Christmas Part 2

The day after Christmas, we drove down to Gramma Lois' house in Roanoke, VA, for Christmas with Stan's family. Aunt Lisa, Uncle Dave, Ashlynne, Morganne and Max were in town from Miami. Uncle Marvin and Aunt Linda also came over to play and deliver more gifts. Casey had a great time hamming it up for everyone. She showed off her dancing and talking and her "being cute." She will do something for attention, then stop to make sure you're watching by lowering her head and then slowly looking up, but not right at you.

Casey got to open even more gifts. She got books, cute clothes, a cell phone, a WordWorld fish, a talking teapot set, a stroller and plenty more. She and Max had a blast pushing the stroller all over the house.

We had a great Christmas week with all of our family. Casey is wiped out!!

casey and max building a tower...then they knock it down

shirtless baby trying on her new fancy shoes

working on max's truck

casey explaining the show to ashlynne, morganne and max

enjoying a good thumb suck during her bedtime book

gramma lois and casey chillin'

Christmas Part 1

Last week we were in Burke, VA celebrating Christmas with Tracy's family. Casey had lots of fun entertaining Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom. Aunt Kel was in town too to play with her favorite niece; and Aunt Marcy, Uncle Stuart, Lily and Jack were around too providing Casey with plenty of playmates and loads of attention. We kept busy with shopping, decorating christmas cookies, sledding in the 2 feet of snow, and playing with all of GG and GT's toys. Casey loved showing off her dance skills. She kind of does the "Elaine" (from Seinfeld). There is a little jump, skip, one leg straight, one leg bent, serious face, lots of twirls. Pretty funny.

Christmas morning, Casey decided to wake up extra early, 6:30 a.m., so after breakfast and stockings, she had to take a nap. I think it was all part of her plan...she wanted full attention when she opened her gifts. She had a blast the rest of the day playing with all her, Jack and Lily's toys. She got a new tricycle, the Little People Carnival, a tool bench, a book that spells her name (first and last), a bowling game, a new baby, a wagon/stroller/car all in one, a new ski jacket, a computer and tons more!!! We're all having fun playing with everything.

Within the past week, Casey has been putting words together more and more. She likes having conversations, whether it's to herself or to her baby. "gibberish, gibberish, lily, jack, gibberish, gibberish, mommy, daddy, sausage, pancake, etc."

Enjoy the pix...

Grandma Gail reading in her rocking chair by the fire...picture perfect.

resting with Grandpa Tom

she just poured water over her head

the girls sledding...oh and ivan

come on ride that train...

family photo...and frisco's not happy about it

decorating cookies...sorta

so excited about her new tool bench

bop it champ

mommy pushing casey around on her new trike

Blizzard of '09

Everyone has recovered from whatever bug was going around. Luckily, Tracy never got it. We got most of our chores done and even got a day of snowboarding in on Wednesday at Breckenridge before heading to the East Coast for Christmas. We left Colorado Thursday morning, stayed in Independence, MO Thursday night, then Cambridge, OH Friday night, driving in the GMC Yukon...all of us, including Stan this time.

The DC area got almost 2 feet of snow over the weekend. Which made the last day of our road trip a little more interesting. Luckily there were not a whole lot of cars on the roads. It was very eerie getting on the Beltway at 5:00 p.m. and not seeing another car for a couple miles. It took twice as long as it was supposed to...but we did finally make it to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Burke. Casey was a great traveler yet again. Frisco was too.

Casey has been having fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kelly, who flew in Sunday. Aunt Marcy, Lily and Jack came over Monday to go sledding. We stayed outside for hours playing with the neighborhood kids, teaching them how to do a sled train and how to make a jump. Casey wasn't too sure about sledding herself, but she had a great time watching everyone else sled.

Here are some pix. Merry Christmas!!

Casey and her Aunts

Casey sledding with Aunt Kel, while Lily and Aunt Marcy assist

Casey teaching Aunt Kel a song

SNOW

It's finally snowing. Snowed all day today, Casey got to go sledding down the drive way.

This week, Casey got the flu...she was up all night Thursday throwing up. The funny thing was that she would throw up, then she was ready to be wide awake and play. After messing up the crib, then the pack n' play, she ended up sleeping with mom the rest of the night. She had to miss her last day of tumbling, but after a long morning nap she started feeling much better. Stan on the other hand...is terribly sick today...

We got to go snowboarding at Abasin Saturday afternoon, thanks to the Butsons for watching Casey. Casey got to play with Connor and Dillon a lot this week. They had a blast!

We're packing up the rest of the week and we leave on Thursday to head to VA for the holidays!

at the top of abasin

her new favorite spot

casey, connor and dillon "the pianists"

dillon and casey "so cool"

little model

enjoying the snow

mommy, casey and frisco playing in the snow

Ring Around the Rosy

Casey is cracking us up lately. She likes showing off in front of anyone who will watch her. She knows how to "be cute." She'll look down and then slowly lift her head and smile. She loves playing and now singing "Ring Around the Rosy." She'll walk over and grab your hands and say "Rosy." She likes to sing, "all fall down!"

Thursday, Casey got the second part of her H1N1 shot. While waiting in line, she felt it was okay to lift her shirt, tuck it under her chin and flash the rest of the line, over and over and over and over. She has become very interested in her clothes...trying to take them off and put them on herself. Luckily, she has not really succeeded in taking them off on her own.

Thursday night Casey got to visit with Santa again. The town of Dillon had "the lighting of Dillon," an event with free hot dogs, cookies, cocoa, music and Santa. Casey had a blast, except when she sat on Santa's lap.

Friday she had tumbling. This time daddy got to attend and see her mad skills.

Saturday we had a Holiday Party at the house, which included fondue and 30 of our closest CO friends. Everyone had a great time. Mom and Dad got to go snowboarding both Saturday and Monday, thanks to our friends Kathy and Sean for watching Casey.

Casey would like to wish her Uncle Dave a belated Happy Birthday, Cousin Jack a Happy 2nd Birthday today and Cousin Ashlynne a Happy 8th Birthday coming up Wed.

Casey and Santa having fun

Casey riding in the car with blankey

at Keystone

Santa Baby

Casey went to visit Santa at Tysons on Monday before we came home...

Thanksgiving

We are back home from Thanksgiving in VA. Casey was great on the plane. Both to and from, several people commented at how good she was on the plane. Yay!

Our trip included a Virginia Tech game in Blacksburg; shopping; a visit with Chrissy; a couple of visits with Santa; lots of aunt/uncle/cousin time with Marcy, Stuart, Jack and Lily...etc.

Thanksgiving morning, Stan and Tracy ran the Drumstick Dash 5K in Roanoke, then enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Gramma Lois' with Aunt Linda, Uncle Marvin, Blair, Chad and their new baby boy, Grayson. Friday Casey got to hold Grayson...she loved pointing at him and saying, "baby!"

Sunday, Grandpa Tom took Tracy and Stan flying!! We took a Cesna 172 out to Rehobeth Beach, along the coast then back over Annapolis. Stan and I got to take over the controls once we were airborne. Very fun!!

Thanks to all our family for visiting and playing with Casey!

go hokies!

chillin' with gramma lois

cheesin with baby

stan flying

tracy hanging in the back of the cockpit...that's ocean city in the background

cousins

Artist

Casey was quite the artist this week. She played with sidewalk chalk at the rec center daycare and then later at home; she colored with crayons all week, one of her favorite activities (which is nice for mommy); and she got real messy with fingerpaints at home.

She is starting to notice her friends now. She will ask about her friends every once in a while, "Rowan?" She is also starting to play with her friends. We went to pick her up from the rec center daycare and Rowan and Casey were actually playing together on the slide. Sarah and Brian watched Casey on Saturday while mom, dad and Aunt Kel went riding at Keystone. They had fun chasing each other around the house. Aunt Kel babysat Casey Sat night while mom and dad went to a fundraising event for her daycare.

Casey is very much into climbing lately. She wants to climb on everything...the coffee table, up into chairs, under chairs, on her toys. She'll climb up onto her toy, then look around very proud. She is also starting to pretend play a lot more. She'll make her horse walk around, her little people walk around and jump off things. Her vocabulary is growing too. She repeats pretty much everything we say. She says, "Thank you" a whole lot and usually when she is actually supposed to. She is also putting together 2 word sentences. Sometime we're amazed by the things that come out of her mouth.

She is a little fiesty sometimes too. She had her first official "timeout" this past week. She kept hitting mommy with her toy. After 2 warnings, she was whisked upstairs into her crib, with no blankey. It took her a minute to register, but once she did, she cried until I came back a minute later to "discuss." After she calmed down, we came back downstairs and she continued playing, without hitting mommy. I'm sure it will always be that easy!!;)

Enjoy the pix.

trying to be blue like her Aunt Kel (aka, Smurfette) on Halloween

"cheese"

chalking up the sidewalk

Shots

Casey got her H1N1 and seasonal flu shot on Tuesday. She was not happy about it, but was very excited the Batman bandaids the Doctor put on her thighs.

Casey has become really social. When I dropped her off at daycare this week, she didn't cry. I left her at Kathy's to play with Dillon and Connor a couple times this week and she went straight for the toys. She still gets very emotional when I pick her up...crying and running to me as quickly as possible.

This week in swimming we worked more on blowing bubbles and putting her head under water. The teacher was amazed that it didn't phase her and actually smiled when her face went under.

She's still eating pretty well...not as well as she used to, but it usually means she's not that hungry. She takes one nap a day...usually around 12:30 p.m. And her naps are anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. She goes to bed between 7:15 and 8:00 p.m.

Today when we went to get her up from her nap, she was sitting up in her crib surrounded by her stuffed animals and blankets and didn't want to get out. She hung out in her crib for a good 15/20 minutes. She was the same way in the tub tonight. She was in there pouring water all over herself for over 30 minutes. And when I asked if she was all done, she kept saying, "No."

Enjoy pix.

Rowan and Casey at tumbling

future gymnast

jumping on the bed with Dillon and Connor

wearing daddy's shoes

Argh

If you couldn't already tell, Casey was a pirate for Halloween. And a really good one. We went to Frisco Main Street for trick or treating. The town closes Main St and the businesses hand out candy. She was a great trick or treater. We got there early, so there weren't many kids out, so she got all kinds of attention. We finished the night at the Boatyard with our friends Erica, Khristian, Sean, Kathy, Dillon and Connor.

Thursday we had our 2nd swim lesson. It was more exciting this time. She got to kick her legs and use her arms a little. Friday was her first tumbling class. She is taking it with her friend Rowan. They had so much fun. Hopefully I'll remember the camera this week. Casey ran around the entire 45 minutes. She loved the balance beam, makeshift slide and hanging from the bar. At the end of class they got to play with balls and she had so much fun on the bouncy ball that has a handle. She sat on it (with mom's help) and said "bouncy, bouncy" over and over.

Her naps were a little strange last week. She would go down at her normal naptime, but play in her crib for 30-60 min before finally falling asleep for an hour and a half. Hopefully that was just a phase.

Sunday Casey got to play with Dillon and Connor while Mom and Dad went snowboarding at Abasin. We go for the last hour and there are no lines. Thanks Kathy and Sean for babysitting!!

Today Casey got the H1N1 and the seasonal flu shot. Hoping not to get sick this winter...or at least not REALLY sick!

Casey would like to send out bday wishes to her Great Yellow Grandma who turns 89 on Sunday!

getting ready for a wagon ride to the playground

helping daddy shovel the driveway

a pirate coloring

argh...do you have candy?

argh...let me cross the street

18 Months Update

Casey is 18 months on November 1st. Her 18 month appointment was today. She weighed in at 22.8 lbs and is 2 feet, 7 inches tall, both in the 25th percentile. Her head circumfrence is 18.5 inches, which is 50-60 percentile, not quite a big head, but close. She was a big girl today when she got her hepatitis A shot. She barely cried. It's funny how fascinated she is by the bandaid they put on her thigh.

Swimmer

Casey started swim lessons this week. She did great. It was mostly singing songs and getting used to the water, which she is already comfortable with, but she had a great time anyway. She is so much taller and stronger than she was the last time I took her months ago. She can walk all over the baby pool by herself.

Sunday while Stan went snowboarding, I took Casey trick or treating at the outlets. Her pirate outfit was a huge hit. Everyone who walked by her made a comment of how cute she was. Obviously!! It snowed the whole day. We actually have snow in our yard now. So exciting. Sunday night we carved pumpkins. Casey did great shoveling out the pumpkin seeds.

Casey and I have a little bit of a cold this week. Hoping to get rid of it pretty quick. We've got swimming and tumbling starts Friday.

argh!

casey the pirate and dillon the lion

casey's pumpkin

casey and daddy's pumpkins

mommy and casey's pumpkins

sledding in the front yard