Black Friday at Granny's for Thanksgiving!

Early on Black Friday, Rich got up around 5 and was out of the house in a flash! Go Daddy Go!!! He went on a quick shopping spree for Mommy while Chase was still sleeping. Once Chase woke up we darted out of the house to AC Moore. I fed Chase his breakfast while shopping. We were serious about getting good deals that morning on his Thomas the Trains from Santa. Thank goodness too because those sets are outrageous in price. Daddy stood in line for 2 hours waiting to pay and Mommy and Chase strolled around, let him walk, touch the toys and just paced waiting for Daddy to be finished. Luckily we saved lots of money and it was worth every second of the wait. Afterwards, we drove to Granny's house in Winston to eat our Thanksgiving meal with my family. My mom cooked a delicious meal and we stuffed ourselves. Chase surprised me. He ate stuffing and turkey. After the meal, Bryson and Chase played for a while and everyone else was in a food coma! Bryson had to leave for his 18 month checkup, so Chase was patient for a hour waiting for his return.

Bryson and his Mommy playing Basketball

Poor baby, 3 bandaids for 3 shots!

Chase playing with his GG

Chase wearing Bryson's ELMO slippers....shhh....Chase has no idea that he is getting those from Santa!

My 1st Ice Cream Cone!

On Thanksgiving we ate at Ryan's restaurant in Fayetteville with Rich's family. Chase very much enjoyed his 1st ice cream cone. At first, he didn't know what to do with it, but with lots of help and persistence from his Daddy, he sure figured it out. It was so cute. He licked the ice cream out of the cone over and over until it was all gone!

Thanksgiving Day at Grannie Fay's!

On Wednesday, Rich and I picked Chase up after lunch at school and headed to Fayetteville to stay with Grannie Fay. Chase enjoyed all the "breakable" objects in her house. Thank goodness he didn't actually break anything, but Mommy and Daddy were on their P's and Q's! Chase enjoyed running outside in her yard too. On Thanksgiving Day, Aunt Rie-Rie, Uncle Rich, and Nana arrived. We all went to eat at Ryan's. This was our 1st and last time eating out at a restaurant on Thanksgiving. Chase did enjoy some yummies at the restaurant though!

Chase observing Grannie Fay outside

Picking some red berries! Mommy sure wishes he could strand those for our tree!

Laughing at Daddy

Nana put a ball down my shirt and I thought that was soooo funny!

Wearing Nana's watch

Playing the piano on Thanksgiving! I loved this thing!

Going home! We had a great visit :)

He loves Sesame Street!!!

Chase just loves Sesame Street, especially ELMO (ya-ya)!

Stay-Puft?

My mom gave Chase one of his early Christmas presents.....a really BIG, thick, warm 3-in-1 winter jacket! The weather is getting a lot colder than we expected and Chase outgrew his other jackets too quickly, so he wore his jacket for the 1st time to school last week. It's funny to watch him try to maneuver himself on the playground with this big thing on :)

What a lovable baby!

Rides at Walmart

Chase always has the mentality of Chuck E Cheese! He can spot a ride just about anywhere!

The sweetest voice EVER!!!

I was able to capture some of Chase's words on video tonight during dinner. He is talking SO much! It's amazing to watch him speak, point, and think about what he will say next. A few new words he is saying: *I will try to upload the video soon!! I have been trying for over 15 minutes, but since I am uploading from the video camera it's taking soooo long!!* He's little voice is the most precious thing I have ever heard in my life! You have to hear him to believe it!

ShoBUL= shovel (the sweetest word ever)

Apple (precious)

Taberry=Strawberry

Mulk=milk (he says it and does the sign at the same time)

**He is also using some 2 word phrases. Saturday night we drove through the Wendy's drive-thru and he knew there were french fries in the bag. They were steaming HOT. He kept whining because he wanted one. I continued saying, "they're hot, just one minute." Chase finally said, "I blow..." and he started blowing air out of his mouth. It was the most hilarious thing EVER.....Rich and I bursted out laughing and had to give him one of the piping hot fries. We just can't believe how quickly he is growing up. He is only 17 months old, but sure talks like a 2 1/2 year old. He's just so funny!

Decorating for Christmas!!!!!!!

17 months old="interesting time" at Christmas!!! This weekend we decided to decorate for Christmas! Mommy was very excited, but understands that usually means more work for Daddy! Daddy is such a trooper and handles the VERY heavy and VERY wide Christmas tree! He probably would prefer a smaller one, but Mommy wants the biggest tree since it is my MOST favorite time of the year! Chase did exactly what we expected~ he helped pull everything out, at least break 1 thing and wanted to touch the "untouchables." Need I say more? :) He was the perfect toddler! We involved him in every process regardless of the word "insane" written on my forehead!

Chase found the tree!!

Touching the tree!

We have many 'red and green' bins that host our Holiday decor; of course, Chase would find the one with all of the breakable ornaments! He literally picked up every box of glass ornaments boxes and threw them across the room. Thank goodness they didn't break and we opted not to use them on the tree this year. We opted to use more personal ornaments, S'mores snowmen, and of course, different types of jingle bells!

Mommy found the advent calendar and Chase was in heaven! Chase said, "Lots and lots of doors.....whew, Mommy is the best. I didn't know she had such cool toys!" He loved this thing......I did mention he broke something, right? Well, it was one of the knobs on my calendar. Daddy fixed it!

He kept hiding his paci inside the doors! I don't think he will understand the process on Dec. 1 that only 1 door is supposed to be open and you only get 1 treat/toy/card a day. He may not think I'm so cool then :o)

Chase is hanging his stocking for the 1st time!

My Monkey

The shirt says it all!!

He still admires Frosty the Snowman

Over the weekend, we pulled out my DVD collection of "old school" holiday cartoons. Chase was amazed at Frosty. The first time we watched it, he sat on my lap and pointed. The second time, he would stand at the table, walk away, come back, etc.... He even danced when they sang! Rich and I also brought out our Christmas decorations and he likes the free standing, singing, and dancing Frosty!

A Holiday "Sneek Peak"

This is just a "sneek peak" of our Holiday Christmas Cards~ I will post a final product after we mail them this weekend....keep checking back!

1st Snow this Year!

Last Friday, I woke up to my husband saying, "Holy crap the ground is covered in snow!" I just knew for sure he was lying ~trying to find a fast way to wake me up. He knows I LOVE the snow and would be hysterical if it were true. Well, he was right and I was losing it! We quickly got Chase dressed for school, fed him breakfast and scheduled in some play time before we left home. As you can see, Chase was already fascinated by the looks of it before we went outside. He stood at the door for several minutes admiring all the covered objects.

Daddy was putting on his shoes and he was tickled about going outside! It was too cute.

I don't think he understood why the ground was crunching when he walked.

In awe of the snow!

Although we didn't get a lot of snow, he still managed to find a blade of grass sticking up :o) We had lots of fun and Daddy even showed Chase how to throw a snowball~~we can't wait for a really big snow to come our way!

With Good Reason?

Posting has been very minimal over the past week, but as always, with a Good Reason! Main reason, it's not that fun climbing the steps to the office with a knee brace! I sprained the MCL in my left knee area, so most evenings after dinner and putting Chase to bed, I lay around on the couch using my blackberry as the only source of Internet. I will be playing catch up though :o) I still took lots of pictures!

Amusement Park "Rollercoaster" Riding Junkie!

This was a pretty relaxing weekend. We stayed home both days, with the exception of Costco and Sam's today. Chase definitely needed to exert some energy from the cabin fever he was experiencing! Memaw let us borrow the "rollercoaster" a couple of weeks ago for Chase's school Fall Festival. The rollercoaster is actually one of cousin Bryson's Christmas presents, but she let us use it a the Festival and we haven't seen them since, so it has been in our garage. Today was too cold to take Chase outside, so we brought the rollercoaster in our living room. He squealed when Daddy brought it inside. Chase loved the rollercoaster the night of the Festival and nearly didn't share with the other kids there. We had to pick him up away from it just to give the other kids a turn! Today was no different. Thank goodness we didn't have anyone over for a playdate. He made Mommy put him at the top of the ramp for 30 minutes straight....whew...after that, I wasn't so sure why I suggested we bring it inside after all :) He loves the thrill of the hills. I guess he takes that after Mommy and Daddy. We are both amusement park junkies!!!!

"On your mark, get set, GOOOOOO!!! Chase didn't need any help pushing off....he used his little feet and pushed himself and giggled the whole way down to Mommy!

The coolest indoor ride ever! Thank goodness we are giving it back so Bryson can open it for Christmas....it literally takes up our whole space!

The ending point! We arranged it so he couldn't bump into anything harmful!

Snack Attack or Attack of the Snack?

Although my child has aged a few months, he sure hasn't gotten any better or neater at eating. He still enjoys making a huge mess at every snack or meal! It makes cleanup very interesting for Mommy and Daddy!

Chase and Chloe!!!

You might be a redneck if..... your child wears overalls without a shirt :)
Just kidding! I hope!
During lunch, Chase destroyed his white undershirt, so we had to let Daddy soaked it immediately! These pictures below show you how much Chase adores our pup, Chloe. He thinks the world of her as well as the cat, Candy (not pictured). Chloe has just as many toys as Chase and oftentimes, when Chloe grabs a toy from her bin, so does Chase. He wants to play with her, but sometimes it doesn't go his way. Today, they tugged for a few minutes and he got so tickled!!!

GO TIGERS!!

Daddy was pleased to see what Mommy dressed Chase in this morning....maybe his little outfit brought them good luck today! Go CLEMSON!

Chase loves this book! As you can see he is talking in the picture and pointing to a character. He can point to all of them when you ask where they are calling them by name!

I love my Mommy's Stuff!!

Chase just LOVES Mommy's things! Especially, my eye shadow brush, my Hawaiian lei necklaces, and my lip gloss. He really don't think he has a clue to what they actually are used for, but since he enjoys carrying around the paintbrushes at school and other little trinket things, he must believe these qualify under those categories! I tell him they are for my makeup and he laughs. I have even showed him on to gently use the brush against my face. It's really cute! Generally once he puts "makeup" (aka: saliva...gross) on me, he runs to put some on Daddy and of course, Chloe! He's been watching me get ready in the morning and also notices I put on deodorant, so now I have to pretend to put some on him! I love this pretending stage he's in!