two.

We celebrated Cassidy's second birthday with family and close friends on Dec. 11th (my dad's 72nd birthday). Below, she is surrounded by her cousins singing Happy Birthday to her. I could tell that she wasn't digging it by the very concerned look on her face.

As the singing went on, the look of concern turned into all out hatred for the situation. Interesting how every other kid in the picture below has a smile on his/her face! I'm already looking back on this moment and am laughing. Poor, sweet Cassie didn't know what was going on.

Here she is on her actual birthday (Dec. 15th) surrounded only by Matt, Linc, and myself. We had leftover cake and sang a nice, quiet rendition of Happy Birthday to her. This went over much better.

And here I am simply enjoying my baby girl on her special day. She's getting so big. She's in a big "mommy" phase right now, which can be trying. Having a nearly 30 lb. growth on my side at all times is not exactly enjoyable for me, nor for others who have to hear "my mommy" all the time. I keep telling myself that this is a phase. I know that it'll pass and that someday she won't want anything to do with me. With that in mind, I try to enjoy having that 30 lb. growth with me while I can.

Cassie is talking like a champ now. She hears the garage door open at dinner time and says, "Matt's home." She's empathetic and can express her feelings and needs nicely. She's sometimes demanding ("Sing mommy. Louder"). She's gaining independence as evidenced by her often saying "Cassie do it". She loves to eat, though she's extremely messy about it. She's a singing queen and loves to dance. She still loves to have a blankie with her and she loves her pacifier, though she seems to slowly be weaning herself from it. All in good time, right?

Favorite songs: Jump Up and Down, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, The Muffin Man, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Frere Jacques.

She's my little dolly. Happy Birthday sweet Cassidy!

unstinked.

So I'm driving home with the kids yesterday and out of nowhere Linc says, "Mom, when dinosaurs aren't around anymore, it's called unstinked." I laughed out loud, my heart smiled, and then I went on to explain that the correct term is "extinct". He practiced saying it the rest of the way home.

trick-or-treat and the debut of a new superhero.

After much anticipation, Halloween finally arrived and the kids (well, Lincoln) couldn't have been more excited.

Here is Minnie Mouse (complete with pacifier - who knew?) all ready to go trick-or-treating.



Below are this year's pumpkins. Linc's is the scary face and Cassie's is a kitty cat. Mom did the little polka dot punkins.

So, I had a feeling that Matt had a costume this year. Linc sort of mentioned that dad was going to dress up and he had told his teacher at school that "mom and dad like to dress up for Halloween" which I thought was weird because we've never dressed up to take the kids trick-or-treating. Matt must've let Linc in on his secret. Well, the big reveal came after the kids were in their costumes: Beer Man arrived. He came complete with a superhero cape (which Linc loved), beer holders and beer goggles. Check out my two superheros below...

This is what Cassie looked like most of the night. She was wheeled around in the wagon - couldn't have cared less about getting out to get treats and she really didn't need to because Linc kept filling her bucket with treats. All Cass wanted to do was eat the treats. I'm telling you, this girl can eat!


Here she is again...at the end of the night...munching on some snacks.

And finally, she came inside to take stock of her bucket.

Batman knows that he needs to protect his treats from Minnie Mouse!

All in all, we had a blast trick-or-treating. The weather was a bit chilly, but how can one complain? At least it didn't rain. Linc did a wonderful job this year shouting trick-or-treat, properly saying his thank you's without too many reminders, and even sharing his treats with his sister and mom & dad.

Happy Halloween!

neighborhood party.

Our neighborhood throws a really nice Halloween party for the kids at our local elementary school. They have food, games, and a trick-or-treat costume parade (complete with scary monsters outside). Best moment of the night was during the costume parade when Linc got scared by a monster and took off like a bolt of lightning. I've never seen a kid run so fast. After a few tears passed, we made it past the next monster together and we complimented each other on how brave we were. And then Batman talked for the rest of the night about the monsters and how he wanted to see them again and how very brave he was! Super cute.


Here's Cassie in her Minnie Mouse costume showing off her balloon poodle.



Here is Linc playing his favorite game -- tug-of-war with the snake. If you win, you get a piece of candy.



You can tell he's concentrating on winning this tug-of-war...his tongue is out...a sure sign that he's in it to win it.



And here's Batman playing a race car game.

At the end of the night, he dumped his loot and enjoyed some treats! Cassie was, of course, snoozing in bed.

classroom fun!

Linc had a super fun Halloween party at daycare this year. They had a helicopter "healthy treat" drop. Yup, a real helicopter flew over the field behind the school and dropped treats for the kids to grab.

Here is a pic of Linc's class in front of the helicopter (Linc is on the far right).

And here is Linc with the helicopter.

After the helicopter fun, the kids made their way back to their classrooms for Halloween fun. Here's our little Batman all ready to party.

Next you can see Batman making a popcorn ball. Well, he's supposed to be making a popcorn ball. Instead, he sat and ate most of the popcorn!

Next up, Linc got to make Halloween goo....eeewww...

Finally, the kids all played musical chairs. The showdown ended between Batman and Spiderman and our little Batman won the game. Here he is celebrating!

jump.

Because our yard doesn't have many trees, the only fall leaves we get are those that are blown from our neighbors' giant trees. The kids love to go to Yia Yia and Papou's house since there are many huge, old Oak trees on their lot. Papou blows the leaves into nice piles for the kids to jump in. Here are a coupla pics of them enjoying one of the best things about fall.

the best time of year.

I absolutely love the fall and got to spend my birthday at the cider mill - what more could a girl ask for?

Here are the kids this year - Linc is 4 and Cassie is almost 2!


In the pumpkin patch...

Check out our pumpies (that's what Cassie calls pumpkins)!

Cassie playing in the corn. She absolutely loved it.

Peeking through the huge tractor wheel.


Family pic.

When we went to the same cider mill last year, we had winter coats and hats on. This year, the temp was in the 70s...absolutely fantastic.