An Easter Weekend to Cherish!

We have officially spent our first holiday in our new home. I was so excited when my sister told me they were planning a trip down for Easter, little did I know we would already be settled into our new home. Bob, Carolyn, Claire and the tadpole (the baby swimming in Carolyn's tummy) all flew down to Charlotte on Friday morning. We practically hit the ground running the entire weekend! On Saturday we took the kids to the Easter Bunny Brunch at one of the recreation centers in Charlotte. There we had a pancake breakfast and met the Easter bunny. Chase was not overly excited that I put him on the Easter bunny's lap:

After breakfast we took a "parade" with the Easter bunny to Latta park nearby where a church was hosting their 10th annual Easter egg hunt. This was just wonderful! There were SO many kids! Thankfully, the hunt was split up by age group, so Claire and Chase only had to compete with 0-3 yr olds :) We had a blast. The weather the entire weekend was very hot and very sunny, except Saturday morning it was a little overcast. This worked out perfectly considering we were outside for quite a while.

Getting ready for the egg hunt to start!
Carolyn and Claire with her new balloon animal

After our morning in Latta park, we drove up to Concord Mills to meet one of Carolyn's friends, Joy and her husband Chris. It was nice for Carolyn to get to see some old friends while she was in town!


Throughout the entire weekend, Bob and I (okay, mostly Bob) spent lots of time in the kitchen preparing Easter dinner. Friday, during the day, Bob and Jason had to first put together the new grill that the Plaza's so kindly bought for us as a housewarming present! It is a Charbroil grill...I will take a picture and post it. That took a good three hours for them to assemble. Of course we had to try it out before cooking the lamb on Sunday, so Bob barbecued chicken on Saturday night, which was awesome. Sunday's dinner consisted of:

Garlic leg of lamb-grilled
sweet pea soup with a hint of mint (this was AWESOME!)
corn pudding
poblano au gratin
lemon creme puffs for dessert

The whole dinner was just excellent! A job well done, if I do say so myself :) There are no feast pictures because I was a little busy slaving in the kitchen with Bob.

This picture is for Granny Annie...I tried very hard to get a picture of Chase with his new bunny-what an adventure!

Claire in her pretty Easter outfit

Chase in his "Bob" Easter outfit, and cute little Claire :)

The Easter bunny came!

Our family picture on Easter

Claire was in LOVE with Bailey...poor cat.

Sadly, on Monday evening, they had to head back to Boston. It is always hard to say goodbye. Of course I wish they were closer to us so we could spend as much time together as possible and so Claire and Chase could be best bud cousins... maybe, since the weather was so convincingly wonderful while they were here, Bob and Carolyn will look into jobs near Charlotte and I will be able to have some of my most favorite people nearby! Chase has been asking where Claire has gone ever since they left! :)

Miss you guys! Can't wait to see you again soon when you are a family of FOUR! What an awesome Easter. God is good :)

The HOUSE! And our great new furniture!!

So, we've been in the house for a few weeks now. Things are finally getting put into their place and the dust is settling down a little. We went shopping at the Waxhaw furniture outlet where we were able to get a TON of great items! You should really check it out if you live in NC/SC...great deals! Here are the items we got:

A kitchen table so we can actually EAT in the sunroom! 6 chairs and with a built in leaf-woooohoo!

A TV media center

A Buffet for the formal dining room

The matching china cabinet

A sectional sofa

new front loader washer and dryer! okay, okay...these were a gift from my WONDERFUL parents who were very generous and thoughtful for getting these for us- thankyou :)

Oh Blogging, How I've Missed You...

As most of you know, Jason and I have been a little busy. We bought our very first home and closed March 10th, we then moved in the 13th and have been internetless (this totally should be a word in the dictionary) since then!! I have missed my handy dandy internet connection. The world wide web really is an extra arm to me. It takes me places, gives me numbers, and allows me to keep up with many of my peers...even many of my family members. I will soon be posting pictures of our new place as well as our new front loaders that just got installed today- YAY! More to come...

Our Dance Maniac!

When Chase hears a tune, his little legs start bouncing! He LOVES music and absolutely cannot hold back when he hears a song- it is the cutest thing! Gee...wonder where all of those musical genes came from?!?! Hopefully, Chase gets Daddy's true love and appreciation for music, and gets Mommy's beautiful singing voice and dancing rhythm....oooh, the dreams :)

Here is a quick preview of our little dance machine:

We are buying a HOUSE! Closing on March 10th

One of the biggest reason for my lack of blogging over the past month is that we have found ourselves a HOME! We decided on Fort Mill SC (we are going to living in SC!....YAY!) in a great, very well established neighborhood called Knightsbridge. This little gem couldn't be more perfect! The current homeowners are moving back to Ohio because of a job offer. They clearly have taken pride in owning this home. It truly is immaculate! I could not be more thrilled about finally being able to stay in ONE place for longer than a year. Making this our home and putting my own little touches on everything will really be spectacular! Some of you must be thinking, "don't you both work in Charlotte?" well yes. For the none NC/SC residents, take a look at a map and you will see Charlotte sits near the SC border. Conveniently, we will have about a 25 minute drive to work. Our decision came based mainly on #1: it is cheaper to living in SC- Mecklenburg County taxes are outrageous! #2: great schools! Of course, we also will be living closer to my long time best friend from high school, Sara, and her family (they live in Summerville) All in all, this is a great starter home for us and we cannot WAIT to move in!!! Move in day is March 13th...anyone in the area wanna come help?? :)

Our HOME (soon)! 708 Warwick Way, Fort Mill SC

The Kitchen

The Dining Room

View of the sunroom from the living room

Living room view from the kitchen and sunroom

Living room, again

Master Bedroom

Chase's room!

Chase's Birthday Party

To celebrate Chase's first birthday, we had a birthday party at the restaurant LePeep here in Charlotte. Jason's parents, grandpa, sister and nieces were able to come for the big occasion as well as my sister Katie and her husband. It was great having them all in town for the weekend so we could spend some quality time together! Wouldn't you know it...the travelers from Indiana brought the snow with them! Of course, the day of the party it snowed. Go figure. And why wouldn't it? It snowed when I went into the hospital to have Chase, it snowed on our way home, AND it snowed when Chase and I tried to travel to Chesterton before moving to NC...maybe Chase is the snowman ;) Nevertheless, most of our guests were able to make it, including Jason's boss, Amanda, from Daytona Fl! We had a blast. I can't believe it's already been a year...time sure flies when you're having fun!

Chase playing outside on his birthday. That day it was 60 degrees!

Chase had a construction themed party...here is the cake!


Chase, digging into his cake- he just kept wiping the frosting off...which wasn't his favorite.

Singing Happy Birthday!

One Year Ago Today....

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