs, especially Chester, she is the first to boss them around. While I'm working at my computer, I hear her little voice "Move Beben" because she doesn't want to walk around him, "Chesters, tenel" (Chester, Kennel) when she thinks he needs to be locked up, "Tome here Dex" (Come here, Dex) because she wants him to lay in his kennel with her. He's the last dog who would want to snuggle up with her in his kennel. She so much as looks at him and he runs away. I feel bad for the dogs because she chases them around the living room, puts her lipstick on them, makes them look at books with her and simply tortures them. It will be interesting to see how she acts with Baby Norbert, it's name until we come up with something better. Will she control it, or will she nurture it? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Welcome!

Greetings from The Chalfants! We'll see how this "blogging" thing works out. Who knows how often I'll post, although I'll try to stay on top of it because I get antsy at blogs that remain idle. I hope to keep you updated on our lives, and hope to keep things interesting, as our family usually is (to me at least). Currently The Chalfants are a party of six, and will be adding a seventh in late July. Our house is a zoo, literally with a toddler (Zoe), three dogs (Beren, Chester and Dex), and a turtle (Sid). I'll just say there's never a dull moment.