Kaden's Room

Well I have FINALLY finished Kaden's big boy room. It's actually been finished for a month or so officially, but I just got around to taking pictures. It's turned out pretty good I think and he loves it, so here they are...












Brooks' room is done too minus one more stripe I have to paint around the top. I'll post those when I get that done. And our basement is finished too!!!! Kaden loves his play room and I'm getting my other rooms put back together so once it's all cleaned up I'll let you see!!!

It snowed again!!!

Well I didn't think we'd get dumped on again, but yesterday we got just that!! I was kinda glad in one little way....Kaden could now make a snowman. We didn't get that done the first go around, so this morning, he and Brett went out to play, and while dad was making the snowman, Kaden was throwing snowballs at the car and his daddy!!! They had fun sledding around the front yard and getting in a little play time together. Kaden loves playing in the snow and loves falling out of the sled, he just lets out a huge cracking laugh and it makes me laugh so hard too. He's to cute. While they were doing that, Brooks and I were inside standing by the fire, much cozier in here, but looking out the window and hearing Kaden and Brett play just made my morning!!! I love you guys!

Just need to write

As we are almost leaving the first month of 2010, I have so many things write that I never get down. And since this blog is a place for me to share and also for my kids to return to someday and look back at what went on, I'd like to jot some things down.

First, I'm SOOOO thankful for my family. My own little family of 4 now, as well as our immediate family that is such a blessing to have near by. I don't think I thank everyone enough for ALL the help they give me especially, but Brett as well since he is gone a lot. Now with the two boys, life is a little busier, but it's great. I definitely couldn't do it without all the help. (I guess I could, just might have a few more grey hairs already!!)
It goes without saying that Kaden LOVES all his aunts and uncles but since he only has 2 cousins so far and Kale is the only other boy, well....they are best buds!! So last night he got to spend the night over there while I went to the KU vs. K-State game in Manhattan, glad I didn't bring him to that one! Anyways, he had a BLAST like always and was super pumped to be with his cousin(s). He has told everyone about his stay and will talk about it for days now. He'll also remind me that we need to do it again, and/or have Kale come spend the night at our house now!!! I'm up for it.

Second, I want to thank God for all the blessings in my life in general. We are learning about Grace during our 10 week series at church and it's great. I like that Pastor Bump explains things so well and helps us understand it in our own lives and apply things that way. Here's a synopsis...
GRACE:
G-God's gift to me (no one earns it or deserves it, but it's given to us anyways)
R-Received by faith (again not deserved, but with faith we receive it)
A- Available for everyone (no matter what you've done, who you are, how much money you have in your bank account, GRACE is available for each of us)
C- Comes through Christ (plain and simple, He gives it to us)
E- Extended through eternity (GRACE has been given to us with no limitations and we carry it through all times)
Wow, how awesome huh! I sure think so.

This message is especially good for me to hear during my time at home and doing what I'm LOVING doing...being a mom!! Grace gets me through so many trials and tribulations let alone daily life, but you rarely think about it that way.
Being a mom is something I've longed for all my adult life and I couldn't love my boys more! Even during the long/short(however you look at it) nights and the tiredness...this is my job, this is what I "signed" up to do and I LOVE it. I'm supposed to nurture, love, and attend to every need my boys have and I can't forget that when it gets hard or tough sometimes. I like when Kaden "puts me in my place" sometimes and tells me I'm being cranky. Although you never like hearing that, it does make me laugh a little and then makes me stop and take a look at the situation and why I'm being that way, so we take a step back, hug/kiss each other and start over. He and Brooks both are such joys in my life, along with my husband, that I couldn't ask for anything more. Even though I'd love to stay home full time, I'm grateful for Brett allowing me to work part time AND go back to school (and coach in the fall).

As I write all of this with Brooks on my lap and looking so patiently at me type away, I just can't help but shed a little tear at what God has given me/us...MY 2 VERY OWN CHILDREN!!!WOW...amazing huh. Thank you Lord for such perfect babies in our lives. Like Pastor Bump says, there is one thing he can predict for every one's future...you WILL fail and make mistakes, there is NO question about it, so even though I say perfect, we will have our falls, but will get through them all with a little help and some Grace!


I can't wait to see what's in store for our family in the future and I can't wait to continue to see the milestones of each of our kids!!

Till next time...

Good Times

We've had some good times these last few weeks.
My dad came in town for the long weekend and finally got to meet Brooks!! He said he looks nothing like his pictures, and as of today, his new updates are: 9lbs. 10oz. and 22 inches long!!! Again, chunkin' up just fine. I think he's gonna be chubby like his brother was! So besides the tummy issues we're still having, he's growing just great!



Kaden finally got to get out his truck and ride around a little due to the "good" weather (in the high 30's) we had. He doesn't quite get the steering thing yet, so good thing there's 2 settings on speed....we'll keep it on the slower one till he gets that down!!! His cousin Kale came over yesterday and got a spin too! They had a blast riding around, but Kale said he's a better driver and the radio needs to be louder! They were cute!



The last two weeks we have gotten to go to story time at the library, which is fun and you all know Kaden and his love of books, so he gets pumped to go! When he found out his cousins were going too, he was even more pumped!! Last week was food for thought story time and after the book called "The enormous potato" the kids got to make potato faces with food...very creative. Bailey enjoyed just eating the mashed potatoes!!



After library the kids came over to play and since the basement is in still remodel stages, the bball goal is in the living room. Kaden ALWAYS has to change into shorts...well, b/c they "help me play better mom" so Kale definitely had to change into shorts as well. As they came down the stairs, Katie and I just died laughing b/c as you can see...Kale is the 1980's version of a bball players shorts and Kaden has the updated version of how they wear them! Very cute for Kale to try to wear Kaden's shorts!

Always something new at our house and I'll be posting soon about the basement and Kaden and Brooks's rooms finally finished (yes I know it's been a while since Kaden moved into his big boy room!)
I also have some footage of the truck riding and some other stuff, I'll post soon.
Take care.

Updates

This was about a week ago....

Brooks had his 3 week check up today and the fact that he throws up almost every time after each feeding, apparently hasn't effected his weight....he is now 7 lbs 14 oz. and is measuring 21 1/4 inches. Now the last time we went in was only 2 weeks ago and he was 5 lbs 14 oz and still at 17 1/4 inches long......my how they grow so fast!!!


Brooks also got to attend his first KU basketball game last night against Cornell, and man he had a great 1st game to come to. He didn't see a peak of it though, he slept through the ENTIRE game, just like Kaden used to. Even with 16,300 fans, an amazingly loud video board introduction and the crowd getting extremely loud throughout b/c we were down most of the game (we won in the end...) he didn't bat an eye, well besides to eat once! So he is doing great and growing like a weed, literally.


Brett on the other hand had a scratched cornea as of Tues night after a city league game he played in with his friends in Kansas City. He got poked in the eye and got home right around midnight and told me about it, and said it hurt and things were blurry, then in the middle of the night during one of the feedings, he was in some major pain b/c his eye was burning really bad. Then when we woke up in the morning he couldn't see out of his right eye at all. He got into the Dr's office about an hr. later and he told him he had a pretty deep cut on his cornea, man that kid needed to cut his nails....and he got some numbing medicine and had to wear a lens over that eye so each time he blinked it didn't irritate it more. So all day he was squinting, blurry reading/seeing, red-eyed and little headache b/c of this accident. What a pain in the hiney! So the game was fun with him having to squint as well and keep track of everything, but he got through it. He went in this morning and they took the lens out and it had already healed pretty much all the way. Apparently your eye is one of the fastest self-healing parts in your body, which is a good thing. So now he just has a little blur and is continuing on. What an incident just to go have some fun with his friends!!!

Snow Days!

With all the snow we've had (and there's more to come) Kaden has got to enjoy his new sled from Great Grandad. He absolutely loves to play in the snow. We have still not been able to build a snowman, it's either ice or non-packing snow, but we'll continue to try. I even dared the freezing weather the other day and went outside with him to pull him in his sled. I even had a lot of fun doing it. We found a little hill in the neighbors yard that Brett had pushed him down and we went down that too!! He loves it. When he falls out, he laughs hysterically, real belly laugh and just continues on, he cracks me up! Brooks hasn't made it out yet, I just had to keep checking on him while we were out, to cold for his little body!!! Here are some picts and a video as well. Enjoy!

Christmas 2009

Sorry, been kinda busy lately....
Here is some updates from the last few weeks;

We went to visit Santa, as you may recall, Kaden DOES NOT like Santa..."he's mean, he's scary" those are the comments I get. But nonetheless he was willing to visit him to please me and let Brooks meet him. The deal was that Brooks sat on his lap and Kaden sat on my lap, otherwise, he wasn't going to visit him...it was a deal!

He did really good and even talked to him after the picture to tell him what he wanted and to tell Rudolph hi for him. Very cute. I guess Brooks didn't mind Santa, at least this year!

Here are a few random pre-Christmas pictures that were just fun and wanted to share!








We had Christmas early with the Ballard's on the 22nd and enjoyed our time with them at the Hammerschmidt's house. Thanks Katie for hosting and having yummy food for us. As always Kaden had a blast with his cousins. He got lots of cool gifts and I think besides his red and blue table and chairs from Grandpa and Grandma Ballard, his favorite toy was his new sled from Great Grandad!!

(looks like the boys are interested, I think Bailey is preoccupied with other things!)









Next we had Christmas with my mom on Christmas Eve. We went to church like always and Kaden even got to join us in "big church" which never happens, but he did very good and was just anxious for the Silent Night song at the end so he could really "play" with his candle and blow everyone else's out!

After church we went to my moms for our regular spaghetti dinner and opened up presents! It turned out to be a blizzard outside while we were enjoying the warmth inside, so it was quite the ride home afterwards!
His big gifts from mom were an easel that you can draw/color on one side and dry erase under the paper and do chalk drawing on the other, big dino floor puzzle, books, other puzzles, clothes, KU Mr. Potato Head, color books, & who knows what else.

Aunt Amber and Uncle Brett gave him some sweet Cowboy boots and a pair of KU basketball shorts to match his jersey he has!

Here's what we woke up to Christmas morning!!! It was a crazy windy night, the snow was definitely going horizontally more than it was coming down vertically, it was nuts. It was sure a white Christmas!!



Christmas was awesome and we are definitely blessed by our sweet baby boy Brooks arrival and such a wonderful big brother Kaden. Both our families spoil them rotten and they love being around them.
This is by far my favorite time of the year and favorite holiday. It is soooo fun watching it through Kaden's eyes now and I can't wait for Brooks to be the same way. It's pure amazement and joy to see Kaden's wide eyes and comments about everything. Santa left him a KU football helmet and jersey, as he asked, and Brooks got some little cowboy boots and a rattle, last minute shoe-in for Santa to come up with something! We even left Santa some cookies and milk along with some cheese for the reindeer (we didn't have any carrots, so we resorted to cheese, and as you can see, Kaden wanted a bite before we left it!)







(Brooks didn't have a stocking, I couldn't get it made in time, I was bummed, but he'll have to wait till next year, wasn't preapred for his arrival!)







Brooks got an awesome gift from Aunt Stephanie, a Cole Aldrich jersey...the smallest one out there, and still HUGE on him, but he'll be matching Kaden as soon as he can get it on!

Kaden's other big wish for Christmas was a truck...one that HE could drive! T-Pa (my dad) came through and got him his very own Ford F150 Harley Davidson version truck.
Kaden was pumped and soooo excited to try it out. Unfortunately he hasn't done much with it besides forward and backwards in the garage b/c of the snow! Thanks T-Pa!!!



Kaden's favorite gift overall though after all was said and done....was his scoreboard clock from Aunt Stephanie!! Not sure why (although it is pretty awesome) but it doesn't drive around, or move, or is something to wear, but maybe just having something like the Fieldhouse has in it, is pretty awesome...Thanks Aunt Steph, aka "My Stevanies"!


As you can see, our family had a great Christmas and are also very fortunate to have all my family here in town, minus my dad, and Brett's family really close by. Thanks again to everyone for making it such a great Christmas!!!