Fishin on Memorial Day

When you go fishin...

it's always nice to have your Uncle Dan with you to bait the line and unhook the fish, and

it's nice when the fish are little so little hands can hold them, and

it's nice when you're only 7 and he buys you your very own fishing rod and polarized glasses so you have the right equipment, and

it's nice when you can dig up your very own juicy worms from the garden...
but,
it's especially nice when

You give your fish a kiss before you throw him back in!

Caden meets Kyle Korver of the Jazz

On Friday, we went to see the Jazz game, since Caden played Jr. Jazz basketball this year. The boys got a special treat thanks to Uncle Kevin. He just happens to be friends with Kyle Korver, so after the game, Caden and his best friend, Stockton got to have their jerseys signed and meet Kyle. They were pretty excited, and now have something really great for show and tell at school!

Dizzy

Busy week!

I have so much to write about from the past week, so this post is just a shmorgasboard of stuff that we've been up to. On February 8, Caden got to perform at the Tabernacle on Temple Square with an LDS youth choir for a program called Interfaith Musical Tribute to the Human Spirit. We saw performances from Muslims, Jews, Native Americans, Hindu, Catholics, Baptists, Greeks, Scottish Pipe Band (which were so amazing and intense to hear) and many other faiths and Nationalities. It was so interesting to see their traditional songs, dances, and outfits. They didn't want camaras in there, so we followed the rules. To see an article about it with some pictures, click here.
Chris and I took Boston and Hudson to the Discovery Museum on Tuesday for some fun. It's one of our favorite places as you can see.

On Thursday, Chris and I GOT TO GO ON A DATE WITHOUT KIDS! Aunt Emily offered her babysitting services and also gave us tickets to see a play at the Hale Center Theatre. We saw "Cash on Demand" which was a very funny comedy. Aunt Emily not only survived, but she had Caden in bed on time, Hudson asleep and Boston happily occupied! Thanks a ton!

On Friday, while Chris was working in the woodshop, Caden built a tree swing all by himself. He asked Chris to cut a rope, then climbed in the tree, looped in over a branch, climbed down, and tied each end to a stick he found in the woodpile. Pretty clever!

On Saturday, we went to watch Caden play Basketball (and Daddy coach). The boys are so fun to watch and Caden made a basket! He is so good at defense and dribbling too.

Family resemblance?

I hear it all the time...Caden looks JUST LIKE CHRIS. Yeah, I know, and yes, I did want a little boy that looked just like his dad. Because, if it's not obvious by the fact that I married him, and had 3 kids with him, I think he's pretty darn cute. But, just when you think I've given in and accepted that I get no credit for the 9 long months that I carried him and the ginormous 9lbs.3oz. that he weighed at birth, I surprise you. I make another attempt to claim my prize, or uh, my kid that is. As I was cutting Caden's hair, I got the sides buzzed off and stopped to be funny, only to realize that it reminded me of a picture of my dad when he was a young boy. Any of you guys on the Copeland side see it? Here's the pic. And I did finish the haircut after I took this cute shot of him.

Happy birthday Caden

Today, my biggest boy is celebrating his 7th birthday! Yes, I'm a little wierded out by that, but that's a whole other post. This one's about him. Being Caden's parents has given us some of the most amazing experiences in the world.Anyone who knows him, would agree that he is an outstanding child. So what great things will this birthday bring? Well, for starters, this is what he looked like when he woke up this morning...

Birthday spankins went a little overboard huh? Just kidding. Don't turn us in to Child and family services! He had an allergic reaction to something he ate. My fault...lesson learned. In the hustle and bustle of gettibg party things ready, I stopped for Chinese take-out Wednesday night. Caden wanted left-overs for lunch Thursday, and by the time I picked him up from school, he was covered in welts. Benadryl cleared them right up, but they came back overnight. So we called his Dr. this morning who is out of town, and they gave us an appointment with her associate. Guess what...He was chinese, and when he asked if Caden had been exposed to anything out of the ordinary, I had to tell him I thought the Chinese food did it! More specifically, the overload of MSG. Yeah, I knew better. Luckily he and I both understood that the not so authentic chinese takeout is not the same as genuine bonafide chinese food. I was still embarrased. So, more benadryl...and a party tonight.

I think I must have lost my mind. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to invite the entire basketball team!
After a dinner of T-rex meat (dino nuggets), triceratops bones (white cheetos), velociraptor eggs (deviled eggs), stegasaurus spikes (apple wedges), and molten lava (punch), we went outside for a volcano explosion (mentos and diet coke with a paper mache volcano for looks!)

Then we headed back inside for presents, and an edible volcano cake, and dino dig (a small dinosaur buried in each scoop of icecream.

Then we headed out to the Museum of Ancient Life for some more dinosaur madness. I forgot my camara, but our wonderful family never fails to take care of us...so when they send me the pics, I'll post them! Thanks to aunts and uncles, and big cousins, we were actually able to enjoy the party despite the insanity! We love you Caden. Happy birthday!

Happy day

Saturday was a good day. Ya know, one of those days when you finally get the kids in bed and you think, "I was a good mom today!" Occasionally I have one of those days squeezed somewhere between the "messy house, cereal for dinner, no time for reading books, boys still in pajamas, stinky from not showering, guilty mom" kind of days. So I thought I should definitely brag... oops I mean blog about it. While Chris took Caden to his guitar lesson (which I was able to barter music lessons for hair services-score one point for me!) I put Hudson in the baby-backpack carrier and did dishes (by hand) and cleaned the house. Meanwhile, Boston painted with watercolors at the table with plastic to keep it mess free (and he didn't even paint himself...for the first half hour). I played a cleaning music mix to help me work-Big thanks to Katie-I loved the mix! Then, when Chris got home, he offered to cook lunch. I never turn this offer down because it's usually pretty predictable. I know we will have either quesadillas, grilled cheese and ABC soup, or scrambled eggs with toast, or pancakes if he's really feeling crazy. Scrambled eggs and toast it was. But, as I started eating my eggs, they just didn't taste right. Not wanting to risk him never offering to cook again, I didn't complain. I thought, maybe I am just getting a cold and my tastebuds are all messed up. But halfway through the meal, Chris said,"So, can you taste my secret ingredient?" Caden blurts out, "Egg Nog!" Hmmm. Note to self: Monitor Chris when he cooks. Yeah, not so tasty. But I ate them anyway. Then we got all bundled up to take the boys sledding. Caden absolutely loved it! Boston, not so much. OK, he hated it. Chris took him down once and he cried. And cried. And then ate snow. And then cried some more because "he couldn't walk." That's his new thing. He gets all helpless on us when things aren't going his way. So I carried him to the van where Hudson was sleeping all cozy. And I liked it too, because by this point, the eggnog eggs were causing some stomach cramps. The sun was going down and most everyone had packed up their sleds and gone home. But not Caden and Chris. Not till the sun was completely gone. Because that's the beauty of having kids. You can sled for hours and noone thinks your crazy. Then we came home to a big pot of warm homemade vegitable soup. And it was GOOD! I mean "Shut my mouth, that sho is some good soup" good. Then we went to a Christmas party, so I dressed up. No, it wasn't a dressy one, but I was going out that's reason enough to dress up. The boys were on their best behavior. I'm not sure how I lucked out with that one. Then we went to target. OK that part sucked-it was a madhouse-so just forget that part of my day and I will too. Finally we went home and, inspired by Katie, I created a cleaning mix of my own so I can have another day like today. I liked it. I love my boys. I love being "mom" and "beautiful"(that's how Chris addresses me even on stinky, no shower days). It reminds me of a song "with all that I've done wrong I must have done something right to deserve their love everymorning and butterfly kisses at night" Now I'm just getting cheesy so it's time for bed. Night Night

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Caden the Hunter

Caden's Uncle Dan took him to get some new snow pants, gloves, and a hat today. He was so excited, that he wore them out of the store and when he got home, he put on his shirt and vest to match them,that Uncle Dan gave him last year! He can't wait to be able to actually go hunting when he's a little older. He loves to try all kinds of meat and even tries to hunt the wild chickens that roam the neighborhood with his slingshot. Thanks Dan for being such a fun uncle and a great role model for Caden. You really make him feel special!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

This evening, when I got home, I was telling Chris about a lady that I encountered earlier in the day that was quite annoying and in everyone's business. I was explaining to him how she acted and told him that I wanted to tell her what I thought, so I was glad that it was time for us to go so I didn't say anything mean. As I was telling this to Chris, Caden blurts out, "You should've just told her the SH word." Our eyes got big as we both wondered how in the world he knew that word. Before we could question him, he said, "Yeah, shut-up lady!" Phew! We explained to Caden that although shut-up is not a nice word and we don't use it, that he shouldn't refer to it as "the SH word" because there are other words that are worse that people might think he is talking about. He couldn't fathom that there are words worse than shut-up and stupid. If only we were all that innocent-imagine how the world would be!

Bubbles, eyedrops, and elves

I know you're wondering..."What in the world do those three things have in common?" So let me tell you. Laughter. I think that I may have the most hilarious boys in the entire world! I'm pretty sure that Heavenly Father gave them such wonderful senses of humor to balance out the chaos that they cause on a daily basis. It allows me to lighten up and laugh when sometimes I want to cry. You know, those times when I'm cleaning Boston's artwork off the fridge (literally off the fridge) only to hear music coming from the other room and realize that he's now sitting on top of the piano and playing tunes with his feet (Sorry grandma and grandpa Yeager! No permanent damage was done!). And then I find Caden's collection of swords on the kitchen table that he fashioned from my foils that I use to highlight hair. And this is usually topped off with at least one blowout a day from Hudson. And that's a mild day compared to some. So, like I said, it is with great love and planning that I was given funny boys and I'll share the laughter with you.
Elves- I picked Caden up from school the other day and a Christmas song was on the radio. He said "They should play this song at Christmas. Is Christmas soon?" I replied "yes, we should start thinking about what you want to put on your list for Santa. What do you want this year." Caden thought for a moment and said, "I think I just want one of his elves. Then I can just give him the materials and he can make me all the toys I want. And he can make all the presents for us to give to people and we won't have to buy them." I agree!
Bubbles- I was relaxing for a quick moment in the tub the other day when Boston comes toddling in, strips down, and hops in with me. A few minutes later, he makes a funny face and says "Oooh Gross...bubbles my butt" If you are any good at interpretting 2 yr old talk, you know where he was going with that. My relaxing was short lived and I hopped out and let him enjoy his "bubble bath" alone.
Eyedrops - Boston had a cold the other day that gave him a little eye infection, so we had to put drops in his eyes throughout the day. With a handy stash of Halloween candy, we bribed him to be a big boy and let us put the drops in and in return he got to pick a piece of candy each time. So, tonight we took the boys to the local rec club for an evening of swimming. There is a water play tower in the middle of the kids area that has wheels, slides, waterfalls, and all sorts of things. When we walked near it, water was really splashing in our faces, and Boston paused there, then suddenly got really excited as he exclaimed "Eyedrops, eyedrops-I get candy!"

Caden's Reflections contest photograph

This is the picture that Caden took and entered it in the Reflections contest today at school. He named it "Mount Awesome". Good luck Caden! We hope you win a fun prize!

Halloween

Hudson was the cutest little cow ans Caden was an awesome ninja turtle! Boston is anti-camera right now so we will try to get a Bob-the-Builder shot another day! We went to Caden's school in the morning to see the Halloween parade, then we trick or treated/trunk or treated in the neighborhood for about an hour. Then we went to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Holly's for a party. They had quite a big crowd, and Dallon, his buddies and Caden put on a pretty scarey spook alley in the back yard. Chris and I dressed up in some last minute, throw together costumes and I think we turned out pretty cute. I was the tooth fairy, and Chris went as none other than his very own dad-Monte!

Our family garden

This is our first year growing a garden. Check out that zucchini!

party boy

Caden won a contest at his cousins birthday party where he had to fish a marshmallow out of a pile of whipped cream only using his mouth. His face was covered in whipped cream, but he licked it clean in no time. He is excited to be out of school for the summer and spends all day outside!

Boston and Caden wearing their new hats

Left: Such sweet brothers. If only they were always like that!

Below: Caden proudly sports his Boston Red Sox hat that his Aunt JaNae and Uncle Dan picked up in Boston where JaNae ran the Boston Marathon!
Left: Boston loves his England hat that Grandma and Grandpa Yeager sent him! It is a little big still, so his ears stick out, but we think it is adorable!

Happy Birthday Caden!

Caden is now the big 6! He had a family birthday party with his Tennessee family in early January, then about a week after that, we took him and three friends to a Monster Truck show and they spent the night. It was a lot of loud, red-neck fun! He wanted doughnuts instead of cake that night so that's what he had. On the night before his actual birthday, we took him out to eat at Wasabi's Japanese restaraunt where they cook in front of you (it's one of his favorites). He ended up getting a stomach virus on his birthday, so we kept him out of school that day. He went back to school on 1/31 so I took treats and party bags to his class and they sang to him and had a little celebration. He maximized his birthday to say the least! Thank you to everyone who gave him so many nice presents! His next big idea is to save up enough money to buy a bubble gum machine to place in a business to earn money for a dog. I guess every boy needs a dog. We told him he'll have to help with the cost of a fence also, so he is conjuring up all kinds of ways to earn money. I'm glad to see that he's willing to work for something he really wants though. If I can just stay sane in the process! He is a determined boy!

Tough guy

We get together every Sunday with our Tennessee family and Caden and Joel (his cousin) have made it tradition to have a wrestling match on a foam pad. Since they are the same age and about the same size, they can handle each other pretty well. Boys will be boys!

Caden really enjoyed iceskating at an outdoor rink in December. He went a couple of times and did great right from the start! The mascot from the local ice hockey team and a couple of players were there skating with him one night and he even got the mascot's autograph. He was thrilled with that!