Celebrating Early

Cassie turns 2 on Sunday and this year we decided to begin the celebration early! How is it that my baby girl is already 2? This year has flown by way too quickly, especially considering that a year ago she wasn't even walking yet. What a year it has been for Cassandra Ann. Thankfully she's walkin' (I'd be one fit mama if she wasn't), in fact she's a runnin' and a jumpin'. Nothin's stoppin' her!

She is a chatty girl, has lots to say. She is approaching the terrible two's (it'd be fine by me if she skipped this) and lets us know that she is a girl & her feelings do get hurt. She has been voted as "Miss Popularity" at day-care, they all adore her (who doesn't?). She is so funny and has so many funny looks and sayings. If you ask where someone is, she'll say "I don't know" in the funniest voice. She has been seen with her head out the door, calling for the boys to come in and its the best ever "boooooooooooooys come in". I love it. I love her.

Her favorites things include Tyler, she adores him too pieces. Whatever he is doin', she is doin' or tryin' to do. She loves her daddy and always tells me "daddy cows". She loves to be daddy's lil' girl, but if that means to ride in the tractor with him, she'll pass. She doesn't like any farm equipment--she'd rather do things manually. Of course other faves, include food (didn't get the nickname pudge for nothin', but I'm sure that this is the year that she'll loose that title, as she is runnin' everywhere), babies, oh yes, loves her babies too pieces (tucks 'em goodnight and reads to them after all) and she loves to play dress up. She is a princess!

So this year, we celebrated her bday bash at day-care with ice-cream sandwiches (its June Dairy month after all). Her classmates and teachers were excited to help celebrate her turning 2, altho they'll shed a few tears as they say good-bye to her, as she moves on up to the 2's room!

Big bday wishes to you, Cassie Ann. I don't know how we've lucked out having a beautiful, bright baby girl, but every day I count my lucky stars that you are apart of our wonderful family. Happy 2nd birthday.

PS...We are celebratin' with a party & gifts next weekend, so more photos to come!

Crown n' all, Cassie is a princess for the day! She goes shirtless (and sportin' a bib) as she delicately enjoys her ice-cream.

All of her toddler classmates enjoy ice-cream.

Nice look Cass!

Her friends Chase & Skila seem to enjoy the dairy treat!

Portland, Maine

The month of June has flashed by way too quickly, especially considering I've been coast to coast this month. I just got back from a business trip to Portland, Maine, a place I've always wanted to go to. Unfortunately, the schedule didn't allow for me to tow along any family members along, but I was able to take time & venture out in New England.

The forecast, unfortunately, was fog, rain & muggy. Whew! Of course the day I flew back was when the sun decide to make an appearance (isn't that how it goes?). I was able to enjoy the sites, walked everywhere, including to many CUTE, CUTE shops in P-town (Maine that is); ventured out to the wharf, saw the ships; enjoyed much seafood (yum), including a delish lobster & clam back at York Country Club. We ventured down to Kennebrook, Maine and I was in awe. The homes are indescribable--built in 1800's, many include a carriage house and the starting price is a cool $1.5 mil.

The conference was great, the networking even better. Love catchin' up w/ ol' friends across the country. We have so much more in common than our communication careers. BUT...it made me miss my family. Thanks sweet Scott for takin' care of the home fort, again! The kids did great, Tyler was able to help mow hay, grind feed and go on a trip with grandpa Jim. Cassie enjoyed some good time with Grandma Wanda. Awe, thanks for helpin' out Bohnert clan.

I plan to make a trip back to Maine with family in tow. Next time the agenda will include whale watching & venturing up to Prince Edward Island & Novia Scotia. One can dream!

Ships in the wharf.

Maine lobster was my dinner...and it was delish!

Kennebrook, Maine. This was the "wedding cake" house.

Five Years Later

Five years just flew by! I guess we were busy to say the least, but lookin' back we'd change NOTHING. We are blessed and we are thankful! Amen!

Lookin' back its really easy to recall all the good moments in our lives (too many to list). Obviously, after saying "I do" giving birth to our two amazingly beautiful children easily tops the list. But its all the "in-between" moments that just flash by too quickly that makes you want to freeze your life (or your kids) and soak it all in.

So, we did just that to celebrate this year. We slowed down & enjoyed each other, something we aren't quite used to. I believe this is the third overnight trip away from our kids ever...and this time we traveled north to a cute lil' town, Galena, IL and celebrated our five year wedding anniversary.

At first we kinda stared at each other, like "what are we supposed to do now". We get so lil' time away from the kids, we dont really know how to act. We quickly figured it out! I had a spa afternoon lined up (fresh pedi, love it & facial, love the almond treatment, it did leave me with a glow). Scott opted not to join me and relax back at the villa. Too cute that I came back to him watching Little House on the Prairie. I had to chuckle...out of all the stations, that's the one he found! Love it. Love him.

The next day we enjoyed Galena shopping, mostly the antique stores, then spent a good chunk of the day in the countryside (I guess thats where we feel at home) wine tasting. We decided to work off some of the wine & cheese and went paddle boating (no fear, we didn't capt size, but ventured out further than I cared) for a lil' while in the late afternoon. Later on, we used the full kitchen & grilled crab legs, twice baked potatoes and shrimp and clinged our glasses to Merlot in celebration! Lookin' forward to many, many more memories & many, many more years babe!

Beautiful Jo Davies County, Illinois

Wine tasting at Galena Cellars. Scott made a new friend, Ziggy the dog.

Toasting to a Washington bottle of Merlot (love the tractor on the label).

The Great Flood

How sad is this? Its just devastating to watch those unfortunate people loose all that they worked so hard for due to the floods...and its really hard to wrap your mind around how wide spread this is. Swiss Valley's cultured plant in Cedar Rapids was evacuated last week and unfortunately, the Cedar River flooded terribly and so did the plant.

On Thursday, the storms neared the Quad Cities. We had tornado warnings and when the sirens went off, the kids & I were alone (Scott was at the farm). Not being from the Midwest and a rookie in all of this, it was kind of like the blind lead the blind or the scared lead the scared. The kids & I spent a big chunk of the evening in the basement. We were all terrified, just snuggling up and holding hands. Tyler kept saying "lets pray" and it just made my heart sink that even at a young age, they could really comprehend something was wrong. Thankfully, no tornado touched down by us and we all were okay.

Now, we just pray for continued warm weather & hot sun to dry everything up, especially the fields where corn isn't growing. If the corn is "knee high by the fourth of July" we'll be lucky!

A small golf course is next to the farm, looks more like a lake. So does this neighboring corn field.

The storms scared Tyler so much that he camped out in our bed until he fell asleep.

Grandma Michelle

In early June my mother was back in the hospital with phenomena, so I decided to make a mad-dash across the country to visit her (ugh, encountering too many airlines problems to discuss in this blog, but we made it, nearly 14 hrs later than plan). Cassie came in tow while the boys kept busy on the farm back at home in E. Moline. My mother wasn't doing very well, but thankfully her strong will or stubborn ways, whichever you'd like to call it, kept her fighting and allowed her to rebound. Her hospital visit was shorter than last and we got to spend time with her and other Davidsons during our week stay out there. To be honest, it was probably my best visit with my mother. We reminisced about ol' times, she shared some of her newest recipes with me, she even made me a Lemonade pie while she was hooked up to oxygen and used a walker, she gave me parenting advice and just talked about the latest and greatest headlines in the news. I loved it and love her. Saying goodbye, well its never easy, but perhaps this time, it was especially difficult. I keep prayin' for her and she keeps fightin'.

Of course I loved seeing the boys back at the Quad City Airport (Cassie did too). We were gone a week, but you'd think it was longer than that. We missed one another terribly. Funny how the boys easily adapted to bachelorhood...and stayed up to watch Jay Leno, Ty camped out in our bed and whats for dinner, well, you can better believe it didn't include a vegetable! Way to go dad!