Tonsil Post...Gross Picture Warning!

Chase goes under the knife (yikes...that sounds way worse than saying he is having surgery!) on the morning of New Years Eve to have his tonsils and adenoids removed, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a smooth procedure and a speedy recovery filled with Popsicles, Slurpee's and jello!!

Want to know what I am the most nervous about, post-procedure? The pain medication they are prescribing for my Chase-monster is Tylenol with Codeine...you know what that does to me??? Remember Magda the old lady in There's Something about Mary when she gets all hopped up on something??

Where she's running around like a crazy person vacuuming and lifting up the couches? That's me...minus the vacuuming!!! OK, and minus the little dog and leather face, but you get the idea. Man! I'm bummed that I couldn't find a picture of Magda lifting the couch...hopefully someone out there gets my reference...Carol!?!?! Anyone?!?!?!

All joking aside, if you aren't going to be around, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers...it's a pretty painful recovery for our little guy, but he will be better off in the end.

WARNING...Really Gross Picture of what Chase's throat looks like...EVERY DAY!!! Sometimes worse! The Dr' says his tonsils are constantly golf-ball sized...and in a 3 year old's throat, or anyone's throat for that matter...not fun!

Wishing Everyone Health and Happiness!

I won't be back in the office until Monday, so unless something really awesome happens, like another request for Target from Bruce :o) I won't be hopping back on here until next week.

I want to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas, I hope you and your families enjoy the holiday together, and I wish everyone a Wonderful New Year filled with Hope, Health, Happiness and Good Things! :o)

Did he really just say that?

While wandering through Toys R Us this am...

"Babe, can we PLEASE just go to Target?!?!?!"

I about lost it...and he is never going to live that one down...it was awesome.

Even Bruce appreciates Target and all of it's wonderfulness...he just doesn't appreciate that I seem to come out of there with $50 worth of stuff that I didn't know I needed, every time I go :o)

Chase's 3rd Birthday Bash!

We had a blast over the weekend celebrating Chase's 3rd Birthday! Man, time really does fly!

This post is slowly turning into the "post that wasn't" b/c I just can't seem to think of what to write, other than we had it at the pool house in our neighborhood which worked out SUPER for us, we had a Christmas/Santa/Frosty/Rudolph themed party, b/c what else can you do for a kid who's b-day is a week before Christmas?, we had a great time seeing everyone, the kids loved decorating cookies...that seemed to be the hit of the party, Santa came for a visit and the kids were 50/50 happy to see him or freaked out...which I had expected. Chase was too busy making out with his cookie that he had just decorated to talk to Santa (SERIOUSLY), we cut the HUGE cake that I not so brilliantly sat in direct sunlight (so the candles were all over the place...whoops!) and then most of the kids had about "had it" and either headed home or over to the playground.

I was so pleased with the party...I just wish we had taken more/better pictures of the birthday boy! :o(

I'm totally copying my friend Megan and making a photo collage...I think if you click on the photo, a new window will open with larger pictures :o)

Happy birthday, my little boyfriend!

Baking makes your butt big

First off, let me get my whining out of the way...I'm sad to say at bootcamp last night I rolled my ankle pretty bad...I came home early from the workout to ice down (I never wimp out!) and I was in a pretty rotten mood.

After dinner I went up to shower while Chase and my SIL Erica were working on making some sugar cookies for his birthday party. I know everyone is probably tired of my Master Chef Chase posts...but seriously, the kid is on to something!

DON'T laugh at his pink apron...his blue one was dirty from baking earlier in the week (hence my title...I've been "testing" everything in sight...not pretty!) We made oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies on Sunday, and then these pretzel & Hershey kiss sandwich things on Tuesday for his party...yum. Chase said we had to hide everything so that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't eat everything, and I said yes, so my butt doesn't get bigger, and it's kind of stuck ;o)

Here's a picture of Erica and Chase before I headed upstairs

I came down ready to herd the kids up for bathtime...saw Chase was working hard, and it took me a moment to notice Addy...and once I did, I had to go grab the camera again...she was COVERED head to toe in flour...and loving life. I about died laughing...there was flour everywhere! All over the fabric seats, the floor, her hair, EVERYWHERE...but it was so cute...she was so proud to actually get to "help" and was happy to pose for a picture, please note the rolling pin is bigger than she is.

Chase was very hard at work, and I think annoyed that sister wasn't taking things as seriously...here he is holding up a piece of sugar-cookie dough...that I'm sure he popped into his mouth right after the picture was taken ;o)

I get such a joy out of teaching Chase (and Addy now, for that matter) how to help cook...some of my favorite childhood memories involve helping my parents, baby-sitter (JUDY!!!) and grandparents cook, and picking out recipes to try from cookbooks.

Oh Christmas Tree...

My favorite day during the holiday season has got to be the day after Thanksgiving...not because of the crazy shopping, etc, but because for the last 5 years, Bruce and I have gone to cut down our family Christmas Tree together.

This year was better than ever...both kids are really excited about Christmas and were thrilled to be going to cut down the tree. Last year Chase was sick and he fell asleep at my parents before we went to get our tree, and so we left him there to nap (he was sick and it was pretty nasty outside) so we just had Addy with us and she was too little to know what was going on anyway. Well now that Chase is totally into Christmas, that means Addy is too...that little girl doesn't miss a beat!!! I guess it's because she sees Chase being excited? Chase wasn't anywhere near as "in" to the whole holiday thing last year.

http://www.snickersgaptrees.com/

The weather was perfect, we were all just in jackets or sweatsuits (Addy wore purple velour...JLo, eat your heart out)!

Addy found her Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...

Dun, Dun, Dun...after declaring 23 other trees "the tree" we finally picked a winner! Chase and Bruce's sister Tiff get the credit for finding it...(and about 15 of the other perfect trees)
The family picture...
And then the men got to work...Chase was "helping" Bruce cut down the tree (can he wipe that grin off his face already?!?!)

He was so proud to help drag it down the side of the mountain

The guys again...
Chase taking a well deserved apple cider break...please note the tough-guy pants with all of the pockets, for well, guy stuff, and the work boots...this is serious stuff.
Me getting to put my bossyness to work...being in charge of tying the tree to the roof of the truck...that way if it falls off, I can't say anything. I'm proud to say that bad-boy didn't move an inch!

About 1,000 lights later, a trip to Target, Michael's and then Del Rio for Mexican we have ourselves a pretty good Christmas Tree, if I do say so myself!

Turkey Sandwich Anyone?

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We certainly did...and we were especially thankful to have my little sister, Carol, home safely from Iraq! My Grandmother made the trip up from Florida for dinner as well, and we had 4 generations on my dad's side hanging around the house all day long, but did we take a picture??? NO! I hate it when that happens.

BUT! We did take a picture of our totally important architectural masterpiece that Chase and I worked VERY hard on while listening to Christmas music the night before...if you look closely, you can even see Bruce through the well-placed archway connecting our "towers of DOOM!!" (that's what everything we build is called, FYI) Our goal was to use each and every block we had and I think Chase and I did one hell of a job ;o)

Because you don't eat enough junk on Thanksgiving, Chase and Daddy made some chocolate chip cookies to get the party started, while in their jammies (Bruce's don't have footies, in case you were wondering)

Here are a few from Thanksgiving...the weather was nice enough that the kids got to play outside for a while before dinner. Gramps even hooked the kids up with some fresh sand for the sandbox...the kids were covered head to toe and very pleased with themselves

You can't go up to Bluemont without riding on the "tractor" (AKA really old lawnmower that Chase is in love with). Please note how "into the turn" Chase was...I'm fairly positive the wheels are still straight, but whatever...he looks cool and that's all that matters

Chase helping carve the turkey with my Mom...note the bug spray and bugs bunny vitamins on the shelf right above them...it's the country, OK?

All in all it was a fantastic day, we had plenty to be thankful for, plenty of good food and company, and I have had WAY too many turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce since then...I'm officially done! I am dreading my weigh-in tonight at bootcamp! ;o)

Chef Chase

Chase LOVES to cook...he's such a good little assistant. Check out the apron!! He made cinnamon rolls for breakfast...they were fab. Oh, don't mind the one that was upside down...he did pretty good with the rest! :o)

Ride 'til you ralf

We killed some time Saturday AM over at Chuck E Cheese...the kids have fun, we never stay long, and I don't get skeeved out going in there (I know some are pretty nasty) although it DID smell like throw-up. :o( Did you know they open at 9am? Bruce and I thought that was hilarious...we were joking that Bruce and Chase were going to be sent there every weekend in their pajamas.

Here's Addy riding the merry go round...for like the 30th time...and she didn't ralf ;o)
Chase and Daddy being tough-guys on the roller coaster ride...it's for big kids, you know.Get me the HELL out of here! Sorry, I couldn't resist

I'm too sexy for my jammies

Look at Addy...more importantly her America's Next Top Model pose...feet and all...don't mind the scary face...she was probably getting ready to yell at me that she wanted the camera ;o)

It's a good think we love him!

As I pulled up my email at work this morning, one caught my eye...Bruce sent me an email with the subject line "worst night of sleep ever" and something about getting a better nights sleep on a frat room floor...and I totally agreed (OK, at least with the worst night of sleep ever part) ;o)


Chase and Addy were both stuffed up last night before bed and sure enough Chase had a tough time sleeping b/c he couldn't breathe through his nose. Around 2 he came storming through our door (it's pretty funny, we can hear him fling open his door and then march across the hall to our room...half the time he comes in giggling the other half just kind of in a daze calling for Bruce or I) and proceeded to take over our bed. Snoring and mouth breathing his horrible stinky bed breath...at least he took turns and rolled all over the place, so both Bruce and I got our fair share of the dragon breath.


This picture is a few weeks old...I've been holding on to it as blackmail...perfect opportunity ;o) It doesn't get much better than this...Thomas the Train booty shorts, belly hanging out, one sock on, one sock off...awesome...taken from my phone sorry for the bad quality...I had to do it though!


We certainly don't mind snuggling with Chase, he's the best at that...but when he's sick, he's impossible and Bruce and I don't sleep a wink. Tonight he's getting the Vick's lathered on his chest and saline shot up his nose...hopefully that will clear him out enough to get a good nights sleep (for all of us!)

Birthday/Reunion Post...better late than never!

OK, I'm a slacker...and everyone has probably already seen these pictures b/c I had my act together enough to at least email them out on Monday...but I still wanted to say what a great time I had last weekend!

First off, Friday night Bruce and I went do dinner at Flemings Steakhouse in Tysons...it was SOOO good and we tested out all kinds of great wine...the cool thing was that you could do flights of wine, the even cooler thing was that you could pick whichever ones you wanted to include in your flight (smaller pours so you can sample a few...) Dinner was wonderful

Saturday Bruce and I got a bunch of chores done in the AM and then we were off to go visit my Cousin Shawn and Christie at the birthing inn...they just had their first baby, Leah this past Friday and she is perfect. Bruce and I walked out of there wanting a third...not anytime soon! Sigh...little babies are the best.

After being in baby heaven we headed out for Manis & Pedis (real men get their feed "did"...OK?!?! Thanks...I had to get that out there...haha) and then we were off to Lansdowne to Spa Minerale for a couples hot stone massage for my B-day...it was wonderful! I need to learn how to relax though...the whole time we were in there I was worried about how soon it was going to be over!

Saturday night was my 10-year high school reunion...not wanting to be the first people there, Bruce finished up watching a bunch of college football games and we headed over...and were pretty much the LAST people to show up! Whoops! We had a great time all night catching up with old friends that I haven't seen in forever (MARY!!!) and visiting with everyone else that lives local but we don't seem to get to see enough. I was really happy with how the night turned out...thanks again to everyone who put it together!!

Here's the famous group shot from left to right: (Me, Andrea, Megan, Mary, Meredith, Missy, Keri and Eryne) MARY ALICE...my long lost friend who is still as crazy as ever and films for MTV up in NYC...loved getting to visit!!

Meredith and I

Megan and I

Bruce was so busy being the photographer that we only took one picture of us all night!

All in all we had a great weekend, my parents kept the kids for us, so Sunday we drove up to Bluemont and had steaks and birthday cake...Chase helped make the cake and decorated...he was very proud of himself...we even had party hats, necklaces and bracelets from the party store...the kids are just too much! Here is a picture of my Dad and Frank...he even joined the festivities and wore a Dora Party Hat :o) and had cake and ice cream (seriously)

Holy Crap...it's Friday already!?!?!?

Leaving, On A Jet Plane...

not me...



BUT, my SISTER is!!! She's on her way home from Baghdad...finally! Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers for a save trip home! We can't wait to see her!!!

Friday Post, Bullety Style

~How good were BOTH Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy this week? I have to watch The Office online when I get a chance!

~Chase is NOT sleeping well right now...at 6 am he flipped all the lights on and was ready to rock...WTH? Little monster

~Chase has his Tonsillectomy (and Adenoids) scheduled for New Years Eve...I can't wait.

~Addy is finally back to her normal fabulous self...the teething pain seems to be gone. She is the littlest person ever, the only thing growing on her is her legs, so all of her pants look like highwaters (she's still wearing 6-12 month pants b/c her waist is so small) If she wasn't just like me in SO many other ways, I'd wonder if there was a mixup at the hospital! ;o)

~What the heck do you do for a winter birthday party? Both kids have winter birthdays (December and February) and I am stumped. I better get hopping on Chase's party plans!

~I feel like I look OLD all of a sudden...I need a good face and neck cream, and possibly Microdermabrasion...any recommendations??

~Bootcamp is wonderful as always and I am SUPER sore...I can't wait to get a hot stone massage this weekend...yay! Feeling old has it's benefits I guess ;o)

The Obligatory Halloween Post

Happy Belated Halloween! I hope everyone had a great weekend, and has thrown all of their candy away!! That's the only way I can control myself. Seriously.

We had a really fun night on Friday, the neighborhood organized a costume/pizza party and parade from 4:45-5:45...it was perfect for our little ones...they had fun and afterwards we hit just a few houses and they were happy campers!

Here's our little ladybug...swollen cheeks and all...poor Addy is teething really, really bad right now...she's always been such a trooper, I think these are the first teeth to really bother her...or maybe she's just able to vocalize better to tell us what's wrong? Who knows, but she has been a wreck since mid-week...I think she's coming around now. One of my favorite parts of the night was Addy carrying her pumpkin bucket around and swinging it over her shoulder like a purse...and somehow the pumpkin face always seemed to be pointed the right way...she is that GOOD at being a little priss.

Chase as Thomas the Train, of course...he looks a little gangster with his hat popped up like that but the visor was getting in the way...haha. He even had a Thomas T-Shirt on underneath...shocker...AND a Thomas candy bucket. Right before we took this picture he was giving Addy a hug and telling her what a beautiful lady bug she was (NOT EVEN KIDDING...he's such a sensitive little ladies man...already. YIKES) PS: Not to be fooled...he is almost 3 and on everyone's last nerve...trust me! ;o)

Hanging out at the playground before the parade...there were a zillion kids there, Chase was freaking out yelling at all of the kids to get off of his slide...we need to work a bit on the whole sharing thing, haha. Here's Chase leaning in for the photo op...and Addy worried that Chase was going to take her beloved pizza crust.

Addy's like...Whew, I'm glad that's over...Brother, come that close again and I'll bite you...I'm teething, remember!!?!?!?

Addy...STILL holding on to the pizza crust...she carried it around for over an hour, no joke...at one point it ended up in her pail...Bruce and I snuck it out and he chucked it when she wasn't looking.

Last but not least, the family picture...both kids were over it by then! Chase was panicking b/c his candy bucket was down by my feet and he was worried some kids were going to come by and take his hard-earned candy.

Aunt Carol Update

I don't know how much I am allowed to say, but my sister Carol is in the ARMY and is working her way back home from the land of sand!!!

Her counterparts have arrived, they will teach/train them for a few weeks and then start the trek back from overseas.

We can't wait to see you LLAMA!!

Love you,
Big Sis and the rest of the crew

We take our art time very seriously

What, you don't have your own tool box full of art supplies? Naked art is the only way to go, baby.

Little Smurf

note the handprint on her cheek

What the heck happened to the Skins???

I think we jinxed them yesterday with everyone being dressed up?!?!? :o(

The Taste of Georgetown

Saturday AM we got up and decided to get a bit crazy ;o)...we loaded up the bookbag full of snacks and drinks, grabbed the kids blankies and extra diapers...and headed out...to just do "something". Bruce had remembered that the Taste of Georgetown was going on over the weekend, and since that is one of our favorite places to go together...we decided to check it out.

What a fun day! Bruce's dad works security at the old Ulysses S. Grant house...this big old mansion with all kinds of neat stuff for the kids to check out, right in Georgetown...he happened to be working so we stopped by to surprise him, and ended up just parking there and walking past all of the pretty houses to get down to M Street.

Here are a bunch of pictures...this one, Chase is in full meltdown mode, because he didn't want to be in the stroller...he had already walked almost a mile (it seemed like!) and traffic was crazy...haha...look at him pouting!

Chase...still ticked off...Addy is starting to cooperate and look at the camera!
OK, the ladies man loosened up a bit once he was allowed to walk around...here he is, mid-spin, dancing with me to the "smooth jazz" that was playing.

Putting out the vibe, petting the dogs while Mommy was TRYING to do a wine tasting...the lines were LONGGGG
Miss Addy, enjoying her 3rd juice box for the day...don't judge us...she dumps most of it out anyway...and yes, she has a skirt on :o) Woo...look at those legs!
The pretty princess...I cropped the juice box out for this one :o) She HAD the cutest full pigtails that day, and we are trying so hard to get her bangs to grow out!!!
All and all we had a great day, great weather, great food and fun!! A bonus was that when we were done at the taste thing, the kids got to take a tour of the old house where Bruce's dad works security...Chase was so excited and loves "being snoopy" his words...he LOVES looking at houses...he counted all of the fireplaces that Santa Claus has to come down...there were like 10 in the house!! :o)