Excited about school at home. He would say “yes” when I would mention that he was going to go play with the cars and balls at school today.

Still ready and excited walking the hallway down to his class room.

And then it is time to hand him over…

I haven’t gotten any calls from the school, so I guess he eventually calmed down. Hopefully it won’t take 3 months this year before he stops crying every time I drop him off!

This is last year’s trip.

It was another relaxing, amazing, fun filled weekend! Baby #2 wouldn’t allow me to tube this time, but I had fun laying out, playing on the beach with Caden, riding in the boat, and enjoying fellowship with great friends! Thank you Hadley’s for another great weekend!

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Group picture

Caden loved playing in the sand this year and LOVED being on the jet ski with Chris. When Chris would stop he would say “more, more.”

The girls laying out

Family shot on the boat

Martha, Trent’s mom works at Choices Medical Clinic for mom’s who are dealing with an unexpected pregnancy and are considering their options. She was so sweet and took us to see our precious baby on the 4D sonogram machine. Of course, baby did not cooperate very much, but we got to watch baby on the big screen for about an hour! so fun!

You can see more pictures here.

Dear Caden,

Your dad and I are so blessed to have you as our son. I can not believe you are already 2 years old! You are such a joy and always put smiles on our faces and make us laugh! We know that you are going to be a GREAT big brother to your little brother or sister. Even though you still get jealous when I hold another baby I think it will be different when it is your brother or sister, I hope so!

Here are some things that you are up to these days:

You are wearing 18-24 month clothing, skinny boy because you NEVER stop moving when you are awake…always on the go!
You eat more fruit than anything, still not much of a meat eater except for turkey dogs.
You LOVE taking your gummy vitamins every day, every time mommy shakes her vitamin bottle you come running from where ever you are in the house saying “yes, yes” meaning you want your vitamins too.
Anytime you want something, you point to it and say “yes”. It makes it easy on your daddy and I to figure out what you want, but we are working more and more on using your words.
When we are in the car you love to tell us that you see a yellow school bus, a blue car or a black truck or a green car, etc…etc…(over and over and over again!! haha)
You went to Pre-school for one day this past school year and by the end you LOVED it! In a few weeks you are going to start going two days a week!! I think you are going to be really excited because one of your teachers from last year is your teacher again this year, Mrs. Lisa.
You don’t like to share your toys but when mommy uses the word “turn” instead of “share” you hand your toys right over. You understand when it is some else’s turn, you just don’t want to share! (haha, I think I have you tricked on that one for now!)
You LOVE cars, the Disney movie, the hotwheels, the cars on the road…anything that moves! You love watching planes in the sky and motorcycles go by. Grandpa thinks you are going to be a race car driver!
You give Maggie(our dog) hugs every day.
You give “baby” kisses too, but I don’t think you have fully grasped that there is a real baby in mommy’s tummy!
You love sleeping in your big boy bed at night. And in the mornings we can hear you playing with your toys so quietly, but you hardly ever want out of your room until mommy and daddy are ready to get up and we go and get you, it is so nice!
You have all your teeth except your two year molars, which you are currently working on.
You LOVE all different kinds of balls and you know the difference between them, like a football or a soccer ball. You like to play with your golf set, your basketball hoop, kick the soccer ball and throw any type of ball you can get your hands on!
You love to wrestle with daddy as soon as daddy gets home from work everyday. You pretty much tackle him until daddy is on the floor.
You like to read books, especially the books with lots of pictures. We will ask you were something is on the page and you always point right to it..even if it is something new….so smart! you surprise me with what you know sometimes.
You are like your mommy and like to watch a little TV before you go to sleep every night, you prefer the movie Cars with daddy next to you most nights. Probably not a good habit, but it is so darn cute.
You are talking more and more everyday. Most of the time it is still to a point where only mommy and daddy, mostly mommy , can understand you, but I secretly love that. It is you and me talking together, I won’t have that to myself much longer.
If I have changed rooms in the house, once you realize it you walk around the house calling for “mommy, mommy.” I sometimes hide just to hear you say “mommy” more….it melts my heart! And you get the biggest smile on your face when you find me!
You like to say your prayers at night and talk to Jesus, but as soon as we are done saying them you say “mommy, go” and then it is you and daddy time for a little while longer…melts my heart yet again that you love spending time with your daddy!
You LOVE your Ali and Poppie and Grandma and Grandpa and you call them by name now, it is so sweet to hear!
I could go on, but it’s nap time for all of us!

Here is your picture of you and your pillow that we take every year. You have grown so much in every way!

Here are the previous pictures with your pillow. At 2 months and 1 year.

Your day has been fun so far. Not sure if you fully grasp that it is your birthday, so hopefully you won’t be expecting this royal treatment tomorrow! haha!

Woke up with balloons in your room!

And just to take a trip down memory lane, here is Caden with his balloons on his first birthday!

You are taking a nap now, you wore yourself out running around the mall this morning. We have more fun planned for the day so I hope you are getting some good rest. I think I will go join you and daddy for a nap now.

We love you Caden James and are so excited to see where this next year takes you!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

More pictures here.

I’d say the ladies are looking pretty good for 10 years later!

My mom came back from Africa the next day. It was so good to see her! We usually talk at least once a day so going for 2.5 weeks without talking was crazy! I loved hearing her stories about the trip and seeing the pictures she took. I can’t wait to see more!

Caden loves his Poppie and now calls him by “boppie”

He also loves his Ali and wanted to make sure that whenever we were going some where she went with us. He would grab her hand or push her legs to go in the direction we were going. It was so cute! And he woke up asking for his Ali when we stayed with them!

We celebrated my father-in-laws 60th birthday on Wednesday. Caden loves playing outside in the water with his grandpa and grandma and the dogs! He calls Grandma and Grandpa “mama.” I’m glad he has been calling me “mommy” instead of “mama” for a few months now or that would have been confusing.

On Friday we had our friends The Glenn’s come in town from Dallas for a fun weekend in Austin. We packed as much as could into 48 hours!

Dinner at Chris’s must do pizza place, Austin Pizza Garden.

After dinner we went and saw the bats leaving the Congress Bridge. Then we walked down Congress and through downtown, including some of 6th street. We also went to the Omni downtown where Chris and I had our wedding reception. They were setting up for a wedding the next day in the ballroom, it was definitely a walk down memory lane! We of course hit up Amy’s Ice Cream after walking off our dinner! haha!

The next day Chrishtan and I headed to The city wide garage sale. It was so fun and so overwhelming. But we did walk away with some fun stuff including some projects for us to do together! I can’t wait. We then met up with some other friends that were in town from Dallas for a wedding. We went to Hula Hut! YUM!

Glenns, Olivers and Mechsners

We then headed to Barton Springs to cool off. And man did we ever cool off, I seem to forget how cold that water actually is! After changing we headed out to the Saltlick. YUMMY again! We were going to have an hour wait(completely expected), but instead we decided to sit at the outside patio. It was perfect. Live music, good BBQ and a relaxing evening!

The Glenns at The Saltlick.

The next day we celebrated Caden’s 2nd birthday at my in laws! It was definitely a “Cars” overload! haha

Caden loves his corn! Notice his Cars shirt!?!

The plane that Grandpa made him!

My grandma’s and me and my preggo belly!

There are a lot more pictures here.

Fun decor

Amber with her cake. It was so yummy!

The mommy to be with the hostesses. Melissa, me, Stacey and Chrishtan

So this past weekend my dad and grandma came into town! It was a very relaxing weekend.

Caden playing cars with his Poppie.

Chris and my dad played a round of golf at Tour 18. Isn’t it beautiful!

We relaxed by the pool……

….while…..

Chris replaced the struts and shocks on our car! He is such a handy man….I’m so blessed to be married to a man that can save us hundreds, if not thousands, on car repair!

Silly Caden in Poppie’s hat

Everette, Sophia and Caden

enjoying the pool together

took the cars in the pool

Once we got to Missouri for the rehearsal Caden met Daniella and Bianca, daughters of Shane and Pam, who are friends of Brandon’s and Chris’s. While the guys were doing their thing on Saturday before the wedding, we gave the kids some time to play together.

Daniella, Caden and Bianca

Watching the wedding from the cry room. Caden is a true boy and does not know how to sit still, so the sanctuary wasn’t even an option!

This was an awesome cake!! Brandon’s sister made the whole thing, including all the flowers!!

Us with Brandon and Julianne, the newlyweds!

Marshall was a pretty small town, not something Chris and I are used to. But we loved it! The brides family reserved a few cottages for the bridal party and their families right across from the church. It was so nice to be able to walk to the church and to be able to enjoy a small town bed and breakfast!

The house we stayed in:

On the way back on Sunday we stopped off somewhere in Kansas at a scenic park that was on the side of the road. Caden loved throwing rocks in the water!

When we got back to Dallas yesterday we did a few errands. One was a haircut for Caden. It is definite….he still hates getting his hair cut! But at least this time he stayed in the seat the whole time! Maybe next time he won’t cry as much!

You can see more pictures here.

Playing with Moses

Breakfast with The Tidden's, in town from Corpus

Not sure about the fireworks

playdate time!!

throwing rocks with daddy

visiting the cows in Southlake

Baby #2 is growing and growing!

you can see more pictures here.

We were in Austin for the past 10 days. Caden is really starting to understand his surroundings, talk much more and really show his personality! It was so fun to watch him interact with his grandparents, great grandmas, and other kids! He finds new ways to steal my heart every day!

We started the trip at Chris’s parents house. Linda, my mother in law, had surgery recently and needed some extra care while recovering and some lovin’ from her Grandson of course! We enjoyed the more relaxed time that we got to spend with Mike and Linda, we are usually constantly going when we are in Austin.

Caden woke up every morning and stared at the squirrels and the birds outside while they ate their breakfast!

Caden also LOVED to play with the water hose in the backyard. He helped Grandpa water the trees…..well actually I think he ended up with more water on himself than the ground!

Chris’s Dad, found Chris’s old wagon in the attic…so he cleaned it off and took Caden for a few rides! Caden loved it!

Chris’s cousins Lyn and Kenny were in town as well, so on Saturday we all headed to The Saltlick! The best BBQ in Texas….hands down!

Maw Maw, my grandma, joined us for The Saltlick as well!

We were in Austin for Father’s day so it was great to be able to celebrate with all the dad’s in our life. See this blog.

On Tuesday Caden and I packed up and headed to San Antonio to spend the day at Sea World with my friend Audrey and her 6 month old Owen. Caden liked looking at the fish and watching the show with Shamu. Every time the whales would go under water he would say “more, more.” But he did not like feeding the dolphins, so we were in and out of the dolphin area very quickly!

Watching Shamu

Caden and I with Audrey and Owen!

That night we went to Big’z Burger to celebrate Austin’s birthday. Austin in the husband of Ashley, Audrey’s best friend from high school. It was a very fun, relaxing restaurant. Caden was able to run around and play with a soccer ball, football, etc while we ate! It was such a great place to go out to eat if you have kids!

Caden and Owen

Singing Happy Birthday to Austin. Ashley and their sweet girl, Brooke are in the background.

The next day we headed to the pool with Audrey and Owen. Caden does not like the water this year as much as he did last year. He likes to stick to the area of the pool that is 6 inches deep. He will walk around and throw his balls in the water for hours! Might be putting him in lessons soon.

That afternoon we headed back to Austin. The next day Ali, my mom, took Caden and I too Volente Beach.

He LOVED the area that was only 6 inches deep, of course! haha He liked to climb up the pirate ship and go down the slide.

When we went down to the bigger pool, Caden preferred to stay out of the water and watch all the other kids play, he just sat on the side of the pool and ate teddy grams.

It was fun being so close to the lake…look at that view!

We then headed down to the “beach” area. Caden liked digging up the sand and putting it in the bucket, but he didn’t last long and wanted to head back up to the pirate ship. He had to wash off his feet on the way up of course!!

It was a fun day at the water park. I can see Caden really liking that place when he gets older!!

That night, Thursday, I had plans to meet up with my friends Kelly and Molly from high school. Molly was getting married the following Saturday so it was fun to spend some time with her so close to her big day! We went to the Hula Hut…a fun Austin must!

Caden stayed with his Ali and Poppy because Chris also had plans with friends. He loved snuggling with his Ali.

Friday was a fun relaxing day of shopping, errands, nap time and a yummy dinner with my parents!

On saturday my mom and I headed to The Hill Country Galleria while Chris and my dad played golf. We went to eat at Waterloo Ice House….another great find for eating with kids! They had a big playground right outside the restaurant for kids to play on. And I am sure in the cooler months they open their big garage like doors and just let the kids run in and out! Caden was a trooper while we shopped and while he was with his Ali when I was getting my hair cut.

Caden with his Ali and Poppy

That night was Molly’s wedding! Ali and Poppy watched Caden again! It was so nice to have a night out with my hubby. Even though we were in Austin together it seemed like we hadn’t actually done very much together the whole week. (Chris continues to work out of my dad’s office during the days that we are in Austin, he calls it his working vacation)

Kelly and I

The Mechsner’s and the newly married Walkers

A view of downtown Austin from the reception site!

It was such a beautiful wedding with a stunning bride! So fun to see another high school friend get married!

The next day my mom, Caden and my grandma headed to a baby shower for my cousin-in-law Gina. Her and my cousin Jonathan are having their second child, a sweet baby boy, named Finn, in August!

Me, Grandma and Gina

Christopher, Chris and Jonathan

Caden and Rowan loved playing in the fountain. Needless to say they both had to change after they got done playing!

We left to head back to Dallas after the shower and drove straight to a birthday/going away party for Mandi. Mandi and her husband Josh moved to Australia last summer. She was back for a month long visit and I wasn’t about to let her leave without seeing her one more time and saying goodbye!

Us with Mandi

Again, you can see more photos here.

In Baby #2 news….all is well and I am feeling the baby move more and more every day. I will be 20 weeks on wednesday! I get a sonogram on Friday so pictures to come soon! Caden has already transitioned to his big boy bed, so we are able to work on getting the nursery ready! We are so excited to meet this little guy/girl! And yes…..we are not finding out the sex ahead of time!

Caden has enjoyed loving on his Poppy and Grandpa today. He ate breakfast and read books with Poppy, and watched Cars, (4 times to be exact!) and took a ride in Chris’s old wagon with grandpa!

Caden and his Poppy

Caden and his Grandpa

Caden, baby #2 and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful, amazing man as our husband and “dada.” He is the best husband and father to Caden that I could have ever prayed for. It is so fun to watch Chris and Caden together…..a highlight of all my days! Today was no different. We ate dinner at Austin Pizza Garden, Chris’s favorite, and of course, Caden takes after his dad and devoured the pizza!

We are all having a great time on our Austin trip! And we still have a whole week to go!