Our 10 Year Anniversary Trip

Customize your own scrapbook Well, we did it...we left our kids for 7 days and celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. We had an amazing time of sun, relaxation, and reconnecting. I would absolutely recommend a life "time-out" for any married couple...it was totally worth it to invest in each other and our relationship. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for watching our little angels so we could take our trip. We totally owe you!

Trevor's Surprise 30th Birthday Party

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So, I'm a little late with this post, but I'm always late, so that probably goes without saying!

My beloved hubby turned 30 on March 1st. I could NOT let it go unnoticed, and you KNOW how I love me some party action!! SO, I booked a surprise birthday party at the House of Bounce (yes, it is traditionally a kid's place, but, we're sort of like kids...ok, only at heart!). Anyway, we had his party the Saturday before his birthday and it was super fun. We all wore out a little faster than I anticipated, but I guess that's what you get with a party of "old folk"! HA! It was not without it's flaws...I am a horrible liar, his mother asked him what time his party was, etc. ;)...but I think we pulled it off the best we could.

P.S. To all our friends who came to the party; thank you for continuing to be our friends even after I made you run up and down the Cars slide until you felt like your lungs were going to explode! We love you all dearly for humoring us and seriously for being such an amazing part of our lives! :)

My Stay at Nana and Papa's House

I'm so excited to have my first guest blogger today! While Trevor and I were on our Spring Break 10 Year Anniversary trip to Mexico (more on that in another post), Camden and Melia got to spend the WHOLE week at Nana and Papa's house (my parents). During the week, I wanted to commemorate everything that they did, so I had Melia dictate and my parents scribe her journal for the week. So, without further ado....

My stay at Nana and Papa’s
Saturday: Nana took me to Toy’s R Us for the Barbie birthday party. I got stickers and saw Claire and Isabelle Beckley that goes to my school. I got a new zhu-zhu pet named Raspberry. We played in the play room.

Sunday: We went to Nana and Papa’s church. I sat with Lindsey and Wally. I drew pictures. I liked watching Papa and Wally play their guitar and sing. We all had lunch at the Japanese Steak House. Lindsey came over and we watched Pingu (the penguin cartoon) and Veggie Tales.

Monday: We went to Sams then came back home and played. I walked to my house with Nana and got some clothes and a movie. We ate dinner and watched “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”.

Tuesday: Gigi came over and we went to Springfield. We ate lunch at Subway and went to the Discovery Center. My favorite part was everything. We played in the grocery store, we had a puppet show. I played a giant xylophone. We met Brandon and Amy and got Wendy and Veronica. Wendy always, always loves me and never quits. Gigi, Nana, Papa, Camden, Lindsey, Wally, and I went to eat pizza at Gisanos. We came home and I slept for twelve hours.

Wednesday: We stayed home and watched Veggie Tales. I started working a puzzle. I started coloring a picture. I played with the kittys and they sat on my lap a long time until my bath was ready. I took a long bath and I talked to daddy and mommy. We watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday: After breakfast we fed the kittys but it was too stinky so I couldn’t. Cophie, Skylar, and Lindsey came to visit I played with Cophie and the mirror and Camden played with Skylar. Lolly came by and brought “Strawberry Shortcake” movie. We watched the movie and then went to Walmart. I got Whopper Easter eggs. When we got home Papa took me and Camden on a wagon ride to our house and we played pirates and papa was Captain Chocolate Chip, Camden was Captain Lookout, and I was Captain Driver. We played with the pink sand. We rode the wagon home and bumped head and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so we laughed a lot.

Friday: We got up and Lindsey and Cophie came over then we went ot see the real baby chicks. I got to pet one while Nana held it. It was cute too. Then we went to the park and I got to see Sophie and Lucas. I got to swing and slide and play ball with Cophie. We at Happy Meals at the park and came home. Brandon and Amy came and we played outside. I ployed with Wendy and Veronica. We ate pizza and watched Veggie Tales. We decorated for Mommy’s birthday then went to bed.

Grandma Lesta

Trevor's grandma, Lesta Chase, passed away suddenly on Thursday afternoon. At age 82, she was such a beautiful lady with a love for crafting and all things glitzy! Of course, we are all grieving, but it is certainly a comfort knowing that she is with Jesus.

Grandma "Shorty" holding Camden, Christmas 2008.

http://www.legacy.com/joplinglobe/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=140090686

Birthday Backpack

Yesterday was our friend, Aubrey Peterson's, second birthday. I wanted to make her something for her birthday and when she was at our house not too long ago, she was carrying around a bag with all sorts of little treasures that she'd found in the kids' rooms. So, I decided that she needed her own bag to pack her treasures and carry around her house. She is so into Mickey Mouse, and I found this super cute and very subtle Mickey Mouse material at Hobby Lobby (my fav!). I had no pattern or tutorial, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Aubrey's mama, Lisa, says she loves her "pack-pack" and she's ready to "Go a Kohl's!"

Happy Valentines/Chinese New Year Day

What a fun weekend! We started out Friday evening by having our friends', the Petersons, kiddos over so that they could go out for V-day. We exchange date nights with them, so it was our turn to watch them...actually, my turn...Trev was coaching his last game of the season, so it was just me and the 5 kids. Sticking with the theme of the weekend, we made heart-shaped tortilla pizzas that the kids topped themselves (this added an extra element of messiness, but the bonus fun was totally worth it!). They played and played and then we vegged out and watched Madagascar 2, a classic around here. We had tons of fun as we always do with those 3...love them!!

Yesterday, we slept in *YEA* and then I got out of the house for a little while to get some shopping done, including a trip to my FAV store, Hob Lob. It is dangerous for me to go in there by myself, like an abyss of lovely things, all calling out for me to buy them and make something wonderful...ahh. Anyway, I picked up some $.49 flip flops and ribbon to decorate and hopefully sell to make some money towards the adoption process (more on that later). I also bought material for a bag for Miss Aubrey's birthday (of the Peterson Clan as mentioned above) and material for a large project for my nephew's 1st birthday next month. Can't post much about that one just in case my SIL makes a stop by here...I want it to be a surprise! And some material for who knows what, just because it was so cute and in the bargain bin and I thought I needed it. Then, yesterday evening, hubs and I went out for dinner at a new place and we were TOTALLY disappointed! GAG! Honestly, the best part of the dinner was the hot fudge sundae from McD's afterword. What a bummer! But, the kids had an amazing time at the circus with their Nana and Papa, so, again, we'll live vicariously through our children...at least they had a good time!

Today we started by giving the kids their Valentines (handmade card, balloons, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs DVD, headbands for Sis and a Zhu Zhu pet for Bub) and then on to an awesome service at church (as always!), then home for lunch, and then small group at our house. Both sets of parents stopped by to wish the kids (and us) Happy V-Day. So, we got to see/hang out with lots of people that we love on Valentine's Day. :)

**Side note: Notice M and C's shirts that I made using the freezer paper stencil technique shown here: http://www.neitherhipnorfunky.com/?p=106 and here: http://www.craftster.org/blog/?p=94. I also used it on Melia's "5" shirt in my last post and several others I've done for both kiddos. It's my absolute favorite technique and I am hoping to try it on some curtains sometime in the near future (ok, probably this summer!).

Also, did you know today is Chinese New Year? I've never really given it a thought before, but knowing that the biological mother of our next baby is probably celebrating today gives it a whole new meaning...I'm praying for her this evening!

Melia's Birthday Festivities

Our sweet baby girl turned 5 on January 29th. Even though that was a couple of weeks ago, I'm a new blogger (as you know), so I thought I should do a retroactive post to talk about how we celebrated! Her birthday was on a Friday and so I planned to take the day off. But, when we woke up that morning, there was a beautiful blanket of snow and it continued to accumulate throughout the day. It reminded me so much of the day that she was born and of our wedding day, which made for a pretty awesome memory! Since it was snowy, everyone got the day off for her birthday! We started with our newest birthday tradition, the birthday waffle, complete with five pink candles.

We had planned to get her 5 year old pictures taken with Becca from Journeys with Barefeet, so we started at 10:30 in Webb City and two hours later, we were done! Her pics can be seen at http://journeyswithbarefeet.com/; scroll down to Miss Melia and type in chase. They are too cute! Here is the shoot on Becca's blog: http://journeyswithbarefeet.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-miss-melia.html

That evening, we went with my parents (Nana and Papa), my sister, and Trevor's parents (Granny and Poppy) to Logan's. This is Melia's new favorite restaurant; she's such a clean freak, but the idea that she has permission to throw peanut shells on the floor is still appealing. :)

The next day was her Princess Tea Party/Brunch. We had 16 little princesses and their Mommies (and some Daddies! :)) over for her birthday party in the morning. They were all so cute! We transformed our dining room into a tulle tent, ate cupcakes, donuts, pop tarts, and breakfast casserole, opened presents, and played Princess Bingo. (I just made this in MS Word...if you want it to print your own, E-mail me and I'll send it to you!)

Saturday evening, we had Melia's family birthday party with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. She got all sorts of fun stuff, including her first real sewing machine! It's a Pixie by Singer and it's purple...too cute! Her first project is featured in my last post "Love is in the Air"...the heart garland. She thought it was funny to sew paper, but it was a good first project. :)

We wrapped up her birthday festivities on Monday (yes, it was more like a birth-weekend!) at her pre-school. We brought cupcakes and milk for everyone in her class. They sang Happy Birthday and she said the prayer for their snacks.