What do you want to be when you get older?
It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to be when I "grew up", but when I was sitting at the table eating dinner when Chance, he informed me that "When Chance grow up, be just like Mommy".

Is Chance really Three?
Wow, it is so hard to beleive that I am now a mother of a THREE YEAR OLD! It is amazing how fast this last year has gone. Chance is really starting to grow into a nice little boy. I am so blessed to have him in my life and the chance to be a Mommy to the most wonderfull and cutest kid in the world. I look forward to what the next year will bring for our family. We had a little birthday party for Chance yesterday with family and I think Chance had a really good time. At present time he kind of threw everything on the floor and didn't really pay attention to them, nor did we get a chance to read the cards. So at bedtime that was his bedtime story (reading all of his cards) and we talked about what everyone got him. And then today we sat down and played some of his games and I took pictures of Chance with all of his presents and explained once again who they were from. Now he knows excatly who got him what. He was even telling Skylar today when she came back from her visit that "Uncle Jon got me that game, Kolten and Kennedy for me this game, Aunty Jenn and Uncle Trevor got me puzzles, and Grandma and Grandpa got the couch and Grandma and Grandpa got my a new bed". Although Skylar was less then enthuszied, Chance just wanted to make sure she knew what everyone got him. It was really cute. It is just so hard to beleive that I now have a THREE YEAR OLD! WOW. We are so lucky. So for the people that weren't at the party and I posted what Chance recieved at his birthday, and for those at his party you can actually see what he got becuase he went though his present pretty quicky that I hardly got to see what he got and I was sitting right beside him. LOL. I really had fun making Chance's birthday cake this cake, it wasn't as fancy as his Elmo cake last year but I really like it. In the picture with chance looking at me it's becuase I caught him eating the cake when he was suspose to be smiling for the camera with his cake. He is one little sneak! :)

From Mommy and Daddy
This may be a little biased but this is my favourite card. It's not a "kid" card but I think the meaning in really there. "A son like you is a give from heaven. Birthdays are a time for celebrating the miracles that change our lives and bring more jot than we ever dreamed possible. May you always keep this truth in your heart - you are one of those miracles. Happy Birthday. You second year of life was so wonderull to experience with you you. We look forward to you next year. You ARE out little miracle. Love Always Mommy and Daddy"

We gave Chance The little mermaid movie, a farm set, Diego Rescue Pack full of 5 different games, a Diego outfit, Diego matching game, and a book called "why is there a cross", we also gave him his duvet (to go inside his new duvet cover that grandma and grandpa got him).

From Great Grandma (Andrew's Grandma) "Happy Birthday. this cheery Birthday card comes just to say that smiles and laghter, joy and love, are wished for you today. with lots of love Great Grandma" Grandma gave Chance some money and with that we putting half away into Chance's saving account, and the other half we are going to let him pick out a toy.

From Uncle Jon and Aunty Andrea "Nephew Hope your birthday's legendary...thrulling...extraordinary... just like BATMAN, just like you - intensely awsome through and though! Happy 3rd Birthday Chance. I hope you have a great year! Have with with this game. From Uncle Jon and Andrea.

Chance got a bumble bee game (kids version of kerplunk) in which Chance really enjoyed playing this morning with Mommy and Ddaddy.

From Grandma and Grandpa (Andrew's parents)
"Just for you Grandson Come climb aboard the birthday boay and bloe your birthday horn. Today we get to celebrate the day that you were born! This shop is fill of friends and fun with hugs and wishes too. C'ause Jesus made a big, strong boy - That special boy is YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY" "Come, let us sing for joy to ther Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvating" PSALM 95:1 NIV Dear Chance Hope you enjoy the new bed that Grandpa refinished especially for you and the covers with the big tiger. GRRR Lots of love Grandma and Grandpa XXOO

Grandma and Grandpa got Chance a captions bed for his room. It was second hand and had to scraps and dents in them, but Grandpa spent a lot of hours down in his basement sanding it and resanding it just for Chance. They also got Chance the new bedding that is on his bed with the tiger.

From Grandma and Grandpa (Amy's parents)
"For A really special Grandon HapPY BIRTHDAY. Everyone would love to have a Grandson just like you to have a lot of fun with and to love the whole year through! Happy 3rd Birthday. Lots of Love Grandma and Grandpa XOXO (and Grandma even drew her hand on the back)

From Grandma and Grandpa they took Chance shopping and picked him up a little whinni the pooh pull out couch (what he is sitting on), he also got a birthday Dora and a huge curious George. Grandma and Grandpa also took Chance out for his dinner and took him to the Santa parade on Saturday.

From Aunty Jenn, Uncle Trevor and cousins Jason, Jonathan, Jessica, Julie and Joshua Chance got 3 learning puzzles where you maych words and the pictures. Chance loves Puzzle so he can't wait to get into them.

From Carrie Chance got an Animal Safari Pit with balls. I am going to see how big it is, but I might have to wait until Spring so I can set it up outside as it is pretty big ball pit. Carrie also got him the candles for his cake that had the letters H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y. Chance was so excited over the candles that Carrie got him and he told everyone at his party about "Carries candles".

From Jenn, Kennedy and Kolten
Home Made Card that read:
"Chance, Happy 3rd Birthday Love Jenn, Kennedy, Kolten and Lexus XOXO"

Chance got a scrapbook that Mommy will finish making, Hot Wheels car, movie and Towel, Jumpin Monkey game.

Last day being 2
This is a picture of Chance on his last day being 2! He will never be 2 years old again. What a fun age 2 was. I don't think we ever went though the "terrible twos" that everyone dreads about. Sure we had bad days (even though Chance's "bad" day dosen't even equal what some parents face DAILY), and even those were few and far between. Being two Chance learned to count to 13, count backwards from 10, learn his colours, zip up his coat and put his shoes on the right feet (more of the time). He starting to regonize number, he knows his shapes, he rode his bike with training wheels, he learned to draw circles and lines, he talks in sentencing and uses his grammer when talking mostly correctly. He can sing a few songs and he can almost sing the alphabet. Chance became a "big brother" to Skylar who he took right over in caring for her, feeding her bottles, helping with baths, diapers, sharing toys, signing to her and in the last few days he'll "read" her books. He plays "make believe" and will put his stuffed animals on a blanket and will have a picnic with them and make them food. He not only learned to throw and catch a ball - he is able to hit the ball with a bat when you throw it to him. Chance spent a lot of time outside helping Daddy in the garden using to use the hoe, turning the soil, planting seeds and then helping to pick what he had helped grow. We saw Chance make friends and learn to share (no really I'm not just saying that, I have a 2 year that likes to share. Just not always with Skylar, but he does with other kids!).
I am so Blessed to have such a wonderfull son and I love him so much! I have been explaining to him that a "birthday" means. That this is the day we celebrate the day he was born and came out of Carrie's tummy. I think he gets it as he has told a few times about comming from Carries tummy on his birthday. Then tonight when we were praying this was his prayer. "Dear Jesus - thank you for Carrie's tummy to give birth to Chance". All I could say was AMEN! This is the first real prayer that he has said besides "thank you for my food" or "watch over ....(and names everyone he knows), but tonight he said a full prayer and all I can say is that Chance said EXCATLY what I was thinking. Thank You Carrie!

I can't wait to see what this upcomming year will bring not only Chance, but our whole family. I Love you SO SO SO SO MUCH CHANCE.

Next time....just ask Chance!
We had a really busy day, both Skylar and Chance at Doctors appointment, then we went to Sears at Fairview mall to get our pictures done (we won a free 8x10). Then we went to Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet (Hmmm good). But then we went to Zehrs and we had to get Skylar an aerochamber for her inhaler she is on now, we got some groceries for Chance's birthday tomorrow and then came home. However, when we got home we couldn't find the $60 areochamber ANYWHERE! We went though all the bags - nothing, we looked though the car - nothing. So finally I called Zehrs and asked them if it was left in the cart - nothing. So I drove 15 minutes back to Zerhs to look for myself - nothing. I walked down all the asiles and starting looking in peoples carts for a bag with an aero chamer - nothing. I drove around the parking lot looking on the groud - nothing. So I came home empty handed! About 10 minutes later Chance started to have a melt down so I told him to go and sit on the stairs until he was done his tantrum. It didn't work, so I sent him to his room. 3 minutes later I went up to talk to him, and what to know I found on his headboard? THE AREO CHAMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked him what is this, and he says "Chance's new inhaler" becuase he already has one and he thought that we had bought him a new one! Now when we come home from grocery shopping Chance always help us to put things away, he brings the things that need to go in the pantry to the floor infront of the pantry, he brings things to fridge, freezer, whatever - he always put things where they belong. So Chance say that in a bag and put it away in his room! So I couldn't get mad at him! Although next time I can't find something JUST ASK CHANCE! before we all go crazy. LOL I'm sure if would have asked him at any point if her knew where it went he would have told us.
What a funny boy!

How quick things change
With Skylars case everything has been up in the air and not sure what was going to be happening with her. When she first came to us we were told that the Family and Children Services did not have a case in keeping Skylar in care. HOWEVER, bio-mom has been making a REALLY BAD CASE for HERSELF. She hasn't been showing up to visits (she shows up to about 35% of the time). Oh, and putting your 13 month on the floor when she pukes and runs out of the room to clean YOUR shirt then refuse to clean your baby up and change her clothes does not give you any brownie points! Everyone keeps asking us if we will adopt her, our response has always been that we don't know where the case is going and then change the subject. We hardly talked about it as we didn't want to get our hopes up (like they were with Nathaniel). So we were told that next week they were going to court to submit thier paper work to go for society wardship (right now she is a intern wardship which means Family And Children Services are telling birth mom that she has to do A, B and C in order to get Skylar home - which she hasn't been doing. By going for society wardship that the JUDGE is saying to birth mom that you have to do A, B and C before Skylar can come home). So now birthmom had to prove to the judge she has her life together. Basicly we were told this is going to be a long and drawn out case. As they would have gotten an order for 6 months (we have already had Skylar for 6 months as is) and when children are under 6 years old parents are only given one year to get things together, and if they can't then we go for crown wardship (eligiable for adoption). Well b/c Skylar was in care for 6 weeks at birth and then for 7 weeks before she came to us, then birthmom time (1yr) actually expires in Feburary. The family worker told me today that b-mom only has 91 days left and they know that she is going to do anything in that time, b/c she has done NOTHING that the agancy has asked for in the last 291 days. So we were told by the worker today that they are actually changing all thier paper and instead of going to court next week to submit paper work that they are skipping that process and going right to trial for crown wardship as early as TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When asked how long trial goes for they said probably a week. So I asked so then if everything goes as planned in 2-3 weeks from now Skylar will be crown ward? and she said YES!!! So............................... we could be starting the whole adoption process all over again. But don't get too excited, becuase there are other things that may come up (ie: someone from bio-dad family (grandparent, aunt, uncle etc,. comming forward - for those of you that don't know bio-dad is in jail for murder so he has no rights). So I am trying not to get too excited, but all the workers in the case I have talked to today and everyone is supporting us. So now it is just a waiting game to see what happens. We (esp. Chance) will have a real hard time if Skylar were to leave us know. I have kind of had a wall up with Skylar and not wanting to think about the possibilty of adoption for so long now, but that wall just came tumbling down about 2 hours ago!

Days when you just want to scream!
Some days these kids make you want to run and hide in your room for a year! Although those days are quite rare and far in between as both Chance and Skylar are really great kids, and listen well for the MOST part. However, this last week my lovely son Chance decided that the walls in his playroom need a little decorating, so he used his red pencil crayon to do some colouring ON THE WALLS! Now soap and water didn't work so next time I'm out I am going to have to try and see how good Mr. Clean erasers really work! Or should I say CHANCE is going to see how good they work! Also earlier in that week Chance was sitting at his little craft table cutting up newspaper when I looked over and realized he was cutting his HAIR! As you can see in this picture you can see where the chunk of hair is MISSING! Now he dosen't look happy in this picture becuase I had to put on of Skylar's hair clips in his hair to move it out of the way to get a good picture and Chance didn't want the clip so he was crying - but I was able to snap the picture. Although there isn't ANYTHING Chance can do to stop me from loving him beyond words!!!! Although I just may spend some time up in my room! :)

Eyes Wide Open
I wanted to take a picture of Chance as he was wearing his tool belt that was filled with tools. However, the first picture I took his eyes were closed so I told him he needed to open his eyes. So the next picture I took he is forcefully holding his eyes open. I told him not to do that and just smile, and again he blinked, so I did another one and told him to keep his eyes open - which he did - I have never seen Chance with such big eyes before! lol

Pancake and Hasbowns
I asked Chance today what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He thought for about 5 seconds and shouted PANCAKES! (I make this baked pancakes that Chance loves). So I told him to pick something else, that I will make it for breakfast or lunch on his birthday. But I wanted to know what he wanted for his dinner at his party and he says "eggs, hasbrown and waffles", and then he added "oh and pancakes too". So I will work on it some more so that we are not serving pancakes, hasbrowns, eggs and waffle at his birthday party!

PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!
Chance is so excited about his upcomming birthday and birthday party. He is always talking about wearing a birthday hat (heaven forbid we forget THE BIRTHDAY HAT). He got all upset at Andrew's birthday back in the summer time becuase we didn't have a birthday hat. So I went running though the attic to try and find the birthday hats from Chance's birthday last year and found Elmo birthday hat. That both Chance and and Andrew wore. Chance even wore the hat all day at Church telling everyone it was "daddy's birthday". So I can't forget the hat. He keeps changing his mind about what kind of cake he wants. Sometimes he says chocolate, sometimes vanialla, sometimes he wants a "wiggle cake" or "diego" cake. This morning he came down and gave me our good morning hug and asked him how he slept. and he was like "good mommy, Chance want "Dora cake". so I don't know what I am going to do. I think I am going to go ahead and do a Diego theme birthday since that he is favourite. He keeps talking to everyone about his PARTY and asking everyone if they are comming. I think if it was up to him we would have 50 people here, since he is inviting everyone. Oh, and when asked what he wanted for a present he says "chocolate, smarties and candy" so that makes birthday shopping easy - just wrap up his bowl of halloween Candy still sitting on the table! LOL

The Bread Maker

One day when Chance was at play group, the leader was talking about cooking and asked the kids if their "mommy's made bread"? Chance piped up and said "No, DADDY makes bread". LOL.

You're too old!
I took Chance to play group today and he was playing with a boy who was 3 and half years old. They were playing together for maybe 15 minutes when Chance noticed that he was wearing a diaper. (which apparently is common amoung 3 year olds!) Anyways, Chance looks at me and says "he wearing a diaper" so I say yes he is. Then he gets into his face and says "you're too old to wear diaper". Then he goes on to say "you go pee on toliet - you know better" I was so mortified! I aplogized to his mother and she was like "oh that's ok - he needs to hear things like that". Still, I had to explain to Chance that not everyone is trained to use the toliet, and that he'll learn when he is ready!
VERY EMBARASSING!!!

My name is Chance
It seems every where we go people are always calling Chance Chase. I usually don't come right out and correct them, instead I pronounce his name more clearly the next time and they seems to get it. When we were at the school on Monday even though he had his name tag on and they could SEE his name, twice he was called Chase. So I came home monday and I started working on him and say "hey Chase do you want to play ...." or "good singing Chase". at first he didn't notice a difference, but after a few times of me doing that he got to the point of saying "no Chase, CHANCE". Or "my name CHANCE". So now I am hoping that next time someone calls him Chase *he* will correct them! Although I can understand how people will slip as I know I did when Chance first came to live with us, as I have never heard of the name Chance before.

School time for Chance
Sorry for no posts - but Skylar is really sick right now (some sort of a flu or something). So she has been really clingy to me and won't let me do anything!
Well we took Chance on Monday to get registared for JK for september. Chance had a great time. They did some screaning to see where he is at developmentaly (he is at or abouve par), they checked his speech (no problems there), then he met with the kindergaten teacher where they did a craft (which was really seeing how he holds his crayons, follow instructions, cutting out objects with sissors) ( which he did great). We then went to his class and as soon as he walks in he yells "hey guys, look at my picture" (the class was in the middle of circle time), but Chance didn't mind. He was just so happy to be there, and some of the kids recognized Chance and came running over to great him. He played in the class for a bit and then we left. So it looks like Chance is right where he needs to be, now he just has to wait till September. Which he is going to have a hard time, he is already talking about going to school. He even had to wear his backpack the whole time at school and point out to everyone that he has his bag with him (which was really filled with diapers, wipes and juice cup for Skylar). :)
At one point they were testing him and they told him to put a ball IN a cup, so he did, then they told him to put it BEHIND the cup, and he did, then they told him to put it UNDER the cup. Chance just looked at it for about 20 seconds, then he puts the ball under the table! LOL. The lady doing the test said she has seen some pretty creative ways of doing that one, but she has never seen a child put it under the table. It was cute.

Daddy Long Legs
Back in August we went for a walk down to the river (like we do almost daily) and I saw a daddy long leg spider walking across the railing so I showed Chance and we told him the name of the spider. Then I couldn't see it no more so I said "where did daddy long legs go?" and Chance turns around and pats Andrew's legs and says "right here".

Happy Halloween
The kids had a blast out trick or treating! We got Chance a elephant
costume and he liked dressing up in it. I was going to paint his face
grey, but I know he wouldn't have liked it. He did good with saying
"trick or treat" and "thank you". However, he did get scared at a few
houses when he saw the scary masks. He would stand back and say
"you go first" and he would wait at the bottom until they scary costume was gone before he would go up. At our last house we went to
there were some parents waiting while thier kids went to the house,
when Chance saw them he got scared and wouldn't come down the
but then he looked up and the kids were scary too. So he just stood
there clinging to my leg. But when the parents say what was going on
they took thier masks off and told them they weren't that scary. And
with that he looks at me and says "not scary nomore" and then off he went. Skylar we had in her stroller as a unicorn. We let her out a few times to up to the houses, and when she got candy she would say "thank you". It was really cute. She seemed to have a good time too, she wasn't too sure of her costume at first and she tried to take it off, but eventually she just got used to it and relaxed a bit.

Carving Pumpkins
Chance had a blast cleaning out his pumpkins and helping to draw the face on his pumpkin. He wasn't too sure about getting dirty at first, but quickly got into the swing of things and dug right in. He did such a wonderfull job with sorting all the seeds out, and he couldn't wait until we cooked them. However, as soon as they were cooked and he tried it he didn't like it!

These are all the pictures I can post. I am trying to upload on dial-up internet and takes about 10 minutes per picture. But sometimes about 10 or more minutes the upload will cancel. So I've spent the last hour just to get these two pictures up.