Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Elf

Karter is very excited about Christmas this year, and he is really into all of the decorations. Whenever we are driving at night, he loves to point out all the Christmas lights he sees along the way...he loves it when a house has a "Frosty". At home, he is as equally excited. Every morning his job is to turn the Christmas tree on...he loves his job, and takes it very seriously!

On Sunday Karter got to play the role of a Christmas Elf as he helped Daddy wrap my gifts! He has the perfect little finger to help with the ribbon, and I guess he found the tape and wanted to help with that...I try to hide the tape from him while I'm wrapping!

I wasn't allowed in the room they were wrapping in, but Terry snuck in to catch two of my cuties in action!

Kaden didn't like being left out, so when Gramaw went in to take a picture, he snuck in too!

After the boxes were wrapped, our little Christmas Elf would run the package out to put under the tree.

He took his job very seriously and had a lot of fun helping, but something he didn't take very seriously...not telling mommy what was in the boxes! He spilled the beans about one of them, but I can't wait until Christmas morning to open them all!!

Hand-me-downs

A lot of the things Kaden wears are hand-me-downs from Karter. It is one of the biggest advantages of having two boys! Although they were born in different seasons, up until now we have been able to use a lot of the same things. Today I pulled out this IU sweatsuit and it is the only winter thing we have in 18 months. We have a lot of summer things, but I fear he will be too big for them come summer.

It is so hard to believe that Karter wore this same outfit just 5 days before Kaden was born. How is my baby big enough to wear it already!?

Great Grandparents!

One day last week our play date with some friends got cancelled, so we tagged along with Gramaw to have lunch with Papaw Bud and Gran-Gran. As you can see...Kaden was super excited to hang out with his "great" grandparents for awhile!

We had lunch at a small town restaurant in Hagerstown. Karter has been there only one time before, but he remembered his chocolate milk came in a cool cup!

Karter was busy most of the meal stealing chips from Gran-Gran's plate, and Kaden spent his lunch time smiling at Papaw Bud.

After lunch we went back to their house so Karter could get measured for his costume.

Karter is going to be in our church's live nativity next week, and he is going to get a custom made costume. (I think it is pretty neat that both of the boy's great grandma's do a lot of sewing!)

When he was finished getting measured, Karter didn't waste anytime digging into Gran-Gran's pile of toys. She had gotten a book in her cereal, and of course Karter was into reading it.

Kaden was feeling a little left out, and decided to join in...

...and then he was on to something else!

There were so many new things to get into, Kaden didn't know where to go next. Shortly after this picture was taken, the coffee table was cleaned off!

We love so many things about living in Indiana again, but being able to spend time with family is at the top of the list. It makes us so happy that our children will grow up knowing our grandparents!!

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas at the Zoo

A few weeks ago we mentioned to Karter that we were going to the zoo. However, he wasn't able to wrap his little 2 year old mind around the fact that we weren't going for a few weeks. Every day since then he has talked about the zoo and what we "must see".

He was so excited on Saturday when he woke up and we told him that the day had finally come! He was almost too excited to take a nap, since he knew when he woke up we would be going to Christmas at the zoo.

We met up with our friends, Craig & Jessica, and enjoyed looking at the beautiful Christmas lights, but Karter's favorite part was seeing all the animals. In typical Karter fashion, as soon as we saw one animal he would say, "next one". He doesn't understand getting your moneys worth!

As soon as Karter saw the walrus he asked, "does that walrus have a wig?". (That is from one of his books.)

Besides looking at the animals, Karter spent much of the night kicking snow around.

Kaden was snug as a bug in his stroller, just taking it all in!

One of the main attractions was Santa Claus. Just like last year, Karter was all about him until we actually got there.

Karter didn't ever cry, but he wasn't going to sit on Santa's lap.

He did sit next to him and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. (Balls, cars, trains, books and puzzles...the same thing he says every time we ask.)

Kaden on the other hand, sat on Santa's lap but did not like it one bit!

He continued his streak of not liking anyone wearing a hat (except Daddy).

I don't have any pictures of our favorite part, the dolphin show. Between being packed into the aquarium like sardines and having to juggle the kids, we were not able to take any pictures. The show was great and once it started it had the boys (and our) complete attention. Kristoffer said that they were the most athletic dolphins he had ever seen...it was really good!!

We are so glad we are living back in Indiana and get to spend more time with Craig and Jess! Thanks for a fun night!!

Closed Doors

This cute boy sure knows how to get in trouble! The thing is, he knows he's not suppose to be doing something, but does it anyway and then just flashes a cute grin to get himself out of trouble!

Lately we have had to try to contain the monster. One thing we had to do was put a gate at the bottom of the stairs.

Kaden has gotten REALLY good at climbing the stairs, and if you turn your back for a second he is at the top...giggling the entire time!!

The second thing we have had to do was make sure all of the doors are shut. If a door is left open he seizes the opportunity and makes a beeline for the door. If given the chance, he can often be found trying to eat Rascal's dog food, trying to climb up Gramaw's dresser, playing in the pantry or even (and I hate to admit this last one) playing in the toilet...gross!! It is true, yesterday someone left the bathroom door open and the toilet seat up and I found Kaden having a grand ol' time playing in the water. Needless to say I shrieked when I found him and did my best to disinfect his hands!!

He does not like that we try to stop him from having so much fun, and stands at the doors grunting...

...and then he tries to push even harder to get the door open.

Kaden is definitely keeping us on our toes around here, but how in the world can you get mad at such a cute (and drooly) face!!!

Olivia's Special Day

A couple of weeks ago we traveled to Chicago to celebrate Olivia's baptism. We started off our Sunday morning with a not-so-healthy, but oh-so-delicious breakfast of donuts! Karter was pretty excited to venture out with Daddy to get the donuts, and proudly proclaimed that he ate 3 donut holes on the way back to the hotel.

After breakfast, Kristoffer took Karter swimming so Kaden could take a nap. The pool was pretty cold so they came back after about 20 minutes, but Karter was content to hang out on the bed and watch cartoons while we got ready.

Once we were all ready we headed out to Jake and Joscelynn's new church. There we met up with Mom and Grandma. Jake and Jos go to a beautiful old Lutheran church, that still has one service every Sunday in German.

This beautiful little thing was the star of the show that day, our Goddaughter, Olivia!!!

We were honored to be a part of Livi's baptism, and look forward to helping nurture her love for the Lord!

Happy 10 Months!!

Whew...we are back! Our little "vacation" from blogging definitely wasn't planned, but out entire household (and anyone who crossed our paths) was struck with the flu. Then with all the commotion of the holiday, the boys are finally getting back into their routines. It has been a rough week, but we are all healthy again! Tomorrow I will finally post about our beautiful niece's baptism...but first I need to highlight our handsome baby boy, who is turning 10 months old today!! How can it be, in some ways it seems like just last week he was born!

Kaden is no longer a little baby that will sit and play, he has turned into a active little boy who has one thing on his mind...destruction!! Here is a rundown of what he has been up to...

• Kaden is a mover! He can crawl super fast and and you can't turn your back on him for a second! He can crawl, pull-up, cruise and climb stairs...nothing is safe in the house. He has started to stand for a few seconds at a time by himself, so walking is bound to happen any time.
  
• Over the past few weeks his personality has really started to shine. He is a sweet, loving, happy natured boy, but has a real mischievous side too! He loves to do things he isn't suppose to do and turn around to see if you are going to stop him. When he sees you coming he just starts laughing and takes off full speed!
  
• He has been on table food for the past month and this boy still LOVES to eat. It is pretty common that Kaden will eat more than double what his big brother does at any meal. This past month he has also mastered using his sippy cup. He still nurses twice a day, but gets sippy cups of juice/milk the rest of the day.
  
• Kaden has had both of his bottom teeth pop through. I am not looking forward to the rest of his teeth to come in, because teething is not easy on this little guy. It makes him so irritable and he can't sleep. For those two teeth to come in, we had about 2 weeks of a cranky baby...not fun for anyone!
  
• He is a decent sleeper these days. I feel kind of bad for him, because we will be on a great sleeping streak and then we go somewhere or do something and his schedule gets turned upside down...but overall he is a good sleeper. He still gets a nightly bath with Karter around 7:45 and is in bed shortly after and will sleep until 6:45ish. On most nights we have to go into his room at least once to give him a pacifier. He usually takes 2-3 naps a day, but they aren't that long. If he could just learn to nap longer we could drop it down to just 2.
  
• Kaden has really turned into a book worm. He really likes to snuggle in our laps to read books, but don't try to make him touch the "touchy" things, because that really makes him mad!
  
• He has two favorite toys...Karter's cars and any ball. He really likes to roll balls around the house and crawl after them. But even more than chasing balls, he probably likes to play with Karter's matchbox cars. He will stand at the coffee table with Karter and roll them back and forth and make his "engine" sounds.
  
• Besides pretending to be a car, Kaden is always making noises with his mouth. His favorite things to say are "da-da" and his favorite letter, "e-e-e".
  
• In addition to the noises he makes with his mouth, Kaden likes to do anything to make noise. He claps his hands and bangs on the table all the time.
  
• Kaden is a lover, and he doesn't deprive Rascal of any of his love! Our dog is the best.dog.ever! Anytime Kado spots Rasc, he takes off and squeals with delight as he crawls all over him and tugs on his fur or ears, and Rascal doesn't even move! They are good buds!
  
• We won't go to the doctor for another couple of months, but he is definitely growing. He wears size 4 diapers and 12-18 month clothes.

Happy 10 months baby boy...we love you!!