Caden's 3rd Birthday

Caden's birthday was Monday, November 7, so to celebrate we went as a family to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. He had a blast playing games, eating pizza and getting to meet Chuck E Cheese.

 

On school on Tuesday, we took some M&M cookies in for his class to eat at lunch time. I think they liked them because I did not get any leftovers back!! :)

 On Saturday, we had his birthday party! It was a Diego animal party! Nana, Papa, Gigi and a bunch of friends came over to celebrate! We had cake, ice cream, played an animal rescue game and opened presents! We had so much fun!!  

3 years old!

 

Looking for his baby elephant's mommy

We rescued the animals!

Cake and ice cream

 Presents!

 Things to remember as you turn 3!!

At your 3yr Dr. appointment, you were 31.6 lbs (50%) and 39 1/4 in. (90%)

You always tell us that you are getting bigger so that you can drive a race car (I am going to be a nervous wreck in 13 years when you turn 16!) you also occasionally tell us you want to drive tractors

We listen to "your" music a lot in the car but you have recently started singing to some songs on the radio (so thankful for Christian music) that we didn't even know you knew

Love to eat at Chick-fil-A and McDonalds

Still need a nap in the afternoon although you don't always get one

Your favorite colors right now are yellow and red

When I play cars with you, I am only allowed to be the girl cars (never Lightning McQueen or Mater etc. only Flo) (good thing for me, you are getting Holly Shiftwell for Christmas so I will have 2 choices)  :-)

Happy 50th

Ok, so the reason why we did not make it to fall festival on October 31 is because my mom's birthday is the next day November 1st (and she was having a BIG birthday this year) She turned 50 !! Happy Birthday Mom!! (side note...we didn't go on her bday because Tuesdays are school/work days) I planned with Dad to have him take her out for breakfast so that we could get in and put up a few decorations for the surprise.  She was surprised but the funny thing is so were we! As we were finishing decorating, Jimmy turned around and saw them unlocking the door so I quickly grabbed Caden and ducked down behind the couch so we could pop up and yell surprise! :)  Later, we found out Dad had texted me to see if we were ready but I did not get the text until an hour and a half later! We had fun playing games, eating cake, opening presents and going out to eat.

I thought this game was hilarious!

gag gift....can you guess what it is??

adult diaper! :)

one year later...

One year and 114 job applications later and still no fulltime job, yet somehow, someway we are still making it. (Not really somehow, someway...I know how...it has been all God) He has provided for us in every way. So far I have been able to pay the bills every month. I am so thankful for the part-time work that we do have. My job with Mother's Day Out that I can take my boys with me while I work and for the part-time work that our wonderful church has provided for Jimmy. However, it can still be very hard not knowing what is going to happen or how long this phase of life will be, but in the end, we know God sees the big picture and can trust that he is holding on to us.

Oh, I love the way you hold me, by my side you'll always be
You take each and every day, make it special in some way
I love the way you hold me, in your arms I'll always be
You take each and every day, make it special in some way

I love you more than the words in my brain can express
I can't imagine even loving you less

Lord, I love the way you hold me

I guess for now the next phase while we try to wait patiently for a fulltime job will be school for Jimmy. He has been taking one class this semester at SEBTS and has completed his application to start as a full time student in the spring.  Seminary is not something he had previously thought about doing, but it seems to be where God wants him right now...

Fall Festival

Our church did two fall festivals this year. The first one, was just for the church preschoolers. It was about a week before halloween. It included games in the gym, hot dogs and funnel cakes. Not many people came, but we still had a good time (even though Jimmy and the boys were the only ones dressed up)!! The second one was on halloween for everyone in the community and it usually includes games, horse rides, hay rides and food but we did not make it to this one this year because of another reason (more on that later).

Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2

 

Thing 2 snoozed on Ms Dianne while Mommy and the Cat in the Hat played games with Thing 1!

Puppets

Taking turns putting on a puppet show with Julia Ruth (Juju)

4 months old

Noah
At 4 months old you...

• are 18lbs 10oz and 27 3/8 in. long
• had 3shots at your Dr. appointment
  
• LOVE watching your brother and the things he does
• try to stick everything into your mouth (toys, clothing, hands, fingers, thumbs, burp cloths)
• are very good at rolling over... rolled from belly to back 3weeks ago and back to belly 1 week ago
• want to sit up whenever I sit you in something (carseat, swing, bouncer) even though you can't yet sit by yourself
  
• love to jump in the jumper
• spit up a lot!
• started rice cereal and LOVED it!
• are still very cuddly and huggable
• have the best smile and little laugh when we tickle your oh so ticklish baby fat :)
• drooling a lot more (teething maybe?)
• sleep all night (from about 8pm til 7am)
• still don't like car rides
  

about to roll over

Almost there!

Success! Look, Caden's cars! Let me try to play with them before he comes back!

Always watching big brother!

Rice cereal

4 Months Old

Bath Time Fun

Water changing tablet that made the water blue

Being silly by ducking his head under the water

That was fun!

Crazy hair!

Gloves and Tape

Caden has always sucked on his middle and ring fingers on his left hand since he was a baby. He used to suck on them all the time but now he mostly only does it while he is in bed going to sleep, but since he is about to turn three, we decided it was time for him to stop. It is not as easy as taking away a paci would be! :/  Out of the couple different things that we have tried, this one seems to work the best so far.

Yes, we had to tape gloves onto his hands! Even though he only sucks the fingers on the one hand, we tape them both because he would use his other hand and pick at his lip (sometimes making it bleed). Sometimes he somehow gets the tape and gloves off but most of the time he keeps them on. Hopefully this method will work (although I'm not sure how long it's going to take)!