Hiking

Matt was off of work on Monday because it was Martin Luther King Day, and we decided to go on a hike with my parents in the San Tan Mountains.

 Caden liked riding in the backpack as long as Matt kept moving. 

My parents brought their dog Kandy, but it was too rough on her feet so they had to carry her.  Talk about spoiled! 

The view from the top with my parents.

And the view from the top again with us.

Phoenix Children's Museum

We went to the Phoenix Children's Museum with Bart, Josefine, and Noah on Saturday.  US Airways is sponsoring an exhibit there, so it's free for all employees in January.  I'd heard lots of good things about it, so we were excited to go.  Caden had fun running around and playing with everything.

Going through the car wash. 

Playing Legos with Noah. 

He spent a long time playing with these dishes. 

He wasn't too excited about the forest made from swimming pool noddles.

Happy Birthday Mom!

18 Months Old!

Caden had his 18 month check up this week.  He is 26.6 pounds (65%), 34.25 in (90%), and his head is 19.75 inches (95%).  He got to stand on the regular scale with his clothes on like a big boy.  Caden has 12 teeth now including 4 molars.  He's learned what the cat says and he can point out his nose, his feet, his bum, and sometimes his eyes.  Usually when I ask him where his eyes are he pokes me in the eye because I guess that he doesn't want to poke his own.  He loves balls, and he likes to play catch.  He can actually catch the ball too!  He is starting to learn how to say so many new words now.  He says outside (he says this all day long because he loves to go outside!), ball, car, papa (my dad), right there, who's that?, cow, cat, Duke, shoes, poo poo, cheese, and I'm sure that are a few more that I am forgetting.  He loves to look at pictures and he says "who's that?".  It's really cute.  He also likes to bring me his picture books and wants me to tell him what everything is.  Caden loves my dad.  He always points at his picture and says "papa" or points at the door and says "papa" which I think means that he wants to go over to his house.  Whenever we go over to my parents house he gets excited and starts saying papa as soon as he realizes where we are at.  It's really sweet.  Caden likes to drive me crazy by taking everything out of the drawers in my house.  The kitchen drawers, the nightstands, the drawers in the bathroom.  I really need to find some sort of child lock for those.  He can't even see what's in them, but he blindly feels around until he grabs something.  Then he likes to show me what he has and run away as fast as he can.  He also likes to turn the water on in my bathtub, and the other day he got in and then turned it on while he was fully clothed.  He is very busy all of the time, but he's really sweet and fun too!

Fun at the Park

We went to Freestone Park with my mom, Sarah, and Max.

Max was so excited to ride on the carousel.  He kept waving and saying bye bye and he cried when it was over. 

Caden, on the other hand, was holding on for dear life. 

We took a train ride around the park. 

Sarah and Max on the train. 

Waiting for the train to start. 

We fed the ducks, but it took a little bit of practice.  Caden thought that he was supposed to eat the food. 

Max and Caden on the slide.

Merry Christmas!

 Our Christmas Tree right after Santa came.

We had to wake Caden up early to go over to Matt's mom's house for Christmas morning and yummy breakfast.  He was barely awake, but he was still excited to go down the slide.  He didn't get to open his presents from Santa until Christmas night. 

Caden checking out what was in his stocking. 

Opening presents from Matt's family. 

Caden and Matt in front of Janeille's tree. 

Next we went to my parent's house to open presents.  Caden got this fun Cozy Coupe and Max was trying to fight him for it since his was at home in Texas.   

Caden fell through the bottom of the Cozy Coupe.  It was pretty funny! 

Kandy opens presents better then Caden does. 

Matt helping Caden open a present.  It must've been a good one! 

My parents 

Next we went to Grandma Shobe's house.  Here are Caden and Max posing in their cute Christmas outfits in her backyard. 

Cute little Caden 

Caden and Matt opening a present from Grandma Shobe 

Grandma Shobe

Christmas Eve

My parents had a huge Christmas Eve party with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins from my mom's side of the family.  I think that there were about 40 people there.  It was fun to catch up with everyone because I don't see them all that often.

This is the cutest little boy ever even though he was a little grumpy! 

The kids had fun playing on the slide.  Max was so happy and excited to play with all of the kids.  It was so cute! 

My mom with four of her six sisters. 

My brother Mikey dressed up as Santa.  He was quite the hit, and did an awesome job! 

Well a hit with everyone except for Caden.  He was crying and couldn't get down fast enough. 

He was not really a hit with Max either.

Christmas with Mike & Beth

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's dad and Beth yesterday.  We had yummy food and played the white elephant game.  Caden was too little to open his presents last year, so this was really his first opportunity to open presents.  I think that this is what he was thinking.

Hmmm I'm not sure what to do. 

Okay well this could be fun.  I do like tearing things up! 

Oooh look what I got!

Thanks for everything!  We had lots of fun!

Santa!

There is this house near our old neighborhood where the owner goes all out decorating and dresses up as Santa.  You can take pictures with Santa for free, so we decided to check it out.  Here is the house. 

Caden and the elves 

 Caden was pretty happy to wait in line . . .



 but he wanted nothing to do with Santa.



 

I think that Noah was wondering what the problem is. 

He did like the candy cane from Santa though.

My Sick Baby

Caden had a cold for a couple of weeks, and we decided to take him in to the doctor because he wasn't getting better.  (Here he is at the doctor's office.  I know he doesn't look very sick, but it's amazing what being mischievous and do to make you feel better.)  The doctor said that the cold caused him to have an ear infection, which I guess that we have been pretty lucky because it was the first one that he has ever had.  He took antibiotics for 10 days, and I thought that he was finally getting better.  A couple of days later he started coughing again and had a slight fever.  He seems to be feeling better now, but he has been a little grumpy for the holidays.  Hopefully at least he is building a strong immune system!