3 and handsome as can be.

Well since I was going to post about Kindi's birthday, I figured I had better post about Kaden being 3 first!  So here he is.  My son is no longer a baby, he is definitely a little boy now.  As much as I like to pretend he isn't growing up at the speed of light, I can't stop him.  But I am continually amazed at how he just gets more and more fun.  And funnier!  He has such a cute sense of humor, and the things he says sometimes!

The men in Jeremy's family all wink.  And they all do it exactly the same.  It's a little bit eerie when you experience it for the first time.  Kaden, being a Wells male, has officially started his training in the art of winking.  He has a ways to go to match his Daddy, but golly is he ever cute when he tries.  He has to squint both eyes shut, then open his right eye.  He's quite proud of his accomplishment though.

The other day Kaden was trying to get Daddy to play with him.  He'd followed him into the kitchen and was pulling on him, but Jeremy had to go to the bathroom.  Kaden watched him go in and close the door then he ran over to the door and started pounding on it with both fists.  "I know you're in there!", he hollered.  Where does he get this stuff!?

As crazy and rambunctious as he is, Kaden is also so sweet.  He is always hunting me down for a long hug, he loves it when we sit with him on the couch to watch a movie, and I can always count on him for a kiss.  I love those moments, nothing beats an unprompted 'Mama?  I love you!'.   What a blessing he is!

I have recently upgraded my editing software to Elements 10 and purchased some editing actions from Wish Photography.  She is always doing great sales and giving away extra products.  So this is the first time I have really had a chance to play with her actions.  She also puts out some great tutorials and I have learned the benefits of shooting in RAW mode (as apposed to the common JPEG) and using manual settings.  Hopefully my photography will start showing some improvements, I know I am enjoying learning to use these new things.  And they make editing more fun, easier, and I feel like my images are turning out a little bit more 'professional'.  I've always struggled when shooting 'in studio', and these last sessions with my kids were so much easier.  Now if I can just get them to sit still!

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!

Kindi's Professional Cake Smash

 Look at my cutie pie!  She looks just like a little dolly!  A local photographer, Brandi Varnell, was looking for some 1 year old volunteers to come and destroy a cake in her studio so she could add some cake smash pictures to her portfolio.  (I have been watching for them, but so far I don't see any of the 3 cake smashes she did that weekend on her website.)  I of course hmmm'd and hawed and debated for all of 1/2 a second before I spouted out, Kindi will be one in a couple of weeks!  We'll do it!  Gotta love FaceBook and the unique opportunities it gives us.  I had never met Brandi, but she did some family pictures for a family I know and love so I 'liked' her on FB so I could see the pictures.  She is so creative.  I love all the fun contests that she does and her photography is always beautiful and touching.  Being the poor family that we are (okay, we aren't really poor, but with only one income we have to be careful how we spend our money) we have never been able to afford to get our pictures done by an established professional before.   We have been so blessed to have Heather come and take pictures for us with Kindi and she does a terrific job, but it isn't quite the same.

Such a regal looking princess!

 I had so much fun 'working' with Brandi, because if you have ever tried to take pictures of children you know it takes more than one person to be very successful.  Especially if they are not your kids.  I do fine by myself with my kids, but if I wasn't there to help Brandi, Kindi would have just been a hysterical disaster crying in the corner.  Brandi has some really cute props, I would love to have the pink chair in my stash!  She had a sweet little princess crown and an adorable green (The coolest color ever.) tutu with a matching hair clip.

 The cake was from the new bakery here in town, 4 Sisters Bakery, Brandi even sent them a picture of Kindi taking her cake eating very seriously on facebook.  It was a beautiful cake!  It was even strawberry flavored so that it was pink!  There was too much frosting for my taste, but then I don't really like more then a thin layer on the top.  So any cake, even ones I make, that are decorated all pretty, has too much frosting for me.

 Kindi started off by gently poking her finger into the cake and licking the frosting off, but you can see that that didn't last!  She was cracking me up though.  She would take a bite then wipe her face with her hand, pretending that she didn't like to get dirty!  Most of you don't see Kindi as she usually is because I typically change her 2 seconds before walking out the door, and put a bib on her in the car which I rip off as I get her out.  But if you were to show up to my house unexpectedly you would likely catch her with some sort of food running down her shirt, mixed with the drool ring that goes to her belly button.  Residue of something sticky that she found and shoved into her mouth on her hands and face, and hair either in her eyes or sticking up like she had been electrocuted!  Oh man, now my secret is out!

 There is something special about baby feet!

We worked and worked with Kindi getting her to smile (eating cake is serious business you know) and play a little.  We jumped up and down, danced and sang.  She had a great time until Brandi told her to try to pick up the cake.  Oh man did she get mad when she couldn't do it!!!  The session ended after that.  My Kindi girl has developed a fiery temper!
It was so hard to narrow down the 30 or so pictures and pick my favorite 5.  Since we came to help Brandi out she gave us a disc for free with 5 pictures of our choice.  We could pay for more if we wanted, but we stuck with the 5.

Our bonus picture!  Kindi's classic froggy pose.

But when Brandi showed up at my door with our CD (so sweet of her to surprise me and hand deliver it), she had put one extra picture on it as a bonus.  I was so excited because this picture was the last one I had eliminated and I had agonized over it!
After the session while I was getting Kindi cleaned up and dressed, Brandi was so sweet to share lots of photography tips with me.  She even invited me to come and be a second shooter at some weddings this summer!  I had told her that I've been asked to do 3 weddings but chickened out each time and begged them to find someone else.  So she offered to let me come and get some experience.  It would be a great ice breaker for me.  A chance to get some wedding photography in and if I totally blew it at least they would have all the beautiful pictures that Brandi took!  I think that would really help me to relax.  I'm hoping that I do get an opportunity to go help her out.  How fun!

Why do they have to grow up?

Alright, so I know why they have to grow up, and honestly I don't think I want her to stay one forever.  She talks a lot for her age, but she can't articulate her wants and needs unless they are 'milk' or 'eat' etc.  I do wish time wouldn't move by so fast though.  I can't believe that we have owned our house a year and a half, and my BABY is over a year old.  Let alone that Kaden is 2 1/2.  I must admit that they are getting to be so much fun though.  Kindi is really starting to get into playing with her babies.  She carries them around by the head, full open mouth kisses them and, my favorite, hugs them close and pats their backs!  So precious!

  One of Jeremy's co-workers gave us two little rocking chairs that used to belong to her kids.  Kaden and Kindi were so impressed with them.  Kindi loves to get her baby and rock in her chair, or snuggle in with her blankie and bink.  So when I wanted to take her picture and get her to be still I just had to pull out the chair!  Her little tutu outfit was also a gift from another lady that Jeremy works with.

Kaden's latest thing is 'I did it myself.'  He is having a hard time understanding that just because he CAN do something himself, doesn't mean that he GETS to do it.  I am always having to tell him that he doesn't get to spank Kindi.  He will tap her hands and then tell me, 'I di i mysels'.  It's hard not to smile when he does it. 

So life may be going by too fast, but we sure are having a lot of fun!

Kindi is ONE.

 Is it possible?  Can she really be one already?  My 'baby' is not a baby any more.  She is getting to be more and more fun, but I can't help but be a little bit sad.  She is going to grow up way to fast, she is already pushing hard to keep up with Kaden.  She started walking before 10 months, and starting trying to talk about the same time.  Her first word was stickers believe it or not.  We were potty training Kaden and using stickers as an incentive.  So we spent a lot of time looking at and talking about stickers.  Of course if she said it to anybody but me you would think she was just babbling.  But it was very consistently the same sound every time.  :)  She is so much braver than Kaden when it comes to talking.  She tries new words all the time.  He used to look at us and grin with a mischievous look on his face.  He is really trying to talk now, but it is still pretty jumbled.  Kindi is also doing her best to follow in Kaden's monkey foot prints.  I hate this stage!  She is always managing to climb up on something and then standing up like she is the queen of the world.  She hasn't taken any really bad spills off of anything yet, but it sure makes me nervous and jumpy!  Thankfully she seems to have MUCH better balance and coordination than her brother!  It's a good thing too because although she is getting tougher, she is still quite the wimp.  I will have some more 1 year pictures that I'm pretty excited about, but for now... here is how Kindi's birthday went.

Since I decided to make Kindi's first birthday cake myself she got to enjoy her first beater!  Kaden showed her how and she dove right in leaving evidence of her treat all over her face and shirt.

 The day after Kindi's birthday I hosted a double baby shower and decided to make the cakes for that too.  I enlisted the help of a friend to make pretty fondant flowers for the shower and she made me a bunch of extras.  They were so pretty and girly that I used them to decorate Kindi's cake too, it made it so quick and easy to throw together a pretty cake.

 I made a small cake for Kindi to destroy out of two extra large cupcakes.  It had been so long since I had made frosting by myself that I got it a little bit too soft at first, so it was kind of running down the sides of her cake.  It firmed right up in the fridge though.  I figured it didn't matter too much, she was just going to make a mess out of it anyways.  So, did you notice there are two candle on it?  Oops!  I bought those cute curly candles so that I could use two of them as antennae for the butterfly cake I made for the shower.  So I didn't even think about it and grabbed two of each color and put them on the cakes.  I suppose it didn't look odd to me because I did two on Kaden's a few months ago.  It wasn't until Mom pointed it out that I realized my mistake.  We only lit one!  I also made a round cake for the rest of us to enjoy, cause who really wants to eat a cake that as been demolished by an excited one year old?

 Kindi did a pretty good job with her presents.  She had a lot of kids itching to help her. 

 My sister's kids' had wanted to play with the Vtech puppy they had gotten for her since they day they picked it out.  So they were pretty excited when she opened it.

 Daddy picked out a couple of really cute pink purse books.  Kindi loves to bring us books to read.

 I think Kindi was a little bit overwhelmed by all of the attention she was getting, and all of the eager hands reaching out to help her.  She did good with it though.

 I finished her quilt in time for her birthday!  Yay for me.  

 Grandma made up little treat bags full of party favors for all of the kids.  Kaden tried and tried and tried to blow his punching balloon up by himself.  He would give it to me and let me get it started then want to take it back to finish it.  It was pretty funny.  He never did succeed, but he had a blast!

 After presents we brought out the cake.  She was mesmerized.   I had high hopes that she would be able to blow her candle out by herself, but she doesn't really know how to aim her blowing yet.  She did try awfully hard to blow it out though.  I ended up blowing it out for her right before she tried to take a bite out of the flame.

 After we took the hot candle away she decided to blow the extra one out too.  What a cutie!

 She started out pretty slow, poking at the cake and pulling the flower off.  Lillie was a little confused, "Why doesn't she eat it with her face?!"  If you have ever seen pictures of Lillie's first birthday you will really appreciate that comment.  (She bent over and stuck her face in it.)  As Kindi got a taste of the frosting and realized that it was REALLY yummy, so got more into it.  She would grab at it then try to shove her whole hand into her mouth to suck it off.  

 You would expect a smile or two from a child who is devouring a chocolate cake, but she was quite serious about her task.  

 So we got Aunt Jeni down on the floor to tickle her and get her to smile.  Once she started smiling they started pouring out of her.  She had so much fun.  

This was a warm up cake smash.  On Saturday Kindi is going to be a model for a local photographer who needed some cake smash photos for her portfolio.  I am pretty excited to go do this.  I've been following Brandi Varnell Photography on facebook for awhile and really like what she does and her personality.  Plus because she requested to have 1 year old come destroy a cake in her studio, we get to do it for free!  And she is even going to give us some of the pictures on a disc.  I will have to post those when I get them too.

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!

Kindi is 10 Months Old

 So I'm sure there are some of you out there wondering if All is Still Wells.  Well let me put your minds at ease.  Yes we are still here.  And everyone is doing well, for the most part.  We all went through this nasty bug that's been roaming around.  Kaden got it first and I spent most of the night up with him while he threw up.  Poor little man.  Is there anything worse than watching your babies suffer, when they want so desperately for you to fix it and there is nothing you can do?  Kindi had it a few days later.  She only spit up hard a couple of times one morning, but then she developed a nasty nighttime cough that kept us up most of the night for several days.  I got it next and had to miss church to make an appointment with my toilet.  Yuck!  Gosh I hate being sick, and the whole day I felt like I had terrible morning sickness only I'm not pregnant.  It stinks to feel that way even when it is for a good cause, but when it's for nothing...  GRRRR  Jeremy had the most mild version I think, but his also lasted the longest.  Today though I think we are all better, maybe a lingering cough or two here and there, but the kids have been doing a great job playing together in their rooms most of day without the excessive whining that had been permeating my home.  Ahhhh I even had time to get Kindi's pictures posted.  WOW!

 Stop to smell the roses.  (Alright so she is really eating it, but it's still precious.)

 How did my baby get into the double digits already?!  Look at her looking like a big girl.

Kindi Kae is totally getting into giving kisses these days.  The only problem is that there really isn't anything pleasant about them.  If you have spent anytime around Kindi you would see that she is always drooling.  Not just a little bit, but a constant stream, maybe even a waterfall, is running down her face at all times.  Now pair that with the classic wide mouth baby kiss...  Yeah, it's kinda nasty.  And she not only kisses she is practicing her french techniques.  She plants a big slobbery one on me (I try to deflect her to my cheek, but she prefers my lips) and then waggles her tongue around too.  When she is done I need a bath towel to wipe up the slime!  And yet even in the midst of all that unpleasantness...  I love each and everyone of those kisses!

 She has enough hair for a ponytail!  Isn't it stinkin' adorable!

 Kindi is walking.  I have mixed emotions about this.  It's so exciting to see her reach that milestone (2-3 weeks ahead of Kaden) but she is my last baby and she is growing up so fast.  She definitely isn't proficient in the walking department, averaging 4 steps or so, but she is getting there and on occasion can walk all the way across a room.  Most of the time she finds crawling to be more efficient still though.

 My children adore each other!  They are the best of friends.  If one wakes up before the other they anxiously wait for the other.  Kaden begs for 'My sissy.'  And Kindi points and stares at Kaden's door with anticipatory squeals.  You can just hear her begging him to wake up.

We've had our ups and downs just like any other normal family, but let me tell you...

I wouldn't trade this crazy, busy life I have for anything in the world.

Kindi is 9 Months Old

Our Kindi is 9 months old and straining to be a big girl.  She spends most of her days pulling herself up and then letting go so she can stand in the middle of the room without anyone helping her.  Just like her big brother.  The last couple of days she has figured out that she can also walk around a little bit if she holds on to something.  I expect she will be running before we know it.  

It has been so nice now that she is crawling like a pro.  It is like she is a completely different child.  She is happy most of the day now, she doesn't need to be held all the time and she spends lots of time either chasing Kaden around or even playing by herself.  Now she has learned the art of climbing stairs though.  Oh does she ever get angry when we put the gate up at Mom's house.  She crawls up the two steps allowed her, holds onto the gate and cries her little heart out.  Completely devastated.  Hopefully she will learn how to safely come down the stairs soon too.

She is getting so pretty!

Kaden is 2 Years Old

 Somebody help!  I think I am in shock! 

How in the world do I have a 2 year old already?

 Granted he is the cutest 2 year old I've ever seen, of course I'm probably a bit biased!

This is his 'Hmm' face.  He says that when I ask him where something is in one of his books.  It cracks me up!

 I was trying to get him to hook his thumbs in his vest...  He didn't quite get it.

My beautiful son brings so much light and laughter to us.  He is always coming up with something new.  He loves to 'eat' random objects.  He 'grabs' something, pretends to put it in his mouth, then while he chews it he puffs out his cheeks, and waggles his head while stomping and swaying side to side.  You have to see it to fully appreciate it.  He is talking now.  Most of it is still pretty illegible to people outside these four walls, but it is getting clearer and clearer.  We are even 'playing' potty training.  Neither one of us is quite ready to get serious about it yet I think.  Maybe now that Kindi is starting to crawl I will feel like I can give it the amount of attention it needs to be successful.