Playhouse Disney Live!

We took Cassidy to see Playhouse Disney Live on Tour yesterday afternoon. Many of her favorite "people" were there - the Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, Tigger & Pooh, and Handy Manny! Cassidy had SO MUCH fun, and loved every second of the show!! She sat still the entire time, and then cried and cried when the show ended.

The Show's Sign ->

Daddy and Cassidy waiting for the show to start ->




Mommy and Cassidy enjoying the show ->

Some of Cassidy's favorite "people" ->

A Visit to the Coleman Collection

So today we decided to take Cassidy on her first trip to see the Coleman Collection!! For anyone not from this area, the "Coleman Collection" is comprised of many, many elaborate winter/holiday displays. In 1966, the Winter Wonderland became a regional attraction at Coleman's Nursery. In 2004, Coleman's Nursery was torn down in the name of progress and the "Coleman Collection" was sold to the Portsmouth Museum Foundation. The collection is being displayed in a gallery in downtown Portsmouth as part of Portsmouth_Holidays_In_The_City.

Matt and I both share childhood memories of the winter wonderland displays - he and his parents used to go to Coleman's Nursery every Christmas, and Pop used to take me and Ande every Christmas!

Cassidy LOVED it. When she saw the first display, she said "Oh wow! Look at that!!".

Afterward, we walked down the block to the Children's Museum. We didn't go inside, because there was a train and a tiny carousel in the garden area!!! We rode the train twice, and Cassidy rode the carousel by herself. By that time, it was lunchtime and we were ready to go home. Here are some pictures of today's fun!

Winter Wonderland Entrance Sign ->

One of the displays ->

Shhh! Santa is sleeping! ->

Cassidy enjoying Winter Wonderland ->


Cassidy working on her angel craft after checking out Winter Wonderland (she's still leaning toward being a lefty... we're waiting to see how that turns out) ->
Mommy and Cassidy ready to ride the train! ->

Go Train, Go!! ->

Cassidy on the carousel ->

My Head is SO BIG!!!

As most everyone knows, Cassidy has (and has always had) a big head. Like many of her other quirks, she gets it from her Daddy. When she was a newborn, her doctor sent us to CHKD to have an ultrasound done on her head. Luckily, the ultrasound results showed that Cassidy had lots of brains in her 3 month-old head. At about 10 months, her head exceeded the 100th percentile. So we quickly found ourselves back at CHKD for a CT Scan on that big noggin. Again, we were thankful that the scan showed lots of brains and nothing suspicious.

We've learned to make accommodations for the head - buying size 5T hats, making sure there is plenty of leeway in shirt collars, etc... Well earlier this week, I was helping Cassidy put on a dress for school. The dress was a corduroy jumper and came with the cutest little turtleneck, but unfortunately it didn't have any buttons to widen the head hole... a recipe for certain disaster. The dress fit great, but I honestly thought I was going to snap her head off trying to fit it through that tiny little opening. In the heat of the moment, I said "Cassidy! Your head is SO BIG!"

And what has she been saying ever since that morning? "My head is SO BIG!!!"

So THAT'S who brings the presents!!!

Last night, Cassidy and I were looking at some old pictures and I ran across one I had taken of our very first Christmas tree in 2001. The conversation went like this:

Mommy: Oh look, Cassidy! What's this a picture of?

Cassidy: A Christmas tree! Presents!! (pointing)

Mommy: Look at all those presents!! Who do you think put those presents under the tree?

Cassidy: Gramma Kathy!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy: You know, I think you're probably right. I bet Gramma Kathy did put those presents there.

Can you believe all this time I thought Santa put those presents under our tree?!?!

When do we get to the part where she starts outgrowing her clothes?!?

I'm starting to wonder if she's ever going to outgrow some of these clothes!!! In the last week, Cassidy has developed a thing about tights - she wants to wear them every single day, and even asks to wear them to bed sometimes. This morning I decided to do something different, and I pulled a skirt out of her closet instead of going straight for a dress. I'd honestly forgotten about the skirt - it was given to her in the summer of 2005 and she hasn't worn it in a while. I took a quick look at it, and it looked like the right size (plus it matched the one clean set of tights we had), so I put it on her and we went downstairs.

It wasn't until we got downstairs that I started thinking "Hmmm... you know, she's had that skirt for a really, really long time. I wonder what size it is??". I checked the label, and it's a 6-12 month size. Here we are, quickly closing in on her 3rd birthday, and she's still wearing her 6-12 month size clothes. And she's not completely potty trained, so she's even got extra padding from her diaper. When do we get to the part where she starts to outgrow her clothes?!?



And yes, she does wear the crown to school. She wears the crown EVERYWHERE.

A Mommy and Cassidy Day

Cassidy's school was closed today for teacher training, so I took a day off of work and decided to take Cassidy to Kangaroo_Jacs. I figured we may avoid a crowd since today isn't a holiday and the public school classes aren't cancelled. Luckily, I was right and Cassidy had a great time without getting trampled by the bigger kids!!!

For anyone not familiar with Kangaroo Jacs, it's a huge warehouse full of giant inflatables. The slides are a big hit with Cassidy, but because she's so puny she's had a hard time climbing the bigger ones. Not today - our little munchkin has grown some muscle!! Cassidy climbed to the top of the biggest inflatable, The Fortress, at least 8 or 9 times!!! Imagine our tiny little girl at the top of an inflatable so tall that it literally reaches the ceiling of the warehouse... she had a great time! Even better, she met two new friends, Ethan and Kayla. Today was a great Mommy and Cassidy Day!

I couldn't resist taking this picture as Cassidy crawled into one of the smaller inflatables ->

Cassidy at the top of her favorite inflatable (a nice, reasonable-sized one) ->

The Fortress... when you're standing at the top, your head is level with the green stripe and you can see over the top of the banner (the banner covers the slide, presumably so people don't get freaked out over how high up they are). You can see how much taller it is than the other inflatables. Plus, this one has rock wall-like grips, not the easier-to-climb long strips like the others. Can you believe she climbed this thing 8 or 9 times?!? ->


After I finished this post, I went upstairs to check on Cassidy. She was so tired, she was asleep on the floor of her playroom! ->