Visiting Santa

We visited Santa at John Deere earlier this month.
It was really great this year, no screaming, crying or protesting!

Lydia only cared about her treat
The tractor ride was a big hit, again, no protesting-a first!

artwork

Cassidy felt the need to make a picture for her daddy since he is hunting this weekend. She said she was going to miss him and he needed a picture of a deer and this is what she came up with. I love the little smiley face and the big red heart above him!

Halloween

We didn't get too excited about Halloween this year. In fact, I only spent $10 on a costume. I wasn't excited about spending a lot when they only wear it a couple hours. I guess you could call me lazy-I didn't feel like "making" something either. Ugh, what's happening to me?
I was pretty lazy with pictures too. It was a little cool and windy so I didn't want them out long and didn't want them to get cranky either. So I took a few and I'm going to try to be happy with the ones I got.

This is the only one where Lydia and Cassie are both looking my direction

Lydia was so dang cute in her kitty. After I put her nose and whiskers on she just stared in the mirror with no emotion. I still don't know if she liked it or hated it.

As usual, Cassie was shy for trick or treating, but once Lydia figured out what the heck was going on, she just went up to people and reached in their bowl of candy. What a go-getter!

It's that time of year again!

The girls enjoyed carving pumpkins this year!

Lydia would sneak a pumpkin seed or two:
Cassidy carved her own design for Lydia's pumpkin.


I carved this bat for Cassie:
They turned out pretty cute!

If you give a kid a camera.....

You end up with lots of pictures. Lots of blurry pictures I might add.
I had to send in my camera to get cleaned two weeks ago and had to dust off my little pocket sized camera. Cassie got her hands on it one evening:
Too bad that was blurry, it was a pretty good smile out of Lydia.

We have lots of pictures of our vehicle now.


Apparently Lydia likes to help feed the dogs!



A self portrait:

and again:


And lots of pictures of the dogs. Here is a sampling:
Oops, wrong end!

about 10 minutes ago:

Me: How was school today?

Cassie: Fun! How was home?

First day of Preschool

She was so excited, as I was too. She has been a little nervous about it, but did just fine this morning. When I picked her up at daycare, she told me she got mail at school and she played with her best friend, Lindsay. Then as we got out of the vehicle at home, I had my bookbag over my shoulder and she had hers and said, "hey! We both went to school today!" Yes we did, girlie, yes we did.

Interview with Cassidy

I've been meaning to do this for a long time. Just some simple Q&A's. Love her simple answers.

What is your favorite color? Bright Pink

What is your favorite story? stories about dogs

Who is your best friend? Lindsay

What is your favorite food? Hot dogs

Who do you like to talk to on the phone? Grandma

What do you want to be when you grow up? a firefighter like daddy

What is your favorite song? Twinkle little star

What is your favorite movie/TV Show? Homeward Bound/Playhouse Disney

What is your favorite thing to do with Lydia? Play with dolls & dogs

What makes you happy? When daddy puts a bandaid on and kisses my owie.

I have a 5 year old??

It doesn't seem real. She. is. five. Five! I look back and wonder how time could have slipped by so fast, but then again, it hasn't. That doesn't make any sense, but it does seem like five years came and went in a blink. And now look at her, all grown up:
This is the dollhouse we gave her for her birthday. Nate started building it from scratch 2 weeks after she was born. We spent every winter working on it and recently furnished it so we could give it to her. She's been playing with it for 2 days straight!
We had her party yesterday. She loves mickey mouse clubhouse and minnie mouse. So, we needed to have a minnie party!

She got lots of great gifts, and she especially loves her Cars movie. She's been asking for it for years. Finally someone got the hint!! LOL!! We've already watched it once today.
I (I mean my mom) made her outfit. We made the skirt slightly large in case we decide to go to disney next year, then it will still fit.

I just sent the birthday girl to bed, she's been a sad and spoiled girl the last two days. Now time to re-program!

Lydia's 1st haircut

Lydia got her hair cut for the first time today. Trish said that in the 10+ years that she's been cutting hair, Lydia is her best 1st haircut client! Lydia sat so still and patient while Trish cut it and then showed her in the mirror. Lydia looked and said "BABY!"

BEFORE:

So shaggy!


AFTER:

Now she looks like a big girl!

Mini Vacation

Two weeks ago we took a little road trip over to South Dakota. We stayed in Sioux Falls 2 days and then went up to see Jill in Brookings on our last day.
Sioux Falls is a very nice town with lots to do. We arrived around lunchtime and went to the zoo.
Lydia liked all of the animals and even liked this camel. Nate wanted to ride on the camel with Cassidy, but she didn't want to get near it.
This was as close to riding anything as she would get!

This peacock was just roaming around hoping someone would feed him!

and we did!

On our second day we started out at the butterfly house. That was pretty fun to see all of the butterflies up close and sometimes they landed on us.

Here's a big moth that landed on my upper arm. It peed on me!

Later we spent the afternoon at the mall and in the evening we went to Falls Park. So pretty!
My little poser, She wanted me to take this picture! Maybe she's getting out of that stage of not wanting a picture taken? I can only hope.
On our last day, we traveled up to Brookings which is about an hour drive from Sioux Falls. It seems to be a nice place for Jill & Eddie. His store looks great and is a fun place to shop.
We went out for lunch and played at the swimming pool then left for home.
Vacationing is tough on 18 month kids. She did not enjoy the 4 1/2 hour drive and neither did we! But we're glad we went!

cowgirls & cousins

Two weeks ago we went to visit my sister's farm to ride horse. It's actually her friend's farm, but she keeps her horse there and lets us come to ride every now and then.

Lydia rode first! This was her first time on a horse, doesn't she look like she knows exactly what to do?? It was so cute, she was gripping with her little legs and holding on tight to the horn. She really enjoyed riding the "hoo-hee" (horsie)

This is Dubbs. Not my sister's horse, but a nice old horse that's great for kids.
Cassie loves riding with her cousins.
Lydia loved petting the fluffy kitties. Our clothes were full of cat hair when we left!

Thanks for letting us come and ride!

June Happenings

WARNING: LONG POST!
I realize it's almost the middle of July, but before I add anything that has happened this month, I thought I should go back to June because it was pretty eventful.

For the third year, we planted our vegetable garden and grew our first radishes, and nobody likes to eat these in our house other than me, so they were all mine. They could have been a little hotter, but I won't complain too much. At least they grew! Other things in the garden: Beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, jalapenos and sunflowers. We planted cucumbers, but we think they got overrun by weeds and didn't make it. Currently we're trying to stay on top of the weeds, and trying to be much better about it than previous years. Maybe next year on those cucumbers??!!
The second full week in June was our first time attending VBS (vacation bible school) at our church. Around 65 kids attended and it was so much fun. Cassidy still talks about it. They had a safari theme and I helped with crafts. Every day was something different and the kids kept very busy because they had different activities every 30 minutes. Here is the preschool class during their program on the last night:
Cassidy is in the front with the zebra hat. They made them in their classroom and I think she still has it in her bedroom. I had to staple it a few times because Lydia got her hands on it!


The following 2 weeks we had swimming lessons everyday in town. Again it was our first experience with lessons, so I wasn't sure what to expect because Cassidy has been so scared of water. She would cry & scream in the tub if a tiny drop of water got on her face. So I was sure we were going to go to lessons, because we needed to get over this "fear".
The first day was bad. I wasn't sure if we were even able to make it the next day. The teacher taught them how to do a bob, back floats, and at the end of that first day they were jumping off the side! Cassidy was very proud and excited and was ready for another day! She even called her daddy and told him all about it while he was at work.
The last day was their test day. All of the kids passed easily. Here is Cassie jumping off the diving board:
Even I can't do that!!
And her face is all wet too!! YAY Cassidy! We're so proud of you!


Nate was in a wedding in June. It was Deron (he was our best man) and Erin's wedding. Erin has become a good friend of mine as well as my hairdresser.
We had a wonderful time and the day couldn't have been nicer. 80 degrees and no humidity, lucky for them! You can check out more pictures at the photographer's blog. Congrats Deron & Erin!


That's about it for June. I'll leave you with this picture, my favorite. She never looks at the camera and when she does it's quick and usually without a smile. I was a lucky to get this one!!