Frugal or Freak?

Am I being frugal or just a freak because I am forcing my child to use this?

I am kidding of course. The humor of my 9 year old boy is starting to rub off on me. He brought this home from school the other day and was so excited to show me (in his words) "the worlds smallest pencil." I thought it was really funny.

New Family Pics

We took these over a month ago and I am just now scanning them in.

Whose kid in this?

Caden may look a little like me, but we are so different. First of all she is really sweet and passive with most people outside her family. I am no monster, but not sweet like her and passive will NEVER be used to describe me. She doesn't care for chocolate or for very many desserts. That still seems so weird to me, but I am getting used to it.

However her latest interest has got me floored. Almost every time Chris does yard work he finds some reptile - frog, lizard, or snake. I welcome them all EXCEPT for snakes. I like watching them on TV and seeing them at the ZOO, but having one inches or even feet away from me FREAKS ME OUT!!!!

The other day Chris brings one in the house and shows me and then wants to show Caden. I didn't want him to scare her, but the next thing I know I hear this - "Can I touch it? Can I hold it? "

This is her saying "awe he is so cute."

I know it looks like a clump of hair is across her forehead, but no, that is a SNAKE on my little girls head. (You might have to click on the picture below to see the snake because it is almost the same color as her hair.) Oh and just ignore Chris's sweaty and dirty hands and arms in the picture.

I know it is a baby snake that it is not poisonous and it wont hurt her one bit, but it still freaks me out.

Michael Phelps and Carrie Underwood Dating???

Are you kidding me??

I didn't believe it when I first heard it either by my 9 year old this morning. He said he heard it on the radio. Now why is my 9 year old more current on celebrity gossip than I am? I guess it is because I have had a house full of family all weekend and just now got a chance to really get on the Internet. Anyway, I told him that I doubt they are dating. He said either they are dating or thinking about dating. I didn't think that made any sense, but sure enough this is what I just read online.

"the twentysomethings are frequently texting each other and have already begun planning a “quiet first date” near Carrie’s home in Nashville, Tennessee."

And of course we all know that EVERYTHING you read on the Internet is 100% FACT.

I guess all the gold medals have blurred her vision. How can she go from Tony Romo to Michael Phelps. Don't get me wrong I was one of the millions screaming on my couch during and after every race he was in, but come on.

My kids never did that.

The other day a friend of mine was telling me about how her child wrote all over their bedroom wall with markers. I remember thinking how funny it was because my kids never really did that. Caleb wrote on his wall with crayons once when he was about 2 1/2 but after I made him help me clean it off he never did again. I was thinking that Caden never did things like that either until I remembered these incidents.

Here is Caden at about 2 1/2 playing nicely with some of her dolls one morning.

Now, here she is with those same dolls just a few hours later.

Yep - that is baby powder.

Caden never wrote on walls, she preferred herself. Here she is about a week before she turned 2.

(Please excuse the nasty carpet, that is our office/guest room/ebay room that is always crazy.)


Now my favorite mess of hers is from about a month before she turned 2. She dumped a bowl of pancake batter on herself and on the floor. That in itself isn't funny, but the pictures crack me up.

Poor thing!! She was so upset at what she had done and is pointing to her mess. However I thought it was so funny how it is dripping off her face. I just had to to take a picture of it before I cleaned up my little girl!

Cali's First Invisible Guitar

I know she is just in the process of falling backwards, but it looks like she is jammin' out to an invisible guitar.

Last Friday we felt her first tooth coming in. We were surprised to see it because my kids get their teeth late. Caleb was 10 months and Caden was 14 months. So Cali is 2 months ahead of her brother. She thinks she is a big girl now because within a few minutes after I found her tooth she decided to can stand up for up to 5 seconds without falling.

My baby is 5

Caden turned 5 yesterday and everyone at Chick-Filet yesterday for lunch new about it. She asked every little kid she saw how old they were and then preceded to tell them that she was older. Over and over again I heard "hi my name is Caden and I am 5." It got old really fast and 2 little boys were tired of it too and told her to quit saying it.


Caden is my little princess and I have really enjoyed these past 5 years with her. She is so sweet and kind to everyone (except occasionally with her brother). God has truly blessed me with such a happy and VERY HEALTHY child. These past 5 years have flown by.

Here she is just a few hours old.

Here is yesterday. She is so proud to be holding up 5 fingers.

It looks like she has flowers growing out of her fingers. I think it is funny.

I was going to go back and find a bunch of my favorite pictures of her, but then reality set in and I don't have the time for that. So here is a few.

Here is 4 months.

Here is 8 months, it is not the best picture but I included it since this is the age that Cali is now.

Here are a few from her 3 year pictures. She had so much fun taking these pictures that I got so many great shots.

I am so proud of the sweet little girl she has become. 5 seems like the magic number when I can't call her my little baby anymore.