Walking Shoes and Monkey Feet

Campbell's teachers asked me to start bringing shoes to school so she could walk on the deck when they go outside. Even though I didn't really want to, I pulled out Cassidy's first walking shoes last night and found a pair for Campbell.

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The shoes seem to change her appearance from infant to toddler. Shoes off, she looks like an infant. Shoes on, she looks like a toddler.

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I caught Cassidy picking up her sippy cup with her feet this morning. Either she's seen her Daddy picking up things with his feet, or this is another one of those Daddy Genes she inherited. We identified the One Sock Gene early on... now it's looking like she got the Monkey Feet Gene, too. I wonder what's next?

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She's Walking!

It's official, Campbell is walking. I shot this video earlier tonight!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy and Papa!

We got a WONDERFUL night's sleep last night! Whew!!

After the VBS Closing at church, we took Daddy and Papa to lunch for Father's Day. We couldn't do it last weekend because of all the other stuff going on.

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We had planned to go to a fancy place, but then decided on the Picadilly. When I was in my early 20's, Mama and Papa would take me to the Picadilly for lunch after church every Sunday. It was fun to do it again, and was the safer choice since we had Princess Destructo in tow.

Cassidy's Jello was a little runny, so Daddy helped her drink it...

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... and it left a mark!

By the end of lunch, Campbell was done. I'm so glad we ditched the fancy restaurant idea!!

It's About To Get Ugly Around Here

Mama and Papa gave us the most wonderful gift today - they took Princess Destructo to their house and aren't bringing her back until tomorrow!! She has been up every night for MONTHS, so we've been looking forward to tonight's sleep all week.

Cassidy wasn't thrilled that Campbell was getting a sleepover and she wasn't, so we promised to do something special with her. We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, and they were having a patio sale. She fell in love with a princess dress she found, so we got it for her. We stopped at 7-11 after dinner and got Slurpees. She's happy.

Unfortunantely, Party Central is hopping next door. Our neighbors seen to think they live in a frat house and have thrown some crazy parties over the last three years. Last year we actually had to call the police because the party guests started physically fighting at 2AM. Needless to say, we had higher expectations when we moved into this neighborhood.

Sweet Baby Jesus, please inspire them to quiet down tonight by 10PM. We've had a very long week and really need this rest.

This is the view from our front porch. There are at least 8 more cars around the corner that you can't see.

Back to Dance

After a short break, we're back to Saturday morning dance class. Nancy Kate was the only one of our friends who came back for this session. It was definitely great to see her, but we missed our other friends!! I'm hoping some of them took a break for the summer and will be back in the fall.

VBS Day 6 - We Made It!

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life. I loved every minute of it, but am glad it's all behind us until next year. We'll all have some great memories of this year's VBS!!!

Cassidy and her new friend Sara

Cassidy playing with Play-Doh

Campbell relaxing at home after the last night of VBS

VBS Day 5 PLUS Gymnastics!!!

I made a deal with Cassidy. She's been using the potty during the day for over a year now, and I felt it was time to break the nighttime Pull-Up habit. She's been asking to take gymnastics, so we agreed that I would enroll her in gymnastics if she would stay dry at night for 2 full weeks. I made a chart so she could mark off each day that she woke up dry. She looked forward to putting her stickers on the chart every morning, and proudly sailed through the two weeks without batting a royal eyelash.

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Unfortunantely, I didn't plan properly this time. If I had mapped out the two weeks on our calendar, I would have noticed VBS was the week following the two-week test. Although I really didn't want to, I added one more thing into today's absolute insanity and took Cassidy to gymnastics after school like I'd promised.

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I'm glad I did... that lucky duck was the only one that showed up for her class, so she got a private session!!

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In my rush to wrap up work and get out of the house on time with all the VBS stuff, Campbell's things, and Sergeant Sexy's Security Ranger outfit, I forgot to put the memory card in my camera. I had to take pictures with my phone, so they're not very good... but you'll get the idea. They worked on equipment in three different rooms, so I was only able to get pictures when they were in the room next to the waiting room. She looks so tiny in that big gym!

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And because of the camera snafu, we went another night without any pictures of Campbell at VBS!

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VBS - Day 4... Sooooooo Tired

We're really starting to drag. It's been four straight days of early mornings, school/work all day, working VBS at night until 9:15PM, 20 minute drive home, everyone bathed and down by 10:15PM, and then up with Campbell 1-3 times during the night. VBS is so rewarding for the kids and I love that we're planting seeds in their little minds... but we're soooo tired!

I'm teaching one of the preschool classes this year, and Sergeant Sexy is a Security Ranger. He looks so handsome in his VBS t-shirt and Security Ranger badge!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Campbell from tonight. She's come down with a case of separation anxiety, and being completely exhausted doesn't help. In order to have mercy on the Nursery teachers, I try to stay away from that room as much as possible.

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Cassidy and Dixie!

VBS - Day 3

Campbell spent the morning at the local children's hospital getting some tests done, so we left her home with Mama and Papa tonight since she'd already had a long and stressful day.

We missed her, but still had tons of fun!!

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Dinner tonight was pizza!!!

Guess who ate a cupcake with green icing?!?

Playing the 4 year-old version of Musical Chairs... we did it outside with carpet squares instead of chairs. We never removed any of the squares, so there were no tears, no hurt feelings!!

VBS - Day 2

Today was another fun day at VBS!

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Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo surrounded by the "crowd"

There was a rainbow in the sky during games!!

Cassidy loves VBS!!

Playing with shaving cream

VBS - Day 1

Vacation Bible School started tonight! It's going to be an awesome week... Matt and I are both working VBS and the girls are enjoying all the fun.

Here's a picture of the girls at dinner tonight. Cassidy is on the white team (my team), and Campbell is in the nursery. I took this picture right before Campbell dumped my salad all over the table. While we were cleaning it up, she reached over and threw Cassidy's dinner off the table and onto the floor. I'm sure it was probably hilarious to watch from afar, but we were not amused.

I think we're going to start calling her "Princess Destructo".

A Fun-Filled Afternoon Before VBS

We had a few hours to kill between church and VBS... what to do? There wasn't enough time to pack everybody up and go to one of the pools, so we improvised. Cassidy and I made cupcakes while Campbell took a nap and Daddy transferred video for work. When everyone was awake again, we spent some time in the plastic tub on the back deck.

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Somebody really needed to lick the spoon. Can you guess who that might have been?

Icing the cupcakes with pink icing

Princesses in the pool

Her fat rolls look so cute in a bikini... I wish mine did too!!

Shooting the silly string Mama gave her (with some help from Daddy)

Rory's Graduation Party

The girl's cousin graduated from high school today! We didn't go to the ceremony, but we definitely made to sure get to the party.

We had so much fun, and Cassidy had a blast playing with her cousin Alex. We left Aunt Linda's house about the same time as Mama and Papa and ended up on the same boat coming home! Even though she got on the boat in our car, Cassidy ended up getting off the boat in Mama and Papa's car (no surprise there!).

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Cassidy on the boat

Checking out the portholes

Mama and Cassidy... everytime I take a picture from this angle, they're always in lockstep with each other. Interesting!!
See how hard the wind is blowing? It would have been nice if it were a cool wind... but even on the water, it was a hot wind.

Seagulls waiting for the propellers to churn up some fish

An After School Swim

We made plans to meet Meredith and Lindsey at the community pool after school today. We had such a great time, and it was a wonderful way to wrap up a stressful week.

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The swim team was practicing when we got there, and it brought back fond memories of my days on the swim team.

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Note to self: We need to do this more often!!!

All About My Daddy

Cassidy came home from school last night with a special gift for Daddy... a Father's Day card with an "All About Daddy" worksheet in it!




In case you can't read it, this is what the worksheet says...

1. What color hair does my Daddy have? Black

2. What color eyes does my Daddy have? blue like mine [Yes - the exact same shade of ice blue]

3. How tall is my Daddy? taller than Mommy [That's correct, Captain Obvious]

4. What does my Daddy like to do with me most? play

5. How old is Daddy? 20 [not even close, Cassidy!]

6. When is Daddy's birthday? June 21 [nope, about 5.5 months off]

7. Does Daddy like sports? Yes

8. What is Daddy's favorite sport? Soccer and I can be the cheerleader [Only if the soccer game is the kind where they drive race cars in circles]

9. What is Daddy's favorite food? He likes to eat chicken and Pepsi [Yes!]

Recital Pics Are In!!

Check out our beautiful ballerina mouse...

The Frogs Have New Names

As I was tucking Cassidy into bed tonight, she informed me that our frogs have new names.... I was shocked to learn we no longer have a "Cydney" frog and a "Marissa" frog living with us. The frogs are now named "Ms.CherryandCassidy" frog and "Campbell" frog. Her originality is underwhelming at best.

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They actually swim around the tank like that, they don't just lie still. The love between our two frogs is incredible.

An 'A' For Effort

Cassidy has a thing about make-up... she loves it. I usually only let her wear the super-light pink shades that you can't see, so imagine her excitement when she got to wear stage make-up for her recital last weekend. She's been talking about it ever since.

She decided she was going to put on her own make-up before school this morning. I was fine with that... she's done it plenty of times before.

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Note to self: Teach Cassidy that mascara is for EYELASHES, not EYEBROWS.

She needs a little more practice, but I definitely give her an 'A' for effort.

And no, I didn't let her go to school like that!!

Swimming!!

The weather held out today and we finally got a chance to go swimming! Cassidy had a ball, but Campbell wasn't too thrilled. She didn't want to get in her floaty, had very little interest in playing with Daddy, and didn't care what her sister was doing. In fact, she really didn't want to do anything that didn't include me carrying her around.

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What happened to my low-may baby?!?

A Walk Around The Hood

After the rain cleared out, I took the girls on a walk around the hood. Today was different from other days... I put Campbell in the car instead of the stroller and Cassidy rode her bike. Campbell had a great time cruising around in her ride, waving to her friends. There were no meltdowns, no injuries, and Cassidy only fell off her bike once.

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I call that a success.

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We Finally Got Baptism Pictures

One good thing about today's bad weather and aborted swim plans - we were given a golden opportunity to finally take pictures of Campbell in her baptism dress. It didn't take long for Cassidy to decide she needed to get in on the action, too.

Cassidy came up with these poses herself (you can't possibly be surprised). I like this one....

But she likes this one better...