2010 Mini Re-cap

Since it has been 8 months since I last blogged, I thought I'd do a brief re-cap of 2010 before 2011 begins and I re-commit to keeping our blog updated. I'm just going to do the highlights for each person and our family.

CLOCKWISE: goalie during indoor soccer; visit to OKC Zoo;
Pre-K Graduation; Astronauts Doug and Caden

CADEN: lost his first tooth (and 5 more since); played indoor soccer; graduated from Pre-K in May; played t-ball; grew taller; started KINDERGARTEN!; played flag football; made new friends; grew taller and taller; has some permanent teeth growing in; had his first school field trip (big day: visited a local dairy farm; fire station; police station; and Dillons to culminate a study on community helpers); turned 6 in November and had a big swim party to celebrate; grew taller and taller and even taller (Honestly, he's VERY tall. People comment on it all the time. He got to play Joseph in his Sunday School class' Christmas program because he's the tallest boy. He has a good buddy at school who is much, much shorter and they look like the odd couple when they stand next to each other. Very funny.)

CLOCKWISE: t-ballers L-R Grayson, Tegan (our niece), Caden;
Coach Daddy Doug and his favorite player; ARRRH me cutest pirate lad on Halloween
serious during flag football game;

DOUG: continues to work for IDG (Industrial Distribution Group) in Wichita as the warehouse and facilities manager; coached Caden's t-ball team, which included our niece, Tegan, and Caden's best friend, Grayson; coached Caden's flag football team (interesting experience to say the least!); lost lots of weight; worked part-time for the Wichita Photobooth Company owned by some friends here in Newton; got to ride along with our friend Dan who is an El Dorado police officer (Doug was thrilled and texted me in the middle of it announcing he thought he'd change professions and become a cop! He got to see a lot -- signal ones and fours!) 

CLOCKWISE: nerd day in Pre-K; feeding a rabbit at Tanganyika Wildlife Park;
1st day of Kindergarten; found him one morning nearly all the way under our bed

SARAH: still working for USD 373, but started a new position in August as the instructional coach for the newly configured Santa Fe 5/6 Center; watched two of my very favorite former students graduate from high school (aside from making me feel very old; it made me so proud as a teacher! Thanks Matthies and Goeverts for inviting me and especially Peter and Tyler for making me so proud!); lost some much needed weigh; continued part-time with the Wichita Photobooth Company; enjoyed watching Doug and Caden during t-ball and flag football seasons

CLOCKWISE: my favorite boys at the KU game; Caden and his new best bud, Officer Dan;
Happy 6th Birthday!; the whole gang at the KU game

FAMILY: celebrated our 10th anniversary in July; Doug's mom battled a recurrence of lung cancer with chemo and CyberKnife and is now in remission, thankfully!; Sarah's parents moved from Newton to Savannah, Missouri; visited the Oklahoma City Zoo and science museum (very fun!); Kansas State Fair fun in September (TONS of rides for Caden and Mommy and even got white-knuckled Daddy on the Ferris Wheel); twice the grown-ups participated in a mystery dinner theater in Kansas City (once for our anniversary and once with friends . . . great fun both times!); enjoyed Caden's first live college football game watching the Jayhawks (who ultimately won, though we totally missed that part) against the Buffaloes with good friends (Thanks Dan and Shannon for going with us! Caden now thinks Dan is AWESOME!); had family pictures taken by a good friend in early December (Thanks so much Shannon! We love them!! A few are featured at the top of our blog and some others were showcased on our Christmas card this year and four more our shown below)



CLOCKWISE: a smooch for Mommy; so very tempting!;
funny to us; our little family

All in all, 2010 has been a year of change for our family, but has also been one filled with lots of love and laughter. We couldn't ask for more. Looking forward to the adventure 2011 will surely bring!

Caden quotebale

Mom: "Caden, how did you get so cute?"
Dad: "Tell her from Daddy!"
Caden: "From God, Jesus, and the Earth!"

Absolutely LOVE this!!

pretty cute, huh?

broken

This is what greeted us yesterday when we got home from work. Thankfully, we we're a bit prepared because Doug's mom had stopped by and then called Doug to let him know. Sadly, this is the second time this tree has been damaged by the wind. This is also the second tree we've had suffer major wind damage. The other tree was in our backyard and we had to cut it down completely. Doug went to work on it straight away and got all of the limbs cut apart. Tonight he and his dad finished cutting up all the branches on the ground into manageable pieces. This weekend we will haul them to the dump. We (and by we here I mean Doug) will have to also cut down the rest of the tree because the trunk is so badly damaged that it can't really support the weight of the rest of the branches. We're very sad to lose this tree. It was a beautiful Bradford Pear that we really liked and which provided our front yard plenty of shade. The small upside is that Caden has really enjoyed "helping" with this "man" project!

blocking the view of the front porch and door

damage to the trunk

broken limb

rounded-up {officially}

We now have an officially rounded-up kindergartener! We went to Kindergarten Round-Up tonight at South Breeze. Doug and I got lots of information and Caden had a blast with the teachers! He reported that they were all very nice! (which I can vouch for!) Lots of mixed emotions, but mostly really excited for him to start school, though I'm having a hard time believing he's old enough to go. We did have to explain that attending Kindergarten Round-Up doesn't in fact mean that he gets to go to Kindergarten tomorrow. But he sure wishes he could!

after being officially rounded-up

just because . . . I think it's funny!

Caden quoteable recent edition

As Caden is donning my Valentine's Day socks that stretch to his knees and are coverd in pink and red hearts, "I'm a cowboy cause I've got long socks on."

While trying to turn his pajama shirt right side out this evening, "Dad, can you please inside out my bajama shirt or ouside it in?"

He makes us laugh every day which is good because he also makes us want to to wring his little neck as times!

more Caden quoteables

I'm thinking of making this the title for an on-going series of posts. Caden keeps saying the funniest things, some because he doesn't know the right word for what he means, others because he confuses the correct word with a similar (often hilarious) word, and still more because the words come out if his mouth all mixed up. I blame this on his brain working faster than his mouth as he often stutters and repeats himself when he's excited which is a lot of the time.

This afternoon as we headed to get a haircut that ultimately didn't end up happening, Caden asks, "This time can I get a homawk again? I mean hohawk." Followed by a fit of giggles because he realized what he actually said. For those of you who might be CLL (Caden Language Learners) homawk and hohawk refer to the extreme mohawk hairstyle.

circa August 2009

The do has changed, but the attitude remains!

Caden quoteables

Last night as I was saying good night to Little Man, totally unprompted, "Love you forever, mommy!" Oh, me too, buddy, me too!! This made me love being a mom!

Last night as I was shutting his bedroom door, "Can you shut my door open a little please?" In the same moment, I was pleased he remembered to say please and totally amused by shutting the door open!

Tonight after I let my hair out the crazy up-do I had going on today, "You don't look like you, mommy, cause your hair is crazy (it's a bit wavy/curly from being up while wet this morning, but I'm certain I still look like "me"). You look like Cinderella.” Very random character to throw out there as Caden has little experience with princesses. Also, I'm not sure if this was a huge insult to Cinderella implying she looked like me or one huge compliment to me saying I looked as pretty as Cinderella. Don't care, I'm taking it that I’m princess-like . . .at least in my little man’s eyes and that means the world to me today! :)

Can't you just see the similarities?? :)