Thawed!

Team Blankinship was very happy to spend a nice day outdoors yesterday after the last few weeks of freezing weather! We explored Alafia River State Park about 45 minutes from our house. We hiked a few miles and the kids kept the whining to minimum. Well, at least they quit arguing about who was the "leader" when I finally woke up and started timing their turns with my watch. The kids shimmied up the hill and then slid down on their bums. Yes, their Dad agreed to the plan. No, he doesn't do the laundry.

I love to see all the palm trees and old growth forest. Oh...and I love to see these two cuties in the forest, too.

Cassidy took our picture. She did a good job. She really enjoys taking pictures and does a surprisingly good job with centering and all.

Can you believe this?!? Same song...second verse. Reed's other front tooth came out last night! He has quite a HUGE gap in his smile. The tooth fairy is going broke. Yes, Reed is wearing the same jammies as last week...the pictures look practically identical. Well, with the exception of teeth. And yes, I washed those jammies during the week.

A New Year...A New Smile!

Friday fun!

We took the kids to the downtown Palmetto Halloween festival last night. They got to dress up in costumes, play games, trick or treat, get their faces painted and...IT WAS FREE! Now that speaks to me!

I've actually been somewhat annoyed with all the "Fall Festivals" going on around the area. There is a big one nearby that so many people go on and on about. We went 2 years ago and it was okay. My biggest problem is that you have to pay to park, pay to get in, pay to ride any ride or play any game, pay to eat, pay to bounce in the bounce houses, pay to get lost in the corn maze, pay to pet the animals...pay, pay, pay. So, by the time we left, with children crying because they didn't get to do all of the fun and exciting things they wanted to, we had spent $75.00! And, we live in Florida, so it was 85 degrees and humid. So there.

But we had fun last night. The kids had their baseball and soccer games this morning. Randy cleaned mold out from behind the dishwasher (long, sad, Arwen has dishpan hands story), I weeded the front bed (can you hear my neighbors rejoicing?) and now I have to go fix supper. All in all, a good Saturday.

Here they are in front of the pirate ship. Yes, it was Reed's favorite attraction. No, that is not a storm trooper Bobble head...its Reed.
Cassidy getting her face painted.

My cutie lil' pumpkin!

Reed getting his face painted. What should he have painted?

A blue light saber, of course. We're in the Star Wars phase. Reed cried last night

after his bath because he forgot that he wasn't going to wash his head (ha...little did he know) and he laid down in the bathtub. By the time he remembered his plan to save his light saber, it was too late. Poor little guy. But it did save me from having to force him into good hygiene.

Unlocking the treasure chest. What was the treasure, you ask? Why, it was plastic fingers with long pointy nails that you stick over your own fingers! Treasure is in the eye of the beholder!

Wow! We can really BIRTHDAY!

My little Cassidy is now 5 YEARS OLD!!!! She had a great birthday that seemed to go on and on and on! We had her party a few days after her "actual" birthday, so she really was able to celebrate MANY times. In fact, at final count, she had 3 birthday "cakes": cupcakes at school with her class, a cake a Chik-fil-A on her birthday with the fam, and cupcakes at her party.

Here she is the morning of her birthday with her new, big-girl bike from Dad and Mom. She was able to take it for a quick spin in her jammies before getting ready for school.

We had a family party on Wednesday afternoon where she could open ALL of the fabulous gifts her grandparents and aunts and uncles sent!

Hog heaven!

Playing with some of her loot.

Cassidy chose dinner at Chik-fil-A (big shocker) for her birthday dinner and requested a...

PINK (shocking...I know) cake. Of course, Mommy complied! Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing is actually quite yummy!

Cassidy at her birthday party. We loved having Grandma Jane here to celebrate with us!

Cassidy was SO excited to wear a crown and sit on a "throne" to open her presents.

All I can say is...well, there is really nothing to say about this.

Blowing out candles!

I was finally able to get her to slow down to get one picture in the actual bounce house area!

Randy and Reed sliding down the big slide.

Fun was had by all. Cassidy felt very special. She is extremely happy to be 5. All in all, a success.

Busy days

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Life has been the usual hectic "start-of-school"
pace, thus the blog has suffered. Or maybe it is me that is suffering. Or maybe it is the floors that are suffering. Well, at any rate, here are some pictures of 2 kids who are NOT suffering (unless you count having to practice addition facts as suffering...and you might have point.)

Reed's first day of 2nd grade at Rowlett. Can you see my "fake it 'til
you make it" staging of this picture!Cassidy's first day of 4 year old preschool!
She LOVES everything about school!

Grandma Jane is here and we are loving it - especially Miss Cassidy who has found

a willing audience for her ENDLESS chatter! I'm loving it too! Grandma is such a positive person and a HUGE help to me!

Here is Miss Cassidy at her first soccer practice.

She was one big ball of energy! I loved seeing her run

and run and run and run! Click on the picture to see

her look of concentration as Coach was teaching them toe taps.

And here is red and sweaty Cassidy at the end of practice!

She loved it and I loved a channel for some of her energy!

Why Daddy gets the "Rock Star Love"!

I love my husband. He is the greatest guy I know. He goes to work every day and then comes home and is 100% involved with the family. A really fabulous husband and father.

With that said, I am occasionally slightly jealous of, what I have termed as, the "rock star love" our 2 kids have for their dad. You know what I mean...rock star love - sheer devotion and excitement induced just by walking in a room. But as I was looking at the newest pictures to post on the blog, I saw the hard evidence and solid proof of WHY they adore their dad. And boy, am I glad to have him! Thank you, God for Randy!

I mean, really, who else wants to launch the canoe in the tiny pond behind our house? And then spend the next 45 minutes just paddling in a circle.

What was I doing while they had this "awesome adventure"? I was doing the dishes...in a wonderfully QUIET house. And, for the record, Reed has asked EVERY night since this if they can launch the canoe again. Rock star love.

Let us not forget all of the cool things we would NOT have in the garage without Daddy. I certainly have never even owned one pair of waders...much less 2. Yep, rock star love.

2 tickets. Front row, box office seats. Spur of the moment opportunity to see the Rays. Well, of course Daddy can go! (Now, to be honest, I TOTALLY would have gone too, but we only had 2 tickets given to us.) Reed even got a ball from the game. Rock star love.

Cassidy and I watched parts of the game from home while folding clothes and playing beauty shop. Daddy doesn't play beauty shop. It may be one of his only short comings. Of course, I have no doubt, that Cassidy could convince Randy to play beauty shop if I wasn't around to run interference for him.

Let us not forget one of the joys of going to Tropicana Field. Cotton candy. And, if you were wondering, Randy would not leave the game until he had searched out the last remaining vendor of cotton candy and bought a pink one to bring home to Cassidy. Well deserved rock star love.

So there you have it folks. Without Randy, we would have a semi-clean house, clean clothes, really nice "beauty shop" hair and nails and a decided lack of adventure and fun in the Blankinship home. But we have Randy, and boy, are we, ALL 3 of us, REALLY glad to Randy. Rock star love!

It really was HER idea!

Cassidy has been asking me for months if she could get her ears pierced. My answer has always been "Yes, when do you want to do it?" (I wanted to pierce her ears when she was a baby, but I kept chickening out.) Then she would hedge a bit and say, "Maybe when I'm 5 or 7." The matter would then drop for a few weeks. Well, recently she changed her answer to, "How about we go pierce my ears today." I stalled her until after our camping trip (thanks, but no thanks to newly pierced ears and bacteria laden, infection inducing lake water!) We also convinced her to wait until her Aunt Becky came.

Aunt Becky arrived on Monday and here we are on Tuesday at Claire's to get our ears pierced. I had explained previously to Cassidy what was going to happen. I was hoping they would be able to do both ears at the same time, but alas, there was only one gal working that day. So the big moment came for ear #1 and, I have to say, I WAS NERVOUS! I was feeling jittery and pacing a bit. But maybe it was worse for the little girl in the hot seat!

It was a little dicey after ear #1 was completed. I was worried we were going to be heading out of there with only one ear done. But I grabbed the Cass in a sweet, loving but quite firm hug and the store clerk was FAST (I'm guessing she is used to this). And before we knew it (well, Cass probably knew it), it was done!

She may have thought, right when this picture was snapped, that she made a mistake. But her tears didn't last long! In fact, she perked up right up and then convinced me she needed a bracelet to match her new earrings!

Here she is! My big girl with pretty sparkly PINK flowers in her ears. You can click on the picture to get the full effect! Oh, and if you are wondering which bracelet she chose, she picked the multi-colored flower bracelet to the right of her. Each flower has a faux diamond as its center! Can't go wrong there!

Cassidy is happy with her newly pierced ears and Randy and I think she looks wonderfully cutie!