The official birthday pictures...

We took a short trip to Philly this weekend to spend time with T, K, & boys and to see my dad who stopped by on his way back from a business trip. As usual, I made Katie take more pictures! Chase was a little out of sorts all weekend and wasn't extremely cooperative. When she tried to get both boys together, they took turns smiling but never at the same time. Regardless, Katie's skills prevailed!

How does it go so fast.....

One year ago (yesterday) this beautiful baby boy entered our lives...

Happy Birthday, Chasey-boy. We love you in every way possible. (One-year old pictures are being taken next weekend by Kate). This was such a bittersweet day for me. I'm so happy he's growing, progressing, and becoming more independent, but why does it have to go so fast? What a difference a year makes!

We celebrated the day by having Daddy home with us for most of the day and by going to the library. We have the best library here and Chase loves it. In the evening our good friends Melba and Sammie joined us for Chase's favorite dinner (fejawada...a Brazillian dish from Brad's mission...I have no idea how it's really spelled), along with some brownies and ice cream.

This birthday boy is not too sure about his birthday hat!

About to climb up the stairs -- his absolute favorite thing to do all day!

"Reading" books -- his favorite thing to do once he gets up the stairs!

This is how Chase lets us know he's finished with his meal -- he throws it as far as he can.

This is how happy he gets after he throws his food!

His first dessert! He took a few bites, and I bet you can guess where the rest of it ended up!

My little one-year-old! Here are some facts about Chase:

*He has a very sweet disposition and rarely cries EXCEPT for when you put him down to sleep. I think I can count on one hand the number of times he hasn't cried when we laid him down for a nap or bed (usually only for 5 minutes, though).

* He can sign 'more' and 'all done' and can say 'grandpa, bye-bye, ma-ma, da-da,' and a few other words.

*He has never taken a binkie or a bottle, and has just recently formed an attachment to a blanket.

* He prefers ME over Brad, something that Nick never has!

*He loves his big brother and tries to do everything that Nick does.

* He is crawling everywhere, pulls himself up on everything, and walks along furniture or anything else he can hold on to.

*He loves to DANCE!

*He still loves his jumper chair and will happily jump away for 30 minutes or longer.

Oh, how we love this kid! I can't believe I have a three-yr-old and a 1-yr-old. How does time go by so fast? Happy Birthday, my little Chase!

PS- HURRAY and HALLELUJAH -- the boy is WEANED!

WOW!

I know I've been M.I.A to the blogging world lately, so to make up for it I just did FOUR different posts. Keep scrolling. If you can't tell, I've been hit by the stomach bug that's flying around the country (that's number 2 for me this winter, if you're counting), and my boys are all at church, so I just had three hours alone in my bed, just me and my lap-top. Good time! :) Here's a cute picture, to get you started...

A Sad Good-bye

Anyone who's ever lived away from family knows how essential having good friends is. They become your family in every sense of the word, and they make life more than bearable -- they make it fun.

As a stay-at-home mom who can't stand to stay in doors all day and who was adjusting to a new place and to the life of having two kids, I needed such a friend. So much so, in fact, that I was praying for one. Someone that I could call at the last minute to go to the park with, someone to run errands with, someone to go shopping with at the end of the day when the kids were in bed and the husband was studying or doing stuff for his calling. When Chase was just a few months old and the weather got a bit warmer, the kids and I would venture out on walks around our neighborhood and would consistently stop at Melissa's, who was always outside with her girls. Nick was obsessed, to say the least, with their five-yr-old- girl, Morgan, and would ask about her nonstop. When we decided to move down the street to be in an end unit and to get away from 2 smoking neighbors, we moved in right next to them.

I admired Melissa in every way, and eventually these walks turned into play dates at the park, galavanting around to every activity State College offered in the spring/summer/fall, 5:30 workout sessions every morning at the Y, and resulted in a friend, a best friend, to talk about everything with, to call every day (even though we lived next door to each other)to go grocery shopping with, to ask parenting advice from, to share heartaches and joys with, and to laugh with.

The WORST thing about living in a college town is the transience. Adam (smarty-pants), finished his PhD in 3.5 years, and they moved to Idaho a few weeks ago. And seriously, I know how incredibly cheesy this post is, but I miss her everyday. There are not words to describe Meliss. In the last few weeks they were here, I heard no less than 8 people tell her things like "you are the glue that holds our ward together," and it's true. She silently took care of everyone. She is outgoing, beautiful, hilarious, friendly, completely self-less, the best mom, generous, and absolutley wonderful in every way.

My favorite memories of her include:
*Having her go up and tickle the back of one of our friends at the gym, only to discover it wasn't our friend!
*Lying on the gym floor, supposedly working our abs, but laughing and talking forever.
*Bringing our baby monitor over after all the kids were in bed and playing games
*Preparing for the Super Saturday enrichment, and trying to figure out those bath salt ornaments! :)
*Grocery shopping late at night, then staying in the car talking until 11pm, when we know we're going to see each other at 5:20 the next morning.
*Watching our kids play together.
*Going to Huntingdon, and seeing her with her YW
*Our "glorious" trip to Lancaster
*Getting lost and going on a scooter hunt in Belleville
*Dinner at each others houses, and our Christmas party
*Eating at Baby's
*Go-karts!
*Seeing you go through the frustration and then the excitement of house hunting, and finally getting what you and Adam have worked so hard for these last 7 years!

I feel so blessed to have made this friend, for life.

Me and Meliss

Nick and Morgan, saying good-bye

The whole family.

Nick and Morgan, decorating our tree.

We miss you, Melissa, Adam, Morgan, and Mikayla!

Nick

Last Monday, Nick gave each of his horsies a bath (in 1/4 inch of water in his toy bin)...

...and then lined them all up on the couch and read them a story, appropriately titled "Harry the Dirty Dog." I love being a mom.

Dudley Family Christmas Part 2

Christmas 2005: T&K Dudley family are in London
Christmas 2006: B&B Goldie family are in Ohio
Christmas 2007: B&B Goldie family are in PA, unable to travel because of pregnancy.
Christmas 2008: We're FINALLY all together for the holiday, for the first time since 2004. No wonder I was excited!

This trip could not have been more perfect. We had a chore chart, a meal chart, a devotional chart and a posterboard calendar marking our activities hung on the wall to keep things organized. 8 adults and 4 little boys in such close proximity could have called for disaster, but instead the house was full of laughter and peace. I love this family I belong to and will always cherish these two weeks we had all together ... heaven knows when this will happen again! Now get ready for more pictures than I have ever put on a single post before!

Nick was obsessed with playing Santa just about the whole time. Here he made my dad and Mara sit on his "sleigh" while he drove it around, delivering toys.

Jack and Nick are the greatest combination. I love these two boys together!

Lounging away...that's what vacation is for!

On Christmas Eve my parents gave the boys monkey jammies and Curious Geoge stuffed animals. Four little monkeys sitting on the bed...bet you can guess how long that lasted!

My parents were nice enough to treat us to a day trip in DC on my birthday. I had never been before and I loved it almost as much as NYC (where we also went, but I forgot my camera). Here we are in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the whole family minus Katie, who always gets stuck behind the lens (thanks, Kate). When we got up to the Lincoln Memorial, Nick stared at the huge statue in awe and asked me if he could walk and talk. I tried to explain that it was a statue made of rock, honoring a great man, blah blah blah. Well, the boys got restless, so Brad took them back down and left me to marvel and read Lincoln's speeches. When Nick met my mom at the bottom of the memorial, they had the following conversation:

My mom: Nick, did you see Abraham Lincoln?

Nick (disappointed): Yeah. He can't talk. He just walked into a rock and sat down.

My cute Tim and Katie

Nick's loot from Santa on Christmas morning.

Opening presents (yes, in his underwear. Honestly, he's usually in his underwear. It's a battle I choose not to fight unless we're going somewhere).

The boy loves his puzzles!

Our little Chasers on Christmas morning. He loved playing with all the wrapping paper!

The four of us in front of The White House.

WW2 Memorial. Look at my hubby's cute hat that I made him buy! :)

Chase slept in his stroller for about 2 hours of the sight-seeing. Such a good babe.

All bundled up! It was in the upper 40's that day (which sounds like heaven compared to the 6 degrees it is right now in State College)!

The huge van my dad rented to transport us there and back (everyone was really thrilled I was taking their picture at midnight if you can't tell).

Daniel and I had to sit on the front bench with Chase because we get car-sick (I know, lucky us!)

Brad and I carried over a Goldie family tradition and we had an appetizer party for New Years Eve. Yes, it was as good as it looks.

Chase...just being himself. Can you believe it's almost his birthday, because I can't!

One of the best things about this trip was spending time with my Brad. He hardly did any school work so we were able to just play and relax the whole time (Iknow, lovely picture).

Calahan (the sweetest, cutest, funniest 18 month old alive) playing with Daniel.

On the way home, we stopped in Hershey, PA and went to chocolate world! Nick loved it and we're looking forward to going back in warmer weather!

All in all, a trip I will never forget! Love you each Mom, Dad, Tim, Katie, Jack, Cal, Daniel ,and Mara!