Happy 50th Birthday MOM!

50 years old, and now 50 years wise... On August 22, 2010, my Mom turned 50!  To celebrate this momentous occasion she ran 18 miles with her running group.  She is training for the Chicago Marathon (race day is 10-10-10).  Of course, we all have our travel limitations and living in SC has made it quite difficult in trying to decide when to come home, what occasions to make, how to say no, etc.  We did not make it home for her big birthday (as we did my Dad's last year).  So, in order to commemorate her big day, my sisters and I gave her very thoughtful gifts.

I headed up the creativity committee assembling a scrapbook of her life, which turned out AWESOME!  Carolyn headed up the jewelry committee and picked out a beautiful Pandora bracelet with a few charms.  Katie gave the overall approval of this big "sisters" gift :)

Of course, before I shipped off my masterpiece, I took pictures for you all to see! 

Happy Birthday Mom!

One Hot Summer, and One Really Bad Blogger!!

Somehow, a month and a half has escaped without a single blog...I am going to blame the weather.  This awful heat must be eating my brain cells!  We have seen more days here in SC in the 90s than I care to discuss.  I am pretty sure we haven't had a week without touching 90 degrees since the end of May (no joke)!  I digress...

This summer, like many others, has been crazy busy!  A few days after coming home from Grandma Chase's funeral, we welcomed more visitors from Indiana!  The Coonce family (Jason's sister) came for a visit!  They drove down (bless their hearts!) and we all got cozy for a few days, as they brought their two girls Larissa and Linnette.  Chase really enjoyed seeing and playing with his cousins.  It was nice having them in our home, and great to be able to share with them a little bit of the southern life!

 Jessica, Linette, Bob, Chase and Larissa!

Cousins!

BIG NEWS:

Of course, as most people know already, our other big summer news is that we are expecting kiddo #2 to arrive around March 24th!  We are SUPER excited!  I was a little nervous about this baby because I was SO ready to have another one, I was praying we wouldn't have to wait months and months before getting pregnant....Luckily for us, it worked out great and we are SO happy to be having a SPRING baby (right before the heat rolls in)...Maybe a St Patrick's Day surprise?!!?  We'll see :)

Summer fun:

Once again, we spent another great weekend with the Easley family... our great friends!  Matthew's Mom lives up in Concord (about 30 minutes away), has a pool, and offered to keep us and the kids entertained a couple weekends ago.  For the first time on a Saturday in a LONG time, it wasn't Africa hot and we were able to enjoy 85 degree overcast weather at the pool!  Chase and Hunter had a blast playing in the pool with their daddy's.  Sara and I enjoyed watching from the swing and chatting.  As I have said before, I am SO grateful to have friends like them so close by!  Thanks again "Aunt" Sara and "Uncle" Matthew (and "Grandma" Darlene!)

 the boys playing

 living the good life

 a little swim bug

happy as a clam!

P.S. Chase showed off his verbal skills and now likes to say "Hunter" Yay!

 

In Loving Memory of Phyllis Chase

After 80 years of a very full and love filled life, my Grandma, Phyllis Chase, was taken by God to be in His Kingdom as one of his angels.  She died on July 7, 2010.  I was fortunate enough to be able to go home for the funeral along with all of the grandchildren!  It was so great to see everyone and to talk about Grandma's full life and cherish our fond memories of her.  I like to think I got some of my cooking skills from her :)

Still completely in love after almost 60 years!!

Some pictures after the funeral at the luncheon:

Me, Dad and Carolyn

Dad and I

Carolyn and I with Gma and Gpa Pleva

Happy Fathers Day (a little late)

For Father's Day, we went to Summerville SC to see our amazing friends Sara and Matthew as well as their little 7 month old, Hunter.  We like to consider this our home away from home, as most people know, Sara and I grew up together and went to Purdue together!  Anyways, we had a great weekend!  Saturday we drove to Charleston and took the kids to an interactive Children's Museum- SUPER fun!  Then we ate at this great sandwich place and went to the Farmers Market. 

 Chase, driving the pirate ship

Hunter and Chase in the pirate jail

Saturday night, Sara and I had a little surprise Father's Day project to work on for the boys, so we sent them out to find something to do while Chase and Hunter slept....they went bowling and we made this for Father's Day:

Our very own, hand crafted, edible arrangement!  Nascar themed

As most people know, Jason works for Nascar Media Group and Matthew has always been a huge fan!  We didn't want t0 pay $100 for the "real" Nascar EA, so we made our own and the guys just LOVED it! Look... hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries!!

Sunday morning we got up and made the boys breakfast for their special day:

Waiting for their special Sunday breakfast!

Opening his gift

Jason LOVED his beer mug!

The other side

The boys and their sons

Then we went to the pool!

Sara doing double duty!

Hi Mom!