The Christmas Program

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with my family up at my parents house. I'll try to blog more on it later, but I have to blog about the first ever Christmas Program. It was... hysterical and so much fun! Macey and Sadie were Angels and Jordan and Case were Shepherds.

The Shepherd's entrance!
The program pretty much consisted of Macey saying she was Angel Gabriel and was here to bring joyful news! Then she sang some songs while the other kids looked on. The songs ranged from 'Away in a Manger' to '10 little pumpkins' to 'fast, fast goes the squirrel'.

Mean while Case wondered around and would randomly fall over stiff as a board face first onto the ground. It was so funny, we have no idea what prompted him to do it, but he'd just stand there and then boom, fall flat on his face! Sadie enjoyed most of the action, and surprisingly all the kids were pretty good about wearing the outfits, but she did start to lose it by the end.


One tired little shepherd...

Half Birthday Party

We have a little tradition in our family to do a little tiny half birthday party for the kiddos on their first half birthday! It's really small, just the aunts, the kids and the friends who are also "aunties". I wasn't going to do one for Sadie because December is just so crazy and all. But then I started feeling bad, thinking that eventually she'll realize we had one for the other kids and I did really want to do on for her! So... Brooke, Alisha, Nachelle and the kids came over for a little half birthday party! They even fought one of the big snowfalls we've had this winter. We missed Kari and Hannah, but still had a great time!

Opening presents... Macey was very exited to give Sadie the presents she picked out for her!

The party girl!

All the cousins!!

I'm so thankful that we got to be in Minnesota to continue this fun little tradition!

Booger Buddies!

Some great friends of ours, The Darlings, are always up for watch Case and Sadie for us! On Wednesday, I got the chance to repay them. Their girls, Hazel and Sylvia, came over for the evening. We had a great time playing, reading books, watching Toy Story and staying up past the normal bedtime! I got this great little sequence of Case and Hazel watching Toy Story together.

Hannah B was here to help me with all the kids and we were laughing so hard, I could barely take the pictures!

Caser-Man

I decided after all the pictures of Sadie lately, it was time for a little Case update!

Case has become quite the little helper! He loves to help sweep and help "clean". One afternoon while I was feeding Sadie, Case was playing quietly on the kitchen floor with his Lego's... or so I thought. I couldn't see him from where I was sitting and when I got up, I saw he was standing on a chair we have in our kitchen and standing by the stove. I walk over to him, he looks up at me absolutely BEAMING, "Look mom, I cleaning!". He had taken all of the butter from our butter dish and spread it all over the entire stove including inside each and every groove of the four burners. Needless to say I had a long afternoon of actual cleaning after that!

His hair has become quite shaggy as we haven't cut it since July! We love his "hockey hair" and they way it curls, but it also makes for some amazing bad hair days. I had to take this picture after one of his naps, he was not too excited for picture time!
One of my favorite sayings of Case's is how he named his running nose, "nose yuckies.". So he'll say, "mama, I have nose yuckies" when he needs his nose wiped. Today in the car he said, "Mama, fix my nose yuckies, please." Sometimes I think I spend all day laughing at him!
Today, as Brooke was helping him with stickers and she asked him, "Is this the sticker you want?" He turned to her and said, "You betcha, Brookie!" He is just constant entertainment!

6 months old!

Last Friday, Sadie turned 6 months old! I can't believe my little baby is already 6 months, man it's going fast. I was reminded just how much she's grown when I saw my friends one week old twins. They were so cute and so sweet and little. Sadie looked humongous next to them! She's just changing so quickly. So here's her 6 month little photo shoot I did - before the haircut.

I haven't had her 6 month appointment yet, so I don't have any official stats, but I do have a few milestones. She started sitting up on her own at 4 1/2 months and rolled over at 5 months. She is super strong, with an iron clad grasp! She's eating rice cereal and vegetables and is all business when it comes to food. She takes your hand and helps guide the food to her mouth as fast as she can.
Sadie had her first ER visit, and to no ones surprise, it was all thanks to Case! She was playing so nicely in her exersaucer while Case was playing around her. He really has been doing a great job of playing with her and showing her things. All of a sudden, she was BAWLING. I wasn't quite sure at first what happened. Case had been playing with this random sun shade thing that goes over his pool floatie and whacked her with the end of it that has a hard plastic thing. It was right before her nap so I calmed her down and laid her down for her nap. When she woke up, she wouldn't open her right eye. She whimpered all day and her eye kept watering. When Matt came home and saw how bad it was, Sadie and I headed into the ER. The doctor put a few drops in her eyes, turned on a black light and there it was - a really huge scratch right down the middle of her eye. It covered her entire eye that we could see - poor Sadie! The doctor gave us some eye ointment so it didn't get infected and said it should heal pretty quickly. It did and she was back to her happy self in no time!
Sadie continues to be such a great baby. She is becoming quite the mama's girl. It happened so quickly, all of a sudden if I walk by her without picking her up, she starts crying. She just wants to be with me at all times. She loves Matty and will play happily with him until she see's me, then it's all over unless I take her. At dinner, she wants to join all of us at the dinner table, so she sits on the bench next to me. Her favorite move is grabbing my hair and pulling me towards her - did I mention her amazing grip!
Sadie doesn't have too many nicknames, because Case thinks her one and only name is Sadie Belle. However, she was earned the nickname, Growly Bear. Like most babies, Sadie coos and babbles. But, more than anything, she growls. Seriously, it's hysterical. When she's happy or playing or whatever, she has this deep growl she does. I love it! She's doing it less and less, and I'll miss it so much when it's gone.
She brings so much joy to our family! We love her so much and can't wait to see what God has in store for our little Sadie Belle!

First Hair cut!

Ahhh! I cut Sadie's hair tonight for the first time! With Case, I should've cut it earlier then I did and with Sadie - well, maybe I should've gone to a professional! It's not bad or anything, she looks cute no matter what, right?! She was definitely rocking the mullet, I mean her hair in the back was all the way down in between her shoulder blades.

Before:

So I attempted a bob. It is at least pretty straight all the way around. One side looks super cute, but the other side looks a little like a bowl hair cut. So I'm not sure if that was me, or just the way her hair is right now. I do think that it will grow in a little bit cuter now, and it definitely looks a lot healthier. So here it is!

After:


At least I did a little photo shoot of her today before I cut her hair for her turning 6 months in a couple days (I'll post them later once I'm done editing!)

Jumping

This is the kids' favorite activity together! It started out very small and then I realized Sadie LOVES it! We let Case jump in his crib. I know a lot of parents don't, but in this apartment - it's a great way to let him get energy out. One time when he was playing in his crib, he wanted Sadie in there with him. I said sure, but no jumping when Sadie's in there! Of course, once my back was turned, he started jumping a little. I wouldn't have even noticed, but Sadie was giggling. So now the rule is, he can only jump by Sadie's feet. It gives her a little bounce up and down and she absolutely loves it. Here's some pictures!

Pure joy!! She can't get enough!

Then he always leans over her to talk to her, I love this picture, it shows how much she just adores her brother

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween

We had a great time dressing the kids up for halloween this year! As I explained earlier, Case wore a costume that Matt wore when he was little. A football umpire costume. He was so cute and loved his whistle! I was trying to find an outfit for Sadie at a local consignment shop, just thinking she'd be something cute like a ladybug. Then I found this, perfect!She was so cute! We got to dress the kids up a lot! First we had a friends Halloween party and we took the kids to Bethel to trick or treat at Brooke's office. For actual Halloween we went to Alisha's and trick or treated at her neighbor's house before going to their church's pumpkin patch. Case was so funny when we were trick or treating, when people answered their door, he walked right into their house. He couldn't figure out why we were staying in the doorway. He also didn't quite know why he could only take one piece of candy when they were handing him a bucket full of candy! Once he figured it out he would grab candy, say thank you and was onto the next house. Needless to say, we had a great time! Then we went to the pumpkin patch where he played games, ate food, pet animals and decorated cookies. It was a great day - here's our little football family!

Hide and Seek

Case is getting pretty good at playing hide and seek. Although, if you say, "Where's Case?" as you are looking, he'll yell, "right here!"

Can you find him in the closet?

Look closely! Can you see his little face poking through?

He's so fun!

Look a like

I've been meaning to post this for a while...

Sadie at 3 months
Me at 3 months

Wassink Weekend

Despite one, not so tiny, bump in the road and a few dropped balls (literally), we had a GREAT time last weekend in Iowa/Nebraska celebrating Cornie's Birthday!
We drove down Friday night and after an hour or so of the kids crying, they fell asleep and we were having a nice drive. Then... all of a sudden BOOM! We hit a deer. Ugh. A dead deer in the middle of the road. Matt actually did the best thing by hitting it. We were going about 65 miles an hour, came up over a little hill and it was right there. If he tried to swerve, we probably would have rolled and been in an actual accident. So he hit it head on and it seriously felt like we were airborne for a second before landing back on the ground. We drove the rest of the way to Matt's parents house and decided we'd just have to deal with it on Monday!
We got up early Saturday morning and headed to Lincoln for the Nebraska vs. Texas football game. Case stayed in Iowa with his Great Aunt Miriam and his Great Uncle Dave. He had a blast playing with his cousin once removed, Stella! They played in the leaves, went to a park and carved a pumpkin. Sadie came along to the game since she won't take a bottle!
When we got to Lincoln, we tailgated and walked around for a bit. Kari and I were officially accepted into the family when we purchased our first Nebraska Cornhuskers apparel. Then we headed into the stadium! It was such a fun atmosphere, we had a great time! Sadie did AMAZING! It was so loud and crazy and she was such a trooper. The only bummer was that, for the life of them, Nebraska couldn't catch a pass! So they lost the game, but it was still fun to be there!
Sunday morning we went to church and then headed to a park to celebrate Thanksgiving with the extended Wassink Family. It was great food and we had a ton of fun visiting with the family and watching the kids play at the playground! That night, Cornie and Deb watched the kids so Matt and I could go out to dinner.
We hung around until Tuesday afternoon so our car could be fixed. So on Monday night we got to go to a JV Northwestern game that Cornie was officiating at. We took the opportunity to dress Case up in his halloween costume! When Matt and Ryan were little they went as a football official and Matt's parents saved the costume! So here's Case with "Bonka"! That's what he calls Matt's parents. When we said, "Case, can you say Grandpa/Grandma." He said, "Bonka!" and it stuck!

So here's Case and Bonka!

4 months old!

On October 3rd, Sadie turned 4 months old! (Our internet was down again, so the post is just coming now!) I can't believe how quickly our sweet little girl is changing and growing up. She continues to be such a sweet, happy little baby! She loves to smile and laugh. Actually she does what Case used to do - this mouth wide open as much as possible silent laugh. It's pretty funny. Case is the one who is most successful at getting her to actually giggle. She just loves her older brother!
Sadie is a big time thumb sucker. I had no idea how great that would be! She completely self soothes herself whenever she's fussy. When I lay her down for a nap or to go to bed at night she just pops her thumb in her mouth grabs her blanket or her hair with her other hand and goes right to sleep.
So far she's not too interested in attempting to roll over. She is pretty sturdy and prefers to be in her exersaucer or held in a sitting position. She's pretty close to sitting up on her own - I think she might do that before rolling over.
Here are a few pics from the last couple months...

And my new fav... the pigtails!
Love you sweet, Sadie!