Holy Smokin Fire

I was getting ready to go to the grocery store, hear a ton of sirens very closeby to our house, went and looked out my window and saw this just north of our house....


So I decided to stay home in case we had to evacuate...I couldn't leave poor Bentley to fend for himself. Apparently this old house caught on fire, the owners were cooking with something very greasy and the grease caught fire. They were all able to get out of the home. One of the people living there was taken to the hospital because he/she has heart problems. The paramedics didn't want the stress of the fire to trigger a heart attack.

There is the house that caught fire. Those houses right next to it are lucky the firefighters had it under control and it didn't spread.

Crazy huh? In an instant, everything you've worked for your whole life, all your personal belongings, everything with sentimental value, completely gone. It makes our problems in life right now seem very...small.

Easter

This Easter was really fun since Chase was old enough to actually enjoy it. We left Chase's Easter Basket in the kitchen (Jason absolutely hates storing decorations for holidays since you only use them once out of the year. This includes Easter Baskets. So rather than put Chase's goodies in an Easter Basket, I try to find something useful each year to put his stuff in. This year it was a little shopping cart for him to push around). Chase spotted the basket as soon as we walked into the kitchen and wanted me to put him down right away to start playing with his toys. He got all toys and no candy (do I need to remind you of this kid's diet?).

Don't feel too bad for him though, after his nap Jason and I organized a little egg hunt for him. We hid 6 eggs around the family room and filled them with M&Ms, mini Cadbury cream eggs, Lindt truffles, and Hershey kisses. After finding the first egg and realizing it was filled with candy, Chase caught on pretty quick to finding the eggs. When he spotted one he would make his excited panting sound. Bentley also had fun finding Chase's eggs and even ate a mini Cadbury cream egg, foil and all. Then he proceeded to have rancid gas the rest of the day...but that's really nothing new. Everything gives Bentley gas. But since Bentley had such fun with the egg hunt, we decided to hide some eggs for him as well and filled them with a few pieces of dog food. Bentley needed more help finding the eggs then Chase did. He could smell them but was having trouble finding them.

That evening we went up to Midway to my Uncle Bob's and Aunt Trixie's house for an amazing dinner followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert. And of course, a game of Books and Runs. It is so fun to finally have some family around to spend the holidays with!

Here are pictures of our day:
Chase enjoying his egg hunt candy

Bentley enjoying his egg hunt dog food

Chase's Easter basket: We got him Bolt, some Matchbox cars, and this Playskool toy where you hammer down bed bugs. The grocery cart came with some food items so we also put those in there.

A Breakthrough??

Chase just ate all of his peanut butter and bread lunch that I made for him. I am in shock. He was sitting there for 10 minutes with a disgusted look on his face before he would even touch the plate. He's eating people food besides cookies and I couldn't be happier right now! He still wouldn't touch his banana slices though...

Learning to Eat

I am truly frustrated when it comes to feeding Chase. Sometimes I lose my cool and yell at him, which I know I shouldn't do. But why does he have to be so difficult to feed? Seriously, not much passes his mouth besides cookies and cereal. And I have limited his cookie eating in hopes that he will eat more real food. No luck yet. Today Chase refused to eat any of his baby food at lunch and dinner. So I left the jar of food and spoon on his tray and walked away. He picked up the spoon and started feeding himself. He did pretty well bringing the spoon to his mouth. The only mess he made was on his tray, face and hair, which was no big deal because it was his bath time tonight. Then I had to transfer his food to a bowl because he started having a hard time getting to the bottom of the jar. After a few spoonfuls, he picks up his bowl and throws it onto the carpet. It splattered all over our couches and carpet and even down into the heating vent. This after the dog peed in our house on the carpet twice today and Chase playing with the dirtiness that was in his diaper. It was a messy day in this house! Here are pictures of Chase feeding himself:

Happy Birthday to a Wonderful Papa!

Today was my grandpa's birthday and I just wanted to wish him the best day ever and tell him that he is the best grandpa a granddaughter could ask for! He has so many qualities that I admire; he is extremely kind, gentle, patient, smart, meticulous (especially with cleaning-that must be where I get it from!), hardworking, organized, determined, a hopeless romantic and very very loving! He was always going on bikerides with us and taking us to the park. I can't wait for him to take Chase to the park this summer! We love you so much and are blessed to have you as part of our family! Lots of hugs and kisses!

What A Life

I love these pictures of my little boy relaxing. I sat him up on the couch with some golden grahams and turned on Handy Manny for him the other morning. He immediately slouched down and made himself comfy while he snacked and watched one of his favorite shows. I love lazy mornings like this.

Have You Cried Yet Today?

You will for sure now. I came across this blog http://www.thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/ from cjane (another blog I read). I can't read it without completely sobbing. This family just lost their 11 month old sweet baby girl from congenital heart failure. They document her short life which was mostly spent in the hospital, as well as her death and funeral. I guess it just hits the spot with me because of Chase's heart scare when he was born. My grandma also lost two of her children to heart failure. I just can't even imagine losing a child. I don't think I'm strong enough to ever handle it. I'm a mess right now just from reading the blog about baby Gracie. Her family has so much faith and strength about letting Gracie go. I have so much admiration for this family. Reading the blog reminds me that I don't know how much time I get with my own baby boy. It reminds me to have more patience with him, to spend more time with him, to not worry so much about having a sparkling clean house or all the projects I wish to get done. My time is his time for now. That's the sacrifice mothers make.