five.

Little sister celebrated her 5th birthday on the 15th of December. Five. Wow. I think we may have done it in five separate celebrations, too. Lucky girl!

We began by celebrating with the Mitchell family on Thanksgiving afternoon at Uncle Jeff & Aunt Suzy's house.

Cassidy with cousin Nicole.

 

The cousins.
(Top: Nicole, Sam, Riley
Bottom: Zoe, Cassidy, Alli, Lincoln)

We celebrated the following day with Granny and Uncle Dave. We enjoyed a Bill Knapps cake at this celebration - delish! 

Next up was a celebration at preschool where she shared fudge stripe cookies with her classmates. 

Cassie with her preschool crown, certificate, and birthday pencil! 

Forth, was an intimate family meal at Chuck E. Cheese's on Dec. 15. Grandma drove here to visit for the weekend to share in the festivities! We didn't feel like Cass was quite ready for a birthday party filled with friends as she finds crowds rather overwhelming so we opted for something smaller, with just family.

The birthday princess with her tiara.

She enjoyed a cuddle with Chuck!

Pound those sharks, Cass!

Lincoln using his football toss skills to earn some tickets. 

   

Lincoln having a go at this carnival game.

Cass and Matt playing games. 

Cass showing off a string of tickets!

The final birthday celebration occurred on her "real" birthday. It was a relaxing (and very cold) December day so we opted to stay inside all day! 

Here is Cassidy getting ready to enjoy one of her cupcakes.
She was thrilled with the pink frosting. 

Here, she opened a shirt from Grandma that is a duplicate of what she had on! Hilarious. 

Happy 5th Birthday, my sweet girl. 

Disney World!

We had a blast on our first family trip to Disney World. The weather was perfect -- sunny and 80 degrees every day. We visited the Magic Kingdom (twice) as well as Hollywood Studios.  We're saving Animal Kingdom and Epcot for our next trip.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed each of the three character meals that we had. We ate with Pooh and Friends, Disney Jr. characters, and Mickey and Friends. The character meals served as a great way for the kids to get up close with the characters. They were able to get a lot of fun autographs this way. We also met a few princesses. Rapunzel was a favorite.

It was hard for the kids to choose their favorite rides. Lincoln keeps taking about Space Mountain and the Star Wars ride and Cassidy thought Splash Mountain was a blast. She ducked for cover and didn't get wet like the rest of us. Finally, it paid off to be little! Matt & I snuck off for a short while to go on some "big kid" rides while Yia Yia and Papou took the kids to another attraction. These ended up being among our favorites--The Tower of Terror and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

We all enjoyed a number of shows, too many to mention! We closed the trip with one of the newer attractions--Enchanted Tales with Belle. This was an interactive storytelling experience where the kids volunteered to participate in a shortened version of Beauty & the Beast. Cassie was cast as Chip the tea cup and Lincoln was a plate (which they eloquently refer to as "sparkling dinnerware"). They got up close and personal with Belle. It really was a special way to end the trip.

Matt, Julie, Lincoln, and Cassidy
with Cinderella's Castle in the background.

Cinderella's Castle gorgeously illuminated for the holidays. 

Goofy being his silly self with Yia Yia and Papou! 

Papou, Yia Yia, Lincoln, and Cassidy. 

Follow this link to see all of the trip pictures:  Disney World Pictures. 

When clicking the link, you can see "Highlights" or you can view all of the pictures by clicking "All Photos" when you get to the website. 

halloween 2013.

The need for umbrellas made for a trickier trick-or-treating experience this year, but we made it through and even enjoyed a few minutes umbrella-free as the rain eased up as the evening progressed. At least we didn't need winter coats!

This year, 4-year-old Cassidy chose to dress up as Disney Jr. character, Doc McStuffins. Doc is a fixer of broken toys. Adorable.

7-year-old Lincoln dressed up as one of his favorite video game characters, Super Mario. 

Here is Cassidy at her preschool party. 

Showing off her 3D pumpkin glasses.
She needs these to do one of the Halloween activity books that she received. 

Though it took Cassidy a little while to warm up to the idea of walking up to houses and asking for candy without mom or dad by her side, she got the hang of it and kept pace with her brother by the end!

Super Mario hugging his haul of candy. 

Cassie McStuffins happy with her loot.

After dumping their candy, the kids quickly began their tradition of sorting it into piles and then choosing a few pieces to eat.

Lincoln's favorites this year: Milky Way and Kit Kat,
though I'm not sure that he's met a piece of candy he doesn't like. 

Cassidy's favorites this year: Airheads and Laffy Taffy. 

Beer Man made an appearance again this year, but I have no photographic evidence! It was so wet out there that my picture taking abilities were limited. Maybe Grandma got a few pictures?

We ended Halloween night by watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Poor Chuck...always getting rocks in his trick-or-treat bag.

Hope you all had a spook-tastic Halloween!

jack-o-lanterns 2013.

We spent the day before Halloween turning our pumpkins into jack-o-lantern's. The kids and I worked on cleaning the pumpkins out, and then Matt went to work with the carving.

Ewwww...

Cool...

Digging in.

Up to the elbow in goop.

Scooping it out.

Insert barfing sound here.

"I love my pumpkin."

Matt started carving with a kitchen knife, but with some of the intricate details of this year's pumpkins, he decided that a trip to Walgreens was in order to see about those pumpkin carving kits. 

The tiny pumpkin carving tools proved useful. 

Super Mario for Lincoln.
Hello Kitty for Cassidy. 

Thanks, dad, for your hard work on these cool jack-o-lanterns! You rock, Beer Man.

pumpkinfest.

The kids and I joined our neighbors and headed to the Grayslake Pumpkinfest on a cold October evening. The fest had a character-lined trick-or-treat path, games, and inflatables.

Lincoln in front of a spooky spider web. 

Lincoln and Blue from Blues Clues.

Lincoln and a Minion.

 Are you noticing a trend? No pics of Cassidy? She warmed up to the characters after a while.

Here are both kids with Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The kids with Pooh bear.
They'll be meeting the "real" Winnie-the-Pooh when we go to Disney World in early November. 

Little sister and big brother sitting by a fire, listening to Halloween stories.
They enjoyed popcorn and hot chocolate (and they have red, salty lips to show for it). 

are you ready for some (flag) football?

Lincoln recently finished up his third season of flag football and he enjoyed showing off his experience as one of the older players on the team. Next year, he'll be one of the youngest as he'll move up to the next league.

Check him out below running in for a touchdown (#3).

Little sister cheering Lincoln on early in the season on a warmer day.

Cassie and Matt at the last game on a much cooler day. Brrr...

This is what the boys do on the sidelines when they're out of the game.
What is it with boys and wrestling? 

Lincoln on the move.

Happy little football player.

The post-game discussion between father and son.

Participant trophy.

For Jeff - I haven't broken any of Lincoln's trophy's yet. It's a miracle! 

autumn 2013.

One of the best things about Fall -- playing in the leaves! 

Lincoln getting ready to dump a pile over his head.

It's raining leaves on Lincoln and Mason.

Ta da!

Cassidy before we buried the rest of her body!