A Weekend Getaway...at the BEACH!

We had the amazing opportunity this past weekend to go to Florida for the long weekend. My parents, who are both retired now, decided to spend the month of January there and they flew us down for a weekend. We had such a wonderful time! We decided it was the perfect mix of beach, shopping, eating and relaxing! It was a great 3 1/2 days and we couldn't thank my parents enough for allowing us this opportunity.

When we arrived in Florida Friday afternoon, we dropped our stuff off at my parents rented duplex and headed straight to the beach. It was literally a block and a half down the street so we were able to walk there. We went to the beach in North Carolina when Hannah was six months old, but this was her first real experience. She took her sand toys and was off! She immediately loved digging, covering, looking for seashells and walking on the sand. Here is her first few moments at the beach.

We sat Cameron down in the softer sand and he immediately decided to try to eat the sand or whatever else he could put his hands on (this was a common recoccurance throughout the trip). Right before we left the beach that afternoon, we put him on the harder sand near the ocean and this is what happened...This is the first time he has ever crawled the correct way and headed straight for the ocean! He didn't seem to mind the sand or waves and had a good time crawling around. That evening, we went to a local fish place and had our first taste of fresh seafood. It was really yummy!

The next day was going to be cloudy and cooler so we decided to go to park that our friends told us about and then shopping at one of the two outlet malls. Here is Hannah playing on the huge playground the park had. She had a lot of fun swinging, sliding, climbing and moving.

Cameron had his first taste of a swing (since he was just a few months old) and loved it! I forsee many days at the park this spring and summer!

The rest of Saturday we shopped til we dropped at the outlet mall. There were a ton of great deals on both kids clothes and adult clothes. They already had a lot of winter stuff for sale which is great because it's still winter in Illinois. We were thankful that my mom and dad drove so they can bring the rest of the stuff home with them! It was a fun day and the kids did so great with shopping all day!

Sunday was going to be the pick weather day so we were going to spend the majority of it at the beach. We had a nice leisurely morning, ate a quick lunch, and headed down the street to the beach. It was warm enough for swimsuits this day and we took full advantage of getting some much needed Vitamin D! Our beach babe had a blast! She loved playing with Poppy in the sand and also walking along the edge of the water, even though it was a little chilly. She liked to jump over the "yittle waves" and find "kitty cat paw" seashells.

Cam spent most of his day trying to eat the sand, seashells, leaves, etc. that he could. Every time we would try to clean him off, he would look like this again...

It was a lost cause! He finally tuckered out and took a nice nap in the shade behind the chairs. This boy loves the outdoors! I think pool days this summer are going to be a ton of fun!

Tim wasn't with us on this day (he was at the tattoo parlor adding to one of his tattoos), but we did get one pic of the kids and I.

It was such a great day and overall a great weekend! We are doing a family vacation with my parents to South Carolina this summer and I know the kids will have so much fun at the beach and in the ocean. We are so thankful to my parents for sharing a weekend of their Florida trip with us. It is exactly what the Casey family needed!

A Fine Nine Months

Our mister man is nine months old and getting bigger every day! At his nine month check up, he weighed in at 25 lbs. 3 oz. (97th percentile) and was 30.5" (96th percentile). That confirms our thoughts that he is our BIG BOY! So, he is only 6 pounds heavier and about 6 inchese shorter than Hannah, his big sister by over 2 years! If he were to stay close to these percentiles, the doctors say he will be around 6 ft. 5 in. or so! Other than that, Cam still continues to be a great baby! He is loving his daddy right now and wants to be around or with Tim whenever he can. He is also experiencing a little seperation anxiety when whoever is with him leaves the room, even for a moment. He is eating great -- takes 4-6 oz. bottles and eats all table food at meals. Like his big sister, he loves mac and cheese and applesauce, but eats anything we put in front of him. He continues to move all over the place, but still isn't officially crawling on his hands and knees. That doesn't stop him though! He gets wherever he wants...and pretty quickly! He also is starting to cruise around furniture so my gut says he will be walking by or close to his 1st birthday. He still sleeps well for him getting up around 6:30 to 7:00 each morning and going to bed between 7 and 8 each evening. He usually takes a short 45 minute morning nap and a longer 2-2 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. My favorite thing about Cam is his happy personality and his smiles and laughter. When he gets going, especially if it's something that Hannah is doing, he just doesn't stop. He gets so excited and moves his legs and arms around like crazy! He also is working on doing "So big!" while raising his arms above is head! This has been such a fun month and I know it will just continue as we inch towards his 1st birthday!

Peech Dool!

For those of you that don't speak Hannah language, that is "speech school" and today was her first official day. We have been talking about going for a few days and this morning, that is exactly what Hannah was yelling in excitement. Yes honey, and that is why you are going...because you call it "peech dool!" I know one of these days, she will say all her words correctly and this will be another memory of her growing up. She was so excited when she got to school and went straight to Mrs. Beer, her therapist, and walked down the hall. Such a big girl! Whatever happens next year with preschool, I think she will be ready! Here is our big girl with her new bookbag for speech school!

Hannah is Three!

Our baby girl is three today! It is hard to imagine, but we are loving this next phase with our daughter. Well, most of the time! :-) Here are some highlights of Hannah's life right now.

Check-up: At Hannah's 3 year check up, she weighed in at 31 lbs. (60th percentile) and is 37 in. (40th percentile). She continues to be a healthy little girl who has rarely gotten sick.

Friends: We have really enjoyed watching Hannah interact with various friends in her life. Whether it's at the babysitter's house, gymnastics, church, small group, play groups and others, she loves hanging out with friends! Whenever we tell her that she has friends coming over or we are going somewhere to meet her friends, she always asks, "What friends names?" I love her caring personality and her openess with others. She is definitely learning how to be a good friend.

Eating: Hannah is still pretty good at eating a variety of food. She usually says, "Mommy, I like this" which is for both likes and doesn't like depending on what she is doing with her head. She does pretty good at eating meals, but also has developed a sense of snacking. She also continues to have a sweet tooth (like her Mommy) and is usually bargaining for a "treat" or "candy" either after a certain number of bites or after naptime. She seems to be growing well regardless!

Sleeping: Hannah is such a good sleeper still, even though her patterns have changed some. Most mornings, she is up around 5:30 or 6:00 and crawls in bed with us to watch "Tartoons." This isn't bad, except I wish she would figure out the difference between weekdays and weekends! :-) She still takes a nap that ranges from 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours each day. She can skip them if needed, but not for too many days in a row. She then heads to bed anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on that days events.

Speech: Well, for sometime my Mommy gut has told me that Hannah was not quite talking like I thought she should. After a few different evaluations, it's been determined that she has a slight delay in her expressive vocabulary and some articulation issues, some bigger and some smaller. She will start speech at Mascoutah Elementary School this coming week. She will have two 30 minute sessions a week in a small preschool group of three. I've heard that some speech issues are genetic, so she must take after her momma. We look forward to watching her progess in this area as she goes through speech therapy.

Independence: I know it comes with the terrority of being three, but we definitely have an independent daughter on our hands! We hear "By myself!" multiple times a day whether it's going to the bathroom (and now even the stall), putting on clothing items, reading her books, putting puzzles together and so much more! These are the times we love! Watching her grow and change in this way is so fun. Then there are times that stretch our patience and parenting. Again, while not as fun, it's something we are getting through and we make strides with each situation.

Fun Stuff: Hannah is just a fun, happy little girl! Yes, she has her moments where we are praying to God to help us parent her in the right way. But the majority of the time, things are going well. She is a great big sister to Cameron and we love watching them play together and interact (he LOVES his big sister!) She loves all things physical, especially gymnastics. She has recently moved up to the "big girl class" where she goes by herself and is doing great! Hannah likes to show off her moves at home any chance she gets! We have also loved watching her grow and learn at church each week. This fall, she officially started in the Awana program as a Cubbie and is doing so well! We read through her book and practice her memory verse and she is doing great! I love that every night we have to read a Bible story and she is starting to want to pray by herself. That makes this momma's heart smile! We love our spirited daughter and can't wait to see what the next year of life brings!

Meeska! Mouska! Minnie Mouse!

Today, we celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday with a day full of friends, family, food and fun! We started the day with Hannah's first friend birthday party. The theme was Minnie Mouse and it was so much fun to plan and host. Here is the birthday party girl with her Minnie Mouse birthday cake.

We had three of Hannah's friends over for the party. We started off by making Minnie Mouse bracelets out of buttons. They were super cute, but definitely more of a Mommy project than a 3 year old project. However, I think the Mommy's had fun making them!Then, we played "Pin the Flower on Minnie." We did blindfold the girls, but no spinning in this house. Most of the girls had fun and did a good job. The birthday girl didn't want to her close her eyes so her flower was the closest...stinker!

We ate some pizza, the girls played, then it was time for presents. Hannah got a lot of really cute things. The girls did a good job of watching Hannah, then they all wanted them opened so they could play with them. We gave Hannah a Minnie Mouse doll for her birthday party gift.It was then time for cake. Here are the girls waiting for me to cut the cake. This was my first time using a shaped pan. It didn't turn out too bad. I need to work on my icing -- I may need to make my own next year. Aunt NeeNee gets all the credit for the bow! It was our first time using gum paste and turned out pretty well.

After the party, it was time for Hannah to take a nap, even though she was pretty excited and didn't want to (then slept for almost 3 hours!) When she woke up, our families gave her a few more gifts. Tim and I bought her a new kitchen and everyone else bought various items to go with it -- food, pots & pans, dinnerware, etc. She was so excited when she came downstairs and saw her new kitchen!

We had such a fun day with our (almost) 3 year old! Our first friend party was a success and the day ended with all of our family around us to help us celebrate. Happy Minnie Mouse Birthday, Hannah!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Caseys! We have had an absolutely fabulous day! Our morning started out by reading the Christmas story as a family in our bedroom. I hope that this tradition helps us to start our day with the right focus. When that was finished, Hannah couldn't wait to see if Santa had come last night (although she was very sad that Larry had to go back to the North Pole with Santa). She quickly discovered that Santa had come! He brought her and Cameron matching sleeping bags with their names on them, new books, a baby doll for Hannah (what she asked for) and a truck for Cam (what big sister asked for him). Also, stockings full of goodies!

Here they are checking out all their Santa stuff!

Then we moved onto opening presents from us. Each got three gifts from us symbolizing the gifts that the wisemen brought baby Jesus. Cam got a Scout, a singing soccer ball and a Lil Zoomers Construction toy.Hannah got a camera, puzzles and Candy Land -- which we have already played a few times!After a day of relaxing as a family, my mom and dad came over for Christmas dinner and more gifts. Dinner was delicious and we quickly finished because our almost three year old was ready for the gifts! We were able to snap a couple of quick pictures before we got started though!

Hannah had so much fun opening her gifts -- and helping Brubba, Mommy and Daddy open theirs!

Cam enjoyed crawling around, pulling up on whatever he could, playing with toys, and trying to eat paper!

They both got some really neat toys that I know they already love playing with! Hannah was the most excited about any sort of baby or doll and she especially loved getting matching jammies for her and her Bitty Baby -- they had to wear them tonight!

As I write this, I reflect on a perfect day. It was a mixture of honoring our Savior, experiencing Santa and gifts and most importantly our family. What a day!

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve. We have spent most of the day preparing for upcoming meals with family and cleaning the house for visitors. But tonight, our Christmas begins. We met my parents for dinner at Olive Garden and then headed to church. Our church normally has a Saturday night service, and this year they are having identical services Saturday and Sunday. We decided to go tonight and be able to spend tomorrow morning together at home. The service was wonderful and was exactly the right way to begin our official Christmas. The sermon series has been entitled "Center Stage" and focused on how Jesus is the center of Christmas -- not just his birth, but his life and death as well. This Christmas, amongst the hustle and bustle of the season, we have tried to spend our free time as family, enjoying each other to the fullest. Yes, the magic of Larry our Elf and Santa has been so fun to watch, but the magic of Jesus far surpasses that. Every year, that is the true meaning and focus of Christmas and I hope we can continue to instill this in our children. What a great start to our Christmas festivities!