Casey, DogDog, Ellie, and Tokie

Here's one more picture from when we got professional pictures taken a few months ago. We went with Max, Jonah, and Ellie, hoping that the girls would make each other smile. Max ordered two pictures of the girls together and had planned to put them in a double frame, but Ellie had different plans. She kept pointing at one, "This one Ellie's," and then the other "this one Casey's." Thanks, Ellie!

Finally

Finally, finally, Casey had Wesley over to her house for a playdate. She sees him every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and some Fridays, but that's just not enough, and it's not at HER house with her toys. They sat down at the little table and sang their thank you prayer and ate lunch. They play so well together. One of the women at daycare says that they're like an old married couple cooking in the kitchen together. I told Christine she could drop Wesley off any time because they entertain each other and they never fight.

Driving Miss Ellie

Last weekend we thought it was going to rain so we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Ellie (and Max and Jonah). It turned out to be a sunny day but the girls were so happy to drive in every car and crawl through the tunnel and come out the tunnel slide. Ellie did it for the first time and we were all so proud (including her).

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Casey tried the treadmill and it kept her busy for quite a while. I really wanted to try it but it was too small for me. Too bad we can't get that for the house.

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Casey was excited to have a three day weekend and start the week with preschool instead of daycare. We stopped at Starbuck's on the way, I put my drink on top of my car while I put her in the carseat, and then when we pulled away we heard that sad plunk plop sound and I pulled over to get the cup out of the parking lot. I almost cried because it felt like when your ice cream falls off the cone. As I was contemplating whether or not I could deal with parking again and getting Casey out of and back into her carseat, one of the Starbuck's employees was on her break and said, "Oh Jamie, I saw what happened, I'll bring you out another one." (I go there a lot.) Then we were on our way. We went to preschool and the land of glitter and sand was deserted. How in the world did everyone know there was no preschool for winter break? So I had to take her to daycare. It was very disappointing for Casey but she was a good sport.

Happy Birthday, Arjan!

Yesterday we went to Arjan's birthday party. I can't believe he's already seven. I remember that Deanne was pregnant when we moved in next door to them. Casey hung out with the big kids and then they watched a puppet show on the upper deck. What a great spot for a party. The puppet show was a takeoff from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, "The Pirates of Penzance" called "The Pie Rats of Penn's Aunt". I have no idea if there are any similarities other than the name, because I don't know the story of the original and I couldn't pay attention to the puppet show, even though it's the second time I've seen it. This time Casey was actually able to pay attention. Last time, almost a year and a half ago, Casey was sitting with all of the preschoolers facing the wrong way, looking at Maya instead of the stage.

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Casey enjoyed the chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles, and I guess she thought her hands were getting too messy, because she went with the pie theme and ate it pie-eating-contest style. She must have learned that from Daddy, because it certainly wasn't from me.

20 tons of fun

No, we didn't drive to the snow, the snow came to us. They brought 20 tons of snow to "the beach" at preschool. Can you believe this smiley girl is the same girl who was in tears over brushing teeth this morning? In the first picture, when it was her turn to sled, she asked if Wesley could ride with her. When they said yes, she ran over to get him. In the second and third picture she is smiling at Mrs. Douglas. In the fourth picture she's selling snowballs, and in the last picture she's in a snowball fight with her teacher and some friends. The little girl in the purple is Tegan, one of the kids she talks about all the time. (Remember her picture called "With my friend Tegan"?)

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Afterwards they went inside, changed into dry clothes, and got ready for "snowman soup", more commonly known as hot chocolate with marshmallows. I can see why she loves preschool so much.

They had a ball

For dinner we went to the Jungle where there were all kinds of things to climb on and jump in. The girls couldn't get enough. Eventually we had to drag them away, but I think they could have played all night.

Magic!

We knew there was going to be a surprise performance by Lui and Lui but we didn't know what kind of performance or which two Luis would be in the performance. Everyone loved it. Great cake, great food, great friends, great show. Cami knew it was all for her and just ate it up.

Happy Birthday, Cami!

Who wants cake?

Who wants ice cream?

Who wants a magic show?

Cousin Aubry comes to Caseytown

Cousin Aubry is here! One minute she's playing with a car, the next minute Casey has put a chair and an ottoman and a steering wheel in front of her and she's suddenly riding on a train. And no trip to Caseytown is complete without a pair of colorful party glasses. Good times.