Campbell Has Spoken!

Campbell has said her first word! And the winner is........... "Da Da". Just like her sister.

Where's the love for Mommy?!?!?

Helpful hint for the technologically challenged: Pause the Steven Curtis Chapman music before pressing play on the video below. You can pause the music by locating the Playlist box on the right of the screen, and clicking the pause button on the top left corner.

Frozen Morning Jew, Not Snow

When Big C looked out the window this morning, she noticed the ground was white. "Snow!" she said, and I had to break the bad news... not snow, just frozen Morning Jew.

She was disappointed, but was able to summon enough enthusiasm to run around the front lawn waving her arms and yelling "Morning Jew! Morning Jew! Morning Jew!"

Our neighbors must wonder what we're teaching our children.

Admiring the Morning Jew

Morning Jew! Morning Jew!

Kid's Night at Chick-Fil-A

I took Cassidy to Kid's Night at Chick-Fil-A tonight. Ashley told me that she paints faces there every other Thursday, so we decided to check it out and return the cup she left behind last Saturday while we were at it.

Cassidy had her picture taken with the cow, ate chicken (hooray!), got a butterfly painted on her face, and played on the playground. That's pretty much as fun as life gets for her, so she had absolutely no interest in leaving.

She surprised me and threw a mini-tantrum. Luckily, a nice man had mercy on me and distracted her long enough to end the tantrum. She pouted a bit on the way home, but snapped out of it rather quickly. It barely registered as a tremor on the Tantrum Richter Scale, and we finished off the night without anymore drama.

Whew!!

Cassidy and the Chick-Fil-A cow

Getting her face painted!

Our beautiful butterfly

Playing in the kid's area

Pouting in the car on the way home...

Big C and Little C, right before bathtime

4 Year Well-Princess Check-Up

Cassidy had her 4 year check-up at the doctor today, and she's growing right on schedule! She weighs 34.25 pounds (44th percentile) and is 39.5 inches tall (43rd percentile).

The doctor assessed her language and motor skills, and Cassidy is well into the 5 year-old range... she's ahead of her peers. I never thought I'd get to say this, but Cassidy isn't just ahead, but far ahead of her peers!! The doctor commented on the intelligence of some of the answers Cassidy provided during the questionnaire... for example, one question was "what does a pencil do?" Cassidy's answer was "trace".

One item of concern is Cassidy's right ear. There's scar tissue in it, which means her ear drum must have ruptured at some point... probably back in the days of consecutive ear infections. I felt bad to know Cassidy has probably lost some hearing in that ear, and vowed once again to push harder for tubes if Campbell needs them.

The only real downer of the appointment was the shots. Cassidy had to have 4 today - three in her legs and one in her arm. She wasn't happy, but seems to have recovered nicely. She made sure Campbell and Daddy saw her bandages and made an appropriate amount of fuss over them. Luckily, she doesn't have to have anymore shots (other than a flu shot) until she turns 9.

Future Employee of "The Nerdery"

I'm proud to say that Mama and Papa are already priming Little C for a lucrative job at The Nerdery. They got her a laptop for Christmas, and she's already started figuring out how to hold the mouse and where she should look to watch for the action.

I imagine she'll take my parking spot underneath the Evil Empire when I retire.

Compiling her first evil mainframe program.

Figuring out how the laptop works. Maybe she'll be an HP tech?

I'm ready for work! Where's my Nerd Badge?

Party Recovery Time

We bundled up and played outside for a while this afternoon, getting some fresh air to recover from all the birthday party excitement.

Cassidy loves throwing acorns off the dock into the marsh!!

Peeking through the "tunnel" (Cassidy-speak for the archway leading to the dock)

Happy Birthday, Pop and Cassidy!

We've had a wonderful and EXHAUSTING day! The kids had a great time, and our friend Ashley did another outstanding job with the face painting and balloon art. Pop and Cassidy had a Hello Kitty party, and our house looked like Hello Kitty had exploded all over it. It looked awesome!

The Birthday cake

Blowing out the candles (Pop always lets Cassidy do it).

Birthday Boy, Birthday Girl, and the two generations in between!

AAAAHHHH!! Alex turned into a tiger!!

Cassidy and her best friend

Campbell and Gramma Kathy

Campbell loves Aunt Amy!

Meet Her Royal Highness, Princess Kate!

Campbell and Aunt Nita

Beautiful Lilly
Miss Cherry had cherries painted on her hand!
Go Hokies!!

Meredith and Lindsey made this sign for Cassidy!

Birthday Party Prep

When we were planning for Cassidy's first birthday party, I realized her birthday fell 9 days before my Grandpa's. Seizing an opportunity to do something really cool, we decided to have a dual party for Pop and Cassidy. Our family is large, so once you've added our extended family and a few friends to the list, we start approaching about 55 people. Planning a party of this size is no small task, so I document EVERYTHING - number of people invited and actual attendees, the name and contact number of each place that provides food, amount of food ordered and amount consumed, my "to do" lists, task schedule, etc.. You see where I'm going.

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In years past, Matt has steered clear of my uber-planning and watches the entire process in horror. If it doesn't involve Nascar, criminals, gas grills, guns, or Paula Deen, it gets filed under "SnoozeFest" in his book.

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Tonight, we were trying to figure out how to best place the food/drinks/plates/utensils on the counters. I gave him a pad of paper and asked him to write each item on a piece of paper down and set the paper on the counter in the spot the item should go. Not only did he do it (and do a FANTASTIC job, I might add), but he actually asked me for sticky notes so the papers wouldn't be accidentally shuffled or lost.

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He's a good man. And at that exact moment, I fell in love with him all over again.

Sticky notes strategically placed...

... and labeled accordingly!

How can the princess be 4 years old already?

I've checked and double-checked the calendar. Today is January 22, 2009. Our pretty princess was born on January 22, 2005 at 8:31AM. I have the documentation to prove it... so yes, she's definitely 4 years old today.

4 years ago, I was laid out in the operating room feeling uber-sick and anxiously waiting to hear Cassidy cry. As soon as she was born, I asked Matt, "Is she okay? Is she still a girl? Is she okay? What does she look like?". His response? "She has big hands. Like you." I'm still waiting for the day this comment becomes funny.

It seems like she grew up in the blink of an eye. In one year, we'll be registering her for Kindergarten. Soon after, she'll start riding a bus to school.

How in the world did this happen?

Newborn Cassidy

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

Today

My Baby Has Teeth

Campbell's 2 middle bottom teeth came in last night at 10PM. When I dropped her off at school during our "winter storm" yesterday morning, I could feel the hard bumps sitting just beneath the surface. They had started to poke through by bedtime last night. And at 10PM on the nose, my precious baby woke up screaming bloody murder while simultaneously curling her lower lip over her new teeth.

I got my first (and only) glimpse of the teeth on Sunday afternoon at Gramma Kathy's house. Campbell won't let us see them, so a picture at this point is completely out of the question. But give us a week or so for the teeth to fully come in, and hopefully we'll be able to post a picture of Campbell's new grin.

I can't believe I only got 7 months to stare at that adorable gummy smile. Time is moving much too fast.

Princess Chatterbox

Cassidy LOVES to talk, especially on the way to school each morning. This morning, she wanted to take her Cinderella cell phone with her to school.

Once we were moving, she asked me what Marissa's phone number was. I made up a number and she punched it into her phone. The conversation she had was hilarious... it went something like this: "Hi Marissa, it's Cassidy. How are you? What?!? Are you KIDDING?!?! Ok, I'll see you soon. I love you, bye."

Then she deicded she needed to call Daddy. That conversatio nwent something like this: "Hi Daddy, it's Cassidy. Are you at work? How are you? What?!? Are you KIDDING?!?! Ok, I'll see you soon. I love you, bye."

Then, Princess Chatterbox said the FUNNIEST THING EVER... she said, "Mommy, what does "kidding" mean?"

If you're reading this and you regularly say "are you kidding?!?" around the pretty princess, please know that she's studying every move you make. Ya better watch it!

And Christmas Continues...

Right before Christmas, Aunt Nita and I talked about how to handle exchanging gifts for the kids. We decided it would probably be best to wait a few weeks until Matt came home. Uncle Matt is home, so the girls got to celebrate Christmas again!! Check out these great gifts Aunt Nita, Uncle Matt, and Gabriel got the girls!!

Campbell got a Leap Frog Walker/Ride-On Train!! There are so many buttons to push and tons of flashing lights... she LOVES it!!! Look at that grin!

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Cassidy got a Princess Belle dress, complete with Princess Belle shoes and a daisy necklace. She also got a Very Hungry Caterpillar puzzle! Cassidy has been wanting a Belle dress FOH-EV-UH, so she really needed to put it on and work on her puzzle first thing this morning!!

Too Much Fun Crammed Into 1 Day

We had SUCH a busy day today... way too busy, but there wasn't any part of it we were willing to miss. So we pushed through, and were able to enjoy all of the fun!

After Sunday School, we raced back home to wrap 2 sets of birthday presents - one set for Gabriel and another set for Marissa. We wolfed down some lunch, changed into our fancy clothes, and were back on the road headed to Gabriel's baptism less than an hour later. After the ceremony, the girls and I headed to Gramma Kathy's house while Daddy helped Uncle Matt get ready for Gabriel's birthday party. Cassidy LOVED Gramma's house... it's very kid-friendly, just like Gramma! Cassidy also has a new best friend - Aunt Jenny. We've spent time with Aunt Jenny at other family functions, but something special happened between Cassidy and Jenny today. I suspect there's a new bond there that won't be easily broken.

After handing Campbell off to Daddy at Gabriel's birthday party, I took Cassidy down the road to Marissa's birthday party. She had a gymnastics party at a local gym, and it was F-U-N!!!

Once Marissa's party started to wind down, I packed Cassidy back up and headed back to Gabriel's birthday party.

We're EXHAUSTED. It's been a long, rainy day... but it sure was fun!!

Gabriel getting baptised.

Daddy and Cassidy after the baptism.

Cassidy and Gramma Kathy sitting on the edge of the sanctuary fountain... I think maybe it has holy water in it? I'm sure there's a proper name for this fountain, but I don't know what it is.

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The Three Musketeers bouncing on the trampoline.

Cassidy loved jumping into a huge pit filled with blue foam blocks!!

The Three Musketeers posing on the beam.


The Three Musketeers on the moon bounce. The instructor deflated it, and let the children lay on it while it re-inflated. They thought it was great!!

Cassidy on the high beam.

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Cydney and Cassidy watch Marissa blow out her candles!

Campbell and Aunt Nita's Mom. I'm amazed at what a cool extended family we have, and feel so blessed that our children will grow up feeling so much love!

Campbell and Uncle Matt (it was late, and Campbell was ready to go).

Matt and Matt, Two Peas in a Pod