The Difference a Week Can Make

Last week I posted a video of Cade skiing, it has been a little less than a week and now look at the little guys moves.  Turning?!  If I don't get myself up to the mountain he is going to be better than me! 

Tyler said he was even doing some jumps with a buddy... PTL for helmets!

Little Ripper

Funny Cade Moment

Cade: "mom guess what? Taylor Swift is going to be singing in Portland in a couple weeks!!!" 

Me: "wow cool, who told you that?" 

Cade:" Katie Brandow" 

Me: do you want to go?" 

Cade: " YES!!" .... Oh dear!!

He is constantly asking me to play the song "We are Never Ever Getting Back Together" 

What am I going to do with this kid??

A little something to put you in the Christmas spirit

Ski Bum

I think we are going to have a ski bum on our hands!

Cade started his ski school, Mighty Mites on Saturday and he LOVED it!  I don't know why I worried about him so much.  I was nervous for him all day, the class was from 10-3 which in itself is a pretty long day for a 4 year old.  Then throw snow, cold & wind in the mix and I was praying all day that he would have a good time.  Well my prayers were answered because he was a natural and the elements didn't phase him.  He says "mom it wasn't a big deal when it was snowing & cold because I have good clothes" 

oh ya of course you do!  And I'm so glad he did!  

Tyler was up on the mountain as well but the class is just for kids.  There are 5 kids in his class and 1 teacher.  Lucky for him he is good friends with one of them & then the other boy is in his pre school class.

On Saturday they worked on stopping and getting comfortable on the skis.  So far so good, Cade tells me "I'm really good mom!"  I didn't get to go up and watch this week but I think I may have to spy on him next week, at least for a little bit.  

I think Cade is going to be just like his dad... good at EVERYTHING he does!

The gear

Cade & Kian

Ski buddies

Christmas Tree Hunt

One of my favorite parts of Christmas, is hunting for our perfect tree and this year did not disappoint!

We always go to Jack Lake Road out past Sisters and we find the best trees!

The boys had a blast traipsing being carried through the woods.  It was cold & windy so we tried to speed the process up as much as possible.  Luckily we didn't have to walk to far and we had lots of help chopping our tree down.  Cade could not wait to get his hands on the saw & he did a great job! (supervised of course)

Not only did we get a tree, we also got some Christmas card worthy pictures.  I was starting to think that cards weren't going to happen for us this year.  The thought of getting everyone dressed, situated and smiling for a photo was just daunting to me.  But I lucked out and the good ol' self timer pulled through for a family shot & the boys hammed it up for some brother love picts.  

While I can't disclose the pictures for the card, I do have some fun ones that weren't quite right 

for the card but are still absolutely adorable! 

Blake couldn't figure out why we were walking in the woods & still can't figure out why we have a tree in our living room!!

What more could a girl ask for?

Such a tired boy

Our lovely tree

Takes lots of concentration ie. tong hanging out

Paper to pal

You know that pin that has been pinned on Pinterest where you can send your child's drawing in and have it turned into a stuffed animal.  Well had I been a little more on the ball I would have loved to do this for Cade for Christmas.  (I guess I still could... and sew it myself.... maybe...)

He is huge into drawing right now and he has crossed the stage from scribbles that supposedly represent something, to his interpretation of people, animals and things.  Lately he has been drawing pictures of rainbows, people; usually our family,  houses, him & Blake paddle boarding and most recently beavers.  He is SO INSANELY into OSU football it is ridiculous!  How fun would it be to turn his little beaver drawing into a pal to have forever.  Thanks Grandma Shireen for instilling your love of art into my little man!

Now to just get my booty in gear and whip it up before Christmas.  Thank you to Kian for teaching Cade how to draw such a fitting animal for him!

Beaver

Cade paddle boarding

Trick or Treat

 Despite the rain we had an awesome time trick or treating last night.   

It was such a blast for the boys to trick or treat with their cousins!  

We met up with some friends and started the evening off with some trick or treating at Tylers office.  We then moved on to Scotts office where the guys had set up a fun little scavenger hunt for the kids.  Then we braved the Old Mill and only lasted about 20 min.  When you have a pirate who refused to wear a coat and a parrot who wanted to eat every piece of candy he got and threw a fit when he couldn't ... trick or treating time got cut short.  So we took a break and headed over to our good friends the Beairds house for some tasty food and fun. 

 Once our tummies were full we headed out again to trick or treat the neighborhood.  

This time was much more successful.  We brought a coat for the pirate and tried as best we could to hide the parrots candy :)  

Blake had a blast for his first real time trick or treating.  He literally had the time of his little 18 month life.  Running, flapping his wings, jumping and going crazy in the dark as we went from 1 house to another.  One house we trick or treated at liked him so much they thought he needed 2 full sized candy bars!!  He loved the candy and actually learned and said the word for the first time "canny"  fitting for the occasion I suppose.  

Enjoy a few pictures of our cutie pies 

  

Pirate Cade

Pirate Cades little parrot flapping his wings

Our crew of cousins

Trick or treat!

B's little tale feathers 

This morning Cade gave me a little message "mom you have to ask me if you want a piece of my candy!  If you take it without asking me that's stealing!"  Ok Cade I will make sure to ask..... bbuahhhhh, right!

Gerald

We have had one of Cade's friends living with us for quite some time now.  

His name is Gerald and he is anywhere from 17-28 years old.  His parents have been on vacation in Hawaii for about 2 years now.  Him and Cade play together all the time.  He usually eats dinner with us, drives with us in the car, goes to church and sleeps in Cade's room... but he doesn't go to school with Cade.

Yes we have been in the world of imaginary friend... 

However I don't know if you can actaully call it imaginary.  Yes he is imaginary but Cade knows that and tells us that all the time.  me- "Cade does Gerald want to take a bath?" Cade- "mom he isn't real"  But he talks to him and about him like he is real.  And Gerald has likes and dislikes, he can drive Cade places and entertain Cade, its the strangest thing. Especially how long it has gone on, we are going on 2 years now with Gerald & just recently we have been introduced to Macky.....  Macky usually just plays football with Cade.  He hasn't become as much of a person as Gerald has but i'm afraid it's heading in that direction. 

This house is getting too small for all of us!! 

So You Think You Can Dance

**Disclaimer**

Please excuse the whiny baby and underwear :)

If I Could Freeze Time

I am so in love with the different stages of my boys right now.  If I could freeze time I would just so I could savor it as long as possible.  

I would freeze the way Cade & Blake are becoming friends and really playing together.  They race cars together, wrestle each other, dance and jump on the beds together.  But as much as I love the way they play together, after the calm always comes the storm and I even want to freeze the fighting.  Though the fighting & annoying each other is well, annoying it is also a joyful noise.  It cracks me up when Blake is annoying Cade because he deserves it 100%.  When Blake was younger and defenseless I would always tell Cade "just wait until Blake is bigger, he is going to get you"  and now he is getting bigger and "getting" Cade.  It reminds me of when my sister, brother & I were young.  We would fight and annoy each other ALL the time!

I would freeze the way Blake points at the rocking chair and says "peese" (please) when putting him to bed.  Our new routine is for me to rock him, sing to him, & rub his back before going in his bed at bed time.  

I would freeze the way Cade HAS to say good night to Blake and give him kisses before I put him down.  

I would freeze Cade and his excitement to learn and go to school.  He thrives at learning and when he isn't learning at school he is learning at home with his kindergarten book.  I love picking him up from school and seeing what pictures he has drawn for me.  Right now he is on a surf board kick.  For the past week or so he has had numerous drawings of surfboards and our family on them.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way he draws people.  A stomach, a head, eyes, legs and a belly button.  No arms & no other facial features.  4 year old perfection!

I would freeze the way Blake hollers "mom! mom! mama!" to get my attention, or to just tease me.  He does it mostly in the car.  

I would freeze how Cade is so passionate about the Beaver football team.  We play Beaver games numerous times a day and if I would let him he would wear his Beaver jersey every day.  I can't wait to take him to his first game on Saturday.  It is going to be priceless!

I would freeze the way they both stand on the porch every morning & wave bye bye to Tyler as he leaves for work. 

I would freeze the way Blake says "oh" whenever I tell him something or the way he nods his head yes or no when you ask him a question.  

I would freeze the way they both just love there special friends "Melvin" & "Uno" 

I would freeze the way my heart just melts for these boys.  

Party Like a Rock Star

Someone I know turned 4 on Monday, or was it Sunday?  or Tuesday?  

With all of the parties it was hard to keep track of what day was his actual day of birth.  

September 10, 2009!  How could I ever forget that day & the previous night?  It was hell at the time but looking back it was one of my favorite moments.  A pure miracle!  

Now 4 years later its hard to imagine him at 7lbs 3oz!  We had a great time celebrating him.  We had a family party at my parents over the weekend, then Monday (his actual bday) he picked where we went for dinner and did presents as our family of 4.  Then on Tues was his big friends party at our house.  

Needless to say he had a lot of fun and was feeling super special and grown up.

Having cake at grandpa & grammie's house.  Check out the spit that came with blowing out the candles!!  

Opening presents at home.  Dad got him this special balloon to take to dinner with us.

A BEAVER JERSEY!!  He is in heaven

He picked a bike party for when his friends came over.  We had stuff for all the kids to decorated there bikes &; then we did a parade down the street

Cade's birthday invitations

Now he is already talking about what he wants for the 5 year old party, asking me what he will wear when he is 5 and telling Blake is he SO much bigger than him now!  

It's so cute how important age is when your a kid!! 

Love you Cade!!

Wordless Wednesday

Not so little anymore

Sept 10 my little man turned 4! 

Love is..

"Love is everlasting,

Love is only kind,

Love is always patient,

Love will blow your mind!!"

- JeKob

Loving this song!!  The boys and I rock out to it in the car daily.  

I love finding up beat catchy Christian songs.  Cade can seriously memorize a song by listining to it twice, so I have to be EXTRA careful what goes into his little ears.  I'm trying to stay away from secular music but it's so hard because KLove and all the other Christian radio stations are um... lame! 

So I'm looking for a list of songs to download for us in the car.  

Please pretty please leave a comment with your favorite 

upbeat

danceable

funky

Clean songs!

Thanks!! 

rock on, 

What to do when my 3.5 yr old is at Grandmas

Dinner out with my hubby & Blake

Curling my hair

Painting my nails

Catching up on gossip mags & watching some tv

Overhauling Cade's room

And lots of play time..

 Stories & snuggles with this man.

Enjoying our time but missing Caders! 

The Dreaded Phone

I HATE talking on the phone! 
I hate it not because I don't like the people that call or I don't want to talk to or call people.  
I hate it because of the battle and hurdles I have to jump through while making a call.

Here are some of the reasons it's nearly impossible to talk on the phone:

Blake LOVES phones.  He loves pretending he is talking on the, playing on them and just carrying them around.  So anytime a phone is out he thinks he needs to use it.  Try having a conversation with someone while you have a 14 month little monkey grabbing at clawing for the phone.

Cade LOVES the phone.  He loves playing games, watching movies and drawing on the phone.  
He thinks he is ruler of the phones and can have them whenever he wants.  So when I get the phone out to make a call he all of the sudden thinks he needs and wants to use it.  Sorry buddy your not the boss!! 

Cade loves attention.  When the phone rings or I go to call someone that is prime time for Cade to want or need something.  Or excuse me think he wants or needs something.

The best time for me to talk would be nap time or in the evening when the boys are down for a nap.  
However when that finally happens there are a million things that need to be done and a phone conversation usually slips through the cracks.  

I am trying to do better at making time to catch up with people.  
Bare with me and please don't be offended if I don't answer and it takes a day or 2 for me to get back to you!!  

However, text me and I am super good about getting back to ya!  :)

San Diego Fun

We are back from an amazing family vacation to San Diego.  

The thing I love the most about vacations is I don't have to worry about whats for dinner, laundry or cleaning.  I get to spend all my time playing with, loving on and just watching my little family.  

I could go on and on about everything we did but I will spare you from that and just do a re cap.  

We hit up Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and 2 amazing beaches; Coronado (google it it's amazing) and La Jolla Beach also a great beach.  Sea World was by far our favorite.  The look on Cade's face when he finally go to see the Orca whales in real life was PRICELESS and worth every penny of the trip.  Second favorite was the beaches.  It took Blake a while to warm up to the beach.  He wasn't a fan of the sand at first but once he got the hang of walking in it he was digging and playing right along side of Cade.  

Enjoy some pictures of our trip

 Can't get enough of my boys faces!  Who knew we would create such beautiful faces?

 Check out those castles behind him

 Ready for fire works in his hillarious 4th of July shirt

 Waiting for the Orca show to start at Sea World 

 This is how excited he was to see Orca whales!! 

 Surfer dude

 Watching the other kids do the ride because he was too short :(

 Driving the boat

 Cades favorite part of the zoo was the "Melvins" even a baby Melvin

 B finally was let out of the stroller to run!!

 Wave jumpin

 La Jolla Beach

 Bake trying to decide if he is going to move off the blanket or not 

Fun at the Beach

Time for laundry sand sand removal!!