Memorial Day Weekend

We took advantage of the long weekend and headed to the lake house.  Our friends Matt and Danne' drove from Austin to enjoy a little R & R with us but some how I managed not to get a single picture of them!  We told Chase where we were going as were getting the truck loaded up Friday so he grabbed an armload of matchbox cars, a train and his new bass boat daddy brought him home from Las Vegas last week and told me "let's go!".  He loves every minute at the lake house, especially if he is outside.  As you can see from the pictures below there is always something to keep him busy.  At the age of two he already shares his daddy's love of fishing.  He got to try out his fishing pole the Easter Bunny brought him, daddy would cast it out and he would reel it back in saying "here fishy, fishy".  Chris has been setting out lines to catch catfish and Chase is right by his side as he cleans them.  My favorite was when Chris used the cast net to catch shad for bait and Chase helped pick up the live little fish and put them in the bucket without a hint of fear.  This all makes Chris one happy daddy! 

We loved spending time with family and friends this weekend.  The weather was perfect other than the wind which made it impossible to go out on the lake in the boats.  Thankfully we have plenty more summer weekends to make up for it. 

Chase and Chris showing off dinner...I mean the catfish

Love this silly face!

The water was a bit chilly but he had a blast splashing around

"petting" the fish daddy caught in the cast net

bathing cousins!  Chase 2/ Parker 1

Bounce!  Bounce!  Bounce!

Ken and Gloria's new flag pole- perfect weekend to set them up

Chris playing ring around the rosy with the boys

This picture makes me smile.  Chris and Mini Chris- they have the same expressions!

Ready to fish!

Danne' made Chase a cape- I think this might be a new favorite way to carry his blanket

BassMaster's Battle on the Bayou

If you know Chris, you are familiar with his passion for bass fishing.  As BASS lifetime member he is occasionally given the opportunity to serve as a Bassmaster's tournament  Marshall.  He was selected two years ago but the tournament was the same month Chase was due at a lake that was 7 hours away so needless to say he passed that one up.  This time it was for a 3 day event, BassMaster's Battle on the Bayou, in Many, Lousiana.  He was unsure of what to expect but after hearing the excitement in his voice after the first day I knew he was having the time of his life!  The Marshalls were randomly assigned to a differnet Professional Fisherman each day.  Over the 3 days he rode with Randy Howell, Ben Parker and Boyd Duckett who was Angler of the year 3 in 2009.  As you can see from the pictures Chris was on cloud 9! 

Chris and Kevin Van Dam

Chris and Boyd Duckett

Chris and "Ike"

Chris and Ish with a bif ol' fish!

Chris and Jason Quinn.  Chris actually had dinner at a mexican food restruant near thier hotel. 

Hoppy Easter!

We spent a fun and relaxing Easter weekend in Dallas with my family.  Chase got to spend a lot of quality time with Nonna, Papaw, his aunts and cousins.  We hauled the boat in hopes of Chris getting some fishing in but the Dallas weather didn't cooperate, it was too windy or rainy most of the time.  We attending Easter Mass at our church we were members of when we lived in Corinth.  I love and miss the preist and deacon terribly, simply walking in the door brings so tears to my eyes.  The service was the perfect start to our Easter Sunday spent with family.  Chase had so much fun dying at hunting eggs with his cousins! 

Super EGGcited to dye eggs!

Pretty good looking bunch of eggs

The Easter Bunny stopped by Nonna & Papaw's house!

Family Picture 2011

He quickly got the hang of hunting eggs.

A mouth FULL of jellybeans!

Never ending home improvements....

 I wanted to share some before and after pictures of our back yard after our latest home improvement project.  The back yard was less than cared for by the previous owners and was in need of some major tlc..  Over the coarse of a few weeks we had 5 dump trucks of fill dirt delievered, rented a bobcat for a weekend to level a few areas, laid 16 pallets of grass and cut down a tree.  Chase had a blast "helping daddy" every step of the way. We still need to do a bit more work and have plans to paint the house and build a deck sometime in the semi near future.  I can't wait to see the kids playing together in thier backyard.

Chris driving the bobcat while Chase directs him with his shovel.

The first of two truck delivering our grass pallets.

Our dirt yard,

The pallets wating for someone to lay them :)

Now thats a backyard!

Chase using his toy chain saw to "cut" the tree

Such a big boy! 

Choo Choo Chase is 2!

 I am a little late on posting about Chase's party, but it's taken me this long to recover!  We had Chase's party the Saturday following his birthday here at our house and of coarse it had to be choo choo train themed!  I searched everywhere and couldn't find decor I liked so I decided I would make everything myself, what was I thinking?!?!  We had a full house, throughout the day over 50 of our friends and family came by to wish our little guy a happy birthday.  Chase was a bit overwhelmed at times but over all did great given he missed his nap for the day.  He had a great time running around playing at watching the big kids.  Thank you all who came to help us celebrate Chase's 2nd year! 

We still can't believe how grown up he seems now that he is 2! 

The cupcake toppers I made :)

The Dining Car Menu

Chase Express Candy Bar

Daddy helping Chase open gifts!  He didn't like being the center of attention..

Blowing out his candle!

Happy Birthday Chase!

Well, its official our little boy is 2!  Chris took Wednesday off of work so we could spend the day with our birthday boy.  We started the day off with an out of tune version of the Happy Birthday song and cinnamon rolls with birthday candles.  We headed into town for haircuts for the boys, Ash Wednesday and lunch before driving out to spend the remainder of the day at the Houston Rodeo.  It was a beautiful day and Chase was in such a happy mood.  He loved the rides, petting zoo and seeing all the sights.  We could not have asked for a more perfect family day! 

In the past few months he has changed so much!  He talked constantly, repeating everything and putting words together, sometimes even making somewaht sentences.  He loves "helping"  whether it's helping me in the kitchen or daddy work in the yard, he has to be by our side doing whatever we are doing....though often he is really no help at all :)  He rarely leaves the house without is Texas State baseball hat on, and he makes sure to remind daddy to get his hat if he fails to put one on. 

Blowing out his birthday candles!

Chris thought it was only right Chase had ice cream for breakfast to get his birthday started off right :)

Our lil' pilot



Chris and Chase on the ride that lasted forever!



Watering the plants at the"mini farm"

One of his man passions....tractors!

Henderson's plus one more!

The Henderson's of Hockley are adding one more to the bunch!  We had our first appointment today and got to see our little blueberry and it's beating heart.  Watching the tiny flashing light on the black and white screen made the pregnancy so very real.  I've felt good other than occasional nausea and extreme fatigue, I'm taking advantage of Chase's nap times and trying to sneak of of my own.  We're 7 weeks today which makes our due date September 20th, 2011, just a few days before my 31st birthday.  Chase really doesn't grasp the concept of a baby growing in mommy's belly but we know he is going to be an amazing big brother!  Please keep our growing family in your prayers.