First Five Steps

Chase took his first five steps today. Where you ask?!?!? In the toy aisle at Wal Mart of all places. I have tried enticing the kid with chocolate, ice cream, his favorite toys and nothing ever seemed to work. It all started because Chase was not enjoying his time in the cart while I was picking up some goodies for my girls movie night. That's when I decided to push him over to the toys. By the time we got there he was fussing and trying to climb out. I just took him out and stood him up in the middle of one of the aisles. He hesitated and then took one step. This was not out of the ordinary but when he took another step as opposed to dropping down and crawling I knew we had made some progress. Needless to say I never imagined he would take five steady steps all on his own!!! Of course I freaked out with excitement and immediately thought I would try to get him to do it again, so I could catch it on video with my phone. After several attempts and no success I finally gave up because people around were starting to stare and laugh. (I wouldn't want to end up on the people of Wal Mart website) I am hoping that those five steps were the first of very many more to come. Jonathan is in Austin with all of the boys and I said to him before he left that he would probably come home to a walking big boy. Now the pressure is on and I will hopefully succeed at my mission!

All Aboard!!!

We celebrated Chase's brithday on Saturday afternoon with all of his close friends and of course his awesome grandparents that traveled from TX and NE. When Chase was about nine months old I saw a train cake on a parenting website and from that day forward I planned a train themed party. After about a month of planning and a week of pure chaos the party was a hit! The train theme was carried out in the invitations, decorations, cake, party favors and even Chase's conductor ensemble.This is the invitation I made which set the image for the whole party. As you will see the Chase Express and engine of the cake all match this invite.

This is a group shot of everyone that came to his party. The top picture is minus my dad and the bottom one is minus Jonathan's dad.

Chase did an ok job of opening the presents but still needed some help. He was quite the gracious gift recipient. He loved every toy and wanted to play with it right away. He would cry everytime I took one away, that is until he opened the next one!

This is one of my favorites pictures from the day. Chase really did enjoy being dressed up as a conductor and even shared his hat with all of his friends so they could get a picture inside the Chase Express!

Here is a picture of the train and cart I made and attached to his walker wagons. The kids enjoyed playing in them and getting their pictures taken.

Talk about a cake. This thing took three people (me, Grandma Ree, and Nana) several hours to decorate. I can say that while it was fun seeing the final product I will probably never do this again! I feel sorry for his next birthday and even more sorry for any future children we may have because I can guarantee that no other party will have as much time and dedication for hands on projects dedicated to them.

I guess all of my hard work paid off though. Here is the evidence that Chase loved his birthday cake! He was such a good boy. We stripped him down, put a bib on him and sat him and his cake on a trash bag. He dug in immediately and just sat there and continued to eat. Once he started moving around (after about 5 mins) we picked him up and cleaned him off in the sink. It was fun to watch and a suprisingly easy mess to clean up.

I forgot to get a picture of the party favors but they were really cute. I bought some snacks, suckers, a wooden engine train whistle, bubbles, and glow stick bracelets and tied them all up inside a bandana with ribbon and attached a balloon. They were our table decorations and when the children left they got to take one with them. I am extremely proud of my big boy and the first year we have had with him. I was thankful that so many people came to help us celebrate his big day!

Nov. 6, 2009

For Chase's actual birthday we went to Wil Jenny's with the grandparents for a nice dinner. Chase was definitely dressed to impress and had a great time.

This is a horrible picture of us both but I had to post it. This is Chase enjoying some brownie sundae and holding up his finger to show how old he is.
The crew that came into town to help us celebrate. Chase has some awesome grandparents!Dad kept him entertained by drawing with the crayons. He loved having his hand traced.

Chase finally decided to try coloring rather than just eating the crayons. This is his first art work, other than the dark green scribble on the hand and of course the hand itself. Needs some work but maybe he might be an artist!

Because I posted some really horrible pictures of me I thought this one was a little better. Chase is still the photogenic one that's for sure!

My Baby is One!!!

Just thought I would let everyone know that my baby is officially one! I can hardly believe that an entire year has gone by already. We had a great train party with the Chase Express and both sets of grandparents came to help us celebrate. It was a long process of planning and preperation that I am thankful is over and ended up being a total success! It was a ton of fun and I can't wait to add my detailed post with all the pics.

Halloween

We finally made it to Chase's first Halloween! With him almost being one I knew that my little stink would not wear a normal costume. He rips and pulls at anything he doesn't want on his body. That list of things would include but not limited to bibs, hats, socks, and sometimes even his shirt. So I figured we better make him something I know he would wear. Of course I turned to his trusty football jerseys. Yes, he had to support the red & white in addition to the always necessary (according to Dad) burnt orange. Plus it saved me from spending $20+ bucks on something he would never wear again.

Here he is standing up all on his own. Honestly he isn't leaning on the fence. He can stand while dancing and playing but still won't make any effort on taking any steps. The sucker was his bribe to stand for a few seconds so I could get a picture.

Here he is practicing his hiking skills. Down... set... hike!

Taking a break, that standing stuff is hard work!

This is the trick or treat football bag I hand stitched and glued for him. Don't I do good work?A family pic from a work party.
Us all bundled up because it was freezing outside at the ward trunk or treat party. Chase wasn't really into getting the candy he mainly enjoyed looking at the trunks that were all decorated with flashing lights. The trunk or treating was the extent of Chase's Halloween experience. We figured we would save us all the trouble of getting him dressed up only to drag him out into the cold to collect candy that he doesn't even care about. Hopefully he will enjoy and understand it more next year!