White Christmas

We definetely had a white Christmas this year. There was a ton of snow all week long. Jeff and Cayden took advantage of the snow to go sledding. Cayden came home and told me that he had to erase one of the videos that they took because "it might scare me." Apparently Cayden's sled got a little close to running into the truck and you could hear Jeff yelling at him to "jump off" loudly. These pictures were taken about 35 minutes east of our house. We live in a beautiful place!

Merry Christmas

Our new tent trailer


lighted tent trailer


look at that mess!!!



Cayden and Bryce happy with their loot

Santa definetely came to our house on Christmas. Our two big gifts were a new (gently used) pop-up tent trailer thanks to contributions from many family members and a Nintendo Wii. We surprised Cayden with the tent trailer on Christmas Eve. Jeff decorated it with lights and once Cayden got over the confusion about why it was parked in our driveway he was super excited. The next morning was even better with the discovery that Santa left us a Wii with the game of choice, Lego Star Wars. Bryce enjoyed tearing into some paper and has definetely enjoyed his new toys. Here are some pictures of the tent trailer and Christmas morning.

Rudolph or Bryce?

Bryce and Cayden both got some reindeer antlers. It took awhile to get Bryce to wear his so I needed to post the picture.

Cayden's Christmas Program

Here are a few videos of Cayden performing at his Christmas program on Tuesday afternoon. And, don't forget, he is a hamster, not a dog. He did great knowing his lines and was a little shy on the songs.

Bryce learns to Crawl and Cayden is in the school play

Bryce finally is crawling. He is 9 1/2 months old and has waited for the Christmas tree to be up to crawl. It figures.... Oh well. He is also recovering from ear infection #1 and hoping to get a bunch of teeth before Christmas. And, because of this, I am hoping to get a full nights' sleep and a happy child for Christmas. Dear Santa...

Cayden has a speaking part in this year's Christmas program. He also has to dress up like a hamster?! All the children are representing animals around the house having a conversation about Christmas and he is the hamster. I hope that I can find something that looks like a rodent for him to wear.

The latest cute Cayden comment is about our nativity scene. He calls it an "activity" scene. When he set up our "activity" scene he put all the people and animals clumped around Mary and Jesus. When I asked him why they were so close he said, "because they are all looking at the baby. That is what people do when there is a baby". Silly me!

Another Hike

A couple days after Thanksgiving our family took a hike. Notice that Jeff is in shorts, Cayden is in short sleeves and the sun is shining. We had a beautiful holiday weekend and we took advantage of it to be outside.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We started with a walk down by the park and we took some pictures of the boys. We had a great feast provided mostly by Jeff. I am lucky to have such a motivated cook in the family. 4 years ago we got a white tablecloth and used fabric markers to write on the tablecloth what we are thankful for. It has been fun every year to go back and read what we were thankful for and to add our new items.

Here is a video of Cayden singing

Sorry that this is kind of dark but Cayden sang for us last night and it was very cute!

Grandma and Grandpa here to visit

Bob and Barb were here over last weekend. We met them at Kahneeta to spend a couple of nights. We played mini golf, swam in the HOT pool, and just hung out. Jeff did some gambling and I lost a dollar at the penny slot machines. I know, BIG SPENDER. Cayden's big moment was going down the big slide in the picture. It was his first time and he had a great time. He is getting more and more brave all the time.

First Word

Bryce has begun the "dada" mantra and actually associates it with Jeff so I guess we can say that Bryce's first word will be dad. Cayden's was as well. Hopefully, I will get a mama before long however, Cayden said dad, duck, and dog before mom. It's a good thing they look like me..... uh wait....

Jeff's fish - Sorry he made me put it on here

Jeff took the day off on November 3rd and went fishing "for the last time". This is a joke for us because it is always his "last chance". Anyway, he caught the elusive steelhead. I believe it is in my refrigerator currently.

Halloween

All the trick or treaters


Darth and little cow getting ready to head out.



Bryce trick or treating with daycare

Halloween at our house was great fun. Bryce and Cayden both had a great time trick or treating and seeing everyone dressed up. Bryce only cried once at a scary costume.

Sun Opening

This morning was a beautiful morning in Central Oregon. We had the front door open and Cayden was looking out the glass door and said, "Mom, come and look at the beautiful sun opening this morning." It was so cute that I didn't tell him it was supposed to be "sunrise".

Carrie update - sorry no pictures!

Just wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to. Many of you know that I have a student teacher this year and have been enjoying working with her and having some time to organize my desk and do some reading that I have been putting off. And, I have been able to keep up on my blog too. However, my "extra" time will be coming to an end as of Friday. I will begin teaching English for three weeks until the end of the school trimester. It is a long story as to the why and I won't go into that here. I am also working to get my Language Arts endorsement so that I can teach both subjects and be "Highly Qualified" according to NCLB. I will be taking the first of two tests in November and the second in January. Wish me luck! And, now I get to read "Of Mice and Men", "House on Mango Street", and "Speak" with 9th and 10th graders.

Pumpkin Carving

Jeff carved pumpkins with Cayden the other night while I got grumpy gus a.k.a Bryce in bed. Here is the result of their hard work. Cayden still doesn't like to scoop the goo out of the pumpkin. I can't say I blame him on that. I think Jeff is looking forward to the time that he doesn't have to be on pumpkin goo control.

After Bath

Aunt Chris sent us this towel for Bryce. He was actually smiling last night after his bath so Jeff snapped a couple of pictures.

Cayden's Soccer

Cayden played soccer this year. His season actually ended the middle of September but I didn't ever put these pictures up. Cayden was on a team of 4 and Jeff coached. The first couple of games Cayden would just fall on the ground when he would go for the ball. By the end he was a regular soccer genius.

Something he said

I forgot to add what Cayden said at the pumpkin patch that made me laugh. We were going through the corn maize and Cayden was intently studying the map at every turn. We had just made some turns and had come back to where we had started from. I told Cayden that I think we just went in a big circle and he looked down at his map and said "nope, there aren't any circles on the map." I guess he isn't familiar with that figure of speech.

At the pumpkin patch

Pumpkin Patch

Nana is here for a visit and we went to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. It is a three year tradition that Nana has been here in the fall and we have gone pumpkin picking. Bryce did great on his first trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maize.

Halloween Shirts

Cayden and Bryce put on their Halloween shirts this morning so we could get a picture. We have trouble getting Cayden to take a "good smile" picture.

Video?

Here I go trying to upload a video for you. Hope it works.

Babysitting

We babysat a good family friend on Saturday. Macee McLean is is almost 11 months old. She is crawling and walking all over the place. I think Bryce outweighs her by a good 3 or 4lbs and is about an inch taller than her. We had a good time and Cayden was a great helper all day. He isn't in these pictures because I finally gave him a break and let him watch t.v.

First Snow

We had our first snow and boy was it cold. We actually had a fire in the fireplace too! Here are some pictures of the big flakes and Bryce with his hat on. He loves it, can't you tell?

Carrie's new haircut

I got a new haircut last week and the kids and I posed for a picture this morning before we left for school. It was sports day at school so we are all dressed up for sports!

More Wagon Pictures

In the Wagon

Bryce takes his first ride in the wagon!

Funny Things Cayden Says

Last Thursday Cayden, Bryce, and I were walking to a birthday party in our neighborhood. Jeff was meeting us there so he could leave from the party. Cayden said, "I think that we will beat daddy there." I said "yeah, he is such a slowpoke." Cayden responded with "yeah, and he is so forgettable too." I think he meant 'forgetful' and I'm still trying to figure out how that goes into the conversation...

On the way home from that birthday party Cayden was talking on the phone to Grandpa Lowenbach and he was talking about Nana coming to visit in a couple of weeks and he told grandpa that "she was here about a month ago but when you love someone that much, one month feels like a year."

Last night when we were eating at Applebees Cayden was playing with his new Star Wars character that he bought with his own money earlier that day. He dropped the teeny tiny light sabre that goes with it. He, of course, searched under the table (GROSS) with no luck and eventually we had to go and Cayden left crying. Finally, when we got outside, through his tears he said "It is all you guy's fault!" And, Jeff asks, "why?" and Cayden said "because you didn't warn me!"

WHAT A CUTIE!

Matching Pajamas

Nana bought these pajamas last year when Bryce was a tiny baby. Cayden still loves "feet attached" pajamas and was so excited for his brother to have some too.