2017 Wrap Up

Here we are again, staring down the end of another year. It's been a great year! Here's the highlights from the Letkeman house:

January- Aviannah learned how to count to 10
               -John's birthday. I honestly can't remember what we did to celebrate!

February- Leesa and I road-tripped to Canmore for Jill's bachelorette weekend! I got to try                       cross country skiing for the first time and it was so fun!
           
March- Aviannah turned 3 on the 12th
          - Cassidy turned 6 on the 30th
          - We had a joint birthday party for the girls with both sides of our families. The house                 was packed and the girls were very well loved on
          - I got to go along on Cassidy's field trip to a gymnastics center

April- Cassidy had a birthday party with friends.
         - Cassidy lost her first tooth!
         - The girls started swimming lessons and both loved them
       
May- Cassidy started soccer for the second year and did awesome! She improved so much                 from last year
        - I planted my garden, also the second year. Unfortunately it did not do as well as last                 year
        - Highlight of the year- I celebrated my upcoming 30th birthday in Disneyland with                     Leesa, Jill and Pam. We had the best time! Good weather, good company, good                         food and lots of walking!

June- We attended Cassidy's kindergarten graduation.
       - Cassidy had her last day of kindergarten and was declared ready for Grade 1!
       - Aviannah got accepted into the Pre-Kindergarten program at the new elementary                      school.
       - We took a weekend trip to Swift Current to visit my grandparents in their new place.               Not quite as long of a trek as it took to visit them in Texas!

July- Cassidy learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! She had a great summer                 speeding around and getting more and more confident.
        - I hosted a 5 day club at my house for a week. We had a great turnout!
        - Another highlight- Eric and Jill's wedding in Sylvan Lake! This was our big holiday of               the summer and it was so wonderful! The girls loved being flower girls!

August- My birthday. The May celebration was my big party and John and I just had a low                   key date night
            - We went camping for the weekend in Waskesiu. We had great weather!
            - Aviannah FINALLY learned how to use the potty
         
September- Cassidy started Grade 1 and loves going to school every day
                 - Aviannah started Pre-Kindergarten and also loves school!
                 - I took in 2 new day care kids, first only part time and then full time. They have                          been an awesome fit and I've loved getting to know them!
               
October- Our park got a new makeover which was very exciting!
             - The girls were super heroes for Halloween

November- John and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with a quick overnight                                  getaway.
                 - We had an early Christmas with my mom's side of the family before my                                        grandparents left for Texas
                 - Aviannah learned her ABC's and learned how to write her name
                 - I was involved in a drama with our church

December- We decorated for Christmas!
                - The girls performed in the Sunday School Christmas program. Cassidy was Mary                       and Avi was a sheep!
                - Cassidy also performed in her school Christmas program.
                - We are excited to celebrate Christmas with both our families!

This is such broad summary of our year. I could easily go into more details but I don't want to turn a blog post into a novel! Of course, in between all these "big" moments of 2017 were all the little, ordinary, everyday, arguably more important stuff. I'm just enjoying these days so much. Our life is busy, very very busy, but we've gotten pretty good at enjoying the moments as they happen. The girls are growing so, so fast. We are so in love with them and with this life!

We are looking ahead to 2018 with anticipation and excitement! God has, as always, been so faithful and good to us. Merry Christmas and God's blessings on you and yours this Christmas!

Another New Season

Last year we entered into a new stage of life with Cassidy off to Kindergarten and this year brings with it another new stage- both my girls are going to school!

Today was Cassidy's first day of Grade 1. We got to go meet her teacher last night and see her classroom and get all her school supplies unpacked so this morning, even though I wanted to take her, she got on the bus and off she went! I'm pretty certain she will love going to school every day though I'm expecting a very tired girl for the first couple of weeks.

Aviannah is very excited because she gets to go to school this year too! Last year she found it hard watching her big sister get on the bus and not getting to go herself. She won't get to ride a bus this year but she does get the special privilege of going to the brand new school in Warman. We registered her for the Pre-K program. She starts next Wednesday and goes four afternoons a week for 3 hours. That's a lot of school for such a little girl but I am positive she will love it! We got to see her classroom and meet her teacher last week and Avi ran right up to her teacher and gave her a big hug. The other exciting part is that Levi is in her class! I'll still be babysitting him and so that works well all around! They are going to be quite the pair and I hope they won't get into too much mischief together!

With Avi and Levi in school together, that gave me four afternoons of no children in my house, and so I decided to look for another daycare kid. There are so many ladies that do daycare in Warman and I felt it was going to be next to impossible to find someone. A teacher I used to work with recommended me to her friend who was looking for daycare and we met and on both ends we felt like it was a perfect fit! I will have a new little guy who is 2.5 coming 3 days a week and his sister who starts Kindergarten this year will come every other Friday. It could not be a more perfect arrangement! They have come one day already and they have fit in perfectly with everybody and I have very high hopes that we will have a great year!

I'm also still teaching piano two evening a week, so life is definitely going to be busy but I am so incredibly thankful to have found jobs that allow me to stay at home with my girls. In 2 years Avi will be in Kindergarten and then I plan to go back to work as an E.A, and I know those years are going to fly by! I've been home with my kids (well, it started out as just one kid) since the beginning of 2012 and I can't believe that this stay-at-home mom gig is soon coming to an end. I know I will always look back on these years as being the hardest, busiest, yet most fulfilling years of my life. The opportunity to spend every day being present with my kids, playing and learning and snuggling and crying and laughing and yelling and singing... these are just priceless times! 

I often hear moms of older kids saying they can't believe how fast the time has gone and I pay close attention whenever I hear those words. They remind me to stop and savor the moment, even if someone just peed on the floor for the 5th time or someone else drew on the walls, one day I will look back and maybe wish for smudged fingerprints on the window or to be picking up toys for the millionth time. It's so hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that Cassidy's days at home with just me are done. I get her on the weekends, and evenings, and that's it. And while I'm so thrilled for this next new stage and thrilled for her because she loves school, part of me just wants to pull out all her baby pictures and spend hours looking at them and crying because wasn't that just yesterday?

I suppose that's just motherhood in a nutshell. Having your heart being tugged in two different directions all the time. It's amazing watching them grow up and it's terrible watching them grow up, all at the same time. I am #blessed (sorry, couldn't help it!)

Getting It Better

Yes, my blog is still here, dusty cobwebs and all. There's been something on my heart that God has been teaching me lately and I feel like I need to get it down into words.

One thing that I have always struggled with is living in the moment. I love to have something to look forward to. The anticipation, the planning, the dreaming about what it will be like- I'm obsessed with all of it. My personality is such that I get ridiculously excited about little things, like birthdays and Christmas and trips. I went to Disneyland a couple weeks ago and for two weeks leading up to it I had trouble sleeping because I was so excited, which was super annoying but that's just how I am! I love looking ahead to the next thing, or looking back on what just happened and reliving it in my mind over and over. In doing so, I often forget to notice what is happening now.

When Cassidy came along, I found myself doing this with her childhood. Looking ahead to when she would start crawling, start walking, start talking, put sentences together, be potty trained, etc. I didn't realize I was doing it then, but I was pushing her to do all these things sooner. I think that's pretty normal for a first time mom. We want to see them hit the milestones and we don't realize until after they've hit them that 'oh, that was actually a lot easier when they weren't mobile' or 'now that they're talking they ask so many questions!' I don't have any regrets about her baby years, but sometimes I wonder if I wished them away too quickly.

I feel like I did a better job cherishing Avi's baby stage. Granted, Avi was brand new when she came to us and Cassidy was 9 months, but I remember her sleeping on my chest and trying my hardest to soak in that moment because I was more aware of how fast time went and I knew I'd blink and she'd be walking, talking, no longer a baby. And yet again, it went even faster then I thought it would. 

Since 2017 started God has really been impressing on me to live in the moment. It's so interesting the different methods he uses to teach us. Unintentionally I have been picking up books to read that are about someone losing somebody or something, and I've found myself watching TV shows and movies along that same line. I usually don't let myself watch or read those kinds of things and I honestly think God had everything to do with the fact that I have been lately. Because I really do feel like I am finally learning how to live in the moment. It's just been so impressed on me lately that these people in my life that I love; my husband, my children, my parents and siblings, my friends...they are not promised to me forever. Only God knows how much time I'll get with them and they belong to Him, not me. They are a great gift bestowed upon me and I will not take them for granted. 

The other day the girls were sitting on the couch watching a show and I just found myself staring at them, studying their faces and trying to soak up each little detail- the smattering of freckles around Cassidy's nose, Avi's tiny little nose, the way their hair fell. I feel as though they've always looked exactly like this, and yet pictures tell me that they were once babies, but I don't remember that very well anymore. And one day I'll look back on pictures of this day and think "It's hard to remember them like that, they are so grown up now!" These days are some of the hardest, yet most precious days of my life. Cassidy starts Grade 1 in a few short months and just like that, my days at home with her will be over. I can't believe it. And I can't help but think of how many days I willed the day to go faster, for bedtime to come quicker, because I was tired of little people hanging off of me and asking me endless questions. And here I am, staring down the end of these days and I want the ride to stop. I want to freeze time and keep my babies home with me forever. Slow down. 

So I'm living in the moment. Because looking ahead may be fun and exciting, and looking back is a good reminder of how far we've come, but this moment now is beautiful, and it's fleeting. Tomorrow it's gone. I want to remember lazy mornings in the kitchen, as I empty the dishwasher and make plans for the day in my head and the girls sit at the table in bedhead and pajamas eating their cereal. I want to remember taking them to the park and watching them run and laugh. I want to remember dance parties in the living room as they shout "Play another song, Mommy!" and then spin with all their might. I want to remember reading stories to them, and them fighting about who gets to sit on Daddy's lap, never Mommy's lap, only Daddy's. I want to remember John walking in the door after a day at work and shouts of "Daddy's home!" and giggles and hugs and kisses for all. I even want to remember tantrums and slammed doors and time outs because one day those will be all gone too. I really do feel like I have learned how to live in the moment. I'll never get it perfect, but I am getting it better. 

Wrap Up: 2016 Edition

Here we are again, at the brink of another new year. How this manages to happen faster and faster each year, I'll never know. It's a good reminder for me to cherish each moment, to hold my people closer and enjoy each age my children are at, no matter how frustrating it may be, because all of sudden it's just a distant memory and I don't want to look back with any regrets.

The majority of 2016 has felt like a giant exhale of relief, mainly due to finally receiving Aviannah's Canadian citizenship and with that, the end of all paperwork relating to adoption. Here's a bit of perspective: this is the first time in 6 years that we are not waiting for and/or filling out some piece of paper for the adoption process. 6 years. It almost felt like an out of body experience to finally be done with it all. I would walk around thinking "Oh no, there's this yet...no wait, that's done too. Is everything really...done??" It's a hard thing to put into words. And honestly, who knows if we are actually done? For all I know we might start the process again tomorrow (um, kidding), but for now it feels AMAZING to be free of paperwork. John and I love our little family and while we are open to adopting again, we feel very content and at peace with the way things are right now. But hey...it's in God's hands like always, and as I've come to learn over and over again, He's always full of surprises!

Here's a look back at some highlights from our 2016:
-In January, John and I went to Edmonton for the Breakforth conference. It was an excellent weekend and we left feeling refreshed, relaxed, and inspired!

-March was a busy month for us. Cassidy turned 5 and Aviannah turned 2. Cassidy had a princess party and we had a total of 8 little princesses in our house for a few hours. It was SO much fun! We also had a joint birthday party with both our families for the girls.
More March highlights: we bought a van!! I am thrilled to finally have access to a vehicle during the day. I still absolutely love our van, it's proven to be a reliable set of wheels! We also had family pictures done during the month.

-In April both girls started swimming lessons. Cassidy did great! She is so much more confident in the water and passed her level. Avi on the other hand did not do great. She hated it and we only ended up taking her maybe 3 times. We are going to try again this spring and I think she will do much better!
Cassidy also started outdoor soccer in April for the first time! She absolutely loved it! She definitely has some natural athletic ability and we are excited to nurture that and see what comes of it! She played on the Falcons and she had as much fun playing as we did watching her. Is their anything cuter then little kids running around in cleats and oversized jerseys?
April 29 was the day we got the news that Avi is now a Canadian!

-May was also an exciting month. Cassidy had her preschool graduation ceremony and looked adorable in her little cap and gown. She still talks about her teachers and friends from pre-school. She had a great year. We also had her kindergarten orientation in May (she attends Valley Christian Academy). She was very excited to see her classroom and meet her new teachers.
I also had my year end piano recital at the end of May and it was a wonderful evening. All my students did a wonderful job!
John also made a garden plot in our yard. We had a very successful first garden, there was enough for me to go out and grab a few things for supper but not anything extra for me to can/freeze, which was exactly what I wanted!

-In June Cassidy's soccer season ended with a big all-day tournament. It was a hot day and she was tired by the end of it but she was very proud of the medal she received! We also went on our first camping trip, just the four of us, for the last weekend in June. We went up to Memorial Lake and had a great weekend, even though the weather wasn't that great. It rained for a bit Saturday afternoon and we barely made it into the tent before the rain came pouring down! We stayed dry though, and the girls still braved the lake even though I thought it was freezing!! They made some friends and we made some great memories!

-July kicked off with myself and some friends doing the Foam Fest 5K. We did it in 2015 and had so much fun we just had to do it again! It was even better this year and we all had a blast!
Mid-July we had a big family reunion (on my mom's side) in Vernon, BC to celebrate my cousin's graduation from high school. We rented a gorgeous house and enjoyed a few days together. It goes down as one of my favorite vacations ever! We spent every day at the beach and many hours playing beach volleyball (even Grandma joined in!) We visited a kangaroo farm and ate lots of good food and of course stayed up late playing games and laughing till we cried (that's a given with my mom's family). This was also Jill's first family vacation with us, and it will be the first of many because...
On July 29 Eric and Jill got engaged!! The wedding is set for July 29,2017 (exactly a year later) and we are all so excited! Jill is perfect for Eric and she fits right in with the rest of us too!

-August was a quieter month, except at the beginning. My birthday is the 4th and John completely blew me away when he planned a surprise birthday party (something I've always wanted!). It was a wonderful evening and he's earned brownie points for life!
We spent August with days at the spray park, visiting Kinsmen park and hiking at Beaver Creek, going school supplies shopping, watching the Olympics (Cassidy is hooked!), reaping the harvest from our little garden,
Also in August, I booked plane tickets for us to fly to Texas to visit my grandparents in December! We made a paper chain countdown and had so much fun counting down the days!

-September brought another big change to our lives- Cassidy started kindergarten! She goes every other day for full days and she absolutely loves it! She gets on the bus at 8:13 and I pick her up at the bus stop at 3:37. She has learned so much in these past 4 months. She went from showing no interest in writing/drawing to wanting to write all the time. She has started levelled reading and is starting to learn how to put words together. I especially love hearing all the songs and poems she learns. She attends a Christian school and especially over the holiday season, we loved that she was coming home singing songs about Jesus instead of Santa. She and I are both looking forward to the rest of the year!
Levi still comes 2-3 days a week and we love having him! Avi especially enjoys when Cassidy is in school and she gets Levi all to herself. They will play downstairs for hours together. They are the best of friends. We've really missed him over the Christmas break!
I also started up piano lessons again in September. I have 12 students and they are all wonderful. I'm having a great year with them so far.

-In October we were hit with an early snow but thankfully it didn't last too long. I hosted my family for Thanksgiving and the next day we said goodbye to my grandparents when they left for Texas. At the end of the month Cassidy's class put on a circus at school. It was so cute! The girls dressed up as a princess and Minnie Mouse for Halloween and had fun trick or treating and going to Fun Night at Cassidy's school.

-November was good to us weather wise! We had very unusually warm weather for a couple weeks. John and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with an evening out. I can't believe it's been 6 years and yet it feels like it's been forever at the same time. Mom, Leesa and I went on a quick day trip to Edmonton to join Jill and her family for wedding dress shopping! We had so much fun! We also decorated our house for Christmas!

-December was a busy month, as per usual. The first half of the month was filled with family gatherings, Christmas baking and trying to squeeze in as many of our favorite Christmas traditions as we could before...
we left on our big holiday! This trip was by far the highlight of 2016, even though we had a few bumps along the way. Avi got sick the day before we left and by the time we landed in San Antonio she was very sick. We immeadiately found a clinic to get her checked out at. The doctor said it was just viral but the next 2 days went by without much improvement. She didn't eat hardly anything and it was a struggle to get her to stay hydrated. She slept for almost 2 days straight. Many people were praying for her, back home and in Texas and she thankfully started to improve our 3rd day there. We were able to enjoy the rest of the holiday with her feeling almost 100%.
It was such a relaxing holiday! Grandma and Grandpa were so good to us and let us nap every afternoon and sleep in in the mornings. We enjoyed meals out and yummy home cooked meals as well. Cassidy loved making friends with the other volunteers on campus and especially enjoyed the sewing room. We had a beach day, visited a flea market, went to a lights display and enjoyed many low key days hanging out on campus and playing at the park. John and I both feel very refreshed and not at all exhausted. Definitely the mark of a successful holiday!

Now that we are home, we are celebrating Christmas with our families. We were at my parents yesterday and this afternoon will head to John's parents. We feel so incredibly blessed to have two wonderful families that we love to be with. And of course, above all, we are so grateful to Jesus for choosing to come as a baby and to live out His mission on earth and ultimately give His life just so we could have life. May we never let the magnitude of that sacrifice be lost on us.

God's richest blessings on you all we enter in to a new year. I can't wait to see what 2017 holds!

Yes

How fitting that Mother's Day falls on May 8th this year. May 8th is one of those life changing dates for us, the day 2 years ago when I found I was going to be a mom for the second time. I've been reading back on old blog posts, including the one from that day where I announced our happy news and I couldn't get through it without crying. 

We knew so little on that day. We didn't know her name, we didn't know what she looked like, we didn't know what state her health was in or if she would have severe disabilities. Even before we had answers to all those questions, we chose to say yes. It was a yes for me as soon as I got off the phone. A few people cautioned us to be careful, to make sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't have to accept this referral. We could have easily turned it down and waited for another one. One that didn't involve such a fragile, time pressing situation. One that would've been "easier." 

I remember talking to John that night, after we read through all the info a few times and saying "I don't care about any of that stuff. This baby needs a family and we have been given the opportunity to be her family. How can we not say yes?" Thankfully he did not need convincing. Our hearts were on the same page from the first moment we heard about her. So we called back and said yes.

2 years later, here we are and I do not go a single day without being in complete awe of what God has done in our lives starting that day 2 years ago. It makes me just as emotional today as it did then, maybe even more so, because we have the most amazing, healthy, vibrant daughter who is the spitting image of her dad because God is that good, and I can't imagine not knowing her. She's taught me so much in her short little life so far and I know that she is exactly where she's supposed to be. She just fits and every day I'm so thankful that we said yes. 

Big Updates!

So I figured it's been awhile since I've updated you all on what's been going on with us lately...and I actually have brand new, never been heard information! If that doesn't perk your curiosity, you may as well just quit reading now!

We are STILL waiting on hearing about Aviannah's citizenship. As most of you probably know who follow me on Facebook, we just squeezed under the deadline of getting her birth certificate in to Immigration. That was at the beginning of March. As far as we know, that was the last piece of information they needed to finish processing her application. We have heard nothing since then, but we have learned that they never contact us unless they need something or it's done. We are really hoping to hear something soon! Especially because...

We are planning to take a family trip to Texas over Christmas this year! My grandparents go down south every year from October to March. I've been 3 times to visit them in years past and since we've been married John and I have talked about going down one winter to visit and have decided to do it this year! Of course this can only happen if Avi is a Canadian by then. Until her citizenship is completed, she could technically leave the country but she wouldn't be allowed back into Canada. As fun as it sounds, we don't want to go live in Texas, just visit. So we are praying hard that things will be all finalized by then. It's a good 8 months away so I don't see that being a problem. We are so excited to take the girls on an airplane for their first time and get a break from winter for a week! 

Switching gears...a lot of people have been asking if we are planning to expand our family. I do not mind that question at all but I never quite know how to answer. If only it were that easy, to just plan to do it and then make it happen. Unfortunately it is not. I was really feeling the baby fever a few months ago, when my baby was all of a sudden very much not a baby anymore. John was not nearly as enthusiastic about the idea as I was. I told him I was going to start praying about it and he was welcome to join if he wanted. After a few weeks he came home from work one day and said "Today was the first day I didn't have negative thoughts about a 3rd child!" Ha! It was a step in the right direction at least.

I'm about to divulge something that nobody knows about. Not even our families. So sorry if I offend you for having to hear about it on here, but hopefully you'll understand as I explain. Around the end of 2015, a friend of ours mentioned that she knew a baby boy that was potentially going to be put up for adoption. She asked if she could give her our names. I responded with a very emphatic YES. She then texted me pictures of him. I was a mess. I immediately got my hopes up really really high, then gave myself a reality check. It was a long shot that any of this would actually work out and I knew that. I reminded myself that this meant nothing and I shouldn't let myself get excited. So we started to pray for this little boy. We prayed for him every night. We didn't hear anything for about a month, then our friend informed us that he had gone to live with his biological grandparents, and I felt complete peace. I told John later that night that it felt like such a privilege to have had the opportunity to pray for this little boy, and I still pray for him when I remember. We didn't tell anybody anything when this was going on, the reason being that we figured if it did work out and by some miracle we did adopt him it would be an AMAZING surprise! I always have been a fan of really cute pregnancy announcements and I've seen some amazing videos where people adopt a baby and completely surprise their parents. That's what we wanted to do. I was envisioning inviting my family over and bringing out their new grandson! And when it didn't work out that way, we figured  there was no point in telling anybody about it because it was a closed chapter. 

So why I am telling this story now then? Well, it kind of leads into our other news...so after all that, something changed. I felt complete peace about the size of our family for the first time ever. And I still do. That doesn't mean that I would turn down another opportunity to adopt, because I sure would not if it seemed like it was right. But we both really strongly feel that we are not meant to pursue another adoption right now. We love having two girls and it's nice not to be outnumbered, especially in public, although our girls are both really easy to take places. So we put adoption on the back burner and had another conversation...about fostering. Being a foster parent is something that I have always been very reluctant about, and this is why. I was scared of getting attached. I get attached to things, especially people, very easily and it terrified me to think about having a child in our home, to fall completely in love with this child, and then have to say goodbye, and to do that over and over again. I thought that fostering wasn't for me. Over the past year God has really been working on my heart and through testimonies of other foster parents, and reading articles about fostering, I've realized that the fear that is holding me back is actually the reason that I would be a great foster parent. I realized that that is exactly what those children need. They need love, fierce and without abandon, for as long or short as we can give that to them. I realized that if I can love them like that, even if it's just a week, a month, or a year, that it can have a lasting impact on their life. 

John has always been more open to fostering then me. He actually first brought it up shortly after we adopted Cassidy and I shut it down. But I'm ready now. We have decided that we are going to wait until Aviannah's citizenship is completed, because we don't want to overwhelm ourselves, then we are going to start the process to become foster parents. We recently bought a bigger vehicle to accommodate an extra child or two and we are extremely excited and nervous about this new journey! Please pray for us, for Avi to receive her citizenship soon and for us as a family as we start looking into foster parenting, for guidance and wisdom and for us to be willing to do whatever God asks of us. I can't stress enough how your prayers have impacted my life, especially in the past 4 years. We are so thankful for your support and love!

Cassidy is 5!

Aviannah just turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and while I found that hard to believe, even harder is the reality that I have a 5 year old now! Cassidy has been wanting to be 5 for a few years now, and it's finally here! So in honor of her birthday, here is a birthday post all about Cassidy!

-Cassidy is approximately 44 inches tall and somewhere between 45-50 pounds. She's a super healthy girl and  rarely gets sick and when she does it never lasts long. Even with preschool this past year, she's managed to escape all the sicknesses going around school. 

- Speaking of school, she absolutely L.O.V.E.S. preschool. She asks every single day if today is her preschool day. She goes for 2 hours 2 days a week but I know she could handle more. I told her the other day that when she goes to kindergarten she will be there for a whole day and asked if that was ok. Her response was a very enthusiastic yes! I get to be parent helper once a month so I've been able to watch how she does in a school setting and I am just SO proud of her! She is such a good student! She sits quietly and listens well at circle time, she follows commands without complaining and is kind to her friends. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right!

- Her attitude has really improved over this past year. She never really throws huge tantrums anymore and has just generally matured so much. She is very kind (for the most part!) to Avi and Levi, although of course she has her moments! She's still a kid, after all. 

- Her love language is definitely quality time. She is always asking me to play with her, and even if I played with her lots during the day, she will still often tell Daddy "Mommy didn't play with me at ALL today!" in a very exasperated tone. She has a great imagination and loves making up games to play.

- She is getting more into drawing and writing. She has almost mastered writing her name (those darn S's are tricky!) and is actually starting to draw real things instead of scribbles. I love the way she draws people, the arms come out of the head, yet there is still a body and legs. She also loves crafts and is always asking me for craft ideas (I am horrible at crafts, so I'm thankful she gets this outlet at school!)

- She is such a perfect mix of girly girl and tomboy. She asks to wear "spinny" dresses every single day and loves to play princesses and tea party, but also loves exploring outside, climbing trees and searching for bugs. At school she'll play dolls with the girls one day and pirates with the boys the next. I love it!

- She has a knack for memorizing things. She gets a new verse to memorize in Sunday School every week and it never takes her long to learn it.

- She also seems to be musically inclined. She likes to play a game with me where I'll sing a note and she'll try to match the pitch. We will go through a whole bunch of different pitches and she usually gets it bang on. She also loves making up songs and surprises me with the things she comes up with. I'm going to start teaching her piano in the fall, I'm hoping she does well with that too!

- She is playing soccer for the first time this spring and is beyond excited! She practices every day and received soccer cleats for her birthday. I can't wait to watch her!

Cassidy's Favorite Things:

Food: same as Avi, candy. But other then that, Kraft Dinner

Toy: her Barbies

Game: Hide and seek (she likes to count and for me to hide. I am all over that! I hide somewhere really hard and get at least a few minutes of peace!)

TV Show: Paw Patrol (I can never get the theme song out of my head)

Color: Pink

Friend: Iyla

Song: Jesus Loves Me

Book: Elephant and Piggie books (they are my favorite too!)

Animal: Giraffe

Movie: Veggie Tales

Things Cassidy Doesn't Like:

-eating foods she doesn't like

-getting her hair washed/brushed/done up (basically anyone touching her hair in any way)

-quiet time (Mommy demands it)

-"the little kids bugging me" (I hear this multiple times a day)

-cleaning up

-time outs

Cassidy's Nicknames:

-Cass 

-Cass-a-frass

-Caster

-Cassilee
-Diddy (what Avi calls her, we've gotten into the habit of calling her it too)
-Diddy Kong (what "Diddy" naturally turns into!)

-Freak (we call Avi this too. It's said with love)

-we never call her Cassy, which I think is interesting. I often wondered when she was a baby if we would naturally shorten her name. I figured if we did, it would be Cassy. We did naturally segue way into a shortened name, but it's Cass. We call her that 85% of the time. 

- there's more, but these are the most common

I keep saying it, but every age just gets better and better! I'm so looking forward to the new adventures a 5 year old will bring! Cassidy is just the best little person ever and I love seeing the person she has become and am looking forward to watching her continue to change and grow. She made us parents and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect little girl to give us that life-changing title. We fall more in love with her every day!

Happy Birthday Cassidy!