Matthews Life

Two Two!

2011-10-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

Maya is TWO!!!!

Happy birthday to my beautiful, sweet little Maya! It is so hard to believe that she is already two years old, it's flown by! Maya is the sweetest, kindest little girl. She has the biggest heart. She is a peacemaker and she brings so much joy into our home!!

We had a fun day and it was so special having Ben home for her birthday- one advantage to having her birthday be on Thanksgiving day!! Here are some pictures from her special day:

We gave Maya a special breakfast in bed. Blueberries and donuts! She made me so proud when she reached for her blueberries first... before the donuts! Yeah!!

Caden was so excited that it was Maya's birthday. He helped her with everything- breakfast in bed, opening presents, feeling special... he is sure a good brother!!

We spent the morning at one of Maya's favourite places... the ZOO! She loves animals so much. We had a great time!!

We had a fun Dora themed party this evening. For those of you who may not know... Maya is obsessed with Dora! Birthday signs look a lot better when there is an artist in the family! Ha!

Maya's Dora cake. Caden was probably just as, if not more, excited about the cake then Maya was!

The tradition of "smoking" heads into cakes... ha! The kids love it!

Thankfully Mom brought some pies with her for everyone else to eat for dessert... I guess she remembers what the kid's cakes usually end up looking like!

Cuddling her new doll. She has become quite the Daddy's girl this past month!

Story time!

She is such a girly girl!!

Pushing her new baby

Maya loved the attention!

Maya got some really awesome presents and I know she felt so special all day long!! Ah, I just love being a mom! It was extra special having Maya's birthday be on Thanksgiving day this year... I truly am grateful to have her in my life. Being a mom is the most wonderful blessing.
Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped celebrate her! It meant so much to us!!

We love you, Maya Moo!!! xoxox

Joy School

2011-09-14T11:45:00.001-07:00

My kids are growing up WAY too fast.

Today Caden had his first day of Joy School!!

He was a little nervous about going but ended up having a GREAT time. I feel very lucky to be able to do this Joy School. I really didn't want to send Caden to preschool for various reasons, so I got a group of moms together and organized this. There are 4 other families doing it with us and they are all great. I will host every 5 weeks, which is perfect. I am excited for Caden to get to know the kids even better and have some awesome experiences!!

Maya was devastated to have Caden gone. She is so used to having him around. She cried in the car on the way home when she realized that we had left Caden. She kept asking where Caden had gone. It was really nice for me to get some one-on-one time with her, but I know she probably would have preferred to have Caden their playing with us :) (We played trains, trucks and lego while Caden was gone... haha, can you tell she wants to be just like him?)

Big Girl

2011-09-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Right now Maya is having her first nap in her new "big girl" bed...

How can she be that old ALREADY??

Monster Party

2011-08-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Caden's much anticipated "Monster Party" finally arrived, and we had a blast!

Caden helped to make and deliver monster invitations to his friends. It's funny to see little 4 year olds interact with each other. Friends are very important to Caden and he just loves to be around people!

Caden just couldn't figure out how to contain his excitement and was BURSTING with energy the entire time! Maya couldn't figure out what to wear to the party... so many bows and so little time!

I loved that Caden included Maya in the party without being asked to. He always ran to her to give her hugs, made sure she was sitting right next to him and paid special attention to her.

Here are some pictures from our party:

We started off making foam monsters which the kids had fun with!

(I was so grateful for all of Ben's help getting ready for the party and during the party.

He was awesome!)

Playing outside!

Playing "pin the eye on the monster". Caden thought it was SO funny!!

The kids all ready to eat dinner (chicken fingers, fries and veggies)

Caden's 5 eyed-monster cake (The eyeballs are cakepops.. so delish!)

and the furry monster bodies ready for the kids to decorate!

Maya discovered that she LOVES cakepops!

(She calls them "eye... bahs!")

I made chocolate monster body parts (eyeballs, horns, fangs, arms, bows, teeth, etc) for the kids to decorate their own monster cupcakes. I wasn't sure if 4 year olds would enjoy this or not... but thankfully they loved it! One of the best parts of the party!

Hard at work decorating his monster cupcake

Maya didn't care about decorating... but she did manage to eat her fair share :)

Doesn't Caden have some adorable friends?!

Caden got some really awesome presents!

The monster pinata I made. Isn't he CUTE?

Smash!!

The kids gathering the candy from the pinata. All of the kids got a turn hitting the pinata, and Caden was able to break it on his second turn. Couldn't have turned out better!

Instead of treat bags, we sent the kids home with the cutest monsters!!

(Thank you Superstore sale section!)

This is Caden after the party with his presents. I couldn't possibly get him to look at the camera because he was too excited about his presents to take his eyes off of them! Ha!

So we had a great party and I felt very grateful that Caden has such good friends! I love birthdays and that they are such a good way to help kids feel important and special! And he definitely did!

Caden is FOUR!

2011-08-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my baby boy is FOUR years old! We had a blast today celebrating him. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make him feel SO special. He had the time of his life and felt so loved!

Here are a couple pictures from the day:

Caden enjoying his breakfast in bed (He requested Fruit Loops)

Caden teaching Maya how to say FOUR!!

Dad and Caden playing with Caden's new lego

Kung Fu Party!!

Auntie Lara with the kids

Cousin love!

The annual tradition of "smoking his head" into the cake!

Love the expressions in this picture!

Caden and Maya eating the cake!

I'm too exhausted from the day to write too much, but I wanted to post the "birthday interview" I had with him today!

-What's your favourite food? "Noodles and hamburgers"

-What are your favourite movies? "Toy Story, Cars 2, Monsters Inc, Kung Fu Panda"

-Who is your best friend? "Xander because I love playing with him and George and Jack because they teach me a lot about Mario"

-Where's your favourite place to go? "Grandma's house, Boston Pizza in Airdrie, upstairs and the zoo."

-What do you want to be when you grow up? "A zoo worker because I want to take care of the animals and even if they are about to poop on me I'll just open up the cage and let them walk around the zoo for a few minutes"

-What's the best thing about being four? "You can go on the Super Jet (at Calaway Park) and play Super Smash Bros."

-Who do you want to marry? "Maya, because she is so special and cute to me."

-Anything else? "My favourite utensil is a knife because you can stab things"

I love that kid so much. I am so grateful to be his mommy!

Happy Birthday, Caden!! xoxo

(Just wanted to say how special it was to have Sheri there for the party via Skype! Love that we can do that!! Thanks Sher!)

Roxie

2011-08-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun week watching Roxie. The kids are helping to earn some money for our upcoming Disneyland trip and they took their responsibility very seriously. They were the best dog watchers ever. I think I may want a dog sooner than I realized!

Caden spent the entire week carrying around his toy dog (also named Roxie). He took him everywhere! We even tied his belt around the dogs neck and brought him on our walks. Every few minutes his toy dog needed to stop and go poo.

Maya shrieked with excitement every morning to see Roxie. She gave her lots of hugs and kisses (and I think Roxie actually enjoyed it!) and also lots of cheese! Both Caden and Maya loved to take Roxie on walks and they both especially loved to hold the leash.

We have missed Roxie the last few days and are excited to watch her again!!

Caden pushing Maya at the off-leash area

Caden and Roxie playing "hide and seek"

Not "Roxie related" but I just love these pictures of my kids...

Boy vs. Girl

2011-07-12T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it shocks me how different Caden and Maya are!

Maya REALLY cares about how she looks. She spends her play time dressing up, looking in the mirror, smiling at and kissing herself. She kisses her dolls and puts them to "sleep". She sings and dances. She spends her time trying on shoes and figuring out how to get pants on. She walks around the house pretending to talk to "mama and papa" on the phone.

Caden spends his play time running around the house, jumping off of couches and crashing cars into each other. He plays with animals that attack each other and die! He spends his energy plotting how to defeat the next bully he meets.

Maya has a 10 minute tantrum every single morning because she always has a different outfit in mind. She becomes FURIOUS if she wants to wear something that is far too dirty or too small to wear, or when it is time to change into pajamas. (I try to let her choose between the clean clothes that fit her, but that often isn't good enough, haha). She gets very upset when I try to put her clothes on, instead of letting her do it herself.

Caden will wear whatever I ask him to as long as I put it on for him. He hates worrying about getting dressed. While I get him dressed, he says things like, "I just ate some serious boogers" and "I'll show you stinky!" to which he ends with the biggest fart he can... and of course the biggest laugh!

But despite how different they are in so many ways, they are best friends! They love to play together all day long. Maya follows Caden around the house saying "eeee... what's up doc?" (Although it sounds more like eee... uuu.. dooo"). Anything he is interested in, so is she. Caden reads Maya books and they play "dolls and cars" together. Maya has learned to crash her dolls into Caden's cars, and Caden is learning how to carry Maya around the house softly.

I just love seeing them compromise their differences and making memories together!!

Cousins

2011-07-11T15:11:00.001-07:00

Caden randomly asked me this morning,

"Mom, are cousins just people who live far away?"

So sad! Let's not let that be the case! We need to plan some visits and skype dates asap!!

(Long) Picture Post

2011-06-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I suck at blogging. I know.

I always feel that there is SO much to write and I never have enough time... so I don't write. And then there are so many MORE things that happen that I should write about... so then I am so behind and I just read your blogs instead! (Or I would if you'd update once in a while)

So here is my update post with lots of pictures to tell the story of the last few months!

We had such a fun trip to Utah for Dave and Cortny's wedding. I am so happy for both of them and so excited to have Cortny as a new sister! The wedding was so beautiful (as were both of them) and we had an incredible open house with the best food EVER up in Canada.

We are expecting baby #3... a girl! We are so excited, happy and nervous about this next step! Caden has been so funny about this pregnancy. He was actually the one to announce it to our ward during his Sunbeam lesson about bodies. He always comes and "talks" to his baby and tells her what he is wearing, what he is eating and what he is thinking.

Caden's artwork of a baby in moms tummy

This is me at 14 weeks. Obviously I am A LOT bigger now (at 23 weeks) but luckily don't have any updated pictures ;)

We had a very fun Easter! It is so fun to be a mom and get to experience the excitement and magic of things like easter egg hunts all over again.

Ben and Maya playing on Easter morning

We took the kids on a walk to get some Easter pictures. I am so happy with how they turned out. I am definitely not a photographer, but I am grateful to have a nice camera to get some good pictures of these stinkers.

Doesn't Maya look beautiful in her new Easter dress? (Thanks Grandma!)

Crazy Kati Anne broke her leg. We had fun (I'm sure a lot more fun than her!) visiting her in the hospital. Caden is quite concerned about when he will have his surgery after seeing both Dave and Kati Anne go through it. At the rate he runs and jumps around, I'm sure it will be soon!

I am still taking cake orders, but being more picky with which ones I take. We are trying to save up enough money to take our family to Disneyland/Carsland next summer. I have a jar in my closet full of the money we get from each cake order... and I am happy to say the jar is getting pretty full! I let Caden put the money in after each cake order so that he can see the progress we are making and get excited about it!

Here are a few of the cakes I've done the last few months:

We have been loving the nice weather and being able to play outside. We've gone hiking, fed the ducks at Bowness park, found salamanders on worm hunts, gone to the Zoo almost every week, played at the park multiple times and just had fun! I am so happy that it is summer!

We had a fun surprise visit from David, Sheri and Scott. I love being an aunt! Baby Scott is so much fun. He is ALWAYS happy and smiling! My kids love their cousins so much and loved having Sheri's family here. (Come back anytime!!!)

Kati Anne graduated a few weeks ago. I am so grateful to live close to family so that we can be involved in these things! She looked incredibly stunning and we are so proud of her for walking across the stage without her crutches!

Caden and Maya have been taking swimming lessons the last few months. Caden wasn't so sure about it at first, but was so brave and ended up LOVING it. Maya got to have Mom and Dad come to class with her, so she loved it the whole time. Swimming lessons just ended last week and this week the kids start Gymnastics! I am so excited for them... they will LOVE it. (And thanks to the government of Canada for proving these expensive lessons free of charge to me for being a Stay-at-Home-Mom!)

The kids (especially Maya) have a new obsession with dressing up. They use anything they can find and are constantly trying "new looks". Caden's current favourite look is "captain underpants"... unfortunately, he doesn't care if the underpants are clean or not! Maya wears her sunglasses every second that she can... even if that means during Sacrament meeting. Maya has also decided that pants are unnecessary and takes them off at every chance she can.

I have been busy with Activity Days. We just had a big "Amazing Race" day camp on Saturday. It was a lot of work and I am so glad it's over. But it was a blast and the girls LOVED it. Activity Days is over now for the summer (yes, my calling is better than yours because I get summers off!). Here is a picture from our "Tea Party" a few months ago-

Saturday night we went to see Cars 2. I love our annual tradition of going to see Pixar movies. Cars 2 was very fun and we all enjoyed it. (Well, Maya mostly enjoyed the large popcorn bag on her lap...)

We finally got sod in our backyard! Thanks so much to Ben for all of his hard work and to everyone who helped us out. We had a lot of support. We are also in the middle of painting the kids rooms. So far the rooms look great and I can't wait to be finished!

We are all doing great and loving life.

.....And I promise to do better with regular updates!

Masterpieces

2011-02-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

I LOVE seeing Caden's creations, whether it's something he made from playdough, something he painted (sometimes even on his tummy...), but especially something he's drawn. It is so fun to see the things he comes up with and I just love watching him grow and learn. He spends so much time drawing, trying to get things just right (he's like his daddy!). Here are some of my favourites:

Darth Vader and his many lightsabers

My artists... and another Star Wars character holding a lightsaber

Moustache man (plus a little moustache artist)

Someone fighting "the force". Note the detail of a belly button.. haha!

Finger-painted dragon (the one from Paper Bag Princess!)

Dancing man. This one makes me smile!

This is the Cinderella picture he drew for Maya. Note the dress :)

I'm sad I couldn't rotate this one. Rotate your head, because it's probably my very favourite of all. It's our family.

Note me.. I'm the one with the "really big mouth"... haha, thanks Caden!!

Aren't those priceless?!!

♥

2011-02-14T12:25:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

We just celebrated our FIVE year anniversary! In honor of Mom and Dad's fifth anniversary, we headed out with the kids to Dairy Queen for blizzards (although we didn't just get one!)

Then the next day, Mom and Dad watched the kids (thank you SO much!!) so that Ben and I could take off to Banff overnight. We'd never left the kids overnight anywhere before- but they did great! And we had such a fun time. It was so much fun to just hang out together and explore Banff sans kids.

This was the view from our hotel room. Banff is so beautiful!

I love my man!

Speaking of love, my kids never cease to make me smile with their cute little words and actions. The other day, Caden found a box of his old clothing. He immediately ran to Maya and gave her all of his clothes, because they are too small for him now. He said to me, "Why do I just LOVE Maya SO much?" (awww!)

Caden insisted that Maya wear his old "Lightning McQueen" shirt, and because it made him so happy to see her wear something that he used to love so much, I allowed it. Maya was pretty excited about it, too. She carried one of Caden's red cars around all day with it.

I hope that everyone has a

wonderful Valentine's Day!

We'll be celebrating all day with crafts and cookies.

Caden's Recap

2011-01-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

We started a new years goal to write in a "family journal" every week. Each week one of us will take a turn recapping what has been going on in our family. We started with Caden "writing" the first entry. He was really excited about it. Here's what he had to say....

"We write in a family journal.

We saw "Tangled" today. A bad guy pulled her hair. I liked it.

I went to primary and there wasn't much kids. My teachers weren't boys, they were just girls. Well, Brooklyn wasn't giving me her bracelet. It was like twenty minutes that we held hands. She said "wacelet" not bracelet. Well, Malachi dropped his warm fuzzy and I got it for him.

Christmas is about Jesus. I got a Big Buzz that pops out wings and a car with wings. Mom's Cricut machine makes cupcakes and sharks.

Maya takes off balls and decorations from the Christmas tree. She gave me a Buzz car.

Baby Scott is a lot closing his eyes, not opening his eyes. He was born on Christmas day! I love you, Baby Scott. I don't want baby Scott to go back to Heaven.

Jesus made me but I didn't have any bodies.

I love to play Grandma's Pixar game.

Thank you everything you've given to us, Heavenly Father."

This picture is of Caden before church...

his FIRST day of PRIMARY!! I can't believe how old he is!

And look how handsome he is in his new tie!

What a sweet boy. I just love hearing him talk. He is so entertaining. Tonight we were playing before bedtime and I was just laughing and laughing at him for like 5 straight minutes. He is so full of energy and life!

This is another picture from before church. I was so proud of myself for getting such a cute picture of Caden and Maya both sitting and cuddling.... that was until I took a closer look at the picture and realized that Maya was struggling for her life! She sure loves Caden, but she has had to learn to be a tough little girl to deal with his "tough love".

Maya wouldn't let me put her down today. I vacuumed, made dinner, cleaned up, went grocery shopping, did the dishes, all with her in my arms. It's a good thing she is so dang cute!!

Look at those stunning eyes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

Christmas Baby

2010-12-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Look what I got this year....

An adorable nephew!!!

Isn't he perfect? Newborns are amazing... their soft, soft skin,

hairy backs, warm snuggles.

But I do not want one.

I have to keep reminding myself of that ;)

Feel free to make me as many nieces and nephews as possible. I promise to cuddle them whenever possible.

Welcome, baby Scott!

We sure love you and are soooo excited that you decided to be

a Canadian baby!

A few little gems

2010-12-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to write my kids letters every few months to record their growth, development and the funny little things that happen. I was going through some notes I'd made and found some quotes from Caden. Enjoy!

-“Maya, it’s past your bedtime. Maya, our friendship will never die!”

-Dad was wrestling with Caden and pretending to eat him. Caden screamed "Jesus, help me!" When Ben put Caden down, Caden said to him "Dad, you should tell Jana I say Jesus help me!

-Dad said “Caden, do you want to get baptized?” Caden answered "All my wrongs might get washed away!”

-“Maya, I’m gonna pay you TWO BUCKS to put your hand in the toilet with my poo!”

-In the middle of the night, he came into my room, looked me straight in the face and said “You are a great Mom!”

-When Maya was putting her fingers in his mouth, he said “Maya, I’m not suppose to eat fingers, I’m suppose to eat food!”

-“Mom, do you get to heaven on an airplane or a ladder?”

-“Spencer just thinks he’s a PEZ dis-spencer!”

-“Jesus was going to make me a bad robber, but then he just sewed my arm like this and my leg like this, and made me Caden instead”

-After being told not to do something he said to me “I don’t like you on Earth anymore, Mom. Go back to heaven!”

-“Hey Dad, when I was a baby, when we were in Heaven, me and you went on a sea-turtle. Remember that?

-“How do you be like Jesus?" Dad answered that you be nice and you share. Caden quickly told him, “You should tell that to Maya cus’ she broke a Christmas tree ornament, so that’s why she’s not like Jesus!”

Do you remember any funny or cute things that he's said? If you do, write it in the comments so I can record and remember as many moments from his childhood as possible!

From Santa

2010-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Caden wrote Santa a letter this year (well, actually he drew Santa a picture of Buzz Lightyear as a wish list). In return, Santa sent him a little video. Check it out!

Baby Girl!

2010-12-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

Meet Maya Lee. Girly girl.

She loves to dress up.

Hats, shoes, fur coats, necklaces and bracelets.

She will bring the girliest things she can find, sit on your lap and giggle while getting dressed.

If fussy in the grocery store, just give her a pair of shoes to hold and she'll calm right down.

If she see's a picture of herself, she cuddles it.

She talks on the phone (or calculator, or TV remote) for hours, while walking around in circles.

It's serious business.

When you tell her she is beautiful, she smiles, lifts her shoulders, tilts her head to the side and listens intently for more praises.

Oh dear.

Kisses

2010-12-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Caden has taught Maya so many things- how to "shoot" your arm's built in Buzz laser, how to run (away from him!), how to play, color, sing, laugh, how to hide...

But of all the things he has taught her... the kisses are by far my fav!

P.S. Don't my kids look alike?!?!

Birthday Highlights

2010-11-04T08:06:00.000-07:00

I've slacked off on blogging lately.. but we've had TWO birthdays! I can't believe that I now have a three year old and a one year old! We had so much fun celebrating their birthdays. Actually, we probably had too much fun (which I realized when Caden started referring to his friend birthday party as his "wedding reception") Since I'm fighting off Caden trying to give me a "booger bath" as he calls it, (he's wiping his boogers all over my arms as I type this!) I'll just add the pictures rather than try to write all about them.. (then I'll go take a shower!)

Caden's Birthday(s):

Ben teaching Caden the art of the pinata

Giving Xander-man a hug at his friend birthday

party- he LOVES his friends!

Birthday cupcakes- riding in style!

Eating "Breakfast in Bed"

Enjoying his water gun party!!

THREE!!!

Maya's first birthday:

Birthday cuddles with Dad!

Enjoying her balloons!!

Maya, Mommy and her birthday cake!

Smiles while being sung to! Happy birthday, Maya!!

Mmm...cake! She loved it!

Burning off that sugar with Pappa-Daddy!!

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate,

we all felt very loved!

Buttercream Purse

2010-11-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

Hi Family! If you feel like winning a cool purse for me, please feel free to enter HERE with as many email addresses as you can.

Thanks!

Fabulous Fall

2010-10-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE the fall. The beautiful leaves, the cooler weather (no, seriously), sweaters (no more having to show off the love handles!), Taber corn and the excuse to eat pumpkin flavoured anything. I am especially excited about this Fall because I am not pregnant or postpartum! And that means enjoying the playgrounds, going on nature walks, jumping in leaves and having FUN!

We kicked off the season last week by having a "Fabulous Fall" playdate with my good friend, Lauren, and her boys. Lauren is the new Martha Stewart. Seriously, she blows me away with her creativity. The kids had a hot cocoa tea-party, which although Caden refused any hot cocoa (that kid drinks nothing but water!) he had the time of his life!

Maya thoroughly enjoyed the game of trying to eat the food the kids would throw to her before I was able to intercept. That girl. She turns ONE on Sunday. Can you believe it? It has been a challenging year, probably my hardest year yet. But it has also been my GREATEST year.

It makes me sad that she isn't my LITTLE baby anymore. (But she is so much fun and I can't wait to continue watching her grow and learn. She has such a sweet personality and just LOVES to have fun. Being a stay-at-home mom is such a blessing and I am SO grateful for this time in my life. Hard at times, yes, but so rewarding.

Happy Fall Everyone!

I Spy....

2010-09-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

I spy...

the letter "E"

an ice-cream cone

a tea-party

Buzz Lightyear

I spy...

One very good boy who helped for over an hour with the clean-up.

Big Hill Springs

2010-09-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

I just have to say how much I LOVE my new calling. Being the Activity Day leader is the funnest calling in the whole church! The girls are SO motivated and excited to be at the activities! Such a change from enrichment! Last night we went on a beautiful hike to Big Hill Springs (15 mins from Airdrie- the most beautiful provincial park!) I had been really nervous about this activity because I didn't know how the weather would be, but it was beautiful. The girls had a great time. It's a really easy hike, with lots of waterfalls, a stream to play in and rocks to climb on.

We saw a HUGE owl- Grandpa Parsons would have been jealous! Anyways, I can't believe that I have never been to, or heard of Big Hill Springs because it was beautiful. Definitely my next location for family pictures!

I started a little program for the girls to memorize their Articles of Faith- and they must be liking it because some of them have been getting together after school to memorize! (Oh to be young!) Anyways, I'm excited about my calling as I'm sure you can tell. And with only one girl offended so far, I think I'm off to a pretty good start... ;) (1 out of 14 isn't bad, right? Just kidding, I'm smoothing it over)

Back to Blogging!

2010-09-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

I PROMISE that I will start updating more often. Summer was a little crazy, but so fun! I want to post some pictures and blog about some of the fun things (reunion, Caden's birthday, Calaway park, etc!) But for now, I'll just get a blog out there before Maya wakes up.

We are getting back to "real life" (cleaning, church callings, laundry, etc) after a very fun summer! I don't know if I'm ready for it yet. I think with two active kids, I may go a little crazy during the winter months.... Or are we already crazy?

Either way, I need to find some ways to keep Caden active and happy while we can't go to the park everyday. Any ideas? We are going to try edible playdough today. Anyways, have a great day, from the Crazy Matthews!!

How low can you go?!

2010-07-13T06:41:00.000-07:00

I was dancing around the kitchen this morning during breakfast when Caden said, "Mom, why you dancing like a Toy Story barbie?"

For those of you who've seen me dance, it's probably true...! My kids love it, but I am smart enough to wait until Ben leaves for work ;)

Sometimes I wonder if I am teaching my kids anything worthwhile.... but at least they will know how to have fun!

Baby Girl!

2010-06-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Lara and Ben on their beautiful baby girl,

Bethany Jane Goldie!!

We can't wait to properly meet her (in person rather than skype!!)

Caden has been talking about "Maya's cousin and Caden's cousin" for the past two days!!

(I am so in love with this picture. Look at her gorgeous little smile! AAAAhhh I love her!)

We love you Bethany- welcome to our family!!

Lots to catch up on....

2010-05-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have so much blogging to catch up on. The longer I postpone it, the harder it is to do because I have so much catching up to do. Therefore, this may be a very long (and probably boring) post.

We are in Airdrie now! The move went really smoothly. Thank you so much to everyone that did so much to help. I felt very loved and supported with all of the time and energy people put in to helping us.

Thank you especially to Dad, for being such a kind, generous and cool landlord. Please pray, everyone, that the townhouse will sell (soon!) so that Dad won't have to rent it out again.

We LOVE our new house, especially the playroom and the kitchen. Oh how I love my kitchen! It is SO nice to have space to put everything. I feel so organized and cleaning up is so much easier! We have a lot to do still to be completely settled (we are still waiting on some furniture, grass, etc). We do really miss our old place though. Caden has cried a few times to go back to his old house, but he loves his new "Buzz Lightyear" room.

Airdrie seems kind of redneck, trailer trash in a lot of areas, but we love our community. We have some friendly neighbors and a couple of really close parks. We are having a hard time adjusting to our new branch, though. It seems that everyone is related to each other and in their own little world. I have tried to get involved with bake sales, enrichment, etc but it's going to take a while for us to feel like it's "our" branch. I think when we get callings it will really help. I swear though, If I have to sit by myself in one more Relief Society, I am going to snap. Thankfully, I have Maya to keep me company in Relief Society ;)

We had a fun Easter! The Easter bunny brought Caden a Buzz Lightyear flashlight instead of candy this year. He loved it. We had fun decorating Easter eggs with Dan, Patience and her sister's family. Every time Caden sees an egg now, he wants to color it.

Maya turned six months old and started eating solids! She is a great eater and has a great appetite! Her favorite food right now is sweet potatoes and avocado. She is such a great little baby! (Although she is not so little anymore, which makes me sad!). She is still the most easy going little girl with the most beautiful smile.

(Caden was most likely saying something like, "Oh Maya Moo, beautiful girl. Aaaaaah Maya")

I love being a mom. It is such a blessing to see my kids make progress, explore and learn. Caden and Maya love each other so much. I love hearing them "talk" to each other. Caden loves making Maya laugh. I don't think there is anyone Maya loves more than Caden. She lights up whenever she sees him (she also gets a little more tense and braces herself for possible "rough-play", smart girl!)

We had a blast on our Utah trip! I was amazed at how well the kids did with traveling and sleeping in unfamiliar beds. We had so much fun hanging out for the week. Thanks to the Utah siblings for hanging out! We loved spending time with you!!

Girls night... watching a birth movie, prepping the girls to puuuuuuush!

S'mores at the "canyon". So much fun!

Four generations! This picture is so special to me!

Lara's baby shower was so much fun! Thank you to Sheri and Mom for helping out so much with that! I was so grateful that there was such a good turnout and that Lara got so many awesome gifts.

Micheal and Katherine's wedding was beautiful. (Except that the kids were insane so I missed most of it because I was chasing around an over-tired Caden who peed his pants, screamed the whole time, etc). I could not have gotten through that day without Sheri. Thank you so much for helping out with the kids- you are truly an angel!

It was so much fun being in Utah with family. I can not wait for our first ever Zemp reunion this summer!

We had fun celebrating Mom's fiftieth birthday! Caden is still talking about the fifty flamingos that were "dancing" on Grandma's lawn! (Can you believe there was SNOW?!)

It was so much fun having David up here for a few days. We've really missed him around here.

I had a really fun birthday and mother's day. Both days I felt so loved and special. Thank you, everyone! I have also been sleeping great the last two months. I feel so grateful to be coming to the end of this dang sleeping trial. Now, just to work on Maya and Caden's sleep....! :)

Well, thats PLENTY for today. Thanks for reading!

Prayer

2010-04-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

Caden's prayer this morning-

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day.

Thank you for this food. Thank you for we have a picnic in playroom.

Thank you for "Big Buzz".

Thank you for Grandma Grandpa Becca come for dinner.

Thank you for the door opening and closing (???)

Thank you for playing on the deck.

Thank you for "Toddler Tunes"

Amen.

We are getting a little more settled out here. Thank you to everyone who did so much to help with the move- I'll blog more about all of that soon.

Prarie Springs!

2010-03-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

A sneak peak at our new house!

Tidbits

2010-03-09T12:38:00.001-08:00

Here are a few conversations that have been going on around our house this week:

I went to get Caden out of his crib one morning and he said "Mom, your special boy is awake now!"

While pretending to type on the computer, Caden said "Mom, I'm making a movie. I'm making an Indiana Jones movie. My name is Dad".

J: "Caden, do you want to go find some friends in Airdrie?"

C: "No Mom, all my friends at church in nursery" (uh oh...)

Ben was chasing Caden around last night and Caden said "Dad, I love you. Don't eat me".

Caden woke up in the middle of the night shrieking. I ran into his room to see what was wrong and he said "Mommy, I want to go swimming!"

J: "Caden, let's go play at Xander's house!"

C: "I LOVE my friend Xander. He is my boyfriend!"

While toilet training Caden said "Mom, I LOVE toilet training with you!" After going poo, he bent over so that I could wipe his bum and said "Mom, I LOVE bending over with you!"

It's Official!

2010-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

We bought a HOUSE!!!!!!

We are moving to Prairie Springs, Airdrie! (We take possesion in just 20 days... I'm going to go insane these next few weeks, I'm sure of it!) I didn't think we would actually end up in Airdrie, but it's becoming a really vibrant area! The ward we'll be in is packed with young couples with kids- hopefully Caden and Maya will make some great friends to grow up with. And it's only a twenty minute drive to Mom and Dad's house. (I'm such a baby, twenty minutes away is about my limit!)

We were in negotiations ALL day yesterday, but we ended up getting a great deal and even some upgrades (stainless steal appliances) added in! I have to say how blessed we feel to get into such a great home. We are so grateful for the blessings of tithing. I really feel that we got the price down in negotiations to what we did because of that.

I am IN LOVE with this house! Granite countertops, tile, hardwood, jetted tub, deck, speakers in the ceiling and a big playroom for the kids! The playroom is probably what I am the most excited about! Next time I go out, I will make sure to take some pictures! But in the mean time you can click here and then scroll down to the "Stanley III" model. Colors are different, but it will give you an idea of what the house looks like.

Food for Thought

2010-03-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

One of my good friends that I met in Ecuador made this little display-

That's right, 46 grams of sugar in ONE can of Mountain Dew. Amazing! Disgusting!

I'm going to go and pour myself a glass of water...

...and maybe buy a new home.

I will keep you updated :)

Yuuuuum

2010-02-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

I LOVE quick, easy recipes! Here are two recipes that I have found in the last few weeks that are super easy, taste great, and look like you've spent a lot more time on then than you actually have:

Lion House Ranch Parmesan Chicken:

1/2 cup cornflake crumbs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1-1/2 ounces dry ranch dressing mix

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

26 ounces marinara or spaghetti sauce

In shallow bowl, combine cornflake crumbs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and ranch mix. Coat both sides of chicken with the mix.

Place in a 9x13-inch pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Spray tops of chicken with non-stick cooking spray to keep moist.

Bake at 350' for 25-30 minutes. Just prior to serving, sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

Heat marinara or spaghetti sauce and serve over cooked pasta and chicken.

Cheesy Mexican Chicken:

6 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1-1/2 lb), cut into thin strips

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1-1/2 cups shredded cheese (divided)

1/2 cup milk

1 pkg taco seasoning

2 cups corn chips

4-1/2 cups cooked rice

Preheat oven to 375'

Mix soup, 1 cup of the cheese, milk and seasoning mix until well blended, spoon over chicken.

Top with chips.

Bake covered for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top, bake, uncovered, an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve over rice.

What the... ?

2010-02-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

Caden woke up in the middle of the night just shrieking. He was inconsolable for quite awhile, Ben and I were both helpless. Finally, he sat on my lap and let me cuddle with him. He calmed down after that. Then this was our conversation:

J: Caden baby, are you okay?

C: Uh-huh

J: What was wrong? Were you scared?

(Long pause)

C: I LOVE hippos!!!

J: Um...I love hippos too, Caden...

Then first thing this morning he had a lot of his mind-

"I not like James. He has a frowny face, not a nice face"

"I not eat basketballs. I like elephants"

.... So hippos, yes. James, no. Basketballs, no, but elephants yes.

Got it.

2010-02-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Top ten signs that it's time to wean your son from his soother(s)-

10. He is two and a half

9. He has named his soothers

8. He refers to his soothers by name, while talking to them

7. He tells his soothers that he loves them ("I love you, Sally!")

6. He can suck on two soothers at a time

5. He still wakes you up at night when his soothers fall out of his crib

4. His most common phrase is "WHERE'S MY SOONERS??"

3. He can flip them around with his tongue without them falling out of his mouth (quite hard- I've tried...)

2. He switches soothers for "taste"

1. He tries to teach ME how to suck on a soother ("Eat it, Mommy. That side right there. Like this!")

In my defense, he only has them at nap time and bed time.

But still......

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a wonderful day! We just had one hour of church today, so there was lots of time to relax and spend time together. It really nice. We spent the morning making and decorating almost 80 cupcakes for Caden to deliver to his friends and family. Hopefully there weren't too many eggshells in them, Caden was a big helper!!

There are a few more pictures up from the photoshoot last week. Check them out here. I can't wait to get these pictures printed and displayed in my house! And I am so happy to finally have found a photographer that I am super happy with!

Happy Valentine's Day! We love you all.

Long Weekend... WOOHOO!!

2010-02-13T14:03:00.001-08:00

I am so excited that it's finally the long weekend! It has been a hard week being sick and having two sick little kids! Thankfully we are all feeling better now!

I want to say a special thanks to Dad. He called me yesterday to see how I was doing. Caden's friend had just left from a playdate, literally every toy we own was on the floor, the house was a wreck. Caden didn't nap, I had a horrible headache and had been up all night, Maya was fussy. Dad showed up a little later with beautiful flowers for me. It completely turned my day around. Thank you, Daddy. I am so grateful for all of the love and support that you and Mom constantly show me.

Ben woke up with the kids this morning and let me sleep in until 9am, it felt so good!! He is such a stud. I absolutely love it when he is home. He had Caden in fights of laughter this morning singing and dancing with the kitchen chairs. They are so funny together.

We are heading out soon for a Valentine's family outing... to the mall play area and possibly to get a bite to eat. We are also taking Maya in to get a passport picture.

As you can tell, I don't have much to blog about! :) Hope you all enjoy your long weekend!

Check it out!

2010-02-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Look what we did this morning!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-02-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

I am home sick today. Not fun.

Ben and Caden are at church right now and I can't help but feel like I'm missing out. Caden is wearing his new church outfit (complete with a new belt, he was excited about that part because he always sees Ben wearing a belt!).

I hate missing church. I haven't been sick in a year and a half. I think my body is just collapsing from lack of sleep. My head is pounding.

On a more positive note, a few nights ago, I made home-made french fries. Caden was so excited about it and kept calling them "home sweet home french fries". That kid never ceases to find ways to make me smile. I love being a mom. I love being home with my kids. They are my treasures. I guess 4 am nights are a small price to pay to have them in our home.

We've Been Busy...

2010-02-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I always have such good ideas of what I should blog about, but then one of my kids decides that they need some attention, and the blog never happens. Caden and Maya are both sleeping right now (although Maya is in my arms, so I am slow at typing...), I've already exercised, showered, cleaned, done some laundry... now I can blog!

Ben and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary! We had a fun night eating out at The Old Spagetti Factory and watching The Bachelor (we are a little too into that show, it's probably not something to be proud of.... although I definitely recommend getting into it...). Thanks for babysitting, Mom and Dad! I feel so blessed to be married to such an amazing husband. Ben is the best support and so selfless. He truly is only happy when I am happy.

Thanks for four wonderful years, Ben! I love you!

Caden is toilet trained! Yipee! I am so proud of how quickly he caught on. He loves wearing his big boy underwear. I love seeing him get excited when he realizes that he has accomplished something.

Caden has been taking Gymboree classes and just LOVING them! There are so many slides, mats, ramps, balls... it is heaven for Caden. His favorite part is playing with the parachute and running around with the other boys and girls in his class. He talks about Gymboree all week long and chants "Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! It's a Gymboree day!!"

He is such a great helper. I can't cook anything anymore without his help. The other day when he cracked an egg open, some of the yolk got on his hand and he screamed "SICK! SICK!!"

He is constantly making me laugh. I am so grateful that he is such a fun, loving little boy. He is so cuddly and always stops what he is doing to hug me, Maya or Ben and tell us that he loves us.

Maya is growing up so quickly. It is so much fun to see her personality really start to develop. She continues to be the most smiley person I have ever met. She is rarely awake without smiling. She really has brought so much love into our home. She has four teeth popping through right now, so she hasn't been as happy the last few weeks (although she still tries her hardest to smile while crying, it is adorable). Hopefully the teething will ease up soon so that her sleep and mood can get back on track. I had fun doing a little photo shoot with her this morning. Here are a few of my favorites, enjoy!

Look at those big, blue eyes! I just love her!

2 Year Old Wisdom

2010-01-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

Lately, Caden has had a big interst in Dad's "sharp" face. Yesterday when Ben came home from work, Caden ran upstairs to find Ben's shaving kit, ran it down to him and said "Ben Matthews... SHAVE!"

Bahaha, I love that little boy (the big, hairy one, too).

Our Day...

2009-12-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Every morning I ask Caden what he wants for breakfast. Usually he tells me that he wants french toast, eggs or peanut butter toast. Today he wanted Thomas the Train. He was so excited about it that I decided to make a 'breakfast Thomas':

Had I really been thinking, I would have used scrambled eggs as the steam. The orange just doesn't cut it, sigh. Thankfully I have many years ahead of me to perfect our breakfast fun! Luckily, Caden LOVED it and ate breakfast better than he has eaten in a long time. Infact, after he ate Thomas, he even wanted seconds. I asked Caden what he'll want to eat for breakfast tomorrow, and he said "Pappadaddy!!" Watch out, Grandpa!

After breakfast, Caden made sure to tell Maya all about his life. She loved it. They are best friends in the making.

We had a fun playdate with Tarek today. We painted big boxes and made them into cars. Those boys and their cars. We cut out holes for their arms and bodies and the boys drove their cars around the house. They play so well together.

I finally got my camera out to get a picture of Maya smiling. I was asking Maya where her smiles where, and Caden informed me that they were in her mouth.

Caden was right, the smiles really were in her mouth. Look at that face light up! What a gorgeous girl!

Mom Talk

2009-12-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

I haven't been very good at blogging since Maya was born. Life with two has been crazy, busy, hard, wonderful, fun and so rewarding! I LOVE being a Mom of two. Maya is the most smiley, happy baby I have ever met. She has definitely added a lot to our little family. She has a huge smile, her entire face lights up and her eyes even curve up in their own little smile! Caden has taken on the role of big brother like a champ! He loves to make Maya smile. He tells her stories about Indiana Jones, Yoshi and Lightning McQueen. He never stops kissing her. He has just realized that instead of holding one of Maya's hands, he can actually hold both of them at the same time. "Me hold baby hand...TWO!"

I read an article on the Today Show last week about how once you have kids, you give away so much of yourself that the only thing you have left to talk about is your children. That is true, as you can tell from all of my blog posts! It probably does gets boring only hearing me talk about my children, but I probably won't find much more to talk about for the next 20 years. And thats okay :) There is a new movie that just came out that I am dying to see. It is called Motherhood (<--- click to see the trailer). Anyways, enough of my rambling. Hurry up and start updating your blogs, family! You are slacking off! And you all have interesting things to talk about :)

Maya's Blessing

2009-11-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

As you all know, Ben blessed Maya on Sunday. He did a wonderful job, the blessing was beautiful. (Thank you to all of the family that was able to attend and support us!)

Maya looked adorable in her little blessing outfit (a special dress, bonnet and booties that Ben's grandma made for a Matthews girl... it had been in the box for more than a quarter of a century just waiting for a little girl!!)

Maya has such a calm, sweet spirit and we feel so blessed that she was sent to our little family!

Introducing....

2009-10-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

Maya Lee Matthews

October 10th, 8:48am

7 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches long

Welcome to our family, Maya!

We sure love you!

Ready!

2009-10-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the "Mini-Muffin Tin Advent Calendar" that I have been working on all week. I made it for the display table for this year's Super Saturday! The calendar is made using a mini-muffin tin, the candy for each day goes in the muffin hole! It is great because the decorations are magnetic and you just take them off during the year and you have a muffin tin!

(These pictures aren't the greatest quality- the sign at the top says "Christmas Countdown")

I have had a lot of enrichment stuff to get done before the baby comes, but now that this last project is done, I think (I hope) that enrichment is under control for the time being! So with that out of the way, freezer meals ready, crotchsicles awaiting, a super clean house and Caden feeling better, this baby is now welcome any time :)

Thank You!!!!!

2009-10-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Caden woke up sick. He had been up lots in the night and pretty much screamed all day. He is getting his two year old molars and seems to be having a really rough time with it! I want to say a HUGE thank you to Dad who brought me kids tylenol and watched Caden so that I could shower... all before 9am! You are wonderful, Daddy!!

Also, last night for Family Home Evening, Dad, Mom and Rebecca came over and cleaned my house from top to bottom!! My floors are washed and vacuumed, bathrooms scrubbed, cupboards cleaned, windows and mirrors washed- EVERYTHING is clean!! It was such a great feeling to wake up this morning to such a clean house and it will feel even better bringing a newborn home to it! This morning Caden said "Ma-ma" then pretended to scrub the floors, then said "Pa-pa" and "Ka-ka (Becca) and pretended to wash the walls! Thanks for your example of service!!

I am SO grateful for family. Thank you for serving me. I love you guys so much!

One More Week!!!!

2009-09-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my pregnancy shot at 39 weeks-

Things I WON'T miss about being pregnant:

Random strangers rubbing my belly, heartburn, pain and discomfort, waking up in the night to pee, peeing every 20 minutes, my ever changing body, waddling, people commenting on my body, having to sleep on my side, my lack of clothing options, swollen feet, feeling incredibly unattractive, having a hard time bending over, constantly being kicked in the ribs...

Things I actually WILL miss about being pregnant:

Feeling the baby kick and move around, the heat-pack Ben warms up for me every night, one-on-one time with Caden every day... and thats about it :)

1-2-3-GO!!

2009-09-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

This video is a few months old now, but I love watching Caden in it. He LOVES when Daddy comes home from work! Usually, he's been waiting by the door for about 10 minutes by the time Ben comes home. Caden always has something in mind for them to do (spinning around, playing the Wii, building Lego) and can't even wait for Ben to take his shoes off! Ben is such a great Dad!

Caden has been growing up SO quickly this past month. His speech has improved a lot- he is constantly trying out new words and phrases and you can tell he feels very proud of himself! My favorite speech "improvement" this past month has been that he has stopped calling me mom ("maaah") and started calling me mommy ("maah-ee"). He is such a stud!

2 years old!

2009-09-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that my little baby is TWO years old!

Caden is so full of life and has such an intense personality! He is so caring and just loves being around people. He always wants to make sure that everyone around him is happy.

Caden loves to have fun. He has such a love for life. His laugh is so contagious.

He is so active and always on the run... but when he does slow down,

he gives the best cuddles in the world!

I love this kid so much!

Mmmmm....

2009-08-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made 8 dozen cookies. Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk cookies. What am I doing making 8 dozen cookies when I have sworn off sugar, you may ask?! I don't know. I think it makes me feel normal to be able to bake even though I can't eat what I've made.

So, I will continue to spend my time opening zip-loc bags full of cookies and sniffing until my nose hurts. Yes, that's what I'll do. Thankfully there are a lot of people who can use an uplift and who have a better metabolism than I do, so I have places to send these cookies when I can't take it any longer :)

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies

(For pictures and a recipe for maple frosting, click here)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup self-rising flour (I used all-purpose flour and added 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt)
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Directions:

Whisk together flour and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter.

Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.

Add flour/spice mixture to sugar mixture in three additions. Alternate with pumpkin in two additions, ending with flour mixture.

Stir in chopped pecans and chocolate chunks.

Drop on cookie tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.

Let cool.

Enjoy!

Shaving Cream Fight!

2009-08-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Gas to drive to Utah: $200

20 bottles of shaving cream: $40

Shaving cream fight: Priceless!

The last few weeks!

2009-07-28T19:20:00.001-07:00

I keep checking all of your blogs just to get disappointed with the lack of updates! So here is my attempt at doing better with blogging. Hopefully I'll be able to stalk your blogs soon and not be disappointed :)

I had a cake order for Michelle Dahl (remember her from elementary school?) I had to deliver it all the way to Banff. The cake turned out great. I was really happy with it, it wasn't a difficult design but it was different than most cakes I've done which was refreshing! I also made 75 cupcakes which turned out well too. The whole order went so smoothly and I've finally found some recipes that I really love (I love making them and Ben and Caden love eating them... perfect!) After we delivered the cake, we hung out in Banff for the evening. I think Banff is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I wish I could get up there more often.

Last week Ben was off work for the entire week! We had such a fun vacation! No responsibilities (meaning church stuff, of course there was still laundry to do, meals to make, floors to clean, you know... mom stuff). We went to the zoo, LICS, riley park, out to eat, had a picnic, went to a movie, went boating, shopping and lots more. It was so fun to just be able to be together with no stress. I do have some cute pictures from the week, but I can't download pictures onto my computer right now!! I have so many pictures I need to update this blog with.

We also had another ultrasound last week. The tech was convinced that we are definitely having a girl! We are so excited! I've been looking at names ever since! I really didn't care what the sex of the baby was, but its just so nice to know and be able to start planning! (Let the pink shopping BEGIN!) The best part about the ultrasound was that the baby is measuring perfectly! I have been measuring small so my midwives sent me in to make sure the baby was okay. I was so relieved that she is! Also, my placenta has moved far enough up that I don't need a c-section! WOOHOO!

Caden has initiated going pee in the toilet two days in a row now! Mostly because he is in love with this book ... also the praise he gets after he goes pee or poo sure helps! I need a new toilet though because his little one leaks every time he pees (stupid sale items). I always end up cleaning up the pee while cheering for him. Being a mother can be so glamourous!

Caden is getting a little confused with what's real and what's not lately. He had so much fun boating last week that now every time we read a book and he sees a boat, he tries to climb inside the book and cries "BO! BO!". He has also attempted multiple times to climb inside computers to play with Lightning McQueen or to lick pictures of ice-cream cones on signs. Haha, he really is at such a fun age and I am constantly so impressed with how smart he is!

Ready... or Not!

2009-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I had a big realization... that whether I am ready or not, in less than 3 months I will be a mom to TWO kids. Realizing this scared me so much that I lost a lot of sleep that night! Since I have been home from Utah I have been tearing my house apart trying to get ready for a baby. I have a busy summer with a lot of wedding cake orders (Side note: I finally raised my prices to what they should be... and people are still booking, woohoo!) so I am trying to get as much done as I can now. I don't want to be stuck with an 8 month whale-belly and still have lots of work to do.

The biggest thing I've been working on is getting my basement cleaned out. If any of you have seen my basement in the last year or so, you'll understand why I haven't had time to update my blog lately :) It was a mess! I should have taken a picture before I started attacking it. It is such a good feeling to get a mess FINALLY cleaned up. In one day, I had to take 9 trips to the garbage bin (with both of my hands full of garbage bags, boxes, etc). But I still have a LONG way to go down there. Once the basement has been cleaned out, I am going to buy a big area rug and make the basement into our new study and playroom. After that, I will be able to get the baby's room ready (our current computer/ junk room).

My laptop is so full that I don't have any space to upload any more pictures! So next I need to clean out my computer, haha, and make space to upload the pictures from our amazing Utah trip! I can't wait to show everyone the pictures from our shaving cream fight :)

Okay enough about cleaning. BO-RING!

The Week in Pictures

2009-06-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy, fun week! I have over 100 pictures from this past week alone... so I thought I'd show you some of the fun we've been having this week!

I threw Becca a P.Party. I won't go into too many details because I know that Dad reads this blog, haha. We had a really fun dinner, all red. Red jello, red spagetti, red punch, red grape tomatoes, and red strudels for dessert. It was a really fun night!

We've been enjoying some beautiful weather! It has been so nice to spend so much time outside, especially for Caden. The picture above is Caden enjoying an ice-cream cone at Bowness park. We went to feed the ducks (which he LOVED!) and play at the park. Caden gets so excited when he gets an ice-cream cone because "Signing Time" talks all about ice-cream cones. He screams if I try to help clean up the melted ice-cream from dripping all over his hands. It usually takes him an hour to finish an ice-cream cone but he is just so happy the entire time, it's adorable!

Kati Anne went to grad! As you can see, she looked absolutely GORGEOUS! I went to her hair appointment with her and it was really fun to be there with her and see her getting ready! She had a fun night, check out her blog for more details on it!

We went to the Zoo! Mom and Dad were so cool and agreed with me to let Becca skip school on Friday so that she could come to the zoo with me. David and Mom came as well, and we had a great time! Caden and Becca went on the train that drives around the zoo, and Caden still won't stop talking about it. I am so excited to have a zoo pass this summer. We've already been having a blast with it! (Check out Caden's cool new sunglasses in the pic above, he thinks he is so cool because Uncle David wore sunglasses to the zoo as well).

David turned 27! Happy, happy birthday! He got some really cool presents and of course, an ice-cream cake! After dinner and presents we went fishing down at Bowness. I was so excited because I haven't been fishing since we were in B.C. right before Caden was born. We didn't catch anything but we did see some fish jump. Caden loved playing with a fishing pole!

I love this picture of Caden. Please note that he is holding a dandelion while with the other hand he is wiping himself. BAHAHA. He hasn't peed in the toilet yet, but he loves to sit down on the toilet and knows that he is doing something pretty cool!

As you can tell, I have really been enjoying my new camera! There is so much to learn on it though, I am grateful for the auto setting :)

This week won't be as fun as last week! I am doing a lesson in Relief Society this Sunday, and a wedding cake on Friday. I am excited because it's my first SQUARE wedding cake. I will post some pictures when its done!

"Let me see that belly from the SIDE!"

2009-05-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

In case you don't understand my title, think back to the exhilerating times we had doing pre-natal workouts in Arizona... yep, now you can definitely see my belly from the side! I am now 20 weeks, so half way there! When I was pregnant with Caden I couldn't stop counting down the weeks and days until my due date. But this time, I am happy for the time to go as s.l.o.w.l.y as possible! I am in no hurry to be a sleep deprived, milk-making machine. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited to have a little baby, but now that I know what really is involved in taking care of said baby, I am happy to just grow a healthy baby, slowly, for the next 4 and a half months!

12 weeks

19 weeks

(and don't worry, I've learned never to make that face in a picture, ever again)

Why GIving Matters

2009-05-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Lara recommended this video to me, it is absolutely amazing. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, I definitely recommend that you watch it.

BAHAHAHA!!!!!!

2009-05-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers' Day!!

2009-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

I am so blessed to have an amazing mom who is also one of my very best friends and who is an incredible grandma to Caden! Click here to see a little tribute video to mom. I tried and tried to get it on my blog, but it wouldn't work. Anyways, enjoy! And Happy Mother's Day, Mither!!! I love you!

Oh dear...

2009-05-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

I just won my ward's Relief Society hot dog eating contest... I am still deciding how I feel about this...

Three Things Thursday

2009-04-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe that it has been almost an entire month since I last updated. I guess I have a lot that I need to catch up on, but since its late, I'll start with Three Things Thursday- the three most recent cakes I've made.

1. This wedding cake I made about a month ago. Nothing special, just the same fondant, ribbon and flowers. But it was fun to make anyways.

2. I made these cupcakes and cake this past weekend. Half of the cupcakes were lemon and the other half were chocolate, both with cream cheese frosting. The cake was chocolate with chocolate ganache and chocolate fondant (holy chocolate!)

Isn't the cupcake tower AMAZING?! Ben and his dad made it for me! I had been searching forever to find a nice one and the cheapest that I could find was over $200 and I didn't really even like it. So Ben made me this gorgeous tower that I am in love with, and it can be changed to any size. Amazing, hey? So hopefully I'll get a lot more cupcake orders!

3. This was mom's birthday cake. I had planned it to be a lot different from what it turned out to be, but after half of the cake collapsed on me and I had to carve another circle, this turned out better than I expected it would. It was chocolate cake filled with fresh strawberries and chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate covered strawberries.

Doesn't mom look beautiful?! I hope that I can look half that good when I am her age!

Baby!

2009-03-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am officially twelve weeks pregnant. That means that I am suppose to be feeling better by now (which I mostly am, I am just always very tired!) I had my first midwife appointment yesterday and it was great! I am really excited to be going with a midwife this time. Carol (my midwife) thinks that I will have another fast labor and that I'll only have to push for about ten minutes which would be GREAT!

I heard the baby's heartbeat!! It was amazing, but slightly scary to realize that there actually is a baby growing inside of me! It all seems a lot more real now. Speaking of scary... I have already gained five pounds. I've been trying to convince myself that all the weight has gone to my boobs, but deep down I realize that I am just going to be getting bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER!!

(This is the best shot we were able to get of Caden's "I'm gonna be a BIG BROTHER shirt!")

The baby is now about 2.5 inches from crown to rump (head to butt). It can move its fingers, squint, swallow and pee! The baby even has fingerprints and private parts already! Weird, hey?!

I have my 18week ultrasound booked -the one where we can find out the gender! It is booked for May 8th! I am really excited because it is just a few days before Mother's Day! So hopefully we'll be able to tell the gender of the baby for a nice Mother's Day surprise!

Three Things Thursday

2009-03-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Three things going on at our house:

1. Lately Caden has fallen in love with the scriptures (or Jesus' Book as he calls it... "GEE!"). He will sit for a really long time just flipping through the pages of Ben's spanish Book of Mormon, the whole time just saying "GEE, GEE, GEE!!" If I try to take the scriptures away from him he has an absolute fit... complete with falling to the ground and repeatedly hitting his hands and legs to the floor saying "NOOOOO!!" He likes to hear me tell him stories about Jesus from the scriptures. He loves seeing pictures of Jesus and can point them out anywhere we go. The incredible thing is that (even though we should have) we really never taught Caden about Jesus. One day, he pointed to a picture of Him and said "GEE!" Parenthood is definitely rewarding!!!

2. I think that Caden will grow up to be an animator/cook. He loves to cook with me and gets so mad if I don't hold him the entire time that I'm cooking and let him stir the food with a spatula. Caden LOVES Ben's animation. I think that he is Ben's biggest fan. He will watch the animation over and over again and every time it ends, he signs "more, more!" He smiles throughout the entire movie and makes sounds to go along with the movie. He will watch the movie as many times as we let him (no exageration- he once watched it 8 times before we made him do something else, and he screamed and screamed because he wanted to watch it again!) Speaking of Ben's animation, I just want to say how PROUD I am of him! It was such a huge job, it took hours and hours. Every time I watch it I can't help but smile. He did such an awesome job.

(The pictures above are of Caden trying to get as close as possible to watch Ben's animation and Caden helping me make a smoothie)

3. Caden had his first haircut on Saturday!!! His hair was starting to look really funny because there were some pieces that were about 2 inches longer than the rest of his hair. It was all really uneven, so we just evened it up. It pretty much looks the same, just cleaner. He was a pretty good sport (as long as he was watching The Wiggles and holding a cookie in each hand!)

So things are great with us. I have been working on a wedding cake today and I think I've had a permanent smile on my face all morning because I've been having so much fun. Ben's department has been laying people off like crazy, this morning there were 6 or 7 more people laid off. He was called into talk to his boss and given even more responsibilities. It seems that every time they lay someone off, Ben ends up getting their job duties as well as the ones he already had. We are just really grateful right now and feel very blessed by tithing.

Ben-Jammin Pictures presents....

2009-03-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all, and welcome to the world premiere of my movie (and the world premiere of Ben blogging, for that matter).

I know many of you may have been wondering why a grown man would ask for Lego for Christmas. Let me answer that for you. Animation is Ben's favorite pastime. And to animate, you need, well, Lego. Clay modeling was never my forte, so I took the easy way out and used pre-made models. I say that I took the easy way out, but behold, I do err, for it was not very easy at all. Stop-motion animation is a painstaking process whereby the animator (yours truly) poses the models (Lego in this case) and takes a single picture of the pose, then modifies the pose ever so slightly and takes another picture, and so on, until there are enough pictures that can be strung together to tell a story. And that's just the video; audio still needs to be added.

I visited a few royalty-free sound effects websites and downloaded all the sounds used in this movie, modifying them to suit the action, turning the volume up and down as was called for, and at times even blending different sounds together. This was a process that I didn't fully appreciate until I realized how much it adds to the final movie, nor did I appreciate how freaking hard it would be, or I would have been more conscious of it when writing the movie.

Music was the final addition. I took three music tracks and spliced them all together to match the pace of the action, keeping in mind the tempo and any key changes....blah blah blah. My point is that all of it was very hard and I just want to brag about it for a little while. So...

This movie contains:

approx. 1600 still photos,

about 25 sound effects,

1000+ pieces of Lego,

2.5 months of blood, sweat, and yes, tears, and

the infinite support and understanding of my wife through these dark times.

I've said all I wanted to say, and if you've actually made it this far reading without getting bored and leaving to visit some other cooler website, you deserve to see what all the fuss is about. Without further ado, I present:

INDIANA JONES AND THE STOP-MOTION CRUSADE!!!!!

Thank you, thank you. No pictures, please.

Life Lately

2009-03-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

I have been horrible at blogging lately, I am sorry! It seems that every time Caden is down for a nap or I have a few extra minutes, I either want to sleep, throw-up, or curl up in a ball and eat peanut butter. I lead a very exciting life.

(This picture is me holding the positive pregnancy test)

Things have been going well though. This morning we had a Relief Society "Lets Do Brunch" at Cora's in Northland. I am in love with that restaurant, so much fresh fruit! We had a really good turn out which I was very grateful for. I am busy planning our upcoming Relief Society Anniversary Party. We are doing a Luau theme ("Becoming a 10 Cow Woman night- Realizing and Reaching Your Potential" - after Jonny Lingo). It will be really fun, the decorations are going to be incredible and the food is going to be really good. So hopefully people will come!

I have been booking a lot of wedding cakes. I am getting kind of worried about making cakes during my pregnancy. I hope that I feel well enough to do them. My next one is coming up next week (it will be a boring cake, so I'll post pictures but don't look forward to them!).

Caden is sick today. He has had a runny nose all week, but today his eyes are watering and he is really clinging and sad. I hate when he is sick, I feel so bad for him. He is a good sport about it though. I had an enrichment meeting yesterday and he LOVED playing with the other kids! It always amazes me how social he is with other kids. He knows the names of all of the kids his age and he recognizes their homes when we pull up in the car. He loves giving them hugs and playing with them. Unfortunately, he is the only one his age who cares about playing with other kids, but luckily, Caden can't tell. Ignorance really can be bliss!

Oh guess what! I am going with a midwife for this next pregnancy! Jo-Anne's good friend is a midwife and she got me in as one of her patients without any wait list, etc. I am really excited because I want to do this next birth with no pain medication again. Midwifes are strong believers in natural birth. I am still going to deliver in the hospital, but I think it will be a much better birth this time (with no nurses trying to get me to take medication, hopefully no doctors threatening forceps and HOPEFULLY no brutal tear!)

My yoga class has ended which I am sad about. It was so much fun, I definitely recommend yoga. I am trying to sign up for a pre-natal class right now, but I am having a hard time finding one that will work with my schedule. Can you imagine a class full of pregnant woman doing yoga? It won't be pretty... but it will be fun!

...So thats whats been going on in my life lately. I promise to do better with blogging from now on!

Three Things Thursday

2009-02-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

Three routines that I love:

1. Caden adores playing the Wii with Ben. Everyday at about 4:45pm, Caden realizes that Dad should be home soon and continuously chants "eee, eee, eee" (his way of saying Wii) until Ben comes home to play with Caden. Caden loves playing Mario Kart with Ben. Everytime Ben chooses Bowser, Caden gets scared and cuddles up close to Ben. Bowser is kind of a scary character if you think about it! When Ben chooses Donkey Kong, Caden says "eee, eee, eee" but this time it doesn't mean Wii, it means monkey. Lately Ben has been choosing Yoshi, and when Yoshi does his little coo sound, Caden giggles. I love that Caden and Ben have those "wii little moments" that Caden looks forward to every day!!

2. I love bedtime with Caden. It helps that he is sleeping through the night now! He signs sleep every night, lays down and gives Ben and I a big hug. I love it. Lately though, he has been getting distracted by the light fixture on our roof, so our hugs are being cut short. The last few weeks we have started singing "You Are My Sunshine" to Caden during his bedtime routine. If Ben doesn't sing along, Caden says "ah ah ah" directly towards Ben until he starts singing. Then as we both sing to him, he lays on the bed with the biggest smile underneath his soother. When we are done brushing his teeth (which he will only let me do if Ben lets Caden brush his teeth at the same time!) Caden swaddles himself. Of course we have to do it again for him, but it is really cute to see him try.

3. Caden used to HATE baths, he wouldn't even sit down without me coming in with him. But thankfully, the last few months he has fallen in love with taking baths. He asks for bath about thirty times each day and when I say yes his face lights up and he RUNS as fast as he can to the bathtub. He even tries to climb into the bath while the water is running and he is fully clothed. He loves to play with toys in the bath and has learned how to put his face into the water and blow bubbles.

I love the routines that Caden has brought to our little family!

Long Weekend

2009-02-17T19:58:00.000-08:00

We had a really fun weekend. I have been looking forward to this long weekend for the longest time. I always count down the days until Ben has a day off work, Caden and I love having him home!

On Friday night we headed down to the temple. It was so nice to be able to be there and do some temple work. It is always really hard to make the trip down with Caden but I am always so glad that we did. Caden was a really good traveller this time. I think it helped that Uncle David was there to entertain him and that I sat next to him. He didn't complain at all the entire drive. He really is such a good little boy. It was great to see Grandma and Grandpa. I love them more and more each time we go down to Cardston. I am so grateful to have such awesome grandparents on both sides.

We came back Saturday afternoon so that we would have time to celebrate Valentines Day. We ordered in food (Tony Romas' ribs!!!) and had a candle light dinner. It was so much fun! We even had some Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys playing in the background... life doesn't get much better than that!! Ben and I each ate an entire slab of ribs. We were SO full, but it was worth it! I haven't had ribs in over a year and I was really craving them!

Speaking of cravings... a few weeks ago I was having a HUGE craving for a bran muffin but since it was 10pm I didn't get one (although Ben kept offering to go and buy me one!) So in celebration of Valentines day, Ben and Caden woke me up (after letting me SLEEP IN until 9am!!) on Monday morning with TWO BRAN MUFFINS with blueberries! It was heavenly! I am so grateful for a husband who remembers those little things and always makes me feel special.

We had a really fun Family Day! I went to see Confessions of a Shopoholic with Mom, Kati Anne and Becca Boo. I have been reading the books and so I was really looking forward to seeing the movie, and I LOVED it. Then for FHE we went to eat at Montanas with the family. I am so grateful to live close to home and to be able to spend time with the family! It was a really fun day and an awesome weekend!

Three Things Thursday

2009-02-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

Three pictures that bring back some really good memories:

Update

2009-02-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

We have an enrichment activity tonight. It's a valentines day activity, but all about loving yourself and taking time for yourself. It's kind of funny because the last few days have just been so crazy trying to get ready for tonight that I have not taken any time for myself! So, I am doing that right now by blogging. Tonight we are making homemade spa products (bathsalts, lipbalm, etc.), decorating cookies and hearing from a few sisters in our ward on how they've learned to take time for themselves. We had 20 sisters sign up, but we'll see how many actually come. I hope it goes well.

Caden had his 18 month check-up yesterday. He is super tall for his age. Usually at his age, babies are still measured by laying down on a table. Caden out-grew the table by his 12 month check-up and has to be measured against the wall. Ben and I made a list on Sunday of all of the words that Caden knows. It was a lot more than I realized. He can sign over 30 words, and he says about 25 words! I was amazed that it was that many. I'll type up the list for his baby book and post a copy on my blog so you can see how smart my little man is.

Caden is growing up so much. It is so exciting to watch him, but sad to know that he'll just keep getting bigger and bigger. He has such a little personality, I love him so much. He loves to be hyper and get attention for it. He loves laughing. Last night during dinner Ben and I were laughing at something, and although Caden didn't know why we were laughing, he was trying so hard to laugh with us. I love his fake laugh almost as much as his real laugh! I am so grateful to be a stay-at-home mom!

Three Things Thursday

2009-02-05T19:13:00.000-08:00

Three pictures that tell a story:

This is me ready to swing from a vine in the Amazon Jungle!

This is me right after I FELL from the vine. Brianne and Heidi said that seeing me fall was the funniest thing they've ever seen. It's just my luck that my video camera broke THAT MORNING! Or else I for sure would have won America's Funniest Home Videos. After my friends realized that I was actually hurt, they stopped laughing, ran down to me and took a picture. Great. I fell about 20 feet, landed on a tree stump and broke 2 ribs. We were deep in the Amazon jungle (we'd been on a day hike) and we had a 3 hour hike back to our camp. Hiking back down was some of the worst pain I've ever been in.

This is me with a bandage around my waist, just after the Amazon Medicine Man came to see me. He gave me a needle up my butt. See that window? After the needle... I looked up and saw four of our male tour guides watching everything. I don't know if it was my perfectly sculpted butt, or the fact that I was the first tourist to fall off the vine in the ten years they had been doing the tour... but my picture is still up at the site. I have a friend who recently went and saw it. So I may not have made it onto America's Funniest Home Videos... but I am still getting laughed at in the Amazon!

3 Years!

2009-02-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

Today Ben and I are celebrating our three year anniversary! I can't believe that it's already been that long!

I am so lucky to have Ben as my husband. I really couldn't ask for a kinder, more patient husband. He is only truly happy when I am, and he always puts my needs first. Ben is an amazing father, Caden just adores him! I didn't realize just how lucky I was three years ago. Marrying him was the best choice that I have ever made. I absolutely love being married to him and falling in love with him over and over again!

Thanks for putting up with me, Sugar Daddy :) I love you!

Dinner with Caden

2009-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

We have a really hard time getting Caden to sit still. Church is a joke, grocery shopping is like the death sentence, and meal time has become impossible! Caden has learned how to climb out of the straps in his high chair and right onto the table. Caden bows his head during the prayer every meal time, but as soon as it's time to eat, he refuses. He shakes his head and says "NONONONO!" One thing that he does like to do is to put food into my cup. He tries almost every day, and I never let him. But today he hardly ate anything all day and was refusing to eat his dinner. SO... I let him put his food in my cup. I know, I know, I need to be consistent. But from what I learned tonight, to enforce the rules...

... sometimes you've gotta break the rules! He had the time of his life! He ate really well and laughed more hysterically than I've heard him in a long time, and we had a fun dinner. My water ended up having hamburger, bun and vegetable stir-fry mixed in, the table and floor was a mess, and the kitchen smelled like butt. BUT (haha), Caden ate and we had a good time! He is such a funny kid, he needs to be distracted in order to eat. If he is watching Signing Time, he'll eat his breakfast. If he is coloring, he'll eat his lunch. And apparently, if he is squishing his dinner into my cup of water, he will eat!

In other news, Caden has started telling me when he is going to the bathroom. This is a big step! He made up a sign for it (he makes a pinching motion towards his you-know-what). He said phone the other day. Today he hugged three complete strangers at a play area, and enjoyed every minute of it (although the other babies didn't). He is such a smart fun, loving little guy!

Three Things Thursday

2009-01-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

The "2009 Web Blog Awards" are going on right now. So here are links to three of my favorite blogs! (Click on the blog name and it'll take you right there!)

1. Bakerella

This woman is so fun, I love reading her posts. She is the creator of cakepops and makes the cutest cupcakes (check out her recent Wii cupcakes!) She has some really great recipes (really good pumpkin pecan cookies as well as some awesome brownies!)

2. Cakewrecks

I love love love this site! It's all about cake decorating disasters. My biggest fear is that one day one of my cakes will be posted on her site. But in the meantime, it helps my self esteem to know that there are some REALLY awful cake decorators out there!

3. The Superficial

I'll admit it...I love gossip, especially when it is about beautiful, supposedly flawless people. I'm shallow, but I realize and embrace it. Although this site was in tough competition with Perez Hilton, I have been a fan of The Superficial for much longer (Who else could I trust to tell me every detail of Britney's horrific head shave, or Jessica Simpson's incredible weight gain??)

So that is who I'll be voting for! Enjoy the blogs!

Bobo

2009-01-28T17:45:00.000-08:00

Caden LOVES reading books. We have been having story time every day since he was about two months old. His favourite book is called "Hug" and he has the entire book memorized. He practically reads it to me. Its lucky for him that his favorite book only consists of three words, (hug, bobo and mommy). He has it mastered. He even cups his hands around his mouth to shout "BO-BO!!!", just the way I read it to him. Its adorable. The book is in two pieces, missing the binding, and chewed on all corners. But we love it!

I love hearing Caden read books. When he reads "Hug", he uses a high, soft, almost singing voice (the same one that he uses when he sees a baby). When he reads books with animals, he imitates animal sounds and growls at the scary animals. He has a lift the flap book all about tickling animals. When he opens each flap, he goes crazy tickling the animals. When he reads his dinosaur book, he notices every little detail on the page (the train in the corner, the shoes the mom is wearing, etc.) I can't get enough of him!

He has started to read on his own sometimes. It's bittersweet - so fun to see him doing it, but sad to realize that he is going to start needing me less and less. I'll find ways for him to need me though... after all, I am the only one that dances on couches and gets hyper with him. That should last me a few more years of Caden & Mommy time!

Hair

2009-01-26T14:28:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pics that show my new haircut better than my previous post:

Sunday

2009-01-25T19:36:00.001-08:00

Today was a crazy day! Ben had to leave for church early to attend a song practice. I had planned to get to church a bit early today, because Ben and I had to speak in church. BUT... after I loaded Caden (and my many armfuls of things to bring along- scriptures, toys, food, blanket, etc.) into the car, I couldn't get it to start! Can you believe it?!?! I had to be at church to give a talk, and my car wouldn't start. I ran inside to get my phone and call either Ben or Mom and Dad, but I couldn't find my phone anywhere! Caden loves my phone, and he uses it just about as much as I do. I couldn't find it anywhere. I started to freak out. As much as I hate speaking in church, I would hate being a no-show even more! Finally I had a feeling to go over to my neighbors house (this cute old man who Ben and I have tried to befriend) and ask to use his phone. So I ran over like a crazy woman - no wonder people think Mormons are weird! Luckily he was home. I explained the situation to him and he let me borrow his phone (I couldn't get ahold of anyone!), meanwhile getting dressed because he wanted to drive me to church. What a sweet man, he saved my day! So I transfered Caden's carseat to his car, and he drove me. I was a little late for church, but I made it before the sacrament, so it was all good. I invited my cute little neighbor to come in for the meeting, but he didn't. Our talks went well, I am really glad that they are over though.

I am grateful for how the whole day worked out, as stressful as it was. I have been praying for a way to talk to my neighbor about the church. Now he knows... he knows what church we belong to, where it is, a little bit about it, and he knows that Mormons lead crazy lives!

So that was my day. I'll tell you later about the RS drama. That's a whole other post. Let's just say for now that Grandmas scare me. Especially Grandmas that want to have a "good time". Ha ha ha ...

Changes

2009-01-24T16:17:00.001-08:00

I hate change. I didn't realize until this week. But its official, I hate it. I used to be cool. Why can't "cool" still be what it was when I was in high school? I now find myself as a stay at home mom, who wears pajamas almost all day (I usually get dressed just in time for Ben to get home from work). Sheri called me this week to interview me for one of her classes. The questions were all about fashion, which fads I've had, etc. I was reminiscing about my "cool" jeans, when she told me that she saw them on www.badfads.com.

Why do things have to go out of fashion? I loved those jeans (they were just like the pic below, but all denim, just dyed different colors). Energy 101.5 (my fav. radio station) decided to tell me this week that apparently my crocs aren't cool?!?! Thats okay, I will still wear them. And if I still had my "cool" jeans, I'd wear those, too!

This week, when Caden decided to break my glasses (the "cool" glasses I have had since grade eleven...) I realized just how out of date I am. When I went to pick out new glasses, I took the advice of one of the opticians. She was probably cool when I was cool, so I took her advice and tried some new glasses. I decided to try a new style...

you know, to be cool again. Well, to make a long story short, as soon as I tried them on the next day (after I had paid for them, my new prescrpition lenses were in them, etc) I decided that I HATED them. From the front, they look like a lunch lady from the 60's. From the side, they made me look like a horse with those big shades. I could only see straight in front of me.

So, I returned them. I dragged my cool sister (Kati Anne, you know, the one who is currently cool in high school...) back to the opticians with me. Thankfully she helped me find a better pair. Green. I never thought I'd wear green glasses, but you can't really tell that they are green, and I like them.

Today I had a hair appointment, more change (see above photos). It was a disaster. I have had the same hair style since I was in grade one. I told the hair dresser to take off about 3 inches and to re-layer it. But 6 inches later, she was done. She gave me the "high school" cut, you know, with REALLY short layers all over the place. Its like she had a cookie cutter. I hated it. I cried the entire way home. But once again, my cool sister came to the rescue. She drove over to my house and helped me figure out the best place to part it, and she even braided and curled it for me. I love sisters. Hair grows out, and once mine has, I am sticking with my previous, never changing style. I miss my hair, but I am so grateful for my cool sisters!

Thanks Kati Anne!

New Beginnings

2009-01-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Finally! We have joined the world of blogging! There are a million other things I should be doing right now (writing my talk for church, cleaning the house, laundry, dishes...)but I find myself starting a blog. Such is life I suppose. Or such is my life :)

We finally have a chinook and it is so nice to be able to play outside again. Caden loves going outside and it's been hard for him this winter being stuck inside so much. We took him sledding for the first time last week, and he loved it! He just smiled the entire time. He did develop a fear of snow, however. That's probably not a good thing since we live in Calgary! Everything was fine until he touched the snow with his hand and realized how cold it was. He still loved sledding even after he discovered that snow can be kind of cold, he just made sure not to step outside of the sled!