Cassidy's Christmas

Christmas at Art and Linda's with friends Althea and River

Cassidy met two new friends, Althea and River (Art's grandchildren) and had a great time playing with them. 

Cassidy and Althea

Cassidy and River

Portrait of Althea and River I did in charcoal for Art's birthday last year..

Christmas at Home

While opening our presents, I was overflowing with pride.  Each time Cassidy read the label on one of her gifts, she stood up and walked over to the person who gave it to her and said a genuine "thank you" before sitting back down to open it.   EVERY TIME!

Trip to Minnesota to visit the K's

For our first couple days, we stayed at a hotel by the Mall of America to finish up some shopping and enjoy the amusement park there!

Cassidy is not quite tall enough to ride by herself yet, but an adult gets to ride free as a chaperone.

We also enjoyed the hotel pool!  Our vacations are the only time Cassidy gets to swim.  After every vacation I say we need to start swim lessons so she can be in the water more....

After our time at the Mall of America, we drove about an hour north to meet up with the rest of the family.  We all stayed in a hotel for the night to celebrate New Year's (which we did not stay awake for.)

Learning to pass a volleyball already!!!!  I'm so proud!



Cousins Justin and Luke



Cousins Jade and Tristan

Bill, Jasmine, Pam, and Jeff

Tristan

Zoe and Jade



The next day, we all took the train back into Minneapolis for the Viking's game!

Aunt Melanie, Uncle Scott, and cousins Luke and Tristan



Aunt Melanie and cousin Luke



Cassidy and Zoe. 
Cassidy's been making funny faces for the camera lately.

Indulging in a carb heavy, but free, continental breakfast at the hotel ...
 mmm, bagel with cream cheese! 
Haven't had one of those since I was pregnant!



Jasmine, Uncle Bill, Aunt Jen, Zoe, Jade, Tristan, and Aunt Pam



Zoe, Justin, Luke, Evan

Uncle Bill and Zoe

After the Viking's game, we made our way back to Mora for our K family Christmas.

Cassidy had a great time playing with her cousins!  She had a little trouble sharing and we had a few meltdowns with full blown tantrums (one of which was caused by jealousy stemming from cousin Zoe sitting on Mommy's lap!)  But overall, it was a great trip as usual!
Thank you all for Cassidy's gifts!  She loves them all and tells us over and over how her cousins gave them to her!
 And thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for everything ... we had a wonderful time!

 

Cassidy's Bad Day: Three going on Thirteen

Yesterday when I picked Cassidy up from school, our conversation went like this...

Mama:     How was your day today?
Cassidy:  Not good.  I had a bad day.
Mama:     Why?  What happened?
Cassidy:  Caleb knocked over my block tower and Becca and Emmy aren't my best friends anymore.
Mama:     What?!  Why did Caleb knock over your tower?
Cassidy:  I don't know.  I was building a castle, but he knocked down my tower so I couldn't.
Mama:    What happened with Becca and Emmy?
Cassidy:  I messed up their bird cake and now they aren't my friends anymore.
Mama:    Well, did you mess up their bird cake on purpose, or was it an accident?
Cassidy:  On purpose.
Mama:    Hmmm.. Do you think that was nice?
Cassidy:  No.
Mama:    Well, I'll bet if you tell them you are sorry, they'll forgive you and still be your friends.
Cassidy:  Okay.

This morning, Cassidy declared that she was going to forgive Becca and Emmy and be friends again.

Christmas Festivities in Mississippi

Mama and Cassidy spent the weekend up at Nana and Papas.  We drove to a "Story of Jesus" display by a local church where along a 1/2 mile stretch of road, various scenes are depicted showing various parts of the timeline leading to Jesus' birth.  It was neat, but Cassidy was kind of done being in a car after the drive up to Mccomb.

The next day we went to see Santa Claus who was in a parade in a nearby town.  Naptime prevented us from making it to the parade (wouldn't you know that'd be the day Cassidy slept for 2 hours) but we met Santa afterwards at the post-parade celebration.

Waiting in line to see Santa.

Getting her face painted.

Dora and Diego's appearance was a nice surprise for Cassidy!