Pizza Night

So for several weeks now we've been having Friday Night Pizza & Movie Nights. We've been going to a local pizza parlor where we get great service and really good pizza, but tonight we just wanted to have a home night. So off to Papa Murphy's I went. They do this new thing called a Mini Murph- it's essentially a single serve pizza meant for kids. It comes with the sauce and cheese and toppings in little containers so that the kids can make theeir own pizza. I had wanted to get Keegan to try this for a bit now so tonight was the night.

First we started with laying out our ingredients. We had pizza sauce, cheese, and black olives- Keegan's favorite pizza topping!

Our pizza is all ready for the oven. 450* for 10-14 minutes on the handy-dandy included baking sheet.

 A big pizza and a little pizza. Perfect for the big and little people in our house.

 Hooray!!!! Let's eat!!

 Now, I know what you're thinking: Megan, you said that Keegan was getting this pizza and yet you haven't included a single picture of him actually making the pizza! Well folks, a funny thing happened while I was engulfed in the whole making pizza process. I stuck my head around the corner after getting everything ready and saw this cute little site. Keegan and his Daddy we're watching the football game. So sweet. But upon evern closer inspection....

I learned that Keegan wasn't even watching the game!! Sweet, little, sleepy boy! So, his pizza patiently waited until he awoke (not so peacefully) and was ready to eat. So even though Keegan didn't get to make his first Mini Murph by himself, he did certainly still enjoy it. Now that he's in bed for the night, Mom and Dad are off to the second activity of the evening: MOVIE TIME!!!! Happy Friday :)



A Packed Sunday

With all our summer obligations nearly behind us, we woke up to our first free weekend day in months! We decided that since Keegan had been such an awesome trooper so often this summer (weddings, vacations, holidays, looong car rides, etc.) we would reward him with a day that other little boys would envy- at least a little. So we started the day with his favorite breakfast- waffles with chocolate chips!! It doesn't hurt that his mom and dad love them as well. After breakfast we went to Barnes and Nobel to play with the train table. We had never spent time in the kids section of the store so we had no idea that it was there. Well, apparently everyone else in town knew it was there as there was a little competition for the train toys. But Keegan waited his turn and was a very good sharer- very proud of my little man.

 He of course found his favorite little sweetheart in the pages of the books and went right for Dora! He sat and looked through so many Dora books that we knew we had to take some home. He is so interested in books right now. He often wont let go of his bedtime story so we just put him in his crib as he continues to read the pages. He's pretty cute. I'll definitely be happy if he keeps up the good habit!

 After Barnes and Nobel we went to lunch at the new Qdoba restaurant on our end of time. Since I got introduced to a Mexican place called Costa Vida awhile back, nothing has compared for me, and neither did this place. Always love trying something new, but often times you get burned. Moving on. So off to the park it was. The last time we were at this park, Keegan was not a fan of the swings. Well, as you can see below, this trip was very different. He had the biggest grin on his face and the most contagious little giggle. He was having so much fun and loved the swings and the slide and of course, all the bark to pick up and throw!

We certainly crammed a lot into our day and boy was this little man ready for a nap! I love hanging out with him and will be grateful for some less busy time to do so!

The Oregon Coast

Two weeks ago, we got to go on our first family vacation. Drew's folks took us the Oregon Coast for an all-expenses paid trip for eight days. Drew had never been to the Oregon coast, even though I had spent countless summer and spring vacations traveling up and down the coastline. And it was Keegan's first official vacation that was more than four hours away in the car. He traveled soooo well, thanks to a personal dvd player and a Dora the Explorer movie that we played over and over and over and over again. I was so proud of him.

There were 18 people total on our little family vacation and we stayed in a beautiful house RIGHT ON THE BEACH about 20 miles south of Newport. It was literally a stairwell away from the crashing waves and shell-filled sand. As you can see from this initial pictures, Keegan was NOT a fan of the cold, wet sand. I can't really blame the kid, he had been in the car for several hours, without a decent nap and hadn't really had a snack before I went and dropped him off long enough to get this picture. I felt bad, as I tried to contain my giggles.

 I love his little footprints in the sand. He couldn't wait to get picked up! He was never really excited to be in the sand, but did better as the week went on, as long as he had jeans and shoes on and was holding onto someone's hand. He even helped to build two different sand castles- sadly, the second one never reached completion as we learned that we had not read the tides chart correctly. 

 Since Drew had never been to the Oregon coast before, I wanted to make sure I got lots of pictures of him playing in the water- I think he had as much fun (actually, probably more) than Keegan. Glad I got a pedicure the week before we left!

 We took Keegan to the Newport Aquarium on our second day and he had a blast. They had a children's area where the kids could play in the sandbox, touch stingrays, climb in a beaver dam, pretend to fish and watch Nemo and Dori swimming around the tanks. He was so intrigued by all the fish and kept pointing to them even as they continued to swim around. There was even a petting pool where we could touch starfish and clams and this Mama was even brave enough to touch them (after SEVERAL moments of psyching myself up!). As we were walking through the tunnel, Keegan caught sight of a very interesting fish- it had a mask and goggles and even an air tank- it wasn't a fish, it was a scuba diver cleaning the tank. Keegan got right up to the glass and started waving and evern gave her a high five through the glass. It was awesome. He certainly didn't understand what she was doing, but it was fun to watch him.

 I loved getting to spend time with Keegan during our vacation. It was the most time I had spent with him since my maternity leave. While it was exhausting to keep him entertained all week long, it was so amazing to see him experience all these new things all at once. I can only imagine what was going through his cute little head as he saw the water, and the fish, and the boats, and even the whales we saw as we stood on the beach. I only hope that I can take him back so that he can have wonderful memories of the beach, just like me!

 After plugging my earphones into the music of nature and taking a few runs on the beach- best workout ever- I got to hang with Keegan on the deck a bit. He was telling me all about his day and the adventures he had had. I love that Drew tried so hard to get some pictures of me with Keegan-I often feel that I don't get a chance in front of the camera, because I'm always the one behind it. Thanks babe, and thanks Keegan for the chat!



We did and saw and ate so much more than I've listed here; we went to Rogue Brewery, ate chowder everyday, went to Tillamook Cheese Factory and the Air Museum, saw the barge that floated over from Japan, walked the beach, and got to see my grandparents old house on our first night when we stopped in Portland. But by far, my favorite part of the week was getting to spend so much time with my boys. our lives seem so busy and we get so caught up in everything that we want to do that we forget that simply spending time together is as important as anything else. This vacation couldn't have happened without the generousity of Drew's family and I am so grateful, but I certainly plan on many more family vacations to come!

Sidewalk Chalk

These days, most kids meals from fast food restaurants give out tiny toys that have multiple pieces and things that spin and make noise. None of them include such awesome toys as Quizno's. They give out sidewalk chalk!! Keegan has never had sidewalk chalk before but he loves it. We broke it open this afternoon and decorated the front walk way. Keegan also decorated his face, his legs, his wagon and the wall to the left of our front door :) I think he had a great time and I enjoyed getting creative along with him.

Father's Day

Ok, ok, I realize that I'm back-pedaling a little by doing Father's Day postings, but this is how bad I've been about getting posts up on my blog. As I might have pointed out previously (or maybe not) I'm using my camera less because I've been using my super, duper new iPhone to take pictures, so I'm not as good about getting them onto my computer. I promise to try and be better :)

Anyways, we spent Father's Day in Idaho Falls with Drew's parents. Previously to getting there, Keegan and I met up with one of my photography friends after we snuck (sp) out of the house for some mama & son picture taking. we got some great shots and Keegan was able to give his Daddy some new pictures for Daddy's new office at the Labor building (labor as in 'Department of', not 'and Delivery'). Here are a few of my favorites for your viewing pleasure.

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing Dads in our lives!!!

Mustache Bash Graduation & Retirement Party

 Last month we celebrated a wonderful occassion- Marla (my amazing Mother in Law) retired from her looooooooong teaching career in Rigby, Idaho. At the same time, Drew's cousin, Ashley, graduated with her teaching degree adn will have her very first classroom this fall. Two wonderful women making their impressions in the lives of our children. Congrats to you both, here are a few pics from the 'Mustache Bash' party we threw for them in celebration...

Ice Cream Playdate

Several months ago we had Keegan in swimming lessons at the YMCA. While there, he made a new friend, Harrison. Harrison is one month younger than Keegan and these boys had a great time playing in the pool and making monkey noises as they climbed in and out of the pool. We thought that it would be a lot of fun to have Harrison and his parents, Laurel & Ryan, over to swim at the swimming pool in our neighborhood. But before we knew it, class was over and we had never gotten a phone number to call them :(

While at teh War Horse show here in Boise ahile back, we ran into Laurel. She said they had wanted to get together with us as well, so we quickly exchanged numbers and emails and make plans to get the kids together. Due to everyone's crazy schedule, we just this week were able to get together. Laurel and I and the boys met up at one of our favorite watering holes, Blue Cow (a mix your own ice cream place), and the boys had a blast. They were running around, playing with the cups they pulled out of the dispenser and high fiving the baseball players that were there enjoying their dessert. We will definitely get these two cutie pies together again soon- we had a great time.

A Girl's Weekend

This past weekend I got together with two of my girlfriends, Kathy & Katie, for a Girl's Weekend celebrating Kathy's birthday. We decided to head down to Salt Lake to get some shopping and some sight seeing in. Needless to say, we got A LOT of shopping in. A LOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!!!!! We hit IKEA, Gardner Village, Gateway, Downtown, and South Towne Mall. We had so much fun. I don't think we ate dinner either night until 9pm. We were out late, slept in, sat in the hot tub, ate GREAT food, and simply had a wonderful time. We've already agreed to do it again and in the mean time will have girl's night dinners inbetween trips. A big thank you to our hubbies who all stayed behind to be with the bambinos- we appreciate your supporting our continued friendships and some "us" time. Here is a picture from dinner at Ruth's Diner during our great weekend!

Kathy, Me & Katie

We're Still Here!!!

Yes, yes, yes.....I realize it's been awhile (ok, a loooooong while) since I've posted to our blog. I find that now that I have a new iPhone, I'm always using my phone to take pictures instead of my camera, which means that I don't have as many photos to upload to my computer. With the help of a few (polite) naggers, I have figured out how to upload photos from my phone so that I can continue to share the lives and times of our little family.

And since we all know that you only come here to see pictures of Keegan, we'll give a quick update on the parentals and then we'll move onto the fun stuff...

Drew has been at the Department of Labor for six weeks now and is loving the work! Mostly, I think he enjoys being back with his old supervisor from DEQ, who went to DOL a few months before Drew and who was the one to get Drew the new job. Drew also likes the fact that two of his buddies work downtown and so they're able to get together for lunch on a fairly regular basis.

I continue to LOVE my Zumba classes and am constantly trying to get more folks to join the fun- if I haven't called you yet, don't worry, I will. I even get to help lead some of the dances andd have helped the instructor teach classes on a public level- once for a Gold's Gym Health Challenge and more recently at the American Heart Association Walk. I love spending time with my Mama friends and try to spend some non-Mama related time with my girlfreinds as well. Drew is so good about me going and getting pedicures and having lunch and Happy Hour with my girlfriends- it's so good for my spirit to spend time with these amazing women! My latest hours find my time dedicated to learning more about my camera and the editing/Photoshop process...Who knows, maybe I'll be calling you soon to offer to take your Christmas card pictures!!

Ok, onto the man of the hour- KEEGAN!!! He's been very busy this last month. He's been in swim lessons at  the YMCA for the past four weeks and has been having a great time. Lessons ended this week and it's perfect because the pool around the corner from us opens this weekend!!

Keegan has also been dealing with allergies for the past month. For what appears to be no rhyme or reason and certainly without pattern or consistency, Keegan breaks out with the most horrible hives that cover his limbs and sometimes creep onto his face. We've had him tested for some foods already- peanuts, treenuts, shellfish, and eggs. All those tests came back negative, so now we're super confuses. We have a meeting with an allergist this coming week and they promise that we'll have answers by the time we leave. Of course my most immediate concerns are that he's 1) allergic to wheat, which would change our entire lifestyle, or 2) that he's allergic to our dog. Drew had cat allergies growing up, therefore they didn't have cats. I worry about what the outcome might be if we make the same discovery :(

We have a very busy summer ahead of us...Bridal showers, weddings, a trip to the beach, girl's weekend in SLC, yard work, BBQs, helping friends move, jam making, Farmer's Markets, day trips, and maybe I'll squeeze in a book or two. Thanks for sticking around- I promise to come back soon, so you should too!!!

The Boy Speaks...

Keegan's mouth never stops moving!! He has so much to say right now and he simply can't get it all out fast enough ( I know this surprises no one!).  Up til now, he's been all over the "Dada" and "doggie" words- easy cause they start with the same letter, and of course his favroite word is the ever famous "Uh-Oh"!! He's even starting to learn when the uh oh is appropriate.

But today was the newest break thru! We were out running in the day's beautiful sunny weather, and Keegan discovered the letter "M". Mostly, he figured out how to say Mama!! It was all he could say the entire run, and it wass clear as a bell. It made my heart sing, dance, skip, and hope for joy! I had been waiting (not so patiently) for a few months now to hear it, and finally hearing it come from his little face was just the most wonderful thing ever.

But more words aren't the only thing proving that Keegan is turning into a big boy. He is walking 90% of the time now and only keeps his hands upin front of him for the first few steps, and once he gets his balance, he's off. He likes to follow us around the house and he often surprises us with how quicklyhe's on our tails. I know that it is only a matter of days before he's running around the yard!

ALSO, he's decided that he's ready to wear shoes. We've only had him in socks up til now, socks which he promptly takes off as soon as they're on! We tried shoes on him for the first time on Easter Sunday and he was in love! He walks well in them, something I was nervous about, but he's had no issues. His only complaint is that now he can't pull his socks off whenever he wants to :)

I know that all this just shows us how quickly our little boy is growing up and what wonderful things we have to look forward to!

Happy Easter

Easter was a great day in the Case household. We all got up in time to go see Grandpa Bishop at the Cathedral and made it back in time to see what the Easter Bunny had dropped off while we were out. While this first picture is a bit fuzzy, not even the blur can hide the excitement on this little boys face. He got three Easter books, a new big boy sippie sup, two fruit squeeze pouches and even an automatic bubble machine that advertises to produce a "gazillion" bubbles- which it nearly did!

Keegan wasn't even quite sure what to do with all the bubbles, but it was sure fun to watch him. I know that with how successful Easter was this year, and all the fun we had in yesterday's egg hunt, that next year will be even more adventurous and exciting! Happy Easter and Happy Spring to you all!!

Egg Hunt

The day before Easter we decided to have a brunch at our house. Drew's folks were in town so we invited them, Mary & Erik, Missie & Wes, and my dad & Ardele to come over for bit of breakfast and to lend hand in Keegan's first egg hunt. We had a great meal complete with ham, Thom Eggs, Nana Pat's sweet rolls (that I made the night before, not Nana) and the other Easter necessities (deviled eggs and mimosas!). After breakfast I hid a dozen plastic eggs filled with goldfish crackers, graham cracker bites, Cheerios, and animals crackers, all over the backyard. We then unleashed the bit bewildered child and assisting Aunts to do the hunting...not sure who was more vested in the process. Keegan got the hang of it pretty quick and enjoyed finding all the goodies inside the eggs at the end.

Thanks Missie and Mary for your help. Next year I'll be sure to hide some eggs for you too!!

The First Hair Cut

 On the Saturday before Easter we decided that it had come time for Keegan to lose the locks of his babyhood and enter the world of boydom with a new do! I found a salon in Meridian that specializes in childrens' haircuts. They had a wonderful decorated salon with Jeeps and giraffes and motorcycles to sit on. Keegan got to sit in the Jeep and he did SO GOOD!! The gal put the cap on him and he just sat there and let her play with his hair. She gave us some animal crackers to feed him if he started to get restless, but there was no need- he was great. She was nice and quick and only took about 12 minutes to get rid of all the craziness that surrounded Keegan's head. I of course was behind the camera getting as many pictures as I could and Drew had the video camera- this was an event I was not missing out on. Because Keegan did so well, it was easy for me to be brave as well- I didn't shed a single tear. We got all his curls in a little baggie to bring home and Keegan even got a First Haircut Certificate. As soon as we got home I told Drew to put it in the fire safe so that nothing could ruin it! All in all, it was a great, fun experience and am grateful to the wonderful folks at 2 B A Kid in Meridian for making Keegan's first haircut so successful!!!

Boys Will be Boys

This last weekend we had our friends Bert, Kathy, and Ethan over for a BBQ. The weather was beautiful in the morning and of course had clouded over and even started raining by mid afternoon. But nastey weaterh wasn't going to keep the boys (big nor small)  inside. The little boys got to ride around the yard in the wagon, climb in and out of the four-wheeler, and around and around the castle.

Ethan was so serious in all of my pictures, but his little face simply cracks me up!!

No, I do NOT want to swing!!!!

I can do it Dad, I can do it!!!

Yes, little man, you can!!