Lilypie Third Birthday tickers Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Monday, November 29, 2010

Cassie's First Trip and Halloween

On October 28th, Cassie took her first plane ride with mommy to go visit Al while he was attending a conference in D.C. Taylor stayed back and had a fun two-night sleepover with her buddy and classmate Elijah. I was so proud of her. She was homesick by night 2, but I'm not surprised. That's a lot to take on for a 3 year old!

I was a little nervous traveling with Cassie for her first flight by myself, but there was no need. She was a superstar and charmed her fellow passengers. I think they were just relieved that she was in such a good mood for the flight and didn't cry! We are very fortunate to have two kids that are great travelers so far. I hope it continues this way!

When we arrived at the hotel Thursday afternoon, Al was on break and greeted us. He had late conferences that day which worked in my favor so I could get some work done in the hotel room after Cassie went to bed. He was staying at the Gaylord Convention Center which was beautiful. Nice to have a little getaway for free!

Friday I did my best to work from the hotel with Cassie and would take some breaks to walk around on the hotel grounds so she didn't get too bored. It worked out pretty well!
Friday evening we got to hang out with Libby, Lincoln and TJ at their place (thanks for dinner guys!) and then went back to hang out with them all day Saturday.

Al with Cassie and TJ:

Cassie enjoying some outside time while TJ rode on his new big wheel from us. We were practicing with her hair for her Halloween costume. :)

Great profile shot of her hair and CHEEKS!!

Always SO happy and smiley. Such a sweet baby.

It was a quick visit, but so fun to get a chance to see the Winzeler/Zahlers on their turf in Virginia. It was also really sweet to have some mommy/daddy time with just Cassie. We were excited to get back to see Taylor though, it just wasn't quite the same without her.
Funny enough, when we arrived home, I think Cassie got more of greeting than either Al or I! She loves that baby sister of hers.
Halloween!!
On Halloween night, we had three of Taylor's friends from school come over with their parents and we had pizza before we got the kiddos dressed and ready for trick or treating. It was a great night!
Cassie getting ready with her punk outfit. You should all be impressed with the wrist cuffs since Al actually made a trip to Michaels and crafted those himself with velcro strips. He was having a lot of fun making those and some cuffs for Taylors costume. Who knew he was so crafty!
Prepping the hair. Again...those CHEEKS!

The final product (hard to see, not sure why these appear so dark):

View from the top:

First trick or treating outing together! Taylor was a very cute Buzz Lightyear. :) She refused to wear the cuffs that Al slaved over since she didn't want to get them dirty. So funny.

The 3 year olds: Rowan, Elijah, Taylor and Olivia

First house. Taylor did much better this year with actually saying "trick or treat" and running up to the doors. Probably helped that she had 3 friends who she was trying to beat to the doorbell every time!

Cassie along for the ride too!

This is my favorite picture of the set. The morning after. Looks like she had a rough night!

Coming up next, Cassie's first trip to Texas, Thanksgiving in Kansas and 6-month stats. Hopefully all before Christmas!!

Fall catch-up

Well now that Christmas is around the corner, I have a lot of catch up to do since August!
Fall was beautiful this year so we had lots of chance for outdoor fall outings. I won't get to post everything, but wanted to highlight a few pictures.
Next post will highlight Halloween!

Cassidy is growing so fast and is such a fun addition to our family. Taylor loves being a big sister and is so great at making Cassie smile. They are so sweet together.

Here are some fun random moments:

This is one of my favorites of the girls. I love Cassie's sly grin and Taylor's adoring gaze. They really have a strong bond already.


This was the day of Cassidy's first UT football game! Unfortunately, her first season as a UT football fan was beyond dismal. Oh well, there will be many more to come!

The girls and I visiting with Great Grandma Kneeskern in mid-October.

Cassie striking a post at great-grandma's. I can't get enough of those chunky little legs!!!

A fun family Friday afternoon at the corn maze. The pit of corn seed was worth every penny of admission:

Even Cassie enjoyed it!

Taylor's First Sleepover!
Another first in our family. Taylor's first sleepover.
Honestly, we didn't have high expectations for how this would go. Her best friend Olivia came over and we expected to have to call Gal and Marni late in the evening. Boy were we wrong! The night went great!
The girls cuddling with Al on the couch (notice the monkey pajamas on both of them):

Getting ready for bed with mommy's old Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag:

Olivia reading a story to Cassidy:

The night was a success! They went to bed well (Olivia in the bed and Taylor in a sleeping bag) and I think they slept ok. I'm pretty sure they were awake a lot of the night, but they were quiet!
The next morning, Taylor and I joined Olivia, Marni, Gal and baby Gabe at the fair. Taylor had gone with us the prior weekend and LOVED it. What's not to love? Footlong corn dogs, all-you-can-drink chocolate milk, strawberry smoothies and rides!
The girls had a blast going on more rides together.
Here they are downing their respective chocolate milk cups:
One of many shots of them on the rides:

On an airplane:

It was another fun day at the fair while Al and Cassidy had some much needed daddy/daughter bonding time.
Stay tuned for Halloween pics soon!