Elmo Pa-ty

See this handsome little boy right here? He turned TWO years old this weekend.

We celebrated all weekend long. It started out on his actual birthday on Friday. He got to take his favorite treat, donuts, to Brooke's house to share with the kids. They sang happy birthday to him, and from what Brooke said, he had a lot of fun.

We picked up the kids from daycare and then let Caden decide where we were going to dinner that night. With the help of Makayla, he chose "The Enchilada" (AKA El Rancho). He ate his whole enchilada, then they brought him fried ice cream.

Caden loved it! After we went to dinner, we came home and opened presents.

Makayla was feeling a little J-E-A, so we took a picture of her by the presents too.

Caden got to open his presents from Mom and Dad. He got clothes, a new jacket, jammies, big boy underwear, and a potty seat.

But his favorite gift was the bat and ball set. Daddy tried to help him figure it out...

But Caden thought it was more fun to use the bat like he was playing pool.

We spent the rest of the night setting up for the big event: Caden's Elmo party. Caden told me back when we were planning Makayla's party that he wanted a "Elmo pa-ty." And what Caden wants, Caden gets (well in the birthday planning part of life!)

We decorated our basement. We had some goodies for people to much on like M & M's, cinnamon bears, and goldfish crackers (get it? Because Elmo sings, "Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayons too).

I made this for our game: Pin the nose on Elmo. I may need to come up with a new game because Carson told me at the party that we always play that game (and they always get the same treats in their goody bag).

I just love this picture of Caden. He was so proud and knew all of this was for him.

Makayla really struggled with all the attention that Caden was getting, so we got a picture of both of them. 

I loved Caden's cake. They were cupcakes in the shape of Elmo's face.

Once everyone got to our house we had pizza and then moved into our game.

The kids did great, even Makayla and Caden (we didn't blindfold them), but Gage was the winner this time.

Here's some pictures of our amazing family who came to celebrate Caden's big day.

After the game Caden got to open his presents. We *Tyler* forgot to get pictures of Caden opening his gifts, but he got a Coupe car from Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bob; animals, clothes, and a truck from Grandpa Craig and Grandma Terry; lego set from the Jones family; a dump truck from the Thomas cousins; clothes from Karly, Rico, and Ryan; jammies and a book from Aunt Karen; books from Emily and Brad; and money from Great Grandpa Collard, Gayle, and Great grandpa and grandma Evans. One thing is for sure, Caden is one spoiled little boy!

Then we sang Happy Birthday and Caden got to blow out his candle.

I think it's safe to say that the cupcakes may have been the highlight for our kids.

We had so much fun celebrating Caden's birthday this weekend. Now if I can just figure out how to make him stop growing up. 

Happy Birthday Caden! 

Our Handsome TWO year old

Today my sweet little baby is no longer a baby... he's two years old! Caden is the best little boy we could ever ask for. He is so good-natured, sweet, and just so handsome. Here's some of his 2 year pictures: 

At two years old Caden:

• Can talk in full sentences. 
• Is a little guy. He is still wearing 18 month clothes, and will be for a while. 
• Loves his stuffed dog, "Gus-gus," and taking care of his "baby". He insists on sleeping with them and a handful of other toys. 
• Loves to play with trucks and balls. 
• Idolizes Makayla and tries to do everything she does. 
• Tells people "Bye-bye" and blows kisses. He also tells us, "wov you mommy daddy"
• Is a picky eater. He only eats cereal, mac and cheese, eggs, toast, fruit, and pizza. 
• Caden is a great sleeper. He goes down for naps and bedtime so easily. 
• Can give the meanest scowls. 
• When he wants you to carry him, he says, "I hold you!"
• Caden is very sensitive. If he thinks you are mad at him, he covers his face and moaps. 

Caden, 

We love the little boy you are turning into. You are so sweet to us and to Makayla, even when she is being mean to you. We love to see the way you are figuring out the world around you. Mom and Dad's favorite time of the day is bedtime routine when we get to read you stories. We love how you have some of the books memorized already. Most of all, we love that you are part of our little family and that we get to call you ours for the rest of our lives!  Happy birthday Cader-tot! We love you so much!

March Wrap up

I have been so bad at taking pictures of random things the kids have been doing lately, but here's a few pictures from the month of March. 

Tyler downloaded the song "Let it Go" from the movie Frozen and Makayla has been obsessed with it! She wants to watch it over and over again. She knows the words to the song by heart. It is so cute!

 Now that Makayla is three, she doesn't want to nap as much. Some days she does great without a nap. She will tell me on the way home from Brooke's that she "doesn't need a nap... just quiet time." Quiet time usually ends up with her playing on my iPad for about 10 minutes, then snuggling with me on the couch. We usually end up falling asleep for a while. One day she went without a nap. Caden and I were playing in the front room and I hadn't heard Kayla for a while so I went looking for her and found this:

I think she was playing "baby" and ended up falling asleep in Caden's crib at 4:00 in the afternoon. I let her sleep for about 20 minutes, but waking her up was so hard. Needless to say, the rest of the night did not go well with a tired little girl. 

Makayla is also getting very particular about her clothes. She has some favorite clothes that she wants to wear every day, even when I try to hide it, she manages to find it again. This is one of those outfits. Makayla asks to wear the "monkey shirt with the hearts" everyday. Then she found some orange shorts and told me, "look mom, the shorts fit!" The result was this outfit from this stinkin cute girl:

Some other cute sayings of Makayla at 3 years old: 

• When I change Caden's diaper, she insists on following me and helping. She even asks me: "Can I see Caden's poopies?"
• I was cutting up celery one day for a salad and Makayla told me, "I don't like celery. They hate me."
• Makayla is very bossy. When she plays with Caden she is always in charge and dictates what they do. One day I overheard her tell Caden, "Caden, you be the mommy, and I'll be the kitty."
• She changes her outfit multiple times a day. At the end of the day she asks me, "is this outfit clean or dirty?"
• She loves to point out when things match, like when I give her green yogurt with a green spoon she tells me, "Look, they matches the same!"
• Sometimes I wonder how I ended up with this child. She hates pizza, fries, and ice cream, but loves cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives. 
• When Tyler was out of town I let Makayla sleep with me. That was probably a bad idea because now she likes to sleep in our bed every night. She usually ends up in our bed around 3 AM. 
• She is definitely in the terrible three's phase and is testing her limits. She is very defiant and can be a little stink sometimes. 
• If someone does something that makes her mad, she tells them, "you make my heart bleed."
• Makayla will tell us, "you crack me up," then she hits the side of her head and says, "CRACK!"

Caden- 24 months:

Caden is turning into a little boy, he's no longer my little baby! He is just growing up so fast. Here's some pictures of our cute little boy on his last month of being a 1 year old: 

Caden loves to sit on Daddy's lap and read books. Books are still his favorite thing. 

 He loves to play with all of his toys. His favorites are his "baby" and his trucks. He also loves his "piano"

We finally switched Caden to a forward facing car seat. I think he loves the new view and mommy and daddy love that Caden and Makayla can't fight in the car anymore. I won't miss hearing, "Mom, Caden's foot is on my carseat!"

Some cute things about Caden at 24 months: 

• He asks for milk in his "Elmo cup".
• We have been getting ready for Caden's 2nd birthday and I asked him what kind of party he wanted and he told me, "Elmo pa-ty"
• When you ask Caden what he wants to eat he usually tells us, "Mac and Cheese" or "Ceweal"
• If Makayla is mean to him, he runs to me and says, "Sister do it"
• When we leave Brooke's house he has to give Addie a hug and a kiss good-bye, not any of the other kids, just Addie. We think he likes the older women! :)
• When we go to the store Caden always asks for a "donut".
• When Caden tries to tell us something, he stutters, like "uh, uh, uh, uh" before he actually tells us what he wants.
• Caden is talking so well and repeats almost everything we say. 
• His favorite saying now is, "I do it!"
• Caden has this horrible rash on his legs. No matter what we do, we can't get it to go away completely. 

As far as Tyler and I go, we are doing great. Thanks to Kayla for taking this picture of us. Without her, you wouldn't know that we are ever actually together. We are still happy as ever, just busy with work, life, and kids. We are both crazy busy at work, but luckily for me, things are slowing down, but not for Tyler. Things just keep getting more and more busy for him. We're just grateful Tyler has such a great job. We hope to one day go on a date, but for now we will settle for Friday night pizza, and redbox movie after the kids go to bed. 

 But most of all, we love being the parents to these two cuties! We constantly say how we just can't figure out how we got so lucky!

 Happy March!

Lucky the Leprechaun

The kids got a fun visitor on St. Patrick's day: Lucky the Leprechaun surprised them with some treats and played a few tricks on them. 

When Makayla woke up and went to the bathroom she found out the leprechaun had gone to the bathroom in her toilet and forgot to flush. 

Makayla thought this was pretty funny!

Then we went to the kitchen and found the treats Lucky left for us. 

Caden loved his green drink. 

When the kids looked in the fridge for their sippy cups, we realized Lucky had turned our milk green!

 When we got home from daycare/school, we made sugar cookies. I had two great helpers this time.

 For dinner we were supposed to have spaghetti with green noodles and sauce, but we had some leftovers from a family party, so we improvised with broccoli and green applesauce.

 The kids didn't eat their dinner, but they loved their green drink.

Lucky the Leprechaun must have made a lasting impression on the kids because Makayla still mentions how the leprechaun played tricks on them.

Holidays are so fun with kids! I don't know what I did before these two cuties made my life so magical.

Disney Ice

My mom got all the girls tickets to Disney on Ice again this year. I told Makayla we were going a few weeks before, and she was so excited. She kept telling me that "only girls are allowed to go to Disney Ice, not boys." One day she even told me, "When Caden turns into a girl he can go Disney Ice!" Don't think that will every happen, but Makayla can hope. So me and Kaybugs had a great girls day out and Caden and Daddy went to Tracy and Jeremy's to play with tools. 

Makayla wanted to wear one of her princess dresses, so she dressed up as Belle. 

 Maddie and Sadie went with us (Hannah thinks she is too old for that now). Sadie dressed up as Rapunzel.

 We got to the ESA and got the kids some popcorn. Once the show started Makayla was in a trance; she wouldn't take her eyes off the stage. I don't think she realized she was eating the popcorn because she was so glued to the princesses.

 We got to see The Little Mermaid, Brave, Beauty and the Beast, and Rapunzle. We loved every minute of it!

I'm so glad I have a little girl to go with me to all the girlie things. Thanks mom for a fun girls day out!!