Wednesday, September 28, 2011

"I'm Freeeeee!"

For some reason for the last 6 months if you asked Case how old he was he'd say 3 (or 'freeee')! I have no idea why this started, but I couldn't convince him to tell people he was 2. So pretty much every conversation an adult had with him started like this,
Adult: "Hi buddy, what's your name?"
Case: "Caserman!!!!"
(adult gives me a strange look)
Me: "It's Case, but his nickame is Caserman."
Adult: "And how old are you?"
Case: "I'm freeee!"
Me: "He's actually 2 but for some reason, he always says 3."
Finally I can just let him tell them he's 3!
Here's a picture of him working on showing that he's 3
Case's birthday was so much fun, it was just a great day! We started the morning out by filling his room with balloons so he'd wake up to a fun surprise. I was down stairs making his birthday breakfast when I heard little footsteps behind me. I turned around and Case said in a very 'this is so silly' voice, "There are ballooooooons in my room." Like,'can you believe it, isn't that so crazy'!
Then we all enjoyed his birthday breakfast of pancakes with LOTS of syrup :)
After that we headed to church, came home for naps and then it was time for the party!

It was so fun celebrating Case's birthday with a few families from church. Ever since Sadie's party in June, Case has been talking about his Cars party and which character all of his friends would be. He has never been to a party where kids were different characters or anything but all of a sudden he would say, "I'm having a cars party and Joseph is going to be Ramone, Luke is going to be Chick Hicks..." So he was very excited for the big day to arrive. I don't think he really understood what was going to happen at the birthday party except that there would be cake!

When our friends arrived, there were beverages from Flo's V8 cafe and tattoos from Ramone's Body Shop (that's what the green sign says if you can't read it)!

A couple of older girls came and were a tremendous help with the little kids and did all of the tattoos, here's Case showing the tattoo he picked out.Then it was time for the car races! I got this idea at howdoesshe.com and even though I am completely not artistic or crafty (although Matt says he thinks I'm becoming "crafty") I was excited they turned out looking like the characters and the kids had a blast racing them across the yard.



After the races, Case loved opening all of his presents!Then we all enjoyed some chili, (mac & cheese for the kids), and the cupcakes and cake I made. The Mater cupcakes were another idea I got online.


Then there's sweet Sadie... I barely even saw her during the party, she just happily went around to all the different moms and older girls at the party and snuggled with each one of them. I constantly saw her sitting in someones lap, holding her arms up to be picked up and of course, eating anything anyone would give her :)
After supper the kids continued to play with the cars as we visited with the parents. It was a great party, surprisingly very relaxing for a three-year-old party! We had lots of people who really helped out so we didn't even have to clean up after the party was over. When everyone left, Matt and I gave Case his present from us, Woody and Jesse figurine's that I had bought at a garage sale this summer (maybe my best garage sale find ever!). He loved them!
Happy 3rd Birthday, Caserman! We love you to pieces, pieces (as he likes to say!)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Fall is Here!!

Fall has really kicked into gear at the Wassink house and I am loving it! We have such a busy week ahead and I am so excited for it. Our church ministry year has kicked off so we've already had a couple of meetings. While it definitely takes Matt away from us more, I love having our church calendar up and going and doing more things with the amazing people of PCC!

I've also joined BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) which I am really looking forward to. We are doing a study on Acts and I have already loved the first week. I'm also really grateful that it provides the first "structured" setting Case has been in. Up until now he's gone to church nursery, the play area at the fitness club... things that have been primarily open play. At BSF, he'll be doing more of a class setting where they will sing hymns, learn a bible story, structured play time, sit in a circle taking turns answering questions, etc. He had a great time last week! When I went to pick him up, all of the kids were standing by the door waiting for their moms and Case was still sitting on the floor while the teacher read him a book. I'm pretty sure this is the first weekly commitment I've had since having kids, besides laid back things like a weekly play group. It doesn't seem like all that much but since Monday is Matt's day off and our family day and now Wednesday morning is BSF it only leaves three days a week to plan other things. I'm just realizing it's the beginning of the transition from really being a stay at home mom (actually being at home everyday doing whatever we want) to having a busier family schedule.

Anyways - back to the fun of this week! We have BSF tomorrow, then a play date with friends from church and on Saturday we have our first PCC women's ministry meeting which I am helping to lead. I've loved working with the two other women planning our meetings and am looking forward to this first meeting.

Then on Sunday my baby boy turns 3! Yes, I realize he is no longer a baby but like every mom, I'll probably always call him that. We are really looking forward to having a couple of the families over from church to celebrate with us. It's been really fun to plan this party because Case is aware that his birthday is coming and that he's having a party. He picked his own theme this year and to no surprise, picked Cars! This is whats really been keeping me busy this week as I've gone maybe the slightest bit over board planning games, food, etc. But your first born only turns 3 once,right? :) And there are just so many cute and cheap ideas out there on the internet!

Then... drum roll please, on Monday we are road tripping up to MN! Woo-hoo! Matt played football at BU for 5 years (he had a medical red-shirt one year) and then coached for 2, so to say Bethel Football is close to his heart might be an understatement. As I have slowly lost interest in who is All-American, how BU is nationally ranked, how many yards we rushed or threw for, whether or not our o-line has an average weight of over 300 lbs... well I certainly haven't stopped hearing about it! All that to say, we were really hoping to make it up for a football game, so we are heading up for BU Homecoming! I do enjoy football, and especially Bethel's games but I am most looking forward to seeing our friends from College (and specifically some new born babies)! We feel really blessed to visit MN again and are looking forward to soaking it all in since we probably won't be heading back until April!

I'm off to do laundry, make cupcakes, clean the house and pack several suitcase's!