Little Boy Paradise

Kaden's new room is probably my favorite in the house right now. It is so bright and cheery and I love being in there. He loves it too, which boosts my pride a bit. I have been collecting things over the last year to decorate it, and so far, I am loving how it is turning out.

The pictures didn't turn out great because there was so much light coming in the window. I am definitely not complaining about that.

So, here it is:

I've still got to find a twin bed frame, but the little man loves the big boy bed. He will actually stay in it all night.

This toy bin is awesome. It's so easy to see what he has, and to clean it up afterward. He is slowly-but-surely learning to help.

I love that little red rocking chair.

Claiming his territory...

Well, we finally moved. HALLELUJAH. I'll post on that later.

For now, I'll leave you with this little treat.


Whilst unpacking the never ending boxes, I realized Kaden was in his new room with the door shut, being awfully quiet. This raises suspicions in the mommy of a boy.

So I paused my monotonous task and peeked into his little room. Instantly, my eyes teared up and my nose burned from the fumes. Kaden, standing on his new big-boy-bed, stepped aside and happily revealed his masterpiece.

"wook momma, puupple!"

Seeing and smelling the permanent marker in his grimy, fat fist, I slowly said, "no buddy, that isn't purple, it's black. It is naughty to write on the wall."

"uh oh.." was all he said. I whimp-ishly slapped his little hand and firmly said "No."

Seeing mommy seemed sad, or upset, or some undesirable emotion, my little man said, "awwwww momma, I saawwy, come on." He embraced my head in his arms and gave me a sweet hug, kiss, and patted my back, saying, "awwww...'sokay momma".

How can you get mad at that?

You can't. You just can't.

Sledding with the Ladies

Susan, Tiff, Lori, Theresa, Me
I love to hang with these cute girls from church when I have a break in the schedule. We got together to go sledding and laughed our you-know-whats off. It was a blast. I love that we are all different ages, but can still relate, laugh, and have fun.


Susan flyin' down.

Tiff trying not to let her bum fall through the hole!

Taking a break after the big climb.

Becky and Cru

These are a few...

Of my favorite things.

I am so glad that it doesn't take much to make me happy. I am content with simple things. I get excited about silly stuff, and I love to love things, and am quite sentimental. Most of these things are soft, cozy, and warm. Perfect for winter.

These are a few of my obsessions as of late...and if I were Oprah, I would throw a party and get these things (that I personally can't imagine life without) for YOU.

My "sweater boots". Am currently OBSESSED with these and wear them almost daily. My mom calls them the sweaters for my feet. They are the most comfortable things I have ever worn, go with anything, and keep my feet nice and toasty (which is a hard thing to do this time of year).


Hot cider...the fresh, straight from the apple kind. Warms from the inside out.

Tobes. Cute, soft, cuddly, and even smells good.

My shoulder pack. It's organic and full of yummy-smelling essential oils. I got it from my work, and heat it up at least 3 times a day, and take it to bed with me every night. Sometimes it's on my neck, sometimes my back, feet, stomach, you name it. How did I ever survive without this thing?

SUNNY, winter days. I am okay with the snow, but I am a girl who literally NEEDS sunshine. I swear I shut down and get S.A.D. when it hides for too long. It's been beautiful for weeks and I am soaking it up.

The anti-anxiety, everything will be and is right, most excellent book. I read out of it everyday and it has literally changed me. Everyone, READ this, over and over and over again.

my "barefoot dreams" blanket. The softest thing on earth, and I am obsessed.

Sesame seed and tamari rice cakes and almonds. I eat them all day at work to my heart's content. If only I had my cider at work too...I could live off of this for a while.

Celtic Woman. UH-MAZE-ING. The most beautiful, pure, resonating voices I have heard. Their music is inspiring, uplifting, and brings peace and happiness into the soul. I am all about the get up and dance music, but I would trade all that for these ladies. I am serious, they are that good, and make me feel SO happy when I listen. I'm pretty sure they're angels.

Cute hats: Hide ugly hair, keep my head warm, and go with all sorts of things. I have been wearing these a lot.

So these are the latest and greatest winter loves. What are you especially into these days?

Date night with my mister

There is just something so special about date night. I seem to underestimate it since Matt and I spend a lot of time together. I figure we don't need a date night when we see each other so much. I still try to make it happen as often as possible, and when we do get out there is just a special feeling and connection. I have so much fun with him and we enjoy each other's company so much more. The other night we went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and had the most wonderful time together just talking, laughing, and being together.

I love this man.

He's a keeper.

We are loving Toby. He is absolutely perfect for our situation and our family. Kaden loves him and Toby is gentle, mellow, and so well-behaved. He is also fun and full of energy when we get outside. It was so much fun watching him race back and forth. I think he knows we "saved" him.


Matt even loves him and agreed to keep him "forever". Who knew? When we got married he said, "babe, we're not pet people"...but I secretly hoped to convince him otherwise. I am a manipulative and tricky little one aren't I?

He runs so fast for a gimpy little guy. It turns out that he broke both hips and a femur, and never got fixed so he healed on his own. Sad huh? I can't believe someone would do such a thing. He's so happy and I think he belongs with us.

Polar Express

My brother has been working on the train for the last 3 years and got us free tickets for the Polar Express. Kaden has seen the movie a few times and loves it (and so do we). So we bundled up and headed to the depot for our reservation. They have you wait outside and the music from the movie starts playing and Tom Hanks voice comes on the loudspeaker, "All Aboard! Tickets please, tickets!" The train comes around the corner in the dark, blowing steam everywhere; it really is magical.

Waiting for the choo-choo to come.

He was so excited, probably the most excited I have ever seen him.

Getting ready to board.

After we were on for a while, Santa came around and gave everyone a bell. Kaden waved his around the entire ride saying, "A bell, A bell." It was a really nice bell too.

The little man refused to sit down and looked out the window the entire ride. They played Christmas carols all the way to the "North Pole" and Kaden danced on his seat the whole time.

The the chefs came and passed out cookies and hot chocolate. The story played over the loudspeaker and we got to look at the book and listen to the narration.

It was all very magical, even for the parents. I loved going because it was a fun thing to do together as a family, but there was something so special about seeing the joy and excitement of a two-year-old. His happiness made Matt and I so glad we were able to go and to witness our little guy enthralled in the magic.

Whipped?

Of course they are!

Andrea and Claire pulled me up the whole hill. That right there is true friendship.

And look how much they are enjoying it!

The self-centered, narcissistic blogger....

am I?????

I was talking with a friend a while back, about how when she looks at blogs, suddenly she feels as though her life is less interesting, less heroic, less glamorous, etc. I can see how this happens. Many of these blogging ladies are accused of gloating and embelishing their lives. It is possible that I come across that way. Not that I need to explain myself, because personally, I believe a blog is whatever the author wants it to be. It should not matter what anyone else thinks of it, but the truth is, at least for me, we worry about what others think WAY too much.

I feel that there is nothing wrong with acknowledging blessings and using an incredible amount of exclamation marks to further show happiness and excitement. In fact, I think it is wonderful. Isn't it great to be proud of your kids and husband, and to think they are the cutest, greatest things on earth? Isn't it great to rejoice in countless blessings, and to be so excited about them that you have share it? Isnt' it great knowing that God gives and gives to overflowing? YES it is great, so I am going to talk about it!

Besides, who wants to get on a blog and read about the sad, gloomy, hard life someone lives. Everyone, everyone, has it tough in some way or another. There is just no way getting around it. So, no matter how awesome and glamorous someone's life looks from the outside, there is always more to the story. I will sometimes blog, or allude to struggles, but it is true, and I actually do believe this (which is why I write it), that even in the struggles THERE IS GOOD STUFF TOO!

I often wonder why people even read my blog (if they even do), because I blog about silly, somewhat boring, and ridiculous things like walking down the road or playing at the park. The reason is that I don't have anything spectacular to blog about, just my daily life, which despite sometimes hard circumstances, to me, is really quite spectacular. I never have the intention of gloating, or of trying to make someone else feel less important. So, I guess that is really why I am writing this, to say that I would never, ever, intetionally offend or hurt someone, or try to bring them down so I look better. NEVER.

My sense of humor often paints me to be somewhat amazing and talented, as I am often too sarcastic. Like my post about deck building...NO, I am not good at it! The things I write, no matter how lame this sounds, are for ME, for my family and friends who know ME and how I tick, the things that please me, make me happy, or devastate me.

I am still the little red-headed, freckle-faced girl that gets overly excited about simple things. I actually DO get excited and find myself blessed when I wander on the path by the lake, or take my son to the park, or see my husband conquer a new task....and you betcha I am going to blog about it. I will blog my exact feelings which will come across as self-centered, and yep, I am okay with that.

I have been thinking about this subject a lot lately, and just today, one of my favorite bloggers wrote my exact thoughts (only much, much more eliquently and humorously). If I was better with words, I would have said the same thing. And, come to find out, she's got that same sense of humor I do. So, to Cjane, AMEN.

Please read this; it's funny and worth the time.
ME IN THE CENTER

Toby

If life were "normal", I think I'd be craving another little one to go along with my fast-growing and not-for-much-longer little one. I am not feeling that now is a good time for that, but have been wanting a dog for a really long time. Not just any dog though, just the RIGHT one. I wasn't really looking, but stumbled upon a petfinder site my coworker was looking at. Well, to make a long story short, somehow I found myself at the no-kill animal rescue. One thing led to another and on New Years Eve, Matt and I adopted this little guy. He is actually quite small, although doesn't appear to be in the pictures.

We decided to name him Toby. It just fits. When I first saw him, something just clicked and I felt a connection with him. May sound weird, but it's true. I really thought, "he is supposed to me mine". Toby was found being drug by his neck behind a truck. He broke his pelvis and his previous owners never got him medical care. He walks a little funny, and his back legs hop like a rabbit when he runs. I think it is cute and endeared me to him even more. Matt had actually agreed to a trial period with a dog and I promised him that if for any reason he didn't want the dog, we would take him back and I would respect his opinion.

Surprisingly he was excited to pick him up, and already seems attached. When I told Matt about Toby (before we got him) Matt was excited and said, "we'll have a special connection because we are both gimpy."

Here is the craziest part about Toby...the PERFECT part. When I went to "look" (like anyone ever just looks...) there were about 60 dogs jumping up on their fences and barking, begging for attention. I saw this little guy and thought he was a puppy. He is actually full-grown, but only 1 year old. He was wagging his tail like crazy, so happy, but wasn't jumping or barking. When we went in to see him, he ran up to us, but didn't jump on us, sniff us, lick us, or bark. He cuddled up and wanted to be loved on, but wasn't overly excited. I melted.

We brought him home to try him out on Kaden and Isabel. He doesn't pester Isabel AT ALL. Kaden was feeding him bits of food in his chubby little fingers and Toby gently took the food. Kaden laid down right on his head and he didn't even flinch. He is quiet and likes to be wherever we are. He loves to be pet and loved on, but is just SO mellow. So far, he is exactly what I had in mind, Matt even loves him, Kaden is obsessed with him, and I am so excited about him. He is adorable and the new little one in the family, for now.