I like him and I love him.

Casey sees Wesley almost every day because they go to daycare and preschool together. Today we went to his house for the first time. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and the kids rode their trikes all over the streets. Casey loved it. Then we went back to the house for some pasta, and the kids played with Wesley's toys. We forgot to bring DogDog, but Christine had a huge bag of Beanie Babies, and Casey went home with three NEW doggies. She was very excited to introduce them to DogDog and Daddy.

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On Friday, Casey was talking about Wesley and she told me, "I like him AND I love him." Yipes!

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When we got home she was so tired she put herself right to bed. I was shocked because yesterday it took over an hour to get her down for a nap. I knew she was so tired. She was playing with Kyle and Cami yesterday and she fell a few times because she was so tired. One of her falls was almost like a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel. Poor thing. And I only buy her socks with the grippy stuff on the bottom. I don't know how much longer that can last; I don't imagine they have those for big kids.

Crazy girls

Yesterday after swim class we went to visit Karen and Ashley. The girls had a good time making tents in the living room, eating pizza, and playing bus. Casey seemed to have fun at swim class but then said she wishes there was a window where she could see cars.

Dancing with their Doggies

It's always a wild party when Casey and Katie get together. We went over to Katie's house on Sunday and Katie had a whole itinerary planned, which started with body painting. Then they stomped around on their stilts. Katie picked it up easily so they decided to add a level of difficulty by carrying stuffed animals under their arms. Then they dressed up, baked some cookies, and danced and spun with their doggies. Not surprisingly, Casey fell asleep minutes after we got into the car.

Getting bigger and bigger

Casey is 3 and a half today. Check her out on her new EZ Stepper Stilts. She got the hang of it pretty quickly, and without prompting from us, she was stepping around saying "one two one two one two." Pretty smart.

Her favorite song is no longer "Happy Birthday." I'd say ever since she started preschool her favorite song has been, "Thank you sor my samiLEE," the song they sing before eating their snack at preschool. She sings it all day long, and hardly even thinks of the birthday song anymore unless we're at an actual party with cake, candles, and most importantly, icing.

Sung to "Twinkle Twinkle":

Thank you for the sun so bright.
Thank you for the moon at night.
Thank you for my family.
Thanks for friends who play with me.
Thank you for the birds that sing.
Thank you Gd for everything.

Everyone has been telling me that life gets easier once kids turn three and a half. I've been counting down the days. Let the easy life begin!

Missing Daddy

Eric's in Salt Lake City skiing with his buddies, so Casey and I had to call in reinforcements. Yesterday Veronica came over with the kids so she could go hike and then when she got back we tagged and I went out to pick up some food. This morning they came over again and brought Ted this time and made pancakes with the kids while I went running. Afterwards we went to dim sum and Casey loved it, especially the noodles, the pork buns, and some shrimp thingy. For dessert she liked this custard thing and we got an extra one to pack in her lunch on Tuesday.

After her non-nap, Jeanine, Lance, and Brynn came over to play and have some dinner. The girls couldn't help but remember last time they were here and Eric gave them roller coaster rides in the laundry basket. No one else was game so the girls had to use their imaginations.

Art gallery

Eric thought the preschool newsletter was so funny that he read it out loud. "This month we will be busy talking about space, community helpers, and vegetables and then moving on to snowmen and penguins at the beginning of February to celebrate our annual snow day." Space and vegetables all in the same month.

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Casey's explanation for the second picture, "They said red and I said black."

Little fish

Casey always seems to have a great time at swim class. Even when it's not her turn, she's bobbing up and down in the water or kicking her feet. There are two other kids in her class and they are both nice and she likes them. She also likes her teacher, who seems to have a good sense of humor and seems to enjoy the kids, as far as I can tell from across the room and behind the glass. On Friday she told me she doesn't really want to go to swim class and I can't figure out why. She said she doesn't like to go under to get the rings, but she looked pretty happy when she came up with one. She loves swimming and she loves the water. She said she wants to just swim in Ellie's pool and I tried to explain that it's too cold to swim outside in winter. Maybe next week will be different.

Cinderella Cinderella

Is there a more exciting way to end the weekend than cleaning the windows with your Daddy? Yesterday we had our first Chuck E. Cheese experience. Casey was a bit overwhelmed at first and didn't want to try any of the rids. She was not a fan of the giant mouse rat. After lunch she started to like the idea of putting tokens into games and rides, and then of course it was time to go home. After her nap I had a few friends come over and her friend Ellie came too and everyone had a good time.

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Today we went to another pizza place -- a Round Table Pizza that has an indoor giant tunnel climbing area and she climbed all around in it with Kyle and Cami. They actually made a lot of new friends. She's really good at climbing and at meeting new friends. It was a great way to tire the kids out.

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She also got four new books this weekend and was very excited about them all. Madeline, Curious George, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Harold and the Purple Crayon's Circus. She loves them all. Eric has read each one about 99 times. I tried to get ones he'd like, too.

Bye bye

Nana, Papa, and Kahuna left this morning. It was a good time. Lots of laughing, lots of eating.

Eric, Casey, and I did our New Year's 5K this morning. Luckily we were faster than last year, thanks to not being sick. It's been great to get through December with no plane rides and no sickness. After the run we went to have brunch at Kathy, Wes, Courtney, and Jack's. It was great. The three boys played with Legos and Courtney and Casey made candy necklaces.

Happy New Year!

Friends, family, good food, chocolate fondue, party blowers, glow sticks, and a new year's countdown that started at 8:15. That's everything we need for a good time. Happy New Year!

The perfect New Year's Eve dessert

While we were eating chocolate (and caramel) fondue we started discussing whether sugar really makes kids hyper or not.

Papa Ron is a good sport

Playing train hostage and then car hostage in the same day. Eric told me he saw the three of them grabbing the cash register and rushing away in the car with two drivers.

Buddies