Wild Things!

One of Caden's favorite books is Where the Wild Things Are.  He loves Max especially.  So Nana made him a special costume, and the rest of us went as the wild things (she made our hats as well).  We went to the fall festival at church where there were bouncy castles, a train, games, and of course Trunk-or-Treating.  It was a lot of fun, Caden still talks about it.  Thanks, Nana, for our great costumes!

 

Fun October Traditions...

October is always a busy month.  We start with our anniversary, shortly followed by my annual trip to Minnesota with my mom and sister.  We go every year towards the beginning of October to the Mall of America and start our Christmas shopping.  It's so much fun!  We eat yummy food and shop for 10 hours straight.  It takes a coffee or two as well to keep us going.  It started a few years ago and we look forward to it every year now.  We also go up to St. Joseph, where my mom's parents live, and spend one evening with them.  This year it was my Aunt Runay's birthday while we were there, so we got to celebrate with her too!  Also, my cousin Nicole just had precious little Paige only a month ago and we got to meet her and see my Grandma and cousins for a little.  It was a great trip, except for the fact that my Grandpa isn't doing well with his health, so my mom stayed to be with them while they try to figure out what is going on with him.  My mom's jaw is also wired shut and we all felt guilty eating in front of her.  She didn't let it get to her though and we had a blast...already looking forward to MOA 2012!

Chupe never took a break...even with baby Carson in tow.

Delicious dinner after a long day with a few glasses of wine to ease our sore feet :)

Shuttling back to the hotel at 10pm with all our crap...sadly not nearly as many Christmas gifts as we'd planned.

I think we brought a little luck to the Vikes this day because they won their first game of the season :)

Cam's birthday was this past week.  We went down to his work and surprised him with some balloons that Caden picked out, and because of his latest obsession, they were Toy Story.  When Cam got home he didn't feel well so he laid down and fell asleep.  Caden woke him up later so we could sing 'Happy Birthday' and have some ice cream cake.  Birthdays just aren't nearly as much fun when you're an old man :)

This weekend we took the boys to the pumpkin patch.  The weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.  Caden followed Nana around everywhere saying, "Look at that one!"  He and Cameron also threw tiny green pumpkins that they called "grenades" at Auntie Ashley.  There was a petting zoo that Parker really enjoyed, and bouncy castles that Caden spent some time in as well.  It's always fun to go to the pumpkin patch, especially when we have weather like we've been having.    

The boys couldn't stop kicking the pumpkins for long enough to look at the camera.

A Little Family Update...

So...after giving up on our original family website, I have decided to start a blog.  I love looking at everyone else's, so why not start one of our own?  I'm especially doing it in hopes of having a scrap-book type thing to show the boys when they're older since I am terrible at that.

Anyway...if you are in need of an update...Caden is now 2 and-a-half.  He loves to read, go to the park, the movie Toy Story 3, jump on the trampoline, play cars, take baths, and play with our neighbor Sidi.  He likes to ride his big wheel, but really struggles to pedal.  He just started "soccer" a few weeks ago and loves it.  I say "soccer" because it's really ball skills, but he likes it better if I say we are going to soccer.  His favorite book of the week is "Chicken and Ham" which is really "Green Eggs and Ham", but we don't know why he started calling it that.

Parker is just about 9-months-old.  He is a crazy crawler, pulls up on everything, walks around furniture, and gets into any and everything.  He pulls things out of the outlets, and puts everything in his mouth.  I can't take my eyes off of him for a minute.  He is all smiles.  He still has no teeth, but loves to eat puffs, yogurt melts, crackers, pancakes, waffles, and just about anything small and semi-soft that he can fit into his mouth.  He takes in everything and doesn't want to miss a thing.

I am not teaching for the moment.  It doesn't really make sense right now with two kids and daycare costs, so it's a blessing that I'm able to stay home with them.  However, to make up a little of the lost income I've started to watch a little girl four days a week.  She's going to be our new neighbor in a few months, and she's adorable.  She just turned one, so I hope that her and Parker will be close friends.  We seem to be surrounded by little girls, which could mean trouble for me as they all grow older.  It's so fun though.  We moved a little over a year ago into a home in Stapleton, which is in Denver.  It's central to just about everything, close to family which is super important, and such an awesome place to raise a family.  There are kids, pools, parks, and dogs everywhere!

Cameron is still doing graphic design for Watermark Advertising.  He's been there over six years now.  He just finished his first sprint triathlon a couple of weeks ago and did awesome (182nd out of almost 500!).  I think he has a new hobby.  We're celebrating our seventh anniversary this weekend too...time flies!

I'll just add a few more recent photos of the boys.  They love each other so much and we feel so blessed to be their mom and dad!