Tuesday, August 27, 2013

This is a video I took at the tail end of a dance marathon.  Just a little something to embarrass him later in life :-)

Kade had his 3 year Well Child appointment yesterday.  He's a healthy boy!  Everything looks and sounds great so hopefully we won't have to go back to the doctor until his next Well Child visit when he's 5!  Wishful thinking is good, right??  :-)

Stats:
Height:  3 ft 5 in;  >97%
Weight:  40 lbs;  >97%
I guess this appointment confirmed what we already knew, he's bigger than 97% of the boys his age!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

We decided to sneak one more camping trip to Jellystone in before summer ended.  We've been so lucky with the weather this summer and this trip was no exception!  Lots of sunshine!  Although the kids weren't always full of sunshine, I think they managed to have a good time.  

Megan and I gave the 3 year olds (Ellie and Kade) the option of which day they wanted to nap, Friday or Saturday.  Of course they could've used a nap both days but we were in the giving spirit :-)  They both chose to nap on Saturday.  So, on Saturday we made them lay down and they both fought it pretty hard saying "they weren't tired, they wouldn't fall asleep, blah, blah, blah".   2.5 hours later, when they woke up Kade said, "Oh, I guess I was tired!" And Ellie said, "I feel MUCH better now!"  Gotta love those little munchkins!

Ranger Smith read us a bedtime story on Thursday night.

Kade insisted we wait in line after the story to say hi and get a picture with the ranger.  This picture doesn't quite capture the fear he was feeling when we finally got up there.  His arms were so tight around my neck, I'm lucky I didn't pass out!


Mini golfing!








S'more time!



In the evening they show Yogi Bear cartoons on an outdoor theater.  The kids loved it!  I'm not going to lie, it is pretty awesome :-)

Rylee,1  Ellie, 3  Kade, 3  Owen, 5

Family pictures!




Can't wait to go back next summer!!









Wednesday, August 14, 2013

And Now He's THREE!!

3 years old seemed to be a significant milestone for Kade.  I swear he matured overnight!  He's officially out of diapers (except for naps and overnight).  Potty training seemed to go a lot easier than expected but maybe the worst is yet to come?  He goes to the bathroom on his own, sometimes without even telling us he's going, flushes and washes hands without prompting.  He's tall enough that he can stand, with a couple inches clearance, over the toilet and I haven't even noticed any pee on the floor or the walls!  I guess I assumed the bathroom would be drenched :-)  However, we may have allowed too many outdoor pees because he drops his pants anywhere and everywhere, even at a softball game when 2 games were being played and at least 50 people were present.  We've even caught him running from his room to go outside, passing 2 bathrooms along the way, to pee on the grass.  Oops.  He's also started playing for significant amounts of time on his own and he sat on the couch today for 30 minutes straight watching a cartoon!  Who is this 3 year old?!

This year, for Kade's birthday, we loaded up the camper and headed to Lady A's hometown for 3 days!  It was awesome!  I'm not sure who had more fun, Kade or Erik.  Her family farms and they don't mess around with their tractors.  My boys were in John Deere heaven.  It was so great to see where she came from and it made us appreciate her decision to adopt even more.  Kade's life would have been equally amazing had she chose to parent and we realize, even more, how truly we blessed we are that we have Kade, Lady A and her family in our life.  God is good.

We also had a small gathering at our house on his birthday with grandparents and available aunts and uncles.  We opened presents, ate some food and had a bonfire.  Kade had a blast playing with everyone, especially Uncle Jay who still has the energy and imagination of a 3 year old.  Man, those 2 can play!!

Here's to another great year in Kade's life!

We took a ton of great pictures but to protect Lady A's privacy, these few are the only non-identifying ones.

Getting ready to go to a tractor show!  

We couldn't get him out of the skid steers.

Getting a tattoo of a fish.

The final product.

Driving an excavator.  Erik and Kade were so excited because you could actually sit in all the implements!

We had to get a picture of the Farmall for Grandpa H.  Although this tractor stuck out like a sore thumb among all the brand new, huge tractors!

Enjoying his new lazy boy from his birth great grandparents D & C.  Look at those feet!

We even caught the tail end of the Vikings scrimmage!



The Birthday Boy!





Hang on tight, Vi!  He's a crazy driver!

This is the best picture I could get of him with his cake.  As you can see by his "work boots", he was too busy working to stand still.













Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Last week, at daycare, some of the kids started talking about being born and coming out of their mom's tummies.  Michelle, Kade's daycare lady, told us that he chimed right in and said, "I came out of Lady A's tummy"!  I am so glad we've had that conversation with Kade since Day 1 so that common topic among his peers was a non-issue for him.  Of course I knew this would come up someday but how is it possible that "someday" is already here?!  He's growing up so fast, he's going to be 3 on Saturday!  How did that happen?!


On Saturday we watched Grandma Holiday (Megan's mom, Sharon) and her friend go up in a hot air balloon.  It was so cool!

The send off crew.

Unrolling the balloon!

Deep breaths boys, we gotta blow this thing up!

And BLOW!!!

It's working.

Maybe, someday, Kade and I can go up :-)

Whoa.  It's big.

No turning back now ladies!

Blowing kisses for safe travels.

And they're off!!!



These are just because I love me some past and present pictures:

Kade, at 7 months, going for an airplane ride on Dad's legs

Kade, one week away from his 3rd birthday, going for an airplane ride on Dad's legs