Lovin' the 4-wheeler!

We just can't keep secrets!

(My family knows that about me!!!)

We bought Cassidee a 4-wheeler for her birthday. Although her b-day isn't until next week, we already let her play with her present! She is a ridin' fool. She just loves it. She can ride it all the way down the block to the playground!

Daddy is showing her where the button is one more time.
She loves climbing all over the playground at the park!
The swings might be her favorite!
Oh, and my sister Kayla got a nose ring the other day--random, I know. I took a picture of it today and had to put it on here. I wish I could pull off something like that. I think it looks cute on her!

This past week in our house....

Cassidee loves to listen to Jeremy play the guitar. She sits and stares at him, or she moves her legs and "dances" to the music. I thought this picture was sweet of her just staring intently at him.

Clay, Maurine, and Avery came over for pizza and a movie. The movie turned out to be Baby Einstein, but atleast it kept Avery occupied for a little while!
Cass let Avery ride her horsey. From what I hear, Cassidee helped Avery "rock" the horse.
Uncle Spencer came home from college for spring break. He and Cass got to play together for a few minutes.

Have a great week!

Only one more week for me, at school, then I'm on Spring Break!

Woo Hoo!

**Mom and Dad- Hope yall and Kelsey are having fun in Europe!!**

Our Family Pictures

Go to the website: www.paigepearsonphotography.com
Find "Broom" and click on it.
There you will see the amazing pictures that Paige took of our family this weekend. Let me tell you, she is a miracle worker. You would never know from looking at the pictures that my daughter was being the biggest whiney rear in the world!!! Seriously, I thought Cassidee was crying or pouting in every picture, but Paige caught some great faces on Cassidee!!! They are great! Thanks for your patience, Paige!!!

Mommy Questions

Okay, here's the deal. We are going to start switching Cassidee over to regular milk next week--11 1/2 months old--close enough to a year, I hope!?
Anyway, she's slowly taking fewer and fewer bottles these days. Basically one in the morning, one at night before bed. I'd rather not give her the milk in a bottle. I'd love to have her off bottles by a year or soon after. My thinking is that I'll just give her an ounce or two of regular milk in her sippy and see what happens. She does great with her sippy cup and prefers it filled with water over a bottle sometimes! I keep hearing everyone say that you need to mix the milk and formula half and half or so until she gets used to it. What did you do? How did you get on the regular milk and off the bottle? I know for some that is two separate issues. Cassidee does great with cheese, yogurt, ice cream (yes, bad mom of me to have given her ice cream already). Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thanks in advance!!!

Random countdown someone sent me...seriously, I'm bored!

Favorites:
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Food: at the moment--Chinese food
Favorite Month: December
Favorite Song: Can't think of one at the moment
Favorite Movie: Notting Hill, Monster-In-Law, The Little Mermaid
Favorite Sport: to watch, football--to play, basketball
Favorite Season: Winter
Favorite Day of the week: Saturday! :)
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: I'm not a big Ice Cream person--choc. chip cookie dough, if I eat it.
Favorite Time of Day: Right when I get home from school and see Cass

Currents:
Current Mood: boredom and exhaustion
Current Taste: in my mouth? dr. pepper, I guess.
Current Clothes:capris and a khaki shirt
Current Desktop: solid blue
Current Toenail Color: dark pink
Current Time: 3:01 pm
Current Surroundings: my classroom
Current Thoughts: I need to clean this place up--open house is Tuesday.
Current Wonderings: If I leave early, will anyone notice/care?

Firsts:
First Best Friend: Rachel Buchanan? Crystal Dickenson?
First Kiss: don't remember. Maybe Chas Hoke--okay, there's some info for my family...
First Screen Name: do I have a screen name?
First Pet: that I remember--Sheba. I kinda remember a cat named Tony.
First Piercing: Ears
First Crush: Don't remember
First Computer: that Jeremy and I bought together? The one that 's on my desk at home--I don't know what it is...
First Home Location: with Jeremy? my lovely house in North Central Texas!

Lasts:
Last Cigarette: Never! EWWW!
Last Drink: dr. pepper
Last Kiss: from Cass, when I left home this morning
Last Movie Seen: Click, I think
Last Phone Call: from Kayla, at lunch today
Last CD Played: Cassidee's Veggie Tales CD in the car last night.
Last Gift Received: my flowers from Jeremy on V-day

Have You Evers:
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: yes. I married him. :)
Have You Ever Broken the Law: yes. I've stolen street signs
Have You Ever Been Arrested: nope, can't catch me....
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: yes.
Have You Ever Been on TV: YES!!! In Abilene!!!
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Nope

5 Things:
You've Eaten Today: carrots, soup, eggs, toast, snickers mini
You've Done Today: checked email, taught 6 classes, yelled at a first graders for spilling paint, gone potty, bought a dr. pepper to calm my nerves!
You Can Hear Right Now: clicking keyboard, a kid yelling in the hallway, two teachers talking, the a/c, and my phone ringing--better go get that!
Things You Can't Live Without: any members of my family, ice, chapstick, deoderant, TV
Things You Do When You're Bored: bite my nails, eat, watch TV, call someone on the phone, rearrange my sock drawer--just kidding!

4 places you've been today:Bathroom,school, teacher's lounge, my classroom

3 people you can tell anything to:Jeremy, mom, Cassidee--she won't judge me or tell my secrets!!!!

2 Choices:
Black or White: Black
Hot or Cold: hot food, cold weather

1. thing you want to do before you die:
Can't think of anything great to go here--run a marathon? climb a mountain? travel all over the world? I'd like to do all of those.....

Our 11 month old phone talker and "horsey" rider

Our new thing for the weekend: Talking on the phone. It cracks me up to see her do this---because at 11 months old she knows exactly what to do!

First she finds the phone....

Then proceeds to "talk" to whoever is on the phone--even with a paci in!
**And, it doesn't have to be an actual phone for her to do this--I saw her using a cucumber as a phone one time!**

I don't take many pictures of her right out of bed. On this morning I sat her in the recliner so I could make her breakfast--so stinkin' cute, even if she just rolled out of bed!

Seriously mom, pictures this early?

Still hanging on to that sheet..... Here are her 11 month pictures. We took them of her riding her "horsey." I love it that she knows the names for things now. If we ask if she wants to ride her horsey, she will crawl right over to it to get on. She LOVES it. It sings a song---which gets stuck in your head immediately---and she knows how to mash his ear to make the song start again. She may become a trick rider someday--she can really make that horse go. If she isn't rocking, she'll stop an just spur the horse!

So fun to watch!

Cracking up at daddy!

My little baby looks like a big girl!

Cheese ball!

That's her little angel face---so innocent! Wonder how long that will last????

The nose crinkle--classic Cassidee!

I'm such a brat--Happy Valentines Day!

Let me just go ahead and start by telling you why I said that I'm such a brat.... Yesterday morning after I got ready for school I went and got Jeremy's Valentines presents and put them on the kitchen counter. I noticed that when I did this there were two envelopes already sitting there. One was for Cassidee and the other was for me. Jeremy got Cassidee the cutest pop-up card that cracked her up! Every time we would open it she would get excited and clap. (wish I'd gotten a picture) Then I opened my card. It was very sweet--I always get him funny cards, he ALWAYS gets me sweet, romantic cards. And, that's it. He had already opened his present from me and his present from Cassidee. He got two presents. I got a card. Yes---I was being VERY selfish!!! I realize that. Something inside me wouldn't even let it go!!! I called him on the way to school after barely even telling him bye. I told him that I was sorry that I was being a brat and I really did like the card.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon---I walk into my classroom after lunch and this is what I find on my desk..........

Yes, a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Why do I doubt him??

The rose and teddy bear in Jeremy's hand is what he got Cassidee--her first rose and it's from her daddy!
Cassidee got Jeremy a picture frame with their picture in it and it says "I love Dad."
Cassidee and I on her first Valentines Day.
Her Nana got her a new swim suit for Valentines Day. We are excited that Nana and D-daddy just bought a new house with a pool. Cassidee will be stylin' in her new pink poodle swim suit this summer!

Happy Valentines Day!

**I have to go apologize again for being a brat.....

Playin at the park

Cass LOVES the park! She gets very sad when it is time for us to leave. She loves swinging, sliding, and climbing through the tubes on the jungle gym.

You can clearly see how much static electricity is in the air--and how much her hair has grown....

She likes to climb up the step and down the step--up the step and down the step--up the step.....you get it.
Hmmm, what should I do next???
Ah, the slide. This is a new favorite. She knows how to scoot her legs to make herself go (whether you are ready to catch her or not) and she can make it down without tipping over backwards and whacking her head on the slide! She loves to slide!
Her old favorite is the swing. She'll stay in it for an hour if we will let her!
**Disclaimer: Double check the air quality before you take an hour long trip to the park. She and I were both up all night with stuffy/runny noses and BAD ALLERGIES! The poor baby still can't breathe.....

--David and Jodi--We love you and are praying for peace for your family and a safe trip to Kentucky for you all.

Merry-Go-Rounds--Farewells--and Bathroom Fun

We finally have Jeremy back home, Cassidee's all better, and things are getting back to normal in the Broom household....well, what's normal....

We had a snow day last Wednesday, but you can't keep us cooped up in the house!

We ended up at Grapevine Mills mall and Cassidee really, really wanted to ride the merry-go-round.

See, she's already trying to climb the fence to get on!

Buckle up!
While riding she rarely holds on and spends a lot of the time patting the horse.
Due to the bad weather on Wednesday, my youngest sister Kelsey didn't leave for London/Oxford until Thursday. It was fun to have one more night with her and her friend Kaylee.

Here we are at the airport. Cassidee is waving to anyone walking by....

Bye Aunt Kelsey---I'll see you in May!

Cassidee says, "My stroller is for me to push, not ride in!"
When we got back home I tried to get my house back in order after having extra people staying there for 2 days. I really wasn't surprised to walk in the bathroom and see her with a roll of toilet paper--still not sure how she got it off the wall-mounted holder....but, cute pictures anyway. I think almost every parent has the picture of their kid getting into the toilet paper. Cassidee didn't do much damage--I consider myself lucky--and I keep the bathroom door closed!
Oh, and she doesn't roll out tons of it. She pulls apart each individual square. Then she takes the square and pulls tiny pieces off of it. Still, I think I'm lucky compared to damage done by other kids with toilet paper!
She woke up with a cold in her eye/a clogged tear duct/something.....This is a pitiful picture, but taken, none the less, for her baby book.
This last picture is not remotely recent. I think it was taken in September. But, it was on my mom's camera. I was going through those pictures the other day and just thought she looked so big sitting up in this swing. She must have only been 6 months old here. She LOVES swinging and sliding down the slide. We can't wait for warmer weather so we can go to the park again!

The baby's sick and daddy's gone....

No pictures to post right now--you don't really want to see what has gone on at our house lately anyway!

Last Thursday morning Cassidee woke up with a stomach bug. She only puked one day, but the messy diapers are still lingering...

Long story short, Jeremy left us on Sunday for Steamboat, Colorado. Yes, he is skiing all week while Cassidee sit at home and miss him (and the snow).

Luckily she is feeling much better. I'm ready for normal diapers to return...I don't know how long it takes to get a baby's system back to normal.

Hopefully I'll have some beautiful Colorado pictures to post when Jeremy gets home on Friday.

It was a very busy Christmas!

First off--Happy New Year to everyone! Hope 2006 was as good to you as it was to us!

We had a busy but WONDERFUL Christmas holiday! We got to see many friends and hang out with people we don't see often enough. Rachel, Jodi, and I had to trade in our annual Christmas shopping trip this year for an hour visit at the Gray's house. We've gone shopping together the last few years, but it was going to be too difficult pushing three strollers around the mall and trying to get anything accomplished with the babies. We sure couldn't have planned this any better if we tried, but we all had babies only a few months apart! They are destined to be best friends--we will make sure they see each other, despite us all not living close to one another.... :(

Here is Rachel and Roselyn (2 months), Jodi and Reagan (5 1/2 months), and me and Cassidee (9 months).

The girls in their matching outfits.

It sure is hard to get them to all look the same direction. Maybe when they are older....

It would be fun to get a picture of them like this every year.....hmmm.....

Christmas Eve:

Jeremy and I had my family and his family, plus some of our good friends, over for Christmas Eve. We always have tons of food and we graze all day long on sausage balls, chips and queso, tamales, and many desserts.

We opened our presents with Jeremy's immediate family. We thought Cassidee would really be "into" the paper and bows and not so much in with the toys.....we were wrong. She loved the toys she got and couldn't wait to play with them!

Look, paper in each hand!

Nana and D-daddy got her a learning table which she LOVES!

Christmas Morning:

After everyone left our house on Christmas Eve, Jeremy and I packed up and we went to spend the night at my parents house. Jeremy even got to experience the late-night-putting-toys-together-Christmas-Eve. I think he rolled into bed around midnight after Cassidee and I had already been asleep a couple of hours. Oh well, such is the life of Santa Clause!

Cassidee's corner of the living room was spilling with toys! She was a very good girl this year, so Santa brought her.....Toys-R-Us!

She was so excited about what was going on that she wouldn't take her bottle that morning. She usually won't be awake more than 10 minutes or so before she is fussing to eat. She wanted to be in everyone's business so badly that, at most, she would drink from the bottle, standing up and looking around!

Aunt Kayla helped her open up some of her presents!

Cassidee and her "house"
Sitting in her big girl "Cassidee" chair, reading her new book with daddy.
Christmas Afternoon:

We went to Jeremy's family's house in Mineral Wells. She was really wiped out from all the Christmas excitement by the time we got there. When she woke up from a nap and seemed to be happy for the moment we opened presents.

She liked playing in the presents under the tree.

She really had the hang of opening presents by this point.

She sat and read her new book for a little while.

And the big present: D-daddy got Cassidee a pony. Well, a rocking horse, but you've got to start somewhere. She would pet the pony's nose.

And she knew exactly what to do when we put her up on top! I see a barrel racer in our future.....

Happy New Year!