a quick ride on the carosel

one day i will learn to load these things in the right order!

some toe lickin' fun

you can hear Caden saying Hi to the cow over and over. He was thrilled to have it so close... and licking! ha!

cousin daniel

he was all bundled up looking at giraffes. (poor kid got sick the next day) we have a new baby giraffe at the zoo. she's cute! and HUGE. it's amazing how BIG giraffe babies are. will try and get a pic next time we are there

some of my favs

zoo with friends

Here are the shots from the zoo. You will note that the mass majority of zoo pics that I end up taking are all from the "farm" section of the zoo. Don't know what that's all about... but hey, whatever.

pictures

Here are some much anticipated pictures. Caden dressed for the last snow. Caden playing with someone elses phone. Caden and friends at the zoo... Here goes.

when i grow up

Caden has recently been downright obsessed with all things to do with soldiers. The other day we were at one of our local sew shops picking some stuff up and Caden came running up to me and this is what he had to say...

"Mommy, when I get bigger I will be a soldier like Daddy. I will wear soldier clothes and I will have a gun. And I will shoot bad guys. Daddy is a soldier and he has a gun and he shoots bad guys. When I am big, I will have a gun."

These statements, and ones of a similar nature, have been stated many times in the past few weeks. I don't know where he heard that you carry a gun and kill bad guys (cause it certainly wasn't from me)... he thinks this is a very good idea and he wants to do it. So there ya go...

I do have some pics from our recent zoo trip. Will try and get them up after my physical therapy appt this afternoon.

Warm Days!

I have a really hard time every January. I really can't stand cold weather. I can't stand being stuck in the house. I can't stand dreary gray days when you never really see the sun. Yup, I love places like the pacific northwest, but I just can't take it. It's all I can do to handle January each year. However... today was a good day! Michael sent me some beautiful lilies that have brightened up the house. And today we topped out around 57 degrees... and SUNNY! Packed up the boy after lunch and headed to the Nashville Zoo to meet up with Aunt Katie and Cousin Daniel. 'Twas a much needed time outdoors... didn't even need a jacket, just a long sleeved shirt! The boys needed it too! Nothing to cheer up the mood than a whole bunch of flamingos ruffling their feathers all up, lynxes doing some sort of barking/growling thing, and snow leopards walking up right in front of you! Not to mention chickens and cows and goats... I think the farm area of the zoo is my favorite. Odd, I know. It was a good afternoon!

roll reversal

Ok, so I don't have pictures to go along with this... but couldn't forget to tell the story.

Just as we were finishing dinner, Caden got out of his seat and climbed into my lap. Looked up at me and said "You're the baby and I'm the mommy."

Of course, I immediately start "crying" to which he responds, "It's okay, it's okay!"

Then I switch course... "Mommy, May I have some juice please? Apple juice, please."

Caden looked at me and said, "How do you ask?" (*I had said please, but of course I had to repeat myself.)

He looked at my glass and said, "Since you asked so nicely, as soon as you finish your orange juice, you may have some apple juice."

I almost fell out of my seat laughing. Guess you just had to be there...

It only got better when he walked away into the living room, picked up his big red bat and took a swing. Then said, "Watch the ball, and step into the swing." Which was followed by several more swings and repeating himself.

He was in rare form this evening... :)

attempts

the boys attempted to build a snowman... or at least something like that... :)

a snowy friday

So our friends Amber and her son Ethan came over and spent most of the day with us. We enjoyed some time out in the snow. We were going to make a snowman... and we started one several times. But every time I got the base set, Caden would come belly flop into it... thus smashing it down. *And it wasn't very good packing snow... too fluffy... couldn't even make a snowball with the stuff. **Also note, the picture where it looks like Caden is standing on the cement block, he is actually mid-air... he was jumping off into the snow, and I managed to catch the shot! :)

nice words

2 things to point out... at the end of the first video, he was fine... didn't really hit the table with his head. and just after the 2nd video finished, caden's nice word to tell daddy was "camouflage".

myriad of videos

kid loves snow

Caden's first prayer

All BY HIMSELF without any prompting from me!

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day. Thank you for our friends. Please help Daddy feel better. Thank you for the snow. Amen"

Don't know why he said please help Daddy feel better, but hey, who am I to argue?! Almost cried right there. So proud of him! May he never know a day in his life when he doesn't know the love of Christ.

SNOW!

Carson came over and hung out with us this morning. He and Caden had a wonderful time pulling ALL the toys out of the ottoman.

So it ended up snowing from mid-day through early evening. We may get a bit more tonight, and are in line for more to hit us on Fri night/Saturday... then again on Monday. Yup... it's winter. So here are some more pics with the new camera! Lovin' all this resolution! (though it does make the files MUCH larger... which makes it hard to take longer videos)