Easter

Hello all,

I'm still around, and I even remembered the password to get into this account.  Yay for me.  I realize I'm pretty much the worlds worst blogger, but I never promised I'd be very good at it.  So on with the good stuff!

I love getting the whole family dressed up in coordinating outfits for church.  So much so that I actually wore a bit of pink!  Just a bit mind you.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the shirt under my jacket is pink and my necklace and earrings are pinkish.  I also painted my toenails pink.  And Kindi's to match.  That was quite the experience for her.  She loved it and yet was so nervous about it.  The whole time I was painting them she was fidgeting and giving me that nervous giggle sound.  You know, the one that you try so hard to avoid when you are at the doctor for something embarrassing.  Yeah, that one.

When I tried to paint our finger nails to match she got really excited and handed me her finger, until I pulled the brush out of the bottle.  I don't know what she thought it was, or was going to do to her, but as soon as I pulled it out of the bottle she would freak out and yank her hand away, hiding it under her chin or in her mouth.  I tried to paint mine, but after the fourth attempt being ruined by immediately having to help Kindi go potty or help Kaden button his pants... I gave up!

We even got Jeremy in pink!  What a gorgeous family!

Malaki, Lillie, Kaden and Kindi show off their finery.  

(Kori was having special Mommy time.)

 Hunting eggs.

 What a handsome little boy.  Where did my chunky baby go?!

 Don't ever put your chocolate down around Kindi.  She'll snatch it up and be gone before you know it!

Finger Paints and Oh My!

 The kids got to make the wrapping paper for Daddy's birthday present. 

I forgot to take a picture of the present though...  We put a poem about walking in Daddy's footsteps in a 10x13 frame and they each got to put a footprint on it too.   They loved getting to do that, so I got out the finger paints that I got them for Easter and hadn't let them use yet.  Basically because I'm lazy and didn't feel like cleaning up afterwards.  But for Daddy's birthday I decided to go for it.  They had so much fun and the paper turned out great.  In fact after wrapping the frame up it looked like a modern art canvas instead of a wrapped present.  So now I have a fun idea of making a collage of 'canvases' to hang in my kitchen.  This week is way to busy to attempt that though, so that will be coming later, and I will try to get pictures up as soon as we do it.

 Kaden really enjoyed the finger paints and he worked and worked at his pictures, drawing lines and 'round' aka circles.

 Kindi didn't really get that she was supposed to put the paint on the paper.  She really enjoyed playing with it and wiping it on her legs, or sticking her feet in it though.  She started to get more into it when I started painting her hands and having her hit the paper instead.  She is a touch on the violent side!

And just in case you are having a bad day and need something to laugh at:

I stepped outside and didn't see Kaden anywhere until I looked in the corner under a tree and saw this.

  At least he didn't potty his pants!

11 Months

I know, I know!  I'm kinda behind, seeing as how Kindi actually turned 1 on the 16th of APRIL...  Hopefully I will get to that soon, but for now here are her 11 month pictures.

There is a house for sale just up the block from us that had beautiful bright yellow daffodils in it's front yard.  So Kindi and I 'borrowed' them for a photo shoot.  This new dress that mom bought for her while we were Easter dress shopping (that is a different dress which hopefully you will get to see soon too) just begged to be posed with those sunny daffodils.

 

 What a beauty she is!

I have been enjoying playing with Photoshop Elements lately.  Thanks to Julie who gave it to me when she upgraded!

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.

Enjoying the Outdoors

Jeremy had tossed a few chunks and pieces of the old metal pipe they removed from under the house when he replaced it all with that new PEX pipe.  Kaden found the stash and was trying to put pieces back together.

So proud of his accomplishment.  (Actually he just found a piece that was already put together.)

Which made a great hammer! 

 That old clothesline pole is blocking the view, but he is beating on that concrete block with his pipe hammer. 

Kindi in a box.

Kindi loving being in a box!

She thought it was great.  It was the perfect size, it helped her sit up and she could even kick her feet and flail her arms and not tip over!

The Mischief Maker

This post is dedicated to the daily mischievous moments of Kaden Raymond Wells.

"There's nothing behind my back."

Kaden, wanting desperately to go outside to help his daddy with the rototiller, pushed an end table in front of the door and crawled up on it to try to open it.  Luckily he hasn't figured out that you have to turn the knob yet, although if he had, he wouldn't have been very successful as he had the table pushed up against the door and the door opens in.  He did enjoy looking out the window and watching Daddy though.

This is the lovely cradle that Max made for his boys many years ago.  Now Kindi gets to sleep in it, just like her Daddy did.  The only problem is that it is low to the ground and Kaden loves to crawl in with her.  At least we hope it is with and not on!  If he isn't crawling in it with her he is rocking it viciously into the wall!  So usually we only use it at night.

Jen's kids came over to play in the sprinklers one hot day this summer.  Kori and Kaden found a hose that was watering the watermelons and used it to fill up a bucket...

...which Kaden turned into a swimming pool!

I turn my back on him for one minute while tending to Kindi and he crawls into Jeremy's experimental potato pit.

"Cheese!"

One of Kaden's new favorite games is to take all of the toys and pillows out of Kindi's room, one at a time, and throw them under the kitchen table.  I guess he is making a nest or something, because then he crawls under there to play and lay down. 

This game also translates well to outside, where he strips my swing of all of it's pillows and piles them next to the sandbox.  They make a great trampoline.

So I don't think you can read that lid, but can you guess what's in the jar?  

If you guessed chocolate chips you'd be right.  Their home is in the cupboard right behind him.  But if you leave the door open, or even open it too wide, Kaden swoops in and snatches them away.  He may not know how to turn a door knob yet, but unscrewing the lid to the chocolate chips is no problem at all!

Jump-a-roo

Kindi has really been struggling with being the little one.  She would fuss and fuss and fuss unless she was being held in an upright position.  Usually standing was required although sometimes you could get away with letting her sit up on your lap.  She watched Kaden running and jumping and wanted desperately to be a part of it.  I was about to the point of losing my sanity with all of the fussing, when my Mom saved the day!  She found this 'Bounce, Bounce, Baby!' at a garage sale.

Now Kindi can stand to her hearts content and I don't have to hold her all day, I can even get things done once in awhile!  I was beginning to doubt that would ever happen again!  The bottom has three height settings and is suspended with three strong bungee type straps.  Now my fussy little girl can be found giggling and bouncing with a big smile on her face.

To say that she is always happy and content in it would be a bald faced lie.  I fear she will always be my cranky little girl, but we have much more content times and they even last longer than 2 minutes now!  She does the best in it when Kaden will play with her or at least be playing in her nearby vicinity.  Kaden loves to play with her, but...

He likes it better when she is somewhere else and he can just play with her toys by himself!

It's about right for his knees!  It gives enough that he can't crawl out of it by himself though.  

We take this thing everywhere!  It travels through the house all day long as I work in the kitchen, living room or bedrooms and it even goes outside with us.

Kindi loves to play in it outside where she can watch the tree leaves rustle in the wind.  In fact she does so good in it out there that Jeremy had her in it while he worked in the garden and I was working on dinner and he almost forgot she was there.  If she hadn't started talking to herself he might have come in without her.

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.