The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!

I'm trying to catch everyone up on our month of December! After school ended, the girls were in a Christmas play with some kids from the neighborhood. It was so sweet to see all the kids acting out the birth of our Savior. Our neighbor, Heather, got it all together...reserving the chapel at NPS, organizing the parts and holding rehersals. THANK YOU Heather! Everyone loved the afternoon performance.

Hannah Kate was one of the narrators. She did an excellent job reading her lines...and there were a lot of them! All 3 of the narrators did a great job re-telling the story of Mary & Joseph's travels & birth of Jesus... very proud of them all!

Caroline was an angel. She was too cute walking down the isle at the chapel to take her place among the nativity scene. Once she spotted Bama in the audience she really performed... waving, blowing kisses...etc... I think this picture is actually mid-wave :)

All the neighborhood kids wanted to be Mary...well the girls at least! Heather drew names out of a hat to assign the parts for the play and Madison was chosen to be Mary - and an excellent Mary she was!! She did a great job up on stage - coming in with the angel who told her she would have a child, coming to the Inn with Joseph and sitting with the little baby... it was all so sweet!

All the kindergarten neighbors - Jillian was the Inn Keeper's Wife, Madison as Mary and Jacqueline was the Christmas Star that lead the shepards & wise men to Jesus. They all did a great job playing their important roles!

OUR FAMILY My parents are here for Christmas and arrived 2 days before the play. The girls were so excited to have them here for the play! After the pageant was over we enjoyed snacks there at NPS. I was able to gather my 3 actors for a quick picture with the family! They all did a great job sharing the true Christmas Story... I love the joy they have!

Picture with Santa

Wow - so behind on the blog! I have neglected the blog since finding Facebook...thanks Cece! I guess I should replace the Thanksgiving background with something Christmas, but no time for that now. Just wanted to put a picture of the kiddos with Santa. We had them dressed to do a family picture on the beach after Thanksgiving. It was a slightly overcast day, but good for no squinty eyes in the sun... but the WIND was terrible! Couldn't open our eyes to take a picture! Off to the mall all dressed alike for some Chipotle for dinner. As we walked there was Santa waiting for some kiddos to take their picture...since it was only the day after Thanksgiving there was no line of kids! The girls were excited to see Santa, and Grayson really liked the facial hair... a little hard to get him to look at camera:) Hope you all are doing well & ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord & King! What a wonderful time of year!

We're on the move!

Grayson found his way up on all fours! Although he kicks along with his foot instead of his knee, it still gets him where he needs to go! Some of his favorite places are the DVD player and electrical cords... has not been the toy of choice with the girls, but we're not comparing:)

I don't know how Grayson can be 8 1/2 months old! We have gone from getting him up from his nap like this...
eyes peeking over the bumper ...

To a wild man trying to figure if he can flip over the railing! Time to lower the mattress for sure!

Once something grabs his attention... like a box of diapers... he works with determination to get to them no matter what. He's become so steady on his knees and moving around - no more little swaddled infant - he's into everything it seems! I know we forget from child to child, but he seems to be a little busier than the others - or just more determined to keep up!

Butterflies in Pacific Grove, CA

We went to see the butterflies in Pacific Grove. They travel about 1200 miles to get to the mild California climate. There is a Butterfly Sanctuary and butterflies everywhere! They stay here from October until February & are amazing! They know the correct temperature they need and adjust themselves in the trees to stay within the correct temperature. Amazes me that they know just where to go... any closer to the water & they'd be too cold. Amazes me too that they cluster together so nicely and hide themselves on the branches - when their wings are folded they look brownish, like a leaf! God knows how to design some amazing creatures!

Clustered along the end of the branch...

Zoomed in to see each little triangle is a butterfly!

So many butterflies! Each female can lay about 400 eggs each time - lots & lots of butterflies!

Halloween Night

We had such a fun Halloween here in CA! There was a chance of rain throughout the day... in a place that we've only seen rain but 2 times in our 3 months of living here! God held out for us and there was no rain - hooray! The girls had a fun day at school with parties & a dance outside on the playground area...lots of Hannah Montana songs - they had a ball. That evening we got together with some neighbors for some pizza before heading out to collect our treats.

Our time of having an input on what our children will be for Halloween has somewhat passed. My idea of a family theme costume was lost in one trip to Target! Everyone picked what they wanted...no more surfing the internet for that 'adorable' costume - Hannah Kate does not like adorable to be a word that describes her attire... she prefers hip & cool:)

The Halloween-ready Caseys

Madison was some star in "Camp Rock" Hannah Kate was an Army Diva Caroline was my pink horse (really a unicorn, but didn't go there with the explaination!) and Grayson was my horse while I dressed up in my Cheyenne, WY gear as the cowgirl... the only matching family members!

The Neighborhood Gang ready to go!We walked & walked around the neighborhood. It was so fun to have a good ol' fashioned Halloween - kids running throughout the neighborhood with little to no cars driving by and no worry of who's house we were going to...most everyone knows everyone. The girls made it around the loop while Daddy & Grayson passed out candy. The girls finished the loop then wanted to see who was coming by our house, so home we went to pass out candy.

Hannah-Kate & Madison pass out candy

Caroline checks out her goodies!

It dawned on me in the afternoon that I have yet to unpack their trick-or-treat bags. I did a quick look in the garage, but could not find them, so the girls were off with their pillow cases... just like their mommy did when she was little:) Once home again, Caroline was all set to dig into the treats... tested a few with only a couple of licks and chowed down on the good stuff until we put her into bed!

What's more fun that chillin' out with friends and watching a movie after trick-or-treating! Hannah Kate actually moved to the couch and fell asleep watching the movie - busy day for everyone!

Grayson Growing

Our little boy is getting bigger each day! I went in to get him up the other morning and he had both hands on the railing of his crib and was on his knees - oh my! He has not tried to pull himself up on anything so I was really surprised to find him in the crib that way.

Ed got him from his nap yesterday afternoon and he was sitting playing with a little toy. He was so surprised to see Daddy walk into the room:)!

Grayson Looking Surprised

He is so sweet - sitting playing with his little lamb... could just eat him up!

Halloween Morning!

His sisters are very excited that Grayson is sitting in his crib. Hannah Kate came running into my room to tell me, "Mommy, Grayson is sitting up again! He did it all by himself!" Grayson loves the attention he gets from his sisters - he is all smiles when they come into his room!

Chatting away to his sisters!

So now the days of finding Grayson lying on his back playing with his toes I guess are gone... maybe he'll surprise us from time to time and still be laying down peering over his bumper pad to see who is coming in to get him. These babies grow too fast!

Air Show

Wow - it has been a long time since I last posted! September flew by and October is doing the same...it will be Christmas before I know it!! The end of September we were able to see the Thunderbirds here in CA. There was a show out in Salinas that the whole family went to...not just me & the kids... daddy was there to help too!! Loved the show - loved sitting & enjoying the VIP tent without chasing kids around:) I am so thankful for the time we enjoyed on the Thunderbirds and all the air shows we went to, but I don't need to get back into that anytime soon!

Mommy & the girls in the VIP tent

There was a Thunderbird VIP tent which had the bare minimum - some shade, water and chairs. The team was nice to give us passes into the "President's Club" tent which had everything - great food, drinks, tables & chairs...very enjoyable!

Caroline in her Thunderbird gear

Our neighbors also came out to enjoy the show. Here are the girls with Carter & Calvin.

Grayson enjoying his 2nd air show...first show he was just a week old at Nellis. We love his Thunderbird gear from the Farrar's. Those 2 Thunderbird jets on the front of Grayson's shirt are his daddy flying with Brian!

Grayson happy the air show is over!