Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

Well, today my baby turns one. I am amazed at how just in the last few days, Hannah is looking more like a little toddler than a baby. I know one day I will blink and my baby will be completely gone and a toddle will be looking back at me. One thing that is keeping Hannah as a baby is that she isn't walking yet. She loves to cruise around the furniture and has mastered pulling up on anything and everything, but the steps aren't there yet. Everyone says I should be thankful -- I know it won't be long! She continues to babble up a storm and sometimes real words are starting to come out. For instance, she signs "all done" everytime we are finished with a meal. Every now and then, I'll hear "aa duh" as she signs it. She also loves her daddy very much and is always saying "dadadada." She loves going to the sitter's in the afternoon while both Tim and I are at work and is interacting with the kids more and more. I love picking her up because as soon as she sees me, she starts smiling/laughing and crawls as quickly as possible over to me -- it is so sweet! Although she is still small (somewhere around 18 lbs -- check up a the end of the month) she stuffs her face at every meal and loves to eat! Her personality is really starting to come through. When she gets mad, she sits down and squeezes her eyes tight so she can force out one little tear -- it's those moments that she turns into our little drama queen. Even with those moments, she continues to be a happy, go-lucky baby. We are blessed beyond immagination at our baby girl and can not wait to see what this next year holds for her! Happy Birthday, Hannah -- we love you very much!

Christmas with the Casey's

Christmas was so much fun this year! It was fun to think back to last Christmas -- I was very pregnant but still thought I had over four weeks until Hannah came. Then just five short days later, she was here. What a difference a year makes...

Like many family's, we did Christmas in shifts this year so it extended for over a week. Before Christmas, my dad came over and ate with him and exchanged a few gifts. It was Hannah's first taste of opening presents.

We spent Christmas Eve at our own home, just the three of us! Neither of us have ever been at our own "home" on Christmas Eve and it was fabulous! After church, we put Hannah to bed and just hung out. Tim and I watched a movie and worked on a puzzle and relaxed. It was so wondeful! The next morning, Hannah opened her presents from us and Santa and we had a relaxing day at home, just the three of us. I could really get use to that! That evening, my mom came over for dinner and we again opened presents. It was one of the best Christmas's ever!

Hannah's gifts from us and Santa -- she loves her new kitchen!
Family Photo Op - Christmas 09

A few days later, Ken, Delaine, Kyle and Nikki made their way to STL and we yet again did Christmas. By this point, Hannah was an old pro at opening and playing with her gifts. It was so much fun watching Hannah interact with all of our family and enjoying this holiday.Throughout all the food, gifts, and family, we also remember the true reason for Christmas. God has blessed us immensly this year and we thank Him daily for these blessings. We can not wait to see what is in store for the Casey's in the coming year!

Family Get-a-way

Without going into too much detail, it is easy to say that this fall has been quite challenging on our family. While the situation is really out of our (Tim and I's) control, the last few months have been quite taxing on us. I don't think I realized how much until we got back to school after Thanksgiving break. I think I probably could have skipped the last three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break and been just fine! It didn't take too long into this three week stretch that I realized our nuculear family needed to get away! I asked Tim about trying to get away for a few days as soon as break started and he agreed whole-heartedly. When we started talking about where to go, we both were thinking about Indianapolis! We have never been there before and we knew it wasn't a very long drive. So, this past Saturday we loaded up the car and headed to Indy. Thanks to Tim's mom, we were able to stay at the Residence Inn right downtown and just enjoy each other and some well deserved family time with Hannah. We didn't really have a plan or schedule, so we just took in the sights. We pretty much stayed downtown going to the mall, the Indiana State Museum (where Santa and Mrs. Claus were visiting) and eating at a few different places. We also just enjoyed some downtime at our hotel. I've never really been anywhere before Christmas, so it was nice to enjoy some Christmas decor somewhere else besides St. Louis This is the beautiful huge tree at Monument Cirlce in the center of Indy. Each street off of the circle was lined with lighted trees - it was so awesome!Hannah's first visit with Santa! Although she looks a little dazed in this picture (this is usually nap time), she did great with Santa. It was a fun first experience!
Our attempt at a family picture -- at least we captured the moment of our family time!