Daddys boy...

mt two boys hanging out!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Kaden is in green today! To have fun celebrating St. Patty's Day. He wasn't really in picture mood today, but I had to take atleast a few shots! We are going over to Jon's brother's house tonight for cornbeef and cabbage. Needless to say, I'm bringing some KFC for me. I'm definitely not irish when it comes to food. :0)

booties from grandma grant

my handsome little man

Mirror Mirror

So being a little guy, Kaden gets carried around the house a bunch. One thing that he discovered in the bathroom with daddy last week was the mirror. He loves it!! He just looks at himself and talks and laughs. And it is like he knows it is him!! But I did some reading and seems that until age 2, kiddos don't really get it "it's me in there." They just think it it something fun. Isn't that funny? Anyway, he loves it. Will try to snap a pic of it sometime soon.

My last lazy day at home until the weekend gears up. I'll be working Thurs and Sat and Sun night. Then Tuesday and Thursday so that Jon and I can go to Glennallen to visit friends on Mar 20th. We haven't been to Glennallen to visit since late August!! So we are excited to go visit!!

4 months told today!

Wow! Hard to believe that Kaden is 4 months old today!! He has grown so much since birth. I think that I have decided that month 3-4 has been the best so far. Having him as a little guy was a blessing but he was just learning the basics. Now he is learning some of the fun stuff. He is learning "tummy time" which is making his neck stronger..working towards crawling and rolling over. He loves to smile and laugh. He listens to mama read him stories, he sits with daddy while he plays the guitar and plays games on the computer. He loves "talking" with grandma. He is doing great in his carseat, not screaming everytime we put him in it. He is learning how to nap in his own bed. And he has slept one night so far --through the night--in his own bed. He does always sleep through the night, which is awesome. He learned how to go to daycare and has made great friends. He loves one of the daycare workers, Mariah. And he loves watching the kiddos at daycare and watching his neices play. He went sledding for the first time. He went to his first hockey game. He goes to church every Sunday. He goes shopping with daddy at the Sporting goods store on Saturdays. He has skyped (online chatting with webcam) with his aunt tabitha, kelly and anne/zach. And the most basic but biggest blessing, he can hold up his head on his own!! Such a big boy and makes us so proud. I'm excited for what is to come!!
holding his head up like a champ

Sledding Fun!!

8 inches of snow!! And still snowing!!!

loves sledding outside in the snow

hanging out with dad, not quite sure of the snow just yet

happy in the snow

smiling with mama

snow angel!

daddy taking kaden for his first sled ride

Personality

Kaden has been so much fun lately. He is smiling all the time and talking to me, "telling me stories" as I call it. He is also eating well and growing great. He will have his 4 month check up soon and we'll find out how much he weighs. I know that he is growing, as we are growing out of some of his 3 months clothes. They aren't long enough. He was 24 3/4 inches at his last appointment. He is going to be tall like his daddy.
his shirt says, "short, bald and beautiful"
"easy on the kisses, daddy!"

both of their hearts belong to mommy!

hanging out in daddy's camo

always chewing on something these days!

Lots of snow!

Well it snowed all weekend!! I woke up Saturday morning to about 4 inches on the car to clean off. Then it snowed all day Saturday and on Sunday morning, we had gotten another 4 inches! We haven't had such a great snowfall in forever! So it was quite a treat! Very beautiful out and nice and warm (well if 20 degrees is warm to you, it is to us!)

I worked on Saturday and Jon watched the baby. They had a good day together. Sunday was church and then I napped cuz I was working nightshift on Sunday night. Work has been busy, which is nice. Makes the days go by quickly!!

Jam Session

Had a good day today. Kaden had a dr. appointment this morning and the doctor was sick (guess they get sick too..haha) so we got to spend a quiet morning together. And mama got a morning nap with Kaden. Such a treat!

I'm making dinner and the boys are jamming in the living room. Kaden loves when Jon plays the guitar to him. So cute!!

Kaden's New Friend

Look at Kaden and his new friend!! We call him "Mr. Bug!"
We were quite blessed yesterday to get a package in the mail from some family friends, the Clounies. It was some great goodies for Kaden and my favorite was this stuffed animal. If you have seen 'A Bug's Life,' its the catapillar Heimleich who is quite funny. Anyway, I'm in love with it and Kaden seems to love playing with it too!! Since he has such a big name (Heimleich), we are sticking with "mr. bug."

Deer Roast

When Jon got to go hunting in December 07, he got his first whitetail on Christmas day. Well, when my folks came up last March, they brought us his meat. We have eaten all of our favorite (the tender loin meat) but we have a few roasts left. So I just finished prepping a roast and in 8 hours, we will have some delicious deer meat to share with Jon's family. We are gonna take it over to his brother, Dan's, house tonight to share with them...with some green beans (Jon's favorite) and cornbread. Hope it all turns out good!!

Kaden has a dr. appointment today to followup for an ear infection that hasn't gone away. Pray that is gone and his ears look great!!

We had a spaghetti feast on Sunday after church to raise money for the youth to go to a conference in Anchorage in March. The youth did everything and it turned out great!! It was a bit exhausting and we had just enough food...but they raised somewhere around $500! Not bad for only having 40 people in attendance!

Prayer update: Our friends, Luke and Charity, who were staying with us in January and then had the baby who ended up flown to Anchorage were discharged from the hospital last week. They came in Friday night to visit and it was great to see little Stryder! He is so tiny! 7 lbs and 2 ounces at 3 weeks old. Kaden is 13 lbs+ these days, almost twice the size! Thanks for all your prayers. The baby is doing great!!

Also, just wanted to say that we have had a lot of answered prayers lately. So thanks for keeping us held up in your prayers!!

Well, Kaden has a poopy diaper (aren't you glad I shared that :0) so "mom duty" calls. More updates later!!

Hockey game...Go Nanooks!!!

Went to a hockey game with the youth tonight! Kaden loved all the action!!

asleep...z...z...z...

Kaden is sleeping on my lap right now. We are still teaching him how to nap in his crib. He napped 40 minutes in his crib this afternoon. Yea! And he's been sleeping in his bassinet at night for 1-4 hours, but he only slept once through the night so far. He also took a 35 minute nap at daycare on thursday. That is great for him! Between not being used to sleeping in a crib and the noise from the other kiddos, thats wonderful!

Snapped a few pics of Kaden playing on his back. He is starting to explore rolling. He can roll from his back to his side, but not onto his tummy yet. He will learn!!

Got cookies in the oven for youth tonight! Gotta go!

Growing up...

Thanks for the prayers! I worked my first nightshift on Sunday night at the hospital. I'm only working two a month to get some extra cash, but being away from the boys at night was a first. Kaden was up twice to eat (he has been sleeping through the night for over a month) so I think he noticed that mom wasn't around, but they did good. Today I am exhausted cuz kaden just took little naps today, and I never got a good nap in. But we have plans in the future for the Monday after I work Sunday night for Kaden to go to daycare for a few hours so mama can sleep...and so she will be a happy mama! :0)

Jon and Kaden are snoozing on the couch, the dishes are running in the dishwasher, the kitchen is all cleaned up, just took the trash out...time to watch Dirty Jobs with Jon, if he'll wake up. Took some pics of Kaden hanging out with his dad.

kaden is learning how to play on his tummy. this is his tummy surfboard!

daddy likes to surf too!

daddy doing his coyote call for kaden. he loves it!!

dad singing to kaden. he just smiles and kicks when jon plays the guitar!

talking on the phone with dad.

My naked Valentine!

Kaden finally likes the bath!! When I put him in the water, he always gets all wide eyed and looks frightened. But all it takes is a minute or two, and he is kicking and smiling. I finally got some bath pictures taken. Such a handsome little guy, even when he's naked!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Well, after spending Valentine's day at work, bringing home the bacon... I came home to some lovely flowers! I love getting flowers!!! Jon did a good job! And I got Lindt chocolate truffles! I love Valentine's Day!

Snowy Day

Sunday when we were driving around in Salcha, it was just so beautiful. A light snow was falling and all the trees were snow covered. My favorite! Oh and saw some little birdies at Jerry and Eleanors that were munching on some birdseed.
pretty little birdie

kaden sleeping along the way

at jon's folks homestead in salcha

Good news

Today was a good day. We had a good morning of worship, at church and then had lunch with Jon's folks, his brother and his neices. Then, we went to Jon's "adopted grandparents" for a visit. Jon and Jerry played the guitar and we visited with his grandma and her grandkids. The weather has been beautiful, 10 degrees to -10 degrees. For us in Alaska, that is great temperatures! Those are good temperatures to enjoy yourself outside.

Kaden has done great through my two days at work last week. He did good in daycare, meeting most of the teachers/helpers so far. Our favorite is a lady named Mariah, who has a 6 month old of her own. There are a set of 10 month old twin girls and a little boy named Liam, who seem to be around the most for him to play with. He doesn't nap much at daycare (probably watching everybody else cuz he loves to watch other kiddos play) but that just means he is taking great afternoon naps.

Our friend, Luke got in from Anchorage Sunday night. He is going back to work this week, while Charity is still in with the baby. Their baby boy, named Strider, is doing well. He is out of the sickest part of the baby ICU (I guess there is a "doing really bad" part of the ICU and a "doing pretty good" side of the ICU). He is off the breathing machine, just on some oxygen. Charity has been able to feed him without problems and they are anticipating going home in a week or two. Praise the Lord! For awhile, it was pretty touch and go and now, they will be celebrating having their little guy home soon! Thanks for all your prayers!!

Kaden got rid of the snots for awhile, but now that he is off his antibiotics, they are back. We have a follow up appointment with the doctor this week. Any prayers that his snots disappear are welcome!

Well, gotta get some laundry done. Thought I would post some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!
daddy and kaden

kaden needs to burp!

mama and her happy boy!

he loves to smile!

Laughing with Grandma!

Talking to Mama this morning!