Passy Free!!

Top: Chase at about 15 months

Bottom: Chase at Easter, around 17 months

Top: Chase (18-19 months)

Bottom: Chase at 22 months (I think this is the last pic of him with the passy)

That's right folks, Chase Ryan is free from the passy. Tony and I weren't planning on taking it away, in fact Daddy thought that he was too young to give it up. Here's what happened....Friday morning Chase came downstairs, passy in the mouth (as usual.) After breakfast, I told him to take it and put it on his bed (it is supposed to stay on his bed, but since he is on a big boy bed he gets in whenever he wants.) Anyway, he puts it in his mouth and goes upstairs and starts playing. Fast forward to nap time and the passy is nowhere to be found. I finally had to put him in bed and I told him that he was going to nap without a passy because he didn't put it back on his bed after breakfast. He started searching all over his bed..under the covers, under his pillow, but no passy. Again, I told him that his passy was lost and he needed to take a nap anyway. To my surprise he fell asleep without a fuss. We found one later that afternoon and decided that if he started sucking his thumb or chewing on his fingers we would give him the passy back, but he has done great. He has only asked for it once or twice since Friday and I have just told him that he didn't put it up and now it is lost. He hasn't cried for it at all. I am SHOCKED at how easy the transition has been and at how well he has done. Tony and I both thought that it was going to be a long hard battle because he was so attatched to his beloved passy. Hopefully we won't have any regressions this week. I think we tried 3 or 4 times to take Ethan's away and had to give it back because he was sucking his fingers at night and then he started biting (toys, furniture, people, whatever.) I can't remember how old he was but I know he was past the age of 2.

Our Little Mechanic

This weekend Tony was out working in the yard and the boys were playing. Blake pulled out the jacks and asked Tony to put the Diego Jeep up so he could work on it. I am not exactly sure what he was working on, but he did disconnect the battery and pull it out before he got started!!Chase was not too happy to be without wheels, but Blake explained to him that if he wanted it to run right then he had to get it worked on. Blake had it up and running in no time.

And here are the rest of them.....

OK, first off these are not in any kind of order. Blogger only allows you to upload 5 images at one time and then it puts them in reverse order. For some reason these first pics (taken in the evening) look really dark. It wasn't dark outside at all, so I have no idea why they look this way. (You might want to enlarge them to see them better) Tony took Grani (who is 80 years young) on her first 4 wheeler ride. They went down to Beaver Pond and took a look around.

Chase and Ethan were glad for their turn. They were not too happy about having to share their Daddy and the 4wheeler with Grani!!
Ethan is behind Tony (see the little leg)
Blake took Aunt Amy for a ride. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. He was flying around the corners and then locking it up to do a burnout!!! Have I mentioned that he loves NASCAR. He ran the Silver Streak so hard that day.
"The bookends" making a fashion statement. Blake walked off into Beaver Pond filling his boots with water, thus the knickers and crocs. Chase, well I am not sure where his pants are. (That is Uncle Randy behind them.)
Papa decided to give Ethan a turn driving the Silver Streak. Only one problem with that, he is great on the gas and not so great with the steering. Papa had to RUN behind them to remind Ethan to steer. Blake was helping (if that's what you call it) and Ethan was so proud of himself for driving.

I'm coming, Papa.
This picture just makes me laugh....

Papa and the boys armed with a BB gun.

Here are the pictures, as promised

Tony's "boyfriend" got him his own duck blind at the end of last season (aw, how sweet) so it has been in the box since it's arrival last spring. Early Teal season started last week so it was time to assemble the "thing." Daddy had so much help, it's a wonder he ever got it finished. (please keep in mind it was 10:00 at night and no I can't really remember why they were all still up. that was the week I fell, so Daddy was in charge...his philosophy is as long as you don't whine I don't care what time you go to bed!!)


Here are Chase and Ehtan on their first day of school. I love Chase's expression in the first pic. Tony calls it his,"Are you talkin to me?" face. He is our boy of many faces for sure.

Chasey snoozin in the high chair. He had just asked me for "sert" and before I could pull the top off of his yogurt he had already moved to the next activity...nap time!!

As we were awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Ike, we had all 3 kids and all 3 dogs in the front yard. Tony and I were trying to get everything into one of the garages and then we put the dogs in the big garage. We were anticipating more storm than we actually got. Anyway, Blake and Ethan were playing with remote control cars and Zac went bizerk. Zoe and Bigirl just got out of the way, but he was "attacking" the cars. I wish I'd had the camera out 10 minutes earlier, he couldn't get out of his own way. It was pretty funny. Wierd dog!!

It is always aomething.....

**UPDATE**

I started this post days ago. I apologize for its length and wordiness, but if I don't write this stuff down I will forget. I will add pictures soon. Also, you can vote on whether you think the boys will be getting a brother or sister.

Whew!! What a crazy week we have had.....I'll tell you, it is always something around here. There is honestly never a dull moment, if there is you can bet there is trouble around the corner. Let me start by saying that Tony and I LOVED Cozumel. It was our first vacation without kids and although we missed them, we did have a good time. I think it had been about 10 years since we had traveled through an airport without at least one kid and all of the gear that goes with them. The weather was great, Gustav brought a stray shower or two but nothing that kept us off the beach. Tony got to go on 3 dives while we were there and I got to lay on the beach without worrying about any kids!!! We got home on Sunday and went and picked the kids up from Tony's parents and got everyone home and in bed. Monday was crazy trying to get everything umpacked and washed and put away, get the week's lesson plans done, and get everything ready for the week. Chase and Ethan had their first day of school while Tony and I were gone. Ethan loved it, Chase hated it. So Tuesday, we were off to try school for the second day. Both boys screamed when I dropped them off, but I didn't have time to hang around and check on them. Blake and I had to get downtown for my doctor's appointment. "Jim-Susie" (thanks Bret and Jenny for the name) is growing like a weed. I measured a week and a half ahead and they moved my due date up to January 30th. Much to Daddy's disappointment, Blakey and I did not find out whether Jim-Susie is a brother or a sister (hence the name Jim-Susie.) Blake and I headed back into Rockwall for lunch and to kill an hour before picking the little boys up from school. As we were leaving the restaurant it started pouring. Blake wanted us to run to the Suburban, so he was pulling on my arm. I am not really sure what happened or how it happened, but I ended up falling and knocking myself silly. I am hoping that no one saw what happened, because I laid in the parking lot for a while trying to get my bearings and figure out where and who I was. Blake was freaked out because when I hit the back of my head, it shattered my hair clip and my shoes came off and were going to go down the drainage ditch. I managed to get to the car and then go get the boys from school. Chase had another horrible day. Luckily Ethan had gotton happy and was having a great day. My OB didn't want to see me since I didn't fall on my stomach and I wasn't bleeding. So, Tony came home early and got me to the chiropractor. My vision was really messed up (even more than usual) and I could hardly walk. Everything from Tuesday through about Friday is a blur. I made several trips to the chiropractor and by Friday was doing much better. My head is still a little "off" in more ways than one. On Thursday, Chase moved to a different class. He was not doing well in the younger class and Tony and I just knew it wasn't a good fit for him. He has older brothers and is always around older kids. It just wasn't like him to be sad all day. Let's face it he isn't our first, it isn't his first time to be left, and it is definitely not his first time at the church. I was so relieved that he walked right in and never looked back. When we picked him up, they said he had had a great day, never cried once!! Both of the teachers knew him and said that "he was his normal happy little self." Friday was spent glued to the TV. The weather channel kept changing Ike's projected path. We went from getting a direct hit at a category 1 hurricane to an inland tropical storm warning. Luckily for us, Ike hit farther north and we got a little wind and about 2.5 inches of much needed rain on Saturday. At one point, Blake came downstairs with a sponge and spray bottle, he said that Chase's fingerprints were all over the TV and he couldn't get them off. Strange....so I went upstairs and as Chase greeted me I noticed he looked a little greasy. He had gotton in the bathroom (which is usually closed) and gotton in the Aquaphor It was EVERYWHERE, all over him, the walls, the bathroom. What a mess. That stuff is not easy to clean up. I bathed him in Dawn, twice...and he still looked greasy. It eventually wore off. On Sunday we headed out to 317. We really expected to see more evidence of Ike out there than we did. The rain gauge reported 4 inches of rain, but it was apparently a slow soaking rain because there wasn't any standing water. It was so nice out there. We had a nice breeze all day and temp around 80. The boys had a blast riding the Silver Streak, shooting the BB guns, playing in the dirt, and riding 4 wheelers. Hopefully we will get to go out there more now that the weathere is getting cooler.

Honey where is Chase??

Mommy: I don't know, he isn't upstairs?

Daddy: No, I don't see him anywhere.

Mommy: Start checking the bathrooms.

Daddy: He isn't up here..

Blake (laughing hysterically): I FOUND HIM!!!! HURRY MOM CHASE CHANGED HIS SKIN TO GREEN!!

(And yes, it did all come off...there are just a few places where he colored on the wall that I haven't attempted to clean yet but the doors and trim all wiped down without a problem.)

317 continued

Here are some more pics of our afternoon at 317. It was SO hot (100+) but the kids didn't seem to mind. Our friends Wayne and Melanie came out with their kiddos for the afternoon. The Daddys set up feeders while the Mommys tried to keep 6 little kiddos cool.

Chase and Ali playing in Papa's "pile of dirt" And no, that is not sweat. We were pouring water on the kids heads to keep them cooled off!

Justin is on top, Blake is on the right side and then Ali, Chase and Ethan are at the bottom. This is one of the rare times when no one was throwing or kicking dirt.