Chase's umbrella

While shopping in Santa Fe we came across a really cute kids clothing store. Chase found a Batman umbrella and just loved it. His very nice Aunt Lolo bought it for him for his birthday. Chase wanted it to rain so bad. I haven't had to heart to tell it rained that very night about 30 minutes after he went to bed. However it has rained several times since.

It was pretty windy so he just stood by the side of the house. The water from the roof was dropping right on him. He loved it.

Zoe and Daddy enjoying the rain too.

More company and Santa Fe again

This past weekend my parents came to visit. Our kids were just as excited as could be for their arrival. I should have taken a picture of them sitting in the dining room looking out the front window waiting for them to get here.

We decided to go back to Santa Fe as my parents had never been before.

This is a picture of the Loretto chapel. We decided not to do the tour.

We mainly walked around and didn't go into as many stores as last time.

Derek enjoyed taking pictures of doorways and such.

I really like the angel he got on this one.

Grandma and Grandpa Crandall with Maeley, Chase and Zoe

After walking around a little we stopped to eat at Upper Crust Pizza. It was great. I was completely amazed at how much Maeley ate. She must have loved it or was completely starving.

My parents left on Monday and it was a sad day for Zoe. She was heart broken. I have never seen her act this way. When she woke up she was already in a sad mood. While eating her breakfast she told me she didn't want them to leave. Zoe wanted nothing to do with Grandma and Grandpa. While I was holding her I asked, "Do you want to go home with Grandma?" Zoe quickly perked up jumped into my mom's lap and was a happiest kid ever. That is until they actually left without her. My mom wrote little notes to the kids before they left. Zoe carried hers around most of the day. 

We finally built it!

After about a year and a half of wanting to build the Farmhouse Bed from Ana White's website its finally happened.

This is our newly built bed. Installed this morning actually.

We think it looks amazing and just as we had envisioned. Derek and I worked on this together the whole way through. I think it will hold far more meaning to us than if we had just bought one.

This has really made our room look nearly finished. I say nearly because all we need now is nightstands. We already have the plans picked out and how we will finish them.

Zoe's new hair cut

Today I decided Zoe needed a trim in the back. I was tired of her hair looking awful if I didn't do anything to it. I think this style looks adorable on her. Plus its still long enough that I can do her pigtails. I'm thrilled that her hair is growing. For such a long time her hair just wasn't long enough to do a short bob. Zoe's pretty happy with it too.

Chase

Chase loves playing with cars. I think he has plenty seeing how much of the roads were covered in cars of all sizes.

He enjoys riding his scooter.

He's generally a happy kid. He is on the more serious side and ddefinitely a sensitive boy. He does fight with his sisters from time to time but don't all kids do that?

He is such a sweet kid and gives the best hugs and kisses.

I would say that he obeys most of the time.

He looks up to his dad and wants to be just like him.

He still complains often of the other kids in this sunbeam class at church. He tells us he thinks they are too rowdy and they don't know how to sit still and listen to his teachers. It amazes me how much that bothers him. He loves his sunbeam teachers. He doesn't like sharing time much and would rather just go to class.

I would say he's not your typical 4 year old boy. He's much more calm...at least most of the time. He's still a kid so there are times where he acts silly and has fun but he knows there is a time and place for that.

He is such a joy to have in our family. He puts up with being sandwiched between his sisters well.

Today I took him in for his 4 year doctor check-up. He was actually very excited to go. He is average in size. He weighs 35lbs and is 40.25" tall. I spoke to the doctor about my concerns about his speech problems. He gave me a company that offers services so I will be looking into that. 

Chase's 4th birthday

Sunday was finally Chase's birthday. It seems like we've been celebrating for awhile now. He sure has enjoyed having his birthday dragged out though.

Opening presents in the morning. Gotta love the bed head.

Trying on his new clothes that he picked out at the Gymboree Outlet. This boy likes nice clothes.

This is not my best cake but its what he wanted so that's all that matters, right?

We love you Chase! Happy 4th birthday!

Chase's surprise

Derek's long time friend Jason and his wife Afton came to stay the night Friday.  They have done this a few times and offered to watch our kids while we go on a date. This time we decided we'd take Chase with us. We wanted to take him to Build A Bear as a birthday present. He had no idea what we were doing.

When we got in the car to leave he said his sunglasses were in the house. Not wanting to hunt for them inside Derek gave his old sunglasses to him. They were huge and kept falling off so I gave him my other pair. He's still cute in either pair. He was smiling the whole night.

He quickly chose the Dalmation and got him stuffed.

And put a heart inside him.

Chase totally thought that girl was crazy for making him rub the heart on his head and tummy and kiss it before putting it inside. He just wanted that dog in his arms.

When we got to the car we got his dog Spot dressed and buckled up.

Before going home we stopped by McDonald's to get ice cream. Chase chose a M&M McFlurry. We all had a great time. It was wonderful to spend some one on one time with him. He seriously talked a ton, especially on the ride home. We think he enjoyed some time without his sisters. He just loves his dog and was the perfect gift for him.

4th of July

To start our 4th of July our ward had a breakfast at a nearby park.

Then Derek and I spent our afternoon building our bed and in the evening we went to a BBQ some friends were having at another park.

(by the way this camping table comes in handy often)

Zoe just wanted to eat and watch what the big kids were doing but never was brave enough to try it for herself.

The kids were tired and cold so we left pretty early and they were in bed at their regular time. We didn't even watch the fireworks. I think they were still tired from the busy weekend we had just had.

Birthday cake #1

My sister brought a  birthday cake and cookies for Chase when she came to visit recently. My sister has made some pretty amazing things. My kids won't let me make them a cake for their birthdays anymore, just their Aunt Lolo.

Are you wondering why the #3 and #1 candles? Well that's because I am lame. They add up to four though. Of course I knew Laurel was bringing a birthday cake for Chase but it didn't click that I needed to get new candles. Probably because this was a week before Chase's birthday. If I wasn't so completely dead tired from our day in Santa Fe I would have gone to the store. But I didn't and was lucky enough to have the 3 and 1.

The frosting on the sides started to fall down because we didn't actually eat the cake until 3 days after it was made and it also made a 8 hour drive to get here. It tasted great though and Chase loved it!

These are the pictures from my sisters blog.