GO! St. Louis

I am a runner.  I feel like it's taken me a long time to have enough confidence in myself to actually say that, but it is true.  I may not be a fast runner, but a runner nonetheless.  I have learned to really enjoy running and look forward to doing my runs, especially when the weather cooperates and I run outside.  I have several friends that I enjoy running with and some of those lovely ladies and I all go to church together.  This past fall, we ran the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in St. Louis.  We decided we wanted to do something again to keep us running, but no one was up for the training of a half.  So, we decided to run the GO! St. Louis Marathon Relay.  That way we still had to train some for our part (somewhere between 6 and 7.5 miles) but wasn't as time consuming as a half.  We had beautiful weather and met our goal...not coming in last!  I love these girls and am glad I have friends that help me live a healthy lifestyle.

Lynelle and I before the race.  We were legs 1 (me) and 2 (Lynelle) and both had to be downtown super early.

Tim came along as our number one fan and "mule."  It was awesome having him with me right before I started and being able to hang out with him throughout the morning going from station to station.

 Legs 1 & 2 with leg 4 (Jodie) waiting for leg 3 (Mary) to finish.  

One fun part of this race was that everyone got back together with a few blocks to go and crossed the finish line together.

We did it!  Not fast, but not last! And extra kuddos to Mary who is 20 weeks pregnant and just ran 7 miles!

The Bethany Family

We have the privilege of being a Bethany family for life.  Bethany Christian Services is the adoption agency we used with Cameron and it was a wonderful experience.  We would recommend the agency to anyone who is interested in adopting.  One of the things I love about Bethany is that once you are a Bethany family, you are always a Bethany family.  The support they offer to families and adoptees for life is something that we really like about them.  This is the second year we were invited to bring a table of friends and family for their Celebration night.  I mentioned it to Kristina one day a few weeks ago and she said she would be interested in coming down.  Marc was able to take a half a day, so they brought the family down for the night so they could come with us.  Our good friends and fellow adoptive family, the Gruen's (Baby Lauren's mom and dad), my mom and dad, and friends of Tim's and Brad's from FCA all joined us for the night.  It was an awesome night focusing on sustaining the lives of children in many different aspects.  We heard some great testimonies to some of the programs offered at Bethany.  We also heard the amazing adoption story of Andy Benes, former Cardinal pitcher, and his family.  All of the stories were meaningful and touched our hearts.  We are so thankful to be a part of such a wonderful organization!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cameron!

This boy...

turns two today!  Oh my!  I can't even believe it!  We have loved watching him grow and change over the past year.  Cameron continues to be our BIG little man and is still in the 99th-100th percentile for both height and weight.  He is currently wearing 3T clothes, but we are starting to buy 4T shirts for the end of the summer/fall.  Cam is a fun loving boy...who is ALL BOY!  He continues to show me every day how different boys are from girls.  He loves to jump, kick, climb, play, run, and sometimes hit punch.  He keeps us on our toes!  Cameron also loves TV and movies -- typical man! :-) For a two year old, his attention span is amazing to sit through a kids movie.  Verbally, he is always talking -- and usually not very softly.  I am continually impressed with not only how much he says, but the ideas he can infer.  He is going to be one smart cookie.  Cam also loves his family.  He seems especially fond of Daddy and his Poppy.  It's also fun to see him interact with Hannah.  Although they have their typical brother/sister fights, I love when they curl up together on the couch to watch a show.  I can't wait for school to be out and have the opportunity to spend more time with him this summer.  Cameron, we love you so much and have loved seeing you grow this year.  We can't wait to see what year three brings us!

Spring Fever

After our late winter snow, we are ready for some warmer weather.  We are channeling all of our warm thoughts and can't wait for days to be sunnier, warmer and longer.  Some of the things we are looking forward to are...

swimming -- Hannah and Bitty got matching swim suits from Nonnie!  This girl is ready for the pool!

swinging and days at the park.  Big Man has been cooped up all winter and cant wait to climb, swing, jump and play!

 biking...Hannah's new bicycle is waiting in the garage for the weather to break!

new shoes...both kids got new TOMS from Aunt Debbie's shoe store.  They are both ready for shoes with no socks!

Hurry up spring!  The Casey's are anxiously awaiting your arrival!

Snow Day!

Well, even though today is March 25, we have a snow day!  This is the latest I can remember ever having snow...especially enough for a day off school!  And this wasn't just a little snow.  We had almost 10 inches in places and some areas around us had over a foot!  It is just crazy!!  However, it is suppose to melt pretty quickly, but we did enjoy playing this morning in the snow.

Hannah was loving the snow!

Cameron was loving eating the snow!

 Daddy and Hannah worked on a snowman...although it got really big, really quick and Hannah stopped working.

 Taking a break on the front porch before heading inside for hot chocolate.

 Tim's finished snowman!  Even though there is snow on the ground, the Casey family is ready for spring and some Cardinal baseball!

A Mommy's Day Out

I was so blessed to spend the day with these lovely ladies and some awesome mommies from my church.  This is the fourth year I attended the Hearts at Home convention in Bloomington, Illinois with some great friends.  The first two years, I met Kristina, Sarah, Lindsey, Jennifer and/or Stephanie in Bloomington for a fun night hanging out on Friday and the conference on Saturday.  Last year, I added to the fun by riding up and back with some ladies from church and then meeting my college friends there.  I was able to do the same this year.  It is the best of both worlds because I get to spend some quality time with both old friends and new.  The ride up and back was fun and I was able to meet some new people and get to talk to some I didn't know very well.  Friday night included dinner (with no kids!) and lots of chatting at Lindsey's sister-in-law's house.  Saturday was full of learning and growing along with chatting and laughing!  While I didn't get a picture of the ladies from church, Kristina posted this one on Facebook and I stole it. :-)  Here are some takeaways from the day (great idea Stephanie!).

Main Session 1:  No More Perfect Moms ~ Jill Savage
     * Stop the Mommy Wars!
     * Turn your mess into your message.

Breakout 1:  Wise Women Raising Wiser Daughters
     * We need to teach our daughters that only Jesus can fill our Love Gap
     * We do this by teaching them how to interact with Guys, Girls & God
     * She had some great illustrations and a website to find them and more.  I think this will come in handy as Hannah gets a little bit older.

Breakout 2:  Dressing Your Mom Body, 35 and Under
     * Watch what I say about my own body image in front of Hannah -- little ears pick up what they hear.

Breakout 3:  The Passionate Mom
     * This author/speaker is the founder of iMom.com and has her first book out soon.  I want to explore her website and see what resources are on there.  She had a ton of awesome ideas that will be more applicable when Hannah reaches the preteen/teen years.
     * She uses the story of Nehemiah and his job to rebuild and protect the gates as a way to teach our children about boundaries/privileges.  I will definitely want to read her book in the years to come.

Breakout 4:  Seven Habits of Highly Effective Moms
     * I will admit that by this time of the day, my brain is a little fried.
     * She talked about how important our relationship with God is and how it needs to be more than just relating it to motherhood.  We need to be growing deeper as Christians as well.

They day ended with hearing Candace Cameron's (can you say DJ Tanner?!?!) personal testimony.  It was great to hear and be able to relate to part of it.

I'm thankful Tim gives me a night/day away to spend time with friends, grow deeper in my relationship with God and learn some tips and tricks of being the best wife and mother I can be!

Movin' & Groovin' Fun Meet

Hannah moved up a class in gymnastics this fall, and because of the level she is in, was able to participate in her first "fun" meet.  Although she was a little nervous when we first got there, she quickly went with the other Kinderkids and did a great job!  We were having some camera issues, so none of these pictures are great, but they at least capture the moment.

Her first rotation was the tumble-track.  Each girl had three or four turns showing off a variety of jumping skills.  Hannah loves to jump and had a lot of fun showing off her tuck jumps, X jumps, and even some fun jumps!

Then they moved onto "vault," which at her age means jumping onto a springboard then off or onto a mat or two.  We didn't get any great pictures of that rotation.

Next, she had her "floor routine."  She had several steps that went in a straight line.  Some of these included a straddle roll on the floor, backward roll on the wedge, turning, jumping and even a pose at the end.

Then, her group went to the bars.  This was super close to where we were sitting, so the pictures are slightly better.  Hannah is getting really good at her strong arms that hold her up,

 and her casts.

She even showed off her "Tada" at the end!

Her final rotation was the beam.  They spend a lot of time on the beam during practice, and she had a routine for this as well.  I see improvements on the beam every week when I watch her in class. 

At the end, each gymnast was announced and got a pretty pink medal.  She was one happy girl!

Nonnie and Poppy were able to come for most of the meet and brought Hannah some flowers.  She really looks like a little gymnast here!

I'm glad Hannah has continued to enjoy gymnastics.  It is fun to watch her strength, motor skills, balance, and even a little grace develop through this sport.  And, I think Aunt Nikki would be quite proud!