"BATTER UP"

Kaden has waited patiently for his turn to play baseball. He will be 4 next Saturday so he was old enough to start spring baseball. We missed his first practice because we were away for the weekend but his Grandpa and Grandma McKendrick took him. We are so excited to watch him and cheer him on this season. Since his cast came off about 2 weeks ago he still isn't able to run, but he does his best to hobble along. We have no doubt he'll be running soon. He asked me at one of Kai's games if I would say, "go Kaden, go Kaden" when it was his turn to run bases.

"If it snowed in Jacksonville"

This paper actually melted my heart when it came home from school. We had a really good time in Oregon at Christmas time. The boys LOVED spending time with my family and there were lots of tears shed the night before we left and the morning we flew out at o dark thirty. I could hear Kai sobbing in the dark on the plane from Pendleton to Portland. Quietly sobbing though is an improvement over last year in the airport, "I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE PENDLETON" so everyone was staring at us. Meanwhile I was crying too and couldn't say anything. I think Kai was actually fully prepared to let Matt, Kaden and I fly back home this year and him stay and go to school with his cousins. Now he just tells me he wishes we could move our house and our yard to Pendleton.
Anyway, while we were there Kai and Grandpa Gailey built a "snow alien". Thus the paper from school.
Translation- "If it snowed in Jacksonville I would make an snow alien. I would lick snow when it falls from the sky."

It's off!

We are so happy, Kaden's cast came off today! It has actually gone pretty fast since the first two weeks he had it on we were in Oregon. At first he wouldn't put weight on it (he had me carry him out of the doctor's office) but just a short couple of hours later he realized he can still get around. We are taking him swimming at UNF tonight. We found him a wet suit on ebay (for when we go to the springs) for $6.70. As you can see he loves it and it fits him perfectly.

It has been awhile

We have had somewhat of an unusual December. The first part of the month was spent as normal, shopping, baking, wrapping, sending out cards and attending parties. The week before we were supposed to leave for Oregon Kai came home from school with the flu!! Matt hurried and took him in the same night he came down with the symptoms and got him some tamiflu which worked really well. We were nervous it would one, rip through the rest of the family or two, Kai wouldn't be well enough to fly. Kai had to miss the last few days of school. Kaden got a killer cold a few days later but no flu. Matt came down with that killer cold the day before we flew. Yes, he flew sick. He was pretty miserable. The trip went off without a hitch this year which was wonderful. Just a loonnngg day. The day after we got here Kaden was having fun with his cousins, jumping on the trampoline and broke his leg! We are not quite sure what happened, we think someone may have jumped on his leg?? Anyway, he's in a cast and will be for the next 5-6 weeks. Merry Christmas to Kaden! The ER orthopedic doc that attended to Kaden was actually here visiting from Colorado Springs (checking the area out to see if he wants to move here). We just finished paying off Kai's $1,000+ arm now onto Kaden's bills. I have absolutely no pictures, I think I need a new disk. Mine keeps telling me it's full after just a few pictures are taken. Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas!

End of the year party

Kai's baseball team finished almost last this season but they sure got a lot of good opportunities to learn and grow and play new positions. Kai started hitting really well and got to play in field lots of the games (which he has never gotten to do before). His best friend, Hunter, totally rocked playing in field. It's fun to watch them progress. Their team party was held at the bowling alley at the Beach.

"The things that make you go hmmmm"

The toilet in the kids' bathroom keeps getting clogged. If you have been following the blog for awhile you remember last year Matt had to take the toilet OFF the floor two different times because of flushed bath toys. I removed ALL bath toys from the tub and recently put a few back in. Every time the toilet gets clogged we ask Kaden what he flushed and then I count the bath toys. He always replies, "nuffing" and he's right, all the bath toys are accounted for. The other day it was just he and I home and the bathroom door was closed (he likes his privacy). It had been a little too long and it was too quiet. Kaden+Quiet=NO GOOD.
As I approached the door he yelled through it, "not yet mom", so I knew it couldn't be good. The picture tells all.

Land of the Lost

I don't know how I did it but I lost all the pictures we've taken over the past several months. Among them were our first camping trip (yes, we actually braved the FL wild life and took the kids camping) and Kai's 7th birthday that we celebrated at Animal Kingdom in Orlando. I hope one of these days they just magically reappear on the camera disk. We reached a monumental milestone with Kaden this week. He stayed dry overnight for TWO weeks so we took him out of pull ups at night. Can I just tell you how glad I am not to be buying any form of diaper anymore!!!! It was a big deal, he got to choose some new underwear (Star wars) and he is so proud of himself. Matt pulled his hamstring playing at the annual turkey bowl with other guys from church and had to miss Thanksgiving dinner. :( We had a nice time with all the family though (I took the kids over to his uncle's).
Now onto Christmas, "it's the most wonderful time of the year..."