"Chase, how old are you?"

Here's a video where I actually caught Chase telling me how old he is. :) Enjoy.

Whited family vacation!

Brian, Chase and I had the pleasure of spending the week at Myrtle Beach in a condo that was paid for by my sister and bro-in-law! This overdue "anniversary getaway"/"babymoon"/"vacation we haven't really taken since Chase was born" was thoroughly enjoyed.

We didn't have a schedule. We just slept when we wanted. Went on the beach when we wanted (ok, well I guess that we did take mandatory breaks when Chase has his long nap, but hubby and I traded off giving each other time alone so that the mid-day siesta wouldn't restrain both of us); we did some shopping, we ate all our meals together with no interruptions, we played in the sand and the pool, we walked along the beach, we watched our favorite TV shows. We just simply enjoyed each other. No job stress, no late nights of Brian doing his computer entries, no hustle and bustle. I probably got more sound sleep there than my whole pregnancy! (I still woke up 7:30ish, but waking up to the beach and a good book sure feels different than waking up that early at home where all my chores, baby, and doggy await me.)


I have to say my favorite beach moments were:

-Seeing Brian and Chase play in the pool and the sand together
-Throwing frisbee with hubby and having him tell me that my "flick" was actually pretty good
-The time either early in the a.m. (when the boys were still in bed) or in the afternoon by myself reading my Bible, journaling, or my latest book
-Eating mango pie with fresh strawberries for breakfast!
-Seeing Brian fall asleep on the bed with Chase (so sweet!)

best seat in the house

Belly shot at 34.5 wks

Chase & Mommy

Chase practicing to be an airplane

my boys

B skippin' some shells

Chase doing what he does best

sunrise shot

over the rainbow

26.2

Here are some photos from the Blue Ridge Marathon that Brian trained for 4 months and ran in on April 24th. He did an amazing job both in training and running especially considering the terrain. He continued to train during our harsh winter when cars weren't even on the roads! And the days it wasn't safe to run outside, he'd often do a bizillion laps at the gym just to get in mileage.

I loved this event because I felt like I had invested so much time in helping Brian and was eager to see him finish. Plus my whole family spent the entire day encouraging him! It was SUCH a blessing to have my family just as excited as I was about seeing Brian race!

First we headed to a campground behind my sister's neighborhood. The gnats were AWFUL but we managed and even Asher came along to root for his unky. When Brian spotted Chase and my mom, he ran off the course to greet them.

Making friends

People were SO friendly. In fact runners were coming by and as we cheered they were all saying "thanks so much for being here. I really appreciate it!" Ha! They were telling us thanks even though they were the ones sweating! So cool. Really made me teary-eyed for the special place Roanoke has in my heart. I'm still convinced we are one of the friendliest, hospitable places out there. Prideful, I know.

I actually passed Brian on a main road traveling back to the house! It was an act of God b/c the chances of that happening were so slim and I thought "God it would be so awesome to see him pass and be able to honk!" And I did!

(You can barely see him but he's got blue and black on and is near the next cone. This was taken on Franklin Rd. by someone else.)

Here is Brian passing a park near our house. We saw a guy racing barefoot before him and the kids cheered "Barefoot! Barefoot!" as he passed.

We headed to the finish after that and Brian actually picked up his pace so that we missed him come in! But he still finished under 6 hrs which was something to celebrate! Here we are at the finish!! He said he never even used the bathroom during that whole time and he drank all the drinks given to him!! (TMI.... sorry)



How cute is my hubby?! I mean, seriously. He just ran for like 6 hrs and his eyes are sparkling and he's got a huge smile on his face. I love him so.

Great job hubby! We are proud of you!

Trip to the zoo!

For Chase's birthday, hubby took a half day and we decided to take Chase on his first excursion to the zoo!! He loved the terrain (stepping up steps, on blanks, climbing up benches, and then there's the playground!) I don't think he was that into the animals although he did notice the birds and the bright yellow snake.

Mill Mountain Zoo- Choo

Chase was a little apprehensive about going on the train, but hey he gets his cautiousness from me (Krisha). I can already tell that there are personality traits where he is just like his mama: he tends to enjoy a new experience once it is over with rather than being excited during the unknown. I think he liked watching the "choo-choo" go by more once he got to ride on it, but you'd never know by his concerned expression. That and the sun was in our eyes in every photo.

Porcupine that is much bigger in real life than I expected

I must've been thinking of all the cartoon ones I've seen. (The sign stated "does not shoot needles" ... whew... cuz I thought that wouldn't make a very good bday present.....)

Mommy and Daddy

For all curious of just how big my belly is getting

Chase petting an unidentified animal- zebu?

Here piggy piggy!

Chase's Birthday, Asher's Baptism, and Easter Sunday!!

We had an eventful Easter Sunday as we celebrated the Risen Lord and how our nephew is signed and sealed with the mark of baptism and Chase just turned two years old!! All of these things are HUGE and worth celebrating!

We have tons of great pix:

Chase enjoying his Uncle Bryan

"ooooh"

Papi, Asher, Renu, Grammy B

Papi & Asher

Renu and her precious little man

Chase praying before a meal (I think this one was on his actual birthday.)

"E-L-M-O!!!"

Chase enjoying his Elmo cupcake

Chase scarfing the green cupcake

4 little birdies

So, I've been in the mood to create some art lately and my friend Kim passed along a neat project she had seen on another blog. And since the theme of our little girl's nursery is birdies, I thought I would start creating some art along those lines.

Here's the canvas in the yellow playroom

I took the initial photos of it while it was drying. It actually looks good against the walls of our dining room. The glare is from the mod-podge reflecting the flash.

Another shot

There is it on the toyroom wall. You can see it from our kitchen and from our front room which I like. (Just ignore the clutter and pretend you see some cool curtains up there.)

Here's a close up of our family. I realized the canvas needed something at the bottom so I went for some grass and 4 little birdies (notice how daddy bird has the worm). Baby girl is in the back.

We already counted her so she'd better come!

Detail of floating leaves and birdhouse (all using scrapbook paper)

This piece is for our toyroom which is the main room I spend my time in with Chase and my nephew Asher. It got pretty boring looking at blank walls that weren't colored and there was no real style to the room. We started by painting the room a creamy yellow. Thanks hubby for your help!! After we painted, I still felt like the room wasn't what I envisioned. Our toyroom definitely needed a focal point or at least something to distract me from the yellow walls and earthtoned couches/carpet. I usually have the vision of what I want a room to look like in my head, but it usually starts out looking far from it until all the details come together. (I guess that's no surprise as I am a details kinda person.) I kept envisioning our play room to be brighter and cheerier but also with some modern homemade art on the wall. I like simple designs with richness in color or pattern, so you'll notice that this tree is made of circles (of patterned scrapbook paper). I bought 2 packs of canvases which were incredibly cheap at A.C. Moore's. I had some leftover dark brown paint from a project I did two years ago. The only part that needed painting was the tree and if you saw what utensils I scrounged up around the house to paint that, you'd probably laugh. I'm sure it wouldn't have killed me to spend 99cents on a new paint brush but I has already gotten out all of the materials and was taking advantage of Chase's naptime. So I went for it! I kept telling myself that there were "no mistakes" b/c it's my art and it's a reflection of imperfect me! And that's part of the beauty of it.

Now I'm on the search for a valance or curtains that will go well in that room. I'm sure I'll be sitting in there A LOT when baby #2 comes along!

:)