One of the reasons....

I love living in Kansas....our proximity to family. Kayden got to have his cousin Gabe come and stay with him for 2 nights! He was beyond thrilled. Heather and Gabe came on Thursday morning and she and I took the 3 kiddos to the City Park pool. It's this awesome pool w/ a lazy river, a big blow up rock wall thingy that you climb and bounce off (Gabe loved this...Kayden is still too tiny for it), 2 big slides, a wave pool for surfing in, and 2 really great little kiddo areas. Breck absolutely LOVES the water. He has to be in it the entire time we are there and loves the little kiddo flowing water play areas. And Kayen loves the slide for littles. So we had a fun filled afternoon and wore the kiddos completely out. Stopped at Papa Murphy's to pick up a pizza and Kayden had earned cookie dough b/c he ROCKED his summer reading program and made it to the goal time not once but TWICE this summer b/c he loves reading so much. We came home and Gabe and Kayden baked the cookies together and we all ate pizza. Heather took off and the boys had a movie night with the airbed blown up in the living room and fell asleep out there. I have so many memories watching movies late at night with my cousins....and now my little guy gets to make those memorie too. Love that.

The next day we got ready and went into the BUG ZOO. EWWW! Gabe and kayden had a blast looking at all the creepy crawlies and giving me the eeby jeebies! They even got to hold a hissing cockroach and a millipeed and pet a tarantula! EEEK!!!
Off to lunch...Gabe's choice-burger king. Not a mommy favorite but he was the guest so to BK we went. And afterwards of course DQ for some ice cream. We got home and Kayden was sleeping. Gabe wanted to wake him up...I assured him that wasn't a good idea! After his nap time they slip and slided the day away and watched the clouds roll in. That night...another movie on the airbed:)

Big Bro, Little Bro

I wanted to get pics of the boys in their big brother, little brother shirts so while we were at mom's house we made the attempt. Well with an 8 month old and a 3 year old pictures are interesting to get to say the least!
I love love love the photo so much. Funny how a disaster photo can turn out to be one of your favs:)

"Dada"???

Dada might be your first word:( On Tuesday when daddy got home from work, he walked in the door and then went back out to grab something. You crawled over to the door and said "Dada" over and over in a pathetic, come back voice. You have said it many, many times before but this was the first "WOW, it has meaning for sure moment" I've had so far. There are alot of times when you'll say mama as your crawling towards me or if I leave the room but I can't be "sure" that it's got meaning but I'm pretty sure in this moment you had meaning for dada. We will see:) Aww baby boy, how could you say dada first??? If it is so...I'm super surprised b/c you are a mama's boy thru and thru! And you can say both sounds so.....

8 months....

8 months ago my heart doubled in size. It did that for you baby boy! You came into this big world and jumped right into my heart. You are just so very perfect, so loveable, huggable, laughable. So you. You are a one of a kind, happy go lucky baby.
at 8 months....
-you love yobaby yogurt, I can't get it in your mouth fast enough!
-love cheerios!
-nurse on demand, about every 4 hours and sometimes once during the night
-love reading simple picture books and get excited when we are reading a favorite one
-show us your excited by kicking your feet and waving your arms up and down
-have slept all night a couple times in your crib. I miss you so much on those nights it's all I can do to let you be and wait for you to want me:)
-I love waking up to your big smile, it makes every day start so perfectly!
-adore your big bro and smile and laugh whenever he gives you any attention
-insist that daddy takes you when he gets home from work, your legs start kicking and your arms start waving and you thrust your body towards him...I. Love. That.
-are moving and grooving. You can go from laying to sitting all on your own, army crawl and get up on all fours all the time but then you lay down to army crawl to what you want.
-love playing in the water, in the bath or baby pool, you splash like crazy!
-want to stand all the time, use anything you can to pull yourself up to standing position all day long.
-wave bye bye sometimes...not all the time, but sometimes you got it baby boy!
-LOVE to stand up. Want to be standing all. the. time.
-pretty sure you are saying mama and dadda with meaning....not 100% sure but pretty sure:) Will update when I'm positive it's got the meaning behind it:)

Still smile all day long and fill us full of baby giggles, coos and wiggles!

SO Yummy!!

Breck is just so yummy, I could eat him:-) But I'll stick to smothering him with kisses all day:)

Party Time!

Kayden's 3rd birthday was celebrated with lots of family! He had family from Nebraska and even Oklahoma at his party and was surrounded by love from "all of my people" as he calls family. Loved seeing him being celebrated that day in all of his 3 year old glory!

He is THREE!

Can not believe that it's been 3 years since my dream of being a mommy came true. 3 years ago I had a perfect little soul placed in my care and I thank God every day for choosing me to be this little monkeys mommy. Kayden you are so full of spirit, every day with you is an adventure. You are more determined than anyone else I know, you are opinionated, a natural leader, a team player, full of so much love to give that it's bursting out of you with lots of hugs and kisses and "I love yous" everyday. You are sensitive and strong at the same time. You are loveable and laughable and such an amazingly happy little guy. You are strong willed and so very smart. You surprise me everyday with all you learn and discover in our world. You are going to do such great things little boy. I am so excited to see what your future holds because you are special and were put here for a very unique purpose and I can't wait to see that unfold.
Happy Birthday Kayden. You are our dream come true and we are so blessed to have had these past 3 years with you in them. Love you to the moon and back one million times!