Spazz Attack Is Here!

Cassady, tween sensation, has ventured into the blogging world. I've featured some of her writing in the past, here on my blog. Her school essays were just the beginning though. She is now taking on more of a challenge, with daily topics, pictures and even polls to answer!

Go listen to some fun music while checking out her creative project...enjoy!!
(That was my way of warning you about the autoplay :)

Spazz Attack

Get ready for the Anime...

Flashback Friday

She was born to rock. Also to be so spoiled that she never got in trouble for messing with Uncle Timothy's drum set. At the grand old age of 2, Miss Cassady Paige had both her uncle and her grandpa wrapped around her little finger. She has yet to relinquish this hold on either of them :)

Flashback Friday

Cassady has always loved animals - particularly cats. Unfortunately for her, I am super allergic to them, so she has to love on them away from home. Grandpa & Grandma had two kitties that she loved chasing (read: terrorizing) when she was 18 months. Today's picture is from November 2001. It was Thanksgiving - note her little camo dress paired with Nike's. We know how to do fashion!

Progress Report - Cassady's Room

I waited a week to post these "after" shots to make sure that Cassady's room stayed clean. Of course, since she is a tween, you know that clean is a relative term. She has done fairly well, though. There is only a small pile of laundry behind her bedroom door right now, and just a little picking up is needed. Overall I would say our cleanup project in her room was successful, since I wanted to make sure that she is able to maintain keeping it picked up herself. I have the rest of the apartment to clean up! So, without further ado, here's her room.

Her craft and game closet. She can actually get to her stuff now! It's a miracle!

Her bed, bookshelf, TV and big chair. So pretty now!

We plan to do a redecoration project soon. She wants a new comforter and color scheme, but since she changes her mind every other day I am holding off. I also want to make sure the room stays clean. No point in redecorating if we can't see it!

Flashback Friday

Cassady was (and still is) a little princess. As my first child, and my parents' first grandchild, everything she did was documented & celebrated. We may have even possibly gone a little over the top on occasion. We had a little party for her "Half Birthday" when she turned 6 months old. She was just barely eating solids at that point, but everyone needs cake for a celebration, right? Typically, she had way more fun playing with all the frosting in the cake than eating it. She was covered in it. After destroying the confection (there is a reason they call those "smash cakes!!), she had her first bath in the tub. It was a big day!

And, if you are wondering where she got the snazzy headwear...I made it. Construction paper, glue, a pink pom pom and lots of sparkly sequins. I still have that hat in her keepsake box :)

My Apologies to Delaware...

It's time for another essay by Cassady. This time, she has prepared a scintillating report on the great state of Delaware. I have copied her work exactly as written. I even found the same pictures she used. Enjoy.

Delaware

Delaware was the first state in the U.S.. Isn't it gorgeous?!?! I love the peach flowers. Can you believe that the tiny state is the home to the Perkins Observatory, Columbus Zoo, the Little Brown Jug, and the Delaware County Fair?? I can't. But, believe it or not, it is. It has multiple antique shops. People there must have nice stuff! Delaware is a nice state. I would like to live there. There or Tokyo, Japan. The End.

This second picture that she used may have been what earned her the B-. This is actually Pennsylvania. Or maybe it was the lack of actual information in her report. Or the fact that she totally dissed Delaware at the end of her "report". It's hard to say...

Weekend Project: Cassady's Room

Today we began to tackle the disaster that is Cassady's room. She is a typical tween with way too much stuff. We have gotten rid of most of her toys from her younger days, but her room is still very crowded. She's got lots of craft supplies, a huge chair, a TV, a bookshelf and a queen size bed. All that has to be squeezed into a pretty small space. Here's what we were looking at before we started working this morning. Warning: it is very scary!!

This is the (dismal) view from the door. Her bookshelf is empy because I will be moving it to a new location.

The bed. We'll be ditching the headboard as it seems to be a gathering place for too much junk.

Her craft closet. She never uses any of this stuff because she can't even get to it!

Her clothes closet. And a lot of dirty laundry, much to my chagrin.

After spending most of the day rearranging and decluttering, we have it looking a lot better. I think I threw away about 5 (grocery) bags full of trash, and we have some items ready to donate to the Goodwill as well. I need to find some containers for her Build-A-Bear and American Girl clothes. We also need to go through her clothes - she has too many to fit into her closet right now. She doesn't have school tomorrow, so we will have a "fashion show" session to try on all the clothes to ensure that everything still fits appropriately. We will also be vacuuming and doing a few other small organization projects.

I will have the finished room pictures up soon. Then it will be time to move on to the next project: the bathroom. (Cue scary music)

Flashback Friday

Cassady - Age 1 (February 2001)

I took Cassady to get her picture taken for her 1st birthday. She was in a great mood, wearing a spiffy outfit and all was well. Until we got the the studio. She was not having ANY of that photography stuff. We tried everything - toys, bribery, high pitched voices, more bribery...no dice. Finally the photographer took the marshmallows I'd brought for Cassady to snack on and sprinkled them around her. Cassady was momentarily intrigued, but still very angry. She began stuffing the marshmallows in her mouth, still screaming. And this photo op was born.

I had to buy the picture. It was too good to leave behind!

Cassady's Essay

The Time I Overcame A Challenge

Hiya!!! When I was like four or sommething I went over to play with some girls (I might call them brats so...yeah) and I was all "Hi!!!Can I play with you??" and they were all "Sure". NO EXCITEMENT!! And then...THEN...the brats said "We are going to get a drink. We'll be right back." LIARS!!! THOSE FREAKING MEANIES LEFT ME!!! I was all sad and alone. I had ONE friend. His name was Marcus and he had an eyepatch (Then there was the day he betrayed me. I was in kindergarden and so was he, but I had Wednesday off and apparently so did he. There was this older kid and he convinced him that girls are stupid. And Marcus betrayed me for that LOSER!!! Then I went and cried on a Spiderman chair. Then I got in trouble for eating some crackers. CRACKERS!!! And they were good, too.) So I was all "Why'd you guys leave me?" and they were like "Uh...We had to go to the bathroom." LIARS!!! I watched them while they got a drink and then they went to the SWINGS!!! SWINGS!!! NOT THE BATHROOM!!! WASN'T EVEN CLOSE TO THE BATHROOM!!!! Ugh I was MAD!! So instead I went in and punched pillow. Then I went back outside, fists clenched and I got ready to punch them in the nose. But then it was meatball time and those were my FAVORITE. So after lunch it was. THEN it was naptime. So after naptime it was to be a mortal combat. Then naptime was over. It was time. I walked over. Fists clenched. The fire burned inside me. Then it died. I swerved and instead I just sat there and screamed into a pillow. I promised myself that someday, SOMEDAY, (SOMEDAY) I would kick their butts at Super Smash Brothers Brawl. YEAH. BEAT THAT YOU BRATS!!! The end.

(This essay was written by Cassady 9/10 in 5th grade. I have typed it here just as it was on her paper.)

Flood!

Well. Our week has certainly turned out much differently than I planned. After using the bathroom earlier today, our toilet decided to become a geyser. It was unreal. For 20 minutes, water was spraying everywhere. Naturally, I was the only one at home (with the baby), and I am not only completely unskilled in plumbing matters, but also I am not the biggest fan of wading through toilet water. Our apartment complex did send the maintenance man to stop the flooding (after two frantic phone calls), and he proceeded to tell me that this could have been prevented had I let them know that the toilet handle was too short. Remember when I mentioned I am not a plumber? Yeah.

This was only the beginning of the flood.

After another 3 hours of sitting in the flooded apartment (luckily the mess was confined to the back half), the carpet cleaning crew showed up to work their magic. They were very amazed/impressed with our new lagoon. It was decided that the cleanup process would take two days, and after some intense conversation with our apartment manager, they agreed to let us use their "corporate apartment".

We moved the bare essentials over to our temporary digs. It is very spacious - Jack has had a great time crawling around to explore his new surroundings. Hopefully we will be able to go back to our apartment soon. I have a feeling that there will be quite a mess to clean up there, even after the carpet is dry.

Back To School!

Cassady started 5th grade today! She was not all that enthused to start school again, although she was looking forward to seeing her friends. She is a little bummed that she's not in the same class as her best friend (or any of her other friends, for that matter) but they have sleepovers all the time so I think she'll be okay! She was also rather nonplussed by the Back To School photo op - she finally complied and almost smiled so she could hurry up and get to breakfast at school.

I am proud to report that I only cried a little bit after dropping her off this morning :)