Please buckle your safety belts and keep your hands and arms inside the plane at all times.

Chase is a stuffer.He lives to take objects from their rightful home and cram them into new and unusual crevices. For example, he likes to relocate all of his sippy cups into various drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. Also, he enjoys transferring his toys from their bins and baskets into a myriad of locations that include closets, bathrooms and pantries. He also has become quite adept at taking the dirty laundry from it's sorted home and placing it with the clean clothes in the dryer. And then there is the squishing of his sleepy blanket between the rails of his crib and onto the floor which of course leads to angry squeals when the lovely blankie refuses to magically fly back into the crib.

His latest joy has been in shoving every stuffed animal and blanket within reach into his plane. He crams them into the single seat so they are piled one and top of the other and then takes them for a ride by bouncing the plane and twirling the propeller. This particular instance was a little irritating for him though as his lovey and red puppy kept falling out of the bottom of the plane. He'd stop twisting the propeller, pick them up, plop them back into the seat and then return to rocking the plane--which of course made them fall out again. He repeated this process several times getting more and more frustrated and then gave up and moved on to bigger and better things--like hiding under his blankie.

Not quite a surfer yet

We took little noodle to the shore this past weekend. Our dreams of a future professional surfer in the family took a hit as little noodle was a tad terrified of the ocean. He was all good with the water until a wave hit him smack in the face. After that he was not about to go near the water unless he was safe in the arms of a trusted adult. While his Mama was completely enthralled by the discovery of sand crabs, Chase was less than thrilled by the little crawling crustaceans. He did enjoy the sand, but I think his biggest thrill was chasing after the sea gulls.

Nana and PopPop were staying there with us, so we took advantage of the free babysitting by hitting the town three nights in a row. Our second evening started out rather poorly as my zipper busted in my new dress minutes after arriving at the casino. Luckily we were at Caesar's where they have the new pier shops, so I rushed into Juicy Couture and found a lovely sundress that-oh joy--fit and had no zippers! So I had the sales girl ring me up while I was wearing it--it's not like I had anything to change back into. The broken dress went right into the trash--no more DressBarn for me. Given this rather unlucky start to the evening, you'd think that we'd be crazy to gamble, let alone gamble on a game--say Black Jack--that we'd never played in a casino before. Well you know us...

Apparently, my fairy godmother must have decided that I'd had enough woe for one night because, according to an experienced gambler at the table, I was hitting when I should have been staying and staying when I should have been hitting. Amazingly enough though, I actually won money playing Black Jack. While I was cashing in my chips, the guy in line behind me said that I was so charismatic that I would surely win anything I chose to play. I think he may have been a wee bit intoxicated.

On our final night, we went shopping at the Pier for clothes that wouldn't be worn that minute, watched Harry Potter at the IMAX, and had a nice quiet dinner at PF Changs. When we returned to the house, I finished reading Harry Potter VII and then crashed before 11. What can I say, three nights of being out and about really took a toll on me. I'm not a spry young thing anymore you know.

It's a giant sandbox!

Come here little birdy...

Don't let go Nana!

I don't care about your sand crabs Mama...just take me back to the sandbox.

Anchor's Aweigh my boy...

Sailing the High Seas of our new backyard...

The little noodle who could

We went to Tessa's birthday party on Saturday. There were over 60 guests, and when I saw that the play area was crowded with strange kids and adults, I was worried that Chase would be a little apprehensive about all of the commotion. Couldn't have been more wrong. He just pushed himself right into the center of the action and began playing as if it were his party, not Tessa's.

There was a little boy there who was being a bit of a bully by not letting the younger kids play on a toy. When our friend Joshua was bearing the brunt of the tyrant's anger, Chase rushed to the toy, crawled over Joshua, and faced the threat head on. It was if he was saying, "Listen man, I know you're having a bad day and all, but you just need to chill. Now, let my buddy Joshua on this here contraption, or else you and I are going to have a little problem, see?" I always knew my son was a super hero in disguise.

Later, Mr. Joshua fell and bumped his head and started crying. Once again, Chase raced to the scene. I thought, "Wow look at my little man, going to comfort his friend in his time of distress." Well, once again I couldn't have been more wrong. Chase had merely discovered a weakened enemy whose trinkets were there for the taking, so being the opportunistic little chap he is, he quickly swiped away the blocks that Joshua was holding. I can only assume that this action was done as a ploy to cover up his membership in the Justice League.

A dog's life

As you can see, Iverson is enjoying our new yard too. Sadly, the baseballs did not survive the romp. Guess it's back to tennis balls for the canine member of the family.

Been awhile eh?

So yea...July has kind of flown by--I can't believe we're in the 20's already. Where does the time go? This past week we have been recovering from moving, the party and having grandma here giving us attention 23 of the 24 hours in a day. Yep, we've been crankdified for sure. I think Chase is also getting more teeth, and he isn't adjusting super well to digesting this new fangled drink that we've been giving him called milk. In other words, it's been a very long week.
He has been making some effort to keep himself entertained though. A few of his new favorite hobbies are: trying to pick up the mole that is on my left leg, pointing at puppies in his book, hiding his new cars in multiple spots around the house, and riding in his car while his daddy crashes him into the wall. Good times.
Here are a few shots from his party. We have to thank our friends Chris and Sam for these as our camera died, and I couldn't locate the charger. Good to have friends who have your back in such times of tragedy. Other than that and a few minor wardrobe changes, the party was a success.

It's my birthday,and I'm ready to par-tay!

Had to have a little help with the candle, but next year man I'll be ready!

General partying

More general partying

Even more general partying


Playing with Nate in the pool

Pictures are worth a 1000 words...

which is good because my brain is toast. Thus the only thing that I can think to say is this brief note to self: get some self tanner woman!

Abort search and rescue mission

Just checking in real quick to let you know that I haven't been buried alive by an avalanche of boxes. So, you can call off that Saint Bernard you were sending in to disentangle me from my cardboard prison.
The little monkey is slowly adjusting to the move. By adjusting, I mean that he's developed a new scream that he unleashes when Mama has the audacity to not grant him his every wish. There is nothing cute about this new bellow of his, so I won't say anything other than this: if you really love me, you'll send massive amounts of Excedrin my way.

We're headed to the lake tomorrow for a little 4th of July R&R. I'll leave you with this picture of Chase enjoying a Raspberry Beret Smoothie which is a fancy way of saying "sugar coated sugary goodness". The concoction was so tasty that he kept trying to grab the glass so that he could chug the stuff instead of messing with the slow delivery offered by the straw. I'd say he's well on his way to fitting in at WVU--Go Mountaineers!

It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Chase in a plane!

Chase has been finding ways to entertain himself while I pack. Here is a brief list of his most recent diversions: tearing up toilet paper into eensy teensy little scraps that he leaves lying on the floor, emptying cabinets and drawers, pulling Iverson's hair, and attempting to eat any treasure he happens to find lying on the floor including, but not limited to, dryer lint. Accordingly, his new favorite word is "Uh-Oh".

This is what my baby used to look like..

He looks nothing like that anymore. Isn't that weird? And isn't odd that the little bugger is almost a year old already? Invites went out today for his year one bash...don't expect a lot since I'm in the throes of moving as we speak. Which reminds me...this is what I feel like right now:

Seriously, is it Friday yet? Have the movers come and magically transported everything I own over to the new house? Thank goodness tomorrow is ladies night cause I sure need a break. I've already hidden all of the scissors in the house, so I'm good.

Just thought you'd want to know

that "Kate & Allie" reruns are on WE at 7pm. I used to love Kate & Allie. I am currently laughing my butt off at the eighties fashions that Kate is wearing. Who invented those lovely bright plastic hair clips and then decided that if those fluorescent clips were attached at the top of one's head it would be an attractive look? And how dumb were all of use who ran out and bought tons of those lovely hair accessories? Those were the days man, those were the days.

Icy cold water on a windy day? Sure why not.

Chase is an outdoor kid with a bit of a fearless streak to him. A true boy to be sure. Evidence to this fact was presented during Joshua's birthday party, he was the only one under 2 that was unfazed by the icy pool water. In fact, while the other little ones cried and clung to their mothers, our young Chase was in his element. Even the guests who didn't know us were commenting on his daringness as he chased the older kids and crawled from pool, to sprinkler and back into the pool again. They even came up with their own nickname for him: Little Surfer Dude. I think it fits.

Look Mama, I'm a seal. Arck Arck!

This is the most fun I've ever had!

Come on over guys...the water's fine!

Do you know what really bugs me?

Businesses with double door entries that leave one of the doors locked. I mean really--what is the point of leaving one door locked? If you're going to leave it locked all of the time, why do you have two doors? Why not just one instead of having one working door and one wannabe wall? Do the managers sit in the back and laugh at everyone who tries to open the locked door? I really think that we need to get busy and write some letters--let's start a revolution! Plus, this has to be some sort of fire code violation. Just imagine if there was a need to evacuate the building quickly. I can just envision a stampede of customers thinking they were headed for an exit and instead forming a blob o'smushed people against the useless locked door. The morning news could report on the event and all of the store owners could explain why they thought it was good idea to have a door that the building's inhabitants could have used to exit the burning inferno instead become a barricade to their safety. Or how about we avoid this whole scenario and you just unlock the damn door? Just a thought.

Saga of the Sippy Cup: Part I

Since that monumental occasion known has birthday number one is fast approaching, we have been taking steps to ease Chase's transition from formula to milk. You see, at year one, the bottle has to go per doctor's orders. For the last couple of months, we've been giving the monkey sippy cups filled with water and juice, but he's never really been interested enough in the contents to figure out how to actually obtain the liquid from the cup. So, we've decided to try to give Chase some of his formula in the sippy cup thinking that if he's hungry enough, he'll figure out how to get the nourishment out from its entrapment. Let's just say that lil noodle is not too keen on this new strategy of ours.

Today started out so promising as his father got him to drink 6 whole ounces from the plastic cup during his midmorning feeding. So, I thought that the afternoon feeding would go as smoothly. Chase had other plans. He threw the tantrum to rival all tantrums. Screaming and tossing the dreaded cup to the side were just the beginning. He followed those tricks with a display that was so calculated, I am almost certain that he had help from some devious co-conspirator. He would cry and then put his head down as if he couldn't bear to look at the evilness that was his mother trying to feed him via the cute little tumbler instead of his normal glass bottle. When, I tried to set the cup in front of him, he would turn away from it and continue his bowed head pose while pitiful crocodile tears rolled down his red cheeks.

Being the caring mother I am, I decided that this moment must be recorded for use during future dating rituals. As I was snapping away, he suddenly realized the blackmail material I was creating and thus, his mood did a complete 180. He started laughing and babbling, and he even went so far as to pick up that dreaded goblet and pretend to drink from it. However, as soon as the camera was put away, the sneaky little bugger went right back to his crying fit. 30 minutes later, I caved and let him have the darn bottle. I have no backbone.

And before you start in on me, yes I know that the sippy cup is pink and that he is a boy and that boys don't like pink. I had no choice really as when I went to Target with the sole mission of obtaining every transitional sippy cup known to man that particular brand was only available in lovely shades of pink and purple. Of course it's my luck that of the umpteen sippies I purchased, that is the one that he is most likely to actually attempt using. I really don't think he'll be scarred for life, although his daddy may be.

Oh..I can't bear to look at you Mama. How can you be so cruel??

That cup better be gone when I look up Mama.

No crying here...see....I'm happy. Love my sippy cup, love it!

Camera's gone, time to return to my hysterical fit.

Noodle's weekend at the lake

Tell me again why I can't eat the rocks Grandpa.



Check out these funky retro toys Grandpa found for me to play with!



I'm not so sure about this Mama...




I like it, I do I really do!




Are you still back there Mama?



Time to go back to the house...too bad!

Cabinet Raiders and My New Love

Just a few pictures to show off Chase's latest skill of kitchen reorganization. He is so talented at this latest endeavor that I am sure that he will soon be on HGTV's Mission Organization and all of you can sit back and say you knew him way back before he was famous.



Also included into today's update is a picture of my latest obsession. Is anyone surprised that it is a purse? Some things never change.