A Boy's Gotta Do...

Kaden has such a helpful spirit.  This is a good thing, and we hope he stays that way to balance out the stubborn side to his spirit!  So even if it is less than helpful we try to be patient and let him do his thing.

Kaden loves to pick the tomatoes.  He relished the afternoons when Daddy was home to take him out to the garden to bring in the tomatoes for me to can.  He often came bursting into the kitchen carrying some new treasure that he (or Daddy) had picked to show me.  Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, beans, they were all wonderfully exciting!  Unfortunately it wasn't until the end of the season that he figured out you are only supposed to pick the red tomatoes.  But maybe that was because the season was so stupid this year that we didn't have any ripe ones until the end of the season!  Once he figured that out though, he could often be found wandering around the garden and yard with a big juicy tomato dripping from his fingers and mouth.  Just like an apple!

We had an incredibly irritating problem with flies this year.  After watching his Daddy successfully combat the nasty vermin, Kaden knew that he too was destined to be a fly killer.  He cracked us up, he would hear or see a fly and whip his head around to follow it exclaiming, "Uh, oh!".  If he could find a swatter within his reach he was quick to flail it around, accomplishing nothing but bringing a smile to our faces.  Which is even better than killing flies!

Oops!  I forgot to rotate this one.  So tilt your head to the left for a moment!

We are having issues with the wiring in our 1950's house.  It just wasn't made to handle two computers, including monitors, modems and speakers, two printers, and a phone.  Go figure!  So we were having problems with them all just randomly blinking off for a moment, kind of like a quick power flicker, but only in this one corner of the house.  Then Jeremy heard the outlet sizzle, so we had to do some rearranging.  Now we have extension cords running all around the room trying to spread out our power draw.  I think Jeremy and Max are going to put in a new breaker and outlet just for the computers next time they make it down.  As you can see, Kaden was a great helper as Daddy was crawling behind the desks trying to replace the fried socket and reroute things.

Whatcha doing Daddy?  Need some help?

Our ever resourceful son.  If you can't get in by climbing over Daddy's back there must be another way.  Just climb under the desk instead!

More recently Jeremy has been tearing down the garden getting it all ready for the long cold winter months.  He had some T posts in the ground that he needed to pull.  They were stuck really good, so he called in his back up... Kaden Raymond to the rescue!

The worked and worked at it.  They dug out the bottom with a shovel, shook the pole, and pulled really hard.

Kaden is such a mimic, so in perfect Daddy fashion he grabbed the pole, pulled hard and grunted.  It was priceless!

And in perfect little boy fashion he decided to climb the extra hog wire that hadn't been torn down yet!  He was quite impressed with himself as he went up and down.

More from the Well(s) of Randomness.

Hmm after this post it will be time to unload my camera again.  :)  I'm all caught up according to my computer, but my camera has another story to tell!  (Or maybe several!)

Garden season.  Zucchini taking over my kitchen.  Solution?  Shred and freeze said zucchini.

Kaden even helped me shred and package it, can you tell in this small picture?  Zucchini on the counter, on the chair, on the floor, in his hair...  So then I had the bright idea of waiting and letting the zucchini on the floor just dry up so I could easily sweep it up and throw it away.  Anybody ever tried that before?  Well, don't!  It doesn't dry nice and flaky, nope, instead it seems to melt into the floor and stick like glue!  The next time I just got on my hands and knees with a washcloth and wiped it up right away.

Kaden stirring the eggs, oil and vanilla for the Chocolate Zucchini Bread.  Yummy!  Most of it even stayed in the bowl!

I'll probably be in trouble with Jeremy for posting this picture!  Kaden found Kindi's headband stash and wanted ALL of them on.  So being the diligent mother that I am, I obliged.  Then proceeded to take blackmail pictures!

Then he tried to pull them down to get them off and turned them into a blind fold!

Kindi is getting strong so fast.  She loves to sit upright and can almost sit all by herself now.  When I upload my next batch of pictures I have a lot more stories to tell with her.  Food, toys, and more coming.

I don't remember if I posted anything about this cradle before...  Jeremy's dad made it for their boys.  Both Heath and Jeremy's names are carved into it.  He sanded and refinished it for us and brought it for Kindi.  It is so neat, it rocks both ways!  Sideways, and head to toe.  I put Kindi in it at night, but during the day it isn't safe!  Kaden loves to hang out in it.

Kaden has just recently figured out what the camera is for.  This is his 'cheese' face!!!  He doesn't actually say cheese, but when he sees the camera this is what he does.  It cracks me up!

My monkey boy is forever finding something, anything (chairs, pots, toys...), to pull into the kitchen to get into the sink, or on the counters.  It has gotten so bad in fact that all of our dining chairs are out in the garage because I got tired of rushing into the kitchen to pull knifes and things away from him.  Some days poor Kindi gets a bum rap!  I feel terrible when I have to stop her from eating and leave her on the couch while I go rescue her brother, over and over and over again!  Anyways... So this time he managed to get the dish scrubber that I had just been using and was still quite soapy.  At least he was cleaning my coffee table with it.

What Mom?!  I'm just helping you clean!

Want me to clean your camera too?

The Random Adventures of Kaden Wells

This post is all about the fun quirky little things that make Kaden the lovable little boy that he is.

What?  You don't store all of your shoes on your coffee table?

I think that this comes from watching me clean the floors...  Our shoes are usually kept under a bench in the living room, but when I sweep and mop my floors I toss them on top of the bench seat because sweeping around shoes isn't very much fun.  :)

After he very carefully placed all of the shoes on top of the coffee table he proceeded to get out the vacuum and clean my rug...

Yeah right!!!  Okay so that was wishful thinking.  Instead he hopped up on the table and tossed them all onto the floor, which is where they came from.  Only now they are in the middle of my living room instead of tucked under the bench.  

After that... he did it again... and again!

Kaden is always trying to steal Daddy's coffee, so one day he grabbed a mug that I was working on (I had some scrapbook mugs for Jeremy of the kids for Father's Day.) and when he found it empty he knew just how to fix it.  His milk cup fit just right!

What a creative mind he has already!

Hey Mom (my mom, not Kaden talking to me), does this ring any bells?  :)

My mom has a picture of me playing in a diaper box (I think it was even a Huggies one?), although my box was much bigger than this one.  So when I saw him sitting in this one I just had to have a picture.  Now I may have to find and scan the one of me.

My Dad asked me the other day why we even bother buying toys for our kids.  I told him it was for the box they came in.  :)  Kaden and all 3 of Jeni's kids were playing in large packing boxes at the time and as you can see, Kaden spends lots of time in boxes.

He is helping me unpack boxes of random stuff that seem to have escaped the initial unpacking phase.  He unpacks from the inside out though.  Either that or he is a candle...

Oh how I love the hot days and sunshine of summer!  My water dog son agrees!  Jeremy found this on clearance at the end of the summer last year.  You hook it up to a hose and it is a little fountain play mat.

He was almost too fascinated by it to enjoy it!

I just like this picture!  :) 

 It would probably be a little bit better if he wasn't wearing all green and blending in though.  

A Boy's Best Friend

Meet Maggie. 

She is Max's monster of a Mastiff dog.  She is easily waist high on me, and definitely WAY bigger than Kaden even though she is a few months younger.  This is her perch on the front porch, an old wooden pew that she can guard the door from.  That way no one gets in or out without her knowledge.  Kaden loved to go in and out that door, partly because he could open it himself and partly because 'd-ahh' (aka dog) was always waiting there to greet him.

Why am I standing back and taking a picture while that dog eats my son's hand you ask?

Well I don't know exactly what is going on, Kaden is probably feeding her something, but Maggie was so amazingly gentle with Kaden so I wasn't worried.  She treated him like he was her puppy. 

She's as big as a horse!

Kaden and Maggie just hanging out in the shade and talking.

So the first time I saw Kaden tackle her like this I was a little freaked out.  I was sure she was going to say enough is enough and lash out at him, but she never did.

He got a little scratch (and I stress little) here and there from their wrestling matches, but Maggie never got him on purpose.

Jeremy is trying to help them get untangled.  Sometimes they would get all twisted and it was difficult for them to separate without Kaden getting a little bit banged up.

We really want to get Kaden a dog, but don't feel like Kindi is old enough for that yet.  I don't want to have to worry about a dog stepping on her, I already do enough of that with Kaden!

Looking at this picture you would never know that he was a bit intimidated by Maggie the first night we were there.  He learned quickly that Maggie wasn't allowed on the cement BBQ area though.  He would run out onto the grass and wait for her to come near then he would run back to the cement and look at her, teasing her.  It was pretty sweet.

I don't really want a dog as big as this, but I sure did love watching them interact.  For several days after we got home Kaden would get so excited whenever he heard a dog bark.  He'd point and exclaim, 'd-ah!'.

Apparently Maggie had a dirty face?  Or maybe she was drooling like sissy does?  In either case Kaden felt the need to clean her face.

Then try out some grass just like dogs do!

So this:

irritates me... a LOT!  I tried and tried and tried to upload a great video of Kaden and Maggie wrestling.  I tried making it shorter, I tried saving it in different formats, and different places, but all I ever got was 'failure to upload video'.  Grrrrr.  It was a really fun video too!
Well I think this concludes our Milton Freewater adventures (Although I can't be positive until I go home and double check my files.) so I hope you enjoyed, or were at least slightly amused by them!

Gather Round the Fire

And now back to our regularly scheduled Milton Freewater Chronicles.

Here is a better idea of what Max's beautiful fire pit looks like.  Since we were there last he has created a gate of some sorts for it to keep crazed maniacs, aka Kaden, from falling in.  Kaden had grown ups hopping anytime we were out around the pit.  I don't think he would have gotten into the pit with the fire because I took him really close once and showed him how hot it was (He didn't like it and wanted to get away.), but as much as he runs and falls...  He attempted to give a few people a heart attack at times when he would veer too close.

Since Kaden is such a go getter he is always entertaining, but the family was excited to have another little baby around who they could just hold and cuddle with.  Kindi didn't seem to mind all the snuggles, although she did like to spend some time sitting in her bouncy chair by herself too.

So the fire pit is in front of us and behind us is the multi purpose BBQ and stuff area!  That is my technical name for it although I imagine Max has a more sophisticated name.  He has a regular propane BBQ, a Lousiana Grill/Smoker, an old fashioned Wood Cook Stove, refrigerator and tables and chairs.  I think he plans to put a sink in also.  He even made us breakfast out there a couple of times!

Big boy Kaden always so proud of himself for climbing up on something new!

The following two clips are Kaden's adventures with drinking like a big boy.  There were always lots of water bottles around and he was the master of snagging them and begging for someone to open them so he could pour them down his front.... oh, I mean, drink them!  Here Aunt Alyssa is refilling his bottle with a shot of water at a time.  He tosses it back like a pro, although I don't know if he actually consumed any.

Buckin' Bronco Rider

   Jeremy's brother Heath works at a prison in Pendleton.  One of the activities they allow the prisoners to do is wood working.  They are amazingly talented!  Heath took some pictures of his grandpa (Max's Dad) and had them make this rocking horse and then paint on it different scenes relevant to him.  It is beautiful, strong and it is all hand done.  Best of all (if you are a 19 month old) it works!

Kaden loved to rock out!  Kindi was more like, 'Whatever guys.'.

Kaden, being the sweet big brother and super helper that he is, graciously pushed Kindi when it was her turn.  And again, she was like, 'Whatever.'!

We were so impressed with him as he could climb up all by himself and really get to rocking pretty hard.  Then he decided it was Lily's turn and obviously she isn't big enough to do it herself, so Kaden once again stepped in to the rescue!

Here is a video of Kaden rocking... hopefully anyways!

Yes he did smash his head into the horse.  He has a tendency to get a little bit excited and, I'm sure you won't believe it, but he tends to get a little wild and hurts himself, a lot!  I know, crazy huh!  And you all thought he was so cool, calm and collected all the time.  :)  He is tough though.  He bashed his head, cried and kept on rocking, refusing to crawl off and cuddle with me even when I walked up to him to help him down.  Such a brave little maniac!