SNOW! and others

Yesterday Raleigh was predicted to get snow. I really didn't believe it because it was 45 degrees outside and perfect! Around 10:30pm Wake County canceled school -- I still wasn't sure why because it was doing NOTHING outside. Before we went to bed..still nothing. But, when Matt woke up at 6 to get ready for work, everything was covered white! We ended up getting 4-5 inches (probably). Marie was home with her parents b/c of the snow day and Juliet was also home with her parents because of the snow. Matt stayed home because it wasn't safe to drive all the way to UNC in the snow. We took Kaden outside to play. He LOVED it. I wasn't sure how he'd do, because in Michigan he wasn't real thrilled about snow and in Iowa he hated the cold temps in his face. But, he had fun here. The cold really didn't seem to bother him at all. Talbot also had a lot of fun playing in the snow. We stayed out 45 min in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. YAY for snow! Here are several pictures from our day. (Some of the other pictures you'll notice he's wearing his Christmas jammies -- they worked really well as underclothes for playing in the snow and just stayed in them all day)









He was determined to clear off the brick wall!








He kept falling into the snow, then rolling on his back and laughing

















Attempt at "sledding" down the hill -- sans sled!




Shoveling snow! hahaha









Family shot





Talbot loved when Matt put snow in the Frisbee and tossed it at her -- she'd jump and get all excited





Later in the day --- More shoveling









The snow was finally wet enough to make a snowman



How we had to prop his hat on his head





Spying the snowman for the first time




He knocked the hat off the snowman -- Talbot wasn't too sure about that



Destroying the snowman...



I told him "oh no! what happened to the snowman? You better give him hugs"...so he did! Such a sweet boy!











New Fork and Spoon? Kaden has a few drawers in the kitchen where he's allowed to play. He found this spoon and tongs the other day and has fun playing with them. During breakfast he was determined that he could eat his PB toast with them! HAHA! The boy makes me laugh all the time.









Kaden loves any and all balls. It's amazing the random ball collection that he has! He was having fun playing with them today.





He shoots and SCORES!



High-five after making a basket



Smart boy!! Kaden has started realizing that he can't reach something on the counter, he can pull a chair or step stool and it will help him. He wanted the ceiling fan turned on today and couldn't reach the switch. I told him "get your stool"...he went right to the kitchen, got his stool, and brought it to the living room.





While I was doing laundry today, Kaden had fun hanging out in the laundry basket and keeping me company.

Where is Kaden?



There he is!!




Building a tent using the chair and our bed sheet





Peek!



Kaden really enjoys helping me in the kitchen. He's great at stirring and has started to become better at pouring ingredients into the bowl. We make many things together and he hasn't found something he doesn't like -- except for the scary noise the mixer makes! A few days ago I was making deviled eggs and Kaden wanted to help. We pulled the chair up to the counter and he helped crack and peel the eggs!







CRAFTS! Kaden enjoys doing any and all crafts. We do at least 3 different activities every day (coloring, stickers, stamps, markers, playdoh, painting, etc....) We were working with clay the other day. He had fun.

Catching up

Where does the time go? Oye! The last few weeks have been so busy -- actually the last few months have been busy, but particularly January. It's taken so much time catching up to laundry, bill stuff, organizing and unpacking the house, and just other stuff that comes up. Kaden was basically cosleeping with us for the last 6 weeks due to all our traveling, so this week has been super hard on him because he's back in his crib. Sunday night was awful -- he was so sad and crying so hard he was shaking. He just kept repeating "Mommy's crib! Mommy's crib!" over and over. He really wanted in our bed. I would try to lay him in his crib and he'd have a death grip hold on me. Eventually I was able to soothe him to sleep in his crib. Each night has gotten a bit easier for him -- and me! Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks.

Painting and using the dobber markers:







Putting together his new trike and trying it out:





Our climber still practicing his skills. He has really grown up the last few months. He's talking so much now and using 2 and 3 word sentences. If he can't reach something, he knows to get my stool, set it up, push it to where he needs it, then stands on it. The other day he wanted something in the sink and pushed the chair over to sink and climbed up. He's so smart and extremely observant to everything around him. Today we were playing and Marie leaned back and hit her head on the wall (gently, Scott & Marjorie :)!) and Kaden said "uh oh! Rie-Rie bonk head. Ouch! Sorry!" Even though it wasn't his fault. Another cute Kaden moment this week was Tuesday morning. After being exhausted because he woke up at 5:30 (UGH!) he was super tired. At 8:00am he brought a blankee to me, asked for a paci (which he only gets a naptime or bedtime), and climbed in my lap and fell right to sleep!





Aunt Debbie sent us a box of our Christmas stuff this week. Kaden LOVED the box and the packing peanuts!












Last Thursday-Sunday we were in Omaha so Matt could interview at Nebraska. Matt's parents and sister met us there and we all had fun. One of the days we all went to an indoor waterpark. I thought Kaden would really love it, but the water was a bit cold and scary for him. He did have fun in the pool section shooting baskets though.



On Saturday his family left and we went to meet one of my friends. Amber and Jeremy have a son that's a few weeks older than Kaden. Ernie and Kaden had a lot of fun together.









Can you find Kaden?







Airplane ride home:


Enjoying a nutritious McDonald's chocolate shake!

Montage of Recent Trips

After uploading all 750 pictures last night, I knew there were WAY too many to post on here, so instead I put them into a montage. Enjoy! I added captions, but after trying to save it for the blog I realized they were a "premium" feature, and not viewable with the free version! Sorry!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com