He's gone verbal

Cade has been waving "hi" and "bye" for a couple weeks now but this morning he said "hi" as well!

I was trying to film him just waving and got a surprise when he did both!



Now we're up to three words. He can say "dada", "mama" and now "hi"

Self Control

I learned a lot about myself this morning. I learned I actually have a GREAT DEAL of self control because I didn't grab a certain 10 year old around the neck and shake her profusely!! This may sound extremely inhumane, however let me explain what happened before you begin to pass judgement!

This morning I was getting the kids ready for school (remember I have more than just my sweet angels here in the mornings) and I was finishing up their breakfast when I heard this particular 10 year old talking to ALL the other kids in the other room. She was explaining to them how Santa was not real and he was just their parents!!

I was FURIOUS...wait, furious doesn't even begin to describe it!! I literally had to stand in the kitchen and count to 10 before screaming for her to come see me right away!!

Now, McKinly knows the "secret". She also knows not to say anything because that would not be fair to the younger children. On the other hand, FOUR of the other children in the room, including Ty and Cody, still are at the age where Santa brings them great joy!

My anger began to get stronger when this young girl decided to ignore me and continued to argue with the others when they tried to defend their beloved Santa. When McKinly was finally able to drag her to me, I just handed this girl the phone and calmly, through gritted teeth, told her to call Cathy.

I did eventually calm down and she left my house unharmed, but I'm not responsible for what happens at her house and I'm sure McKinly and Ty will tell me all about it because I do know Cathy was not thrilled with what she did. I convinced Ty she was just bitter and Santa will be bringing him presents and Cody is really too young to understand any of it. As for the other two children, I told their parents what happened and that was really all I could do.

However, there is good in every situation and because of this, I learned I do have self control when it comes to a mean, bitter little girl who doesn't want anyone else experiencing joy because she has decided to no longer experience it.

But if you're having a bad day, watching your nine month old wave "hi" sure makes it all better!



Please ignore my baby talk. Cade was just being so cute waving with both of his hands.

Advantage of having a 9 year old

SHE can cook!

I was cooking dinner last night and McKinly asked if she could help. I might have misunderstood her because I took her asking to "help" as to mean that she wanted to "finish the rest of the dinner completely."

I was making empanadas. Except I wasn't stuffing them with a dessert filling, I was stuffing them with a little turkey mixture for dinner. All I did was make the turkey mixture for the inside, McKinly did the rest.

I prepared the dough. And by prepare, I mean I took it out of the box and placed it in front of McKinly to roll out.

SHE rolled the dough. SHE cut the dough in nice little circles. SHE stuffed the dough with the turkey. SHE sealed the dough around the edges.

SHE brushed egg yolk on top to make sure it would bake to a golden brown.

SHE placed them nicely on a cookie sheet

and SHE even put them in the oven herself.

SHE's one pretty cool kid!

Feeling a little better, just not quite 100%

Cody and Cade still are having trouble with their allergies but it looks like they're feeling a little better.

Cody's face is still all red and in some spots, starting to bleed. I have tried everything and I think I'm going to have to take him to the doctor to get some type of steroid cream...it's the only thing I think will work.

He is just so tired and his face has got to hurt him

He can't even smile because it hurts his lips so bad. His face looks better in this picture but his lips have dry blood all over them. Poor Baby!

Cade is still clingy but not near as cranky. He will go play by himself now but still wants to make sure you're in his sight.

Today I was on the computer and Cade was playing with some toys right next to me. A few minutes later I noticed it got really quiet and I looked down and there was Cade, asleep at my feet!

Ty's face meets the concrete

Over Thanksgiving break, Ty was playing flashlight tag at his mom's house and was trying to jump out of the back of the truck and tripped and hit the concrete with his face.

This picture doesn't show it justice. It was a lot worse but he was tough about it. He had been hiding in the truck and tried to jump out of it before his friend tagged him.

It hurt a lot when it happened, but I think he enjoys telling the story now!

Home Sweet...

well, let's just say we're back. We have actually been back since Sunday night but things have been a little crazy around here.

As soon as we got back to Oklahoma, the boys both got sick again. I'm telling you, they're allergic to this state. I'm not kidding with you, the second we crossed over to Oklahoma the boys started coughing and getting all snotty. Cody's face is all red and sore and Cade has snot coming out of his nose by the gallons. Not pleasant especially when I'm trying to finish up all the laundry and all they want to do is hang all over me. Cade is back on breathing treatments for the time being and is pretty cranky.

Cody was feeling well enough to kill a cricket for me today though. I hate those things, I'm not scared of them, just sick of them! They are everywhere and I can't get rid of them. I thought they would GO AWAY when it started getting cold, but oh no...I think they're here to torture me!

Cody was excited to kill the nasty beast.

Poor little Cade, he's not feeling well at all

Things are starting to get back to normal and we're getting back into the swing of things. McKinly and Ty were excited to have us home. Ty had a little accident over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I'll take of picture of him and tell the story later, Cade is driving me crazy needing my attention right now!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we loved ours!

Our time has almost run out!

Our last few days here have been pretty busy. We have been trying to squeeze in as much time with family and friends as possible before returning to Oklahoma.

On Friday, my mom let the boys go ahead and open their Christmas presents since we will be in Chicago this year for the holidays.

Cody about to unwrap his first present of the season

My little Christmas Cade

Look at him go

I think Cade enjoyed the boxes more than the actual presents

After the boys opened their presents, we made the mistake of going to the mall on Black Friday. We didn't buy anything but T.J. and Cody had fun playing in the Apple Store.

I keep thinking of ways to stay longer but I just don't think my husband would fall for any of them. Oh well, I can just start counting down the days until we get to come back. Only 98 days to go until Spring Break...I'm thinking that's the soonest we'll be able to get back down.