Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Santa

He wasn't very excited about Santa...but he also didn't scream!

A Big Update

OK OK you can all stop bugging me to update my blog b/c here it is! And it's gonna be good...and thorough!

1) Willis Visit. Here are a few pics of when my fam. was here for the weekend:

2) Thanksgiving. We had a super time in Houston over T-giving. The weather was a chilly 75 degrees. Too bad we only took pants and hardly any short sleeves. We did a lot more than go to the park but that seems to be all we took pictures of. Like father, like son:

3) Snow Day. We had some great snow after we got back home from hot Houston! Chase didn't really know what to think about it. He hates his big bulky coat. Preston even got a day off of work!

4) Alabama. Preston's sweet grandma passed away the last week of November so we made a trip to Alabama to be with family. It was good to see everyone even if it was under very sad circumstances. She will be greatly missed.

5) Guilty. Chase says, "I don't think you want to come in here," then "OK you asked for it...look what I did! It's art!"

6) Early Christmas Present. Chase got this fun Kangaroo Climber for Christmas from his mom and dad. He loves it! We couldn't help but give it to him early so he could be playing. When it warms up it will go outside.

7) Before and After. Here's a picture of my dining room table before Photo Card Cafe' closed for Christmas and after. I had a much more successful first holiday season than I could have imagined. I did 111 (yes that's one hundred and eleven) people's Christmas cards from all over the country! Cool!

8) NO MOM! Not the reindeer antlers!

9) Wedding Bells. My sister Amy is getting married! I'll keep you posted as plans are made!

10) Explorer. We bought an Explorer for me to drive! Woo-hoo! I feel like I have all the room in the world! It's a gray '05 and I'm loving it!

10) Random Videos. Click to watch:
Playing Chase with Chase...
The new slide...
Pushing the tub...

Now if that's not an update...I don't know what is.

Fall Day

Our weekend was filled with time in the back yard over a few beautiful Oklahoma fall days. Chase had a lot of fun playing in the leaves while Preston was working on the fence. We finally got our back yard all fenced in so the dog and the kid can't escape or fall down the hill. Now we just need some yard toys! I'm sure Santa will think of something!

Sickly

Well there are a few reasons why I have not updated in a while.
1) I'm busy with Christmas Cards
2) I've been sick (more later)
3) Yeah...I don't have any more excuses

About the sick part...I won't tell you all about it b/c believe me, you don't want to know but the doctor told me he thought I had salmanella food poisoning. I wasn't too convinced and am still not but he gave me some meds that really did make me feel better. Hallelujah! It's been a rough week and a half.

My parents came to visit last weekend which was fun. Then Chase and I went to visit them for a few days b/c Preston was on a business trip. It was nice to spend some time with them.

Chase went to the doctor for his 15 month...I accidentally waited until he was 16 months though....oops. I can't remember all the stats (it's written down in his room and he's asleep in there right now) but he weighed 23 pounds which was 30% and he was 75% in both height and head.

We had pictures made of Chase by our good friend Judson. Here's a sample:

That's about all I have for now. Have a good one!

So I lied...

I said we weren't going to do anything on Halloween Day (mostly b/c Preston had class) but Chase and I invited his Aunts over for dinner. Amy came but Leah was too cool for school. ;) Amy, Chase, Lucy, and I handed out candy which was really fun. Then we ran out of candy and had the bright idea of putting Chase in his costume and trick-or-treating to the houses next to ours....this way we could get more candy to hand out to the kids who came to our house. This was a brilliant plan and worked beautifully! But the trick-or-treating was the most fun part of our night! Chase really had fun and so did Amy and I (sorry Leah you missed out)! Once Chase figured out how the whole process worked (go to the door, people give you candy, etc.) he was all about it!

Halloween Happenings!

Click the picture to see it bigger.

Hope you are all having a fun Halloween! Here's what we have been up to over the last weekend.

1) Church Class Party - Good food, fun, a hay ride (pictured), and lots of little dressed up kiddos (also pictured)!

2) Haunt the Zoo - A walk through the zoo where they give out treats and have lots of fun photo ops. Here is Chase and some of his buddies at the zoo and him hugging his friend Mickey. :)

3) Fall Festival at Church - lots of games, prizes, candy, etc. Chase didn't have a great time here because it was so crowded and hot...and he's not old enough to care. Here is a picture of what it was like most of the time we were there...at least until he got to take off his costume and have a sucker and play with his new glasses...things started looking up after that. :)

4) That brings us to Halloween...Oct. 31st. What are we going to do? Not a thing! Maybe we'll give out candy at our door. :)

Hope you all have a super day!

Our Weekend in Pictures

We visited a pumpkin patch that was really a down-home amusement park for kids. It was really fun. Chase got to go in a petting zoo, play on the play ground, go on a train ride, ride the carousel, etc. It started out great but then the weather turned cold and windy and we decided to leave before we actually went on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. But Chase had a good time while we were there and had no idea that we missed anything. We went with our friends the Fosters. Oh...and am I the only one in the family that knows how to look when a picture is being taken?

The Chase had his first hair cut!!!! He did great as long as he had a cherry sucker in his mouth!

Then we went for a walk in the park and took a few pictures. This big one was my favorite. Nice hair cut Chase!

OH! And then the Fosters (pictured above) had their baby on Sunday! Welcome baby Bryce! Maybe they'll post a picture soon...

Funny Video

Here's some cute video of Chase, Lucy, and our friend's dog Pod for a few laughs...
Chase is laughing so hard while I make this post...he keeps wanting me to play the video over and over. I wonder if he realizes it's himself....

Purple White, Purple White, Fight Fight Fight

This weekend Preston, Chase, and I all headed down to Abilene for ACU Homecoming. It was super fun! This year was my 5-year reunion year so it was really a big deal: lots of people that I graduated with were there, we had a reunion dinner, etc. Much fun was had by all. We stayed with my cousins Ryan, Holly, Boston, and Boone and it was really fun to see them. We went to a carnival on campus, went to the parade, I went to my EOX breakfast at 6:30 in the morning, we went to the dinner, went to my favorite church in the whole world. But best of all I got to spend lots of time hanging out with old friends. :) Here are some pictures...as always there are more of kids than of adults.

Me and a few of my girls:


Preston and Chase watching the parade and Chase in his new ACU shirt:


ACU moms and kids:


Great picture of the future of ACU on the steps of the Ad. Building:


And picture time is over:


I mean 5 years...are you serious? How old am I? Where did the time go?

Something New To Try

One of our friends has been involved in the creation of a new website. It's very cool and has tons of features. If you have a chance go to the website, create an account, and take a look around. (It's kind of an alternative to a website similar to yahoo.) They are still in process so give them some tips or suggestions if you have any. And tell your friends about it!

The site is www.madnonnie.com.

Chase's Battle Wound

Well...it's not really a "battle wound" but he did fall off of the chair in our living room face-first only to hit the corner of his wooden puzzle that happened to be between him and the carpet. All this while in the care of his Aunt Leah. :) Haha. She said he didn't cry too much. What a toughie. This is also a pic of his new fire truck p.j.'s.
(And no, i'm not trying to compete with Jen's crazy kid...check this out...and this.)

Young Married Class Retreat

Last weekend Preston and I joined our young married class from church on our annual retreat. (Chase stayed with Grammy and Granddaddy.) It was really fun! Here's a picture of all of us that went. We have such an awesome group!

Getting Read for Halloween!

Here's a picture of Chase playing with his new pumpkin! He fills it with his toys and carries it around. He'll even set it on his push toy and push it around. Haha. So funny. :)

I have to admit that I only put this picture up so that you wouldn't think this was a completely boring post. I'm getting ready for Halloween with my card business too. That said, I'm wondering if you would click on this link and visit my Halloween party invitations page. It helps with search engines to get lots of hits.

Then after that if you have time come back and click on this link to see my photo save-the-date magnets and photo birth announcement magnets.

Thanks folks!

Last Week...

Last week Preston, Chase, and I were all in different places. Preston was on a business trip, Chase was in Houston with MiMi and PaPa, and I was here at home. Chase had a ton of fun, Preston's trip was good except the airline loosing his luggage for a day, and I had a good time here working, hanging out with friends and sisters, and enjoying some alone time. By the end of the week I was ready for my boys to come home but all in all it was a really great, relaxing week. After Preston came home on Friday we flew to Houston for the weekend so we could bring Chase back. When Chase first saw us he just stood there and looked at us for a couple of minutes like he couldn't believe his eyes, or was having a weird dream, or maybe he was being a punk since we had "left" him for a while. Whatever it was it was pretty funny. He would stand there and blink his eyes really slow. We were all just watching him laughing. Then he started cracking a smile and came to hug us and we had a really fun game of chase after that. No pun intended.

Here's some funny video of Chase "talking"... (It's a .mov file. Hope you can view that.)

Here are some pictures of Chase's week as well as our weekend in Houston. 1) Chase, MiMi, MeMa, and Aunt Sharon at the Gulf; 2) Chase and MiMi riding the planes! 3) Chase put your hands over your ears...good job! 4) Chase at the water park 5)Sara's early b-day celebration; 6) This is a picture of a picture...don't be mistaken...this is not Chase. It's Preston when he was 2. :)

Another diaper update: So Melanie (MiMi) bought Chase size 3 Target diapers when he usually wears a size 4. It wasn't her fault, I had a brain freeze and told her wrong. Technically he fits into the weight guidelines for size 3. He had no less than 3 leaky diapers at night while he was there. (Sorry Melanie.) I tell you this story so that you will know that when trying generic diapers in general you should buy a size bigger than what you would use in other diapers. They run a little smaller. FYI. I think Karyn was the first person to pass this info to me. Too true Karyn.