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.

Hitching a Ride

In addition to all of the hard work my men did putting in a new lawn, they had a lot of fun.

Kaden wishing he could ride the rototiller, but instead having to be satisfied with a little time exploring it. He did get to push it around backwards for a few minutes with Daddy's help.

This is our portable yard debris compactor!

He looks a touch worried but have no fear.  It's all an illusion.

Kaden had a blast riding around in the trash can whether it was full on the way to dump in the backyard or empty on the way back to the lawn.

The next day Jeremy switched to a wheelbarrow.  Once again bringing along his portable compactor which also doubles as a nice weight for holding your grass clippings in.  He rode on top and got a kick out of toppling out just like the dead grass.

One of Kaden's favorite times of the day is when Daddy gets home from work and they go outside to water.  Jeremy carries a couple of 5 gallon buckets around the front and sides of the house to water all of his plants and Kaden goes along either pulling an empty 5 gallon bucket or bringing his own little bucket to help.

Putting in a New Lawn

Jeremy has been hard at work whenever he has a few spare moments.  On the weekends, after work in the evenings, sometimes even before he leaves for work in the mornings!  He has been redoing our front and side lawns.  Most of the work he did all by his lonesome, but some of the time he was blessed with an extra pair of hands:

Jeremy did the rototilling without his helper, but Kaden was eager to jump in and help as soon as he was able.  First they raked the dead grass clumps out of the dirt...  

Then they shoveled the grass into a trash can to haul it back to the backyard for composting.

Sometimes Kaden got a little bit carried away and just started 'shoveling' down the sidewalk!

Then they raked again...

Now Kaden is feeling like a big boy.  He doesn't need Daddy to help him with the shovel anymore!

Well, maybe the shovel is too heavy to lift all by myself... 

 I'll just carry the dead grass...

and throw it in the can.

Sometimes he got a bit confused and threw the grass into the street instead.  Well, that isn't exactly true...  if you have spent any time with Kaden you realize that he just threw the grass into the street because he could.  He may not be allowed to go into the street, but he can throw the grass there!

And then it was break time!

He was scooting down the curb just like that.

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?

We Do Randomness Well(s).

This is Kaden's 'I don't know' look which I received when I asked him why he was sitting in Sissy's chair.  He loves to sit in the bouncy chair.

Already trying to fill Daddy's shoes!

Kaden loves to play with his sister, but he has a hard time understanding that she can't play the same ways he can.  He thinks it is hilarious when I bounce the ball off of his head, so why wouldn't siss love it?  :)

Probably Kaden's favorite time of the whole day.  When Daddy comes home from work and they go out to the garden to water.  If Jeremy sets the hose down for even a second Kaden has it in his hands and is walking around the garden watering plants just like Daddy does.  He really does a pretty good job too!

Kaden and his cousin Kori love to look out the windows, but only if there is a blind to hide under!

My silly little Kindi girl is always pulling her skirts up to suck on.

If she doesn't have a skirt to suck on her fingers will do!

No, don't worry we didn't kill anybody and do a bad job of hiding them...

Kaden just thought that would be a good place to drink his milk.  :)

My beautiful girl enjoys her tummy time these days, her brother hated it!

Kaden and his blankie!  Well actually this is half of a blankie in progress.  I have froggy fleece to put on one side, but he loves to find this silky and carry...

or wear it around!