Saturday at the park

Wow

She's been able to do the monkey bars for a little while, but this is the first time we got it on video. She'd play on something else for a while and go back to it and she did it over and over again. Even more impressive than the actual feat is how hard she tried while learning how to do it. That girl is determined.

Best birthday present ever

No, Casey's birthday isn't until July, my mom got the Easy Bake Oven for me! I guess I complained that I never got one as a kid. She told me I could have the pans and I could use part of her cake batter and the toaster oven. Well, now I totally understand! It's a pretty silly little oven and it wasn't easy to find a standard lightbulb, but we LOVE it! Eric's out of town so I told Casey we could make cookies after daycare on Monday, so she'd have something to look forward to. She promised cookies to everyone she saw that day. I don't think she realized it would make six cookies that were each the size of a quarter. I didn't even get one. Although I'm not sure I wanted one. Since I knew no one else would be eating them I wasn't on germ patrol, which was also kind of nice.

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She just changed out of the pajamas in the last picture. She's sick, so we're home today. I have SO much work to do and I tried to do as much as I could today but it wasn't easy. I think she'll be better tomorrow.

Baby's first nail polish

Spin spin ride

We told Jeanine, Lance, and Karen that we could meet them at Gilroy Gardens on Saturday. It was a really rainy gray day and we probably would have turned back if we hadn't been meeting people there. We figured there would be no crowds, and we'd either be geniuses and not have to wait in any lines, or we'd be idiots standing there in the rain. Well, turned out we were geniuses because it was not too cold out and there were NO lines the whole day. It was wonderful.

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Casey and Ashley went on the "spin spin" ride, as Casey calls it. Do you think they liked it? Then Brynn joined them for the racing cars ride. We were excited for a photo with all three girls. About halfway through, Casey looked really sad, like she was going to cry, and then she burst out in tears. I couldn't believe it! She happily went on that ride when she was two. When she finally calmed down she told me she was crying because she missed Wesley! How crazy is that. I wonder if that was the real reason. It wasn't long before she was happy again.

Pump It Up

One of the girls from preschool, Charlotte, invited Casey to her birthday party. It was on Friday afternoon! Am I the only working mom? I skipped out of work early and we went. Here is a picture of Casey and her friend Madeleine on the special birthday chair. It was good to talk to some of the other preschool moms, although since none of the other grown-ups were jumping and Eric wasn't there I didn't really get to do any jumping. Just one trip down the slide.

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When we first arrived I was talking to Madeleine's mom and the girls were going through the obstacle course, and Casey came over and told us Madeleine was feeling sad. So we went to find her and she was crying and her mom took her out. Casey kept going through the obstacle course and then I realized I was in the middle of it all with no kid. Like a giant dork. Luckily she came back for another round and we went down the slide together.

Cast party

Afterwards, all of the parents are invited back to the classroom for cookies. The kids "fished" for goldfish crackers with pretzel rod fishing poles and some sea-blue icing to make it stick. Do you think Casey liked it? Everyone else was finished and had gone home and she was still licking that plate to get every last bit of icing.

Spring Sing

We went to Casey's Spring Sing yesterday. It was her third recital so by this time we knew exactly where we wanted to sit. We waited in line for almost an hour! When I got to work one of my coworkers commented on my nice tan and it must have been from waiting in line.

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The school sent home the song list in advance, and I'm telling you I hardly knew any of the songs! And I know a lot of preschool songs. One of the songs on the list was "Take me out to the ballgame" so we practiced that one a lot and then they didn't even sing it. Some of the parents said their kids were singing the songs all the time, and Casey didn't practice at all. We even tried to make up tunes to sing some of the songs to get her started, but it didn't seem like she knew any of them.

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So we were VERY surprised when she was singing all of the songs and really belting them out. She wasn't doing it the whole time but it might look like she was from the pictures, because really those are the best shots.

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While they were waiting for everyone to come out, she started fixing the barette in her hair, and kept re-doing it throughout the performance. It ended up right on the top of her head.

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All of the kids did really well. We were so impressed. Now I have to find that song list.

Bedtime story

We laughed so hard the first time Casey told us this story that she tells it again and again.

"Once uponta time, there was a little girl named Daddy." Actually, I can hardly type it without laughing. That's pretty much the whole story, but occasionally she embellishes it.

She often asks us, "Can we talk about China?" So the other night I was telling her about how when we went to China with the four families we're friends with, two of the families already had kids, but for us and for Susan and Steve and for Jeanine and Lance, we were just women and men until we got her and Ava and Brynn, and they made us mommies and daddies. She said, "Susan and Steve have a dog." And I said, "Yes, they have Bella." Casey said, "Then they were already a mommy and a daddy."

And I almost forgot to mention, last weekend Casey and I were driving to my friend's house to see her and her new baby. I, of course, got lost (Google maps sent me to the wrong street even though it had the same name) and there were no numbers because it was just the sides and backs of houses. I told Casey to look for numbers and she said, "I see numbers! S. T. O. P. Stop!" Heheheh. I think that's the first time she's read anything besides her name! It was POURING out and I was so frustrated but I had to laugh.

Big kids' turn

It looks like Eric's hunting for Easter eggs but he's actually hiding them. After the little girls went, it was the big boys' turn (Ashley's older brothers and cousin). It was full contact, elbow-throwing egg hunting. Eric added an element of height to the game. We laughed so hard. It was definitely Eric's favorite part.

Egg hunter

On her fifth egg hunt in one week, she's a pro. A good Easter egg hunter has patience, agility, and skill.

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Here is the order for the eating of the Easter eggs. First, M&Ms, then Smarties, and then any other chocolate. I was supposed to bring 15 eggs for the hunt. It was my first time stuffing Easter eggs and it was pretty fun. I got Smarties and Dove chocolate peanut butter eggs.

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Casey slept the whole way home while I raided her bucket. I don't know why I bought the good chocolate instead of buying those totally resistable waxy chocolate bunnies. I'm not a pro yet.

More Easter egg hunt pictures

Whenever Casey plays with Kyle and Cami, the kids are pretty much wearing helmets the whole time. We couldn't believe we forgot to bring Casey's new bike. She got a handmedown Trek bike and Eric got her some new tires and training wheels but there isn't much room for her to ride around our house. Luckily they have plenty of bikes and cars to choose from.

Giant Easter basket

After the run, we were all tired and we all took naps. Eric took the longest nap. He's been sick so he needs his rest. We slept so long we were a little late to Kyle and Cami's grandma's for Easter egg hunt number 4. Veronica and her mom made Casey the biggest Easter basket I've ever seen. Then the hunt began. It's so crazy when the kids can't find eggs that are "hidden" in plain sight! Eric kept trying to help the girls, and I tried to tell them that this wasn't the time to ignore him, but they just kept looking all around. It was so funny.

Big Bunny Fun Run

Eric and I ran the Big Bunny Fun Run 5K on Saturday morning. Eric pushed Casey in the jogger stroller. I remember over 2 years ago she was so little in that stroller and now she's probably maxing out. Afterwards Eric went to pick up the t-shirts (that's the big draw for us, Casey likes when we're all matchy matchy) while I took her to the kids' run. It's one lap around a field. The first picture is an "action shot" of her on the second leg of the "run", which involved walking veeery slowly and saying, "I want uppy" while sucking on her hand and holding DogDog. There was really no point in turning back because we were almost halfway there. It was looking pretty far. But she did the whole thing and started running halfway through the final leg (check out the second picture). Then I picked her up after the finish and she said, "I can't believe I did a whole kids' run." Me neither. Usually the girl can barely keep herself from running.

Easter egg hunt numbers 2 and 3

Friday we went to the Easter egg hunt at daycare. Casey and Lily got out there first and got lots of little eggs and toys. Somehow they always manage to give out good little non-candy surprises. The kids had a great time even though it was a little wet out.

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The day before she had an egg hunt at preschool. She told me she only got one egg and there was nothing inside. Well, there was candy inside and she ate it. I asked her what was in it and she said, "Green beans." I was thinking, "I love this preschool," and then Eric said, "You mean jelly beans?" and she said, "Yeah, jelly beans."