With Erik away in Austin with the guys last weekend, Cassidy and I headed down to Lafayette, IN for a visit at the Harding's house. We celebrated Steve and Tracy's birthday and had lots of fun spending time with everyone. Cassie loves seeing her cousins, Kelsey and Ethan - they wore her out while I got to be lazy! They played "Jungle Adventure" with their huge bin of plastic 
jungle animals, built a fort with blankets, pillows, and chairs and brought in flashlights to navigate, ran "laps" around the rooms in their home (a fave activity of Cassidy's), and played with a huge beach ball. Cassie was giggling for the majority of the weekend! Ethan even treated her to some tunes on his guitar, and we also got to see Kelsey play in a couple indoor soccer games. Within hours of our arrival, Cassidy was pulling her cousins around by their pinkies, a sure sign that she had found some great playmates.Cassie also had fun with Aunt Tracy and Uncle Steve. Tracy was very kind to give Cassidy a bath at night (having trouble handling that one myself with my due date only a week away!) and Cassie loved splashing around with all the toys in their "big girl" bath. She also thought Uncle Steve's goatee felt pretty funny!
Grandma and Grandpa Reder also came down for a visit, and Cassie kept them pretty occupied
too! They read stories together, played "horsey"on Grandpa's knee, and had little conversations as Cassie continued to enjoy practicing her new words. And, all were very sweet to endure countless episodes of Cassie's favorite TV show, "The Wonder Pets." Grandma and Grandpa brought a special birthday cake (a family favorite from a Rockford bakery) and Cassie got to help Aunt Tracy and Uncle Steve open their presents. We all had such a fun weekend!
OK, so we've only got 5 days left in our countdown for baby #2! We're so excited to meet him or her! Erik and I enjoyed a nice dinner out last night (luckily we moved across the street from a really sweet 8th grader who loves to baby-sit!) and we had fun chatting about the adventure that lies ahead. We'll have news to share by next Thursday, if not sooner!
