The Pool is OPEN!!

Along with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays, and July 4th, the beginning of pool season is an exciting and revered event in our household. Gabby has been talking about it for weeks, but Pop Pops was waiting for the last of the leaves/pollen to fall before taking the cover off the pool. 

Well, Wyatt finally broke him down!

Oooh! Excited!

Fountain fun...

Wearing a hat like Pop Pops.

Wyatt woke up this morning and wanted to get in the pool immediately. Oddly, so did Gabby. He couldn't even wait to put on swim trunks - instead, he went right in with his jammies on. He walked all around the ledge and played with the "fountain".

Wyatt loved directing Gabby and Pop Pops to "March" or "Swoosh" - and those two definitely did his bidding all afternoon. It was hot enough that we needed sunscreen and the fans that Pop Pops had set up, but it was nice enough that we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner poolside. Gabby was so excited about having her beautiful pool open again - and it was an excitement that W definitely shared.

Come on, Pop Pops!

Devilish

Living up to her name of Gabby! Talking with Aunt DJ while having a glass of wine.

All kinds of water toys were out today!

 It was a beautiful day and we were glad we were able to share it.

Thanks to Gabby and Pop Pops for the non-stop fun (and the help!).

Scarborough Fair

When Katie and I were kids, mom and Aunt Sue took us to Scarborough Fair and we remembered it being weirdly interesting. So when we found a daily deal for tickets to SF, Katie and I were intrigued. We remembered a big field with stuff going on - including people gnawing on overly large turkey legs. Some of that is the same, but they've really fixed up the joint. 

For Mother's Day weekend, since Jas is in Marshall, Katie and I decided to give it a try. We drove out to Waxahachie early to beat the heat. Upon arrival, we were immediately self conscious. 70-80% of the guests were dressed in Medieval garb. We were in shorts and flip flops. 

However, we traded in our tickets and started the show. 

We came across camel rides first, and W was game.

Katie was sweet enough to take him on the camel. Looks like they had fun!

Exotic!! A Camel Ride!

Brave Aunt Katie!

 

After the camel ride, we ate some snacks, took in a jousting show, then found a petting zoo. 

W LOVES petting zoos, so he went a little crazy in there - as usual. 

A mama pig had recently had a piggy litter, so that was fascinating. W really likes this nonfiction picture book called The Little Pink Pup, which features a pig family. It was cool to see a piglet in real life.

Tiny piglets!

Pat the Bunny

Katie remembered riding the Pirate Ship the last time we were at SF, so she and Wyatt climbed aboard to Captain the ship. Katie said that she could hear W giggling once the ride "started" (i.e. the man started pushing the boat).

 

 

We finished up with a pretzel and a root beer. I think that it is safe to say we were surprised at our experience. It was fun to watch W take it all in and get excited about things. 

I guess we will try it again in 25 more years...we're good for now. :)

Have a bite!

Trip to the Lake

W, Gabby, and I took a trip to Lake Palestine today to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Gabby made an A+ quiche that was amazing. We had three desserts. 

Wyatt got to get into all kinds of mischief - which he loved. 

Let me listen closely, Grandma.

I prepared a special scavenger hunt for him, but he wasn't too interested in completing that. Instead, he loved running free. The sounds of cicadas totally scared him ("what's that"), but he had such a great time being outside. 

Whimsical W

Come on!

Walking boys!

What's that?

Taking Gabby and Grandpa for a walk.

Hugs for Grandma!

Mischief makers!

Before things got out of hand...

I know I'm B-A-D!

Soaked and loving it!

Hanging with St. Francis.

Grandma brought out two basins and a bowl for him; he had fun transferring water from basin to St. Francis fountain, back to basin. Then he decided to join in the fun and dip himself in the basins. By the end of the afternoon, he was down to his diaper and having a blast. 

It was a great visit! Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!

W turns TWO!!!

Dump Truck! Let's see how many times I can ram you into mom's foot!

 I still can't believe that our little man is TWO! It seems like just yesterday when they were sending us home from the hospital and I was thinking to myself: it's just negligent to send me home with a baby at this point.

And now we are fully navigating the terrible twos and the independent "I do it's" and the abundant "no's".
He's a handful, but we are sure loving it. This week, with his second birthday, he stopped calling Jason Daddy and went straight to Dad. Ugh! So sad!!
We had our two year check up today. W was 94% for height, 66% for weight, and 95% for giant head circumference. 

Here are some pictures from his birthday weekend. We didn't do too much because of the wedding events and because of Easter and because everyone was partied out around here.
However, his new furniture was delivered for his big boy room. We haven't moved him upstairs yet (loathe to give up the crib), but it's coming soon. We want to do it before the baby comes so that W can get adjusted. We picked up some awesome Dino bedding from PB that is going to be very cute once we get all of our decor in place!

Testing out this new bed idea...

We celebrated with Riley, Wyatt's birthday twin. We've done this the past two years now since they were born on the same day. Riley is sweet to share! There were parks involved, bubbles, a failed train attempt, police, cake, a backyard picnic, and friends. Can't beat it!

Blowing out candles with dad!

We love bubbles!!

And then, playgroup was nice enough to help us celebrate on Monday. Our friends were sweet enough to blow up their bounce house and order up some Society cupcakes so that we could celebrate in style.

Blowing out the candles.

Delicious Vanilla on Vanilla! Not sharing. Don't even ask.

Everyone has been so kind in helping us celebrate two! Thanks for all of the help and support these past two years. It has been a pretty fun journey!

The New Boy

So Jas and I have been tossing around names for the better part of TWENTY THREE WEEKS! and I was finally ready to lock it up. I spent two weeks bombarding Jas with texts and emails until "we" were finally ready to negotiate. We are proud to announce that our new baby will be named: 

Everett Reed Cassady.


As you may know, my granddad on my dad's side was named Everett. He was a pretty admirable man - I remember how much he loved sweets (he preferred RC Cola and Milky Way bars from the freezer) and how he was easy to laugh. He used to have a coyote and road runner on top of the fridge at their old house, which tickled me at the time. He also used to collect these googly eyed stickers from the dentist's office and put them around the edge of this cork board that he had. Quirky. He flew in a B-17 bomber during World War II called Myasis Dragon (say it out loud), and he was awarded some pretty cool medals as a result of his service. All of these things put together made this an easy choice for us.
Plus, we like the sound of Wyatt and Everett together.

A monogrammed onesie that I sewed once we decided for sure.

 Once we committed, I immediately started placing a few strategic orders so that we couldn't change our minds/Jason couldn't change his mind. I think that naming a kid is one of the most difficult decisions.

Personalized burp cloths - because everyone should spit up on something that has their name on it!

L.L. Bean Diaper Bag - Easy to hose out when messes occur!

This week, Everett is weighing in at 1lb 3oz.
He is doing all kinds of circus tricks while he still has room, but he does his best work at night.
Only 17 weeks left (insert scoff: SEVENTEEN WEEKS IS FOREVER!!!).

How cute are these things from Baby Gap? Can't imagine someone small enough to wear them!

And that is our latest baby news!

Backyard Easter

We had a tiny Easter celebration in our backyard for lunch today. Mom and Dad, Katie, Brad, Jason, Wyatt, and I celebrated together - our last get together before the wedding.
We had some pretty delicious snacks:

Katie made pimiento cheese biscuits ready for us. She used the Red Lobster biscuit recipe to make mini-biscuits, cut them in half, and then packed in the cheese. They were amazing!

Mom made some pretty solid spinach artichoke dip!

And I put together ham and cheese buns, a cheddar-apple-pecan salad, and fried couscous cheese balls.

We finished it off with Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes...wow!

I had an Easter Egg hunt planned for Wyatt and one planned for the adults. I'm not sure who had more fun!

Wyatt is one lucky boy - Gabby and Katie both brought him Easter baskets FULL of cool stuff. We played with bubbles and all sorts of fun things while snacking before lunch. Gabby even brought over a lawn mower, which Wyatt is using in the house as we speak.

Happy Easter everyone! We are in a sugar coma over here!