Larsen Family News!: January 2010

I gave birth to the most beautiful, precious, and smartest little boys ever!! Chase celebrated his very FIRST birthday today! We are also having a little party on Saturday to commemorate the occasion. Did I mention there is suppose to be a snow/ice storm here in NC Friday night-Saturday?? Awesome....Chase was born while there was a snow storm, and we will potentially be celebrating in a snow storm.

When I think about the last year it is hard to believe how fast it has gone by! Yes, it wad difficult in the beginning getting up every 2 hrs to feed the baby. But, that quickly passed and each stage of Chase's first year has been a pleasure to be a part of. He changes SO fast! Sometimes before my very eyes. I am happy to report, at 1 year of age we have 8 little teeth, he is waving hello, clapping, playing, and walking!! What a smart little monster :) Here is a quick recap of the year:

Bailey and Chase doing a little pre-delivery bonding

Chase in his first outfit!

Chase's baptism with the parents and godparents

Chase at approximately 4 months old

Chase approximately 9 months old

Chase at 11 months old

I am a little delayed in blogging about Christmas...forgive me- SO much going on right now! Jason and I are in the beginning stages of deciding on a real estate agent to start our house purchasing process! So much to learn, so little time :) Anyways, this past Christmas we had the pleasure of going home to Indiana! We Flew into Indianapolis on the 23rd and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the Larsen's. Grandpa Larsen, and Uncle Bob and Aunt Dolores came down from Michigan to celebrate the holiday as well. It was great to be able to see them, as well as Jason's sister and her family. On Christmas Eve Jason's good friends Brian and his girlfriend Tonya came over for a quick visit. Ryan, Amy and baby Noah Abell also came over for a visit! It was awesome seeing all of them. At times like these, both Jason and I realize how much we miss living in Indiana when we were able to see everyone a little bit more. Nevertheless, we had a nice visit while it lasted :)

On Christmas Eve we opened up all of the presents Aunt Dolores and Uncle Bob brought for the family. They are always very generous and bring everyone such nice things! I got some more additions to our china, and Jason got some great Halloween decorations as well as additions to his Christmas village, which he has been getting for years.

Christmas Day the Coonce family came over in the afternoon, and we started opening presents around 4...we had to take a break at 6:15pm for dinner- there was a LOT to open! Dinner was good, but a little stressful- Chase choked (I mean really choked) on a piece of chicken for the first time...this scared the crap out of me, so of course, we were both in tears :) I called my sister Carolyn, and she informed me it was okay and it probably won't be the last time. Motherhood is stressful!! After that stressor, we continued to open presents for the remainder of the evening.

Larissa and I

Aunt Dolores and Chase playing

Linette and Chase bonding over toys

Daddy and Chase watching the choo choo train!

Uncle Jason and the girls smiling for the camera!

The morning of the 26th, we packed up the car and headed north to Chesterton! On the way up, we made a stop in Grovertown to see the developing house that will soon be occupied by my sister Katie and her husband Aaron. They are adding onto a house that already existed and it has come a long way! Hopefully, they will be moving in soon.

My sister Carolyn and her family got into Chesterton just 20 minutes after we arrived! The three sister were together again for a Christmas celebration :) Grandma and Grandpa as well as Uncle Rob came over for the afternoon. We played a few rounds of catch phrase (a family favorite) and then had dinner!! I always cherish the time we spend together. With Carolyn and Boston, and us in Charlotte we never know how often we will ALL be together for Christmas.

After Dinner we opened presents!

On the 27th we spent the day at my dad's house- Grandma and Grandpa Chase came over too! We had a gourmet dinner...my dad's cooking gets better and better every time. After dinner we did presents! Thankfully, we were able to see some snow while we were there! Quite a bit actually. Maybe the next time we are home for Christmas Chase will be old enough to play in the snow!

Uncle Jason and Claire

sisters

Grandpa playing some Christmas Carols with Claire helping

Such a happy girl- and so smart! She already says 30 words!

This is Claire's "Happy face"

Chase thought the high chair was a jungle gym

Jason and the little ones

A family tradition of ours is family bowling...although it's been a few years since our last family bowling outing. We headed to Inmans for the big event and had a BLAST! Of course, Thunderpins (aka: my mom) brought her own shoes and bowling ball and of course, Jason called her Thunderpins for a large majority of our visit. Jason was the big winner! Although Bob and Bruce dominated the first game. I couldn't even break 100 :/