Santa

Christmas is coming soon. Chase had his first experience with Santa yesterday at Glenbrook mall. We thought for sure that he would cry when we put him on Santa's lap but to our surprise he just sat there(snack cup in hand you'll notice). I wasn't able to get a very good picture with my camera and he didn't smile at all but at least he sat there. He was too busy eating his snacks. Merry Christmas!!

Climbing

Hi all! First off I will apologize for not posting sooner this week. We have been quite busy lately and our internet isn't the fastest these days so it takes me FOREVER to get pictures uploaded. Here is our little guy who recently figured out how to climb on, or in this case IN things. His toys are organized in different baskets in the living room and he emptied out the ball basket, and started to climb in. It was really funny, and we actually caught a video but I haven't figured out how to post those yet. So here are the many pictures I snapped of him climbing in and out of the basket. Of course this was right before bed too so he was wired afterwards and stayed up a little later than usual because he had so much energy.
He now likes to climb on the couch and coffee table too(he can't quite do it by himself yet but he's close). Enjoy! I think I'll just take a nap while I'm in here.


So proud of himself

Let me out of here!!!!!

CC basketball update

12-8-07 :)
CC 44
Elkart Central

12-14-07 :(
CC 38
East Noble 41

Next game Tues 12/18 @ Wawasee

another win

Another win last night for the Eagles, (JV won too!)

Columbia City 54
Churubusco 34

Next game at home on Saturday 12/8 against Elkart Central. Go CC!

A win for the Eagles

CC beat Fort Wayne Northside last night at home 45-33. So the Eagles are 1-2 for the season. I didn't post the Warsaw score last Saturday, unfortunately we lost 40-32. A good win last night though. The next game is at home on Tuesday 12/4 against Busco. GO CITY!!!

Toddler time

Well, we officially have a toddler on our hands. For those of you that know our little man he has always been Mr. laid back, nothing bothers me, and I'm always happy(well almost). I'm afraid those days are pretty much over. I guess I shouldn't be so negative because for the most part Chase does AWESOME, but lately his little attitude has changed.

First of all he will look at us with this "scowl". It's not just when we take something away from him that he shouldn't be playing with or telling him no, he just looks at us sometimes and glares. I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet.
Secondly, he HATES getting his diaper changed or having to get dressed. This is something he never cared about before. The other day I took him into the doctors office to weigh him and he was not happy at all. After getting him undressed I attempted to put him on the scale. He wanted nothing to do with that. He arched his back, screamed, and just wanted me to hold him. I guess we are in for new things with upcoming doctor visits. I'm glad he likes his mommy though. :)
For those of you with toddlers I know none of this comes as a surprise and you are all saying "welcome to our world".
We too know all of these things but Chase has never really challenged us up to this point. So we are now taking that next step in parenting and learning how to handle a toddler. As I said earlier I shouldn't be too negative because
Chase is so precious to us and he is doing lots of positive things right now too.
He has always been a good sleeper and continues to do so. He went through a rough patch around 9-10 months but has come out of it. He sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours at night and takes a nap during the day from 1 1/2-3 hours. Yesterday morning he slept in until 9am...yeah!!! He will even cuddle with us sometimes too.
He is also waving "bye bye" as soon as you say the words and keeps waving for about the next 30 minutes. He is still working on saying something too. We think now he is saying "that" instead of "hot". Saying "daddy" is pretty clear too. I haven't heard "mommy" yet much but I guess that's ok for now. I've included some pictures of Chase's new tricks lately. Enjoy! Learning to eat with utensils. He usually hands us the fork to put the food on then he puts it in his mouth. He does still enjoy throwing food on the floor too. He likes peas, green beans, carrots, grilled cheese, fruit bars, grapes, and LOVES pudding just to name a few.
Laughing hysterically..he likes to play peek-a-boo and is ticklish too
Chase is trying to stab the food with his fork.
Signing "all done"

Playing in the bathroom sink while Daddy shaves. Usually Chase will play by himself really well but there are times when all he wants is to be close to Mommy and Daddy.
Emptying out kitchen drawers and spreading everything all over the kitchen.

Emptying out the kitchen cabinets too. Chase likes to carry around a wooden spoon right now. Sometimes we even take it in the car with us.
Pointing at everything!!! Chase also enjoys crawling after the cats. He hasn't caught either one of them yet though. I'm sure one of these days he will.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I didn't really take any pics on Thursday so I'll just give an update I guess. We had a busy but wonderful day! We have so many things to be thankful for right now especially our families. We love them and appreciate all they do for us.
Chase is 16 months old now and hasn't been feeling well lately.
I think we are passing a cold back and forth at our house right now. He is getting lots of teeth too so that might be part of it. He continues to grow and learn new things. We think he is trying really hard to say something too besides "da da" and "ma ma". It sounds like he is saying the word "hot" but we aren't sure. He points at things now too and apparently everything is "hot" or whatever he is saying. He also loves throwing balls, pushing cars on the floor and getting into the cabinets.
We are excited that basketball season is upon us.
For those of you that don't know Chad is the varsity assistant coach at CCHS. It is a busy time of year for us but also lots of fun. The team played on Wed night and unfortunately lost to Whitko by 2. They play again tonight against Warsaw. I'll try to post updates as the season moves along. GO EAGLES!!!
Happy Thanksgiving! Love to all!

Kaden turns 2

Cousin Kaden Sleighter turned two on 11-21-07. Here are some pics from his party. Chase was ill the day of the party so Chad stayed home with him. Kaden loves Cars and tractors so he got lots of toys for his birthday. Happy Birthday Kaden!
Cory, Cheri and Kaden
Kaden and his cake

Landon David Richmond

Sorry I am a little late posting this but I didn't have any pictures right away. Our good friends Dave and Kristen Richmond welcomed a boy into their family on 11-6-07. Landon David was 6lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. Landon joins big sister Lilli who turned two in September. Welcome Landon!
Lilli and Landon

our first babies

Just wanted to give our two cats some attention for a little bit. Since our little Chaser man has come along Sammy and Stewart have been some what neglected at times. Chad and I apologize to them often. They really are good cats...most of the time. As you can see in the picture we have a hard time getting them to sleep. :)
Shortly after we were married we got Sammy and Stewart, so they were our first babies, and we love them dearly. Some days I think differently like when Stewart is constantly at my feet and I almost trip over him or he runs immediately outside or inside a closet when the door opens. Sammy pretty much stays to herself unless we have ice cream, milk, or Stewart is sleeping and she wants some attention. She does like to cuddle though but certainly on her own terms. Stewart should have picked a more manly blanket for picture time. I was lucky to catch them actually napping together.
Sammy girl
Stewart

New shirt

A few weeks ago Grandpa and Grandma Graves went to a Nascar race in Martinsville,Virginia. They brought back a new Tony Stewart (daddy is a huge fan)shirt for Chase. The shirt says "Race track on Sunday...Sandbox on Monday". I'm sure it was hard for them to purchase anything orange because they are big fans of teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Jonhson. We are glad they did though, the shirt is really neat.
Chase is really into anything with wheels right now and has a Tony Stewart car that he loves to push around. In fact last week we had to take the car with us everywhere because if we tried to take it away from Chase he threw a fit. It was pretty funny actually. Here's Chase and his new shirt. Chase with his new shirt and favorite car.



Grandma Graves holding Madison(age 2 1/2), Paige(age 1), Summer(age 1) sitting. Grandpa Graves holding Chase (16months now). Picture taken in October. Thanks for the new shirt Grandma and Grandpa!

Fun weekend

Last weekend Chase got to hang out with his cousins, Kaden Sleighter and Ethan Monesmith. Unfortunately I didn't catch any pics of Ethan but I will be sure to next time. I did catch a couple of Chase and Kaden. Kaden will be 2 in a couple of weeks. We are so thrilled that all of the boys are growing up together. Kaden feeding Chase teddy grahams. If only they would have eaten dinner. Nope..just cookies!!!!! :)
Say cheese Kaden.


On Sunday one of my college roommates, Shelly, came up for a visit. Shelly and I went to nursing school together at Ball State. Shelly stayed in Muncie after college and is a ICU nurse at Ball Memorial Hospital. We hadn't seen each other in forever so it was nice catching up. Thanks for coming to see us Shelly!

Trick-or-Treat

We took our little chicken(rooster maybe) trick or treating on Wednesday night. Chase went with his best buddies Gage and Bryce Sefton. Pretty sure Mommy had more fun than Chase did, I don't think he really knew what was going on. I sure had fun dressing him up. He does have a new favorite food now though.....m&m's. He gobbled those right up and his costume was nice and stained afterwards.
Gage(the hunter), Bryce(the hunting dog) &Chase
Mmmm.......chocolate
Graves clan.......Happy Halloween!

more Claire pics

Ok...so I'm new to this blog posting thing
and when I posted our visit with
the Landrums some pics were
missing and I'm not sure where
they went. So I'm posting the
lost pics. I'm still learning. :)

Visit with Friends

Over the weekend we
went to Fishers to visit our dear friends Brian and Kate Landrum. Their beautiful daughter Claire Patricia was born on 10-9-07. She weighed 8 lbs 15oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. They are all doing great. We had such a good time visiting with them. Chad and Brian went to college together at IU and we have been friends for quite some time now. We wish we were closer so we could see them more often. We can't
wait to see you again Landrum's!

Silly

The other morning when I walked in to get Chase up this is what I saw. He has a little blanket that has silky sides and he had it in his mouth like a dog. He even kind of shakes his head back in forth like a dog would. He has done this every morning since. It's pretty funny so I thought I would share. Must be a new teething tool for him.

Answered Prayer

Many of you already know this but for those of you who don't, my Dad had a liver transplant on September 18,2007. The surgery took place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

He is home now and recovering nicely. We are all so thankful

that God answered our prayers and chose my Dad to receive

a new liver. Also for the doctors, nurses and everyone who took such good care of my dad at Northwestern. We will never get to know who the donor was, but we

will be forever grateful to that family. A special note to my mom for being so wonderful and strong through this whole process. Dad is getting stronger each day and will hopefully be back to work around the first of the year. Keep up the hard work Dad! Thank you Lord for answered prayers.