Enjoying the Weather

So right now, the weather in Houston is awesome. Yesterday was wonderful, and today is supposed to be even better. When Cassidy and I got home last night, quite a few of our neighbors and their kids were out. Cassidy was so excited. I told her that we could go outside for a while and play as well. She immediately grabbed her Dora four wheeler and off she went. I have attached some pictures of the fun we were having.

On another note, Cassidy was super excited because she got a gift from our friend Jeremy on Monday night. He sent a Truman State Bulldogs shirt home with his Mom for Cassidy. She LOVES IT! She wore it to school yesterday as well.

Enjoy and hope you have a great day.




Until next post,
Shelley

With Cassidy's birthday party just a week and a half ago, we have been waste deep in toys. This child has more toys than she knows what to do with. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and so does she, but this girl has some stuff now. The biggest hit this year was her Polly Pockets (along with the accessories) and her Loving Family Doll House from Gammy and Poppa. Cas' Polly Pockets, Barbies, and Littlest Pet Shop all live in the Loving Family house now. She absolutely loves everything she got for her birthday.

This past weekend, Cas' got to go shopping for her birthday with Uncle Chris and Aunt Shelli. Boy was that a hit. Cas got a Polly Pocket Car, some Barbie clothes, and even another Polly Pocket. She played ALL DAY on SUNDAY with these new toys. She didn't even want to eat lunch because she was afraid she could not play. I do have to admit though, I wanted to play all day with her as well.

Thanks to everyone that made Cas' birthday special. She really appreciates it all.

Until Next Post,

Cassidy's Offical Birthday!

So I made it through the day yesterday with only crying once. I no longer have a baby, I have a little girl! Cassidy is officially four years old. I think she had a great birthday. I took a half day vacation yesterday, and went up to Cas' school in the afternoon. When I got there, all the kids were still asleep on their nappers, and were just about to wake up. I quietly walked over to Cas' and put my hand on her back. I started talking to her, and she woke up with first a confused look, and then a HUGE SMILE! She was so excited to see me. It always makes me feel so good. I showed her the cupcake cake I had brought, and she was thrilled! We sat down with her class, and all shared cupcakes.

When we were done, Cas looked at me and said, "Mommy, do you have to leave now?" I was so excited to tell her that I didn't and that it was our afternoon together. Her eyes lite up with excitement. I also told her I had a very big surprise for her. We left her school, and we headed out for our afternoon. I know it seems crazy, but I love the time I get to spend with my four year old, and a girl has to do, what a girl has to do. GET PEDICURES! Cas and I got matching toes, which she loved! Once we left the nail salon, we ran to Wal-Mart and I let her pick out a gift with some birthday money she got. We saved half though, and will put it in her savings account. =-) She picked out a Polly Pocket she wanted ,and we headed home.

When we got to the house, she was so excited to show Bella her toes.

Around 6:00 last night, Mike showed up and Cas' got so excited. When he walked in the door, she nearly tripped trying to get to him. It was so sweet. Mike even brought Cas a dozen long stem pink roses. She loved them.

On that note, this has been the year of Littlest Pet Shop and my favorite POLLY POCKETS! We got Cas' the Polly Pocket Pet Beauty Shop for her birthday this year. WOW was it a hit. Last night when we gave it to her, she couldn't wait for me to get it out of the box. Needless to say, we spent our family night playing with all of Cas' birthday presents ,and especially her Polly Pockets. It was great to see her so excited about it.

Well, I guess that is all that I have for now. I will post pictures by this weekend, from Cas' birthday party and actual birthday.

Take Care.
Until Next Post

Cassidy's 4th Birthday party

Wow how time flies...a friend of mine was just asking about Cassidy and how she was doing. They knew her birtday is coming up on Wednesday, and that she will be four years old. WOW! Four years old...makes me feel REALLY OLD! Anyway, I did make myself a promise that I might not post on the exact day, but who knows, maybe I will change my mind. This past weeekend, was a busy one.

It all began Thursday night. I made myself a challenge this year...I was going to make Cassidy's 4th birthday cake...what a challenge it was. Well to begin, I am certainly not Duff on "Ace of Cakes" and I am not the baker's on "Cake Boss" either. They do that because they are crazy! (Just kidding). But this birthday, I took on the task. Cassidy wanted a pool cake with Barbie. How hard can that be???? Well, on Thursday night, I baked what I thought would be enough cake for the pool. Three cakes, right?????? Boy was I wrong =-). Thanks to my errand boy, Mike he went back up to the store Thursday night to buy more cake. I felt horrible because it was at 9 p.m. that he volunteered to go. Finally, around 11:00 Thursday night, I finished my cake baking. Now onto the fun part, decorating...

Friday morning started out great, Cas woke up in a good mood since she didn't have school, and I didn't have work =-). Her class had a field trip to the museum, so I agreed to be a volunteer parent, so the kids would not outnumber us. We had a good time, the museum we were at had a school room, had an operating room, a grocery store...etc. The kids had a great time. They even got to do parachute time and loved it. Once we left the museum, Cas and I ran to Chick-fil-A and then back to the hosue.

Friday afternoon, Cas had her friend Lauren over...good distraction for Mom to make her birthday cake. The girls played upstairs and downstairs, inside and out. They played with the dog, and without the dog. Needless to say, they had a great time! Once Lauren left, Daddy came home to save the day. The entire time the girls were playing, I was decorating "The Cake". After frustration, and numerous candies falling off, I was about to throw in the towel. But, before I could do that, Miek saved the day! He had a steady hand, and helped me finish decorating the cake. (I have posted some pictures of the stages of the cake for you to see).

Finally, around midnight, I crawled into bed and laid my head down, then it was a waiting game to see if the cake would crumble...



Saturday morning was an early one for us. Fourtunatley we decided to have Cas' birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, because we woke up to the sound of rain...go figure. Of all days I would have rather it not rain, it did. Oh well, I guess I can't control everything =-). Cas' party started at 10:00 a.m. but we wanted to be there a little early of course. Amazingly we made it out the door on time and got to Chuck E. Cheese about 9:45 or so. I was so impressed with them. We had our own designated "Party Hostess" that made sure we had everything we needed throughout the entire party. All the kids had a great time with playing on all the rides, playing games, eating pizza, and CAKE!!! The kids loved the cake. The parents did to, which was a plus. The kids had no idea how long it took to make, but Cas showed all of her friends. She was so excited, and it made it all worth it in the end.

After the party ended at noon, we stayed a little while longer. We finally left around 2:00. Wow, I felt like I was in a time warp. We got home, and opened presents. That is the different thing that we didn't do at the party because we wanted the kids to have more time to play. Cas got a ton of stuff, and by the end was really tired of opening gifts.

Saturday evening, we had some friends of ours over for dinner with their daughter Brooke. Brooke was so excited, she was at Cas' birthday party as well, so she could not wait to see what all Cas got. I cooked a meal that normally is wonderful, but I think I was sleep deprived because it didn't taste like it had the first time I made it. Luckily the salad was good...Oh well, I hope our friends Mike and Patty come back to our house again after that.

On Sunday, it was catch up day from everything I should have done on Saturday. I mowed the yard, did laundry, and played with Cas. I forget how much fun playing with Polly Pockets and Barbies is. I know that Cas had a good time as well. Sunday afternoon, Cassidy and I ran over to Gammy and Poppa's to say hi, and she got to tell them all about her birthday.

Overall, we had a wonderful time from Thursday to Sunday. I learned a lot this weekend. I learned, that children love you no matter what their birthday cake looks like, children are so easy to please, and SLEEP is a VERY IMPORTANT factor in life!

With that, I will say goodbye for this post. Until next post.

My Sweet Angel is almost 4

So, I can't believe that I am writing this already. My little girl is turning 4! September 16th to be exact but I am afraid I will get to emotional if I try to post something about her on the 16th exactly. So here we go...I never imagined that someone so little and young could steal my heart, but four years ago, this little one did. Cassidy is and has been such an amazing part of Mike and I's life. I know that he would agree with me in saying that we are so very blessed. I am going to try to do a memory album to put up over the past four years, but for now hopefully this will do. I try to take a photo shoot of Cassidy every so often, and she agreed about two or three weeks ago. I took her to a local park, and these are the early "four year old photos" I got. I hope you enjoy looking through them!



Until next post!

Shelley

Galveston

Well, so far our Labor Day weekend has been nice. Yesterday morning, I had a photo shoot to do for a friend of mine, and then we were off to Galveston, Stewart Beach to be exact. Before the hurricane, I would have said Galveston, YUK! The water is not clear, the beach is dirty, and the people are not the best. Well boy was I wrong on all accounts. We headed down to the beach with our friends Patty and Mike, their two kids Brandon and Brooke and one of Brandon's friends. As soon as we got there we unloaded everything and the big boys got the tent set up. Then the girls were off...Brooke has no fear, where as Cassidy hardly got her hair wet...Oh she is my child! They didn't stop us though, we played in the sand for hours, and dipped in the water some as well. It was really nice. Nothing like a get away with a change of scenery and sharing that all with good friends. We went out to dinner in Galveston, and then headed back home last night. Cas didn't even stay awake long enough to get off the island.

This morning (Sunday), Mike slept in a little bit, and is now making pancakes! YUMMY!!! Gotta love them. Other than that, I think we are going to see Gammy and Poppa this afternoon, and just hang out. Tomorrow will be more of the same as well.



Until next post...

Patty and Brooke

Yesterday afternoon as I was sitting in my office, my cell phone started to ring. Normally it means either it is Cas' school calling, or Mike calling me. It wasn't. It was one of my good friends, Patty. Patty had called me and asked if Cas and I would like to go to Chick-fil-A with the girls. I told her of course, and headed out the door.

I got to Cas' school, and told her that I had a surprise for her. Whatever you do, don't ever tell a four year old (or almost four year old) that you have a surprise for them, unless you want to hear that until she gets it. We got in the car, and all I heard was, "Mommy, what's my surprise?"...Finally I decided I had been tourchered enough. I let her know we were meeting Mrs. Patty and Brooke at Chick-fil-A. Wait for it, wait for it, "Screech, YEA!!!!YEA!!!YEA!!! We are going to Chick-fil-A..." It's funny, I would never think that a child would get so excited about going to Chick-fil-A. We headed there, and got a seat.

I don't know if anyone is aware, but if you have a Chick-fil-A close by, you might check and see if they have "Fun Nights". Last night, was craft night. The girls (Patty and myself) made picture frames. I say that it is us, because after about three minutes, the girls wanted to go play. The frames turned out really cute, and the girls had a great time. Patty and I were also able to talk about different things we want to do with our girls, and get some things set up. We are going to head down to Galveston on Saturday, for the girls to play in the sand. I hope that the weather holds out because it has been great.

We finally decided it was time to leave (at 7:30) since we had been there for two hours, and headed home. When we walked in the door, Cas could not wait to tell her Daddy about the frame. She was so proud.



I love that little girl so much!

Until next post, I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I promise there will be pictures up from last night soon. I did take them. =-)