10 years old

Happy Birthday Cayson!!!

I can't believe my little boy is now ten years old. Where has the time gone? Cayson is having a birthday party on Saturday, so I'll post pics then, but I just wanted to say how much I love him and how glad I am to be his mom. I thought I would post ten things I love about Cayson in honor of his tenth birthday.

1. His smile

2. His infectious laugh

3. His imagination

4. His sensitivity

5. His creativity

6. His love for reading

7. His love of being a big brother

8. His love for learning

9. His friendly disposition

10. His heart

Pine Wood Derby

Yep, it was that time of year again. I don't know who gets more excited - the boys or the dads! Cayson and Shawn had a fun time building their car this year. They decided on a Wii remote car with a Nintendo character, Boo, riding in it. It turned out cool! Cayson's car came in 10th out of 27 cars, so not too bad! He also got second place for "Best in Show". Everyone thought it was a great idea. We all had a fun night.
Cayson also received his Bear badge and one gold and one silver arrow point. Go Cayson!

Buzz Off

So, as Christian and Cayson were relentlessly bugging Jillian, I thought it would be a great idea to teach her to tell them to buzz off. It worked, or so I thought, until a few minutes later I asked Jillian to do something, and she looked at me and said, "Buzz off." I guess that backfired.

Adorable

So, this is one of Jillian's new things:

Someone will ask her if she is cute, and she will say, "No, adorable!"

Catch-up

Wow, where has the time gone! The last few months have just flown by. We had a great holiday season. I could kick myself for not documenting all the fun times we've had. I'm back now, though, and my goal is to be on here more often.

Random thoughts

My last post made me think back to when Jillian was just a newborn and how much her brothers adored and loved her. They sill do, of course, but there's just something about a tiny little baby. I had left Jillian laying on the bed with Cayson, and I overheard this:

Cayson: Jillian, do you know that you're our most prized possession?

" I Love Case Case"

I have been trying to teach Jillian how to say, "I love you." Or better yet, "I love Mom."

She's either uninterested or just gets silly, and she won't say it. Well, last night we were in the car, when I was once again trying to get her to declare her love for me, when she snuggled up to Cayson and said, "I love Case Case." It was so sweet! Of course, Cayson loved that she said it to him first. He was quite pleased with himself. She hasn't said it since, but it just melted my heart. It was drawn out like. "IIIIIIIIIIIII LLLLooooooooooooovvvvee Case Case."

Bye-Bye Bottle!

We have officially been bottle-free for five days! My goal was to take it away by eighteen months, so we're a few weeks early! It couldn't have gone any smoother. She hasn't asked for one or cried for one. I have noticed that she is drinking less than with the bottle, so I'll have to make sure I ask the doctor how much whole milk she is supposed to be getting at this age. Is it normal to drop down? Anyway, Yaaayyy for us!! (It does make me kinda sad knowing that she just isn't a baby anymore, though!)

15 years!

I can hardly believe we have been married fifteen years!! It's just not possible. Aren't people who can say that old??? We decided to do something special and go on a quick get-away. The kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and we went to the Anniversary Inn overnight. We had a great time. It was so relaxing and quiet!!! We enjoyed some much-needed time away. We stayed in the "Swiss Family Robinson" room. We had a chance to peek at some of the other rooms while we were there, and I can't wait to go back!

One, two, three...

Jillian is learning to count! She has counted to three for quite a while now, and then to five a few weeks ago, but the other day she counted clear to ten! I was lucky enough to get this video a couple of days ago...

Happy Halloween!

Monkeying Around

We took the kids to the zoo a few days ago. It was Jillian's first time, and she had a blast! She LOVES elephants right now, so she especially loved watching them. Cayson's favorite was probably the penguins, and Christian's was the snakes. We had a good day. It was nice to get out and enjoy this fall weather.

CARPET!!!

Our basment no longer has cold, cement floors!! The carpet was put down about a week ago, an we love it!!! I love how all the colors came together, too. I was a bit worried about that. The carpet guy made me feel better when he asked Shawn if he had a designer who picked out our colors because they were so different, and he really liked them.
We have had a lot of fun playing downstairs this last week. We don't have much of anthing down there yet, so it is just a big play area for the kids. Our upstairs is small and pretty cramped right now, so Jillian especially loves all the open space. She just dashed around that first day saying, "Run, Run, Run, Run!" It was really cute.
We still have lots of work to get the boys moved down. We are trying to declutter their rooms upstairs and talk them into getting rid of a bunch of stuff. We are going to go buy some closet organizers and blinds tonight, and the boys are also getting new mattresses. I'll post some more pics when it finally all comes together.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 36th Birthday Shawn!!!
(I know he'll be so pleased that I added his age)

Gardner Village

Last night we took the kids to Gardner Village. We had a great time. Jillian and Cayson went on a pony ride, and then we went to their petting zoo. I thought Jillian would be nervous and clingy, but she wanted down to play with the animals. She was so cute!
After that, we walked around the shops and went on a "Witch Hunt". We had to search for a list of different witches they had around the Village. After we found all the witches, the boys turned in their paper and got a chocolate chip cookie from the bakery.
The boys would tell you that their favorite part was going to Sweet Aftons and each getting $5.00 to spend however they wanted. It was fun watching them go throughout the store adding things up and trying to figure how they wanted to spend their money. When Cayson was done and said he was up to $4.95, Christian pointed out a $.05 Jolly Rancher to him. Never let five cents go wasted!
Anyway, it was a fun start to the season!

Spooky!!

Okay, so my decorations might not necessarily be "Spooky", but we still had lots of fun doing it! I was so excited to get out my decorations this year. I thought we could all do it together and that the boys would have fun too, but I was pretty much abandoned to do it myself. Oh well, I still had fun! Anyone else decorate?

We're almost done painting!

We are almost done painting! We only have touch-up work left to do. Our electrical is getting hooked up tomorrow, and we have carpet ordered!! I can't wait!!

This is Cayson's bedroom. We still need to put the border up.

This is Christian's bedroom.

This is our family/playroom. I was really worried about the colors at first and thought it might be too dark, but I really love it now!

Dirty Look

So, this is one of Jillian's latest things. She can give people the dirtiest looks. I don't know where she got it from, but she will now do it on cue. We will say, "Jillian, can you give me a dirty look?" and this is what we get. This picture is the best I have, but it really doesn't give it justice. Now if I can get her high-pitch scream on video, I'll share that, too. It's great fun, let me tell ya!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Christian had such a great report from his teacher. He is getting mostly A's, with one B+. He even has an A in his "regular" geography class. His teacher just adores him and thinks he is the sweetest kid ever. It was fun to see how he spends his days. He goes to the greenhouse for 1st and 2nd period, and he has geography and seminary for 3rd and 4th. His last few classes are in his "homeroom" where he can get more one on one. For PE he gets to play Wii Fit and do Tae-Bo and yoga. How fun is that?! He also has a study hall period where they help him with geography homework and do miscellaneous things when he's caught up, such as math. He also has a writing skills class. Christian really wants to give up study hall and do his homework at home just so he can go to a math class. What kid wants to do that?! He also gets social skills weekly with the school psychologist with a group of kids. It's such a great program.
We then went to the greenhouse and met the teachers over there. They were so nice, and we could tell they were so happy to have him there. They showed us the 4,000 poinsettias the kids were working on for the holiday season. I can't wait to go buy some and support the program! Christian really likes being there, and he is determined to save up for a laptop from the money he earns. Great idea, Christian!

Jillian

Here's some pics I just thought I'd share....

Cute, huh?