Fun Around the House

One of Casen's new favorite activities is playing with the shampoo bottles in the bathroom. He lines them up then knocks a few down, only to line them up again. I'm all for it. Whatever keeps him occupied for a few minutes is great with me!

Casen loving on Seymour, his giant giraffe.

Casen loves to play at the playground. Luckily, our neighborhood has one located at the end of our street. One great thing about Texas is the few 70 degree days in the midst of winter. On those days you can find us at the playground.

Casen also enjoys drawers. In every room he has a couple of drawers that are "his," items that are safe for him to play with. As you can tell, one of his drawers in the bedroom is the sock drawer.

Thanksgiving

Since it's Christmas Eve, I figured it's about time to put up Thanksgiving pictures...

Addie and Casen playing at Pa's house.

Casen and Lawson playing with blocks. Lawson and Addie are Chris's cousin Sarah's kids. They live in the Tulsa area so we don't get to see them often enough. Lawson and Casen are almost the same age, so they had a great time playing together!

Casen getting a smooch from Pa.

After our fun in Owasso, we headed to Edmond to see my side of the family. Casen enjoyed his seat high a top my cousin Creighton!

Audrey, Casen, and Juliet playing a tune.

Crayons!

I love the smell of crayons and can't wait any longer to Casen to start coloring. A friend told me how to make big crayons for little hands. I know you can buy them now, but I thought it would be a fun project for Casen and I.

To my surprise, Casen actually did pretty well with the plain big Crayola crayons.

Nevertheless, I forged ahead. With Sutton's supervision, we broke the crayons and placed them in a muffin tin.

After we finished, we placed them into the oven to melt together for about ten minutes.

Casen loves his new crayons! He doesn't fully grasp the concept of staying on the paper. Either that or he is truly the creative type!

Halloween

Our little hunter...

Trick or treating at our friend Joey and Kari's house. This was his first (and only) house and yes Dad did enjoy the candy!

Riding the roller coaster at our church's carnival.

Hamming it up for the camera!

Costa Rica

Since everyone has been asking, here are just a few pictures of our five year anniversary trip to Costa Rica. Below is the view of our resort from the main lobby.

Chris and I on our way to dinner one evening. The food at the resort was fabulous!

We laid out by the pool a lot!

We also met some interesting creatures. This little guy (a cousin to the raccoon) joined us for breakfast one morning.
One day we took a tour that involved horseback riding...
some interesting and wonderful (except for the rice) authentic Costa Rican food,
and ziplining through the rain forest.
The last night we were there we took a sunset boat tour and it was absolutely beautiful. It was probably the first time I've ever seen a complete rainbow!

The beauty of God's Creation was amazing!

Casen

Casen's Entertainment

Casen flying down the slide. He is a superb climber and stairs are his favorite obstacle to tackle!

Casen playing catch with his buddy Jackson. This is one of his favorite games!

Casen playing with a balloon he received from a cow at Chick-Fil-A. He was mesmerized by the balloon and thought the cow was pretty cool too!

Casen and his crazy totally tubular dad!

Pool Party

Last week our Sunday School/Small Group/Flock/LifeGroup/Adult Bible Fellowship (I really don't know what to call it) had a pool party to kick off the start of Bible Study.

Hilary watching Casen in the pool because his parents were too lazy to get in!

Eagle eye Chris spotted the Space Shuttle leaving the Joint Reserve Base in Ft. Worth. Because of the Lockheed Martin plant here we get to see lots of cool planes flying over but this was a first for everyone at the party.

Casen and his buddy Jordan.

"Wow Mom I could have fun pulling those down!"

Casen and his girl Maddie playing blocks together.

Casen showing Benjamin the finer things in life!

Go Pokes!

A few weeks ago, Chris had the opportunity to see OSU play football in Stillwater. Casen and I cheered on the Cowboys from home with the help of Maggie, a friends chocolate Lab, that we watched for the weekend.

"Here comes Bullet..." with Casen on top! I think we may have a future Pistol Pete on our hands!

Sutton was great with Maggie. She was a little nervous at first but they quickly became good friends!

Casen giving Maggie a hug...not quite as easy as it is with Sutton!

On Sunday, this little white dog followed Chris home from his run. We had pity on the poor thing, brought it home, gave it a bath, and put up found signs. Thankfully, the dog's owners called that night. We all love dogs in our family, but it was kind of crazy having three running around!

Birthday Cupcake!

On the weekend of Casen's birthday we celebrated with both families at my parent's house in Edmond.

It took Casen a little while to catch on or even be interested in the cupcake, but eventually my father in law snuck a piece of cupcake into Casen's mouth.

Once he got a taste of chocolate he was really into it!

All in all, Casen had a fabulous birthday and I am proud to say that he is a chocolate lover!

Happy Birthday Casen!

I can't believe that my baby is one year old today! People kept telling me that kids grow up fast. I'm starting to believe them!

Casen had a cool birthday hat that he got when he was born. He wasn't much
for wearing it today!

Casen getting Happy Birthday wishes from his Grandma and Grandpa
on the phone.

The Kinleys helped us celebrate Casen's birthday by having us over for pizza and birthday cookies. We had a great time. Casen always enjoys playing with Jackson and loved the cookie!

Casen's girlfriend, Maddie, is trying to buy his love. She bought him a rad bulldozer which is a good start. Power equipment and tools are the way to a man's heart.