Making waffles on a icy day with Mommy & Daddy

Making waffles on a cold day :)

Cassie loves to help me make waffles :)

Tuesday night is usually library night and breakfast for dinner night. The weather in North Texas was a little icy today. There were several school closings and some schools let out early due to icy roads. My school district never lets the kids out early. Kevin took a half day and went to pick Cassie up from school early. I wanted her to miss her nap so she would go to bed early so I could study for my ESL test. When she takes a nap she doesn't usually fall asleep until around 9pm which makes it hard to study. Even though we put her to bed at 7:30 she still isn't asleep and she is out of her room asking a million questions. Without a nap she will be tired at 7:30 and hopefully will fall asleep earlier. I don't think she needs a nap at all anymore, but I understand why the daycare wants the kids to take a nap. I never thought I would want her to stop taking naps, but I do now. Kevin dropped off her books, CD's and DVD's from the library before he picked her up this afternoon. Poor Cassie is now wanting me to take her to the library. I've tried to explain the road conditions to her, and I think we will be staying put for the rest of the evening.

Dallas Museum of Science and History

Gi Gi and Cassie enjoy one of the exhibits at the Science Museum

Dinosaur bones

Cassie measuring a dinosaur bone at the museum. She enjoyed digging in the sand and measuring the bones while we waited for the rest of our family to arrive.

Last weekend we went the Dallas Museum of Science and History. My family met us there, and everyone had a blast. I wasn't able to get too many pictures because our camera ran out of batteries. These pictures are from the exhibits in the Science Museum. We weren't able to go into the Children's portion of the Museum until 12:00 due to a members only event. The Children's portion of the museum is wonderful. We hadn't been to this museum since the location had changed. It was a great experience. There was a similar museum in Fort Worth that has been torn down, and is being rebuilt. I can't wait for it to reopen because it only takes us 20 minutes to get to that one. This museum is about 40 minutes away on the weekends. I hope to take Cassie back this summer when I'm off on a weekday.

Did he look something like this? :-)

-Kev

Who gets hit on in the Disney Store?

Kevin, Cassidy and I had a short work/school week. I had a four day week because we had a workday on Friday, and Kevin took Friday off to spend the day with Cassidy. They went to Chuck E Cheese and had a Daddy daughter day. She loved that.

I guess one may be wondering about who got hit on at the Disney Store? Well, much to my surprise it was me!!! I took Cassie to swim lessons Saturday morning, after the lesson Cassie and I went to see Hotel for Dogs. When the movie was over Cassie decided she wanted a pretzel. We had to skip our usual donut run after lessons to make the movie so I told her we could get a pretzel. On the way to get the pretzel we had to pass the Disney Store. That's when a young man came up to me and said "Excuse me, do you go to Tarrent County College?" I laughed and said, "No, I'm sorry I don't" Then he said, "I thought you were in one of my classes." I started to walk away and he said, "Would you like to go out sometime?" I was caught by surprise since I was in the Disney Store holding my daughters hand! I quickly replied, "I'm married" and rushed Cassie to another area in the store. It was creepy since he had no child with him. We got out of the store hit the pretzel stand and I called Kevin. Kevin thinks he may have followed us in there. What a freak! I plan to avoid the Parks Mall for awhile. There is another movie theater we can go to, but it doesn't have the early movies that I like to go to. This one was at 9:45 am so we had plenty of day left afterwards.

Later Saturday night we met Kevin's parents for dinner at Cheddars in North Fort Worth. Cassie got her Birthday gifts since they were unable to make Cassie's party last week. Marcia had a horrible allergic eye reaction.

Cassidy starts ballet and tap lessons again this Wednesday. I'm going to take one of her daycare buddies to the lessons and bring them back to our house after the lesson since her Mom has to work much later than I do. Cassidy will enjoy the lessons so much more with a friend so I don't mind. Since Cassidy is an only child she begs to have friends over all the time. :)

I have 13 days to study for my test. I pray that I don't have to take it again. It's so hard to study when you have children. I'm so glad I finished college before I had her because it's next to impossible to work all day come home play with your child put them to bed and study. All I want to do it veg out and have some time with Kevin!

Cassidy's Fourth Birthday Party

Our Birthday Girl opening gifts from Gi Gi and Grandpa

Before heading to Pump It Up Mom and Dad came over to give Cassidy her gifts. They got her a ton of stuff. One of the coolest things is this Computer School by Fisher Price. Cassidy loves it, and it really is very easy for her to use. They got her the extra Dora and Clifford discs to go with it and Cassidy really enjoys them.

Kayli, Ms. Emily and Jewelia. Ms. Emily is awesome. She goes through all the houses with the kids, and is so sweet!! Cassidy LOVES her.

Maddox and Cassidy ready to Pump It Up!!

Seth getting ready to go down one of the slides.

Bennett. Poor Bennett wasn't feeling great, but was so sweet as usual.

Emma doing back flips in one of the bounce houses. Way to go Emma!!!

Kevin took most of the pictures. I think he did an amazing job. I love this picture.

Cassidy getting ready to climb

The Birthday Girl after blowing out her candle on her cookie.

After jumping the kids had cookies and capri suns. The parents enjoyed some bottles of water and cookies as well.

Cassidy and Seth. A buddy from daycare. We ran into Seth on Sunday at one of our favorite parks. He is a super cool kid. I think Cassidy has a crush on him right now, but she won't tell me. When I ask who she plays with everyday Seth is always in her list of friends that she plays with. I'm so glad he came because I enjoyed talking with his Mom. Seth's family got Cassie a cool princess keyboard and microphone. She didn't have a microphone and she loves the one they gave her. One of her favorite things to do right now is listen to music on her new CD player in her room. Now she has a microphone to sing all her songs.

Lisa Wells, Carter and Cassidy opening gifts from the Wells family. This is a really cool sticker book that we haven't had time to play with yet. I'm sure we will have time this week. There were some really cool bath toys that I hid and will eventually get out. I do that with some of her gifts because I don't want her to get overwhelmed.

Cassidy and Jack. Jack is the son of a close friend of mine from a church group that Kevin and I were in. His parents got Cassidy the coolest bubble blower that she played with this morning for a long time. They also gave her a check which we are going to put into her savings account which will be separate from her college fund. Maybe she can continue to put money in it, and use it to help buy her first car which will be a clunker I'm sure. Maybe even the Vibe that I currently drive. What a great idea Kara and Dan. They knew she didn't really need anything right now.

Brayden, Cassidy, Maddox, and Alexis. Brayden is Cassidy's teacher's son. Maddox and Alexis are siblings. Cassidy had a huge crush on Maddox in the 2 and 3 year old classrooms. He has moved up to the four year old class so they aren't together, but she still adores him.

Cassidy and Carter. Cassidy met Carter when she was about 10 months old. His mother and I were in a Mother's Group together. He is a super sweet little boy, and Cassidy adores him. They always play well together. Poor Carter puts up with our little bossy girl. I love his family, and I'm so glad they were able to share Cassidy's birthday with us. Carter has a little brother Hayden, but he isn't in this picture. The Watkins got Cassidy a really cool Barbie Horse that you can change the head and tail on. Cassidy really had fun with it today. She also got more outfits for her Barbies and a book.

Cassidy with Aidan and Evan opening a Barbie with some clothes. She loves having Mommy change the outfits with her.

Lynn and Cassie. This is one of the coolest gifts ever. It's a huge bag full of dress up clothes. Cassidy LOVES this so much. I love it because it all fits in the bag and we can easily store it. I think Aunt Mundy knew about my little OCD problem with organizing :) VERY COOL GIFT!

Cassidy and Kayli. Cassidy loves these little ponies. They are miniature My Little Pony's

Cassidy and Jewelia. One of Cassidy's daycare buddies. I think she is beautiful.

This is a gift from Cassidy's buddy Elliott. She wasn't able to make it. Cassidy LOVES this toy!!

Cassidy turned four on January 7th. We had her birthday party at Pump It Up this year. I think everyone that attended the party had a blast. I love the fact that we could invite up to 25 children. We ended up with about twenty children, and a good number of adults. Kevin and I even climbed in the bounce houses as did many of our other guests.

This week was hard for me because I finally realized that my baby is no longer a baby. She is a little girl now. Although, at times it seems like she is going on 14 instead of 4. Lately, Cassidy seems to have quite the little attitude. Over winter break Mommy tried to get her back into check. We worked on manners and basic attitude a lot, and I think she was ready to get back to school. In fact, after a week and half of being home with Mommy she said, "Mommy, why am I not going to school anymore?" It made me a little said, but then I realized how much she must love it there. I missed my job and had a great week back. My students had an amazing week back also which was helpful.

We had numerous play dates over the break, and were both ready to get our normal routine. Cassidy started her second round of swim lessons this Saturday, and did an amazing job at her first lesson. She starts ballet and tap again on the 21st. I'm going to attempt to take her buddy Kayli to these lessons since they start at 4:30 and her Mom can't quite make it to the daycare to pick her up and get her to the lesson. I think 2009 is going to go faster than 2008!

I'll be taking a test to become ESL(English as a Second Language) certified on the 30th. So, I may not blog quite as much this month because I will need to study for my test. I've put it off for two years which really isn't like me, but I HATE TESTS!!! Funny since I have to teach to a test.

Happy Birthday Carter

Carter enjoying some cake!

Lisa and Carter opening gifts. Lynn trys to help while Josh takes some video :)

Lynn trying to get Cassie to share the bubbles

Jim Barnes (Carter's Grandpa) holding Carter and cousin Libby

Carter and Josh read a book while Lisa opens some gifts. What an awesome baby, Cassie was a fussy mess at her first birthday party.

Sweet Carter!!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

On January Third we went to a birthday party for Carter Wells. Carter turned one on January seventh. One may be thinking, "Why on earth is that important for the Browns to blog about?" Carter was born on Cassidy's third birthday. He is the son of one of my dearest college friends. His Dad is our brother-in-law's brother. So, Cassie and Carter share a birthday and three cousins. Lisa Wells and Josh Wells met each other at our wedding. I think his parents are amazing!! Carter could easily be a model in my opinion. He is such a sweetie and so well behaved. We had a blast at his party!