Baby's First Christmas

Sorry no post last week! We have been busy since getting to VA last Friday.

Tracy, Casey and Frisco left Dillon on Wed, Dec 17, drove to Boulder to pick up Aunt Kel, then were off to VA, with stops in Kansas to sleep, Kentucky to visit Wes, Tricia, Colin and Leah, and WVA to sleep. We arrived in Burke Friday, Dec 19. Thanks Aunt Kel for keeping Tracy company...even if you did sleep most of the way;)

Saturday we celebrated an early Christmas with the WRIGHT side of the fam, because we were going to be in Roanoke Christmas day. Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack came over early to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's house to exchange gifts. The rest of "Christmas Day" was spent making Christmas cookies and playing with presents and of course, eating.

After shopping and lunch with Grandma Gail, Aunt Kelly, Aunt Marcy and Lily, Sunday night Casey and Frisco got to sleep over at Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's house, while Tracy and Stan went into DC to watch the Wizards lose to the Mavericks with Dyani and Matt. Highlight of the game was that we sat directly behind the infamous Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavs owner). Even got a picture of Stan and Cuban with the blackberry (though it is a bit fuzzy).

Tuesday we went to visit Tracy's friend Dayna in Alexandria pre-baby...they just had the baby last night! On our way home to Herndon, we stopped for dinner and to celebrate night 3 of Hanakkuh with Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack.

Wednesday morning we headed down to Roanoke to celebrate Christmas with Gramma Lois and Aunt Lisa, Uncle Dave, Ashlynne, Morganne and Max (in town from Miami). We spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Linda and Uncle Marvin's house. Auntie Cousin Blair and Uncle Cousin Chad were in town from Pittsburgh. Christmas was fun watching Casey play with her new car/walker, pop up thingy (that's the technical term) and basketball hoop and watching her cousins run around. She tried her best to keep up with them. She has become a very fast army crawler and has started pulling herself up onto her knees and to standing position on Christmas Eve. She'll be walking in no time! She smiles constantly and even giggles now when we tickle her.

We had a great Christmas week hanging with family!! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year!

sporting her santa pj's compliments of grandma gail and grandpa tom

casey, entertaining grandpa tom and grandma gail

need a ride?

casey size comfy chair from aunt marcy, uncle stuart, lily and jack

casey and max getting to know each other

perfecting her dunk

frisco showing her xmas spirit

gramma lois and her grandkids

Wave Hi to the Snow

Casey is a waving maniac. It's actually more of a hold up the hand to say hi or bye and she doesn't do it on cue yet. When we come downstairs in the morning and she sees Frisco she gets really excited, smiles and waves to her now. Funny!

We tried the 2 nap thing for about a week and decided she's not quite ready...maybe in a couple more weeks. We did have to take the crib bumper off after Tracy found her pulling on it one morning.

She's getting 2 new upper teeth and they've definitely been bothering her. She is babbling a lot...today it was Baa Baa Baa and Maa Maa (which of course means Mommy). She's also starting to pull herself up more...she pulled herself up using the first step and she uses us to pull herself up.

Saturday our neighbor came over to babysit Casey while we went to Keystone, together!!! We got a couple hours of riding in before heading back home. Casey was a good girl for her first "teen" babysitter. Looking forward to using her more when we get back from the holidays. The rest of the day, Stan spent working on the rest of the window trim. It looks SO good! You'll have to come visit to see...

We got a big snowstorm on Saturday night. Woke to a good 6-8 inches on our deck. Tracy joined Colin, Geoff and Kristi for a half day at Vail. There was SO much powder! Literally up to our knees. We all realized we are def getting old and def not in shape!! Supposed to get more snow this week...let's just hope it's not on Wednesday...that's when Tracy, Kelly, Frisco and Casey are driving back to VA. Hoping the trip is uneventful!

HI

Snowboard date!

what? i'm not crawling towards the electronics...

the snowstorm

Little Drummer Girl

Was a pretty uneventful week, except for the snow. We got a lot of new snow and we went snowboarding a lot this weekend. Friday, Stan shredded Breckenridge in the morning, then Tracy went to Abasin in the afternoon. Lots of powder. Saturday, our friend Kristi was kind enough to watch Casey, so we could go ride together for the first time in a long time!

Casey has a bit of a cold and fever this week. This afternoon her temp was 102.2 so we took her to the Doc...weighs 17.1 lbs with a wet diaper on. Doc thinks it's just a virus, but we'll monitor her temp the next couple days.

We started her on baby food dinners this weekend, which includes meat. I think she's a little unsure about the taste, but hopefully she'll get used to it. She is still army crawling, no hands and knees crawl yet. She gets up on her knees and rocks a little, but then drops when she wants to move. She has learned how to pull herself into our laps and is interested in pulling herself up, she just doesn't know how to just yet.

Casey wants to wish her Uncle Dave a belated Happy Birthday and her cousins Jack and Ashlynne a Happy Birthday!!

our lil' drummer girl

watching the hokies win the acc championship game

enjoying her exersaucer...from below

Thanksgiving Week

We all flew to VA on Nov 20th for a week and a half of VT and Thanksgiving activities. We drove down to VT for the weekend to watch the Hokies beat Duke that Saturday. Casey stayed with Gramma Lois and Great Aunt Linda during the game and definitely kept them entertained.

Monday was spent at Dulles Town Center mall with Jessica and her 2 boys, Hunter (4) and Jacob (2). Casey enjoyed lunch in the food court, riding the carousel, getting her picture taken with Santa (she was so good, no crying at all), attention from Hunter (he loves playing with Casey) and people watching.

Tuesday we headed to MD to visit some CO friends (who also have a house in MD), Kathy, Sean, Dillon (1 1/2) and their new baby boy, Connor. We also visited Stacey and her kids John Patrick (1 1/2)and Cate (11 1/2 months). We then headedto Aunt Marcy and Uncle Stuart's house for dinner. Aunt Kel was in town from Boulder, Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom were also there. Casey had her first finger food...Sweet Potato Puffs. Quite a treat!

Wednesday we hung out at Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's house. Aunt Kel was there and Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack came over too. Marcy, Tracy and Kel went for a 5 mile run around Burke Lake to try and fend off any Thanksgiving Day pounds. Tracy spent the rest of the day making pies (pumpkin, apple and pecan). Stan came over in the evening and Great Uncle Mike, Great Aunt Jeanne, Alli and Davis arrived that evening from KY.

Thursday was a fun day hanging with everyone. Casey entertained all day and got to stay up late to visit. She sat at the dinner table eating puffs and veges and was very well behaved. Turkey dinner was delicious!!

Casey is army crawling everywhere. She loves any type of cord she can get her hands on. Everything still goes straight into her mouth. She can find any piece of anything on the floor...no matter if you vacuum that day or not, she'll find something. She also talks non-stop. Sometimes it actually sounds like she is having a real conversation. And she is very smiley! She has started understanding peek-a-boo and we've gotten a couple little laughs out of her while playing. She is trying to figure out how to pull herself up. My parents have a step from the family room to the kitchen and she kept trying to crawl up it. She is still eating 5 6oz bottles, and we have now added fruit to her day. She eats oatmeal in the morning, fruit at lunch and vegetables at dinner. She seems to like everything so far.

Friday we drove to Roanoke for our second turkey dinner at Great Aunt Linda and Great Uncle Marvin's. Auntie Cousin Blair and Chad were in town from Pittsburgh. We met up with them again on Saturday night at Gramma Lois' house for a couple rounds of Family Feud...after we got back from the Hokies game. VT beat the Wahoo's to win the ACC Coastal division and to move on the ACC championship game (being played in Tampa on Dec 6 against BC).

Sunday we spent 6 hours in the car on our way back to NOVA. We finally made it to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom's house to put up the Christmas tree with Aunt Kel, Aunt Marcy, Lily and Jack. The big event was Santa Claus stopping by. Lily was very shy and wouldn't look at him, Jack wasn't sure about the jolly old fellow, Casey screamed when she looked at him.

Tracy and Casey fly out tomorrow. Looking forward to some rest and relaxation:)!

Casey's jungle gym

proud of herself

posing

enjoying her first carousel ride

where did that puff go?

playing with Grandma and Grandpa

cousin Jack beating up on Casey

cousins on Thanksgiving Day

go hokies

at the UVA/VT game

Aunt Kel and Casey putting a Santa ornament on the tree

Casey and Santa...

Lily, with help from Uncle Stan, putting the finishing touch on the tree.