Enjoying the Aiken Standard

To Aiken we go...

Last weekend we went to Aiken to visit Gigi, Papa J and Uncle Justin. Matt and I had an engagement party to go to on Saturday night so we went down Friday to hang out. Chase travelled well. Hogan, well....he thinks it's his right to sit in Matt's lap to travel. I took Chase in my car and Matt took Hogan in his car because he had to go straight to another tournament on Monday morning. Next time I think I'll take Hogan and Matt can take Chase.

On Sunday we celebrated Justin's 25th birthday...quarter of a century old :) We just grilled out and played corn hole in the backyard. Happy Birthday Uncle Justin!

talking to Justin on his birthday morning

my new chair Gigi and Papa J got me!

Just reading the paper with dad on Saturday morning - I'm eyeing that pen!

Happy Birthday Uncle Justin!

I'm getting old enough for my Bumbo chair!

Nana is retiring!!!

Chase, Hogan and I loaded up the car last Friday to go to LaGrange to celebrate mom's retirement. She only has two more days of teaching! We are looking forward to having both Nana and Gigi retired!! We had a surprise (well, as much of a surprise as you can have..) Retirement Celebration for mom on Sunday night and Hollis Hand had something for her on Tuesday. Matthew, Leslie and Emma came in to town, too, so it was a houseful!

On Saturday, after my first trip to Zumba :), mom and I went to the 179th anniversary of Friendship Presbyterian Church in Concord, Georgia. The great, great, great, greats of my mom's family built this church and it has been a part of our family for 179 years! My grandmother and grandfather went there and are buried there, my brother was baptized there, and we spent many a Sunday there. It's very special to our family.

My grandparent's graves

Genevieve was my great grandfather's first wife. After having 5 children, she passed away and my great grandfather married Kate Wier who was my great grandmother. My grandmother Malone (mom's mom) and my mom are both named Genevieve after my great grandfather's first wife. I tend to think that was very nice of great grandma Kate to go for that... :)

Chase and Nana where Matthew was baptized

After grandma and grandpa Malone passed away, we had a stained glass window dedicated in memory to them.

Chase loves sitting with his Aunt Leslie! She has a good way of soothing him :)

Chase was fascinated with the stuffed dog in mom and dad's room...notice "Over the Hill"....is mom's young age of 30 considered over the hill? :)

Nana and Chase

Chase telling Papa all about his day

This Friday we are off to Aiken to spend time with Gigi, Papa J and Uncle Justin. We have a party for a friend getting married and Justin's BIRTHDAY! Yay!!

Testing out the new Flip Camera - Bubbles!!

One of the good things about Matt's job is the fact that we use the credit card...a lot! We pay it off each month but put everything on it. SO...we have lots of World Points. We've bought so much stuff with these points - been to NYC 2 times on them and now have bought a Flip video camera. Here is our first video!

Just an update...

This week started our month with Carla, Chase's babysitter. I took him on Monday morning and was sad to leave him, but am VERY fortunate in that I could go pick him up anytime with my work schedule. Carla lives in Simpsonville and has two precious children, Truman and Georgia. The Tollesons are wonderful and we've loved getting to know them!

Chase's first day was a little rough. Carla writes down everything that Chase does each day so I know what is going on. Monday there were a lot of "fussy"s on the paper. But he has gotten used to them and must like being over there because the rest of the days he has been great! He loves to watch Georgia and Truman and they both are good "siblings" to him. We only have Carla for a month because they are moving to Georgia :( She is great and we are going to miss her.

Meanwhile, we have been trying to find help to take care of Chase during the summer and then trying to find full time help starting in the fall. Hopefully we will be sharing a nanny with a friend whose baby is due in August. We are saying our prayers that we will find someone good that we trust. The search has not gone well at all!

Here are some random pictures from the week!

We do not like tummy time :( And I am such a sucker for it - I flip him over when he starts crying...

Headed out to lunch with mom and Gigi

How precious is he?!!!

A slightly different picture...

Gigi comes to stay

I have to say that I am blessed with a mom who is near retirement and a mother in law who is in retirement! With Matt traveling as much as he is, it has been SO nice to have the moms come help. I love the company! Next week we start with Carla who is going to keep Chase for the month of May. She originally was going to keep him permanently but her husband was relocated to Atlanta, so they are moving. Monday is going to be a tough day for me. I've been with Chase almost every minute since he was born (with the exception of a few trips to the grocery store and other errands) so leaving him all day is going to be difficult. I'm lucky in that my job is flexible so I can do a lot of the work when he is asleep (AT HOME! :) ). I hope to get back on a workout routine next week - just trying to take 30 minutes each day to run and get my body back in shape.

Here are some of the pictures from Gigi's stay with us!

I still scratch my face so it's socks on my hands once again... :)

Chase and Gigi