Sunday Breakfast

One of my favorite traditions growing up was my Dad making Sunday breakfast.  He would yell up the stairs "come and get it!".  It was awesome to wake up to the smell of breakfast.  Sometimes if we go to church on Sunday morning and stop by Mom and Dad's afterwards he will fix us breakfast.  I love it! 

This week we went to a movie on Saturday night and left Chase overnight at their house.  We picked him up before church Sunday morning and Mom just rode with us.  When we got back Dad had breakfast ready for us.  Yum!  I love my Daddy!

Arbonne Party

I had an Arbonne party for Colista on Saturday.  We relaxed and did foot spas.  It was a nice relaxing girl afternoon!  I ended up getting some pretty awesome rewards and deals out of it too...yahoo!

Amanda's Bday

Gracie and I took Amanda out to eat for her birthday Friday night.  Emily was going to join us too but unfortunately had a family member pass away and had to go out of town.  We went and tried the Italian Fusion Grille in Ft. Madison.  The service was so terrible that it was funny...but the food was pretty good and the girls said the wine was awesome!  

Amanda wanted calamari for an appetizer.  She ate quite a bit of it but Gracie and I more picked at it and were grossed out.  It was entertaining at least - we laughed a lot!

We were there for about 3 hours.  Crazy - I know.  It was great girl catching up time though and we had an awesome time!  Our waiter started kissing our butt hoping for a tip towards the end and brought Amanda this HUGE glass of wine.  Needless to say she was feeling good by the time we left.  She said all was good and fun until she laid down when she got home and the room was spinning.  Haha!  Happy birthday Amanda!

Tulips

Look at what I have peeking out of the ground!!  I planted a bunch of tulips last fall and am so excited to see I must have done it right!  I am looking forward to seeing all my flowers come back and bloom this year.  Hopefully all my hard work of last year pays off! 

Due Date

Last Monday we had our first OB appointment.  They did an ultrasound for dating and we got to see our little peanut!  He/She is due September 29th.  We left all giddy because it felt a lot more real after that!  

Taylor came over to our house and watched Chase for us while we went to the appointment.  It was right at nap time and we knew it would be a nightmare if we took him.  It was a good thing too because we were there way longer than I would've ever dreamed!  

She stayed and hung out after we got home.  We ordered supper from up town.  Chase shared Aunt Taylor's ketchup for his fries.  Haha!  Good day!

My Game

Scrabble is my favorite game to play.  I played it a lot growing up with Mom and Dad.  Josh doesn't like to play it with me very often - but I convinced him to play with me a few nights ago.  I almost always beat him...but on the LAST turn this game he whooped my butt!  It was still super fun though!

Snuggly

Such a big boy snuggled in the chair with a bowl of snacks.  

Chase can climb on the couch by himself now.  If I'm sitting there he will climb up and come right up next to me and find the perfect little spot to put himself.  He just likes to be by me..and I love it!  He also wouldn't stop cheesing every time Josh went to take our picture.  Haha - gotta love him!

When Daddy's home he gets most of the love, though.  We do have a Daddy's boy for sure! 

Lloyd Christmas

Josh and I went out to eat at Gators a while back and totally saw "Lloyd Christmas" off of dumb and dumber!  Haha!  We thought he looked just like him anyways.  Just sharing a laugh... : )

Spring Fever

Our little family has had a case of spring fever lately.  We have gone on many walks, played at the park and grilled out a lot lately!  Chase is so cute at the park this year.  He just wants to run around and do his own thing.  He fell down and got his first muddy knee of many while we he was running around.  The uneven ground got him!  He also can swing by himself now and he LOVES it!  He literally smiled and laughed the entire time he was in it!  So fun!

Eating Out

Josh, Chase and I caught Mom coming out of work one evening and asked if her and Dad wanted to go out to eat.  So - Mom rode to Hamilton with us and we met Dad for Mexican.  I wasn't feeling good that day AT ALL but I just tried to ignore it and have a good time.  Ended up the food tasted great and I felt much better after eating.  Would've thought Mexican would make me feel even worse but it didn't.  Yay!  Chase was an angel baby at the restaurant.  He is typically really good when we go out to eat.  I think the more he is exposed to it the better he will behave when we eat out.  It had been quite a while since we had a dinner date with Mom and Dad - fun times!

Pianist

He was gently playing the piano and was having so much fun.  I remember a picture very similar to this of my cousin Wesley's daughter around Chase's age.  Wesley and I both play the piano so maybe we will have little piano players of our own!

New Duds

This little stud muffin got him some new duds.  Is he handsome or what?!  : )  Love this little dude!

Valetine's Day

Josh was working on Valentine's Day - so Amanda came over and spent the evening with me.  Chase was the best Valentine we could ask for!  She brought brownies and I had chocolate chip ice cream - so we had us some brownie bottom sundaes while we watched TV and played with Chase.  Happy Valentine's Day to us!

TV Stories

Story #1:  Chase has started to become interested in a little bit of TV.  I don't know if that's good or bad..but it is.  Haha.  He LOVES Mickey Mouse!  This is the only show he will actually sit and watch and dance along with.  It's pretty cute and I can actually stand it too so that works out nice. 

Story #2:  EVERY time the Subway (5 dollar foot long) commercial comes on Chase holds his little hand up to say 5 and dances.  Haha!  It probably means the TV is on too much...but it's really cute and funny darn it! 

Rotten

Josh was giving Chase a full on foot rub and that little guy was thoroughly enjoying it too!  Can you say spoiled?!

Masterpiece

There is an FS supper held at SPPS right before Valentine's Day every year.  The ladies at our church help provide the food for it.  I made a grape salad and Mom was down to make a berry pie.  She called the day of and said her pie had flopped so she needed help.  She was just going to have me call Baxter's and have Carol make one...but I decided to go for the real thing.  I took my time and really actually enjoyed making this pie.  I think Grandma would've been proud : )  It smelled heavenly - I hope it was good! 

Hot Date

For Valentines Day I wanted Josh and I to go out to eat and go see "The Vow".  Every time I brought it up her scrunched his nose like he REALLY didn't want to see it.  So I finally caved and asked if he'd rather I go with Amanda.  He was pretty thrilled to get out of it!  Josh still rode along and did some stuff in Burlington while we went.  So we got there just in time for the early show and it was SOLD OUT!  We were bummed and didn't know what to do at first...but Mom said she'd keep Chase overnight so we could go to the late show.  So we went and got us some Gator's for supper and stopped by Target for some candy (like these Haribo cherries I found which weren't too bad but Josh says they look like something else) while Josh met up with Taylor and Ruth and went out to eat and to Walmart....and then it was finally time for some Channing Tatum!  Yum!  Haha!  The movie wasn't quite as amazing as we were hoping for but it wasn't bad.  After the movie Josh picked us up at the door with the car already warm.  It was perfect!

Bye Bye Bella

It was with a partially heavy heart that we decided to let Bella go to a different home.  She was VERY busy and hyper and lots of work.  More than I ever dreamed.  With another baby on the way we decided it was best.  D.J. loves her and is going to take great care of her!  He was SO excited about all the pink stuff that came along with her...haha!  I had really put a lot of thought into her.  She had everything pink polka dots - and even a fancy flower for her collar.  I had a hard time getting past the "picture" of the family with the dog...but she will get more attention and love with him.  Chase's Christmas ornament was a little boy with a puppy to symbolize the year we got the puppy...and that made me sad too.  

But...as you can tell by the look on Josh's face - it was a huge relief to not have her anymore.  She wasn't the right fit for our family and we are so glad to have our normal life back.  We decided if we ever attempt to have a dog again it will be when our kids are older and it won't be a beagle.  Josh actually admitted that his choice is breed wasn't the best.  Anyways...we are moving forward without Bella.  (and yes - her name is still Bella)  : )

He Did It!

Josh passed the final test!  It is a very hard and long test.  I knew he could do it but it was still a huge relief for all of us.  He sent me a text that said "you can officially call me BNSF Conductor Mitchell".  : )  He was proud of himself and I couldn't be more proud of him!  His trainer had a party at the State Room in Quincy to celebrate.  Yay!  Happy days!

Blocks

Chase will beg to get the blocks out of the closet to play with them.  For him right now this consists of dumping them all over the floor and spreading them out.  Then he always sits in the lid to play with them.  So cute!

Table Climber

This little guy will NOT stay off of the table!  It is SO frustrating!  He doesn't listen and he is so proud of himself when he gets up there.  He also doesn't know how to get back down so we are constantly getting him off the table.  We have moved all the chairs into another room multiple times when we get real tired of dealing with it...but having no chairs around your table gets annoying too.  We can't win!  I can't WAIT til he gets past this stage!

Homework Helper

Josh's last week of training consisted of A LOT of homework in the evenings.  Chase thought he would "help" Daddy every night.  Josh tolerated it very well. 

Superbowl

Josh decided he would stay home for Superbowl this year.  We didn't really plan on doing anything at all.  Ended up Amanda came over to hang out with us.  We threw together some awesome food!  It was a grease fest but it was fun - and was one of the FEW days that I felt good so that was even better!  We had homemade corn dogs, onion tanglers (tasted JUST like the ones at Grape Fest...YUM!), jalepeno bottlecaps, and chicken wings.  It was so good we decided to call Mom and Dad over to enjoy too.  They came over in their jammies after a long afternoon of working at Tyson's.  It ended up being a nice little get together!

Loves For Daddy

 How cute is that?!  He really is such a loveable little guy! 

Josh HATES his belly button touched.  Chase found it and wouldn't leave it alone.  HAHA!  Chase is the only one who would be able to get away with that!