Visiting Animal Kingdom

Yesterday Mommy was helping out Koda at the Animal Kingdom for what was probably the last time for a very long time. So Daddy brought Piper and Casey to see Koda. It wasn't very busy when they saw Koda by himself, so they got to play with him for a little bit! They also lucked out and Mommy and Daddy's good friend Dena was helping out Mickey! Here are some pictures of their visit!




















Casey also hit 2 milestones yesterday! His second tooth popped through(right in the front next to the other one). He also started clapping by hiself. Videos of that to come soon!

Tunnel and Light the Night

Saturday we finally sold the futon and were able to head over to IKEA and pick up a few things to rearrange the livingroom. We got a small "end table" that separates our couch and makes the room feel so much bigger. We also got a small-ish bookshelf for behind the couch for more storage. While we were there, we saw a tunnel that we thought the kids would love... especially Casey seeing how active he is. We were right, they both LOVE it!



















Saturday was also Light the Night, a walk to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We had a great time participating in the events before the walk and also during the walk. Team Beat it raised over $600 this year. Next year we are setting our sights high and hoping to meet a goal of $5000. We are planning to do one fundraiser per month until the event! Again, Thank You to everyone who donated to my team!
Team Beat it '09;(L to R) Carolyn, Piper, Casey, Kristie and Lizz
"Family" Photo (Daddy couldn't make it)
Team Captains; Kristie and Lizz
Light the Night!

Casey is 8 Months Old!

Today is Casey's 8 month birthday! He's learning so many new things everyday. He's pretty much mastered sitting on his own now. Every now and then he'll topple over, but is very good at catching himself. He can get from crawling to his knees to sitting to pulling up on something and back again so easily now. He's constantly pulling up and standing using something to hold onto. He takes one arm off a lot and has dared to take both off a few times, but immediately fell over each time. He still adores his sister and smiles if she even looks at him. He's starting to recognize the camera and smiles when he sees it pointed at him. He's learned to wave hi, but it's really his whole arm and it's very frantic right now. He still hasn't said any other words, but he has the "h" sound down pat, and we're expecting "hi" to come out anytime now. He loves his exersaucer and spends a bit of time in there everyday. He's such a Mommy's boy and wants to be with Mommy all the time. His tooth is most of the way out now, you can see it if you look close in some of the pictures. We're expecting his other front bottom tooth to pop through any day now. He's got a bit of baby acne right now, which is really not cool and not cute either. We're hoping it will clear up quickly. I think that's all in the world of Casey! Enjoy the photos and video clip!



PS Casey was so excited to find out that his Godmommy, is going to have a beautiful baby girl! YAY AUNT JEN (and Uncle Tom too :) )

A Few Randoms

It's been quite a while since a post and I apologize for that, but I don't feel like there's really been much that's warranted its own post. So here are a few random pics (and a video clip) from the past few weeks.

Story: Piper was watching TV one night and fell asleep on her cushion. Casey decided that this was just not right, so he crawled over to investigate.
I'm not doing anything!
In this last picture he was "yelling" at her
Walked into the playroom to find him sitting on Piper's bike, we have no clue how he got up there on his own!
Mommy and the kiddos went with Bapa to Blizzard Beach for the morning yesterday, this is Piper on the "big girl" slide.














Casey loves jarred bananas. We had some fresh bananas and it was his lunch time, so I grabbed a spoon peeled the banana a bit and used the spoon to scrape off some for him. Apparantly jarred and fresh just are not the same.

Cakes!

Over the past 2 weeks I have done 3 cakes for friends. I'm so proud with how all of them came out. There are so many pictures that I decided to make a slideshow to show you, otherwise it would take me all day to do one blog entry. So the first cake was for a friend for her parent's 30th Wedding Anniversary and Vow Renewal. I did a modern replica of their original wedding cake. It was my first time doing gum paste roses and also my first tiered cake. I think I did pretty good! The second cake was for a friend's daughter; for her second birthday. She said to me, "Do whatever you want, Livi is a girly-girl, you have a daughter, you know what little girls like." So I made a garden for Livi and I LOVE the way it turned out. The last cake was for a friend's birthday. She wanted the cake to match her dress. I'm really happy with how it came out despite some problems I had with it along the way.

In other news, Casey got his first tooth (bottom right) last Thursday (9/3). I haven't been able to get any pictures of it cause it's not really visible when he smiles yet.

Dance Class!

Yesterday was Piper's first dance class. Mommy did a lot of research to find a really good studio and one that wasn't too far from home. Daddy took her to register for class about 2 weeks ago and she's been asking about when she gets to dance ever since. She was really excited (and so was Mommy) for her first class at In Motion Dance Project. Her teacher Miss Emily was very nice. Piper got to do ballet and tap. She loved tap, probably just because of all the noise she got to make. We weren't able to watch, but we knew she had fun cause she came out of her class with a huge smile on her face. There are only 2 other girls in her class (at least for now), so she'll get a lot of attention and learn very quickly. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of their little dancer!

Casey is 7 Months Old!

Yesterday Casey turned 7 months old! He is more active than ever! There's no containing him; he crawls everywhere and wants to do everything Sissy does. A few weeks ago (8/4) he pulled himself to standing using Mommy to hold onto. Now he's pulling up on everything and just wants to stand constantly. He's not sitting on his own yet. He'll "surf" for a few seconds before he wobbles and falls over. But he does well with just a little bit of support (or something to hold on to). He's eating like such a little pig, he LOVES his solids. He won't drink his juice yet, cause he has trouble with the sippy cup (you're not supposed to put juice in a bottle, so that he doesn't get used to that and then refuse his formula from a bottle). He'll get the hang of it eventually though. The separation anxiety has kicked in full swing and if Mommy is anywhere nearby, he wants her! He is just so amazed by his sister and watches her every move. He is always smiling, you just have to smile at him and he'll smile right back. He babbles quite a bit, but this morning he said his first word; Dada. Daddy had just left for work shortly before and I think he was wondering where he went. He still loves cuddling and being held and rocked to sleep. Enjoy the photos of our big little man!

Coming to get you!
Hoping that sissy will come open the door and let him play with her
Thanks Piper!

Piper is showing him how the garage works!



7 Months Old!


A smile that melts hearts!

Enjoy (& turn up the volume)!

Casey is 6 Months Old!

Today Casey is 6 months old! Can you believe we're 1/2 way to a year?! At his check up on Wednesday he was 13lbs 1oz (YAY) and 24in (just ok, dr said it's not quite up there where it should be, but good enough for now). He's gotten into an exceptionaly grabby stage; he loves to grab hair (especially Mommy's and Piper's, luckily Piper think it's funny) and glasses (especially Mommy's and Daddy's). He finally figured out the cereal and has been doing other solids for a few weeks now. He's liked everything so far (knock on wood). He's head over heels for his sister, he wants to do everything she does and be wherever she is. And she loves it when he's allowed to go into her playroom. He's gotten so much better at the army crawling and is so fast. He's getting into everything already. He's even been getting onto his hands and knees and rocking forward and backward... he'll be real crawling any day now! He spends 90% of his time on his belly or side, he just loves it. If he's on his back, he's usually kicking like crazy and waving his arms all over. He found his feet a few weeks back (6/30) but doesn't play with them enough for me to get a picture yet. His feet are probably the only thing he grabs that don't make it into his mouth. Which is why one of Piper's most frequently used phrases is, "Caaseeey, don't put my toys in your mouth!" He gets really mad when you move him away from something or take things away from him. He loves cuddling and being held as much as ever... already showing signs of separation anxiety... a bit earlier than Piper went through it. Well, here are some pictures and a video clip, enjoy!

Turn up the volume, he's a loud an messy eater!

Messier than his sister ever was!
Finally holding his own bottle!
6 Months Old!
Hands and Knees!
Sibling love <3
Trying to get his toys back from his sister!
Trying to get his noodle back in his mouth everyway except the right way

This and That

None of these really warranted their own post, so here are the highlights of the past few weeks.
Fell asleep on the naughty spot
My handsome getting some fresh air
Gorgeous!
JenJen's 30th Birthday Cake (there was a 3-D "30" but it broke during transport)
Me and my FL best, JenJen
Little Firefighter
Cake for Anne Marie's Grandma
Ok, so Piper was told to put on her pajamas, she cried and whined that she couldn't do her shirt herself (she can, she does it all the time) after more than an hour (I try not to give in with her especially cause she's going through her "Terrible Threes" and she's very stubborn) of Mommy saying that she wasn't going to help and that Piper was a big girl and could do it herself, this is as far as she got beore falling asleep on the couch
For the past month and a 1/2 Daddy has been rehearsing 3 night a week for Encore. This is something he's done 7 out of the 8 years that it's been around. It's a Disney Cast (and family) Choir and Orchestra. I went to see the show last night with Mom and I have to say, it was probably my favorite of the 4 years that I have seen it. This year it was Revolution; Songs of the 60s and 70s. Awesome! Daddy is in the front row to the left of the guy wearing the hat. (This is a little less than 1/2 of the choir.)