13 months

Casey's birthday has come and gone, and December is flying by. Casey is now 13 months old! He has mastered the whole walking/running thing...and is working hard on being verbal! He has been saying mama,dada, baba for a long time....but he doesnt use them in association with anything, so we are working on that! The first thing he has said with meaning, is Uh-Oh, although he pronounces it "uh-uh". He says this when he drops/throws something. He even uses the right tone! He is starting to say d-d-d-d-d when he sees his doggies. He says Eh? with the inquisitory tone when he wants you to pay attention to something. Last night, we babysat a friends little girl, who is 3. When she stopped paying attention to Casey, boy did he get vocal! He stood next to her and yelled "Eh?! Eh?!" over and over.....as in "Adeline, play with me!!"

Just now, I had to get up and find Casey, because he tore down the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and went up. He thought it was hilarious when I found him, and promptly ran away, looking back to make sure I was chasing him. He loves to chase and to be chased! Casey also really likes pretending games. He will pretend to be asleep and then wake up, he loves peek a boo, he loves to give you his pacifier and then take it back. He likes the round laundry basket, he puts it on his head and walks around. He likes to try and put on hats, if you hand him one he knows where it goes. Same with socks, when he sees them, he hands you a foot, then the other.

Casey is now giving hugs, and loves on his own. He also gives kisses, with his mouth open and tongue out! While he is as busy as ever, he will come over and hug you, and go back to playing, he also hugs your legs. Last night, he went up and gave Adeline a big hug. So cute....talk about melting your heart! He also gets so excited when he sees Mom or Dad, when we come home from work. He smiles and laughs and wants you to pick him up and smother him with love.

It's amazing how quick he learns, and how everything is so fun and exciting for him. He learned to give high five, and is so proud of himself when he does it. He just thinks it is the funniest thing. He loves the wii fit board, and will stand on it forever. We are very glad he ignores the TV when it is on, he is too busy playing, going from one activity to another. The American Pediatric Association recommends no TV time, computer or video game time til at least 2, so we never put shows on for him, and never try to get him to watch. Luckily, this is easy, as he is just not interested anyways.

Casey starts in January at a full day preschool. He is going to love it, and will get lots of exposure to learning on the days he is there. He only goes about 2 days a week, and is home with Daddy the rest of the days. He loves the daycare at our gym, and has learned they give snacks....when we put him in there, he will go stand next to the high chair!

Today is Christmas Eve, we are waiting for Daddy to wake up! He works all weekend, but we celebrate when he is home. We make it work for us:) We are glad Ryan has a job he enjoys, and take the hours and shifts as they fall. It just happened to fall on Christmas the last 2 years. Casey isnt old enough to notice of course.

We celebrated Christmas with my family last weekend, where Casey got to play with all his cousins. They are so funny together. We were very spoiled with fabulous prime rib, made by my Dad....along with more appetizers, food and dessert than you can imagine. YUM! We got lots of fun gifts, and went to Zoo Lights with Matt, Kelly and Caleb. We took more photos with Santa at the WSU Cougar reception there!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are off to celebrate and spend time together as a family:) I love this little family I have been blessed with! And the HUGE extended family we have!

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Classic Greeting Christmas 5x7 folded card

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Casey is ONE!!

Well, somehow Casey made it to one. A year ago, it seemed so far off and here it is. Everyone says they grow up so fast. It's true. Everyday is something new, something exciting and something fun. Definitely a learning experience. When I took Casey in for his one year check up, the nurse, Cindy, told me that she loved to see Ryan and I's enthusiam for being parents, how excited we are over everything Casey does, and how interested we are. That made me smile. Casey is still a happy go lucky kid. He laughs at everything. Smiles at everyone. Flirts with the ladies. Squeals all the time. Shrieks at his dogs, chases his Dad, He and Daddy try to sneak up on Mommy, but Casey gives it away everytime with giggles. He is fearless and bold. He tries everything with reckless abandon, and shakes off injuries. He is tough. He loves trucks and toys that make noise. The higher the swing the better. The higher Daddy throws him, the louder he laughs. He likes to play in mud puddles and splash in puddles and crawl in wet grass. He plays hard...go go go, and naps hard. He still takes 2-3 good naps during the day, but when he awake, he is always on the move. He goes to bed at 8, and is up at 6:30-7am.

We had an open house for Casey's birthday, from 3-7 at our house. There isn't much 1 year olds can do, and they don't get the concept...so we figured people could drop by and say hello and celebrate if they could. Casey wasn't interested in heping open gifts...he was interested in ripping paper, boxes, playing in the mess...like any 1 year old. And who am I to force him to sit down and open his gifts, so I did most of it for him. I did manage to get one picture!

Casey loves Mya, his girlfriend. Look at that silly, giddy grin. The sugar high may have had something to do with it as well.

CAKE!!! He demolished his cake. I couldn't believe how much cake Casey ate! He just kept eating and eating and eating.....

Happy Birthday Casey! At his one year check up, Casey weighed 23.5 pounds (68%) and was 31.5 inches long (97%). So, he continues to be huge:) He is already quite the athlete, and appears to be left handed! Daddy can't wait to teach him some sports. As busy as he is, he is going to need to play a lot of sports to stay out of trouble.

Turkey Trot 2010

We were pretty excited to do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning this year, except for one thing: SNOW! The Turkey Trot is the Benton-Franklin Red Cross's Annual Fundraiser, and I was sad maybe they wouldn't have a good turn out this year, because seriously, who wants to run in the snow? Turns out, everyone does! This was the biggest turn out ever, with 3300 people! It was 14 degrees and snowing. We dressed in underarmour and as many layers as possible. Ryan reminded me the last time I wore his underarmour it was cut off me in the emergency room. While I promised this would not happen again, I was not entirely convinced, because we were planning on running/walking on snow and ice. Alright, there was really no running involved, because of 1) the snow and ice 2) the 24 pound baby strapped to my chest decked out in a snowsuit and 3) the pulled muscle in my left calf.We saw some pretty amazing things at the Turkey Trot. Let me highlight some of my favorites. I would like to reiterate that it was 14 degrees and snowing, quite heavily at times.

*A man who ran the entire race in teeny tiny running shorts and nothing else (At the end Ryan ran after this man like the paparazzi trying to take his picture)

*Men running with no shirts

*Multiple people running with short shorts

*A guy with running shoes that looked like socks with toes

*A man with spandex that were neon pink and flowered.

*Lots of people with turkey hats (like literally looked like cooked turkeys on their heads), turkey feathers and boas, turkey beanies. One entire family had bright neon orange matching hunting hats....a good way to not lose a kid.

*Gumby was running the race.

We had a great time. Casey stayed super warm with his multiple layers, snowsuit, and snuggled in his Mai Tai wrap. We shared body heat! I think he may have the warmest person there. I don't think it has ever snowed over here this early and stuck around. Feels more like Christmas than Thanksgiving!

Tis the season to make your Christmas cards!!

I love Christmas! And it just so happens to be on its way! I love sending Christmas cards, and love receiving them. My favorite to receive are photo cards...I scrapbook all the ones we get in the mail.

In the past few years, I have gotten engaged, married and had a baby, and so have many of my friends and family members!....so I have designed many, many, invitations to showers, and many thank you cards...along with Christmas cards.

My *favorite* site to make Christmas cards is Shutterfly. I just recently made Halloween cards from shutterfly, with my favorite pumpkin, Casey, as the centerpiece.

There are a whole bunch I am contemplating for my Christmas card this year... Check these out , I am really liking Starlight Snowflakes, No Mistletoe Neccessary....and a whole lot more. In fact, there are 747 to look through. I can't give you my final choice, you have to wait for it in the mail.

Shutterly is currently offering 20% off all holiday cards, Go Make yours!

dog show!

Ryan and I train and compete with our aussies, Josh and McKenzie. He competes with Josh, and McKenzie is mine. We are members of the Columbia Basin Dog Training Club...a fun crowd! I have been competing with my dogs since I was in the 5th grade....first Bailey, then Tobie and Rylie, now Josh and McKenzie. I have always loved training, I love my dogs like they are my children, and I am pretty sure any of them would have laid their life down for me if presented the chance.
We had our big club show of the year the first weekend of October. I showed McKenzie in Rally Excellent both days. While she didn't behave as well as I had hoped, we still qualified with 3rd place each day. This finished our RE title!! McKenzie is now, Country-Ways French Kiss, RE. She has earned her Rally Novice, Advanced and Excellent titles! Training consistently is difficult with a baby, and with working full time, but we do what we can. Our dogs are certainly pets/children first, training is a necessity to teach them to be good dogs, and competing is just a hobby.

Another fun part of showing, is that my friend Nicole also competes, so we can go together. Nicole and I started showing dogs in 4-H together almost 15 years ago. We also went to the same high school together, worked together in high school, were together at WSU for 4 years, 2 as room mates, and were then in each others weddings! After all these years, Nicole still associates with me:)

Here is Casey at the dog show! He is very busy, but did well 2 full days of shows!

The Pizza Bubble

The Pizza Bubble is one of our new favorite recipes. I found it on a website contest for 7 ingredients or less and the cheapest you can make a recipe. This was the winner. I never follow the recipe exactly, but here is the basics.

1 can pillsbury rolls
6 ounces turkey pepperoni
1 jar pizza sauce
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup
pineapples
green peppers
onions
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Mix the cream of mushroom soup and pizza sauce. Cut rolls into fourths, add them in, cut pepperonis into fourths, add them in. Mix in pizza ingredients (you can use whatever you like on a pizza...onions, peppers, pineapple and pineapple happen to be what we like). Mix in 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes in a 9x13 pan. Top with another cup of cheese, bake til melted.

Soooo good, and the leftovers are really good too! Super easy and fast to make. As you can see, pretty cheap, especially because a lot of the ingredients go on sale.