New Big Girl Bed

Cassie in her new bed. This is an early Birthday gift.

No more baby stuff!!! We finally got Cassie out of her toddler bed. She had been sleeping on the same mattress since she was born. It was the last piece of baby equipment that we had in the house. I love this new bed. Kevin put it all together. I'm so proud of him! I'm not going to lie it all came from Big Lots, and the bedding is from Target. It has storage under the bed which is really cool. I stored all of her summer clothes in one drawer and she got to put stuffed animals in the other. She knows that one drawer is Mommy's and the other one is hers. She can put stuffed animals in the headboard too which she likes. It's pushed against her window seat which has more stuffed animals! The sad thing is she has more on her bookshelf and even more in her closet! Kevin's sister gave us all of her bedding before she was born. I'm keeping the valance and window seat cushion she had made, and the cute pillows. She also gave us two beautiful paintings which will stay. Basically, I'm letting Cassie pick out her bedding but she can't touch the walls :) I know they don't go with the princess stuff, but I don't care. I want to hold on to all that stuff as long as I can. I'm a little sad that Cassie seems to growing up, but she is so much fun right now. Tonight she told me, "I'm not going to call you big butt tonight Mommy I love you" She knows it's mean we have had long talks about it. Another thing I love about the new bed is I can sit on it and play with toys and read with her. I was afraid to sit my big butt on the toddler bed! Enough about the bed!

Spending Time with Family

Lynn and Cassie at Gi Gi and Grandpa's House

Lynn and Cassie

Gi Gi and Dean (Aunt Mundy in the background)

One of Cassie's all time favorite things to do is spend time with her Gi Gi, Grandpa, Aunt Mundy, Uncle Jeff, Lynn and Dean! Dean has to be one of the sweetest little boys that I have ever met. These pics were taken on the 13th. We love spending time at my parents house. Mom has the house decked out this year, and it was fun watching Dean explore around their house. She has a ton of breakable things, and nothing has gotten broken! I think that's pretty awesome with three little ones running around. I love that they all only about 45 minutes away from us, and we can see them quite often.

Ready for Christmas Break!

Cassie hanging ornaments on our little tree!

She loves to take the ornaments off the tree and play with them in her room and all over that house!!

Well, Cassie and I have almost made it to our Christmas Break. We will both take 2 weeks off, and I can not wait. The last two weeks have been very difficult at my school. We haven't had a lot of time to do fun things at all. It seems like we have had mostly TAKS practice which isn't a whole lot of fun for them or us! I did get to read Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer, and I helped some Resource students make a reindeer out of a nutter butter cookie, m&m's, pretzels and frosting. They really loved that, and the best part was watching some of them eat it! Two of the girls took their cookies to their Gen. Ed. teacher. I thought that was so sweet! I will help the class that I teach Inclusion in do the same project tomorrow. Christmas parties are tomorrow, and I know the kids will be out of control. I'm looking forward to it :)

I finished all of my Christmas shopping on the 13th. That was really late for me. Ideally, I try to finish it up before Thanksgiving.

Cassie is really into Santa this year. Kevin and I figured out last week that if she is misbehaving we can get on the phone to Santa and have him put her on the naughty list. We were a little slow in figuring this one out.

Cassie will turn four on the 7th of Jan. and is getting very bold. Two naughty things she said this week really cracked me up. The first one was to me, "Get out of my room big butt" I was dancing in her room to a Dora song and I guess she didn't like my moves!! Then, at school she told one of her friends to, "shut her mouth". She has a sticker chart for good behavior, and seems to be loosing more stickers these days! We both can't wait for a two week break! Kevin doesn't have the time off so we are scheduling lots of playdates.

Food, Family, & Friends!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break this year. Cassie and I enjoyed an entire week off from daycare and school. We had several play dates, went to Disney on Ice, and caught up with family and friends. Here are some pictures of our week. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I'm ready to get back to work and get into the holiday swing of things. Just three more weeks and I will have two more weeks to relax! My friend Chrissy took this picture of Cassie for our Christmas Card this year at the Gaylord. I think she did an excellent job. Kevin's sister took our her dark circles under her eyes for us. (I didn't notice them, but Kevin did) A 3 year old shouldn't have dark circles yet. :)

Cassie having fun on the tire swing at Mi Mi and Pa Pa's

Libby, Bennett, and Emma warm up by the fire.

Madison, Cassie, and Libby

Cowboy's half-time entertainment :-)

Having fun riding in the golf cart at Mi Mi and Pa Pa's

Grandma and Grandpa.

A rare family picture.

Grandpa and the Turkey! Yum. The food was so yummy!

Cassie waiting for Disney on Ice to start.

Disney on Ice.

Lexie, Leah and Cassie. They had so much fun playing and getting to know each other again.

We had so much fun catching up with some old friends. Cassie loved playing with Leah. We hadn't seen her in two years. She is such a sweet little girl!

We went to the Gaylord with my friend Chrissy and her two girls.

Cassie didn't enjoy the Ice at all. We did have a great time with Chrissy and the girls before Cassie got cold. I highly recommend visiting the Gaylord this holdiday season!

Elliott loved the Ice. Cassie refused to participate.

Gaylord Texan~ Ice

Cassie fell asleep reading one of her new favorite books. She loves Little Critter Books. They are a close second to Clifford right now!

This week was a little more eventful than last week. Cassidy finished her swim lessons this week. She really learned a lot, and we are so proud of her. She has also learned how to lock doors in the house and tells Mommy and Daddy, "Ha Ha you can't get me!" Before leaving for swim lessons on Thursday she locked the door and we left for her lesson. When we returned home Kevin wasn't able to get into our bedroom to turn off our alarm. So, it went off. I called ADT and they were able to call off the police, but they weren't able to turn off the alarm. Kevin tried to pick the lock several times when the alarm stopped for one minute at a time. Unfortunately, Kevin couldn't pick the lock and he had to kick the door in. It was a stressful night. Cassidy was upset and we were upset. I never thought Kevin would have to kick one of our doors in. He is such a calm person it was quite the sight to see!

Mom and I took Cassie to Rain Forest Cafe for the first time. She loved it. We sat next the elephants. She wants to go back soon with Daddy. Cassie got to go to her cousins house and play with Lynn and Dean. She had a blast as she always does. Kevin, Cassie and I went to see Madagascar 2. She really enjoyed it even though she had never seen the first one. Her favorite part was when the animals were "moving it" she loves that song (I like to move it move it)! We rented the first Madagascar for her, and she watched that later in the afternoon. That's excitement in our life!

Her swimming really has improved with these lessons!

Enjoying Time at Stovall Park

We spent some time at our park today. Cassie is such a Daddy's girl. She enjoyed feeding one of the horses a leaf along our walk. She loves taking her sister on walks, but gets very tired. Poor Kevin had to carry Cassie for about half a mile. Cassie has been talking about her "sister" (AKA Jackie) a lot these days. She protects her from Daddy and tells him to leave her alone she is my sista!!! Our week was pretty uneventful. My parents came over and spent the day with us. Mom and I went shopping. Grandpa, Kevin, Cassie and Jackie hung out at the house. It was a nice day. I really enjoy shopping with my Mom. One of my favorite past times. We got some good bargains :)
They were on there way to pick Mommy some flowers.

Kevin captured this picture and was proud!

Cassie and her "sister"! Jackie keeps her guard up with Cassie. Jackie is very much a Mommy's girl, and puts up with the rest of the family.

Talking to the horse along our walk.

Here are some highlights of the end of October for us. I'm so glad that October is over. We were extremely busy, and I look forward to an entire week off for Thanksgiving this month!
Cassidy in her Halloween dress. I just couldn't resist this dress. She looked so cute in it! She wore it to school this week. She looks so old in this pic to me! I wish she could stay 3 forever!

Kevin and Cassidy before going out to trick or treat. She loved this. It was the first time she went door to door. Some of our neighbors camp out on their lawns and hand out full size candy bars! They made out well. She was so tired!

Cassidy went to a Halloween party at Little Gym with one of her best buddies from school. Cassidy had a blast playing with Kaylee. They were wore out after they were done.

Silly girls!

Lynn & Cassie. Lynn turned 4 this October, and had her birthday party at a park. The girls had a blast as they always do. Cassie loves her cousin. She is a ready made friend for life. She is such a sweet little girl! It's hard to believe that she is 4!

Cassie and Lexi at Lexi's Birtday party at Chuck E Cheese. Cassie had a blast. She and Lexi never left each others side. Cassie talks about playing with Lexi on a daily basis. They get along really well.