Weekend Adventures: Labor Day

Happy Tuesday, Friends! This post is coming to you from a relaxed and refreshed Mommy! We had a wonderful holiday weekend at the Chase house with lots of R&R/family time/birthday celebrations, etc. I am one VERY blessed Mommy!

 

My boys surprised me at work on Friday with a bouquet of roses and a sushi lunch date at Blue Fish. I got a super cute purse that I've been eyeing, and I spent the evening at the first Jesuit football game of the season. Getting older definitely has its perks!

 

Since our daily schedules are always so hectic our goal this weekend was to do as little as possible! Besides completely cleaning the house and grocery shopping we only left to take Brock to the park. It was a short visit due to the scorching heat, but he loved it none the less...

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

 

Lions + Tigers + Camels...oh my!

It's been awhile and we've been so busy soaking up the summer that I've seriously neglected this blog! Time to catch up on one of my favorite Summer Adventures...Brock's first trip to the Dallas Zoo!

 

Vince + I were so excited to have a long holiday weekend with Brock and we filled it with family time and fun in the sun. Our first stop was the Zoo on July 4th. The weather was perfect and we spent 3 happy hours taking in the sights, sounds and smells! We conveniently arrived during Brock's nap time so guess what he did the 1st hour...

 

 

Yup, little man snoozed half-way around the Zoo before waking up completely in awe of his surroundings. It didn't take long before he was focused and ready to explore!

 

 

 

 

After petting goats, watching the zoo keepers feed the elephants and an up close look at a camel it was safe to say Brock's first trip to the zoo was a huge success!

 

 

 

 

Summer Lovin'

I absolutely adore summers here in Texas. Despite the sometimes unbearable heat, I can't get enough sunshine! Lately we've learned that Brock is obsessed with water! He spends every weekend either in our back yard kiddie pool, at Grammy & PopPop's pool, or at the Chase lake house. We've already created so many fun memories this summer and some of my favorites are from our recent trip to the lake to break in PopPop's new pontoon boat. Brock loved taking naps on the boat soaking up the summer sun and we can't wait to go back for the 4th of July!

 

 

 

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend filled with little adventures!

 

 



Our First Scare

It's inevitable that we have to experience the sadness of a sick child, and fortunately we had 8 great months before it happened. I took Monday off from work to have a play day with my sweet boy and noticed that his usual smiles and giggles were replaced with tired eyes and crankiness. After his fever escalated to 103 we rushed him to the ER in the middle of the night only to find that he had Strep Throat and a virus...YUCK! Thankfully, he is on the mend and we've even gotten a few smiles today! Can't wait till this little guy is back to his normal spunky self!

In other news...Brock took his first steps on Saturday! Vince and I came home from AdvoCare Success School to witness Brocky tackling another baby milestone! Have a great Wednesday everyone! XOXO

A Chase Christmas + A Happy New Year

I know I'm a couple of weeks late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year is off to a crazy, hectic & wonderful start, and a recap of Brock's first Christmas & New Years is long overdue! So, here it is...a simple rundown of our 1st holiday season with the little man!

 

Brocky woke up Christmas morning to a new friend with a very special message from Santa! He loved playing with his "vintage" blocks, train and sock monkey before heading to Mimi Gene's house for a Mexican lunch with Mommy's side of the family.

We loaded up our little SUV and headed to Irving to spend Christmas evening at Uncle Bobby & Aunt Ginny's house! A yummy Italian dinner and a room full of presents made for an exciting evening! Brock got a little fussy being off his sleeping schedule, but still had fun playing with his sweet cousins.

After the hustle + bustle of Christmas, we were pretty excited to have a simple New Years at home. Brock got a new pair of Batman PJs and we were all in bed by 9pm! Props to everyone who managed to ring in the new year at midnight...we started 2013 catching up on some much needed rest!

XOXO, Bri

 

 

Hello.

Hello, sweet friends! We hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS with your friends + family! We're still recovering from the hustle + bustle of the holidays and I hope to have a post full of wonderful pictures and stories up by this weekend. Until then I'll leave you with a picture of my sweet boy playing with one of his Christmas presents taken with my new Nikon! (Yes, this means much higher quality photos will be appearing on the blog!) XOXO

 

 

A Very Happy 1/2 Birthday

Well, 6 months have come and gone since our little, BIG guy entered this world. It has been the most trying, exhausting and absolutely wonderful 1/2 a year I've ever had! We love this little one SO much!

 

Brock got a great report at his 6 month well visit with Dr. Mitchell. We're moving into stage 2 foods and sippy cups! Big guy measured in the 94th percentile height and 77th percentile weight. In addition to checking out himself in the mirror {just like Dad}, Brock loved ripping the paper on the table to shreds. He squealed with excitement...until he got shots! We're so thankful for our healthy, happy boy! XOXO

A Wonderful Weekend + A Thankful Heart

Oh, boy...where to begin?!?! This weekend was simply AMAZING! I love having long weekends with family and spending extra time with little buddy. We did a little bit of everything this weekend and even with a couple extra days managed to run out of time!

 

Thanksgiving was extra special this year for us. My parents, brother and Mimi spent the day at Vincent's parents house. It was so much fun having both families together and not having to divide our time between the two. Brock got tons of attention and was tuckered out by mid afternoon!

 

Friday & Saturday included lots of Christmas decorating for me and quality bonding time for Vince & Brock. Our house is starting to look pretty festive and I hope to have some fun pics to post this week of all my handmade goodies!

 

We spent Saturday afternoon at Ford Stadium cheering on the Mustangs. They beat Tulsa and are on their way to the Hawaii Bowl...Pony up!

 

Vince and I have made a pact not to "eat out" for the rest of the year. We're paying cash for Christmas thanks to our AdvoCare business and one of our gifts to each other is to start 2013 debt free except for our mortgage. I've had fun planning our meals and cooking this week...yes, I've actually enjoyed cooking...HA! Vince has enjoyed all of the things I've made which only adds to my motivation. I altered a recipe for a Caramel Apple Pie that I clipped from ALL YOU magazine and made it as gluten-free/sugar-free as possible. I assumed it would be a failed attempt, but much to my surprise Vincent loved it! Here's to many more cooking adventures this month! XOXO

 

BROCK'S BAPTISM + WEEKEND ADVENTURES

It's Thanksgiving week! We're so excited to have a long weekend with the family enjoying some yummy eats! Our weekend was FILLED with fun and we're sure more is right around the corner as we enter the holiday season!

 

Let the little children come unto Me, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. {Luke 18:16}

 

Our precious little boy was Baptized Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. It was a sweet little service presided by Deacon Ken Reisor. Brock was an angel {I love having such a calm, sweet little man!} and looked precious in his Baptismal outfit.

 

We celebrated afterwards with brunch and laughs at JJ's Cafe before heading to Irving for my sweet niece's 4th birthday party. My sister-in-law did an awesome job planning a fall themed event {details here} and we had a great time catching up with everyone.

 

 

We spent Sunday watching football with Brock before an evening Mass and a quick run for groceries at Whole Foods. The perfect ending to our fun little weekend was a warm mug of hot chocolate, Boardwalk Empire and laundry!

I'm super excited for Thanksgiving and am keeping my fingers crossed the dishes I'm preparing turn out scrumptious...those of you who know me know that I AM NOT known for my cooking! I'm hoping to change that this year...ha!

Have a great week everyone! XOXO

 

TGIF! We made it!

Thank Goodness It's FRIDAY! It has been one LONG, STRESSFUL week, but we made it through! I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with this little guy...

 

 

We've got a busy, busy weekend ahead filled with fun adventures! {A certain somebody is getting baptised tomorrow!} We hope y'all have a fun weekend! XOXO

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Hello, sweet friends! We had a whirlwind of a weekend at the Chase house. It was one of those weekends when we were slammed with one thing after the other leaving Vince and I completely exhausted and Baby Brock completely off-schedule :(

Despite everything that went wrong, I've collected the few wonderful things that went RIGHT to focus on. When days like that happen I just take it as a sign that I need to pray MORE! So concluding an otherwise awful weekend with a sweet Sunday Mass was just the answer this little family needed.

Here are a few of the highlights of our weekend...

FRIDAY: Bryan's last home football game - Eventhough it was a L, it was a great game and an exciting overtime finish.

SATURDAY: AdvoCare Ladies Alive - I LOVE our AdvoCare family and this company has completely chagned our lives and future. Brock attended half of the day with me and did so well. He had fun flirting with all the ladies. Vince worked our AdvoCare booth at the SMU game and we finished the evening with a gluten-free Picasso's pizza and an early bedtime!

SUNDAY: Vince had an amazing tryout for the Plano Revolution. I can't wait to see him play again. Despite not training the past year he ran a 4.68 sec 40 and impressed the coaches. I'm SO proud of him! Brocky and I spent the day playing while a contractor fixed the sheetrock in our Master Bedroom. He cut his 2nd tooth and handled it like a champ! Our afternoon was filled with cheers for a Cowboys victory and we finished the weekend with Mass and a to-go dinner from Fuzzy's Tacos.

We've learned the last few days to always look on the bright side! Here's to a great week ahead! XOXO

Linking up HERE and HERE

Looking Back: 4 Months

Little Buddy turned 5 MONTHS on Tuesday! He's changed so much this past month...

 

Started eating solid foods

LIKES: brown rice cereal, green beans, carrots, peas & sweet potatoes

DISLIKES: bananas

 

Sits up on his own

 

Started crawling...he doesn't move very fast or get very far yet :)

 

1st Halloween - Dressed up as Popeye

 

1st tooth cut through

 

We are totally IN LOVE with this little guy and his cute little ways of doing things! Have a great evening, everyone! XOXO-Bri

What A Weekend!

It was a pretty exciting weekend at the Chase house filled with football, family and fun! Sunday, Vince and I had the honor of being a vendor and judge at the Miss Plano Frisco Pageant. I'd never been a part of a pageant before, but I loved the wonderful people I met and am secretly crossing my fingers that one of the girls we selected will go on to be the next Miss America and Miss America Oustanding Teen :)

Here's a recap of Brock's weekend...

 

{1} Pop-Pop & Brock cheering on Uncle Bryan at the Irving High football game in Euless.

{2} Brock's 1st tooth cut through on Saturday!

{3} Somebody LOVES his feet!

{4} Woke Daddy up to tell him secrets and laugh.

{5} I have no clue what he was looking at, but I love this expression!

 

Happy ELECTION DAY everyone! Brock is 5 months today and we're hoping our candidate wins so we have twice as much to celebrate tonight! XOXO-Bri

Brock's 1st Halloween

Have your recovered from the Halloween Candy Coma? We fortunately didn't buy/or bring home any candy which made avoiding it much easier! We spent the evening helping Pop-Pop pass out candy to trick-or-treaters before enjoying a feast of sushi at one of our favorite spots. Popeye had a blast before passing out from exhaustion!

 

 

Here's a quick rundown of how I put together Brock's Popeye outfit for anyone who's interested:

 

{1} I cut the sleeves off from a boy's muscle suit I found at Walmart in the Halloween dept. I cut down the length and hand basted them into the shoulder seams of a black t-shirt.

 

{2} I cut the lapel from a scrap piece of sweatshirt material I found at JoAnn's and ironed on white seam binding to the edges. Hand sew the lapel to the t-shirt and sew on three yellow/gold buttons.

 

{3} I took an adult sailor hat I folded the back over till it fit Brock's head and hand sewed a new seam.

 

{4} Using a black permanent marker I drew an anchor tatoo on one forearm and I used dark jeans and white tennis shoes we already had to complete the look.

 

I wish I had pictures of the process, but I was rushed to create it the night before and it was all I could do to get it done! Enjoy! XO-Bri

Happy Halloween from The Chase's

Happy Halloween, sweet friends! We hope your day is filled with fun! Popeye visited his Mammy & Pappy this morning & is heading to Irving tonight for tricks & treats at Grammy & Pop-pop's house!

 

 At 4 months, this little man has yet to have any teeth break through and when he rubs his gums together he makes what we call a "Popeye face" so, a Popeye costume just made sense!

 

Since I'm a DIYer at heart (and beacuse an infant Popeye costume can't be found) I gathered my supplies and had a blast making Brocky's costume! I was surprised it was such a quick, easy (& cheap) proccess. I'll be sure to post more pictures tomorrow and possibly a quick tutorial on how I made B-Rock's costume.

 

Have a fun and safe evening Trick-or-Treating! XO-Bri

 

 



Weekend with Brock

While Vince was in Austin this weekend for some Halloween partying with friends, Little Buddy and I had a fun, busy weekend here in Dallas.

{1} The fun started Friday with a Halloween party for the kiddos at my office. Brock loved dressing up as Popeye for the afternoon and this mommy had fun making his costume! Can't wait to take him "trick-or-treating" to see the grandparents on Halloween!

{2} Due to the cold weather Brocky and I didn't make it to SMU's Homecoming, so we scheduled a fun brunch with Auntie Liz and Uncle Travis at Buzzbrews on Sunday. We ALWAYS love seeing them and can't wait for them to come in town next weekend.

{3} I finally caught Brock crawling out of his chair. He's mastered the art of turning over and backing out of it. Guess it's time to find another solution!

{4 & 5} Brock starting sitting up on his own this morning! He successfully scooted out of his boppy and started supporting himself! Of course, he had to show off his new talent to his buddy, Tasha girl!

Have a great Monday, sweet friends! To all of our friends and family on the East Coast...stay safe, you're in our thoughts and prayers! XOXO, Bri

Happy Mommy

I'm one happy Mommy...I get to spend the entire weekend with this sweet face and I don't have to share him with anybody! I may be a walking zombie come Monday morning, but right now I'm focusing on the endless amounts of snuggles and reruns of Dinosaur Train!

Tonight little buddy and I are finishing up his Halloween costume. My company is throwing a Halloween party tomorrow for the kiddos and that means I'm going to be one busy Mommy working on last minute details.

I'll post pictures of him in the finished product tomorrow, but until then we'll leave you with this clue...

"I'm strong to the finish 'cause I eats me spinach..."

Happy Thursday, everyone! -Bri

Happy 4th of July!

We hope everyone has a fun, family filled 4th of July! We're spending the day at our family's lake house and hope to get a little R&R!

Welcome to everyone visiting from the Red, White & You follower-fest. I hope you enjoy our little blog!

Here's to many more!

Vince and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Tuesday. I can't believe how much our lives have changed since then. I would have never guessed that in two years we would buy a home, start an Advocare business, and have a beautiful baby boy. To celebrate, here's our story...

{August 27, 2004} A cheerleading teammate of mine introduced me to a cute football player at a fraternity Back-2-School party. We hit it off and danced the night away.

{August 28, 2004} Vince called the very next day and asked to come over and watch a movie. Being the indecisive person I am, I let Vince pick out the movie. What did he bring?!?!? Bad Santa...a decision we still laugh about today!

{April 18, 2009} After almost 5 years of dating, Vincent proposed at Lone Star Park, our local horse track. Read our proposal story here.

{June 26, 2010} We were married at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Dallas, TX and partied the night away with our family and friends at The Belo Mansion.

Bri + Vincent Wedding Highlights from Elvision Video and Cinema on Vimeo. 

 

Father's Day Fun!

We hope everyone had a sweet, relaxing Father's Day! Ours was filled with family, food and fun! Vince had a great 1st Father's Day and got some pretty cool gifts too...

{1} Vince got a new charcoal grill & broke it in by cooking a yummy feast. {2} One of Vincent's favorite gifts was a book my brother gave him of original Batman sketches. {3} Pappy enjoyed spending his Father's Day with his favorite snuggle buddy. {4}After being passed around all day, Brock was happy to finally get some time with Daddy.

We loved spending the entire day with both our families. I'm so thankful they both live in the same metroplex and love getting together for holidays! We hope everyone had a great weekend. Brock will be 2 weeks tomorrow and I'll have to catch up on posting pictures since he's been home. I can't believe how much he's already changed and the cool things he's already started doing. We are so in love with this little guy!

XOXO,