VBS and the Beach

Last week was Vacation Bible School at church. Chase could not wait to get there each night to see his good buddy Kaleb. Unfortunately they were not in the same class, which led to tears for Chase when they had to separate!The big performance on the last night.

Taylor wondering why she has to sit on grass that hasn't been rained on in weeks.

It was rather dry, hence the curled toes!

The highlight of the week was the arrival of the ice cream truck at the conclusion of the last night. Chase picked out Spongebob and was so excited about it, he could barely stop looking at it long enough to take a lick!Taylor was even fortunate enough to get her first taste of ice cream.

I think we know who might be responsible for that one...PaPa?

THE BEACH

What's missing from this picture? Kids? Yep. Dave and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a trip to the beach this past weekend while the kids stayed the night at Camp MeMaw and PaPa. They probably enjoyed the mini-vacation more than we did!

As you can see it was nice and sunny - not like our wedding day.....here are a few wedding flashback pictures....RAIN..RAIN..and more RAIN!

Chase now fits in the ringbearer shirt that Charles wore in our wedding!

Here's everyone being nice and polite as they get drenched.

And my favorite...two seconds later, everyone running for shelter!

A Surprise Visit!

We were long (LONG!) overdue for a trip out to visit friends and family in Cincinnati, so this past weekend we decided to go out a surprise Dave's mom by showing up for a family reunion. (One she only hinted she wanted us to come to a couple of times ;) )

Here's Chase ready to board the airplane. He was excited until we actually had to get on the plane, then the noise freaked him out but he quickly recovered and was a good traveler. I can say this because I didn't sit with him! Even though he is technically a month too old, we snuck both kids on as lap children so we wouldn't have to buy them tickets. This meant we couldn't sit together because there's only one extra oxygen mask per row. I thought Taylor was the bigger risk, so I took her and Dave took Chase. Well Taylor's risk worked out very well in my favor - she was an angel coming and going (although a rather stinky angel coming home!) Chase was apparently good, but very busy. Dave was worn out but gets bonus points for the extra effort!

Waiting for the bus to take us to our rental car. This was just as exciting as an airplane to him!

Taylor ready for the big surprise! I didn't get any pictures of the surprised faces, but I don't think they were expecting us. It was great weather for a picnic and we had a great time.

Chase with his cousins.

He wouldn't budge or look at them at this point, but thought they were super-cool!

Taylor with her Aunt Glenna.

Taylor in the clouds.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids.

All of us. Some of us not looking!

Taylor taking her mid-picnic nap!

Playing trains with Grandma.

Taylor could tear apart in seconds what took Chase much longer to put together. He didn't care for that too much and decided to find a new playmate....

This next series of pictures cracks me up. Chase met some of his distant cousins at the picnic too. He had his eye on Anaiah from the start. He followed her around long enough that she finally agreed to come play trains with him.

Here he is walking her to the table.

Helping her up, such the gentleman!

Checking eachother out.

Getting closer...

Finally in for the kiss.

Yes, we were at a family reunion and yes, it was in Kentucky.

I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere!! Too cute though!

Chase and Dave on Father's Day swinging in the hammock!

Celebrating Father's Day with Dave's dad!

Taylor with Great-Granny Hoeh

Chase with Great-Grandpa Hoeh

One last photo shoot with Aunts Kerry and Megan.

Aunt Rule #1: Individual shots always required.

Sorry Kerry, I didn't realize you were looking at the other camera at the time and we didn't have a re-do. (Megan totally would have asked for a re-do, "just in case :)"

Aunt Megan with Taylor.

This will hit Facebook any minute now I'm sure!

Taylor wishing Grandpa a Happy Father's Day!

Nutzy

We all went out to the Richmond Flying Squirrels game on Wednesday night. Chase and Bryce both had on their Nutzy shirts all day - wish I would have taken a picture of them. They were so excited and couldn't stop talking about it. (That conversation sounds like this: Chase - "Nutzy" then Bryce - "Nutzy too" then Chase "See Nutzy too" the Bryce - "Nutzy"...and repeat and repeat!) It was good bribery for them to take good naps so they could go see Nutzy!

It was "fishing night" and the giveaway was a floppy hat, just a little too big!

Taylor didn't care for the hat. She likes to show off her long locks of hair these days. I actually clipped a bow in her hair yesterday. It stayed there, but still looks goofy!This is Chase's reaction when he saw Nutzy for the first time of the night. Nutzy was more than half the stadium away! He was actually laughing while making this awful face.

Bryce checking out Nutzy and staying very close to PaPa!

I love the folded arms in this one. Still not taking his eyes off Nutzy.

It was the fourth inning before Chase was ready to go find Nutzy.

He was happy to be this close and wave, but no high-five yet!

9 pm....still going strong. Clapping, dancing and Nutzy watching. We had to make it through the 7th inning stretch so he could sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"9 pm.....snoozing, waiting for her ride home!

Catching Up...

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.

DAVE'S BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Dada... This happened a few times. Chase didn't want to stop singing, so we just kept celebrating! It is super-hard to get a good picture of 3 little kids!

Another cake - Chase put the letters in himself (if you can't tell!) and then I melted most of them taking too long to light them all.

SLEEP!We finally had ONE night where both kids slept all night! Chase is usually pretty good now, but the couple of nights that Taylor decided to sleep all night were the rare nights that he woke up. Soon enough I just know we will sleep, right? I keep hoping.

A DRIVEWAY

We finally decided to turn our dirt tracks in the front yard into a driveway. I'm sure the neighbors all threw a party to celebrate. It looks a ton better. This was before, obviously.

Supervising the operation!

Backhoe, bulldozer, steamroller, dump truck, and some other big machine....very exciting. Chase finally got tired of standing and pulled his chair over to the door!

And after! Complete with minivan and sidewalk chalk!

SWIMMING!

It continues to amaze me how much fun kids can have with about 2 inches of water!

Having a snack.

Standing in the sprinkler. Yeah, I don't know why he has clothes and shoes on.

If we go outside, he is soaked. Soon I will learn.