Chase is 5!!!

Five... when I stop and think about it, I cannot for the life of me figure out how five whole years have passed since we had our first son.  Five seems so grown up to me... two and three still seem like toddlers to me, four is preschool but five... five is a big kid!  I can't believe I have a big kid. 

Five years ago I had finally had my baby and I was loving every second of looking at his sweet face and snuggling him.  I had dreams about being a mommy since I was a little girl and I finally was a mom.  I loved him so much immediately and what a great baby he was.  I love looking at the pictures from that morning when my parents, Charles' parents and his sister got to see Chase for the first time.  I love my mother-in-law's expression... you can see the love in her eyes and can almost feel her excitement simply by just looking at the picture.  I loved every minute of him being a newborn and enjoyed every stage he has gone through since... minus the behavior stages that he (and every child) go through!

He really was an easy baby.  Once we got over how much pain he put me in every time I fed him, he was a pro at eating, a pro at sleeping and was just so content.  He started sleeping through the night for us very early, which I was very appreciative of.  Just getting a full night's sleep, without interruption, made me feel so human again!

The next pictures from his first to his second birthday are really interesting to me.  Chase was only six months old when we found out we were expecting again and what a shock.  I cried when the test turned positive almost immediately... I cried, not because I was sad I was having another baby, I cried because I was sad at how quickly Chase would have to grow up.  I was a little sad about the fact that he wouldn't be my baby for as long as I would have liked.. but He had bigger plans and now I wouldn't change them for anything!!  At the time, I felt like Chase was so grown up when Jacob was born.  I knew I basically had two babies but it didn't feel that way.  Looking at pictures though I'm shocked at how young Chase really was when Jacob was born.  I can't get over that I had two that close in age but it never really felt overwhelming at all... and I attribute all of that to the Lord.  He knew what He was doing and He didn't give us more than we could handle!

The next few years Chase loved his role as big brother.  He took care of Jacob, he taught him how to play with their toys and they were best friends.  It wasn't until Luke was born though that I saw just how much he loves to nurture and care for little ones.  I saw so much of myself in Chase when Luke came along... he loved his baby so much and you could see it in his eyes and see it in the way he touched Luke so gently. 

Chase is so grown up now... he is so responsible and really seems to want to listen and do right.  We have our moments, just like everyone, but I have seen so much change in him in just the last two months.  He is so caring and loving, sensitive, smart and eager to learn, loves going to church and Cubbies and is learning more and more with each year about God's word and how much He loves him.  He has such a sweet personality and I love seeing him grow more and more each day!

This day of celebrating our oldest has been so special.  We celebrated with family at Chuck E Cheese on Saturday (post coming next) so today was really relaxed.  I made him a special breakfast, Charles took him out to lunch just the two of them and then we had two of his best buddies and his cousin, Emma, over for a small birthday get together.  He has been looking forward to this for weeks!!  And what fun they have had... they played outside, ate pizza, cupcakes & ice cream, watched Cars 2 and had some popcorn.  Thankful for such great little buddies for him.  I will post about his birthday soon! 

Chase, 

Mommy and Daddy love you more than we could ever express.  You will understand it one day when you are a daddy and what an amazing daddy you will make... you have a great example to follow!  Keep being your sweet self, continue to ask Jesus to help you be the example that you need to be. We have been so proud of you this year as you've started preschool and done so amazing.  You're learning so much and we know that next year, when you start kindergarten, you are going to do so great.  Thank you for being such an amazing big brother to Jacob and to Luke.  What a blessing you are to us and we can't imagine what our lives would be like without you.  We love you so much!!

Going to See Santa

Tonight we took off for a fun family evening at Sandhills and what an amazing night we had.  Despite Luke not napping today at all, the big boys being very tired after a full week, we all hung in there and really enjoyed our night.  We started out by going to visit Santa.  We just haven't had a chance to go before today so we figured we'd take advantage of the nice weather and get out.  Walking in to see Santa I was thinking that Luke was not going to be a fan... he is not a fan these days of strangers.  He is very funny about people he doesn't know getting in his personal space.  Boy was I wrong!!  He walked around the room while the big boys were waiting in line and he was waving to Santa's helper as well as Santa.  Most of the time they weren't paying him any attention but he was still waving for all he was worth.  Once the big boys got up to the front of the line Luke walked up there and watched as each of them climbed up on his lap and talked to him.  Once it was Luke's turn he was completely fine sitting with a strange man in a red suit and a long white beard.  He stared at him for a few minutes and then started waving and giving Santa high fives.  When it was time to be done Luke didn't want to get down... he was quite comfortable on the old man's lap. :)

Once we were done visiting Santa we went and ate dinner and then the boys enjoyed some ice cream from Marble Slab.  They all, all four of them, enjoyed their after dinner treat! :)

And just for the fun of it, I put the boys in their Christmas Sunday outfits last week for church.  I figured since I went with the brown and red scheme that these outfits will get a lot of use.  I love it when we're all ready for church early and have enough time to snap a few pictures!

I can't believe that Christmas is just a short 9 (almost 8 now) days away.  I have a lot to do before that day and I am hoping to get a lot done this week with Charles home from work.

Thanksgiving 2011

The day before the kids got out for Thanksgiving Chase's school had a Thanksgiving feast that I went to help out with.  The kids were so cute dressed up like Indians and they all enjoyed their feast.  Chase was so proud to have me at his school.

This year for Thanksgiving we went down to Hilton Head to enjoy a few relaxing days with my family.  I was really looking forward to the break... our weeks and weekends have been so full of things that it was so nice to think about a few days of sitting around, not having to go anywhere and no running back and forth to school.  I know I said this a few months ago, but school really changes our daily routine.... and he's only in preschool.  I can't imagine what next year will be like when I will be dropping one off for kindergarten and one off for preschool.  I am kind of looking forward to when the two oldest are in the same school and on the same schedule.  I know I will feel this way even more this time next year!!  But at the same time, I definitely don't want to rush the next year and a half because it's a little sad to think about both of the big boys being in full day school.  Anyways, the idea of a break was much needed and anticipated!!

We left for Hilton Head on Tuesday after school.  We took our time getting down there, stopping half way for dinner.  We set up our portable dvd players... we put one facing the back where both of the big boys could see it and the other turned around so Luke could also watch.  They did so great on the drive down and thankfully the traffic was not as bad as I was thinking it was going to be.  We spent the next three days enjoying time with my parents, grandparents and my brother and his family.  I worked out a little, worked a little taking my sister-in-law's maternity pictures and spent a lot of time in the kitchen.  The time in the kitchen with my grandma, mom and sister-in-law was so much fun and I wouldn't trade that time for anything!!  The boys also had such a great time together.  This was really the first time that Eli played with my boys... he and Jacob were inseparable... I think those two are going to be best buddies every time we get together!

On Friday we ventured out to the outlets but only to go in one store for a few things I needed.  It was crowded and I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time out there than we did.  I'm looking forward to going back when I'm down in January and spending a little more time browsing! :)

I was so thankful that my grandparents decided to come up.  They stayed home last year and it just wasn't the same without them.  I was having a really hard time thinking of being without them for a second year in a row and I was so happy when they called to tell me they had decided to come up.  Our time with them is always so special and I am so thankful for the health that the Lord has given them and allowed them to be this involved in my kid's lives.  They were always so involved in our lives growing up and now both sets of parents are really involved in our kid's lives.  I love seeing how much our kids look forward to being around GG & Goomba, Nana & Pop-Pop and Ginga & Jupe.  Moments captured like the ones below just melt my heart!!

 It was a great break but on Saturday it was time to get home.  We wanted to beat the traffic so we got up Saturday morning, had breakfast and drove home.  It was nice to have Saturday to get unpacked, get ready for church and get back in the swing of things before the new week started.

My Boys at the Farm

Wow am I behind!!  Here's to hoping to get caught up on the blog today so we can get to all of the Santa/birthday/Christmas fun! :)

Last month we took the boys out to the old Muller Farm in Blythewood.  I needed to go out to scope it out for a session I was doing the next day and it seemed like the perfect time to get some pictures of my boys.  Being a photographer, you'd think I would have TONS and TONS of pictures of my own kids but sadly enough that is not the case.  I'm so busy these days taking pictures for everyone else that sometimes I forget to get pictures of my own boys.  The farm was such a great location for their pictures and they listened so well.  I was amazed at how great the pictures turned out of them.  All three are growing up so much and way too fast!!!