Thursday, June 26, 2008

From the Mouth of Kaden

Here are some of the things we have caught Kaden saying lately. It is so funny to hear him use these phrases!


"more jumping"- Means he wants to jump off the edge into the pool some more. No, he doesn't want anyone to catch him either.

"Puppy shoes"- Refers to the new croc like shoes he got at CVS. The bottom of the pool was tearing up his feet so he wears these now. They have pictures of a dog head on the sides. They are called Doggies.... hence the nickname

"yep"- self explanatory

"See ya."- usually followed with a wave as he walks off

Who wants to ______? He replies "Me!"- so cute!

"Nemo water"- water that si serve din his Nemo cup, usually right before bed.

"Where _____ go?"- used to find someone or something that has left his eyeline.

"I see"- Used when he is looking for something and suddenly finds it!

"Seat!"- used followed by a pat to tell you where he wants you to sit. Especially likes to use when it is time for bed and he wants you to stay in the rocking chair.

"Hannah"- used in refers to girls, pink things, and, of course, pictures of his beloved Hannah!

Pain in the Neck

As some of you know, I have had problems with my back and hip for quite a while. Recently I have been having pains in my neck and shoulder but had chalked it up to more good luck in the joint department. On Monday I started having pain down my right arm and into my hand. I couldn't even hold a pen without wincing in pain. I finally decided to head to the doc in the box since my trusty chiro was out of town. Turns out I am having muscle spasms in my neck that are constricting blood flow causing the pain in my hand. I stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday morning to ice and take tylenol. At night I get to take the good stuff, though I think I am going to go without it because it seems to make me nauseous! Fun right!
Anyway after torturous massages and rest the pain in my hand is gone, the pain in my neck is still hanging around but is improving marginally due to aforementioned massages....truly are torturous...painful but helpful.......
All that to say here are some cute pics fo Kaden passing the time while waiting at CVS for Mommy's drugs!
All of a sudden he is obsessed with sunglasses. He calls them "eyes!"


Hmmm.....I heard that was a great read

Geez can't a person doing his shopping in peace!
Sweet a delicious chocking hazard!
If there something on my face?
I will take this one!

Rock Star!

Aunt Sissy bought the new Rock Band for Wii this past weekend. We had a lot of fun and as you can see Kaden even got in on the action. He loves to close his eyes, dance around and sing his rockstar heart out! So cute!



Kaden with his back up band!












Afterwards we went to a waterpark in Hurst with our chruch. Sorry this was the only pic I got but Kaden had a blast swimming...yes you read that right! He doggy paddles like crazy! Hopefully we will get some video up soon! He also loved the "waterplayground". No other playground will ever hold a candle to this one!

Wild Weekend!

With Daddy away in Vegas for the week, Kaden and I needed some fun too. We went to Raiforest Cafe with Sissy, Melynda, her mom, and Zach.
My normally fearless boy was not so fearless.
While Zach pointed out Dory in the fish tank

Kaden was balled up in fear in Sissy's lap

He and I walked out early and located this buggy for our walk to the other side of Grapevine Mills. It was a lifesaver!


The boys all got to ride the carousel while Mommy took pictures. I don't so much like going in circle in case you didn't know! It was Zach's first time on one, I didn't know sorry Diana! They all had a great time! Kaden liked it much more than the one he rode last!

Sissy and Zach

Sissy, Zach, Melynda and Kaden


Jordan and His Nana

Each boy got a new friend. Nemo for Kaden, Cha Cha for Zach and Jordan




Now it was time to head to Chick-Fil-a for some ice cream and play time!


Spider Kaden and Spider Jordan!


Silly boys! It is so much fun to watch them play! I hope they stay friends for a long time!

We got home at 9:45! Party animals right! Zach's Mommy and Daddy were cool with it though!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Eating Nemo by Jon

This summer I have an amazing opportunity to stay at home and watch Kaden. I truly love spending time with him and doing new things with him every day. I know that he is only 20 months old and that he probably won't remember these outings but I think that it is good to get him out of the house and to go places with him. I am not saying that the "Father of the Year" award is in the bag or anything but I will say that I was so proud of myself the other day when I thought of the perfect outing for Kaden and myself. I wanted to take him somewhere that he would enjoy and have fun. I wanted to take him some where that I would enjoy and have fun. His obsession with Fish and Animals makes the Zoo a top choice. It is fun and exciting for him to see the different animals as well as educational so that his mind will be stimulated. The only problem with the Zoo is that it is in downtown, at least a 30 minute drive, will cost me $12 to get in, we will only be able to stay a couple of hours before we have to get Kaden back for a nap, and one of the biggest concerns is that the blazing Texas heat can make the experience with a cranky 20 month old a little less than a perfect father son outing. But I (soon to be "Father of the Year") have thought of the perfect thing to do that gets all of the benefits of the Zoo with none of the drawbacks. CABELLAS! It is full of his favorite animals (just because they are stuffed doesn't make them any less of his favorite animals), has giant aquariums, is less than 5 minutes from our house, doesn't cost anything to enter, and is air conditioned! What could be more perfect? I am telling you, I was really quite smitten with myself for thinking of this genius idea. When we get there and roll through the doors Kaden immediately started pointing out the different animals and just looked awestruck by the different types of birds, Elk, goats, deer, and moose that lined the walls. I walk him over to aquariums to look at the fish. He is so excited and fascinated by the fish and especially the turtles that are in the tank. (I am telling you, at this point I can't stop mentally patting my self on the back and thinking of what we should clear off the mantel for that "FOTY award") We go inside the walk through part of the aquarium and start looking at the really big fish. I look on the wall and see that they feed the fish twice a week on Monday's and Fridays at 12:00pm and you can watch. It is our luck that when I see this it is 11:45am on a Friday and they are going to feed them in 15 minutes. Knowing how much Kaden loves to feed the fish at "D" and Pappa's house I am giving myself a standing ovation for truly picking the perfect outing that could quite possibly go down as Kaden's best day of life to date. Since we had already been looking at the fish for a good 20 minutes and they were not really that active I figured that I would go look around the store for a Father's Day gift for my dad (Kaden's "Pappa") and then we could come back to see the big fish get all worked up for some fish food. This plan also allowed me to do some practical things like pick up a Father's Day gift with out having to continually get Kaden in and out of the car. (I hope at this point you are seeing the genius of this trip from multiple different levels.) As we finish up looking for some shirts that my dad might be able to use on his fishing trip to Alaska this summer I realize that it is 12:02 and we should go back over to the aquarium. As we walk in there is an employee that has some buckets of different things and looks like he has been talking to the small crowd of people standing there and says, “If there aren’t any more questions I will climb up there and feed the fish.” About 30 seconds later we are watching the tank closely and from the top of the water all of these flakes start coming down, kind of like big rice. The fish suddenly perk up and start jumping after this food. It really is kind of neat. It sparks my interest and the interest of all of those around which by know is almost a full crowd that fills the aquarium tunnel which we stand directly in the middle of surrounded on all sides. The fish eat the flakes for a couple of minutes when all the sudden I see this little perch jump into the aquarium. Now he is a pretty little guy and there are all of these really big fish swimming around, and right as I put two and two together that perch disappeared and the very large fish that was next to it had a tiny perch tail hanging out the side of his mouth. At this point I guess It would have been beneficial to hear that employee’s little talk about what he was going to do before I took my 20 month old to see Faces of Death: aquatic style. I am still thinking to myself that this probably won’t be that bad, some of those perch blend in really well and are getting picked off pretty quick so maybe Kaden won’t see them. And then all of the sudden I hear a word that I was surprised I had not heard yet come out of my son’s mouth, “NEMO!” as I look up to see gold fish being dumped into the tank. Not the scrawny gold fish that you win at the fair for tossing a ping pong ball in the little gold fish bowl, no these were gold fish that were the larger size you would see at Petsmart, the kind Kaden likes to look at in the back yard at “D” and Papa’s. They are big bright fresh meat for these gargantuan monsters swimming around the tank. There was no mistaking that these little Nemo’s were being dumped into the tank swimming their hardest to get to the bottom where they could see some cover only to be snapped up in the blink of an eye. I looked down at Kaden to get his reaction, and really not knowing what to do and whether we should leave or if that would cause more of a scene or what type of action I should take. But I look at his face and for the first time I can remember I see real confusion in his eyes and on his face. He is not sad, he is not upset, He was just sitting there perplexed and every now and then he would mutter “Nemo”. I hope that did not spur on night mares, I hope that he might have learned a little about the scientific food chain, but most of all I hope that he will not bottle it up some day to spill this story to a therapist while trying to find out why he is afraid to love because his father took him to see his first love, “Nemo” get devoured and torn to shreds in front of his face. But as for the “Father of the Year” Award…There is always next year.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Movie Night in Cowtown

During the Summer in Downtown Fort Worth they show Movies on a big screen in Sundance Square. Last Thursday, Jon and Kaden came and met me to watch Hairspray. It was a lot of fun but next time we are going a little later! They got here around 6. We had dinner at Zippy's an old fashioned diner and then got set up to wait. The movie didn't start until 9! Good thing Kaden had a big nap!


Waiting for the movie to start we took a walk to check out the "big moo cow!"

Kaden gets in the Spirit by re-creating Godzilla



Time for an ice cream treat!

Family portrait. Mommy is kind of cut out but there is actually a smile on Kaden's face! A cute cheerleaderish girl was taking the photo. hmmm....



Kaden with his favorite parents!


Daddy and Kaden checking out the Cows on the wall

He really wanted to take a picture, can you tell?

Coloring like a good boy. We figuredout that by granting Kaden's request to take his shoes off we could actually contain him on the blanket because the asphalt was hot!

The movie wasn't over until 11! Kaden hung in the whole time but quickly fell asleep in the car!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Just Keep Scrolling! Just Keep Scrolling, Scrolling!

I think I have seen Nemo one too many times!

Lots of new posts! Keep on scrolling!

Mother's Day Revisited

Again due to computer fialure pictures from Mother's day never made it up! so here goes!

We started the day at a park. One fo Kaden's favorite places. It was surprisingly chilly and windy but that didn't detour us from sliding and swinging.



Afterwards we met my brother for some yummy breakfast. Ginger Browns! If you haven't tried it, you should! Sorry no pics! Just imagine ewwy gooey cinnamon rolls!
After a nap Kaden went to his first birthday party at the Dallas Zoo for Jordan!

Big 3 year old Jordan!

Checking out the ducks...quack!

More slides! YEAH!

Is that Nemo?

My favorite part! CAKE!
Kaden finished his experience with a ride on a zebra and an elephant!
Even Sissy got in on the action!

What a fun day! Thanks for making me a Mommy, Kaden!

Fearless Part Deux

At our small group on Memorial Day they set up a Slip n' Slide for the kids. Teh rest of the kids were a tleast a year older but Kaden wasnt' going to sit by and watch. He was going to join the action.

Not my favorite activity as a child. Probably due to my ability injure myself.
As you can see, I can't even help Kaden that well!
Not enough weight to get any speed, never my problem!

But Kaden, of course, loved it!
Especially after Daddy started throwing him!

Now we are talking!


Fearless

I am not going to lie my son is fearless when it comes to water. This child LOVES water and just because he is only a couple feet tall doesn't mean he isn't going to head directly to the deep end of the pool.
Just last night he was kicking and splashing around in the deep end, with his fun new floatie suit, of course, without a care. ( Dont' worry Mommy managed to keep her hands on him)

He loves to sit on the side and jump in but his favorite thing is plunge underneath. (Giving Mommy a heartattack) The look of excitement on his face is awesome!

He still hasn't figured out how to close his mouth, so he drinks a lot of water...which later leads to heavy diapers. He doesn't care at all!

It is great and Jon is certain that he has a rollercoaster rider at last!
These are some pictures from Aunt Allison's from a few weeks ago!

BTW... He is much "too big" to wear these floaties now...hence the suit that he is not able to remove the flotation devices from.
Enough pictures, Let's swim!
Swimming to Daddy
Getting some sun

Abercrombie Model in the making