Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving Holiday with my family up in Cambridge! My cousin son, John, came up from Wheaton to spend his break with my family and my Uncle Kevin flew in from Maryland. Of course my parents, Brooke, Alisha, Scott, Macey, were there as well as my grandma and her caregiver, Cheryl. Everyone arrived throughout the week - we arrived on Wednesday, but everyone was there by Thursday morning. My mom made an amazing Thanksgiving meal, just like always! Ahhh, seriously I already want o eat it again! Case couldn't quite wait until the big meal, so he started his Thanksgiving feast a little early on the couch...

He was more than happy to join the rest of us for the real meal as well...At Thanksgiving, instead of doing the usual going around and saying what we are thankful for my parents had looked up scripture that proclaims our thankfulness for our Savior. We took turns reading aloud the scriptures, it was a great way to worship together as a family!

Throughout the rest of the weekend we relaxed, watched football, played games, ate a lot more food, and so much more! On Friday some of us went to the movie, The Blind Side. It was really good! Case loved playing with Macey and the two of them wanted to play outside as much as possible.

They both loved the blue car, it was good they're both so tiny and could fit in it together.

Case spent hours walking around the yard kicking his ball. That's probably currently his favorite thing to do - that's why I wish it wasn't getting cold outside right now. Hopefully when the snow comes, he'll love that too! He also enjoyed getting his first wheelbarrow ride from Daddy!

It was a great holiday! And I am once again so thankful for this season to be in MN and celebrate the holidays with family. Up next - Case's first Christmas in Iowa!

Big News

Well, I haven't been exactly keeping up with my blog lately. Maybe that's because I am sleeping in as long as Case sleeps, taking a nap during his morning nap and lying on the couch pretty much as soon as he goes to sleep at night. Maybe it's because I am constantly shoving animal crackers in my mouth or Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip granola bars, anything to keep me from throwing up. This might all sound a bit strange to you, BUT not if you've ever been pregnant!! Yep, that's right, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I am - as Matt likes to say - "with child". Ahhhh, so fun!

We found out on October 8th. Saying that now, I can't believe how long ago that sounds. I am 12 weeks along and due on June 9th. Case will be a little over 20 months old. I look at him everyday and just can't believe he is going to be a big brother! We've already had an ultrasound - at 6 weeks so all we saw was a little blob with a super tiny fast heartbeat - it was great! I had my second doctor appointment today, got to hear the heartbeat and then got my H1N1 vaccination. In case you were wondering, we will not find out what we are having by ultrasound. Just like with Case, we'll wait until the baby is born! A LOT of people have already weighed in with their guesses, come to think of it, I'm not sure if a single person has guessed boy, funny! So feel free to let me know your "instinct" - it's always fun to hear!

As far as pregnancy, it's going pretty fast. As I mentioned before, I am feeling pretty sick but it's not unexpected. And the question everyone asks... any cravings? Well as mentioned earlier, PB chocolate chip granola bars and animal crackers get me through the day. But for actual cravings... chocolate chip pancakes, fruit, lemonade, doritos, mashed potatoes, and McDonalds breakfast sandwiches. Just mentioning them makes me want all of them. I have given in on the first three cravings but have tried to be normal with the last three. I think for the last three I've had each of them only once since finding out I was pregnant. But seriously, I could do McDonalds breakfast everyday.... yummmm. It's probably a good thing it's only an option in the morning. I've also tried to keep going to the gym on the days I'm not actually physically sick. So hopefully I won't get as huge as I did with Case - we'll see... chasing him around sure should help. He is as busy as ever, into EVERYTHING, climbing on furniture. It's great! It's a bummer it's getting cold outside because he would love to just run around outside. So we try to be creative and do some fun things. I'll try to be better about blogging :) Hopefully I'll get caught up a little over Thanksgiving break... but no promises!

In other big news, Matt and I will be gaining a sister-in-law in July! Matt's brother Ryan proposed to his girlfriend, Kari, in October and they will be getting married July 9th. We LOVE Kari and we couldn't be more excited for them!

Fall Fun

I'd have to say that here in MN, we have not had the best fall. It's been rainy, cold, and we've even had a real snowfall or two. There have been a few of the fabulous fall days that are more typical for this time of year so we've tried to make the best of those! We've been busy and have had a lot of fun. I mentioned we had our five year college reunion about a month ago. It was so fun seeing "old" friends and just remembering the way God blessed us during our college years with just some of the greatest friends/roommates imaginable. I am so grateful for our time at Bethel and what the Lord taught us and continues to teach us through those friendships. Unfortunately, I only managed to take a couple of pictures over the weekend.

Here's Hannah B with the boys, Case and Coleman at the Homecoming football game

A group of us went to the Darr's on Saturday evening to hang out, eat food (they always have the best food), play ladder golf (again, Sarah and I were amazing!), sit around a campfire and just catch up. It was great. We took a baby picture early in the evening - always an event!

Here's Owen, Turner, Abby, Case and Meghan. They are such sweet kids!

Here's the group that was left at the end of the evening - more people were there but here's the one group shot we got. Thanks Steve and Sarah for always hosting such great parties!

Last weekend we attended the annual Fall Fest hosted by the Darlings. The theme this year was Disney and since Case was already Tigger, I went as Pooh and Matty went as Christopher Robin -sorry, no pictures of him :(
The party was great as always! We always have chili and this year I tried Anna Lindquists white chicken chili. I can't even begin to describe it... it was AWESOME!! I seriously loved it so much, I couldn't stop talking about it. There were some great costumes, a ratatouille family, a narnia theme, wizard of oz, peter pan... it was really fun to see what everyone came up with.

Here's Bethany as Glenda the good witch

Here's Nachelle (in my opinion the best costume), The Magic Carpet from Aladdin

On Monday, Matt and I took advantage of a nice day and took Case to the apple orchard. We had so much fun picking apples, visiting their petting zoo, pumpkin patch and play ground. Case thought it was great because there were so many apples on the ground that he got to pick up and throw. He could have done that for hours!
Here's a lot of pictures from the apple orchard - it was so hard to even narrow it down to this!

On Saturday night (actual Halloweeen) Matt, Case and I joined Macey, Alisha and Scott at their church's pumpkin patch. We had fun and Case LOVED it! He had no fear of the animals and would have jumped right in the cages if we let him. There were goats, rabbits, donkeys, chickens and a camel! We also played some games...
where Case won some little prizes (a plastic snake, a matchbox car - both big hits), "trick or treated" along a hallway, and ate some carnival food. Case had his first taste of cotton candy - big shocker, he loved it!

Here's the best picture of Tigger and the Koala Bear (Macey) that I got...
Case and the Scarecrow...Happy Fall!

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Fall Weekend Getaway

Last weekend I surprised Matty with a weekend away at a bed and breakfast. I ended up telling him about a week in advance so he knew he wasn't going to be at work, but I had all the details planned. The biggest thing was this was our first overnight away from Case, and it was actually two nights away. After church we headed up to drop Case off with my dad so he could stay with my parents for the weekend. Then Matt and I headed off to Cold Springs, MN - a tiny cute little town outside of St. Cloud. There was a little mix up in the bookings, so we ended up getting upgraded to the biggest room with a jacuzzi tub and a little balcony - it was great! On Sunday we took naps, read and watched some tv and then headed out for dinner. We came back, relaxed and watched Ghost - we hadn't seen that for years! On Monday morning we slept in!! And then enjoyed the delicious breakfast at the inn and relaxed a little before heading out for a bike ride along Lake Wobegan Trail. It was one of the few real "fall" type days we've had. We went out for a movie that evening and then ordered pizza and watched some football. Tuesday morning we ate the amazing breakfast again and then packed up to go to Cambridge to get Case! He did GREAT at my parents house which was so nice! I did miss him but it was actually a little easier than I thought - the time just went so fast. It helped me be able to relax knowing he was doing so well. And relax we did - I finished the book I was reading and Matt got at least half way through a Johnny Unitas book he started. We enjoyed leaving things out that he would normally get into or make a mess of, but of course nothing beat sleeping in! But man when we walked into my parents house and Case started making all of his happy/excited sounds to see us, it was so great!

Birthday Party - Part 2!

Last Sunday we celebrated Case's birthday with a great group of friends! Thanks so much everyone for coming - we had a blast and we're so grateful to you for celebrating with us. We had the airplane theme again going for the birthday party. I got a bomber jacket off of Craigslist, and I know I'm biased but I thought he looked adorable in it! I didn't make a big cake this time, but I made individual airplane cakes for everyone (way easier than it sounds!). The food highlight for Case, however was not the cake this time but the cheese balls! Who knew? He just walked around from person to person taking one off of their plate. We have so many left, I have had to hide them from him! We had a paper airplane contest, it was incredible how many of us forgot how to make them! Matt won the contest, I was a contender for last place until Brenner threw - his seriously landed a half inch from his toes! Then we played a more competitive version of pin the pilot on the plane. We blindfolded two people, spun them around and then they had to race to the poster. Here's Beth and Beki! It was hysterical, we managed to run into just about everything in the Eikum's back yard. Bert won! Here's a picture of where some of them ended up - now if you went about 25 feet to the right of this picture, that's where Bret's ended up. It was amazing!

Then Case got to open his presents - thanks so much everyone - you were so generous! He's been having a blast playing with all his toys and reading his books!

Here's Case and his buddy Turner!

Here's Case and Hazel playing in the tent Nachelle gave him!I was amazed Case fell asleep that night, but I after all that fun he crashed!

Last Days of Summer...

We had a BEAUTIFUL September this year- usually it starts to feel like fall in September, but this year it was still so warm. So we took full advantage of it! One Monday Matt and I headed to the zoo with Case. It was really fun! We've taken him to zoos a couple of times, but this time was one of the firsts that he was super interested in all of the animals.He also really loved all the animal statues!

After the zoo we headed to Toys R Us to pick out his birthday gift - it was so much fun, we played with all the toys and he walked away no problem. I know it will be all too soon when he realizes he wants to take all of the toys home so we enjoyed this peaceful and fun afternoon at the toy store. Here's some pictures of Case helping Daddy put together this birthday gift.

On another beautiful day, Nachelle took the afternoon off and we took Case to the Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater - it is probably the best park I've ever been to! We had so much fun.
Nachelle and I had some fun of our own...

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

Last Friday, it happened - my baby turned 1...

Case Benjamin Wassink is 1!

A little history - Case was 8 lbs 12 oz at birth - 22 inches long
How Case got his name:
Matt's great grandpa was named Cornelius Wassink (he went by Case) his son Arend named his son Cornie (Matt's dad) after Cornelius and so Matt named his son Case after him!

On Friday, he spent a normal day with mommy but he got all his favorite foods - scrambled eggs, blueberries, mac & cheese, avocados, bananas - I even tried to give him a sugar cookie, but he wasn't interested, he just kept pointing to more avocados. Auntie Brooke came over to babysit so Matt and I could attend our five year college reunion. On Saturday we got to take him to the Bethel Homecoming game, it was great getting to introduce him to everyone. Then on Sunday we had the family birthday party for Case! Cornie, Deb, Ryan, Brooke, Alisha, Scott, Macey, Matt, Case and I all headed up to my parents house for his birthday party. He got some great gifts - everyone was so thoughtful! We played pin the pilot on the plane - my dad won, it was hysterical! We all had cake, but Case got his own special airplane cake. He dug right in, spread the icing and chocolate cake all over, clapped with it all over his hands, etc! He thought it was the best.

Case LOVED showing off this walking skills. He walks everywhere now, I only see the scoot maybe once a day! But even better than walking, he got to show off his dancing skills! Case loves to dance, even if he doesn't have music! At his one year appointment the pediatrician asked if he liked to dance - and just hearing the word, he started up with his moves! We found out at his appointment he is 19 lbs 3 oz (6th percentile) and 30.5 inches (75th percentile). Still a peanut! No surprises there, but I was really hoping he was 20 lbs so we could turn his car seat around - maybe next month!

He says, Mama, Dada, Daaa for Dog, Whoa and his favorite word is uh-oh! He says it all the time. He's really gotten into going to the park, he starts wheezing with excitement when he sees the swing and he loves going down the slide. He loves any sort of ball and walking around with anything in his hands. Case is constantly finding ways to get into trouble, his favorite thing is to unroll the toilet paper roll, try to get into the toilet, get into any cupboards and pulling everything out of mommy's diaper bag and wallet. He's such a happy boy and we are so thankful for such a great first year with him!

We love you buddy...