6 months of C H A S E

Here I am again with a collage -- why won't blogger let me publish more than 4 pictures per post? It's really irking me! Anyway, it's true, it's true...my baby boy is 6 MONTHS OLD today, and I'm in shock! No one told me it goes a billion times faster the second time around! Chase is such a joy to have in our home. He has a very sweet, peaceful, gentle nature about him, is quick to smile and laugh, and rarely cries. He can entertain himself for hours -- he LOVES his jumper chair (and has fallen asleep in it a time or two) or is content to just roll around on the floor watching Nick or whoever else is around. We started rice cereal, oatmeal, and green beans within the last week, none of which he loves but is learning to tolerate. If I had to pick a favorite baby phase, this would be it. I wish I could just freeze time and keep him this age forever. He is so curious and tickled by everything and everyone around him. I can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring! We love our little Chase!

Arts Fest

I am so loving all that there is to do here in State College in the summers! As someone who HAS to get out of the house everyday, it's nice to have endless options. Each week we have numerous parks, pools, libraries, and great community events to chose from, which is fantastic for both mine and Nick's sanity. Last week we went to two different Arts Festivals (I L O V E arts festivals). The first one, in down town State College, had "kids fest" on it's first day, where all of the crafts and art that is sold is made by kids -- so cool! They also had an area where kids could make their own art, hence the picture of Nick painting above. He loved it!

I told Nick before we left that he could choose one thing to buy at the festival -- little did I know there would be wooden swords!! Once he saw those there was no turning back, and so far he's been very nice with it (I was a little worried). Morgan (who we have to see everyday for Nick to not ask relentlessly about her) and her mom Melissa (who I have to see everyday because she makes my life so much fun) were with us and Morgan got a camouflage marshmallow gun! Getting Nick to stand by her long enough to take a decent picture was pretty much impossible and this is the best one I got!

Poor little Chase spends most of his days this summer being carted around to whatever adventure Nick and I are off to next. Good thing he's a perfect baby...as you can see in the picture above, he doesn't seem to mind too much! I can't believe he's going to be 6 months old next week!

Nicker-Bocker playing hide-and-seek with me in a play house at kids fest.

The Motherland

Brad often refers to his hometown of Wilmington, Ohio as "the motherland," and we just got to spend a fabulous 4th of July weekend in this beautiful place. The weekend included many firsts for Nick, almost all of which are photographed and included in the above collage. On his first fishing trip, he and Brad caught a 3 pound cat fish, which Nick was very excited about until he overheard Brad say we were going to cook him and eat him. He wore big boy undies to the park for the first time. Brad came home with them in a plastic sack. He sat on a horse for the first time...but there's not a picture of that because it only lasted for 30 seconds. He ran into the back of Preston's head and got his first black eye, which doesn't show up very well in the picture but really was quite black and blue. And last, but definitely not least, he got sick and threw up for the first time, all over Brad. Fun for both of them! :)

Our trip also included lots of food, some games, rain, Jeff playing barbies on the couch with Ella, an excellent fireworks show on the 4th, swimming, playing and playing and playing with cousins, and a w o n d e r f u l night in the Zeigler's back yard around their fire pit, roasting hot dogs, making s'mores, and sharing experiences from the journal jar, my personal favorite. We love you, Jeff, Debbie, Phil, Mindy, Ella, Preston, Brennen, Mallory, and Miranda!

PS- Click on the collage to see the pictures in all their glory. The one of Nick crying after he heard they were going to eat the cat fish is well worth it. Incidentally, does anyone else's blog only let them publish 4 pictures per post? Any way to fix that?