Harvest Hopper

** Please note photos have not been downloaded but will be added ASAP**
Tonight is Halloween and if we are able to attend the 2 events that we are planning on attending Kaden will have attended 8 fall fun festivals, had 3 pony rides, 4 hayrides, 2 petting zoos, 1 real zoo and played about 15 carnival games! That means he has gotten to wear his costume 7 times! Jon says he probably just thinks it is part of his rotation of clothing now. October has been a fun busy month. I am all about a free festival and we have hit up as many as possible! Last night we found out that Kaden is a bit of a carnival game prodigy. He was playing bean bag toss, bowling, duck game, and even rode a roller coaster. Ok a little one, but he loved it! He didn't want to stop playing the pick and egg game and was a champ at choosing a lollipop off the tree. He really enjoyed the bouncy horses and with a little help kicked 3 soccer balls into the goal at the same time! We were truly impressed with how willing he was to participate in the games. It was fun to watch him! (Mommy and Daddy did share the candy with him that he could actually eat!
He did go in this morning for 4 shots and managed to break through his first lower left molar. Fun day, so we may not make all planned stops tonight. BTW...he is 30 1/4 inches long/tall and a little over 21 pounds. The doctor said he is in the 30% for weight...that's right a Rynders/Rhodes that is under weight! I think the fact that he is constantly moving unless strapped into something contributes largely to this! Everything else looked great!

We do plan on a little trick or treating, just the neighbors and a few friends. I will write more tomorrow and post pics!

BTW...if you live in Abilene be sure and check out KTAB 10:00 news, you just might see someone familiar in the weather segment!

As Time Goes By..

One Day Old

When I was pregnant with Kaden people told me to enjoy this time because it would go by so fast. At the time I didnt' believe them. How can sleepless nights and throw-up go by fast? They were right..my little rag doll is now a little man! This first year has flown by and I have 20 more fun things to add for this month!

1. He uses the word "uh, oh" with great accuracy...though he does often drop things purposefully so that he can say it. Still in that little voice it is so cute!

2. He has started saying "oh, dough," for "oh, no" also precious. Miss Joyce said he yelled it out when the volcano exploded on Land Before Time.

3. He took is 1st, 2nd and 3rd Hayride.

4. He got his first Halloween Costume. By the end of the month he will have worn it 5 times! How's that for gettin gyour money's worth!

5. He still loves books! He will sit and "read" them by himself!

6. He loves to dance with his musical toys.

7. He can say "arf" and "woof" when "talking" to his dog pals.

8. He goes to sleep with just a little wimper now.

9. He loves going for walks in the stroller.

10. He does not like Giant Clifford's. Though he didnt' mind Madeline!

11. If you ask him to go "bye, bye" He will run to the back door and wait for you to open it!

12. If I need to check the mail he will wait by the car at the top of the driveway for me! When I am about half-way back up the driveway he will turn around and run for the door!

13. He loves his Diego toothbrush, but only if he is doing it himself!

14. He stands up the whole time you are bathing him until you turn the faucet on to rinse...he will then promply sit down. It is hillarious!

15. He LOVES his DADDY! (not that he hasn't always) but this month in particular he loves to look a this pictures if he is not home. Last night he climbed in my lap so that he could look at his picture on the phone.

16. He loves to pick ut the phone, cell phones, etc. and then have you chase him to get them back. He finds this hysterical! He can bring objects when prompted though.

17. He loves to open and close doors. Especially if he is on the opposite side from you! He does get mad if you don't open it back up pretty quickly!

18. He loves BREAD and FRUIT! He will also love a food one day and not want to touch it the next!

19. He loves peek-a-boo, or being surprised. It is one sure way to get a laugh!

20. He looks great in a tie!

My Big One Year Old Boy!

Just for fun!

What time is it? 10:10...Kaden's b-day time!
What's your full name? Angela Jill Rhodes
What are you most afraid of? losing my family, rollercoasters!

What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a Theater? Bourne Ultimatum, wow that's been a while!

Ever been to Alaska ? No

Ever been toilet paper rolling? yes, many times...I lives in Abilene there wasn't much to do!

Love someone so much it made you cry? Yes

Been in a car accident? Yes, when I was 16. I was going to babysit and meghan made me drive Mom' s Buick which I didn't like driving. needless to say the death intersection at Catclaw and Rebecca Lane led to the demise of the almost new Buick!

Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons!

Favorite day of the week? Saturday

Favorite restaurant? La Haceinda, Rio Mambo

Favorite Flower? roses or tulips

Favorite sport to watch? food network challenge?

Favorite Drink? Diet Coke

Favorite ice cream? Ben and Jerry's Phish Food...though it si rather impossible to find!

Disney or Warner Brothers? Both

Ever been on a ship? Yes, I went on a cruise my junior year in college...it was cloudy the whole time except th elast day on the way back...still fun though!

What color is your bedroom carpet? off-white

How many times did you fail your driver's test? None

Before this one, who did you get your last email from? several people at once!

What do you do when you are bored? bored??? what does that mean?

Bedtime? asleep on couch, usually...9:30...actually in bed 10:30

Favorite TV show? The Office, 30 Rock, er, My Name is Earl, oh my new favorite..Big Bang Theory....it is hillarious!

Last person you went out to eat with? Jon

Favorite time of year? winter/spring

Favorite color? red, blue and green

How many tattoos do you have? none...that you can see...he he..... just kidding. there are lots of pretty things in the world but nothing that I want on my body forever. I do enjoy LA Ink though!

How Many Pets do you have? one, a dog named Molly

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Chicken, i have received the whoel explanation from my uncle!

What do you want to do before you die? Have more kids, see my kids get married, become a grandmother, travel (to places like Hawaii, California, National Parks, France, Virgin Islands, etc.), retire and spend my days just hanging out with Jon.

Have you ever been to Hawaii? No...see the list from above

Have you been to countries outside the US ? yes, Mexico and Rome.


Time this survey ended? 10:25

Kaden's Party

Alright people I know I am dreadfully behind but I have been busy! Kaden's party was a success I think! It was rather warm..85...so his costume didn't stay on long. We had almost 50 people and our living room looks like Santa's toy shop! thanks to everyone who came!



Here are some shots of the big day!

The award for Best Costume by an adult goes to: Becky!

The award for Best Duo: Zach and Diana

The better late than never award goes to:

Jordan and Melynda!

The award for Best YoungestTrio: The Hightower boys!

The award for Oldest Trio goes to:

Grammy Jane and her Jungle Cats!

The award for Best Birthday Boy Goes to: Kaden!

Eye Brow Threading

Due to frequency of the question asked, ok twice, I decided to make today's topic eyebrow threading. Those of you savvy Oprah watchers have probably seen it on her show, I was introduced to it by my eyebrows obsessed sister! Here is the basic gist of the process. First, take a couple Tylenol, this aids in your ability to recover. Now proceed to nearest eyebrow threading torture station. in our case it was Grapevine Mills Mall. They put you in this hair dresser chair that leans you all the way back so that you are sprawled out nicely for all the passersby to gawk at. The torturer then takes a length of thread and with adept ease gently twirls, twists and configures said string to capture just the right number of eyebrow hairs (EH). She instructs you to use one hand to pull down on your eye lid and one hand to pull up this keeps her from "cutting me" with the string. Reassuring isn't it. Then with one "fluid" motion the string is retracted and "gently" tears the hairs from your flesh. Not bad if that was it right? Wrong, the process continues for about 5 minutes on each eye. Between intervals of wiping my overflowing watery eyes, I notice the crowd beginning to hover like they are checking out a crime scene. Very reassuring, because said watering is of course removing most of my eye make-up and smearing some nice raccoon circles around my eyes. After 10 or so minutes of ripping and pulling, the torturess holds up the mirror and walla perfectly groomed eyebrows! All for the bargain price of $10. I almost paid $20 for her to stop the first time. Now if you want some real excitement try your lip. If you haven't tried to hold your tongue tightly in your upper lip for 10 minutes so as to avoid "cutting" you, my friend, are missing out!

Your eyebrows will look fabulous and it really does last about 4-6 weeks and isn't so bad, the 2nd time, That's right I came back for more! Just don't forget the Tylenol!

That ain't no guacamole!

Yesterday after work Kaden and I went to meet Meghan, Aunt Sissy, at Grapevine Mills Mall for some eyebrow threading, aka torture. (If you haven't tried this it does work amazingly well..but no matter what Meg says having hairs ripped from above your eye socket is not pain free.. no matter the method) Anyway after this exciting adventure we decided to get some dinner..not surprisingly we wanted some Mexican food! We were in separate cars so we proceeded to Uncle Julios with a cranky, hungry baby in tow. As we arrived at the restaurant, I got an amazing front row spot. Meghan was, of course, 2 steps from the door ( she has this uncanny knack for getting amazingly close parking spots!) As I was getting out of the car, Meg yelled across that she would go on ahead and get our names on the list. This sounded like a great plan. I then proceeded to unload my purse and unhook Kaden from his seat. The backpack was, of course, in the far back so while trying to keep my purse from sliding down my arm and the 20 lb+ baby from falling out of my arms I manage to hoist the back gate and untangle the bag from under the stroller. Suddenly a mother's worst nightmare.....my hand is wet. I know I haven't washed it anytime recently and Kaden is not holding a cup so nothing is leaking..except, of course, the dreaded diaper leak. I hustle towards the restaurant praying for #1, when I see Meg coming towards we. "There's an hour and a half wait, No way" she says. Well I tell her that we are going to the bathroom because we have a Code DE! (diaper explosion) My hopes are dashed as look down and see a green substance on my hand, now we were not able to get into the restaurant so I knew it wasn't guacamole! Meg and I immediately divert ourselves back to the car. This was going to require more than a Koala changing station! Thoughts of OH, crap! I didn't replace the extra outfit were now flashing through my head. Again we raise the gate..suddenly I am not feeling nearly as thankful for my front row spot, clear out the stroller and search for the changing pad. Kaden is screaming bloody murder and by the way officially leaking poo everywhere! I remove the shoes and move on to the delicate pants removal. If you have never attempted to remove poo covered shorts from a squirming one year old then you haven't lived. This is a delicate operation requiring the steady hand and skill of a surgeon. too quickly and the legs will be painted, too slow and wiggling will allow the mess the spread to the other leg. I adeptly remove the pants and thrown then in the first thing I can find, the Carter's sack that we just picked up at the mall, I toss out the precious green stripped reindeer Christmas pajamas that his Aunt Sissy just bought Kaden and quickly throw the pants inside. I then make another terrible discovery the poo has not been contained to the pants it has indeed made it's way northward....shirt removal, also tricky, avoid the hair and face, nearly impossible but using my stealthy moves I am again successful. As Kaden continues to "paint" the changing pad, I quickly throw the shirt into aforementioned sack and prepare for the clean-up . (Sidenote: Meg has been frantically searching for another sack in which we can contain the diaper, while occasionally gagging (Blah), not actually throwing up but actually retching. I will insert BLah to represent this as I continue the story.) I carefully strip off the diaper and throw it into Meg's sack (blaah), I use about 5 wipes to clean Kaden's back , butt, changing pad, legs you name it (blaah, blaah). Aunt Sissy continues to adeptly hold the bag, all the while wretching away. (BLAaH) at long last, in front of God, and the entire population of Uncle Julios, Kaden is clean and in a fresh diaper. Only one problem, no extra outfit right, wrong problem solved...Christmas in October anyone?? That's right I put Kaden in his cute little reindeer jammies, no matter that they are flannel and it was 80 degrees out, he was wearing clothes and as this point that is all that mattered! As you can see from the picture below, he loved them!

The moral of the story: ALWAYS bring extra clothes! BTW: I am ashamed to admit that Aunt sissy (BLAAH) dropped the sack under the car, so last night I officially became "that guy" who leaves dirty diapers in the parking lot, but at least now I know why it is others are compelled to do this. Trust me if you haven't already had an experience like this you will and you will drop the bag also!

We did finally get some dinner at Mimi's. The bib covered most of the reindeer and we only got a few strange looks. We were prepared with a story about him modeling for a Christmas craft show but never got the chance to use it!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

Ok, so Kaden's big party is a week away but I wanted to share the excitement of his first birthday. Jon and I thought we would do a little something special in honor of the big day. I stayed up until 11:00, stirring, mixing, baking and decorating a special cowboy hat cake.

Our plan was to let him make his big mess at our house where we could clean up rather than outside with no sink. (At his party) The day started well. I made him french toast, one of his favorites and he went to see Ms. Joyce. They got to go see puppies which of course he loved! He got to take his first trip to McDonald's. I ordered him a Happy Meal but, of course, he preferred his spinach and cheese ravioli and apple sauce over chicken nuggets and fries! Whose kid is this? He did enjoy playing on the slides and things! Well by the time cake time rolled around, a combination of not enough nap and 3 teeth in one week made for an interesting time. Things started off well but gradually got crankier and crankier.

After a few small, neat tastes of chocolate cake, he was done. Again we are questioning parentage? Long story short we put him to bed/nap at an early (6:00). He slept for an hour and then woke up and played for a while. Still cranky but determined to get on his new bulldozer by himself, he spent the better part of 15 minutes climbing on and off of it, unable to figure out no matter why no matter which side he attempted to climb on it from, he always ended up facing backwards. He did not want help but did appreciate the applause he receive every time he was successful. By the way, he makes Beyonce look co-dependent! We finally took the bulldozer outside as the last beams of twilight were fading. This was fun for a while,until he reached the end of the sidewalk. He refused to ride at this point and insisted on pushing it instead but he only wanted to push it north on the sidewalk. Any attempt to turn him around and show him another path was unacceptable. He fussed and whined until he finally gave into the fact that he wasn't allowed to walk to Denton. After a little while and several tumbles onto the cement, it was time for bed! Well at least until midnight when he woke up again! All I can say is, thank you Tylenol!

The Big ONE!

Well it has finally happened, I am joining the age and expanding Kaden's picture website to include a blog as well. I will try to include funny, interesting and informative things for you to read. Let me know what you like and don't like or ask questions!
My baby boy turned 1 this past Wednesday and in honor of that I would like to steal an idea from a friend and give you a little Kaden top 25
1. Kaden Jon Rhodes was born on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 10:02 am (tried to make 10, but doc was too slow!). He was born in delivery room 10 and we were moved to room 244 ( adds to 10). Cooky right! He also had approximately 10,000 photos taken that first day!
2. His first word was dada followed by dog, duck and finally mama!
3. He started sleeping through the night at about 3 months. (9pm to 6:30am)
4. He will sleep until 9:00 if given the opportunity but usually rises at 6:30 when his Mama goes to get him up. He usually wakes up with a smile but if not his first Molly kiss of the day usually does it!
5. He loves to flip light switches! He is successful only about 1/2 the time but loves to try!
6. He loves mirrors! We have always been able to make him smile by showing him a mirror. If I was that cute I would want to look at myself all the time too!
7. He loves dogs! As aforementioned, dog before mama! He loves to get open mouth kisses from Molly, we are working on keeping the mouth closed! He cracks himself up just going for a kiss!
8. His first real food was sweet potatoes, which he still prefers over french fries! Crazy! Interesting side note, sweet potatoes are one of the few foods his daddy doesn't like!
9. He started walking at 10 months and running at 10 1/2. This boy is on the move!
10. He loves books! Especially pop-ups! He will read the same where's baby book 50 times if you will let him!
11. He loves his stick horse. Before he could walk he would crawl and drag it with one hand, now he will sit on it and try to sing the bonanza song, that is what we always sing to get him to bounce up and down on it! He blows his lips and says bu bu as soon as we open the garage, this is his word for his stick horse!
12. He love peekaboo! with towels, blankets or even just look away and looking back really fast!
13. He loves to pretend to give you a bite of something and then quickly sticks it back in his own mouth. This cracks him up every time!
14. He will be attending his 2nd Baylor Homecoming this year, last year he went when he was 11 days old!
15. His wardrobe consists mostly of collared shirts, per Aunt Sissy's advice, jeans and shorts. We recently added shoes, he is better with them but still prefers bare feet!
16. He stays with Ms. Joyce this year while Mommy and Daddy work. Eric is teaching him to toughen up. He has learned to take a train to the head rather well.
17. He is allergic to clothing dye. If we put an outfit on him that hasn't been washed he immediately gets a rash!
18. He gave up his paci at 3 months and his bottles at 11 months. He also switched himself to real milk at 11 months, he just refused to drink formula anymore! who can blame him!
19. He loves to eat! but as I said more vegetable than anything! he also loves goldfish, puffs, string cheese, bread, peas, green beans and yogurt!
20. He loves barking at dogs. Maybe we have the next Dr. Doolittle.
21. He is named Kaden(because it was a name Jon and I liked 5 years ago and we thought it would be unique. Little did we know it would become one of the most popular names for 2006) and Jon (for his Daddy of course)! Hi snicknames include Sweet Boy, Munchkin and Bubba
22. He has bright blue eyes, everyone always asks if they can have them and white blond hair. He has already had two hair cuts! He hates them, by the way, but always looks so handsome afterwards! On occasion, he gets a little spike like daddy's!
23. His favorite kid show is Blue's Clues..a dog....... shocking I know!
24. He loves the water...unless it is on a rag trying to wash his face! He loves to swim(crawl in the shallow parts) and loves the Fort Worth Water Gardens!
25. He has the best laugh! He is super ticklish (like Daddy) and has had an awesome belly laugh since about 3 months!