An anniversary and an announcement!

First, I will start with the announcement... we are expecting baby #2!! I am almost 13 weeks. A lot of you probably have already figured it out if you've read my facebook profile. Anyway, all is good and we're very excited. So, this brings me to our anniversary....

Yesterday Chad and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. It was such a special day! Each year we take turns planning our anniversary day and this year it was my turn. So Chad took off work and we started the day by going to our first trimester ultrascreen in hopes that we could find out the sex of the baby, and we did! Yes, that's right we're having a baby girl! And more importantly, we found out that she is developing perfectly! Next we went to lunch at Mi Cocina, ate our favorite nachos, and talked about how our lives are going to change with a baby girl in our lives. After that we headed off to an afternoon at the spa. It was so relaxing. We got a couple's massage and pedicures. I didn't want it to end. After we were completely relaxed we headed next door to our favorite kids shop and bought our first girly-girl outfit! I've already decided (even before I knew I was having a girl) that shopping for girls is WAY more fun! Ok, so where was I... oh yeah, then we headed home and got ready for the evening. After getting freshened up we went to Rick's Chophouse in Downtown McKinney. Wow, if you haven't ever been there, the food is EXCELLENT. I was extremely impressed. We will definitely be going back. Afterward we topped it off with some Paciugo, my favorite! What a day! It was so great to spend an entire day, just the two of us, with no distractions.

I love you Chad. Can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring!


Here are the flowers he brought home to me. They were so pretty that I thought they were fake at first!

Our dinner on the patio at Rick's Chophouse.

1st place, baby!!

Yesterday we made our way out to Arlington for the Rangers game. For those of you who don't know, Chad and I are big Rangers fans. Out of the 162 games of the season, we watch at least 100 of them. We started doing this the summer of 2004 after we got married and moved to Plano. We had no money so we would watch the Rangers (or the "strangers" as we call them) almost every night from the couch. If we really wanted to splurge we would drive out to Arlington and buy the $5 tickets then move down to the lower deck around the 3rd or 4th inning. It's a lot more difficult to make it out to the ballpark these days with a one year old who has an 8:00 bedtime so we watch almost all our 100 games from the couch, but yesterday was the perfect day. With the rain delay it was a 4:00 start time. Perfect to be able to get a full nap in and still get home for bedtime.

We're pretty excited about this season. I want everyone to know that I predicted 90 wins this season.... our "Strangers" are well on their way (we're in 1st place for those of you who don't follow baseball)!

Cohen spent more time turned around talking to mommy then he did watching the game! Please ignore his hair. We're growing it out. I have this dream of him having long wavy blond hair this summer.... so far it's just a stringy mess!

If you'll notice, he's wearing his Mavs hat. He insisted on wearing this one instead of his Rangers hat. I decided not to fight that battle.

My Boys!!

A letter to Pepaw

A couple of weeks ago we received some sad news…. My grandfather (Pepaw) has received the diagnosis of inoperable cancer. The cancer is progressing rather quickly and without a miracle from the Lord, this cancer is terminal.

The night I found out I spent a lot of time crying. I don't think Cohen had ever seen me really cry. He was so sweet. He spent most of the night curled up in my lap, hugging me and playing with my hair. He never sits in my lap that long! Later that night we were looking at a picutre of Pepaw and I was reading him a letter that Memaw and Pepaw wrote him when we was born. Here was our conversation:
Me: "Pepaw is sick and he doesn't feel very good."
Cohen: "boo-boo"
Me: "Yes, it's kind of like he has a boo-boo."
Cohen then leans over and kisses the picture of Pepaw and says, "all better!"
It was so refreshing to see the pureness and innocence of his little heart. He truly thought that Pepaw was all better because of his kiss. Why not, right? His boo-boos are better after a kiss.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks on our entire family, but this time has allowed me to reflect on a lot of things. I’m grateful that I have some time while Pepaw is still on this earth to share these thoughts with him.

Dear Pepaw,

I know for all of us this news has been, in some ways, more difficult to bear than it has been for you. You are coming to the time that you lived your entire life for… you are going to the one place where you will feel no more pain…The place where you will meet our Glorious Father… and you will hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I’m convinced that you will see faces of hundreds of men and women whom you have led to know Christ either through your example, your faithfulness, your generosity to the poor in your community, or your boldness to speak Truth.

As I look back on your past 29 ½ years of being a grandparent… here are some memories I have:


- My afternoons at the store…. Chandy and I would anxiously await the hour when Memaw would finally release us to go over to the store. We would look both ways before we crossed the street in case there were any crazy Haworth drivers coming, then we would dart across. If it was lunchtime, you would always make us two of your famous Redland Store sandwiches. Now these weren’t just any sandwiches. I can still taste them as I’m thinking about it. They had the softest white bread I had ever sank my teeth into (so soft it would stick to the roof of my mouth after each bite), slathered with Miracle Whip (for some reason this Miracle Whip was much better than what Mom had in our refrigerator at home), layered with your thinly sliced ham (you would never let me get close to the machine while you were shaving the ham), and a cold piece of American cheese. Then we would sit on the bench while Glenn Farley told us stories. Now looking back I don’t think any of them were true, but he definitely kept us listening. If we were good, you would let us come around behind the counter and roll pennies. And if we were really good you would let us each get a coke from the coke box and a candy. I would get a Snickers and Chandy would get Skittles. Now looking back it was so simple, but those were some of the days I looked forward to the most.


- Reading stories…. Remember when I would crawl up in your chair with you and you would read me a book. I didn’t know until later in my adult life that you weren’t reading the story that was on the pages. You were making up your own story. I guess that’s why story time seemed better when you were reading!


- I never got in trouble… that’s right. I only remember getting in trouble with you one time. That’s when I locked the one-and-only bathroom door from the inside so that no one could get in. (I have no idea why I did that.) You had to get a bobby pin and jimmy the door open. That’s the only time I remember getting in trouble…. You left most of that to Memaw.


- Your love for “42”… now that I’m older I wish I would have learned to play with you and Memaw. Even though you tried more times than I can count to teach me the rules, I just never had enough patience. Lucky for you guys I married a 42 player!


The one thing I will hold most dear to my heart is not a memory, but the legacy you have left with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Because of your and Memaw’s decision to make Jesus the center of your life, I have a mother and father who raised me to have a relationship with Him, and because Chad and I have that personal relationship with Jesus, we will raise our children to know Him in hopes that someday they will not only know him as their Savior but live a life sold out to Him.

Thank you for following the Deuteronomy 6 commandment that God gave to Israel..

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

We’re all blessed to have a Pepaw like you!

I love you,

Cassy

Easter '09!

It's taken me almost 2 weeks to blog about our Easter weekend, but I'm finally getting around to it. We had a great weekend with family. Saturday we had our all-church family picnic and easter egg hunt which my children's ministry team and I put on. It went really well but I was busy most of the day and didn't get to be with Cohen much. Chad was also helping out a lot so luckily Nana, Big T, Kellie, Kevin and Jake came and spent the day with Cohen, got him ready and brought him to the picnic. Here are a few pics...



Cohen didn't quite understand why he had to wait until I said "go" before he could start picking up eggs.


He also didn't understand that is was a race and he wanted to stop and open each egg as he picked it up, so he ended up with a total of 3 eggs... there were 6,322 eggs total... i guess he just wanted to leave plenty for the other kids :)

Still, just taking his time....

The Easter bunny showed up for some picture opps so Nana and Big T got one with the grandbabies...

I love this picture of Jake (my one and only nephew). This is the cutest outfit.

Daddy and Cohen taking a walk through the crowd.

These were in his Easter basket from Grammy. Now he puts them on and says, "ribbit, ribbit!"

Sunday we went over to the Legans for Easter lunch and an egg hunt. Cohen found a prize egg with money. From the look of his eyes in this picture, I think he's beginning to come down from his sugar high... plus it's two hours past nap time.

Swimming videos.

Here are a couple of videos from Cohen's most recent swim lessons. ISR lessons teach them what to do if they fall in the water. Which is to float on their back, flip, swim, and then if they can't find the edge of the pool or a steady object to grab on to, then to flip back over and float more. I didn't get much swimming action in these videos, but a lot of floating and flipping. Surprisingly the flipping is the hardest thing for them to learn to do because they have to use their ab muscles to get over. The swimming comes more naturally.

Funny Story...

This afternoon Cohen woke up from a long nap and was very hungry. His stomach growled very loud, which we think was a first experience for him. After the growl, he pointed at his belly button and said "I tooted". Hmmm... yes, I guess you could look at it that way... a belly button toot. Oh, how I love looking at things through the eyes of an 18 month old!

Swim Time!

What have we been doing for the past week? Swim lessons? Yes, after some debate we decided to start Cohen with ISR (infant swim resources) lessons. With the lakehouse and being at the pool almost everyday in the summer, I just really want him to know how to save himself if he accidently falls in the water when no one else is around. And after 3 lessons so far, I must say that I am happy with our decision. Yes, he cries some but he gets over it pretty fast! We go everyday (Mon-Fri) at 5:20. The lessons are 10 minutes each. If any of you have a one year old, you know why the lessons are only 10 minutes each! We will do this for 5-6 weeks and apparently at the end of this he will know how to roll over and float on his back if he falls in the water, hold his breath under water, and swim for short distances at a time. Day one he learned to hold his breathe underwater, it was amazing! However, I was so nervous that I forgot to take any pictures! Here are pictures from day two...
Here he is anxiously waiting his turn and for the baby in front of him to finish.
Swimming with his head under water. Yes, it was only for about 3 seconds but I was proud!

Kicking and holding his head under water.

Floating on his back... so far, he hates this and cries when she makes him do it. I think he gets water up his nose and it makes him mad.

If everything goes as planned and he is actually swimming in a few weeks, I will get some video footage and post it. I have been very pleased with the instructor and how professional she is and how well she works with toddlers.

That's all for now.