Father's Day With Papa

Cassandra is always trying to be a big helper.  Here Cassandra is helping Papa with the father's day card because given that he has never seen the card before, he clearly needs the assistance of a two year old to get it to open right.

Aunt Cheryl's Birthday

Cassandra is relaxing with Aunt Cheryl on her birthday.

Aunt Cheryl is trying her gift out on Cousin Samantha.

Bubble Time

We visited Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Steve's new home today and Cassandra got to play with bubbles.  I think the smile on her face says it all.  She likes their daughter (Samantha) and their dog their yard and their house.

Doug & Holly's Wedding Shower

Uncle Doug and Aunt Holly are in town for their wedding shower.  While they will be getting married in Florida, most of their families are here so they are coming to us.  Michael is just shy of a month old and in a few weeks, he will be the ring bearer at their wedding.  Of course, he will need Mommy to escort him down the aisle since he won't be walking for months.  They also brought a present for Cassandra to help keep her entertained.

Michael is getting the chance to meet some of Aunt Holly's family.  Here we see Michael being passed around and held by Holly's sisters Amber and Ricki and Holly's mom.

Another Michael.  Boy, they are everywhere.  Last we have Mrs. Sandy Poole.  She has known Grandma Wendel since before Daddy was born which for Michael was forever ago.

We all have the same look on our faces, don't we?

Fun With LEGOs At The Mall

As part of our enduring effort to insure that the Empress does not fall behind in her studies, today we went on an outing designed to challenge her coordination, tax her small motor skills, and invite her imagination to run wild.  I think she had fun too which is always a bonus.

We were to use the baseplates to make whatever we wanted and then they would be put together to form a model of the United States.  In the picture below, Georgia is in the left foreground and Maine is in the right side foreground.

 I think she really enjoyed the event, especially when a surprise guest (Uncle John) put in an appearance.

Cassandra received a certificate for taking part in the building.  She seemed so proud of it.

Mother's Day

Due to way too much stuff happening at once, Mother's day was pushed late this year.  Anyway, here is Cassandra presenting Mommy with her present.  (It was LEGO R2D2.)

Next On The List...

Aunt Kristi and Uncle John stopped by to say hi!  You cannot tell from this picture but Aunt Kristi is pregnant and is due the end of September.  This means Michael will have a cousin in town only four months younger although they probably would end up in different classes in school.

Michael hanging out with Uncle John.  Notice that Michael is wearing a different hat from yesterday.  He is not really a fan of hats, completely opposite of his sister.  Like I said, it will be interesting to see how different they are.

Time To Meet The Grandparents

Well first up tonight is Papa Hodges.  Michael proceeded to treat Papa like everyone else, as a warm pillow.  I guess he was so exhausted by the 12 hours of labor he just couldn't be bothered to stay awake.  Funny part is Papa joked about not knowing what to do with a boy because he had four daughters and four granddaughters.  Guess he is going to need to read the manual but is doing good so far.

Now Grandma Hodges gets a turn to hold Michael.  Notice the spot of high fashion that Grandma is wearing.  Grandpa thought the yellow sticker looked so good that he should have one.

Grandma Wendel knows exactly what to do with boys since she had three of her own.  They need trains and cars and trucks just like Daddy has been giving Cassandra.  (So far, so good as Cassandra loves trains.)  With my luck, it will balance out on Michael and he will probably like hot pink.

Grandpa Wendel gets a turn holding Michael.  Notice how relaxed Grandpa is sitting in the sun with Michael.  Guess he is a sun baby.  Maybe he will get lucky and tan like Daddy.

Hello Everybody!

Well the doctors are satisfied that Michael's earlier elevated heart rate was just a result of loss of amniotic fluid.  We are very glad of this because it means they will start leaving him with us for longer than 30 minutes at a time.

This being the case, it is time to start meeting people.  Michael's first visitors are Aunt Cheryl and Cousin Samantha.  Cheryl's smile might be related to Michael's cuteness or be related to this being the first male grandchild in the family.  Michael's cousins (and of course sister) are all female so the "tradition" just got messed up.  You knows Mommy likes to get people of of their comfort zone, right?  The Hodges mojo couldn't last forever, right?

Aunt Cheryl

 Samantha is holding Michael a little differently than she held Cassandra.  I think she is a little uncertain because he is a boy.

Michael's Cousin Samantha

Helping Grandma...Open Presents

Cassandra gets really excited about presents.  She is more than happy to help you open yours.  Of course, since she colored the drawings, it is kind of odd.  It's not like she is going to color them again.

Easter Photos

Here are our Easter pictures.  Cassandra really didn't want to be held...but we think she looks cute anyway.

Daddy's Birthday

Cassandra was excited today because "everyone" was coming over for a party.  It doesn't matter what the reason for the party is, just that she gets to see family...I think she gets tired of Mom and Dad all the time.

Cassandra saw the LEGO sign and decided to come over and help.  The box was bigger than her but that was no deterrent.  She asked if she could help put it together.

As she has been trained to do, she is taking the bow from presents and putting it on her head.

Grandma's Birthday

Cassandra enjoyed Grandma's birthday.  She likes going over to Grandma's house and seeing family.  Mom and Dad are constantly telling her how to behave but she has figured out she doesn't actually need to listen.

And yes, she still puts bows on her own head.

Christmas With The Wendels

Cassandra is looking forward to today.  Aunt Holly and Uncles Doug and Greg from out of town are putting in an appearance.  She also gets to open more presents.

We started out the evening by getting my old rocking chair out of storage so she would have a kid sized chair to sit in for the evening.  I'm not sure she was thrilled with the rocking part at first.

Cassandra was more than happy to open presents.  She was almost too small to clear the book from the bag but after getting the book out, it was time to read.

Of course, with little kids sometimes the wrapping is worth more than the present.  With that in mind, Cassandra was given bubble-wrap as a gift.  (Well, it wasn't needed for packing anymore...)

After a while, she realized the bubble-wrap didn't pop very well on the carpet.  She brought the rocking chair over, put it on the bubble-wrap, and sat down.  Uncles Doug and Greg were impressed with her problem solving skills.

Looks like Cassandra got LEGOs.  Wonder why she is so happy...

Another book to read.  Cassandra loves story time.

And as the day winds down, Cassandra gets a cup of milk before bedtime.

Christmas With The Hodges Clan

After our "pre-Christmas" present opening, it was onto the main event.

Kensi is worn out by all the activity and this is only the first stop for us.

Cassandra did pretty well but with her wanting to help and all the cameras getting the back of some blond girl's head, I decided to get her a seat with a view.  She did pretty well...

But she is just short of her second birthday so still not much attention span...

After a while, the destruction of my dignity is the only thing that keeps the merciless whelp in check.

Well, not the only thing.  When there was not too much going on, she did a good job of passing out presents, even ones that were fairly good sized.

Of course, Cassandra also enjoyed opening presents too.  She is very happy every time she opens a present.

Christmas At Home

Cassandra woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning.  Overnight, more presents had appeared under (and around) the tree.  We were a bit lazy on the wagon and just put a bow in the corner. Regardless, Cassandra was quite excited to have her own wagon.

After breakfast (and getting dressed), we went ahead and opened up some of the presents.

In typical Cassandra fashion, she removed the bow from the wrapping paper and placed in on her own head.  The gold kind of gets lost in her hair but the important thing is that the training held.  It will be interesting to see for how many years she continues to do this.

She was very excited about this present.  It was one of the Muppet movies.

We Are Expecting

We are letting friends and family know that Cassandra will be a big sister soon (late May/early June).  We've already told immediate family and it looks like the little one will luck out, not having to share time with nearby birthdays because there really aren't any for a few weeks either way.  The Empress is looking forward to having a minion to boss around.  She is really excited.

Thanksgiving At Our House

Cassandra was given the opportunity to play hostess for Thanksgiving today.  We had all the family that was in town over for dinner.

For Cassandra, the sweet potatoes were a big hit.  Note that she eats them boiled with no butter, sugar, or marshmallows added.  The bread was good (Mommy made it from scratch) and the turkey was alright but the sweet potatoes were the best.