Practice Makes Perfect

Before Halloween, we took Cayden to a church fall festival and to the Zoo Boo.  It took him several times to grasp the concept.  Everytime someone gave him candy, he would reach into his pumpkin and hand them a piece of candy back.  Practice made perfect and by Halloween, he was a Pro. 

It seems since October, we have regressed.  Ashley invited us to an egg hunt Monday at the park.  Cayden was back to his old ways.  He only wanted ONE egg in his basket at a time, and he wanted to eat the candy immediately.  He would pick up another egg, but only after deposting the empty one back on the ground.  It stunk to be the person hunting eggs behind Cayden... they were all empty!!
I kept tossing eggs in his basket, and it was completely frustrating him.  Anyway- I think we better practice a few more times if we want Easter to be a hit!  :)

Nevertheless, the park was lots of fun as usual!

Lunch before the hunt

On your mark, get set, go!!!

Taking it slow!!  Eat as you GO!

Frustrated at me because I am collecting his empty eggs.

Left behind by the rest of the group!!!

Stopping AGAIN to eat.

Cayden, Ellie & Thomas

So big!

Cayden loved the big boy swing!

Brinley sound asleep

Missing Daddy!!!

I must give credit where credit is due!

Leslie Ann (aka the sister I never had) was kind enough to give my blog a face lift!  Do you like it?  She is super creative and probably the sweetest person I know!  If you need any invitations or cards, she is your go-to person.  She has an etsy store and her (actual) sister has a monogramming business.  Between the two of them, they can cover your personalization/gift needs!! 
Check her store out when you have a free moment.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/senojaldesigns

Big Boy Bed

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
This was the weekend of projects and FUN! Well, it was fun for us because we love projects!
I ended up a little frustrated because I started too many projects at once and not all of them are finished.  Now, the OCD in me is annoyed about that, but a person has to sleep (and blog) right?!
Oh well!  Maybe they'll get done this week!

Today we went to church, but not before we made the 3rd trip to Home Depot for the weekend! After church, we continued working on our projects while the kids took naps. 
After naps, we switched around the bedroom furniture  in Cayden and Brinley's room.  Brinley's room was a little crowded with the queen bed and Cayden's room is huge, so we gave her the smaller bed.  Since we made that switch, we decided to put Cayden's "Big Boy" bedding on it.  Boy, did he LOVE that!!!  He immediately requested that his "bawankie and pi-woh" join him in his new bed.  Of course, we kept him in his crib for bedtime tonight.  Why ruin a good thing we've got going on here?!!?  He likes his crib and he's safe there!!  Why move him now!?!  The good thing is that  he also really likes the big bed now too!

Afterwards, we headed across the street to have a 1950's night with three other couples from our neighborhood.  We all brought food and ate in the garage with our lawn chairs while the kids played.  It was super relaxing and lots of fun. (Is that white trash?  We prefer to think of it as 1950's and not really trashy that we hang out in our neighbor's garage! Humor us!)

We had a crazy weekend, but it really was lots of fun and VERY productive!

(At least it was very fun UNTIL Matt took a shower tonight and it leaked AGAIN!!!!)  I guess that means I'll get to hang out with the plumbers (AGAIN) all week!  Hey, we're going on FOUR months now! I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself once they really are gone! And No, "plumbers" is not code for anything!!  One of my friends asked (knowing that 3 months is seriously odd to have actual plumbers at your house) if "plumbers" was code for something else... perhaps an inside joke.  Um, but No, it's not.  I actually have,  in the FLESH, plumbers here.  It's going on 4 months now.   :)

I'm trying to keep a positive outlook on the situation.  Some days are better than others!

Here is Cayden LOVING his new bed!

All he needs here is a remote....Right??

  TYPICAL male!  he he!!

He actually said, "night night!" after he covered himself up.

Too funny!

"Night, night to you!"

Oh Wow~!!!

After working in the yard all day, Saturday evening we went to the Rivera's house. The Riveras made yummy fajitas.  We all agreed it was MUCH easier to hang out at the house than to try and take the circus to a restaurant!

All I have to say is, "Oh Wow!!!"  Boys, Boys and more Boys!  Brinley is definitely the odd one out, and Cayden could pass for another Rivera brother.  They look so much alike!  We had so much fun visiting with Rick & Kerri.  The boys all played.  One day I am sure Cayden will be right there with them- jumping on top of the dog pile! As for this time, he was a little cautious! One thing he did do was name them all "Reesey!"  I think their names are all too similar (Reese, Riley, Reid & Ryan), so he decided it would be much easier to just refer to all of them as Reesey!  If one of them got hurt or in trouble, it didn't matter who it was... Cayden would say, "Uh oh  Reesey!!"  When we left, he waved and said, " Bye, bye Reesey!" We thought that was pretty cute.

Hopefully we will be able to do it more.  We really need to! It is always so hard getting together because we are all so busy, but you've got to make time for family!

Brinley blew bubbles, smiled and giggled a little.

She was pretty tired and eventually crashed.

The Dog Pile began here.

It progressed...

Here, Cayden is getting concerned for all parties involved.

"Why is noone helping?!?!"

"Is this sort of thing okay?"

"...maybe I should help, or maybe I should join in...  I'm not sure."

"I better not get too close.  I'll just watch from here!"

Time to eat!

The twins are 9 months older than Cayden. 

"Where is everyone going?"

Down to their birthday suits for baths...

Swankie Blankie bath towel time!

And FINALLY... off to bed!

What a day!

We have Grass!

Matt (and Cayden) spent hours in our yard Saturday planting sod.  Once again, it was a memory maker with Cayden the Handyman!

It is SO nice to see grass outside now! 

The summer heat really hurt our backyard, and then the freezing temps finished it off.

Brinley and I stayed inside and did girly things! ;)

...like dress-up!

And the fun didn't stop there!!!  .....

TGIF

Cayden was up and running around 9:00 this morning.  We're in extreme detox because he had THREE of his grandparents visit this week.... and of course, the plumber has been here several times.  My dad came Wednesday and Thursday and Matt's parents were here yesterday. It is always super nice to have grandparents around.  I feel so free when they're here!!  Sometimes just having another adult share in the craziness is comforting. It also doens't feel nearly as crazy when I'm not the only one around! 

So what do I have to say about all of this??  TGIF!!!  I am SO happy it is the weekend! 
These are the things Cayden did before 10:00 this morning...

Somewhere he found a green pen, unzipped his PJ's and colored on his belly.

He sat on the window sill and took the pen apart.

Yes, that is a plastic wipes container in his pant leg.

So proud & so goofy...

Then, I found him in my tub emptying my shampoo bottles.  How did he get in there?  I have no idea. 

We always have to help him in.  hmm???

He did this one particular stunt while I was on the phone with a neighbor down the street... 

He put lotion ALL over his face and hair.  He's totally moisturized!

And then he decided to brush his teeth.

speaks for itself...

trouble

Shortly after this, he dragged the heater that is as big as he is out into the living room, but I didn't get that one on camera.  darn!  Needless to say, we headed straight outside and had a playdate with several of the mommies on our street.  MUCH needed!! 

Both kids are asleep right now (praise the Lord!).  I'm not far behind them!

Have a good weekend!

Traditions Forgotten

I was at Mom & Dad's house when I saw this basket full of Christmas cards. I had flashbacks to my childhood when we would gather around the dinner table and each grab a Christmas card.  As we prayed for our meal, we would go around the table and pray for the family on the card we held.  I had forgotten all  about that tradition.  Matt and I decided we wanted to pass that tradition down to our family. Know that your Christmas cards have not gone to waste in our home!  We especially love the cards with your pictures.  In fact, we may have prayed for you tonight!!

Dat Poo Poo Mama!

We noticed three years ago when we moved here during this time of year that people in San Antonio do strange things to their lawns.  They cover their lawns with all kinds of things.  Some people put mulch in their yard, some cover it with sand, some cover it with dirt, and others choose... manure!
Last night we were walking around the block and enjoying the lovely smell of the Mountain Laurel trees.  They smell (and look) like delicious, sweet grapes.  Out of nowhere, we were hit with the stench of lawn manure!  Cayden was pushing the stroller when the smell hit him.  He stopped dead in his tracks and pointed at the yard that had been freshly covered with manure and said, "dat poo poo Mama, dat poo poo!"  Matt and I both started laughing because indeed, there was poo on their lawn. I understand the benefits, but man alive it stinks!

Isn't toilet paper going too far?

Last week my aunt and uncle came to visit us as you saw in earlier posts.  My uncle and Matt had this discussion about something crazy that my family does... which is bringing their own linens.  It helps the person you are visiting SO much!  I love having guests that take care of themselves!!!  :)  Anyway- I asked Aunt Barb if I could use their restroom upstairs because we were about to watch a movie.  When I went in there, I noticed a brand new roll of toilet paper sitting on the counter.  I grabbed it and almost put it in the closet when I noticed...  It wasn't mine!!!  What in the world??!!  I yelled out at them, "Seriously?  Toilet Paper?!" They were laughing because INDEED- they had not only brought their own linens, but they had brought their own toilet paper!!!  I think we may have crossed a line.  Bringing toilet paper may be going too far!  And I have NICE toilet paper.  It isn't budget toilet paper at all!  (You know the kind... the kind that, um, falls apart!)  We go all out with our toilet paper, so there is NO reason to bring your own! 
My uncle said he had a thought- "Why don't we all just STOP?"  Matt wanted to add 'Thank You' cards into that equation, but I think it was shot down!!  ha ha!

Nevertheless, I think we're all still prisoners to the vicious cycle of bringing our linens to each others' homes.
The sad thing is it is contagious...  Now Matt's parents are bringing their linens.  Scary huh!?  Hopefully you won't catch this bug!

Family Times

The "after party" continued at Olive Garden and then at Jeremy & Amanda's Sunday after church.  My sister-in-law and I made the big clothes exchange...her girl clothes for my boy clothes.  Why was it so hard for me to give my boy clothes up?  I have no idea.  I think it's because I can see Cayden as a baby in any one of those outfits.  He's getting SO big now!! 

Saturday night, my parents kept all of the kids and let us "kids" go out with the Houstons to Fajita Willie's.  We missed the Strongs, but it was fun getting to visit with old friends. 

Again, the kids played really well and had a lot of fun! Was there any doubt?!?!!?