How Time Flies...Yet Again

My girls today! So sweet!

I just can't believe it's been about 2 months since I've last posted. It's been a roller coaster that's for sure.

On September 19, 2009 my wonderful grandmother (Grammie to the grandkids), Elsa Cline passed away unexpectedly. She was 79 years old and had been married to my Grandpa Gene for 61 years. She will be missed dearly. It has been rough on all of us losing both of my grandmas in 6 weeks. Here is my grandma and grandpa with the girls in May.

For the good news....lil Miss Kasey Jo is now able to sit up all by herself without any support! She is now 7 1/2 months old. I need to get some toys for her to sit and play with. I still had Caeleigh's Fisher Price musical ring stacker and she is really enjoying that!

Yes, we are still rockin' leg warmers 80s style! Kasey has just been doing so much. She is babbling a lot and eating most anything. I think the lil thing would much rather eat table food over her baby food! She will follow the fork from plate to my mouth with such intensity. She has sampled baked potato, biscuit, mashed potatos, cracker, cheese spread, applesauce, choc. pudding (just a taste). I just can't believe how big she is getting!

Caeleigh just got her first quarter report card...all A's and B's! I'm so thrilled. Her teacher says she is reading on grade level, needs to work on math fact memorization, and is such a good girl to have in class. Here she is helping me butter, salt and roast the pumpkin seeds this week.

Halloween was a lot of fun. Caeleigh wanted to be a vampire princess. Sean was a "workman" from the Dharma Initiative (a LOST character). Kasey wore a "Marie" from Aristocats sleeper that my good friend and co-worker, Cindy, bought for her.

Here is the crew after pumpkin carving!

Well, need to pay more attention to the Colts game and get more laundry done. Have a wonderful November everyone and a blessed Thanksgiving!

XOXO,
Sarah

Back to School

After being on maternity leave for 5 whole months, I am back to work. I really love my job and I missed my kids so much, so I am glad to be back.

Caeleigh has two weeks of 3rd grade at St. Malachy School under her belt. She is doing great. Her teacher is Mrs. Dunn...and she calls the kids "Scholars" and sometimes talks in a British accent, which Caeleigh thinks is hysterical. Poor kid has two yellow lights this week because of her horrible organization, but we're working on it! She has also started cursive writing and is THRILLED about that!

Kasey Jo has adjusted to her babysitter quite well. She loves Miss Laina, her sitter, and Aunt Na-Na (Nadia is Laina's 19 year old daughter). Kasey is the ONLY girl out of the 5 kiddos Laina watches, but she loves watching those boys!

Kasey is also able to sit up with just a little bit of support from her Boppy pillow. She is 5 1/2 months old. Loves to eat rice cereal mixed with fruit, sweet potatos, carrots, and squash. The fruits we have tried include bananas, pears, applesauce, and out of necessity....PRUNES! I always lay her on a blanket when on the carpet, but she doesn't stay on it very long. She's rolling--slowly--all over the place!

I just love this pic....had to share it with you!

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Sarah

My grandmother, Patricia "Patty" Jane Kasemeyer, passed away this morning after battling cancer. All my love to you grandma.


With Kasey in March


At Christmas

Christmas a couple of years ago

XOXO,

Sarah

July Happenings

What a month! I can’t believe it has been over a month since I’ve updated you all on our family, but then I did realize we have been CRAZY busy this month!

We started out the month by driving to Northern Indiana (La Porte to be exact) to visit with Sean’s dad. Paul, a.k.a “Pops” to Caeleigh, has retired from Indiana teaching to teach near Daytona Beach. He flew up for 10 days to stay at Uncle Larry’s so we decided to take a short trip to see him while he was in the state. He had not met Miss Kasey Jo yet, so we took the opportunity for him to do so!

Sean had to go to Minnesota for work so the girls and I decided to get out of town. We travelled to Marshall to spend some time at Nana and Poppa’s house. Caeleigh went swimming with Nana and picked sweet corn with Poppa. We had a really nice visit.

Kasey Joann is pushing up when lying on her belly and started rolling from her back to her belly. She’ll then push up and push herself back onto her back. She is grabbing for toys and loves to put anything in her mouth (my finger, her fingers and thumbs, burp cloth, toys, blanky, etc.). She had her 4 month check-up in mid-July. Kasey weighed 12 lbs; 12 oz and was almost 24 inches long. She started eating rice ceral…well, actually she spits more out than she swallows. She did love sweet potatoes and bananas. This week we are going to try carrots and applesauce. She is sleeping about 12 hours through the night and eats 6 ounce bottles every 3-4 hours. She is really growing up!

Caeleigh did 10 days of swim lessons and really progressed! She can now swim in the deep end without fear, jump off of the diving board, and tread water. When she is in the pool she is getting stronger and diving down to get toys in the deep end as well! She did refuse to go down the slide at her instructor’s house. Maybe next year! I am so proud of her! Now we need to get back to learning how to ride her bike!

We have also spent many afternoons swimming at my good friend's pool. Kasey is quite the waterbug. She enjoys swimming with her sis and relaxing in her bug swimming ring.

Sean finished a big landscape project and we now have a rock garden and fire pit. We hosted a fun cook-out and later had the neighbor kids over to roast marshmallows and make s’mores.
I go back to work on August 13 and Caeleigh returns to school on August 17. We have a few more days to enjoy out of this fabulous summer. Kasey Jo will also start to her babysitter’s house, hopefully that will be an easy transition!

Have a great week folks!
XOXO,
Sarah

Can't believe June is almost over!

Wow! I knew it had been awhile since blogging, but it's been a lot longer than I thought!

June has been surprisingly very busy! Caeleigh's finishing up softball. The tourney has begun and we have to play at least one more game tonight. If they lose, we're done, it they win...another game. Here she is after a tourney game. She was the catcher and got over-heated in the catching gear. We had to dump cold water down her neck and on her head.




Caeleigh also decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. We went through this last year and she "chickened out." So I ended up with a very darling pair of little pink rhinestone flower earrings. This year she didn't chicken out!! She is also sporting a new hair cut!

Kasey had her 3 month check-up on the 17th of June. She weighed 12 pounds even. She measured 23 1/8 inches long. All on track. No shots this month. Kasey has also started sleeping in her crib in her room every night this week! The first night I slept like a rock...didn't wake once. The other nights, I'm always waking thinking I heard her....crazy. Kasey has really discovered her thumb and fingers....oh, great...another thumb-sucker! Her other new trick is rolling from her back to her belly. She will also push up now during tummy time and end up on her back! I'm so used to Caeleigh's laziness (low tone) as an infant....she's at least a month ahead of Caeleigh on these physical feats! Kasey also really likes sitting in her Bumbo seat! Here she is at 3 months old!

Last week the girls and I went to Marshall to visit Nana and Poppa. Poppa surprised us by suggesting going to Terre Haute to Bogey's Family Fun Center (something he would NEVER do when Maggie and I were kids!) But we had a fabulous time. Miniature golf, bungee-trampoline, arcade, then off to Real Hacienda for dinner. It was a nice night!! Hot, but nice!

Here Caeleigh tries Bungee-Trampoline!

Kasey preferred to chill in her stroller!

Caeleigh thought the water looked like mouthwash....I thought it was just very unnatural looking!

Next week starts Caeleigh's swim lessons. We are also planning a mini-vacation to LaPorte, IN to visit with the Reaves' family. Sean's dad is flying in from Daytona to visit as well. So I'm sure we'll be boating on Pine Lake!

Have a Happy 4th of July!!

XOXO,
Sarah

Busy end to the month of May!

We have a very busy last weekend of May. Caeleigh had her dance recital and a softball game. We welcomed our cousins Jennifer and Layton for a sleepover and Nana cam too! Yay!!


Baby sis usually sleeps through Caeleigh's games!



Caeleigh had two hits at her game. (Isn't she a cutie?)



Kasey was 11 weeks old last Thursday. She has really started to pay attention to her mobile on the swing. She really watches it and talks to it!

Dance Recital: ballet performance to Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid

Dance Recital: Tap performance to Bushel and a Peck

Before the recital Layton was giving Caeleigh hugs!

The weather has been so beautiful. Today is REALLY hot out, but should be cooling down to the 70s again for this week. I need to finish up the deck and plant more flowers that just arrived. I'm working on some perennial gardens for the back yard....ugh. I really want a manicure, but not until the deck and planting are done! Why ruin it?

Have a great week! Caeleigh only has 2 more days of school! Can't wait for her to be home!


Here is a little video of her hit during Saturday's game!

XOXO,
Sarah

10 Weeks Old

Here's a little video of Kasey at 10 weeks. She has really started smiling and responding to us talking the past couple of weeks. She smirks with that "I'm gonna cause all kinds of trouble" look! Not much of anything else for this week. Still having softball games and getting ready for Caeleigh's dance recital in a week. Have a great Memorial Day weekend. The girls and I are headed to Marshall. XOXO, Sarah

2 Months old!!

Well Miss Kasey was 2 months old this week. Today she had her checkup. She weighed 10lbs, 10 ounces (50th percentile for weight) and measured 21 and 3/4 inches long (25th percentile for length). I can't remember her head circumference, but it was 50th percentile. Yeah!!!

Kasey at 2 months old:



Caeleigh modeling her new dress from Maggie Sugar:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was the best ever! Sean's mom, grandma, aunt, cousin and her family came over for a good old BBQ. Sean grilled ribs (Grandpa Major's Style) and we women-folk furnished the sides. It was also Brooke's birthday and her stepson, Tyler's birthday. The weather was nice and a good time was had by all. I'm still waiting for someone (hint, hint) to email me the group shot so I'll have to post that later. But I did get a good shot of Great-Grandma Bonnie holding Kasey.

Yes, Kasey is sporting another pair of leg warmers. Here's a close-up shot.

I also sewed a baby ring-sling last week. Ignore the awful picture of me...but it is hands-free! Whoo hoo. Kasey is getting used to it. Check out http://www.slingyourbaby.blogspot.com/ if interested for the directions or instructions for other types of slings, pouches, etc. This was a no-sew sling, but I'm not patient ironing the stitch-witchery, so I sewed mine with my machine, so much faster!! I like the sling, but think I would like the pouch better. I might try that next.

And here are some pics of my girls on Mother's Day. Aren't they just so cute??

Me and my girls...I'm so blessed!

On Monday Caeleigh did not have school. It was a built-in snow make-up day that we did not have to use. After Jazzercise, Caeleigh suggested we go to Blast-Off Park for a picnic. So we loaded up the picnic basket, stroller, and scooter. It was sunny, but a bit windy and chilly, but we had such a good time.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Sarah

Busy Weekend

Kasey is 7 weeks old this week! She weighs about 10.2 pounds. So she has gained 2 lbs since birth...what a growing girl. She also started sleeping in 6-7 hour stretches overnight, which means usually up once before dawn. Yay!!! Kasey also started taking 4 ounce bottles this week. She was taking 3 ounces. This makes bottle making easier without having to store an ounce each time. (You can only make even ounce bottles at a time!)


We have survived the busy weekend. Friday was May Crowning at St. Malachy and the second graders wore their Communion clothes. On Saturday Caeleigh had softball pics taken, first softball game (they lost 14-7...boo), made her First Communion and Kasey was baptized! Whew! This week doesn't get any slower! We have 3 softball games (M-TH-SA). Hopefully the weather will cooperate as well as it did yesterday.


May Crowning Mass
First Communion


Baptism


My girls on their special day!



Playing right field. Go Rock Stars!!!





Up to bat!



Have a great week folks!

XOXO,
Sarah