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.

A Few Randoms

Bible Class:
I've been meaning to take Chase's picture at Bible Class for a while now and I finally did. This is one of him daydreaming in class. :) If he's anything like his mom he probably has a hard time paying attention. I just think the little table with the wholes in it for them to sit in is so cute. He really likes class.

Watterson Visit:
Preston's parents came for a visit this last weekend. We had a really great time with them. We even went to the OK State Fair. It was fun! We had lots of fair food, went to the car show, checked out some exhibits, and Chase and Preston rode the Carousel. Chase loved that part...and apparently so did Preston. ;) It may be weird but I really enjoy the fair atmosphere. Maybe it's the food...maybe it's the WIDE variety of people there...I don't know. But I love it. :)

Chase left with the Wattersons (aka - MiMi and PaPa) to go to Houston yesterday so I have the week off! Or actually more time to work. Here he is at the air port about to leave with them. Don't his grandparents look elated?!

Girl's Night in Tulsa:
Last weekend I went with a large crowd of my girl friends to Tulsa for a girl's night. We left our kids and our husbands at home and had a great time eating, shopping, and staying up late talking! Fun times!

Diaper Update:
I just had to share this bit of info about diapers with all you moms. (I guess it's kinda of a tight wad update that I used to do all the time.) So mom does not have access to a Target and she bought some Luvs diapers and gave them to us. Chase had his first leak in AGES while he was wearing them. I can't even remember the last time he had a leak in his cheapo Target diapers. I'm still committed!

An Update...

Well, things are going great around here. We're really excited about the cooler weather. I always love it when September rolls around because by then I'm soooo tired of the heat! Preston is back to school for the fall working on his masters in engineering and Chase is back in Son Shine School working on his ability to share. They basically have the same curriculum. j/k :) And I'm working on keeping my new business up to speed. It's been pretty exciting to get several card orders! A few of them have been from people I know and a few have been from people who just found me on the internet. If you still haven't checked it out take a look: Photo Card Cafe'

And now for some photo updates:

Chase and me at the zoo playground last week:

Labor Day weekend with friends:

Basketball in the drive way:

Like Father Like Son...

Meet Chase's new favorite toys...

That's right. Chase loves these two objects. An unopened container of sprinkles and a bottle of travel hair conditioner. Carries them around everywhere. Actually cries when I take them away. Weird.

He likes playing with a pillow in the floor too. He'll stand in front of it and fall forward on it. Right now he's dragging it around the living room (with the conditioner in his mouth and the sprinkles in the other hand).

Other than that there's not really much going on around here. I'm just working on fixing the bugs on my website, Preston is busy with work and about to start grad school again for the fall, and Chase well...you can see what he's been up to.

My sister Leah has moved into her apartment on campus so now all three of us sisters are here in one city! It's pretty fun! It's been 10 years since we spent more than a summer all in one place. Love my sistas!

Here's another fun picture that I stole off of Judson and Amanda's blog. This is some of my friends and me at Super Suppers (where you make meals in advance to put in your freezer and make later). We have the best time!

Oh and here's a good one of Preston putting Chase to bed. Aren't they cute! :)

My New Biz

Hey everyone. Preston told me I have been slacking on the posts lately (though not as much as some of you blogging buddies...Jen...Mel.) The truth is I haven't been taking as many pictures lately. I should be fined by the parent's police! I'll try to do better. In the mean time I have something new to tell you about...

I have started a new online business called Photo Card Cafe'. I have been working on it for about a year now and have finally finished and it is fully functional! My customers can order all kinds of photo greeting cards. You can upload a photo, add/change your own custom text, etc. I'm pretty excited about it and am, of course, still in the process of designing more cards (by Christmas I'll have a ton more holiday cards than I have now). If you don't mind I would like for everyone who visits my blog to check it out. I'm still trying to get indexed by the search engines and every click counts...so visit often if you think about it!

Here's the link: www.photocardcafe.com

I have another request to make of my fellow bloggers and emailers. I'm trying a Blog of Mouth campaign. All that means is that I'm asking anyone who feels like it to make a post on their blog directing people to it or send out an email to their contacts. Don't feel obligated...just thought I'd ask. If you decide to do it I'll make it really easy...just copy and paste the following text on your blog or in your email...or do it yourself.

"Hey everyone! My friend Sara has started a new business and I thought you all might like to see it. Check it out online at www.photocardcafe.com. If you want, put a link to this website on your blog if you have one. It would really help her out!"

All over the place!

So just this week Chase has decided to become a "walker". Sure he has known how for a while but still crawled a lot of the time. Not anymore! He's all over the place! In the picture below he is actually trying to run a way from me! haha.

Here is some video for those of you too far away to see it much...

The other picture is of Chase and his Grammy at Pelican Bay last week. We had a great time during her visit!

PS - just now Chase walked into the office and dropped the garlic salt from the pantry in my lap...great. :)

A few things

Spoon Fed:
Chase has recently learned to feed himself with a spoon! Sometimes it's more messy than others but he's pretty good at it. He mostly just dips it in the bowl...not that great at scooping yet. Here's some video...

Our Saturday:
Preston and I continued working on our yard today. We've had lots of people out to help with the retaining wall but today it was just Preston and me...with Chase sitting on the side-lines of course. We finished back-filling it with dirt and put down some sod! It was great to see it finally coming together. Of course we're still not done but we made some real headway. Here's a few pics:

Love My New Toy!

Here's one of Chase's new toys:

And here's my new toy that we just ordered! (I mean, I'm no Betty Crocker but my current stove only has one burner that works...so annoying!) Can't wait for the new one!

Welcome to Jamaica Mon!

We had a great time on our Caribbean cruise with the Wattersons and the Holmes! It was a 7-day cruise where we had 3 days at sea and got to visit Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel! We loved spending time at the beach, snorkeling, shopping, and of course eating! Man, you can seriously eat your weight easily on a cruise...food all the time anytime you want it. The weather was great, no one got sea sick, Chase ate and slept well, etc. We didn't do any excursions but 2 of our land days we found a taxi driver that would stay with us all day and take us anywhere we wanted for a fixed rate per person. In Cozumel our driver even snorkeled with us...tough job! I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more for Chase to do on the boat but I think he still had fun...even if he doesn't remember any of it now! Kids have to be 3 before the activities for them start and they didn't even want kids with diapers or swim diapers in their pool! That didn't stop us though! ;) Anyway, it was a good time. I could have stayed longer!
See more pictures...

One Year Dr. Appointment

So Chase went to the doctor yesterday for his one-year checkup. He seemed OK while I was holding him but when he had to lie down on the table he completely lost it. That's before they were even thinking about shots. But as soon as it was over he was over it. Here are his stats:
Height = 30 in (50%)
Weight = 21.4 lbs (25%)
Head = 18.5 in (70%)

Guess Who Just Turned One!

That's right folks! Chase turned one on July 12th! We celebrated with my family in Emory on the Saturday before and we celebrated with Preston's family on that day on vacation. I can't believe it's been a whole year.
See Chase's birthday photos...
Today is the 18th so a year ago today Chase was just about 1 week old here he is then and now:

Here's what he's doing now, at one year old:
Can walk, but prefers to crawl
Can say a few words and will try to copy words and sounds if he's in the mood
Blows kisses
Waves bye bye
Gives 5
Is partial to his mommy
Uses a cup not a bottle
Eats about anything we give him
Has 4 teeth
Etc......

Check back soon for more on our cruise vacation!

Family Reunion

We traveled to Austin yet again this last weekend. This time we were going for a family reunion for my dad's side of the family. It was really fun. It was great to see everyone and we had a great time hanging out in Austin. We swam at my cousin's house, shopped, ate at the Hula Hut (where we saw Quentin Tarantino by the way), climbed the 360 bridge lookout, etc. It was a good time.
Click here to see more pictures...
Here are some pics from the weekend: (1) Whole family, (2) Chase mad in the pool and his dad making fun of him, (3) Chase and his second cousin Boone, (4) a few of the cousins on the 360 bridge lookout.

We were home by the 4th of July. On the third we went to a huge cookout with some of our friends and played volleyball, ate, popped fireworks, etc. Then on the 4th we went to the Edmond parade which was really good but then Chase started getting really sick so we hung around at home after that. Our friends Adam and Heidi came over to say bye before they leave on their 2 year mission trip to New Zealand on Saturday. It was sad. We're going to miss you guys!

Look at me go!!!

Chase is really taking off now! Just today he has really started standing up on his own and walking a little....then he'll fall...then get back up...then fall...then get back up...then fall...then get distracted and start crawling. He still crawls most of the time but he's getting more and more confident. I wonder if it's because he was at Son Shine School today and saw all the other kids in his class walking. (He's the youngest and probably the last walker.)

Here's some great video that our friend Amanda took of him walking...

Chase spent all of last week at his Grammy's house and loved it. He really did so well. It was so fun to see how excited he was to see us when he came back! (It was a nice "vacation" for me too!)

Here is a picture of him at his first ball game. He went a few weeks ago with his MiMi, PaPa, Aunt Wendi, and Uncle Wade.