Trick Or Treat?!

We trick or treated around my mom's neighborhood again this year before heading to our church's Chuck E. Cheese Family Night. I carried Caden and helped Carson knock on doors and let him charm the neighbors. Carson LOVED it! He's been looking forward to T-O-T-ing for days. One of the houses he dubbed the scary house. It was decorated with cobwebs and such and had spooky music playing from a very visible karaoke machine, but then, he is only 2. Anyway, he kept saying something like "cows scary, Mama. That a scary house." Well, I thought I had heard "cows" but then figured I must be mistaken. When we got to the next house, we rang the bell and waited and when the lady came to the store, he looked around timidly and asked me "no scary cows at this house?" Then I figured it out... He thought the ghost sounds from the previous house were cows! I about lost it I was laughing so hard. Forever more ghostly sounds going OoOoOo will remind me of cows. MOoOoOo! :) Too funny.

Backyard Fun and White Fence Farm

When we moved into our home, the backyard hadn't been touched for over 3 years. Needless to say, it needed a lot of work. Cary had to dig everything up. We had curbing laid to create a flower bed around the edge of the yard and had hydroseed sprayed. That was a few months ago, and it's looking really good. Unfortunately, it's been getting cold here at night, so it's probably dormant now, but by next spring, our yard should look really good. The flower beds will have to wait until next year for some attention, but Cary's been pruning the trees for fall. I'm so glad he is interested in yard work because aside from planting flowers, I really dislike it. :)

Before:


During:




and After:


Then today after church, my family and I took the boys to White Fence Farm. (Cary couldn't go because of a meeting he had to be at, so we'll have to take him next time.) It's an old farm that turned their property into a restaurant, petting zoo, and an all around fun place to be. They do carriage rides and they have lots of play areas for kids.

Is this not the coolest tree house EVER?






Meeting the pig...

My 8 month old

When Carson was little, I was so good about documenting every month. I love being able to look back at the things he was accomplishing. I want to be more diligent about doing that now. Especially with the rest of Caden's first year.

He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Job 8:21







Caden is such a happy boy. His smile lights my heart, and his laughter fills our ears. I am amazed every day at the way the Lord has answered the prayers I prayed over him while he was still inside of me. At 8 months old, Caden is extremely mobile and fast. He's crawling, pulling up, trying to cruise the furniture. He's figured out how to pull open drawers, and he is constantly pulling things out of drawers and off of our coffee table. Thankfully there are only magazines on their for the most part. He is in to everything! He is fascinated by stairs (thus the baby gate blocking off that part of our house). He definitely keeps me on my toes. He's a joy to be around and is such a smiley boy. He laughs all the time and is constantly grinning at Carson. He thinks that everything Carson does is absolutely hilarious! He has become very vocal about his opinions. If I leave the room he squeals in protest, and if he wants me, he crawls to me as fast as he can, pulls up on my legs and grins with all his might like he's saying "aren't I cute?? Don't you just want to love on me!?" :) His grin is hilarious with his six teeth. The two top center ones are still working their way in so his teeth are all uneven. He's just as cute as can be. He's quite the conversationalist and loves to babble with you. He will repeat you if you babble something to him, and is saying da-da now. It's not in reference to anyone, but Cary can dream. :)

Now that he is healthy again, he LOVES to eat! Anything and everything in sight! If you are holding him and eating, he will literally try to take your food away from you! :) He makes the funniest faces when he eats. With the first few bites of food, no matter what it is, he scrunches up his face like it was the most sour thing he has ever tasted. Once his is adjusted to the flavor, he frequently does this double eyed wink thing. And grins at you like he is just so cute. I don't know how else to explain it, but it's really funny. When he was sick, we were lucky if he would eat half of a stage 1 jar of baby food once a day. Now he is eating 3 times a day plus snacks, and will eat a jar and a half in a sitting easily.

I know this has played a big part in the recent improvement in his night sleeping habits. When he got sick, he started waking up at least every 2 1/2 hours all night. Now, we're down to twice a night, and I have a feeling even that will lessen soon. He's taking more consistent naps now too. Generally, he'll sleep for 2+ hours in the morning, and an hour in the afternoon. Sometimes he'll take a 3rd short nap in the early evening, and he's down for the night around 7. All I can say is yay for sleep! It's amazing how much easier life is with a healthy baby after he was sick for so long. He is so busy and wants to be on the move so much that he fights sleep with all of his might. When he is tired, he rubs his head and sucks his thumb. But when you answer his cues, he will fight for all his worth. When he decides he's lost the battle, his compliance is immediate. He will be asleep within moments.

Silly song by Mommy that's the hit of the moment:
Ca-den, Ca-den
Caden, Caden Gary is my boy...

I know it's simple and silly, but it will catch his attention and calm him at any given moment, especially if sung at a whisper.

Here is a short video I took at the park today. His giggle cracks me up.

My 29 month old

But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Luke 18:16







I see very little of my baby in Carson these days, except when he is pretending. He loves to pretend with Caden's things. He wants to do nearly everything himself. We hear a lot of "I do it" around here. His other favorite phrases of the moment are "watch dis, Mama." Followed by an ecstatic grin and, "See DAT!!!!?" He loves all things sports, and since we have been to lots of my brother's football games lately, Carson breaks out in "Defense, defense, defense!!" and "We will, we will ROCK YOU!" at any given moment. It's hilarious.

He has been much more interested in Jesus lately, and loves to sing Sunday School type songs. Jesus Loves Me is a big hit around here, and he sings it by himself and gets most of the motions. It's very sweet.

His sentences have become more and more complex, and he surprises me with the way he uses complex words and phrases in context. He is also developing social skills a lot more. He has always been a social butterfly, but has been especially timid with kids in his own age range. He's always been content just to watch them. Well now, he wants to play, hold conversations, and does not hold back in the affection department - which has gotten him in a bit of trouble... Do any of you remember a few years back when a 5 year old was charged with some crime for kissing a fellow student? (I thought that was crazy by the way...) Yeah...that could so be my son! I've caught him kissing (totally innocently by the way) a few girls already, and he hugs his buddies all the time. But if the affection is not accepted, woe on the other child. The other day in MOPS, I walk in to pick up Carson (which is always a joy because he is so good for them and has so much fun) and see him smack this kid with such an angry look on his face! Well, of course, I immediately reprimand him. Kelly, his teacher who he's had for the last few semesters, informs me that he has already done that to another child. She said she put him in time out because she knew I wouldn't mind (which I didn't at all). I was just dumbfounded. She said she knew it wasn't like him and he actually wasn't starting out aggressively. It turns out, he tried to hug a kid earlier in the class. Well, that child didn't want to be hugged or understand why Carson was invading his personal space, so he pushed Carson away. Then Carson smacked him. Needless to say, Carson and I have had lots of talks since then about how important it is to be nice to our friends and how we DO NOT hit. Later that night when we were talking about this all again, I said "It's not nice to hit, right Carson?" and he responded with, "yeah...Miss Kelly put Carson in time out..." Oh the joys of toddlerhood. :)

Silly Songs by Mommy that are all the rage in Carson's world:

The Carson Song

There once was a boy named Carson, Carson, Carson
He like to (fill in the blank - which Carson will do for you, by getting in your face and repeating what he likes to do until you sing it. :))

Repeat this, filling in the blanks with everything Carson names until you tire of it, and then sing:

There once was a boy named Carson, Carson, Carson
His mommy loved him so-o, so-o
There once was a boy named Carson, Carson, Carson
And now it's time for bed...Fred.

Another big thing right now is giving "GOOD" kisses. To give good kisses, you have to purse your lips and "work them out" by wiggling them all around, and then kiss the recipient suddenly, which always ensues giggles galore. I don't know where we came up with this, but it's lots of fun at bed time. :)

Breckenridge Fun

We had a great time in the mountains. It was nice to get away for a while, even if we did have responsibilities. I was concerned about the boys' ability to sleep in the same room, but they did fine, even during naps for the most part. I must admit a dvd on the computer did help when I needed Carson to be quiet for a bit.

Carson loved playing in all of the fall leaves.


Where's Carson?


Caden experienced his first time with crackers and bits of finger foods, and LOVED it. Can I just say that meal times are so much easier when babies can eat while you eat?

6 Teeth

Just for the records... Caden's 5th tooth, his top front left tooth, came in Tuesday, October 2nd, and his 6th tooth, the top right one, came in this morning. I'm so glad these teeth have cut through finally. They've given him a lot more trouble than any of the other ones. Hopefully now he'll have a break for a bit. Although his top eye teeth seem awfully close to the surface already. strange...

Milestones and shoes

Look what I found a few days ago...


Caden has been making crazy advancements in the last 7 days. He has begun crawling properly, although he still leap frogs across the room if he's excited. He is using his legs to stand himself up now. He has even begun trying to cruise the furniture. I think we're going to have a walker before 10 months, and it is stressing me out. He seems to be doing better healthwise as well. At his follow up appointment Wednesday, his lungs were clear for the first time in months, so we are supposed to continue the albuterol 1-2 times daily for a month to maintain his breathing, but it looks like we're in the home stretch. Yay!! Now if only his sleeping habits would go back to normal...





Sometimes, he crawls like Mowgli from the Jungle Book...it's hilarious...



Carson's favorite thing lately is pretend play. The things he thinks of crack me up. For example, when we were at the doctor's office after he had been so good for SO long, he decided we were going to play imaginary baseball in the waiting area of the pharmacy. He goes all out too. Running after grounders, catching fly balls, throwing them back to me, hitting them out of the park and running the bases. He's hilarious to watch.

Cary and the boys and I are heading to the mountains today. First, we have a women's retreat that Cary is playing piano at, and then we have a pastor's conference through Wednesday night. It should be a nice change of pace.

Cary had several conference calls yesterday, and since he works out of the house, it means we (the boys and I) either have to go somewhere or hole up somewhere so that his customers don't here the kids. We decided to go shopping. :) Our outlets here just got a Children's Place Outlet 2 weeks ago, and when we got there, the lady told me they had just marked all of their shoes down to $4.99! ALL of them! :) Carson doesn't really need shoes right now because DeeDee just got him several pairs, but I couldn't pass these up.

I got Caden several pairs since he hasn't really had any yet. Plus, there is a chance of snow this weekend, so I figured I had better get him a few options.

I also got him an adorable pair of tan suede worker boots, but I couldn't find a picture of them. They are soft soled too.

Then, I found these for me: (aren't they fun??!! - the second ones are looking a little purple on here to me, but they are RED :)) (oh, I also got Cary a really nice sweater...but I can't find a picture of it. Yay for sales!)