Learning to Crawl

Mason made some big strides on his way to becoming a fully mobile baby - up on all fours for the first time right after Caden and Sadie went to bed!

After putting him to bed, I went in to give Caden a kiss and showed him the video. His eyes lit up with pride and excitement for his little brother.

Beginning of October 2014

Target was having a Halloween costume sale a few weeks ago so I took the kids to pick out what they wanted. They went in thinking Ana, Kristoff and Olaf (the snowman) for Mason but ended up with Batman and Batgirl (I ordered Robin for Mason). This has brought on a renewed interest in super heros and Sadie is now wearing Caden's old Superman PJs at night - it's super cute.

Sadie is having a hard week, she was running in the playroom, slipped and smacked her head on one of our wood steps. She had a huge hemotoma right on her hairline within seconds. She was a trooper though and didn't cry for very long, opting to eat her frozen peas instead of holding them on her head. She's been getting up in the night a few times a month, not fully awake and crying from a bad dream. She woke up that night around 2:00am crying that her head hurt, but was doing better in the morning.

A few days later she came down with a bad cough and sore throat so she got to show off her shiner at the pediatrician's office. She was thrilled when the prescription was spoonfuls of honey for her throat. That weekend Casey asked her how she was feeling and she said, "I'm not 100%." Casey asked what percent she was and she gave him a pitiful face and said, "I'm 1%".

In other news, we went over to play at Milo's house last weekend (a friend of Caden and Sadie's from outdoor preschool). Caden zoned right in on his "LEGO Movie" set - the machine Emmett builds at the end of the movie - and Sadie was beaming with pride because she had already picked it out and had us buy it for him for his upcoming birthday. She did an impressive job of not spilling her secret too.

Later we went to the park and Caden showed off his growing football skills while Sadie kicked around the soccer ball. Her footwork and ball control was really good - we're thinking we might have to add soccer back into the schedule next year if she's still excited about it.

Also our next door neighbors just put their house up for sale. We're crossing our fingers for another family with young kids. For good measure, the whole family went outside and played football in the driveway during their open house - we were the picture of Americana :).

First Day of School 2014

The first day of school was a big deal this year. Caden started half day kindergarten at Hollywood Hill Elementary and Sadie started Rainbow Montessori School (her first preschool experience with out her big brother by her side). They were both super excited and just a little anxious about the unknown. 

Fortunately, Caden had lots of events to help get him comfortable before school started. First we went to a Kindergarten meet and greet on the Kindergarten play ground where he gets to play at recess - he was very impressed with the two sandboxes and large fireman pole. 

I also met several nice moms, one in particular who convinced me to sign him up for the 1/2 day Kindergarten bus in the afternoon. I'm so glad she did - Caden loves it and walking to the bus stop with Mason to wait for him is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Coincidentally, Caden became super tight with that Mom's little boy, Evan, a few weeks after school starts. He only lives one street down from our neighborhood and Caden loves riding the bus home with him and hanging out together at school.

Casey and I laughed a lot that for the first few weeks that Evan and Caden were friends, Caden kept calling him Kevin (apparently Evan didn't mind).

Next we had, see your classroom/meet the teacher day.

Caden and I left Sadie and Mason with Tina for the morning....

We got to unload his school supplies and check out his desk (same row as future best friend, Evan).

Then it was time for everybody's first day of school!

The whole family dropped Caden off in line for school in the morning.

Then we got to spend all of Sadie's first day with her at Rainbow Montessori School.

Sadie took this picture of Caden after he got of the bus (which was pretty late on the first day and made us a little nervous!)

End of Summer 2014

This month was all about the Mason Man becoming mobile.  At the beginning of the month he had just learned to roll both directions and by the end of the month, you'd put him down in one spot and there was no telling where he would end up!

Here are a few other cute tidbits from this month:

(Caden and Sadie in the backyard hanging out when they think Mom and Dad aren't watching.)

Sadie (while watching TV suddenly turns to Caden and says): I'm going to dream about you tonight.

20 minutes into driving home from a playdate, both kids are quiet and I think they might even fall asleep. And then...

Caden: Sadie
Sadie: What?
Caden: I love you.

The end of our summer was also spent...

Enjoying our very last swaddle before sleep training.

Putting on impromptu performances with our friends.

Setting off rockets in the park.

Growing pumpkins and other fruit in the backyard. (Update: the pumpkins have some sort of blight and deer ate ALL of the plums on our trees in one afternoon - whaa whaa.)

Taking up a new hobby.

Coloring (lots and lots of coloring).

Cooking with Mom and with Tina.

Putting the finishing touches on the backyard excavation site.

Building at the LEGO table.

Celebrating with Daddy.

Buying ice cream with allowance money.

Making a jumbo slip-n-slide.

Visiting with Aunt Sarah.

And learning new tricks from her.

Riding bikes.

Turning into monkeys.

Doing chores to earn more money for ice cream.

Narrowly avoiding stitches (took a knee to the face jumping off the top of the jungle gym).

Backsliding on the sleep training and totally getting away with making your way back into Mommy and Daddy's bed every morning because you're the baby of the family and Mommy and Daddy are weak.

More Photo's From Sadie's 4th Birthday Bash