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!

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!

Dress Up

My best friend, Julie, told me about some pictures that a friend of hers did with her little girl.  I fell in love with the idea and decided that I just had to steal it!

She put her little girl in her wedding dress!  And the plan is to take a picture of Kindi in my dress every year.  It will measure how much she grows as well as just be stinkin adorable!  She wasn't terribly impressed with the idea this first year, but I hope that as she gets older she will enjoy it and look forward to it too.  I debated about doing this with my wedding dress.  What if it gets ruined?  Then I thought, What IF it gets ruined?  It isn't like I am ever going to wear it again and Kindi is going to want to pick her own wedding dress (Ugh... I can't think about THAT yet!).  Even if I wanted to put it on again it will never fit me.  Having nursed two babies...  if I did ever manage to get my waist that small again I certainly wouldn't be comfortable going out in public spilling out the top!  With those thoughts in mind I was also brave enough to cut out the built in bra.  It made it much easier to take pictures that didn't look completely ridiculous on Kindi.  Having cups sticking out of her belly button was just not working for me!

We couldn't leave Kaden out of this little dress up episode, but obviously I couldn't put him in my dress too!  Okay, I suppose that isn't entirely true.  He is young enough right now that he doesn't know that boys don't wear dresses.  He would have done it and loved it, but Jeremy wouldn't have been to thrilled and there is no way I am going to talk a 13 year old boy into putting my wedding dress on for his yearly picture!  So we went with Daddy's suit coat instead.  Jeremy rented his tux for the wedding so I don't have that, but he does own a very nice suit that will work just as well.  Kaden loved it!  He giggled and begged me to put it back on him when it fell off time and time again.  When he started getting a little bit wild and I put the coat away, it devestated him!  He cried and threw himself on his bed begging to have Daddy's coat back, please, please, pleeeeassse.  So I don't think it will be a problem to get him to put it back on next year!

Kindi was way more impressed with my veil than with my dress!

This picture of Kaden is so great!  He was having such a blast dancing and being a man just like Daddy.

This was one of the first pictures I took of Kindi, before I took the scissors to my dress.  It still turned out very sweet though.

I sure do have beautiful children!  What a wonderful blessing they have been in our lives.  We had a rough road getting them here, but no pain or sorrow compares with the joy that they bring to us every day.  God is good!

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!

Look Alike Contest (part 2)

So I had every intention of posting this 4 months ago... obviously that didn't happen.  I don't remember if I have told you that I have a screen saver on my computer that rotates through a folder of pictures.  I put all of my favorites in that folder and get to enjoy them all day long... well as long as I'm not wasting all of my time sitting at the computer.  I love to compare pictures of my kids at the same age.  So enjoy.

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!

Cute Baby Photo Contest

We entered Kaden in winkflash.com 's Cute Baby Photo Contest.  :)  So... if you would vote for him that would be awesome!  We could win $100 gift card for winkflash.  I use them all the time, so that would be awesome.  Here is the link:
http://www.winkflash.com/contest/winkflash/browse.aspx?idce=52664

This is the picture we entered.  I am going to register Jeremy too so we can enter Kindi... if it will let me.  :)

This is what Kaden has been up to lately.

 His favorite thing to do is build with his blocks.  He either builds 'sowers' (aka towers) or in this case he is building a 'choo choo'.  :)  He will build a tower then come running out of his room yelling, "SHOW ME SHOW ME"  Then he grabs our hands and drags us in to see his latest creation.  It's adorable and he is getting really good at it.

I'm working on Kindi's 11 month pictures so I will hopefully be posting those soon too.

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.  

Kindi is 8 Months Old

Well I'm only half a month behind this time...  

My Kindi girl is 8 months old.  And she crawls!!!  

She just started crawling the day after Christmas.  She is still pretty slow and adorably deliberate with every placement of her hands.  She also still has a tendency to forget to move her hands...  She doesn't tolerate the face plants very well.

 I am so excited about her new ability.  I always suspected that she was extra cranky because she so intensely desired to follow her brother around and play with the toys on the other side of the room.  Turns out I was right!  Yesterday, while I worked on the computer and Jeremy and Kaden had a date, Kindi roamed around playing in Kaden's room (where most of the toys are) for at least half of an hour!  All by herself!!!  If you haven't spent much time with Kindi you won't realize what a miracle this is, but for this often haggard mommy it was a slice of heaven!

 Today she was so sweet following her daddy into the kitchen.  We were all in the living room and she was doing a great job playing with the books.  Jeremy went to work in the kitchen and she took off (like a snail) to hunt him down, twice.  Squealing with glee when she made it around the corner and there he was.  

She is still Kindi though, don't worry.  She still knows how to throw a fit, does not tolerate any kind of pain, and is a total Mama's girl.  But life just got a little bit sweeter (and a lot less cranky) in the Wells' household.