Gracie and Chase

Here are some random pictures of Chase and Gracie back in May. I forgot about them because they were stuck on my camera. But until I have more time to blog on our blackberry picking, Erie, PA trip and more. I thought some fun pics of the cutest babies would be fun. Of course these have not been cropped or edited but they are still so very adorable.

Yes, I know Gracie is driving but it is her car. Sorry for the girly car Chase.

All About Gracie....

All about my lil' man...

Chase's version of Uh-oh

After church this afternoon Chase was actually still awake instead of passing out on the way home. So that meant lunchtime for him and in the booster seat he went. No more highchair, yeah, it is just so bulky.

Back to lunch. I prepared or should I say, warmed up, some leftovers from the other night, some kind of pasta chicken, pea and cheese dish I threw together.

Chase loved it and was chowing down while I "purged" out my rubbermaid/tupperware, I just have way too much, get that from my mom. And all the extra is going to her, funny. Anyway I hear "uh-oh" and look over and this is what I see.

He took everything on his tray and threw/wiped it all onto the floor, every last crumb. And then said "Uh-oh".

This is not when you would use uh-oh Chase, not when you do it on purpose. I think he understands. :)

Oh and then after I took off his tray, he helped me by ripping off his bib and throwing it on the floor too. "Uh-oh"I am thankful for our "Hoover", I just call her in and she cleans it up for me, unless it's vegetables, then I'm on my own. I then just grab the mop/Swiffer when she's done and the floor is clean again....until dinner.

Impromptu photo shoot

This past Sunday I took some pictures of the D family because they just looked too cute all matching in red, white and blue. And I knew they would look great in front of their big colonial house. So about a 1/2 hour before the Sunday evening service Brad and I left early and stopped by.

I don't think I was on my A-game for whatever reason but they turned out pretty good anyway. I wish I would've gotten more family shots...next time. I didn't edit any of them, I just don'thave the time right now but I thought they were worthy of displaying as is.

This one is adorable but their faces are not clear. I am not sure what I was doing. But I love the scene and they are all looking. I could see this sephia hanging on the wall.

I love how I got her foot in the air and she seems to be concentrating.

Too bad the focus is on the flower, but cute nonetheless.

I love this one too. Gracie is so looking at Chase
with such intent like she's saying, "You're going to pick me a flower, right?"

Jeff's turn at photographer.

July 4th at Grammy and Papa's

We spent the entire Saturday at Grammy and Papa's on Honeoye lake. It was sad it was very cloudy and little chilly but we made the best of it. It's NY what do you expect. Anyway enough griping already.

A couple of our friends, Jay and Lydia joined us. Brad, Jay and Lydia took the boat out while I worked on some lia sophia invites and played with Chase. Well Papa "played" with Chase, if you call squirting him with the hose playing, but Chase loved it. He wanted the hose so he could do it, soon enough. Watch out Papa!

We left around 8:30 and headed to Canandaigua to see fireworks. We met up with Katie and Jeff and sat right near the lake close to a Backhoe, of course. Chase looooved the fireworks. He was ohhhing and awwing at them. And just looking at them amazed. I just had Brad's phone so I will have to post them later. It was late though when we left and way past lil man's bedtime. So he cried all the home, well only to our road...which was 30 minutes later then he passed out, of course.

Getting into Papa's mulch.


The look of mischief
I can do it. Watch me. See, told you I could do it.


Watching daddy throw a skipper rock. As you can see he is trying to also.

First family bike ride...

Brad has been wanting to go get ice cream since last week and tonight was perfect, in between the storms. But I didn't want to drive to get ice cream but instead I wanted to ride our bikes to town. I was so excited to use Chase's new bike trailer, which was another answered prayer.

At my quick Gananda garage sale run through, the very first house had an Instep Quick Ez-Up for sale for only $20. I had been researching them for awhile but didn't want or have $100+. But for all the biking I do in the summer I wanted to be able to Chase now that he is big enough. Boy was it was hard being patient. But my prayer was answered and Chase loves it.

Brad and I got the bikes ready, Chase had some toys, a "D" drink, and some snacks and off we went. It's about 3.5 miles to town, up and down hills. We had a blast. Chase was laughing and gabbing the whole time. And we stopped at a little fruit stand to buy some fresh strawberries, Chase's favorite.

Time for ice cream...I wasn't about to share my ice cream with rainbow sprinkles again, so I got a mini cone for Chase, with sprinkles too, of course. Yes, I know, so unlike me, I never let Chase have so much sugar but it's summertime and a special family occasion. He loved it but still wanted to lick mine and Brad's. I guess you just can't win.

Some pics of ice cream courtesy of Brad's phone. They are just too cute. I forgot to get some of him in the bike trailer, next time.

Oh, and the $20 bike trailer is all we spent on all our "rides". My road bike was yet another answered to prayer that we got, for FREE, two years ago. Someone was throwing it out. And Brad's bike, which is an expensive aluminum bike was also FREE. When we lived in Florida a friend gave it to us. It has traveled three states and that friend is now stationed in Japan. I just smiled when I realized that as we were riding, how blessed we were.

Finally a step...alone

So we've been waiting for Chase to walk but he's happy crawling. He'll walk around the furniture and holding your hand but once you let go he'll stand there then squat and crawl. We've been working with him but don't want to force him if he's not ready. It's so funny because he is just happy crawling and doesn't seem to like change except when he realizes it faster or more fun to walk.

When he was army crawling he knew he could crawl but dropped and army crawled because knew how to do it and it was fast. But one day he realized regular crawling was faster and there he went. Now he's on to "crab" crawling. I guess next will be walking?!?

I guess he is just a content baby until he figures the next big thing.

No pics of the momentus few steps.

Weeding my garden and my life

It's interesting how weeds can just suck the life out of plants or stunt their growth. The other day Brad and I noticed our garden was looking pretty green and not the good kind such as the plants growing nice and beautiful but rather the green of all the weeds taking over. So we took a few minutes and pulled out all the weeds and tilled up in between the rows. Much better.

Two days later I went to check and see how it was doing and it looked like we fed it Miracle Grow, the plants had sprouted and were doing great. Just in two days. I was amazed.

I said something to a friend and he said, "Yeah, the weeds were sucking the life out of the plants and getting all the nutrients first." Then he added, "It's like sin, sucking the life out of us and stunting our growth." Such a good analogy...I would never tell him that it would just go straight to his head. But it did get me thinking...what weeds are in my life that are stunting my growth spiritually, physically, mentally. I'm "weeding" my house/garden so why wouldn't I "weed" my life too?

Chase helping us plant our garden--Memorial Day May 25, 2009

Notice what he does with the rock...