Some of my favorite Christmastime pictures...

Okay, so this picture (left) really isn't an amazing picture, BUT there is something amazing about it. That same little rocking chair that Cadynce is sitting in, I also sat in as a little girl, and got pictures taken at Christmas in it. The chair belongs to the VanDePutte Family, of Lopez Island, some great family friends. Maybe I'll get around to scanning the picture of me in it...

Yeah, this was our attempt at a picture of the kids on Christmas morning in their Christmas jammies. Never works. ( I just spent ten minutes looking through old blog posts trying to put a link in to a past attempt at this same picture - can't find one. hmm)

This is my favorite series of Christmas pictures. And this is only 4 of the 7. Oh gosh. We were trying to get a picture of all of the kids. Well, and Kayci and Sophia too. Anyways, it was hilarious. Sandie was standing in front of them, so my pictures are a little off, but hilarious none the less. For your viewing enjoyment I present to you: 6 kids and 2 cameras...

p.s. the last one is my most favorite!

a hunting we will go

...for a Christmas tree that is.
This is a second attempt at this post, because I had already finished it, and hit publish post and for some reason, it didn't! UGH!
Anyways, this will now be the short and UN-witty version. We went to Fish Creek Tree Farm again this year for our tree because they have so many trees to choose from.
Once we got Camden to walk, or run, we couldn't hardly get him to hold still for any pictures, that's why there's only one of him with Colby and Sissy. Let's see, it's hard enough trying to remember what I wrote just a few minutes ago, let alone the months ago that this actually was!
Oh, we thought we had found the perfect tree (before the one below) so Colby really got a kick out of making Cadynce stand by the tree while we kept looking. Evidently, Rhonda did this to him and Ryan every year, multiple times in the hunt for the "perfect tree."

Sissy and I.

Daddy and the kiddos.

I really love this picture, it's so perfect. And just so you know, after this, Colby made me help carry the tree out. I got covered in tree sap, and smelled like a tree for the rest of the day.


Oh well, I guess there's worse things to smell like, right?

Lights of Christmas. 2010

Last year, we finally got to go to the Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach. I've been wanting to go since I moved to Arlington, and we've just never made it. For one thing, it's pretty expensive so justifying the money was part of the problem. After going though, it's totally worth it. Not to mention I had a coupon, and the guy gave us the discount for all 4 of us. How nice was he?!
I had been told about the mini donuts. Oh.Em.Gee. Honestly, these are probably some of the best donuts I have EVER had. They make them in a little tent right there so you can watch, that's pretty cool all in itself, but then they cinnamon and sugar them and put them in a little baggie. Num. Num. They practically melt in your mouth.
It was really cold of course the night we decided to go, the kids got kind of crabby, and hungry. We broke down and tried to buy them something to eat, for Cadynce that was fine, but Camden is stubborn...
The kids loved watching the little train go round and round. There are so many different little things to see, I know we didn't even come close to seeing all of it, and we still had a good time.

I definitely need to work on my night-time lights picture taking though. Yowza.

last november

Last November we got some gooood snow. The kids waited patiently for enough to be down that they could actually play in it. It was super cold outside though, so we were never out for very long at a time. Usually, we followed up with hot chocolate too.

I love this picture, dimples and snow. So cute, right?

Hey ladies... wanna smooch?

Serious cheese face going on.

Halloween oh-ten

 This year, the kids finally got some good use out of their costumes. We went to a Halloween birthday party for Cole. We had downtown trick-or-treating, actual Halloween trick-or-treating, and I won a Halloween photo shoot for the kids! Wow! Cadynce was Tinkerbell and Camden was Buzz Lightyear. You can see that downtown trick-or-treating was a little on the cold side, in fact, by the time we were finishing it was starting to rain.

 Camden wasn't overly excited when we headed out for downtown. It was nearing nap time, a little chilly, and his costume may have been a titch too small. (I got a size 5, sheesh!) I did enjoy walking behind him though because you could see his cute little diaper butt through the white bottoms. Ha. I'm sure he'll thank me for that later on.

This was my best shot of both of the kids. Not the greatest I know, but it is sooo hard to get both kids to look at the camera and smile while there are a million other kids in costumes walking around.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of Cadynce's super cute Tinkerbell wings. They just made me happy. Even with them over her coat she still enjoyed flitting around in them.

I had to include one of Cadynce's hair too! I did it all by myself, 4 times even. No, 5 times, because we had a test run before any of the dress up festivities took place!

At the end of downtown trick-or-treating, we had one tired little boy. He was a good sport though, getting all dressed up so many times, knocking on doors, smiling for the camera and saying "trick-or-treat." All in all, Halloween was pretty good this year!

punkin patch oh-ten

While Colby and the guys were gone hunting, Lauren and I took the kids on our annual Pumpkin Patch trip. It was cold and trying to rain, so we hurried right along. Camden was funny because he would so, "ohh, puhhh-kiinn" and Cadynce just kept putting more and more pumpkins in the wheelbarrow. I finally had to take a bunch back out and make her pick just two. I ended up leaving my camera home, but Lauren brought hers, so the pics are from her! Thank goodness!

Awwe, cam still had a binkie.

Our best attempt at a picture of all of us.

Cadynce was missing a tooth and not cooperating very well for pictures as you can see.

Trying to get a shot of both of them and how tall they were getting. Don't you love Camden's mis-matched camo?

mexico.10.2010

I was looking at the blog and saw how much stuff I HADN'T posted since last fall. I saw that I kept saying, "more pics to come" or "I'll catch you all up soon" this time, I'm really working on it. So you're going to see some ooooold stuff in with the new stuff.
Jose Del Cabo, or Los Cabos, Mexico in October 2010. Mike, Ryan, Kelli, Colby and I enjoyed the sun, sand, and ocean for a few days. I've been able to enjoy a lot of trips thanks to Mike and Rhonda. (and napa for putting together the owner trips I guess)

This is from our day of bar hopping in Cabo San Lucas, which was about a 20 minute drive from where we actually stayed in Jose Del Cabo. We went to Squid Row, Cabo Wabo...and honestly, I can't remember the names of all the other little bars we went into.

A few years ago, when we all went to Puerto Rico, the boys tried to go fishing, no - they went fishing, but all Colby did was feed the fish. That may have been partly due to the fact that everyone had had too much fun the night before, but regardless, that made him really skeptical to go on this trip in Mexico. I felt bad for bullying him into it, but in the end, he was so glad he went and so was I. The guys caught about 12 tunas or so and I think 2 dorado. The fish got cleaned up and we packed them into a cooler and actually brought it home with us. Another awesome adventure for the books.

How about this beautiful beach?

Kelli and I on our horseback riding adventure. She nearly died of dehydration. LOL. The ride was 2 and half hours, in the friggin' hot sun.

This picture of the guys makes me happy. I love the seeing them all so happy together. We really missed Rhonda on this trip, but I'm sure she was there with us...

Colby and I getting ready to go snorkeling. (note to self - get those underwater pictures developed. oops, it's only been a few months right?!) Mike was with us on the catamaran trip - we were all supposed to go, but Kelli had a nasty cold and that combined with the air conditioning was making her sick every night. It took her a few hours out in the fresh air to feel better each day . . .

random pictures.

Cam is always lining up his cars like this. The Zhu Zhu pet really cracks me up though!

The kid has a few McQueens.

Cadynce was student of the month in January for "being responsible for her learning." Can you tell she was a nervous Nellie up there? Wierd considering the ham she is.

 

She was so excited to see us all there. We come in full force. Grandma Cleone, Papa, Uncle Tom, me, Colby and Camden. We are so proud of her.

reading. writing. talking.

Since Cadynce has started school she has learned so much. She absolutely loves school. Some of the things she's learned/learning are:

• sight words (31 to be exact - so far)
• sounding words out and starting to read some of her books on her own
• counting to 100, and identifying 0 thru 31
• she's finally mastered writing her name with a capitol C and lower case the rest
• greater than and smaller than 5
• her coloring is great, and her attention to detail is getting better and better

It's been amazing watching her grow and change. I think the other day at school I really was amazed at how many children she has had a good impact on, I mean, the other kiddos wouldn't be talking about her at home to their parents if she wasn't right?

Camden lost his binki on Christmas, which I'm sure you remember from (yeah I was going to post a link because I was sure I had blogged about this, but evidently I didn't!) ---scratch that. Back the bus up. Christmas Day at Mike's house I had found a hole in one of Cam's last 2 binkies, so I threw it away... later on the same day at Grandma Cleone's I found a hole in the last one. We figured okay, we're done. On the way home after our exhausting Christmas Eve and chaotic Holidays, we realized that was probably a crazy idea to give it up on Christmas Day. Well, I searched - no where was open -- and we had no hiding binkies in the house. So that was it, we were done. I found a different kind of binki stashed in his closet, but he didn't want anything to do with that...So we were binki-less on Christmas Day night. Camden was a trooper and only whined a little bit, he still has blankey so I think that helped. He really didn't need it and it was more for us I think at this point, but he has only ever asked for it maybe twice since then, so we have been really lucky. Okay, back to the here and now:

Camden was talking more and more, but I didn't see just how much his bink was inhibiting his words... he has come leaps and bounds in just a few short months. Every day he is saying more and more and his words are clearer and clearer. (Like other people can understand him now, not just me and Caydnce) He says things like:

• mommy, i eat a snack
• mommy/daddy i need a rink (drink) peeas (please)
• oh-uh the moowiee (movie) is over
• oh, okay, gooooodnight mommy/daddy/issy
• uh, no summer, get on yooo bed
• oh, i go a Tina's today?

He's ready for a big boy bed for the simple fact that he's just too big for the crib, but we haven't gotten one yet. As for potty training......well, eventually that will happen. I hope. I'm so done with diapers.

I'm thankful for my children. They are amazing.

good day gone bad

Today, was one of those days. You know, the kind that start out really good, and then one thing after another goes really wrong? Yep, that kind.
Colby left last night to go fishing until late Sunday night so I was mentally preparing myself for a single mother of 2 weekend. I knew/know we'll get through it, 3 days is easy squeezy compared to the ten in the fall right? right.
This morning went pretty smoothly as far as mornings go. Kids got up, had breakfast, got dressed...today was Cadynce's Valentine's Day Party at school that I needed to help out at and with Colby gone, that sort of threw a wrench in things, so Camden went to Tina's for the day. I got Cadynce to school and turned around to run to get some Starbucks. (Love me some Starbucks) I got Aunt Sandie a coffee and dropped by to visit her. (Things are going good so far right?) The Valentine's Day Party went well too. Done with school and no kids, meant a super fast trip through Target. Yeah for me! Then home to vacuum and do some laundry.
I headed back to pick up Cadynce, then Camden and back to town to get them a hair(s) cut. (still going good.) Cadynce had a good day she tells me and that she had lots of sweets. Oh joy for me, a sign of bad things to come for sure. We're going on three weeks in a row of 3 day weeks for her and she's already been tired. Arrive at Magic Shears to have our normal haircutterers gone. I decide, "what the heck, we're already here" big mistake. BIG MISTAKE.
Camden throws uber fit and ends up with a not so great haircut. I felt so bad for the lady; so, so bad. We get through it and both kids have a sucker. Okay, wait, backup, on the way to Magic Shears, Cadynce asks if she can have candy after dinner from Valentine's. I answer she can choose either a sucker at the haircutting place or one piece after dinner, she chose the sucker.
Here's where things get bad........


Cadynce drops her sucker on the floor and has to throw it away, which leads to a major meltdown. I go to put it in the garbage and see that she has thrown away her whole sandwich from lunch, which leads to one mad mommy. I won't go into details but we had some lying happen about lunchtime - lies do not go over well in this house. The super tired Cadynce then had a major kicking screaming meltdown complete with the catched breaths and the fear of vomit at any moment.


Ugh. Anyhoo, the crying stopped and the rest of the evening wasn't half bad. She is still pretty upset that she won't get to spend the night at Papa's house tomorrow night, but, oh well. On a lighter note: Colby caught his first Steelhead today (actually he caught 4 of them) so that's really exciting.

Tomorrow is a new day, right?