North Carolina

Casey has a new hobby. Tree climbing. But just up, not down. And she's also become a fan of hide-and-seek (she and Louisa are hiding behind that bush in the fifth picture). Grandpa David measured Casey, her Cousin Louisa, and their friend Alora. Casey is 38.5 inches. Almost.

Belle's gymnastics birthday party

Sunday we went to Belle's birthday party at Goldstar. I might have to sign her up for classes there. You can see that she had a great time. The teacher was a very strict woman with a thick Russian accent and it felt like by the end they might all be competing in the olympics. When it was pinata time she made them all wait until all the candy was out before they started going for it. One kid furitively grabbed a piece of candy after his turn and ran to the side. Then after they gathered all their candy she checked their bags and told them if they had too much they should give some to their friends! It was hilarious. I was all for that as long as Casey was giving candy and not getting more!

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At swim class last week another mom asked Teacher Tricia a question starting with, "I hope this isn't innappropriate, but ... " and I was so excited because I knew exactly what she was going to ask, the question I was also afraid to ask, "do you babysit?" She said yes, she loves to babysit. She told me that she tells Casey every week that she wants to babysit for her and Casey always says no. So she came over on Sunday night so Eric and I could see "Race to Nowhere" and although Casey was nervous earlier in the day, she was so excited. When Tricia was walking up the sidewalk to the door, Casey was yelling out to her, "Tricia, we're over here! Tricia, we get to have CANDY!" and I can't even remember what else. She had asked me if we were going to leave right away and I told her we could stay for a few minutes, and she said, "you don't have to." I swear the door almost hit us on the way out and we got to the movie 15 minutes early. Tricia brought popcorn, the "Robots" DVD, and green nail polish. Tricia asked Casey if she'd seen "Robots" and she said, "at my dad's work." Heheh. Those were real robots.

Nostalgic preschooler

Casey's preschool was closed on Thursday and Friday for Veteran's day. She went to her old daycare on Thursday. She brought thank you cards for all of the staff, since I was unable to get it together at the time when she actually left daycare. She was in charge of putting the gift cards inside and sealing the envelopes. She made a little picture in each one and I wrote the names on the envelopes and she was able to remember which one to give to each person. There were six of them and two started with M and two started with D so it was a little tricky. It was very cute.

On Friday I dropped her off for a quick playdate at her friend Belle's house, and then picked her up to go to the JCC pool, where they have a little frog slide and some water spray areas. She didn't care about the extra stuff, she was just happy to have a pool that she could stand in (maybe for the first time?) and she just swam and swam. Then we went home for a quick nap and went somewhere she's been wanting to go for ages. Gymboree. The classes really go up to 3 years old, although they have other classes, but those other classes aren't really what she wants. I think she is just nostalgic about the bubbles and some of the songs, like Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and the one where you have to freeze. It was strange to see a four-year-old being nostalgic for her childhood. When we went in she went straight for the rocking boat, just like she used to. We went with her friend Charli and Charli's little brother, and the kids had a blast. Casey and Charli looked like giants. Luckily our favorite teacher, Dawn, was there.

Oh, and if you are wondering why she decided to wear a skirt (to Gymboree of all places), she got a couple of belts from Veronica (Cami has some and Casey has been coveting them - she sometimes tries on three of Eric's belts at a time), and her jeans were dirty. I guess that's what she found that had belt loops.

Family day

It's hard to believe but it was 3 years ago Friday that we adopted Casey. In a way it seems like yesterday and in a way it seems like forever. Kyle, Ava, Cami, and Ashley came over to celebrate (whenever we try to get all five families together, one kid has to be sick -- this time it was Brynn's turn). We had delicious Chinese food and brownies/snickerdoodles/cake. Casey ate a huge plateful of beef and still managed to eat a surprising number of brownies. The kids had a blast together and so did the adults. I only wish we could do it more often.

Garden snacks

Today we went on a field trip to ... Hidden Villa. I feel like we haven't been there in like almost two weeks. I just remembered we forgot to look for "our" lemon tree. We walked around with 7 kids and their moms, 2 were from Casey's class and the others were from the afternoon class. Casey ended up holding hands with the girl from the other class. Luckily the girl's mom brought a camera because I forgot mine! Casey was great about tasting all of the veggies and flowers they offered from the garden - sorrel, carrots, calendula flowers, and an apple from the tree.

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When we saw the chickens in the chicken coop, Casey yelled out, "LOOK, the chickens are in JAIL! Right, Wesley?" Her teacher whispered to me, "Yeah, that's how I feel about zoos too." And I whispered back, "Me too, but I swear I didn't tell her that!"

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Then we went to the mall to return some things I bought without trying on back in July. We hung out at the mall like a stay-at-home mom and kid. Somehow I ended up spending like $75 in the tea store and I paid way too much for some new shoes because we had her in 8s and she's a 9! Oops. I had just been thinking that she'd been an 8 for a really long time. She wore the 9s and left the 8s. I don't know how long her shoes have been too small but I didn't want her to take another step in those little shoes!

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I'll add pictures when I get them.

Office Halloween party

After Casey's Halloween recital I brought her to the office for our little Halloween party. She's been wanting to see the new office but it's farther away, so it's not so easy to just stop by with her for a few hours. Casey had a blast, and of course she thinks after I drop her off at school I come up to work where we dress in costumes, eat candy, and have no-handed pie-eating contests.