Casini 2009

The Annual Casini Ranch Camping Trip 2009

Every year for who knows how long we've been heading out to the Russian River to camp for a couple nights. Yes, we're creatures of habit, we even get the same campsite. Beautiful view of the water, big and fairly secluded, it's one of the nicer ones we've found. This was Caelen's 2nd trip (sept 2008) and Addie's first of course.

The weather was cold and we spent most of the time huddled around a campfire. But who cares? :) The girls were amazing. Addison doesn't care if she's in a mansion or sleeping out of a tent and Caelen had sand toys and her bike so she was set!


She also had a brand new Disney's Princesses sleeping bag which she loved worming around in.

Dancing with Daddy and enjoying smores always makes for a fun time.

And then it was time to go! These trips always go way to fast :)

Quick Pics

Addison did it! She actually grabbed this toy that she's been staring at the past 3 months and made it play music.


And remember a long time ago when I posted about Caelen's class singing for our closing luncheon at ladies Bible study? Here are some pictures finally. I had to get some from my girlfriend because I was manning the video camera.

Can you find Nemo?

Often I think that playdates and field trips that stay at home mom's take their kids on are more for the mom than for the children to some degree. Especially if those children are under the age of 3 1/2 and really have no clue that there's such a thing as an aquarium in San Francisco that they really want to go check out. Nope, in that case, it's probably more to get the mom out of the house, out of her town with some friends, just to keep her sanity. What used to be shopping trips in the city or tanning days at the beach have turned into zoo trips or lunch at Kidspot.

That said, I can't really pin down who we did this trip to the Cal Academy Aquarium for. I guess it was for the kids, who loved all the fish, but we most certainly wanted to get out. In the end though I have no idea who enjoyed it more (or less.) It was a day with many ups and downs for everyone (everyone being 4 Moms & 8 Kids all under the age of 3.5). It went a little something like this:

6:00am - Wake up and get everything ready to go.
8:30am - Planned to be on road.
9:15am - Time we actually left.
10:15 - Arrive at Golden Gate Park
10:45ish - After walking at least a mile, get in a line at least as long.
1:00 - Finally enter aquarium (the place reached capacity by the time we got in line and we had to wait for people to leave before anyone else could enter! Yes, two hours in line.)
2:15 - Leave aquarium and begin 100 mile walk uphill back to the car.
No Idea - After 2 children are nursed and 8 have diaper changes we head home.


Yes my friends, two hours in line. AMAZINGLY the children didn't melt. They had a wagon and multiple strollers to call home base. Blessedly we had all decided to pack lunches and had plenty of food! So they ran on the grass, climbed trees and played on various statues while intermittently returning for a snack or to sit. It was freezing and occasionally someone would let out a very unsure laugh and say something like, "This better be worth it."

Had one of two things happened:
1) the kids melted or
2) we had to pay
I probably would have said it wasn't worth it and would definitely go down as one of the biggest pain in the butt trips ever. But since it was a free day and our children are apparent angels, I guess it falls under the category of "Rough but Worth the Hassle."

Once inside the kids were so excited about the fish. They kept saying, "I wanna see more fish Mommy!" They were great listeners (I know, I couldn't believe it either) and stayed close at all times. I was very proud of all of them.
One of the first stops was the tide pool and as you can see from that look on Caelen's face she was not about to touch a slimy sea creature (that's my girl!) but Ty jumped right in there and even tried to take a "sea star" home with him LOL!

Addison stayed in the pack the entire time. I fed her from a bottle in line, all the while never taking her out. She made one little grunt when nature called and literally that was the only sound she ever made. I think she took two naps and I definitely saw her looking around and checking out all the fish during one waking period.

So I have no idea how far we walked that day. It was miles. I had a 12 pound baby strapped to the front of me and I pulled the wagon with anywhere from 0-3 toddlers in it at any given time. Everyone offered to help me but I had to turn them down because I never get exercise like that! I was taking that opportunity to work off a few Oreos ya know?

I don't know about the other car but all the kids in our car napped on the way home with the exception of one: Caelen, of course :)

3 Months in the Blink of an Eye

Today after Addison was done nursing we were "chatting with each other", making eyes, etc. I said, "Happy 3 month Birthday Addison." to which she stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry :) She's getting so old so fast!

She's playing with toys now. Grabbing things that interest her. She smiles at anyone who comes close to say Hi and when she's sleepy she does the typical eye rub that a child is known for.

Her favorite toy is her froggy which she stuffs in her mouth or holds out to look at. Gone is my newborn and in it's place is a little one with the beginnings of a wonderful personality.

We call her "Thumper" and "Happy". Thumper comes from the way she kicks in her Bouncy Seat as you can see in this video.

I'm having problems with one area. I don't want to move her into her own bedroom! She takes naps in there and she can sleep through the night, but I can't part with her at night. With Caelen I was a lot more scheduled, and in a hurry to get her in her own room. I guess I proved to myself that my child would indeed grow up and amaze me, so now with Addison I'm not in such a hurry to prove any such thing. I know it happens althogether too fast and for some reason think that if I keep her in her bassinette by my bed she won't ever grow up. Like it's a magic bassinette. Thomas at first was teasing me that she'd be 18 months and I'd still be stuffing her into the bassinette. Now he's saying that I'm not going to be able to move her into her own room until we have a third to take her place in there.

There are alot of things you don't understand until you're a parent, until you're actually experiencing it. Like how you try to push your first to do every new thing and then turn around and try to keep your second one a baby forever.

Beauitful Day, Beautiful Girls

Thank the Lord for this computer miracle! I looked in on the computer room last night and noticed my screen saver was on. The computer had been on for 4 days and all we had was a black screen and a flashing power button. It's been threatening to do this every time we turned it on, but it never took 4 days before. I thought it was toast. But I'm happy to say I can get on at least on more time (until we turn the computer off again which might be never) and share these pictures that I've been taking.
This is a little impromptu photo session we had one beautiful afternoon this week in the backyard.

***********************************************

The backyard is coming alive with color. Again, we're not at the height of flowers in bloom but it's definitely alluring.

And the playhouse is coming along! We finally got the windows. Thomas just has to finish the siding, front porch & door and then we can paint and begin on the inside, my favorite part :)

Can I get you those PJs in a different size?

Today Caelen brought me a pair of footie PJs and an orange and said, "Will you help my friend put these on?" Yes, the orange was her friend and she dropped the friend down into the foot of the jammies, thanked me and went on her way.
Later Caelen and TWO oranges were reading books together. I caught her saying, "Good job reading! Now I have some treats for you." And she shared her Craisins with her oranges.
A couple minutes later I discovered who the oranges were when she sat down with them to a dinner party and fed "Ty" and "Riley" with plates and forks and fake food from her kitchen.
Gotta love an imagination like that!!

Caelen's surgery is rescheduled for Thurday July 16. So here we go again...

Stupid Computers

I want so bad to blog the pictures I took a couple of days ago but my main computer (I'm on the laptop right now) that has all the software for my camera is dead. Well not the computer but the monitor. It won't come on, it's shorting out, I'm at a loss. :( I don't really want to pay to see what's wrong or buy a new one, but the laptop is for Thomas' work and I can't upload all my stuff to it. So I'll let you know...

In the meantime Addison is reaching for things a little bit now. As we speak she's on her lilypad play mat and reaching up for the toys dangling down over her. She holds her little toy frog (imagine picture here) and stuffs it in her face or sucks on the eyeball. She tries to roll to her tummy when she's on her back. She's enjoying sitting up, looking around the room and blowing bubbles. She also likes long walks on the beach and pina coladas, oh wait....

While at a stoplight today Caelen says "Look Mommy! Look at that broken car!" I searched and searched until I saw a really nice new covertable! I tried to explain that the man wanted no roof so he could enjoy the sunshine and wind. She was just convinced that thing was broken.

Happy Mother's Day to me ;)

So my husband has a lot of strengths, he's patient, he can build anything, he's a wonderful father and I could go on and on. One of them is NOT surprises :) One birthday he got me a shotgun (I've never pulled a trigger in my life, and I suppose he was hoping to pique my interest because apparently this shotgun was beautiful....) So, needless to say, I don't expect much in the way of awesome thoughtful surprises. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day (takes the stress out of life) and for Anniversaries and Birthdays we plan everything together and well in advance.
So when he called me while at work yesterday and told me to keep myslef and the kids away from the house as long as possible, I'll just be honest, I couldn't think of anything HE could possibly think of to be doing for me. He said it was a surprise, and I got nervous. There's always that awkward pretending like it's awesome when inside I'm just confused. (Note: Did NOT pretend the shotgun was awesome, actually cried.)
I did my best, after work we went to Grandpa Bob's to get his paycheck, the bank, Target, Port of Subs and the park. But by 1:00 Gabbie was roasting in the car, I was parched and needed drugs for my sinus headache, Caelen was needing a "rest" and Addie was about to need to eat again and our experience in the Target parking lot was not about to be repeated. So I called and asked if I could come home....
Well my friends, there was no pretending necessary, my wonderful husband had my house professionally cleaned from top to bottom! And I had been secretly stressing all week about how I never get to CLEAN because I'm always just trying to keep the toys in the playroom and the dishes clean etc.
He actually had it scheduled for Monday which was supposed to be Caelen's surgery but he had to cancel when I called him because the surgery was postponed. Then he rescheduled for Wednesday when we were all supposed to be at the zoo all day but that got cancelled at the final hour because the girls and I were too sick. So he had to cancel AGAIN! Then when he found out I actually was going out on Friday he called them at the last minute and they hooked him up. I'm impressed at his secret keeping abilities and a very awesome and creatively wonderful Mother's Day gift.
Thanks Honey!!

What Bible is she reading? :)

Caelen's class that she goes to while I go to Bible Study on Thursday mornings came in and sang for our closing luncheon. It was the end of this session and they always bring the 2-5 year old class in to entertain. I'll post a video as soon as I get it uploaded.
One of the songs they sang goes, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice." When I picked Caelen up from class she walked to the car singing at the top of her lungs and very earnestly: "Praise the Lord, Let the people downstairs!"

Her favorite teacher in that class seems to be Miss Shannon. All the women are amazing and so wonderful with the children but she has a special affinity for Miss Shannon. So last night Caelen and I are reading about when Jesus asked His disciples to "Come and follow Me." She thought about it as I turned the page and announced, "I follow Miss Shannon."

Addison Speaks!

Addison has an opinion and she's gonna let everyone know what it is! A few times during the day she gets really chatty but whenever I get the camera out she stops and stares at it. The second it's gone she starts up again. I had to delete 5 video segments before I got this one. But here she is talking away!


And here are us girlie girls after a very sick Caelen made us all do our hair. I wish you could see the back of Caelen's head, it's covered in barrettes!

Surgery POSTPONED

We got all ready and checked in for her surgery. But the anesthesiologist (who was the same one I had for my C-section with Addison in February) said that it should be postponed. Caelen got a cold on Saturday and I tried to contact the surgeon and the pre-op nurses but of course everyone isn't available on the weekend and her surgery was scheduled for first thing Monday morning, so I just had to bring her in and see what they said.
The anesthesiologist said if it was her child she would postpone it. The cough and congestion can lead to an increased risk when you're doing surgery on the airway. Totally understandable. She apologized for the inconvenience. I said I'd rather inconvenience than risk to Caelen.
So I left a message to reschedule her appointment.
I almost cried when I saw the little hospital crib (cage) that she had assigned to her, with a little hospital gown for her. We definitely just wanted to get it over with and are slightly disappointed that after months of being well she gets a bad cold in May. But Caelen is really beginning to think going to the doctor is easy! She does nothing and gets tons of stickers, bracelets, books etc! That's a plus :)

A Couple Videos, Pictures, and Updates

My big girl has been practicing pedaling off and on since she got this bike as a hand me down from a friend a couple months ago. One day she made it past the hump and did a full rotation of the pedals. A few days later she was able to do a couple. Then she was able to keep the bike going but couldn't get started and needed a push. The next day, she was riding this thing like an old pro. (In this video she's riding in her new jammies she had just picked out at Target.) PS. Dog featured in this video is free to a good home!

Then my littlest love has been discovering her hands. Every once in a while we hear her gagging herself and look to see her fists almost stuck completely in her mouth. It's reminiscent of a snake trying to swallow something whole.

Knowing we need the rain does nothing to assuage the cabin fever. After a little taste of 90 degree weather a couple weeks ago, I was ready to jump headlong into summer! Then we had a couple of frosty mornings and we lost about 10 tomato plants (don't worry, there's still about 50!) and now it's pouring rain, which is great, wonderful, fabulous, we need it, we need it, we need it......

And a couple pics of my baby girl:

Caelen has a yucky cold which always leaves her face puffy (her eyes look like she's been in the boxing ring), water is pouring down her face, and her breathing sounds even worse than usual. I can't get ahold of any doctor to tell me whether or not we're going through with this surgery tomorrow morning or not. They told me if she gets sick, we'll postpone it. When I said she seems sick all the time because she's always got snot, they said, "Well, if she has a fever or chills, something like that."

So I guess the plan is take her in tomorrow at 7:00am and see if they turn us away.