Summer Adventures

Well, I only have one more week until I begin "school". I say "school" because the students don't arrive until August 10th, but I have to report for duting on August 3rd. Lots of long, boring meetings to attend to!! I really love the fact that all of my bulletin boards are already up and I don't have to do a lot of work to my classroom. This is the first time that's happened! I have been at 3 previous schools and each year had to set up and take down all of my decorations. Yay for staying in one place! I really do love the start of school...the paper, pencils, back-to-school clothes, all of it (I'm such a nerd!). BUT, I sure will miss my little Chase. We have had a FANTASTIC summer together and here's some recent pictures of our very first family vacation together!

Chase with his beautiful blue eyes!

Chase and his Grandpa Metz
Anyone recognize this? (Full House, baby!)

Chase was "Property of Alcatraz"

Chase loved hearing his Great-Grandpa Green sing to him

And here's one more just cuz it's the cutest thing in the whole world:

Five Things

THIS little man turned 5 months old today....

I love his mischievous face in this picture.
This was taken a month ago (obviously) but I just love his little smile in it!

He looks so pensive in his picture...he usually looks like his concentrating or worried about something.

Here's FIVE things about this FIVE month old:

1) SLEEP- Chase has been sleeping through the night for a while now which is fabulous! He sleeps in his own crib, too, which makes me nervous (still) and I check on him multiple times in the night. When I was working, he woke up at 630. Now that it's summer, he sleeps in till 830 (just like his mommy!)

2) EATS- Chase still breastfeeds and loves rice cereal. He ate carrots for the first time today and ate the whole thing in one sitting! I guess those are a HIT!

3) LOVES- Chase loves his toys, especially his bouncer/saucer chair that Aunt Megan lets us use! He is getting better at holding his head up to play in it...I usually have to prop him up with towels!

4) TALENTS- Chase recently has become a pro at rolling from front to back. He also "scoots" a little when he's on his tummy.

5) OUTINGS- Chase went swimming for the first time on Memorial Day with Daddy. He was pretty indifferent about the whole thing. Unfortunately, the chlorine made his eczema worse for a few days :(

Well, there you go! Chase is crying for me right now, so I better go. I sure love being Chase's mommy!!

Private?

Ever since Chase was born, I have been thinking about going private. Any comments or suggests why/why not I should/shouldn't go private? I do have a fear that if I do, NO ONE will email me and watch my blog!! Anyone's comments would be great!!

Um....YES PLEASE!

A House Anniversary

That's right--I am celebrating ONE year we have been in our house. Why? Because I don't think I've lived anywhere this long since high school. In college, I moved every year to a new apartment full of new friends and new experiences. Then I moved to AZ and lived in my rented house for 9 months till I got married. (That is such a blessing how I found Jessika and lived in that house so I could meet CHAD!) Then we lived in our first little apartment for a year till our contract was up. Then we lived at my parents' house for 2 months till we bought our first house. Needless to say, I am PUMPED to live in a place for longer than a year. It makes me feel settled. It feels like home. We bought a fixer-upper in a beautiful neighborhood. Here's what we've done so far:

-Put in sinks & faucets
-Put in lights and fans
-Put on electrical outlet covers (for some reason, they were all missing. Weird.)
-Fixed a broken window
-Put up curtains and blinds
-Put in every. single. appliance.
-Grew grass and planted plants
-Painted gate
-Cleaned out garage and attic (the previous tenants decided to leave a bunch of garbage)
-Sold a TON on craig's list
-Painted
-Fixed locks
-Caulked
-Scrubbed. the. house. (bankowned homes are DIRTY)
-Grouted tile
-Fixed sprinklers
-Put chair rail up in Chase's room
-Decorated little bit at a time (install media center, couches, beds, dressers, etc etc!)
-Painted baseboards and refinished front door
-Refinished computer desk
-Put in pavers in the backyard
-Fixed the dryer hookup so the air would go OUTSIDE not in our laundry room :)
-Got a new roof and AC unit
WHEW!!!! (All this done while Chad works two jobs and I was working and had a baby!)

When I get down on myself for all the things we STILL need to do, I just think about all that we have accomplished. We've done so much and I am so thankful to have a husband who loves to take ownership in our home and work on it every spare moment. He is so wonderful!!