Cassidy Isn't Your Ordinary Little Girl!

I took Cassidy to get her nails painted after dance class this morning. One of her dance friends was having a hard time listening during class and didn't get a sticker when class ended. I took that opportunity to catch Cassidy doing something right, and told her we were going to get her nails painted because she was such a good listener in class. I love rewarding her when she's caught doing things right!
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As always, I was hopeful she'd pick a nice shade of pink for her nails. But no, she wanted her nails painted black. I wasn't surprised at all, but I got a shocked look when she handed over the bottle of black polish to the technician.


"Little girls don't usually pick black" she said.
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"Oh, I'm sure... but Cassidy isn't your ordinary little girl!" I replied.

2 Cute Princesses

The girlz looked so cute before school this morning, I had to take a picture. The clock seems to move faster and faster each day!

Evel Knievel Princess

It seems turning four has given Big C a new sense of confidence...

Valentine's Cakes

The weather here was crummy today... kind of drizzly, overcast, and cold. Cassidy and I decided it would be a good day to make a cake! So I pulled out the Wilton pans we inherited when Mama and Papa downsized, and found a set of three heart. Perfect!

Cassidy LOVES to cook, so she got right to work mixing the cake batter. She decided she wanted the icing to be purple, so we mixed blue and red food coloring into the icing hoping for purple. We ended up with more of a battleship gray, but if you get it in the right light it kind of looks lilac-ish.

Cassidy and Matt added sprinkles, and our masterpiece was complete... a cute set of three heart cakes!

We Met Hello Kitty!

Today was such a crazy, busy day. Campbell decided she didn't need to take a nap AT ALL, so we had to deal with Her Royal Crabbiness on top of all the running around. By 5PM, we were looking forward getting the grouch to bed. Campbell went down early, and Cassidy was too excited to settle down gracefully. Nice. But it was worth it because we had fun, and that's what counts. Right? RIGHT?!?

Anyway, dance class was first up this morning. After dance class, we went to church for a fundraising barbeque lunch. YUM! Cassidy actually ate some of the barbeque, and all of her hush puppies. Campbell sat in a booster chair, and ate fruit puffs and drank milk from her sippy cup. Everyone oohed and ahhed over them, and the girls loved all the attention.

After lunch, we zoomed back home and I got Cassidy ready to go out again. I drove her straight to my parking spot under the Evil Empire, and we stopped at The Nerdery to say hello to my Nerdy co-workers. This was a big weekend at The Nerdery, and we had Nerds in town from all across the country. They were busy doing very important Nerd activities, so we just stopped by to quickly say hello.

After the Nerds were finished packing Cassidy's pockets with candy (um, yeah... thanks guys), we headed across the street to the Sanrio store... and actually met the real Hello Kitty in person!!! Cassidy was beside herself, and ran up to Hello Kitty with her arms open wide (think Chariots of Fire). We got Cassidy a new Hello Kitty from the store, and Cassidy made sure to show the real Hello Kitty her new toy Hello Kitty as we left. Cassidy thought it was SO COOL that she got to meet the real Hello Kitty.

What a fun day!

At Church

Meeting Hello Kitty!!

And our poor little pooped-out princess struggled to stay awake on the ride home!

A New Chapter

We started a new chapter in our lives this morning. Bye bye, infant carrier... hello car seat! This is a big deal, and not just because it means Little C is growing. This means figuring out a whole new morning routine... ugh.

It was very challenging trying to get both girls out the door and in the car this morning, while carrying a blanketed Little C and her insulated Gymbo bag, back-up bottle, distraction toy, pacifier, and clean pair of back-up pants.

It's alot harder when you can't just set Little C on the sidewalk for a second. We'll figure it out one of these days. There are plenty of people with 2+ kids who figured it out, so I can too!

Finally ready for the drive the school!

In Case You Didn't Know...

I picked the girls up from school early today so Cassidy and Daddy could get to the Dora Live! show on time.

When I got to Cassidy's classroom, she immediately started chattering about Hammer-Ham Lincoln again... Mommy! John Wilkes Booth hurt Hammer-Ham Lincoln! And then Hammer-Ham Lincoln died. John Wilkes Booth was not nice to Hammer-Ham Lincoln! Mommy! He was not a good friend!

Yep, that pretty much sums up the whole assassination thing. John Wilkes Booth was not a good friend to Hammer-Ham Lincoln... just in case you didn't already know.

Happy Birthday, Hammer-Ham Lincoln!

Cassidy came home from school today all excited about "Hammer-Ham" Lincoln's birthday. On the way home, she told us all about how Hammer-Ham Lincoln is on the penny and the 5 dollar bill. The kids even made Hammer-Ham Lincoln hats, which Cassidy HAD to wear as soon as we got home.

I'm quite certain this child is going to end up skipping a grade.

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In other news, it's time to transition Little C out of the infant carrier and into a rear-facing car seat. I can't believe we're about to retire our trusty infant carrier! We bought new car seats yesterday and fit Campbell to her new car seat last night. We're going to try to get them installed this weekend... hopefully.

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She looks so grown-up in her new seat. I can't believe this is happening already!

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Thanks, Mama and Papa!

Mama and Papa got Cassidy a new set of markers and a writing pad for Valentine's Day. She was thrilled, because she loves markers and she's obsessed with writing her name/her friends names/whatever else she can spell. Luckily, Mama and Papa got the washable markers... just in case the urge to draw on the wall or furniture ever got to be too tempting.

The princess was still a bit cranky today, so she spent some time this evening chillin' in her playroom. When Matt went to get her for bathtime, this is what he found...

Her face...

Right arm...
Left arm...

Foot...

She had covered herself from head to toe in marker artwork. Somehow (and I don't think I'll ever know how) she didn't get anything on the carpet, walls, or playroom furniture. Crazy!

To make matters worse, she was sitting on the bean bag chair and her hair was full of static. When she sat up, her hair looked like this...

The poor little tuckered-out princess was quite a sight. Lucky for me, it was Matt's turn to do Cassidy's bath!

Whoo-Hoo! Thanks, Mama and Papa!!

A Cranky Princess, Times Two

Nana, Poppie, and Cassidy had a sleepover last night! Nana said Cassidy didn't fall asleep until midnight, which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay later than she usually goes to sleep. She clearly had a grand old time with Nana and Poppie, but I had a feeling it was going to be a rough day. It was. She looked like the same pretty princess as always, but her tolerance for things not going her way was far lower than normal.

She actually threw a temper tantrum in Kohl's... and then started to throw another one in Stuff-Mart!!! I'm not exaggerating when I say this child has never, ever thrown a tanrum in a store before. She can throw a mean tantrum, but she knows better than to do it in a store. Today was different, and she just couldn't handle the fact that I wasn't going to buy the Disney Princess gift card holder from Kohl's. I'm rude like that.

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I had even let her wear her rainboots and princess dress to the store trying to head off an incident. Didn't work. Don't let the smile fool you... she was in a ROTTEN mood!

In order to ensure the family dynamics stayed balanced, Campbell decided to nap for a grand total of 20 minutes today. 20 minutes!!! By 6PM, she was a wreck. I put on her sign language video so Matt and I could eat the scrumptious Valentine dinner he cooked. Campbell tends to go to sleep when we try to teach her something, and it did the trick once again...

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She fell sleep STANDING UP in her exersaucer.

And that's when I started to re-think our decision to put the flowers in that beer glass. Maybe it might do better with beer in it, after all...

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Valentine Bird made his annual visit to our house, and left wonderful gifts for the girls! If you need a refresher on the history of the Valentine Bird, you can find it here.

Cassidy was really excited about the Valentine Bird coming to visit. She even asked me how he would get into our house to leave our gifts. Thinking quickly, I told her we'd leave a key under the doormat for him. She spent the night with Nana and Poppie last night, so I made sure to leave the key on her behalf.

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Sure enough, the key and the girl's gifts were sitting on our dining room table when Cassidy got home this morning!! I'm so glad we have a cool tradition like this (that nobody else has!!) to pass on to our children.

Cassidy in her new dress!

Campbell and her new ja-mamas!!

Flowers and a New Beer Glass!

The most wonderful Valentine gift came to the house today!! Flowers and a super-sized fancy beer glass! I was on a conference call when the doorbell rang, but luckily Matt had taken the day off and fetched the package from the front porch.

After giving it some serious thought, we decided to put the flowers inside the fancy beer glass. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

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Aren't they beautiful?!?

Black Beauty Got A Flat

The spare tire on Black Beauty tends to run low. It has a sensor in it, so I'm constantly fighting with the low tire pressure light. Since it's on more than it's off, I've come to ignore it.

Not a good choice on my part... this is what we found in our driveway before church yesterday morning.
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I didn't notice Black Beauty's injury when Matt first called me to the window. But then he said, "I think your low tire pressure light's on..." and my heart sank. Poor Black Beauty. I hope nobody else saw her all broke down like that.

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So after dropping the girls off at school this morning, I went to the gas station and put more air in the spare like I should have done 2 years ago. Hopefully next time I'll know when the pressure's low on one of the important tires!

A Gorgeous Afternoon

The weather this afternoon was gorgeous... just GORGEOUS. After church, we made a point to stay outside as much as possible. We played in the backyard, stopped by the local park after fetching Black Beauty from the shop, took a walk around the neighborhood, and drew all over the sidewalk. We even opened the windows for a while to let the house air out.

What a great day! With the exception of Black Beauty's boo-boo, it was a great day full of nothing but fun-fun-fun.

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I'm ready for spring!!!

Two Pretty Princesses

Nana Jill and Poppie Bill bought the girls matching dresses for Valentine's Day. They wore them to church today and looked ADORABLE. Take a look!!

Thanks, Nana Jill and Poppie Bill!!!

Our Own Baby Einstien

Evidently, Cassidy's class has been learning about George Washington in honor of the upcoming President's Day holiday. She came home today all excited about George Washington... He was our first president! He chopped down a cherry tree! He had wooden teeth!

Check out the video...

Dee Dee Doodle Goes To School

Cassidy decided she wanted to wear her Dee Dee Doodle costume (from the Doodle Bops) to school yesterday. I didn't see the harm in it, as long as she wore a long-sleeved shirt and tights underneath. She did pick a plain white turtleneck, but then chose a pair of maroon striped tights that clashed quite nicely with the Dee Dee Doodle dress.

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Yes, I took my princess to school dressed like a messed-up clown. I'm enjoying this while it lasts, and getting LOTS of pictures...

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Dee Dee Doodle and Baby, ready for school!

Different Flowers From The Same Garden

Shortly after Campbell was born, I saw something (I forget what it was... probably a frame) that said "Sisters are different flowers from the same garden". I didn't buy whatever the product was, but the phrase stuck with me. As Campbell grows, I'm really starting to understand what that phrase means. I have two sisters, and when I was growing up my parents would sometimes say "you looked just like Linda/Terry just then". I always thought that was pretty cool. It's WAY cooler to see it first-hand as a parent!

Last night, Campbell was taking a bath in the duck (the same duck Cassidy used to bathe in). Campbell picked up her squeaky duck toy, and proceeded to chew on the duck's head. Cassidy did something eerily similar when she was just about the same age Campbell is now.

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And that's when I saw it - two different flowers from the same garden.

Cassidy munching on her duck's head - October 2005

Campbell munching on her duck's head - February 2009

Top Twelve!

Dear Sergeant Sexy,

As you know, today is our 7th wedding anniversary. In honor of this momentous occasion, I've prepared a Top Twelve list of my favorite "Matt" moments. I tried to pare it down to a Top Ten, but I just couldn't.

Top Twelve Favorite "Matt" Moments

12. You showed up at our wedding. That was pretty cool of you, since you never actually asked me to marry you.

11. Pinning you during your promotion ceremonies - two in one year!! Go, Matt!

10. Every moment of every Race Weekend in Martinsville. Elvis says "stop"!

9. Building our first home, and vowing to never fool around with new construction again. Building our second and third homes, and remembering why we'd vowed not to build again.

8. Our "honeymoon" trip to Nelson County two and a half years after our wedding. Better late than never, right?

7. Driving myself to the ER with a kidney stone. Driving myself back to the ER four days later with a broken hand. Yep... thanks for that.

6. Getting pulled over for speeding on route 460 in frickin' Nottoway County... AGAIN. I've gotten more tickets on 460 than I care to remember. So what made this one different? You were in the car with me, and your version of "help" was to fetch my registration from the glove compartment. Yep... thanks for that, too.

5. The day you told me I looked like J-Lo. We were waiting for the elevator by Dr. OBGYN's office, and I had my sunglasses on so no one could see my tears. I'll never forget what it felt like to get such a sweet compliment during one of my darkest moments.

4. Juno's moon boots. Remember how funny he walked with them strapped to his little paws? I'm so glad we got that on tape!!

3. Hanging blinds on every window in our new house. Not once, not twice... THREE TIMES.

2. Every trip we've taken to the Outer Banks. I have fantastic memories of every single one... even the ones we shared with hurricanes.

1. The look on your face the moment Cassidy and Campbell were born.

Thank you for 8 awesome years of friendship. Thank you for being my BFF. Thank you for my babies. Thank you for all the great memories... I look forward to many, many more. Happy Anniversary!!

Baby Chompers

I was finally able to get a picture of Campbell's little baby chompers. So cute!!!

Through The Eyes of Big C

Matt got me a fancy new camera for Christmas, so we rarely pull out the old one anymore. I had the old one out last night to get the video of Campbell talking, and Big C was dying to take some pictures of her own. The next thing we knew, she'd disappeared. I had to laugh when I uploaded the pictures this morning... take a look at a few of the pictures she took. It's totally a roadmap of some of her favorite things. I'll have to let her loose outside one day and see what she comes up with!

Daddy

Baby's Gymbo Blanket

Her Princess Balloon

Her Baby (and my hand)

Her Feet

Dora on TV