Back in the Saddle

I haven't blogged in a while, obviously. I haven't really been "feelin' it" but this morning I decided to update the look of the blog and it got me excited again. I just have to get some more recent pictures put up and I'll be set.
Now to do a quick catch up:
We had a great Christmas full of family, love, food, gifts, and laughter. I am sad that one day, not to far from now, my kids won't believe in Santa and Christmas just wont be the same. I have nothing but wonderful memories of Christmas as a child, my parents did an amazing job at keeping Santa around and the true meaning of Christmas in our home. I will still insist that that one Christmas when I was maybe 5 or 6, we were driving home from a party and I saw Santa and his reindeer fly across the moon! Call me crazy, but my sister Whitney remembers the same thing. Believe or don't believe, but keep away from my kids at Christmas time, they believe and it's magical for all involved.
The New Year has brought with it new challenges but many more blessings. Our family is healthy and continues to grow. We have 2 new cousins joining us (one actually came early this morning, congratulations Chris, Emily and Eva!) which means more family gatherings and more cousin play time.
The business continues to grow and provide new and exciting opportunities to come in the next year for the Casper family. We are researching where would be ideal to live in Arizona and making a list of all the things we want in a home and all that needs to be done to get there. No, we aren't moving today, tomorrow or even next month, we are just starting the process and working on making it happen in the next year or so. The kids have been begging for a dog that they can name Goofy. We bought ourselves some time in telling them we would revisit the idea when we buy a house and they seem to be content with that, for now.
Andie and Brady are still a handful but both have mellowed out a bit which makes Mommy and Daddy nicer. Andie is getting so big and is really excited to start Kindergarten come Fall. She is working hard to be prepared and is surprising us everyday with her talents. She has been carrying around her "handy dandy notebook" and it is so awesome to see how her drawing has evolved. I was so excited yesterday to flip through it and see her first drawing that actually resembled a person! She is really good with her shapes, calling them by name and telling you how many sides they all have and what the difference is between similar ones. I am impressed cause this is not something I have thought to teach her. Yay for kids TV that actually teaches!!! She is also working on adding numbers together on her fingers and starting to really get the hang of it. Oh, I almost forgot the best new thing about Andie, SHE LOVES TO DO THE DISHES, and she is actually really good at it!
Brady is still a handful, of course. He is wanting to be more like Andie everyday. He has lost all signs of baby features and it makes me a little sad. Brady has started waking up in the middle of the night and most nights it's more than once which is killing me. I forgot how a disruption in sleep can really throw you off and make you exhausted. When I'm in the kitchen Brady loves to say, "show me how to cook like a mommy," as he climbs up on the counter to learn/"help". It's so cute, and he is getting the hang of cracking eggs. He has also become an excellent diver, jumping from inside a laundry to the floor and swimming along the ocean bottom. His imagination is impressive and endless and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.