Birthday Party Photos

Hen turns five!

Mackinna had a whole weekend of big birthday plans, but a giant rain & wind storm, a tree down on the deck and no power changed some of those a bit. It still ended up being a wonderfully special weekend for our big girl.

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell arrived Thursday night just before the storm got REALLY bad. Later that night the power went out and the tree went down. Friday school was canceled so cupcakes with school friends was postponed and the jungle gym is close enough to our house that they were without power too- so those plans also changed. But since school was canceled Mark and Mackinna got to spend more time with Grandma & Grandpa. We went out to dinner and on the way there saw them working on the telephone pole that was down so we were hopeful we'd have power when we returned home. Didn't happen though.

Saturday morning we still didn't have power but we did have two cute kids cuddling in bed with us. I whispered to Kaden, "say happy birthday to you sister." Instead he sang it to her. It was so sweet and what was even better was her response: "Oh thank you Kaden, that was so cute!" Mackinna chose Mister Bagel for her birthday breakfast which was fine by us since we still didn't have power, our options at home were limited. When we returned home- we had power! Mackinna was actually disappointed because she wanted her party to be in the dark with candles. She walked around and pouted and turned out all the lights.

Finally she came around and as we got ready for the birthday party she got more and more excited. She had a great party and got lots of American Girl "credit cards" just like she asked and Uncle Shawn even made her bunk beds for her girls.

Sunday we loaded into the car and drove to Natick MA to American Girl Place- the best store Mackinna has ever been to. She used her credit cards, which she carried in her purse and got herself a new doll, a bunch of clothes and dropped Addy off to the hospital to have her leg fixed. Then Sunday night Daddy, Grandpa and the kids went to the Redclaws game while Mommy & Grandma went to the Christmas Tree Shop. It was a busy & FUN weekend that even extended into Monday when finally Hen was able to celebrate with her friends at school and took a trip to All Play after school before Grandma & Grandpa had to leave.

A day with cousins

Then as we were walking back up the driveway from bowling, Auntie Nan and Jada pulled up. The sleep over was not successful, but the kids sure did have a lot of fun until about 10:30 when Jada started crying to go home. She told us she liked us for play dates but not for sleepovers!

Look at those cute little bowling shoes!

Waiting...waiting

Perfect form.

Mackinna was so devastated when Uncle Shawn came to pick up Dylan we needed a distraction, so we went bowling after nap.

Dylan reading in the book nook.

Going for a drive.

Dylan is looking angry because Kaden wouldn't stand and have his picture taken with him and the fire truck.

The boys looking at tools. This was Kaden's favorite part.

Dylan sat in the firetruck! Kaden was afraid. Mackinna wouldn't even come outside.

The kids loaded up in the car ready to head to the museum.

On the Friday of Feb vacation we had a very busy and fun day filled with drumming, fire trucks, McDonalds playground, bowling and best of all cousins!

Movement, Music & Play

Kaden just wrapped up his list workshop class of movement, music & play. (Not Dance- which is what we called the same class when Mackinna took it!) He just loves it. We signed him up for the next session & he can't wait.

Observation week for Kaden

Kaden sings his ABCs (kind of)

Nuggie sings his ABCs all the time, but of course when I pull out the video camera he stops. This is the best I could do...

Mackinna on the big slide

A morning at All Play

A visit with Pa

Grandma and Grandpa took the kids for the day. They went to visit Pa
and left me with the quietest house I've ever known. The kids were so
excited to go. Mackinna never got ready so quick in the morning in
her life! Here is a picture my mom sent of Kaden driving his car up
Mt. Pa.

The nicest thing EVER

Kaden just came up to me and patted me on the back and said, "Best Mom EVER." It doesn't get any better than that.

Aches

Kaden just told me, "My headegg is on my belly." I guess that means he
has a stomach ache. I'm still laughing. Poor kid, was probably
looking for sympathy and his Mom just laughed.

Big Boy update

January was a busy month for me, and while I may not have blogged about it, my baby turning 2 and 1/2 did not go unnoticed. So let me tell you a little about what my two and half year old is up to these days.

He started wearing underpants all the time- even when we leave the house the very week he turned two and a half, like he just flipped a switch. He even occasionally convinces me to let him wear them to nap.

The boy who was once given the nick name "Nug" because he was such a chunky nugget, has started to slim down. He's close to the same size as other kids his age for the first time in his life. He is wearing 2T pants and has just started to work in some 3T shirts. Considering the child wore 18 month clothes when he was 6 months- he has really slowed down! I'm sure partly because he no longer eats everything I put in front of him. He's become much more selective in his diet and while I continue to put a variety of things on his plate, he continues to not touch them, and sticks to his staples- "P and Jelly" sandwiches, egg salad in a bowl, chick n nuggets, mac n cheese and scrambled eggs, and snacks of course. The boy loves roasted garlic triscuits, which we find odd, but also more normal things like graham crackers, animal crackers, and sort of cookie or candy. He won't touch fruits and vegetables really- with the exception of applesauce.

Kaden loves singing his ABCs and after a week or two of leaving out only the K- finally includes the letter his own name starts with. He counts every chance he gets and can make it to 30 if you overlook the fact that its hard to differentiate between the numbers 14-18 (they all sound like "unteen") We give him the benefit of the doubt though.

Nug's favorite toy hands down is his car ramp- he can race cars down it for hours on end. He loves playing salon with his sister though too and has also been playing babies and house and school with Mackinna pretty regularly lately. Its seems he's got the same great imagination as his sister and its really cute to see them play. He bought himself a doll to take in the bathtub with him, with a gift certificate he had. It came with bathtub toys- including a turtle, duck and dolphin, so he decided to name the baby "Dolphin." The boy and his baby love their baths in the new claw foot tub. He "swims" like crazy and wants to take a really deep bath everynight. Mark nixed this after our water bill tripled in the first month after the new tub.

Its crazy to think that it wasn't long ago that he didn't really talk at all- because he is a gabby gabby boy now. He likes to talk on the phone and the computer. He does still use Kaden short hand- for some things like the "P & Jelly", "Unc Matt" (Uncle Robby and Shawn are the full word, so I'm not sure what that is about). We've also still got "Mick Mouse" and "Bell But".

He can't wait to go to school next year- so much so that I have to drag him out of Mackinna's classroom when we drop her off. He'd be just fine staying. He is doing a movement, music and play class that he adores. He can't rip his shoes and socks off and run down the hall away from me fast enough. We have observation week next week so I'll be sure to post pictures or videos.

Kaden is such a happy kid. He just thoroughly enjoys all he does, so much so that we sometimes have a hard time getting him to leave the house because he is having so much fun just being here and playing with his toys. Once we convince him to leave and move on, he just devours whatever is in store next. He has such a great big belly laugh and isn't afraid to use it.

Two and half is great so far, aside from being a little sad that my baby is getting so big and grown up, I'm really enjoying this age. The boy is just so fun and so stinking cute!

Skype

Kaden talking to Grandma, Uncle Shawn & Dylan on the computer.

Father Daughter Dance

Snappy Dresser

Well Mackinna & Daddy are off to their father daughter dance. Mr Kaden took a super long nap today and when he woke up to see is sister & father all dressed up for their date, he got upset. He said, "Get me dressed. Want my tie." When I asked him what special thing he and I would do tonight while they were gone, his reply was, "Play dominos." So maybe we'll be playing dominos while wearing a tie....