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.
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!
in the area. It's been such a nice welcome to the new city! We all have kids that are about the same age, which makes it really fun to get together for some playtime. We had a wonderful dinner over at The Elliott's home in Vernon Hills and another fun night at the Hoffmeister's house, which happens to be just 3 streets away from us! We're so happy to have friends that live nearby, and they've all been so helpful as we seek out things like local doctors, plumbers, etc. They've also introduced us to some new friends, and we look forward to getting to know everyone here even better in the months to come.
bath (sometimes squirting daddy!), laying out all of her stuffed animals on the floor and laying down with them for pretend "night-night", wearing hats and playing dress-up, and experimenting with pigtails (actually this is only mommy - we can only get them in if she's really distracted!). She really, really loves music. She has a few different musical toys and rotates through them during playtime. Each evening, we take a 5-minute car ride over to the train station to pick up daddy, and if a song ends while we're driving and the DJ starts chatting, she will literally start crying, actual tears, saying "musiiiic!!!" in this sad little voice - until I can scramble to find a station playing another song. The instant she hears singing or at least an instrument sound, the crying is over and smiles return. So funny to see all her little "quirks" start to emerge. She has also discovered counting and will count anything she sees - the crackers I put 
on her tray, her toes, her "guys" (stuffed animals), the boats in her bath, pretty much anything. Every once in a while she gets through 1-10 in order - but most often she'll say "1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10!" I've also noticed that whenever she bumps herself (enough to get the whimpers going), she'll say "I'm sorry" as her little lip turns down and quivers. She must have gotten used to me saying "I'm so sorry you bumped your head/toe/elbow, etc.!" and thinks this is just what you say when something hurts. It's so interesting to see how the mind develops! And lastly, we've been working a lot on manners, and she has caught on pretty well with please, thank you and you're welcome. I was prompting her to say it at every appropriate time, and then yesterday I helped her open her fruit snack paper, and she blurted out "Thank you, mama!"
This entry is the first being written from our new house in Wilmette, IL. We're so happy to be settling into our new home! Moving is always a big undertaking, and when you add in an active toddler, a mom who's due in 6 weeks with baby #2 and a dad who needs a hernia repaired, we made for an interesting bunch. Our moving process was different than some in that we still have our old house on the market, staged with all of our furniture. So moving really only involved bringing over boxes of "stuff" at our leisure. It was actually pretty nice to have time to spread out the process, but we eventually got to the point where we needed to have all of our necessities in one spot - so a couple weeks ago, we made the switch and are so happy to be in our new home - even if the furniture hasn't made it's way yet! (Cassie loves the empty space - she makes tables out of our moving boxes and lines up all of her "guys" in rows on top.) We got a lot of great help from all of our parents, siblings, and neighbors and we're so grateful for that! We have Cassidy's room all set up and the kitchen too, and the rest is easy to be without for a short time. Thankfully, our old home is under contract and we should be fully transitioned within just a few weeks. Hooray!
year-olds. The class begins with everyone sitting in a circle for stretches. Somehow, nearly every other toddler sits patiently and follows the instructor with each stretch. This amazes me. Cassie will sit down with me for a total of about 7 seconds - and then she's immediately up and running towards the foam pit. No amount of bargaining will get her to sit with the class - she's too mesmerized by all the equipment and fun playmats! The teachers all smile and quietly mouth to me "It's ok!" as 
they see me desperately trying to get her to stay in our circle - they're all very sweet and understanding. After 5 minutes of stretch time, the kids are supposed to line up behind the balance beam and each take a turn greeting their teachers for attendance halfway down the beam. If Cassie gets someone slow in front her, it's bad news, she just jumps off and goes elsewhere. Patience is not her thing at the moment! Once attendance is over, it's open gym time (thank goodness!). The kids can have a turn on the trampoline, the foam pit, and anything else that's within their reach. Cassie loves every second and takes an extra-long nap on gymnastics days!
stayed strong! Erik never intended to look - he has always wanted that surprise. I was on the fence, and decided to have it written down so the option was there for me to find out if I really wished to. Of course, it would be for my knowledge only - wouldn't have wanted someone accidentally spoiling the surprise for Erik! But in the end, I let the practical side of me slide and decided to get in on the fun of the surprise. We'd be equally thrilled with a boy or a girl of course, so this is the best type of surprise I can imagine! The baby's room is painted sage green (here's a pic of Cassie helping!), and we've pulled out all of the neutral-colored clothes from Cassie's baby wardrobe. We've even got the newborn diapers piled up and ready. So, I think we're as prepared as we can be! I'm ready to speed through the next 6 weeks and meet this little one!
Rockford was our first stop where we got to visit with the Burkholders, who had made the long trip up from El Paso, the Hardings, in from Lafayette, and of course my parents - mostly known as Grandma and Grandpa in their house these days (with 6 grandkids with #7 on the way!). With 14 people under one roof, the kitchen was always bustling with activity - we enjoyed delicious dinners, lots of holiday desserts, and breakfasts that 
included our family's goetta recipe (traditional German breakfast meat). The snow was piled high, so the kids (and grown-up boys too!) did some afternoon sledding and made huge snow forts in the front yard - we saw a few good snowball fights from our perch inside the front window! We spent our days with lots of typical holiday/vacation activities - reading books by the fire, decorating Christmas cookies, and even holding a family-wide Wii bowling tourny (can't say I fared too well, I only survived 1 round - but very fun nonetheless!).
On Christmas Eve, it was time to exchange gifts. The kids opened presents in the afternoon and then we all attended the early evening church service. We came home to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner, and then once the kids were settled for bed, the adults exchanged gifts and enjoyed coffee and hot cocoa. It's a relaxing way to end a busy day!
time with Grammy and Grandpa Brown and Aunt Mel and Uncle Aaron (and Cooper of course). We arrived to a warm fire in the living room, as always! The Christmas tree, with the train running underneath, immediately caught Cassidy's attention. She became a 
skilled train conductor, running the train around the tree at full speed until it jumped off the tracks. Cassie also got a kick out of playing with all of her daddy's old toys that Grammy has kept over the years. These photos below are of Erik's old horsey and his Swedish "agg vagn" (egg wagon).
that it will hold. In a matter of days, we'll be moving to our new house in Wilmette, IL. We're excited to get settled there! And in 2 short months, we'll be welcoming a new baby to our family - we can't wait to meet him or her! Perhaps by then, spring will be upon us - which would be good news to Cassidy, as you can see in this picture! While I was gathering laundry, she managed to rip through her dresser drawers and find her swimming suit - she made it clear it had to be put on at that very moment - and then wandered around the house saying "pool?"
Last night, Santa made an early stop at Cassidy's house! Since we'll be traveling for the Christmas holiday, Santa made arrangements to drop down our chimney a few days in advance. As soon as Cassidy came down the stairs this morning, she noticed the presents under the tree and went right over to investigate. She picked one up and brought it over to her mom and dad for some assistance. We tried to tell her to tear into it, to rip open the paper and see what's inside - but she didn't seem to get that idea and instead just said "off! off!" meaning she really wanted us to help get that paper off so she could get to the good stuff. She seemed to love everything she opened - favorites appear to be her new giraffe stuffed animal ("raff" - she's 
giving him a hug in this photo), her Wonder Pets snowglobe and her new kitten keyboard. The keyboard is in the shape of a big purple kitten and plays various instrument sounds. What makes it extra-special to her is the "kitten mode" in which every note played comes out as a "meow." She also really loves the attached microphone. She didn't notice that part at first, but at some point this afternoon she made the discovery that her voice comes through that microphone, and she has been addicted ever since! She can hardly get a word out, though, because the second she hears her voice bellowing through the speaker, she falls into a fit of giggles. Here's a video:
Over the past couple weeks as we prepare for Christmas, Cassidy has continued to make us laugh with her latest "stuff." The other night, she discovered twirling - and she hasn't stopped since. At first she'd slowly step her feet around until she competed 1 circle, then we'd clap and she'd giggle like crazy. Then she realized if she kept twirling, the room would spin and things would feel funny - so that's her new favorite move. She'll go around and around until she loses her balance, and she cracks herself up every time! It's pretty funny, at least to mom and dad. She practices many times each day.
We've spent a lot of days indoors lately with the bitterly cold temperatures outside. So, mom has been searching high and low for new activities to keep Miss Cassidy occupied. We decided to make homemade playdough. It's an old recipe of my mom's that she used to make for us when we were little. It uses basic kitchen ingredients, 
so it was perfect for a day when we didn't want to trek out to the store. Anyway, we made 5 colors and Cassidy enjoyed smushing it around on her highchair. She's a little too young to be entertained with it for long, but it worked for part of a morning! She did try to eat it a few times, but thankfully it doesn't taste great so she didn't consume very much!
Cassidy is starting to communicate with us more and more these days. She will say "no" and shake her head if she is not interested in that particular book/food/drink/etc. Right now, it's refreshing, because it's not in a defiant way (at least not yet!) and we finally don't have to guess what she wants! She also says the names of her favorite characters: Elmo, Foofa (from Yo Gabba Gabba) and Ming Ming (from The Wonder Pets). Other words she uses each day: more, off, sheep, night-night, eyes, nose, mouth, baby, apple, owl, shoes, giraffe ("raff"), ball, uh-oh, shhhhh, light (especially when she sees all the Christmas lights), and cold - when we go outside, she says brrr, brrr, brrr - I guess I've been saying that a lot! I also find her singing songs when she plays - so far I've heard the tune for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider.
But before that, we are very excited to celebrate Christmas with family - so many fun things to look forward to in the coming months. Happy Holidays!!!