Adventures in Puddle Jumping

Today was a rainy day, meaning we got to stay inside and play most of the day... but fortunately there was a lull in the rain right after nap-time.  We found a variety of puddles, but there were only a couple of big puddles that hadn't drained yet.  Casey was in awe.  The first puddle he jumped into caused a big splash, all over himself- it kind of freaked him out a little and he said he was ready to go inside and change into clean clothes.  I talked him into staying out and getting wet and making a mess.  So he decided to try to splash mommy and kept kicking water in my direction.  Overall, we had a blasty-blast out in the puddles and eventually had to come inside to dump the water out of Casey's boots and get him some dry pants.  He loved it.

Adventures in Blogging

(A post completely by Casey)

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Room Adventures

Here's a couple pictures of my awesome room.  I helped mommy hang up my artwork and set up the train tracks.  We couldn't set up all of the train tracks in my room because we wouldn't even be able to walk in there. Sometimes I like to build a tower using my blocks, and then crash it on the tracks to let my trains crash into the debris... it's fun!  I have lots of books in my room and we read them every night.  I also have my own bathroom where I take bubble baths, and I have two potty's!  I have my little potty for potty training and a big potty with a Thomas the Tank Engine potty training seat... I'm getting really good at potty training and I only sleep in a diaper!   I am also learning how to shoot the BIG Nerf gun.  It's a lot of fun!

  

  

Adventures in Bunny Chasing

Summer nights.  Full of warmth, fireflies, and.... bunnies!  We have a very high population of bunnies around us and Casey and I always joke about trying to catch them.  So the last couple of nights Casey and I head out in the yard and try to sneak up on the bunnies.  Casey is starting to understand the idea of causing a distraction to get the bunny to turn and run towards me.  Using this method we almost caught a bunny tonight.  I sneak around the back of the bunny and try to stay concealed by the trees or a bush while Casey darts straight for the bunny laughing and shrieking the entire way.  The bunny was quick, and if I would have dove for it we could have caught it, but the bunny b-lined it for a row of shrubbery with no hope of finding him again.  I'm pretty sure he sleeps in the shrubs he disappeared into... so he may have stayed in there for the night.  Casey just kept saying, "That was so fun, mommy.  Chasing bunnies... hehehehe."

beautiful adventure

a beautiful child. <3

Countdown Adventures

Today Casey and I made a craft to count down the days until LT gets home from Afghanistan.  We're both extremely excited... but Casey seemed to be pretty happy to be making a craft that involved paper, glue, and numbers.  It's not too much longer until LT is home, and Casey is doing awesome with his own battle of potty training! 

 In other exciting news: Casey is on day 4 of being a "big boy" and only wearing a diaper to sleep... and in four days he's only had 1 accident!

4th Adventures

The 4th of July last the entire weekend for Casey and me.  I've been house sitting for some friends and have had the luxury of having access to my own pool... so that's how the weekend started for us!  It was a hot weekend, so having the pool was fantastic.  On the third, we went to a local carnival and Casey got balloons, an "Ameri-flag", a rootbeer float, played with a lot of kids, and went on some carnival rides!  He had a blast!  All the kids at the park had "Ameri-flags", but I guarantee of all the kids under five, Casey was the only one that could tell you that the "Ameri-flag" has fifty stars and thirteen stripes!  Casey and two other boys started a parade around the perimeter of the playground, and then the other kids started joining in and it resulted in about fifteen children running in a circle waving their flags and shrieking with glee... it was awesome.  Casey and I ventured away from the playground to check out the carnival rides and Casey got to experience those.  He went on the "swings"... or a kids version of them and loved it.  Once the speed picked up on the ride, he looked like he either wanted to cry or scream with excitement... I have a feeling he'll like rollercoasters like mommy.  He also went into a bouncy house and then didn't want to get out when the carnie told him that his time was up... so I ended up climbing inside to retrieve the defiant two year old.

On the 4th we started our day at the pool and then came home and took a late nap.  Casey woke up around 5:40pm and told me, "Mommy, the sleep is all gone it's time to wake up" and we got out of bed and headed out to pick up some friends to head out for the fireworks show in Historic Halifax.  There was another carnival, and this time a boatload more people.  Our group of friends set up camp and we got Casey some red, white, and blue glow sticks and hung out while we waited for the fireworks show to start.   Casey's back was to the display when the first BOOM sounded.  Casey jumped onto the blanket with me and cuddled up to watch the show.  He shouted every color of firework that he saw and kept telling all of us that the fireworks were loud.  He giggled and shrieked and had a blast.  By the end of the night he was singing "Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday, dear America.  Happy birthday to you!" and then he would chant, "USA USA USA!" (that chant he picked up during the World Cup games).

Adventures with Butterflies

As it turns out the fear of butterflies is genetic!  Who would've figured?  Earlier this evening Casey and I were out playing soccer when I remembered that Omama had purchased a butterfly net for Casey.  I ran inside to get the net and Casey and I started our mission to find some butterflies.  Casey had fun netting flowers and mommy. We searched all over for butterflies... and when we got to the ditch where we catch frogs we were in luck!  There was a big, yellow and black butterfly perched on a rock.  Casey promptly handed me the net (does he not realize that butterflies and I don't like each other?)  and I tried to catch the butterfly... the bug flew right into Casey's face (sounds familiar) and Casey screamed and took off running!  We chased the butterfly around the yard, and whenever we'd get close... the butterfly would fly at Casey and he would scream.  We never caught the butterfly, but we had a blast chasing it around with Casey saying, "Oh butterfly... where are you?"

Bedtime Adventures

I often listen to Casey talk himself to sleep at night... some nights he doesn't say anything, other nights he talks about the people and things he knows, and some nights he sings.  Last night was one of the talkative and singing nights.

At first it started off with Casey calling out to me to get my attention, I went in his room and all he had to whisper was, "I love you so much."  And then he progressed into talking about all of the people he loves and asked for another kiss.  So I kissed him and let him try to fall back asleep.  Before I could leave the room he informed me that there was a dragon in the closet, but it was okay because *A'stan* was going to save us in his green airplane. 

I walked past his room a while later to hear him singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" to himself.  By the third time through the song I had to step into his room to listen to him singing the song.  He didn't notice me, and just kept on singing and hugging his blanket.  I eventually started singing with him, which made him start to giggle and sing louder... it was just too cute to hear him singing a song all the way through.

Danger Casey future street runner

Adventures with Pictures

Adventures with Grandpa

Grandpa Steve was recently visiting us in North Carolina and Casey was pretty excited to see him.  He kept asking grandpa, "Where'd grandma go?" (since grandma was here a few days prior).  Since grandpa was only here for the weekend, and then headed to DC for work the rest of the week, we decided to make the most of it and had a jam packed weekend full of fun...

The first day, we did some yard work, and Casey even helped watering the plants... but mostly so he could get soaked by the hose.  After the quick session of lawn maintenance we headed out for a hike.  Casey opted out of hiking and decided that riding on shoulders was a better option.  He kept trading from cruising on grandpa's shoulders to tangling mommy's hair on her shoulders.  All the trails are marked with colorful plastic dots that are nailed into trees, or "buttons" as Casey refers to them.  And yes, Casey has to push all of the "buttons" on the trail.  He had a blast pushing one "button" and then immediately scanning the distance for the next "button".  There were frogs, snakes, and lizards all over the trail, so we caught a couple frogs for Casey to touch... he thought it was funny and kept saying "silly froggy".  Casey had been riding on shoulders for quite a while so we decided it was time for him to walk... but his legs were asleep and he made the funniest facial expressions.  Once the feeling in his legs came back, we found a nice little boulder for Casey to rock climb on.  He loves to climb and did a great job scrambling up the rock.

The next day, we decided to head out to Nags Head (which is at the top of Outer Banks, aka "the beach").  The forecast stated it was going to be cooler at the beach than at home (which was good, since it was 99 here)... well we got to the beach, where it was definitely cooler (about 83) but also extremely windy.  It was so windy that we couldn't even fly Casey's airplane kite.  We kept getting sandblasted, but my little beach bum Casey still wanted to dig his shovel into the sand and find shells.  We hung out on the beach for about an hour and then headed to check out the Bodie Island lighthouse and find some lunch.  Even though it wasn't the most pleasant day at the beach, Casey still loved getting coated in sand and finding shells.

"School" Adventures

Today was Casey's first day of learning daycare, or "school" as Casey refers to it.  He was overly excited about going to school today and talked about it non-stop this morning making it difficult for me to get ready for work since he kept demanding "GO TO SCHOOL NOW!"  When we finally got to school there was a police car parked outside to make sure traffic was going slow and Casey yelled to the cop, "Hi Policeman, Casey go to school!"  The cop smiled and waved and we proceeded into the building. 

We got to his class and were shown where his cubby was, and Casey pointed out that "C is for Casey" (his name is on his cubby) and the cute little girl who's cubby is next to his said, "No, C is for Caroline" (which happened to be her name).  So the two rugrats were informed that C is for a lot of different words, and the two kids went to sit down to eat cheerios and peaches.  Casey didn't want me to leave at first, until another boy showed up that was ready to play- then he told me, "Go to work, Mommy!  Later Gator!"  So I left...

When I picked him up he was playing on the playground and squealed with excitement when he saw me.  He ran over and jumped into my arms to tell me all about school.  One of the teachers said he was absolutely fantastic on his first day and only started asking for mommy as other kids were getting picked up.  He spent the rest of the evening telling me about school, the playground, building blocks, and singing songs.  I'd say school is a hit.

Cupcake Adventures

We had a lazy weekend, mostly because the weather was kind of stormy.  Sunday was really windy with rain and thunderstorms off and on all day... so we opted to play inside.  I had thought up a new cupcake flavor (not telling what it is, because it still needs to be tested to see if it's any good...) and decided to execute the new flavor with help from my assistant, Casey.  Casey had fun lining the cupcake pans with the little paper cups and he counted the cups as he placed the paper in each one.  Then he helped crack eggs (only putting the entire shell in once).  He had fun stirring the batter with me, and if I turned my back he'd sneak a taste of the batter.  The entire time he just talked about "Mommy's cupcakes" and told me that "oven hot" since that's where the cupcakes would go next.  As soon as we got the cupcakes in the oven, Casey cheered "Yay Mommy's cupcakes!" and then we proceeded to make pretend cupcakes out of pla-doh while the real ones baked.

Casey wanted no part in the decorating process except to eat the extra pieces of strawberries.  Not a bad way to spend a rainy Sunday... and Casey is off to his first day of school tomorrow.

Adventures in Daycare

So I have opted to enroll Casey in a learning daycare center so he has a chance to develop social skills and have other kids to be around to let his imagination go wild.  I found a daycare I really like at the local college and enrolled him.  Yesterday morning Casey and I got to go meet the teachers and his future classmates.  When Casey woke up in the morning I told him "let's get dressed now so you can go to school later."  So that morning before leaving, he went around telling me repeatedly (and all his toys) "Casey go school today!"

We finally get to the school (after nearly an hour of listening to Casey excitedly talk of going to school) where Casey hits a shy spell.  He wanted me to hold him while he watched the other kids play.  A little girl was at a nearby table playing with a puzzle when Casey decided to break out of the shyness.  He walked over to the table and started telling her what shapes and colors the puzzle pieces were.  The little girl, who didn't talk much, was in awe of Casey and kept laughing and handing him different pieces waiting for him to tell her what shape and color each piece was.  Then a little boy came over to Casey with a Thomas the Tank Engine toy and the two boys pushed the train back and forth.  It came time for our visit to end and I told Casey it was time to head home, he responded "Mommy go home.  Casey stay in school!"  Of course, a temper tantrum ensued when I picked him up and carried him to the car.  We're both pretty excited about him starting school on Monday.

"If you've got the money honey" Adventures

The last night that Grandma was in town, we were all finishing up dinner.  Casey wanted to sit in Grandma's lap and Big Papa decided to get Casey to sing along with him.  Big Papa sang to Casey ♫"If you've got the money, honey... I've got the time" ♪ and Casey would repeat the lines.  This went on for a few verses until Big Papa wanted Casey to finish the line.  Big Papa sings ♪"If you've got the money, honey..."♫ and Casey responds with, "I'm poopin'".  Of course everyone at the table was in hysterics because of Casey's awesome timing.

More Adventures in DC

Saturday was another day spent in my favorite city, Washington DC.  Grandma was in town so we made this trip really fun for Casey.  We spent Friday night in a hotel and then on Saturday morning we caught the Metro train into the city to hit up the zoo.  Casey loves trains, so he loved the Metro.  Once we got into the city, we headed for the National Zoo.  It was a sunny, yet windy day, and our first stop at the zoo was the Panda exhibit.

Casey informed us that "Panda have dirty butt" about twenty times before we met up with some of mommy's friends.  We then worked our way over to the elephants... which was probably Casey's favorite exhibit.  One elephant was using his trunk to eat some grass, Casey exclaimed "elephant pick up mess!"  He watched the elephants while they ate and then worked their way over to their watering hole to splash some water around with their trunks.  A duck flew up and landed in the water hole and Casey yells to the duck "Duck- there's elephants over there!" as he pointed to the elephants.  We meandered our way over to see the monkey's and then the tiger and "mommy's favorite" the lions.  Then we headed back to hop on the Metro and head to the other side of the city for our next adventure... Baseball.

Casey's first MLB game, the DC National's vs. Milwaukee Brewer's.  Casey had a blast seeing the President's race, singing, dancing, clapping, and cheering.  The Nat's won 8-0 and grandma bought Casey a new baseball hat.  He's definitely going to be a ball player- just like mom.

Hiking Adventures

Casey got to hiking at a North Carolina State Park last Saturday. He had fun chasing butterflies, stomping on ants, and checking under logs for lizards and snakes. He watched people in canoes paddling down the river, and then got really excited when he saw dogs in their boats. He shrieked with excitement every time we'd approach a bridge, and then he'd have to cross it three or four times (hopefully this OCD-errific trait is only temporary).


On Wednesday night, Grandma came into town and Casey has been having all sorts of fun adventures with Grandma since she's been here and he's been telling her all sorts of stories.  This weekend is our trip to the National Zoo (in DC) followed by his first Major League Baseball game when we go see the Nationals play the Brewers. 

Pictures and stories to come... stay tuned.

Easter Adventures: Part 1

Last night after Casey went to bed, the Easter Bunny hopped his way through the house leaving a trail from Casey's room, around the train tracks, to where Casey's Easter baskets were left.  So when Casey got up this morning, he was pretty excited to follow the egg trail to find baskets full of goodies.  He shook some eggs to discover jelly beans inside of them- which he decided he wanted to have for breakfast.  He got a new motorized train for his tracks, and once he saw the new train nothing else in his Easter baskets mattered.  He took the train over to the tracks and introduced it to the rest of his trains, cleared the tracks, and let the train ride the rails while Casey said, "Tooooot! Tooooot!" 

Now it's off to Easter brunch and then the egg hunt... more to come later.

Magnified Adventures

Casey loves a magnifying glass.  We had crab for dinner tonight and had to examine the crab with his magnifying glass, then he went and sat on the couch and kept saying "big hand. Big foot. Big finger."  After dinner we went for a walk since it was still beautiful out (temperature was probably around 75 this evening).  Casey brought the magnifying glass so he could get a closer looks at different objects along the way.  We only made it about a block before we were flagged down by one of the neighbors to sit on their patio and have a drink and visit.  Casey showed off his magnifying glass and examined different things around the patio and then went to inspect flowers in the garden.  He got into the garden and yells, "MOMMY! BIIIIIIIIG BEE!"  I went down to make sure it wasn't a wasp or yellow jacket, and it was indeed a big bee- even without being magnified.  He also found a big bird, a big pink bird, which I informed him was a flamingo (or as Casey says, "Plamingo").