three men and a lady

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-11-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!! Here are some of my favorite pics from the past week or so.........

Here are our jack-o-lanterns. We had a great time carving them and the kids loved to go out everynight and see them all lit up.
not a bit afraid of getting dirty this year!!!

Brodie prefered using the spoon to clean out the guts.

My 3 boys!!

Here's Cory in his Mark Mangino costume. You may be wondering what the white stuff is on his mouth in the pic below. It is twinkie filling!!! He went to work in this costume, handed out twinkies to everyone adn ended up winning first place in the GTM costume contest. What a hoot!!!!

Chase was Captain Jack and Brodie was a farmer. Chase really loved getting all dressed up in his costume this year. He of course loved the candy too. Brodie wasn't sure at first, but once he realized we got candy from each house, he was all in!!! By the end of the night, he was telling everyone "Happy Halloween" and "thank-you".

To close, here's a Happy Halloween message from my 2 cuties.

No More Training Wheels

2009-09-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Today, Chase decided, would be the day he learned to ride his bike with no training wheels!! It is something we have been talking about all Summer and he finally got the gumption to just go for it. It was a breeze for him. the video below is the actual first try and it looked to me like he was already a pro. We have speant the majority of the day riding bikes and so far only one major wipe out with just a little bit of blood. So far so good.

Brodie Kaiden

2009-09-07T14:08:00.001-07:00

Here are some recent pics of Brodie. He is just over 21 months now and Cory and I are constantly saying how we can't believe how fast he is growing up. In the past month, he has gone from barely speaking any words to making on 2 and 3 word sentences. Our house is filled with the sound of him saying "I go down", "I go out", "sit down", "play football", "play baseball", "I sit with mama" and more. He is full of energy and I think turning out to be a "little Cory junior". He is happy and spunky and constantly making all of us laugh.

Happy Birthday Grandma

2009-09-07T13:56:00.001-07:00

My Mom's birthday was on September 2nd. The weekend before, we all met in York at Chance's R Restaurant for a little birthday celebration. Here are a few pics of her with the my kiddos and my sisters little cutie, Kade. Too cute.

Fan Appreciation Night

2009-08-23T19:33:00.001-07:00

Last night we took the boys to Fan Appreciation Night. Chase was so excited to get his football filled with autographs. I'm pretty sure he got most of the team, bu I have only included pictures of his favorites.

Here he is with his very favorite player, Brandon Banks. Chase was wearing his jersey and when it got to be his turn to get his ball signed, Banks said "Hey I like your jersey little man" Chase's eyes about popped out of his head, he was so excited.

While Chase was getting signatures, I followed Brodie around while he enjoyed wide open spaces to run and jump and.......

pretend to be one of the K-State Greats.

Our last stop was with the Great One, Bill Snyder himself. Chase was in heaven!!

Fall Soccer

2009-08-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

We have started a new season with Soccer. Chase is on a new team with a new coach this Fall. He is having a great time!! One of the boys from his preschool class is on the team, so they are of course having fun. This weekend, Chase got to be team captain. He scored also scored 2 goals. We have been giving him some coaching on being a team player and a good sport. It was fun to see him actually grasping the idea. He was out there giving his teamates high five and cheering them on when they were getting ready to score.
Here's Brodie trying really hard to be a good sport and support his brother. If he had it his way, he would be out on the field playing soccer too. He is almost 2 going on 5 i swear!!

CoCo Key Water Resort

2009-08-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids and my sister Emilie to the CoCo Key Water Resort in Kansas City. As you can see from the pics, the kids had a blast!! If you are looking to visit an indoor water park and don't want to pay the $250-$400 to visit Great Wolf, I would recomend this place. It has a littel kiddie area with small slides, a jungle gym area with some medium sized slides adn the 2 or 3 big tube slides for about 1/2 the price.

Gardening with Grandma and Grandpa

2009-08-23T18:20:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a visit. Usually when we go home to visit, Cory will help my Dad with the farming. Just this Summer, Chase has really taken an interest in helping too. He really gets into wearing the boots and hat and getting dirty. Here are some pics of him picking sweet corn with my Dad and helping my Mom in the garden.

During this visit, he really enjoyed posing for the camera. I came outside to get a picture of his gettup and he said "oh wait, let me stand by Grandpa's truck, that'll make a good picture.
We all thought it was pretty funny, so my Dad decided he would join him, way to "work it" for the camera boys!!
Here's Brodie and Daddy getting ready to pick sweet corn.

Chase in the corn field, he really liked this part.

After picking sweet corn, my Mom and I went for a drive to get Brodie to take a nap. About 30 minutes later, we found these three in Byron looking for the nearest soda machine. What a bunch!!

We all met up back and Grandma and Grandpa's and shucked the corn.

Brodie like helping too.

A little later on, Chase and Grandma went out to her garden to pick green beans and tomatoes. Chase has been asking me to grow a garden for the past year, but I have no clue what I'm doing. He was extra excited to help Grandma with her garden.

when he picked this bean, he said "look Mom, you gotta take a picture of this one, it's huge."

Look at all those beans!!

Summer Fun

2009-07-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

It has been entirely too long since my last post. I really don't have a good excuse other than we have had an amazing yet very busy Summer. I have posted some of my favorite pics and thought I would fill you all in on the highlights. We have spent lots of time outside, splashed in the pool a few times, enjoyed our first season of tee-ball, celebrated a 5th birthday and took an amazing one week vacation to fabulous Walt Disney World. All in all it has been wonderful, but very busy. Hopefully, from now on, I won't go 3 months in-between posts. Hope everyone else enjoying thier summers as well!!

Reading Nook

2009-04-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

I just had to share this pictures because I thought it was too cute. We were hangin out at home this afternoon and I walked into the living room to find Brodie reading books in his favorite new "reading nook", he got into the baskets all by himself and spent about 20 minutes flipping through the pages of his favorite books.

Happy Birthday Emilie

2009-04-28T18:44:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we loaded up in the car and headed north to Lincoln, Nebraska to wish my youngest sister Emilie Happy Birthday and to see the newest member of our family, baby Kade. We had all sorts of family fun. We got to go bowling, eat lots of good food and best of all, just spend time toghether. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Jami, Kristin and Emilie at the bowling alley
Chase holding his 2 week old baby cousin, Kade.

Chase and Emilie celbrating after he bowled his first ever strike!!

Brodie and Emilie just hanging out at the bowling alley

Chase showing his confidence in his bowling abilities.

Team Captain

2009-04-28T18:27:00.000-07:00

Chase has been playing soccer this Spring. His team is Carley Construction, we were lucky enough to be put on the same team with his best buddy Elijah, they have of course had a blast together. They play really hard, but end up spending most of the game giggling and just having fun.

I must say, Chase has come a long way in jsut a few short games. The first practice and game of thes season was started with nervous crying. I am happy to say we are over that. He has become more confident and actually seems to enjoy himself during the games. He got to be team captain this week, which was really exciting for him. Here are just a few of the pics I have taken so far.

Compromise

2009-04-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

We started our evening out with the intentions of going to the Big Top Circus in Manhattan. We were of course running late and arrived about 15 minutes before show time to be greeted by a line of about 200 people. Needless to say, we did not see any circus tonight. Luckily we have a really good big boy who was okay with just getting cotton candy and then going to the park. Talk about a compromise!!

Cory and I decided that the kids had just as much fun at the park. So........ all was well with the world.

Welcome Kade Eugene Kassebaum

2009-04-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

We started Easter Sunday off celebrating with our boys because the Easter Bunny had visited our house. At 6:30 am, we recieved a phone call from my mom letting us know that my sister, Jami, had gone into labor (0n her due date and amazingly enough on Easter Sunday). We went to the early church service, rushed home, packed bags and headed to Lincoln, NE to see this little cutie. He weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces and is just as sweet as can be.

Which one is your favorite?

2009-04-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

That is what Chase asked after we finished dying Easter Eggs this afternoon. It was a blast!! Brodie was totally into it. You will see him below, sticking his hands in the dye and dropping eggs into the little cups. Chase loved painting the the different colors onto the eggs and watching them all melt together. He was definitely proud of our little creation.

Spring Snow

2009-03-31T19:15:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough this weekend to get a little bit of snow. We of course had to take advantage of our favorite fluffy white toy adn do some family sledding.

The big boys of course loved it. Chase giggled every time he went down the hill.
Brodie wasn't so sure what to think of it. He just kind of stood there looking around.

Then he fell adn that was the end of that. he spend the rest of the time on one of our hips adn then later in teh car.

Here's a pic of Chase and I goin down teh hill.

we ended of course with a wipe out.

A New Family Favorite

2009-03-26T17:55:00.001-07:00

It is no secret that we have a picky eater in our family. A litte boy by the name of Chase. I am constantly looking for things to cook that he will eat and by happy with. I am proud to say, I have found one winner and to top it off it is fun for the whole family.

You start with a variety of pizza toppings.

everyone puts their own toppings on their own pizza's

Pop them in the oven, and yum, don't they look good.

From the looks of things we have a happy little boy. If only I could come up with about 20 more meals like this one. Maybe we could get rid of the dinner time battles.

Backyard Baseball with Daddy

2009-03-26T17:45:00.001-07:00

Although Brodie is a little short for the tee, he is still determined to hit just like Chase.
He figured out all on his own how to put the ball on the tee and line up to hit it. I thought that was pretty impressive for a 16 month old.

Daddy helped Chase line up a few times but before long......

He was hitting the ball like a pro all by himself.

Look at these Faces

2009-03-26T17:40:00.001-07:00

Here are my two sweet boys on a random afternoon when they were both feeling photgenic. Just look at those smiles, don't they brighten your day?

Chase and Grandma make a Popcorn Cake

2009-02-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Em Came to visit today. Grandma and Chase made this wonderful creation, A popcorn cake. Chase was so into the decorating. It was hilarious. He bought gummy worms and worked them into the cake all the while talking about how he was going to scare Aunt Emilie and tell her they were real worms. As you can see, he did plenty of snacking on the marshmallow cream and popcorn. We are of course thinking we might have an interesting night with a sugar high little boy.

2009-02-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

Some of the gifts

2009-02-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

The Cake

2009-02-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

The Hostesses and the mom to be.

Jami's Baby Shower

2009-02-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

Here's my pretty little sister at the baby shower we hosted for her this past Saturday. Does't she look great!! She is just over 7 months and we are all counting down the days until the arrival of the newest member of our family.
The shower was really nice. There were just over 40 ladies in attendance. We added up all the years of mothering experience in the room and came to a grand total of 650. Pretty amazing I thought. We had all the mothers put a little piece of advice in a book for Jami and played a couple other silly games.
Here are a few other pictures from the day.

I'm a blogger now

2009-02-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

I have to say thanks to my friend Keely for helping me start my blog. I got this fancy computer for Christmas and decided it was time I got with the digital age and started blogging. So.....thanks Keely. You're the best!!

Here's our happy family at Thanksgiving (it is the most recent photo I have of all of us together). It is crazy to look at how much Brodie has changed since then. I need to put taking a more recent family pic on my todo list. Stay tuned........