Birthday Party

On Saturday, we had a birthday party for Chase at one of our new favorite places, Gantry park, with some of his little buddies and their parents :)  I was really excited and had been planning to do something for him for awhile.  I started out planning to be super creative, all pinterest style.  I had picked out some cute invitations, plates, cups, and napkins... and then caved and got sandwiches from Subway.  

I didn't get all these supplies, but it was from this set.

Chase was helping get everything ready for his party.

And we all headed off to the park.  It's definitely a bit trickier out east.

Decided on the easier route :)

Arranging the Cupcakes and sandwiches for the party.

Then we picked out a nice patch of grass 

Chase was a little moody, but he was much happier after lunch :)

We did try to get some family pictures in... Easier said than done.

Grandpa showing us how to pose properly :)

Hanging with his grandpa.

Checking out some presents.

Playing with Michael.

Hanging out at the park.

Melissa, the baby whisperer.

View of Manhattan from the park.

Beautiful Gantry Park

Enjoying being in actual grass again :)

... concentrating.  :)

Playing with the ball.

Helping his crush escape from her stroller.

Looking at his cool new presents.

Sharing with Alexander.

More pretty park pics.

Another attempt at some pictures.  Definitely going a little better this time :)

Some more play time.

At least they got a good picture!

Checking out a baseball with his Gram. that Steve found.

Having fun hanging out :)

Attack of the cute little ones.

 The party was better than I expected.  Just about everyone showed up, and we had a great time laughing, eating, and playing at the park.  Chase was definitely tired after his party, but then once home, he just wanted to play with his new toys.

We're so glad everyone came.  

Happy birthday little man!

New Years

Every year the Page family, stemming from my grandparents, puts together a family history.  I am usually one of the first to finish, but I really like to work on it that week between Christmas and New Years.  It lets me look through the year and many fun memories and then I usually get inspired for a New Years Resolution or two.  Plus, it's easier to remember what happened in late December than the following year.  We've now lived in New York City for a full year.  That in itself is a crazy fact.  But it was fun looking through calendars and pictures of trips to Jones Beach, Virginia, and California and also more local things like Comic Con and Carnegie Hall.  There were many events tied around both our jobs and my schooling.  And of course Chase was born.  Definitely a fun, crazy, life altering year.

This year, by the time New Years came, I had my history finished, unless something crazy happened on New Years Eve of course. :)  We did have a Batman marathon where we watched Marcus' new movies all in a row over the two days.  Pretty intense.  And that night, I had decided on one New Years resolution and a couple goals for the year.  I realize those sound the same, but they're different in my mind.  My resolution was to try 25 new recipes this year.  I figured it would help me learn to cook more, try new dishes, and save some money by not going out much.  So that's where we started on New Years Eve.  I made a delicious potato soup that we'd had once before when a friend made it for us.  One down, 24 to go.  So two a month.  Seems easy enough. :)  And later in the evening, the Martins and Garretts came over while Chase was in bed to play games and watch the ball drop on tv.  (None of us wanted to battle the crowds-- you have to show up in the early afternoon to get a decent spot for midnight!)

I was a fun and low-stress holiday.  Definitely a good way to start the year.  We hope everyone had a great New Years too!

Getting Our Nerd On

Marcus' good BYU friend Steve, who conveniently now lives across the street, received four passes to Comic Con from his work, so Steve, his wife Ariel, Marcus, and I decided to go get our nerd on and people watch.  And you know what, it actually was a lot of fun.  We mostly wandered around looking at all the people in costumes and through the aisles of booths, but we were exhausted after a couple hours.  There was so much going on-- it was definitely a new world.  Since we saw so much in such a short time, I'll just narrate through the pictures I have.  But you can imagine the crazy costumes and crowds.

We technically had Press Passes, so I won't lie, I felt pretty cool.  :)

The Show Floor

Gandolf in Lego form!

We saw Sean Astin (Sam from Lord of the Rings), but no autograph because it was crazy expensive.

Tom Felton (Malfoy) had been there too, but again, very expensive, and he left earlier in the evening.  Sad day.

Had to take a picture of the Camaro since... it's beautiful... and our passes came from Chevrolet.

Bumblebee!

One of our favorite cartoonists was there selling/signing his books.  I thought I had snagged a picture of him too, guess not.  But we were pretty excited to get an actual copy of our favorite cat comics signed by The Oatmeal himself!

A Quidditch Tournament

And some more crazy lego creations:

See, so much to look at!  Fun for everyone.  Who would've known?!  :)  But we had a really enjoyable time.  We were glad Steve and Ariel invited us to go along.  And that made two big nights out this week-- thankfully we've had a great babysitter here to stay with our little guy.

And for your teaser picture, look who's now totable...

Yep, that's little Chase in a baby carrier, and he seems to really like it.
(Plus, the subway is so much less daunting now...)