Had a BLAST with Grandma and Grandpa...sad to see them go!!!

As discussed in the last couple blogs, my parents Ann and Bruce came Saturday April 24th for a visit.  We had such a GREAT time!!!  Mr. Fix It, Bruce, graciously spent a lot of time this week working on our honey do list of things we have not been able to get to (and quite frankly, Bruce can do better and much more efficiently!)  Mom and I spent our days shopping and entertaining Chase :)  I don't remember the last birthday I spent with my parents, so it was great to have them around to celebrate!  

As always, I am sad to see them go!!  I want them to move to South Carolina (come on Mom, Sun City Lakes!) SOOO badly.  Carolyn and Katie need to jump on the Carolinas boat to make their decision easier.  Luckily, we will see them this coming weekend for the mini marathon in Indy, but then we will have to wait another 7 months until Christmas to see them again...I am sure there will be some tears.  

Anyways, I just can't thank them enough for coming and for everything they have done, given, and shared with us....we LOVE YOU!!

Some pictures from their visit:

  Jason and I at my birthday dinner at The Fish Market, in Baxter.

Mom and Bruce

my birthday present.  A specially made beach glass bracelet from some of the beach glass mom and Bruce have found at the Dunes over the years...a piece of home to always have with me :)

This is what Chase and Daddy were doing while we waited for our food...what goons :)

What a nice family dinner!

Grandpa working on some hanging projects

The three runners after the Waxhaw town and country 5k Bruce decided we should all sign up for.  No matter where he is, he will always find a race to run!

Mom was a champ! She got 2nd overall in the Womens Masters division....beaten by 8 seconds by a lady 8 years younger than her....quite amazing! What a speed racer :)

Love you!

See you in a week!!

The Anderson family comes for a visit

        After my surprise birthday celebration, on Sunday we were having visitors that I knew about it town.  The Anderson family came to see our new house and enjoy Mom and Bruce's company as well.  Before they arrived Sunday afternoon, Jason, Mom, Bruce and I all had our long runs to get done.  I did 11 miles, Jason did 12, and Mom and Bruce did 13....ouch!  It was a little rough.  The half marathon is May 8th and I'm starting to get nervous!!!  Anyways, they live in Greenville SC which is just a couple hours west of Fort Mill, so it was very nice of them to make the trip!  Jackie is my mom's cousin and my Godmother. 

Alicia, Mom, Jackie, Haley, and I spending some time in the hot sun!

Grandma helping Chase up the swingset

Haley and Chase going for a ride down the slide

We played a great game of Apples to Apples while the lasagna was baking in the oven.  I just LOVE this game, and it really was great to play with so many people, and of all age groups!

Of course we had to get some family pictures

Chase was being very silly!!

       It was such a great visit and I am so thankful they were able to make the trip.  I know Mom and Bruce were also very glad they were able to see the Anderson family....twice in one year!!  Haley and Alicia didn't know we live so close to the amusement park, Carowinds, which happens to be about 5 miles from our house....so I hope they will come back in the fall so we can all go together!!!

My GOLDEN Birthday!!!

Okay, for those of you that don't know what a golden birthday is, let me first start off with the definition: This is the day you turn the age of the date your birthday falls on... that doesn't sound as clear as it did in my head.  For instance: my birthday is April 27th and this year I turned 27.  My friend Sara's is next year when she will be 28 on May 28th....get it??  Well, when I was growing up in Chesterton Indiana, I don't know if just MY friends knew about and celebrated this, but somewhere along the line I began to believe this was a very big deal.  For a 9 or 10 year old kid, birthday #27 seems like it will never come, and you will be way too old to celebrate.  My wonderfully wonderful (yes, I just did that) husband, Jason, knew how important this special day is to me...I potentially mentioned it on our first date (kidding!)  Anyways, my parents Ann and Bruce came into town this past Saturday.  I picked them up from the airport at noon with Chase in tow, and when we arrived home, much to my surprise Sara, Matthew and Hunter (my wonderfully wonderful best friends) were there for a surprise party!  Jason had planned, and sent out Evites (which I was super impressed with) to make my special, once in a lifetime, birthday absolutely perfect!!!  It was just awesome.  Of course, My parents had just gotten into town, so that was awesome, the Easley's came from Charleston for the occasion, as well as my good friend from work Susie and her some Liam, and Dolly, Greg and their two girls.  Jason got our new grill (thanks again Carolyn and Bob) going with brats and hamburgers which was perfect because it turned out to be a great afternoon!  He also got me a cake!  Really, it was so thoughtful of him to put the party together, and so gracious for everyone to take time out of their Saturday to come and spend it with me!  A great start to an awesome week!!

 Me and my cake!

 Sara, Matthew and Hunter

 The Joines', The Larsen's, The Golden's, and The Easley's!

 Me, Chase and Grandma

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: