The Casey Family

Now she's giving away a Silhouette SD!

2011-08-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Check out Craftaholics Anonymous by clicking on my sidebar button! She's giving away a Silhouette SD digital cutting tool for a prize to one of her readers!!
www.craftaholicsanonymous.net

Oh Crafty Me

2011-08-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

I craft! Did you know I craft? No not the weird wikken stuff. I make stuff! I'm pretty sure I can make just about anything. Now finding the time and energy to do so is a different post, but when I do I love to make anything. I make crochet hats, booties etc. I make bows, bags and other little kiddie stuff.
One of my favorites sites is Craftaholics Anonymous! Linda always has cute stuff to share. Blogs are where I find all my ideas typically. So if you craft or want to craft or like to see what others are crafting you should check out her blog! Right now she is doing this fantastic giveaway for her "Blogiversary." You can click on my sidebar button to go straight there. Lots of awesome stuff! Go check it out!
http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/

A Big Night in the Casey House

2011-03-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

We had a big night in the Casey house. Jillian has spent the week at Grandma's house and today (Thursday) I met my dad and he took Eden for the weekend. So this meant that it was an ALL AVERY night. We went to eat at her favorite restaurant, rented her a Scooby-Doo movie, got ice cream and a new folder for school (which she needed). She said she was getting spoiled! I'm pretty sure if they recognize they are getting spoiled then they are not spoiled right?! So after the movie I was about to clean her face with a wet wash cloth. Right after I wet it she came to me and said, "You know mom, when we were leaving the store my tooth leaned WAY forward." I took a look and sure enough it was just hanging there. I told her it was ready and to pull it just a bit and it would come out! Then I conviently had a fresh, wet wash cloth in my hand for her to bite on. It bled for just a minute. This was Avery's first tooth to loose! It's been 2 weeks since we it started on the wiggly path. Here's a pic of her little gap:

She already has her adult tooth making it's way in. The new tooth is WAY back behind the row of baby teeth.

She is all excited and ready to see what replaces her tooth come morning!
I made a quick little pouch for her to keep her tooth in hoping that I can do the ol' switch-er-roo when she's out to the world. She wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy that says, "Der Toof Fare, This is my frst Tooth! Avery Casey"

The Man questioned why I do the whole tooth fairy mess, but not Santa. My answer to that is that Santa is given god-like abilities (ie: he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when you've been bad or good) and seems to replace Jesus during the Christmas season. I haven't actually told Avery that there is a tooth fairy. She asked if the tooth fairy was real and I answered with a good ol' "What do you think?" allowing her to speculate and decide what makes sense to her. Since the whole tooth trade for money bit is secular I don't see a problem with it!

Anyway... she's all excited! It was a big night in the Casey house!

The Santa Lie

2010-11-29T06:44:00.001-08:00

I guess I am alone in my "Santa Feelings". Perhaps it is the way I was brought up or maybe it's just my own realization. We don't do Santa. It is something fun that we pretend with and talk about, but we do not "do" Santa. We don't have presents from Santa. We don't put out milk and cookies. We don't have a "be good for the spying elf". And we don't believe Santa is watching us and seeing if we are naughty or nice.
Before you think I am a big "Scrooge" hear me out!
With all the Santa tradition comes telling your child the following:

"A man you don't know will be coming into your house while you sleep, via the chimney (or some other way you make up if you don't have one)
Giving you presents that elves make in a toy shop
Reindeer fly this man all around the world in one night doing this to every house
This man can SEE you all the time!
This man knows what you are doing and how you are behaving.
This man knows what you are thinking!"

All of this bothers me tremendously! And here is why.
How am I to tell my children all these lies? Yes they are lies regardless of the fun of the kids believing and the excitement. I am supposed to tell them that THIS man can see them and THIS man knows what they want and THIS man knows how they behave. Only to have them realize a few years later that it was all lies.
AND THEN... and here's the big deal for me.... they are still expect to believe that Jesus is real. That God actually can see them, that God actually does know what they are thinking and what they want!! That their blessing come from Him. Ya right! No intelligent kid is going to continue to truly believe in the real Lord and his omniscient ability after being lied to when they were younger and more naive.
I don't see how lying to my kids when they are gullible can possibly have a good affect on them later in life.
All this to say... It seems like no one else (besides Starsha that I know of) feels this way. My Christian friends all do Santa at their homes. I feel strongly about it. I guess it doesn't matter so much what other families do. To each their own and all. It just bothers me that people don't see the correlation between Santa and the God-like abilities Santa is given and God, Jesus and the true Christmas story.
My kids should trust me. This means that I do no lie to them... ever.
We do fun stuff with Santa and have fun with it all, but my kids know that Santa's not a real person and will not be "visiting" us at Christmas time.

Alright... there is my rant on the evils of Santa!
Thoughts?

Who needs preschool when you have a big sister!

2010-09-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of Avery reading and teaching the twins. She LOVES to teach them colors and letters. She's the best Big Sister!!

She would read to them all day and teach them everything she knows if she could!

What's for Dinner?

2010-09-14T08:44:00.001-07:00

I made this last night for dinner and everyone liked it, it was fairly simple, and it makes a BUNCH!

Sorry I have no photo's. Maybe I will take some next time I make it.

Tomato Alfredo with Sausage

1 1/2 lbs mild Italian Sausage Links (I used fully cooked Kielbasa Sausages. Worked fine)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped or use a garlic press
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper
2 - 14.5oz cans Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 - 15oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp sugar (I used about a half a tsp for fear of making it actually taste sweet. Around here we like to say "NO SWEET MEAT!")
16 oz uncooked mostaccioli, rigatoni or penne (I used rotini)
1/4 cup of whipping cream (I used heavy cream and I used about 3/8ths cup)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used the stuff in the green can. Take if from a wife of a man who works at a cheese plant... it's all the same as the fresh stuff... just costs less)

How to Put it all together:

If you use Kielbasa then you can skip step 1 & 2 because it is already cooked, but you should warm it up a bit in the skillet before adding the garlic.

1. Removed and discard casings from sausage links. Cut sausages crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces.

2. Cook sausage in large saute pan over medium heat for 8 minutes.

3. Add Garlic and continue cooking 2 minutes. Drain if necessary.

4. Stir in onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, tomato sauce and sugar. The pot was REALLY full at this point. I ended up moving it to a bigger pot rather than a saute pan.

5. Bring to a boil. Ruduce heat; simmer 20 minutes; stirring occasionally.

6. While sauce is cooking, prepare your pasta choice as directed on the pasta package and drain.

7. Remove sausage mixture from heat and gradually stir in whipping cream.

8. Serve over hot pasta. (I mixed it all together) Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

So there you go! This was our dinner last night and it was GOOD!

Enjoy! Let me know if you try it and what you tweaked!

Our Two Year Old Twins

2010-07-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

The little ones made it to two (and so did we!) Here's a little video of their cupcakes that they got on their birthday.

Living Room Remodel

2010-04-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

So I have wanted to replace the ugly dark paneling in our living room since we bought our home 3 years ago. Finally have a chance, so I am diving in. My dad came and helped me get started. We took one wall of paneling down which was actually really simple. He showed me how to make a joint (he assured me it wasn't that kind of joint). So we taped and sealed the seams between the dry wall.

Big sister came out of the bedroom where Gran was keeping the kids occupied and said that it was a beautiful color and she loved the cross we put on the wall!

So now I have to figure out how I will texture my walls. I want a knock down texture on the walls, but it's not so easy to do without high tech equipment. I found a tutorial here that had some easy and good suggestions.
So I tried it. So far... not really sure I like what I see. I am waiting on it to dry and I would give it a 60% chance that I will sand it back off. I used joint compound on the wall, so I should be able to remove it easy enough if I think it's not what I want.

I needed a smaller bucket that my putty knife and other tools would fit into. A Wipes Case worked wonders! And it closes up to keep it moist still.

More to come... I am hoping this isn't a nightmare I have created for myself!

A Little Update on Avery

2010-01-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

Avery is doing WONDERFUL in Kindergarten. Even though she is ahead a year for now she is keeping up and learning fast! She has started reading recently. I have put up a little video for you to see!

She also very much enjoys her new baking stuff that she got for last Christmas! She loves to cook and bake so that her brother and sister have a snack when they wake up from nap. They are more than happy to take advantage of her skills! Here's a pic of her baking.

Avery is a very sweet child. She LOVES to help with her brother and sister any time she can as long as it does not include stinky diapers! I asked her if she wished she were the twin's mommy and she beamed and said, "Yay! That'd be great"! She tries to do a little too much mothering sometimes, but she really means well. Avery loves to swim, ride her bike, anything outside, but most of all she LOVES to play with Eden and Jillian. She really is a wonderful daughter!!

Or Eden will Zoom ahead!

2009-05-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

So I said Jillian won the walking race, but that may have been a little bit preemptive. She does have better balance and always has. She will stand up and maintain her balance for a long time. She's even started twisting at the waist and bending way over without even a stumble. She will also take about 5-6 steps when she wants to, but those have not been very often. She usually has no desire to walk and hasn't taken off on her own.
Eden has usually just stood there dancing and giggling rather than taking steps. Today Eden really got into it! He started walking between Ken and I! He walked longer distances than Jillian had, and he was much more interest in doing so. So... all that to say that Jillian may get credit for taking the first steps, but if Eden continues he will get credit for walking first! Here's a video of his new moves (sorry it's so dark):

Jillian may win this race!!

2009-05-03T17:16:00.001-07:00

Yes I know my blog is very unupdated (pretty sure I just made up that word)! But this was just blog worthy!! Have a look at Jillian's new moves!

A very close 2nd!!

2009-02-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

Jillian came in a very close 2nd place in the crawling race!! She started her big moves last night! So much for letting them play in the living room in the morning with toys while I take a shower! Here is a video of her. I didn't get a great video of her yet. She is very slow, but I imagine that will change fast!

Eden's on the Move!! Beware!

2009-02-12T15:53:00.001-08:00

Yes that's true Eden won the race! He started moving his hands this week while on his knees and he is now crawling! He is slow and falls back on his belly, but he can get across the room and will be into EVERYTHING very soon I'm sure! Here's a video of his first moves!

Jilly Giggle is a big Hit!

2009-02-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Well I guess Jillian's laugh was a big hit, so Here's one more video of the same thing, but you can hear Avery laughing at her too. Each time Avery laughs Jillian stops to look at her wondering what's so funny!

Giggly Jilly!!

2009-01-31T16:11:00.001-08:00

My little Jillian does laugh! She has been quite the handful in her short life so far. She was a very serious baby and it took her a long time to even smile. She finally laughed, but it took her 6 months to get there. Until recently she would still rarely laugh. Now I can usually get her to laugh fairly easily, but the other day she was in the exersaucer and entertained herself really well with a toy. I managed to get the camera and take a video. Here it is:

Beasts turn sweet??

2009-01-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Anyone that has spent any time with me knows that I refer to my screaming sweeties as my little Beast Children!! Especially my little Jilly! They are almost 8 months old now and for the past 8 months people have been telling me that it will get easier... that it won't always be this hard... that they will become more independent... It seemed as if those days would never come.

Well I'm not saying the day is here and here to stay (I'm being non-committal), but they have been easier lately!! During the day they are typically happy and typically more easy going. They will play in the floor with a toy and spend time rolling around and practicing their crawling too. A little reprieve at least for me!

So not as often will I have beast children! I am actually enjoying them some!! Which is just amazing for me! I feel like I've just missed out on anytime that mom's should have to enjoy the tiny new baby. Hopefully I can relax a bit now and cuddle them while I can! Here's a recent pic:

Now I should go let them out of their crib while they are still in their nice form!!

Flying Squirrels... or not

2008-12-17T12:23:00.001-08:00

My dog has a habit of having his barking sessions at the neighbor dog or a passing pedestrian during naptime. This bothers me. If you are a mom you know how nice and wonderful and much needed naptime is. I take lots of careful planning to get 3 children down for a nap at the same time so I can do things I need to do! So when the barking started today, I race outside ready to ream the dog for barking, but he is looking up and barking... which is odd. So I look up and see and hear two cute fuzzy little squirrels playing way in the top of a tree! Wally quit barking when he saw me, but just as I looked up I see one of the squirrels DROP right out of the tree and THUD on the ground! I went over there to see if it was hurt, but it fell in the neighbor's yard (which is a good thing cause even an injured squirrel has no chance of survivial in my yard of dogs that would think it's a play toy!) I couldn't see it, so I can only imagine it survived somehow and scurried off... Just thought it was really odd. I've never seen a squirrel fall before. They are usually really good at hanging on. Maybe it lived... we'll go with that!! At least my kids are still asleep! Here's a pic... my finger is pointing to the part of the tree they were in and you can see how high up it was. Not sure why I am so facinated by this or why it deserved a blog entry!!

Okay, well the top of my finger anyway...

He tries to look innocent!

Guess this is what he really thinks of me!!

Avery's Thanksgiving videos

2008-12-12T09:46:00.001-08:00

I meant to put these up sooner, but didn't! This is Avery's very cute Thanksgiving songs. She was the one singing loudly and out of tune, but it was still precious!!

A word from Avery

2008-12-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Avery enjoys calling her grandparents on the phone and chatting with them. This particular occasion she had called my dad and was hoping to talk long enough to avoid naptime! Here's how the talk went:

Avery: Hi Pa. where are you?

Pa: I'm at work.

Avery: Where's Gran?

Pa: Well she's at her work. Did you want to talk to Gran?

Avery: Ya, but she won't call me back. (It had been about 2 minutes since she left a message)

Pa: She's probably just busy at work, but she will call you back. She's not like Grandma and Grandpa that are REtired. They get to stay home now, but Gran and I still go to work each day.

Avery: Maybe if you're tired one day you can stay home from work too!

he he he!! I thought it was very cute what they hear and how words get mixed up!

101 Things I am Thankful For (in no particular order)

2008-12-03T07:51:00.000-08:00

Geezz! I am such a conformist!! I am copying Traca's copying of Jodi's blog idea! So here's my list:

1. God's Grace
2. My loving husband, Ken
3. The sweetest 4 year old, Avery
4. God's Blessings
5. My busy little baby girl, Jillian
6. My laid back slilly little boy, Eden
7. baby squeals
8. healthy kids
9. gracious friends
10. Mom groups
11. Fuzzy little heads
12. nastalgia
13. Christmas Traditions
14. Christmas lights
15. sausage balls (Christmas morning breakfast tradition)
16. my comfortable couches
17. Thunderstorms
18. Air conditioning (I would melt in the summer)
19. Chocolate
20. my dogs
21. My kid's Grandparents
22. My home
23. Indoor plumbing!
24. e-mail
25. facebook (sorry I've really gotten addicted!)
26. The Back to the Future movies!!
27. Baby Einstein Videos
28. books
29. Cute little baby clothes
30. New Recipes
31. Tivo!!
32. Those few nights when the babies sleep all night long!
33. My own bed
34. Google
35. Jesus Dying for me
36. Fat free yogurt
37. Overnight Dates!
38. Prayers
39. Little, tiny, blonde ponytails
40. The fact that my poodle still loves me despite the additions of husband, dogs, kid, kid, kid!
41. Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte!!
42. Mom's Night Out
43. Baby sitters
44. Nates in Addison
45. SMILE
46. MOPS
47. Fireplace fires (really missing my fireplace in San Antonio)
48. Quaker granola bars
49. Warm Homemade bread YUM!
50. That I still anticipate Christmas
51. naptime!!
52. Seriously... NAPTIME!!
53. Christmas Music
54. Remembering
55. Valley Grove
56. Wee School
57. Fast food
58. Home Cooked meals
59. Quiet house (One day I can be thankful for this again!)
60. That I have friends that value the simple things like their wooden spoon!!
61. My compact camera
62. Being a SAHM
63. Dr. Pepper
64. That I am still able to breastfeed
65. Cold Weather
67. Unconditional Love my kids have for me (right now)
68. Forgiveness
69. Swimming Pools
70. Wind chimes
71. Birds singing (but not early in the morning)
72. Quilting
73. Diaper Genie II
74. The smell of Cinnamon
75. The smell of Coffee
76. Knowledge
77. Wisdom
78. That I can eat potato chips and still somehow turn that into the perfect milk for babies (albeit not the best version)
79. Laughter
80. Christmas Trees
81. Snow
82. The Ocean
83. Cruises
84. My sister and her new family
85. My ability to copy things (What I lack in creativity I make up for in being a copycat)
86. "I love yous" from Avery and Ken
87. Sweet hugs for no reason
88. Ken's Job
89. Baby Giggles - no sweeter sound on earth!
90. Amazement of a growing child
91. Bright Eyes
92. My growing patience
93. naps for me (rare, but wonderful)
94. That my 4 year old still takes naps!
95. Jon & Kate Plus 8 (Yup stole that one from Jodi, but that show makes me feel better!)
96. fuzzy socks
97. cuddly babies
98. Cuddly 4 yr olds
99. Post-it notes
100. My diaper bag
101. Learning new Things

A crazy Day with the twins!

2008-11-24T14:42:00.001-08:00

So I thought I had done well booking the twins' 6 month appointment when I did. In the past not thinking about it I had scheduled it at 3 PM on a day when I had to pick up Avery from school, or at 10 when my bible study is. This time I booked it at 11:20 which is after my bible study and on a Tuesday when Avery was in school. Well as things seem to go around here... My bible study is now over and Avery is having a party and gets out early on Tuesday! Anyhow... I called and rescheduled my appointment for Monday at 1 instead. So about 12:00 I gave Avery her lunch and heated up something for me. I then got the babies and my big nursing pillow and sat down with my hot pasta and was about to feed them and myself at the same time. I do this often, but it wasn't in the cards for today. Just as I sat down and got each baby in position the chaos started.
The pasta (hot pasta) tumped (yes that's a word in my Texas language tumped = toss/dump) over right onto Eden! I GASP and freak out. I jumped up SLINGing pasta across the room in attempt to keep it from burning him. In the process of jumping up I knock Jillian off my pillow and off the couch and into the floor on her head! I see her fall and GASP again. So Eden is not burned, but highly upset that he is not eating and has been dipped in pasta sauce. Jillian is not hurt, but extremely offended that she's been tumped on the floor! I am still freaking out and Avery thinks I am mad at her. There is pasta SMEARED down the whole arm of my couch and down in the cusion. This is the couch I paid $45 to have steam cleaned a week and a half ago. My brand new rug has some pasta and chicken on it. Avery is running around trying to help me... but like I said I was freaking out. Guess I don't work well under pressure!
So I close my eyes and calm myself. I take Eden's clothes off, wipe the couch, spray the couch with upholstry cleaner and remove the cover off my nursing pillow. Once everyone is cleaned up I sit on the other couch and feed the babies. I then set Jillian on a Boppy Pillow on the couch and go get a new outfit for Eden. I come back and Jillian is chocking and spits up a TON of milk on my other couch. I clean her up and change her clothes and spray and clean the other couch. Finally I grab stuff and run out the door late to the doctor appointment.
The appointment is going well at first...
The babies check out well and Avery is being helpful. While asking the doctor some questions I get up holding both babies and my shoe comes off and trips me. I fumble BOTH babies, GASP and just barely catch Jillian from SLAMMing her into the hard floor! I scrape my knee, but at least Jilly is okay.
The doctor leaves and I am waiting on the nurse to come give the babies shots. Eden didn't eat very well and Jillian spit up all her food and I didn't get to eat cause my food spilled all over the couch, Eden and my new rug. They are getting very fussy and I started getting hypoglycemic meaning I am sweating, dizzy, and about to faint at the doctor office. The nurse comes in, so I hand Jillian to Avery to hold (which she usually does very carefully and very well). She for some reason stands Jillian up and quickly looses balance. Jillian conks her head on the carseat and then the floor. Avery caught her well and she didn't hit hard luckliy.
The nurse then realizes I am about to pass out from lack of food and gets some help. They check my blood sugar and it's okay, but I am not. I have a Dr. Pepper they give me and attempt to help with shots. The nurse was AWESOME! She gave each baby 4 pokes, but did it so quick it was over in a flash.
So the babies get their shots and the nurse helps me to my car!
It's usually hectic at the doctor office, but this was CRAZY and over the top, so I felt I needed to share! Life with twins!

Soaking up the Mom Info

2008-11-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

Many of my friends are on www.goodreads.com. I was just looking at our "current reads" on goodreads.com and I found it funny that all of us are currently reading mom and parenting books!
Me - "Bringing up Boys"
Traca - "Effective Parenting in a Defective World"
Jodi - also "Bringing up Boys"
Rachel - "Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World"
Robyn - "Eat, Pray, Love" - Not sure if this is a Mom book, but it's in the same catagory!
Chelsea - "The Power of a Positive Mom"
Jeri - "The 7 stages of Motherhood"

All these words... hope we get some sort of insight from all this!!
Marla

A Clean Start

2008-11-06T13:58:00.001-08:00

I'm not a very good house cleaner.... something I need to work on, but since the twins came along I have gotten snowed under in house work. My house had become not just messy, but dirty and miserable. It was contributing to my misery.
So I just thought I should share how blessed I feel right now! My very caring and sweet friends came over to dig me out of the hole that was my house. Now that they have left, my house feels safe, pleasant, like home... it smells good and it is making me more appreciate what I have. I went through room by room and prayed in my quiet, (the babies were asleep and Avery at school) clean house. I went into each room and prayed for each room and each person in our home. I haven't done that in a very long time... I guess since we moved in. I then lit candles just to add a nice ambieance! When Ken and Avery came in Avery went into each room and commented on how clean and nice it was. She said, "It looks like they vacuumed!" She went into her room and squealed with delight noticing her letters that had been put on the wall and how clean and organzied her room looked. Ken asked if I was trying to sell our house! Which pleased me because I always say I want my house to be "house showing clean"... meaning as clean as I kept it when we were trying to sell our house. So Thank You my angels!! I can't tell you how humbled and grateful I am to each of you! Love ya! Here's some pics of my nice clean home:

Hall Bath

Babies' Room

Eden and Jillian's Dressers

Eden and Jillian's Room

Avery 's Room

Avery's Bed

Our Bed

Our Bedroom

Our Living room

Dining Table

Our Kitchen

Our Bathroom

Butterfly, Bugs and a Mouse Infestation

2008-11-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

It seems having a blog is the "in thing" these days, so I am joining the bandwagon! I am learning as I go, so I will see how this works out for me!

Here are my Halloween cuties!

Avery's Loot

My little Bugs

Avery Love being Minnie!!

All 3 of my "Critters"

Avery's Fairy Butterfly costume

All Together