Hanging with Avery Day #1

Today is our first day with Avery (who is currently sleeping). 

It's been such a great day! 

Matt is so awesome with her. I had to go interview a girl so Matt had her alone today for about an hour and watched her like a champ! :) He's so cute with her. He's been laying on the floor with her playing and singing to her. When I came home he had Subsonic on his iPad above her bouncy seat and said, "Shhhh, she likes Disney music, it's making her sleepy." Hehe I love my husband. He is seriously going to be the best dad of all time.

Today we had to go to David's Bridal so I could buy my bridesmaid dress for his sisters wedding and while we were there he fed and burped Avery like it was nothing :) 

The other man in my life, Cogsy, is proving himself to be the best dog in the world. We always knew he was, but now he has definitely proved us right. Not once has he jumped on Avery. He gives her plenty of kisses and likes to chew his toys curled up beside her, but he is so crazy gentle and watches where he walks around her, it's so cute! I was so worried that he was going to be crazy, but they're best friends already. She likes him too! When he licks her, she just lays there staring at him like, "What that heck are you doing to me?" lol. She doesn't cry though :) She was fussing earlier in her bouncer and I was sending an email out for work sitting in front of her. She was totally fine and did not need to be picked up (Matt was next to me too) and Cogsy was whining at me like "MOM! Aren't you going to help her!!" Pretty awesome :)

{this picture was right when we let him out of his crate around 9:30am after Avery got here. He stayed right next to me and would do little crawls over to her and give her licks}

{Avery's Guard Dog}

{"Um, Avery...you're in my spot. Don't you know his lap belongs to me?!"}

Avery has been a doll button all day long and has been a great little model lol. 

Avery, Cogsy & Matt....you are all not helping my yearning for a baby....stop being so damn cute and perfect! Avery and I had a talk earlier that she would like a friend...of course, not at least for another 5 months though ;) Ha. 

It's been a fun day. We're going to have some fun times with Avery and I'm so so happy we get to be such a big part of her life. We love Chris & Katie so much and are glad we get to be an "Auntie" and "Uncle" for their baby :)

We're already looking forward to another fun day with her tomorrow!
I'll be gone in Wisconsin for 8 days starting on Thursday so Matt will have her alone for 3 days and he told me he's totally confident :) I love him so much!

-Chelsea-

Pumped!

8 more days until I'm in WI visiting my family and friends!

6 days after that is not only my 24th birthday, but also our trip to Seabrook, WA!

5 months from today we will be on day #2 of our Sunriver, OR trip!

We booked our house today for our 6 nights/7 days in Sunriver, where we went on our honeymoon :)

The super exciting part...

We've been waiting to book our trip in the hopes that our same house from our honeymoon would be available. It hasn't been and we've been kind of bummed. Tonight I checked and...

we got it! 

It was fun to book it all over again and to look at the pictures they have on the site advertising it and knowing that really is exactly what it looks like. It's going to be so awesome pulling into that driveway and opening that front door.  Now we get to make some more amazing memories for our 1st Anniversary in the same exact place we enjoyed our first week of marriage. 

3 Paper Birch Lane

Some of our new memories on this trip will include horseback riding & whitewater rafting. 

Matt didn't bring any jeans last time so we couldn't horseback ride and I didn't want a traumatic experience on our honeymoon so we didn't whitewater raft lol. 

It's fun to think that at this time last year I was only dreaming, saying, "Just 5 months until our wedding!"

So far, our first year of marriage has been awesome. Not perfect of course :) But perfect to us. We are learning more and more everyday. We have almost lived together for 4 years now and we definitely have each other figured out. These past 7 months have brought some surprising and exciting life changes career  wise. We are proud of where we are headed, happy about where we are now, and glad for what our past has taught us.  

We're super excited for this vacation. We really hope it's something we can continue doing every year with our kids and maybe one day we can buy a home there :) It's just so relaxing there. 

-Chelsea- 

NDA Dance Competition 2012

We had a busy dance weekend and I loved every second of it.

Matt...well, he hung in there :) 

He made me so happy today, mingling with the families and playing with the kids while we waited to compete. He had a coaches badge with me today so he registered the girls and came backstage with us. He even did their music. *I love him* It was neat to be able to give him a glimpse into my childhood actually begin backstage and showing him all the behind the scenes stuff.

The girls took home another 1st place trophy and banner tonight.

I am so proud of the way this team works together. Having kindergarteners and 6th graders all on the same team has not been a challenge in the way I initially expected. The "big girls" really help the "little girls." Today I actually left them alone backstage and felt 100% comfortable knowing they would know what to do to go on stage...and, they did. The younger girls are really improving and the older girls are growing beyond anything I ever imagined this early in their dance careers. 

I may have to split the team into two so that the older girls can continue growing more. The younger ones are well on their way. A large part of me wants to keep them together for just one more season to see how much they grow together before splitting them. 

I love these girls so so much :)

I had the girls get there really early so we wouldn't be stressed for time..well, we ended up having a lot of time because our time got pushed back 40 minutes when we got there. So...Matt played Angry Birds Space with some of them while me and the moms talked girl talk :) He was even letting them use it, I was shocked. He's so great with kids! They love Matt :)

Waiting for awards to start the girls kept giving me the "Ugh...Miss Chelsea!! Do we HAVE to take another picture?!!" look.. lol

Getting their 1st place trophy and banner!

Talking about their scores. I love love love this picture :)

Next weekend the girls and I are going to a convention in Seattle. JUMP Convention. We'll be dancing with some pretty amazing dancers. Matt lucks out on this one and definitely does not have to come with us. I will be gone all weekend though. I'm super excited! 

Tomorrow is the first day of our Spring Quarter. I can't wait to meet all my new 2 year olds. It's always a big day. These little ones are the future of our program. It's always crazy on the first day with the 2 year olds realizing how little they really are when we start each quarter :) 

So much fun!

Our 2012 Recital!

Last night we had our 3rd recital. We actually had two last night. With 200 kids and 20 classes, having two was a must with all of the people who were there. We filled the middle school auditorium twice last night! I am going to start doing donation drives at our recitals because there are just so many people. Toys for Tots, Food bank, etc. We had close to 1,000 people there last night. 

Our new recital location was fabulous! We have moved up from the elementary school to the middle school. I think it was the perfect location and am really looking forward to December already for our next one. Our first recital was all of our 2-3 & 3-5 year old classes. They were "tutu" cute! All that tutu making paid off seeing all of them up there on stage. Here are some pictures :) Matt sat back stage with me and took photos and videos of each group. I was so thankful he did that. 

Whenever we have our recitals it is always a big reality check that, "whoa...I really do this as my job!" 

Matt and I went to Red Robin after and as usual, there were dance families there :) I love that. Seeing all the kids at Red Robin in their recital outfits. So cute!

{when the audience started to arrive...I still had time to think to take a picture} :)

{Autumn is our Ballet Teacher and we love her}

{One of my kids I've had since day 1}

{Another one of my 'since the beginning' kids, she's on our team too and we were so proud of her last night watching her in her ballet class :)}

{My 4-6 year old "Shining Emeralds" performing to "I See the Light" from Tangled}

{The proud owners} :)
I don't know what I would do without Matt helping me lately. I'm proud of our teamwork :)
He is the most supportive husband. I'm a lucky girl to have him in my life...
We had a great time last night. I liked having him backstage with me the whole time. It feels safe. Even I get a little nervous talking in front of everyone. More nervous about forgetting one of their routines. I loved having him next to me. Katie was with us too :)

Red Robin treats! ... I ate the whole thing by myself ... {yes, of course I would have shared, Matt was full}

I also had a yummy drink.

It was a great night.

Today was fun too :) PF Changs & The Hunger Games with my hubby. We got a gift card from my dance team for The Bellevue Collection. That was so so nice!
Then I went to Katie's for a girls night. Lots of fun this weekend :)

Tomorrow...COMPETITION.

I Should Be Sleeping...

I should be sleeping because tomorrow we have 2 recitals, Sunday my girls have a competition & on Monday our new quarter begins...whoa. Amazingly, I do not have a single thing left on my list for the recital...just one to-do for our competition...and plan on prepping our spring quarter all day tomorrow. So I'm not sleeping...

What am I doing instead?? 

Look what I found!

Dance the Magic!

I emailed the lady in charge tonight, doing my best to not mention my Disney experience in an annoying way lol, and am now anxious to hear back. I 'liked' their Facebook page as well and it seems that she is very easy to get ahold of and will answer her phone and you can just sign up to go. If the kids on the team do not want to go, I will post flyers around Issaquah until I get 8 interested kids lol. I want to do this SO badly. 

Am I living vicariously through my dance kids now? Why yes I am. 

I already feel bad for our future children. 

Anyways, I can't wait to see what the lady says. On the site it says $50 plus the cost of park admission...and then obviously travel expenses too. It seems too good to be true. We'll see...

Now I can't fall asleep because I'm too excited. Recitals, Competition, New Quarter...and now Disney Parades!!! What?! I'm never going to sleep tonight...

Matt's up writing his paper so that he gets it done before my recitals tomorrow because he knows I would be a not so happy wife if he doesn't make it because of procrastinating on a paper for 2 months...So at least we're up together :) 

Yay Disney!!!!!! {We're listening to Subsonic of course...but that is always on in our house} 

*Subsonic is a radio station (kind of) online that plays Disney park music. Line music. Ride music. Parade music...etc. If we're not watching tv, we're listening to Subsonic. And it helps Matt concentrate so maybe we will get to go to bed soon....................................Gah, I'm so excited! 

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Mmm Mmm...

I was inspired by a recipe I found on Pinterest and made Mexican Stuffed Shells. 

I had an actual recipe saved on my "Recipes" board but my internet decided to stop working and Matt was at school taking his math final so I couldn't text him for help.

So...I improvised. 

And...it was so yummy! I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow already ; )

Chelsea's Mexican Stuffed Shells

1 lb of ground beef

1 regular sized bag of Colby Jack cheese

1 box of Jumbo Shells

Mild Taco Sauce

Mild Chunky Salsa

1 green pepper chopped small

3 green onions chopped small (so Matt didn't know they're in there)

1 pkg. taco seasoning

3/4 cup water

{Line 1 & 2 at the same time}

Brown the ground beef. Drain. Add 3/4 C water and stir. Heat for a few minutes. 

Cook noodles according to directions on the box. Drain.

Mix peppers, onions and salsa into meat. {I just added salsa until I thought it was enough}

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stuff all the jumbo shells and put in a casserole dish.

Cover with the taco sauce and cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!

-Chelsea-

Clare's 3rd Birthday Weekend!

Little Miss Clare turned 3 today!

I can't believe how fast that went...way too fast.

She has quite the personality and definitely keeps us laughing and entertained. It's been so much fun watching her grow and I feel so lucky to be her Auntie Chelsea :)

It really feels like yesterday that we were here... We had just moved to Washington 2 weeks before and had only been dating for 6 months.

On Clare's baby website the caption on this photo reads 'Aunt' Chelsea. We were only just dating and I'm so grateful that I got to meet Clare at the hospital. I love her so so much! 

This little button grew up to be our Flower Girl :)

She is so stinkin' cute!

 I have this one framed in our living room. I love it!

It was fun watching her enjoy her birthday and all the attention today for her birthday :) She had a blast and Megan once again threw an incredible birthday party! 

We had fun beginning yesterday with a delicious St. Patrick's Day dinner and then had a family sleepover at Chris & Megan's.

{snuggling with Caitlin and reading "The Lorax"}

{Clare cuddling with Uncle Matty while they were watching the Finding Nemo ride}

{Uncle Clint playing with Caitlin this morning}

{Uncle Matty & Quenton chillin' this morning}

{Clint, Mel & Matt...3 members of the Lanese Apple Gang}

{Megan made Apple Cake Pops to go with Clare's Snow White Birthday Party theme}

{Snow White, I mean, Clare, very excited about her cake!}

{Amazing!}

{"MMmm Auntie Chelsea! Chocolate!!!"}

{The beautiful Snow White cake}

{Megan did a great job with the decorations too :)}

{Nana and Papa brought Clare this awesome standy!}

{Clare enjoying her birthday gifts}

{waiting patiently to eat her cake}

{diva}

We had a great time with our family this weekend! :)

Happy Birthday, Clare Bear! We love you!