Catching up on the year

Hello everyone! It has been a LONG time!!! We have been extraordinarily busy planning and preparing for our upcoming wedding in May, 2010...our apologies for being so lame!

In any case, I'll start with Chase's first ever day of school, this September 2009. Chase began preschool this year, and he was super excited!! Of course, he had to have a haircut before the big day!! We took him to Jude's downtown, and it was really comedic how he flirted with the stylist!!

All done, and practicing his GQ stance.

After the haircut, he was all ready to make his big debut at school! It was so much fun, watching him walk into the big school building with his backpack slung over his shoulders. He had a HUGE grin the entire time!!

It was a truly wonderful experience, even though we were a little sad knowing that Chase really is in school and growing up so fast! His teachers are absolutely wonderful, and his classmates are so adorable and fun!

One of our most proud moments was parent/teacher conferences, during which time his teacher showed us how much he had learned over only a few months. We were so shocked...and like so many other parents, we looked at each other, mentally questioning "Are we talking about the same child?" It was so great!! We are so blessed and thankful to have such a wonderful boy!

Some of the most fun memories I have from school took place during the holiday parties - and for Chase, I am sure it will be the same. His first was the Harvest Party that took place during Halloween. Just like in the old days when we were in school, the kids got dressed in their costumes and paraded through different classrooms and down the hall for everyone to see. It was so cute!!!

That is just a snippet of the fun from that day!! It was really so much fun to see the kids dressed in their costumes, proudly shaking their noisemakers, and smiling for their parents! I can't wait until next year's festivities!!

Well, that's about all I have time to post for today! Check out our Facebook pages for more daily information...I promise to be better about posting on here, too as the wedding date approaches!

Merry Christmas

Hello everyone! Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone out there in the blogosphere!! May you be blessed with joy and happiness, and the comforts of family tidings throughout this joyous holiday!

Quick Update

Hello, everyone!! Just a quick update since we haven't posted anything in SUCH a long time!! We had Chase's pictures taken a few weeks ago - just on a whim, and wanted to share a few with everyone. We have some AWESOME pictures from Halloween, but will have to post those later, as they are still on the camera.


The summer wrapped-up so quickly that if felt as if it were a few weeks rather than a few months. Fortunately, we were able to make it out to the beach and to the local lakes for some swimming and fish-watching. Chase and I were also able to visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Mellenthin and Great Aunt Cathy and Great Uncle Herb at the lake house this year, so that was really special!

Around mid-October, we were lucky enough to see Veggie Tales LIVE!!! Chase absolutely LOVED watching his buddies Bob and Larry chucking it up on stage! It was awesome! Although, I think that the best part for him was the impromptu dance party that broke-out on the floor in front of the stage. It was absolutely amazing to see all of the children dancing and singing, and smiling and laughing with one another - free as can be! I have to say that it was such a treat - however, every day with Chase is quite frankly a treat in and of itself!

What a stud! Ha! Chase is really growing-up - more than we even imagined by this time. He has now mastered his ABCs (about four months ago he learned them, however now he can pick-up at any letter and continue on from there), can count forward from 1 to 15 and back from 10, and is starting to catch onto reading along with his favorite stories. Although it's so awesome watching him learn, it is a bit sad seeing that he is no longer a "baby" per se.
Right now, we thoroughly enjoy listening to him sing along with any and all music (especially when it's a new song - we hear a lot of "new" lyrics!!), and also enjoy his heightened interest in playing the piano - earplugs anyone?? : ) Just kidding!!!

Lessons on Washing a Car

This weekend, Chase decided to show Daddy how to wash his car. It was a lot of fun, and I think that Daddy learned some valuable car-washing skills! If not, I honestly had a blast just watching these hambones go back and forth over the hose and the scrubby sponge! The play between Kenny and Chase is a true foreshadowing of them working together in the future - you can count on it!!

First things first - Chase supervised Ken's bubble-making abilities...!

Next, Chase instructed Daddy on the importance of rinsing the car prior to actually using the scrubby sponge. As you can see, Daddy was on hose detail while Chase worked follow-up inspection and scrubby spongerator. The operation seemed to be working like clock-work, however it is important to note that Chase runs a pretty tight ship...while performing a second-glance inspection, Chase detected several dirt particles that Daddy missed with the hose...and well....

Daddy gets hosed!!!

Whew! It wasn't easy trying to keep Daddy in line, but the look on that face proves that it sure was fun!

Turnin' Two

Well, it happened! Chase turned two just a short-time ago...WOW - time is flying by!!! To celebrate, Mommy took the day off, and she and Chase visited the Grand Rapids Children's Museum and the John Ball Park Zoo. As you can see, Chase absolutely LOVED the Bob the Builder Exhibit!

Our trip to the zoo was very nice - the weather was perfect! Not too cold, not too hot, and the foot traffic was minimal, so we could spend as much time as we wanted with each exhibit! It was great!! Of course, Chase's favorite exhibit was the Barn Owl, with whom he chatted for quite some time. He also enjoyed watching the fish swim around in the enormous aquariums!

Chase is such a big boy now! He carried his Diego backpack throughout the entire zoo! When it would slip off his shoulder, he would simply pull it right back up and go on his way!!

Welcome to our page!!

Hello everyone! After taking a look at all of our friends' wonderful blogs, we decided that it was time to make one of our own. It seems like everyone is so busy these days, and it's really hard to keep in touch with those that we care about. Hopefully this page will help us all stay in touch in one way or another! More to come, slowly but surely! We have A LOT to catch everyone up on!!!