Happy 3rd Birthday Kade!!! Happy Halloween!

I am so excited for Kade's 3rd Birthday/Halloween to come I posted this early. After looking at the pictures I started thinking how fast time flies by. Before I know it he will have girls chasing after him and not wanting to be around me. I so grateful for the time I have him, almost, to myself. During the past three years Kade has been an incredible little boy. Right now he likes cars, trucks, motorcycles, basically anything that can move. He likes to watch Sesame Street, Scooby Doo, and, of course, CARS. He likes to line up his cars on our bed because he thinks it is their "road". He even put some of his cars in time out the other day LOL! Kade loves to sit in our big rocking chair and read with me. He absolutely loves books. My favorite thing he does is when he comes up to me and says "I love you!" I say "I love you too!" He then says "I love you a lot!" And gives me a big hug and kiss. Melts my heart away. He is my good little helper. Whenever I need something done he is sure to help out (especially with the laundry). Kade love his little brother Kyle and is an excellent big brother to him. He certainly watches out for him. We love you Kade and hope you have a wonderful birthday/Halloween!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Eric!!

Happy Birthday to the best husband and father in the world!!!
We love you!!! (Please see the slide close to the bottom of the page)
His birthday is tomorrow, I just posted this early.

Bellagio-Fall/Kyle 9 month stats

One of our family 'funtimes" is to go down to the Bellagio to see the garden and the watershow. When we went there on Saturday the theme was, of course, fall. Kade loved it. There was a talking tree, a scarecrow, real pumpkins weighing around 800-900 lbs., a mini replica of the Bellagio, and falling water. It is always amazing seeing what the gardeners do. We look forward seeing what they do for Christmas. Sorry about the blurry pictures. My camera broke so I went to Walgreens and bought a cheap $20 digital camera. Not exactly quality, but ya get what you pay for.

This is the talking tree. Both of the boys were intrigued by it.

Kyle's 9 month stats:

Height 29 inches-(75%)
Weight-18.6 lbs-(20%)
Head-(75%)

Kyle is now crawling all over the place. He likes to do this one legged crawl that Kade did. It's kind of funny, but cute. Sometimes when he crawls down the hall he will have something in his mouth. He looks like a little puppy carrying his toy. He always has a smile on his face and is very curious. He likes to chew on his blue bear that has his name on it. Kyle loves to play with his big brother. As Kade runs down the hall Kyle will crawl after him as fast as he can. They adore each other and get along so well. We are excited to be finding out what our next munchkin will be on Monday. Little children, 95% of the time, are such a joy and blessing.
We are truly blessed to have such wonderful, laid back, handsome boys!

Utah Trip/Balloon Festival

A couple of weekends ago we went up to Utah to visit my dad. In Eden, where he lives, there is an enormous balloon festival. For him it is amazing because the hot air balloons lift off basically in his backyard. Some fly over his house and some almost land in his backyard. When they do land that close to his house everyone gets to watch the people let the air out of the balloon and put it away. Kade thought all of it was awesome. He really liked watching the balloons, especially the big energizer bunny balloon. This balloon is supposed to be bigger than the Statue of Liberty. When standing next to it, is sure did look like it was.

We didn't get to watch the balloons take off in the morning because it was raining like crazy. What a relief from the Vegas heat. Instead, we went out to breakfast with my Grandpa and Grandma Strickland. It was fun getting to visit with them and letting them see how big the boys are getting. Later in the day, the storm subsided and the clouds disappeared. At night the balloons do a night burn where all the balloons light their fire at the same time. It was pretty neat. These are some pictures I took of the boys watching it.

While up there I took some adorable pictures of Kyle. He is in that stage where he smiles really big for the camera. I love it!!!


Here are some pictures of my dad's backyard, his dog, Dee, and all of us. Even though this dog is a lot bigger than Chloe, Kade loved him (and so did Kyle).

Overall, we had a great time and what good for Eric to have a break from work. However, our trip was too short. Maybe next time we will be able to stay longer. It was also fantastic to see my dad. We hadn't seen him since he was down in Vegas when Kyle was born. Thanks dad for having us come up. We look forward to next time!

*Funny story from the trip I want to remember.....
About a month before Eric and I were teaching Kade what our names are. While we were up in Utah I was feeling sick from still being in the first trimester. I went into the restroom and Kade followed me in there. As I was leaning over the toilet he was patting my back saying "Mom are you ok?" He said that a few times. Finally he said "Are you ok Connie?" It was just so darn funny and cute how he said it. I started laughing and after that was feeling much better.

Shark Reef

Last week was really long. Eric was working on a project that kept him at work until 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Therefore, the boys and I were stuck at home on those days. It is not much fun being in the house all day long for four days straight. On Friday I had to drive. I was wondering what we should do to get out of the house. I remembered a friend telling me the Shark Reef was doing a promotion for teachers. All teachers, when they present their photo I.D., can get into Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay for free. On top of this great perk, kids under 4 also get in for free. I thought this would be fun to do and it wouldn't cost us a penny. I loaded the boys into the car and we were off. Both Kade and Kyle enjoyed seeing all of the fish and sharks. There is a place where people can touch, with one finger, some of the fish (shown in the top right hand corner and bottom right pictures). It was really cool! They felt really slimy. I felt bad for Kade though because he couldn't touch it. His little arms were too short. Kyle enjoyed his bottle most of the time, but was intrigued when the fish and sharks were swimming above our heads. For a little guy, he seemed to really like it.

Random pictures of the day. These were the best pictures I could get of the boys.It was extremely difficult to take decent pictures of the boys. They were not being very cooperative.

Kade is usually a little stinker when it comes to taking pictures. He will look anywhere, but the camera. After asking him three times if I could take his picture he climbed onto the seat and struck a pose. This is one of my most favorite pictures of him. I think, as his mom, he looks absolutely adorable. He takes cute pictures when he will let me....

Overall, we had a lot of fun. It was so nice to get of the house and do something.

Kade and his bug

On Tuesday, Kade had a friend come over to go swimming in the new pool Nana bought. Before he came we were outside filling the pool up with water. On the hose was a cricket (I think). Kade started to talk to it. It was hilarious! He was asking it how it was doing and things like that. Too cute! At least he is not afraid of bugs. He will pick the dead ones up and throw them away for me. What an awesome little guy!

Tooth

Kyle had a rough weekend. He would wake up in the middle of the night just screaming. I am wondering "what in the world is going on?" Eric and I both tried to comfort him with no success. I finally think "oh, maybe he his teething." He had been chewing on everything and drooling a little bit. On the other hand, Kade did not get any teeth until he was eight or nine months old. I pulled out some infant Tylenol and gave it to Kyle. A few minutes later he stopped crying and went back to sleep. However, he kept waking up every two hours. This happened the WHOLE weekend. We were all so tired. I am thinking "Great Kyle was sleeping good and now that I am doing a three week substituting job he decides to be a horrible sleeper". The whole time I thought he was teething, but I did not see anything coming up. On Wednesday after I picked him up from the babysitter he started to chew on my finger. Sure enough I felt his very first tooth. Kyle will soon be a one tooth little monkey!

Before Kyle got his tooth he would stick his tongue out at us.
It was funny watching him do that. He was still cute though!!!

Fourth of July

This fourth of July was fabulous and fun! I found out about a parade in Summerlin and thought it would be fun to take the boys to it. When we woke up in the morning I was very excited! However, Kade really need to clean up his room. Him and I had this big argument about cleaning and we almost did not get to go. Kade, being the good boy he is, finally cleaned up his room. After this big ordeal I found out Eric, unfortunately, would not be going with us. He was recovering from food poisoning or something from the night before. I thought of not going, but did promise Kade that if he cleaned up his room we would go to the parade. So, I ventured to the parade by myself with Kade and Kyle.

Once we arrived it was pretty fun. Kade sat and ate his snacks while watching all of the people walk by before the parade started. Kyle also watched all of the people. After about a half hour the parade finally started. For this being my first Fourth of July Parade in Las Vegas I thought it was going to be amazing. I am use to going to parades like the Cherry Days Parade in North Ogden, Utah. This parade has big fancy floats that look like they were worked on for hours. However, the Vegas parade was nothing like that. There was just a bunch a cars, horses, motorcycles (which was the best part of the parade for Kade, his ecstatic face is shown below), people walking, and a band or two. It did have some air balloons, but not like the Macy Day Parade balloons (they said the balloons would be like that). Needless to say, the part that I did see, was somewhat disappointing. Maybe the last part of the parade was better then the first (I did not get to see the last part because Kyle started screaming and I decided to leave). Hopefully, there will be a better parade next year!

After we left the parade we went home, had lunch, and the boys took their naps. Later that day we went over to my mom's house and went swimming. Notice the right hand corner picture of Kyle where he is just "chillin" and enjoying his ride in the pool. What a funny little guy!

Kyle fell asleep while Uncle Ryan was holding him!!!

We also had a delicious dinner of cheeseburgers, chips, yummy salads, and vegetables. As soon as it was dark enough we lit fireworks. The fireworks were awesome, especially the illegals people were lighting in my mom's neighborhood. Who needs the Stadium of Fire when we had a perfect show at my mom's (Grandma's) house for free? Kade had a blast playing with the sparklers! The picture at the left upper hand corner is Kade's reaction to the fireworks when they first started to go off. Kyle was sleeping for the first half but woke up due to all the loud bangs from the illegals. He seemed to enjoy his very first display of fireworks!

Here is Eric meditating about something!

Overall, our Fourth of July was absolutely wonderful!
We hope everyone had a safe and fantastic holiday!

Kade's Playtime

Kade likes to play in his room especially when I open the drawer under his bed. One day I left Kyle in the room with him. This is what I came back to.

I hope they had lots of fun. At least Kade cleaned it all up!

Morning Walk

Every morning Kade, Kyle, and I go for a walk. It is nice to get out of the house and it lets Kade burn off some of the large amount of energy he has. Kade also loves to walk the dog and Chloe loves to go. Kyle sometimes likes to fall asleep, but otherwise loves going on our walks too.


After we are done with our walk we water the plants. During the hot Vegas summer if we don't water our plants they would wither away. Kade loves to water the plants.

He doesn't look too happy in this picture, but he really enjoys it!

Kyle-6 month stats

Kyle is already six months old. On Tuesday he had his doctor's appointment. I am happy to announce his statistics.

weight- 15 lbs. 6 oz. (10th percentile)
head- 42 inches-i think (50th percentile)
height-27 inches (75th percentile)

The doctor said Kyle is going to be tall and lean. TALL!!! I am sooooo happy he is in the 75th percentile for height. I am always so worried that one of the boys will have my short genes. So far both of them are looking pretty good (Kade is in the 50-60 percentile).

Kyle has been such a fun addition to our family. He is an extremely happy and laid back baby. Over the last couple of months he has started to eat solid foods. Every few days he is trying a new vegetable or fruit. So far he has had cereal, green beans, sweet peas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. During the next few weeks he will try the yummy stuff (fruits). As long as everything goes well with stage 1 foods he will start to eat stage 2 foods.

Kyle is starting to sit all by himself. When he is having tummy time it looks like he is about ready to crawl. He pushes his legs underneath him so that his bum is sticking up in the air, however, he has not figured out what to do with his arms yet. I don't think it will him too long to figure that out. He might be thinking "Watch out Kade! You may be able to beat up on me right now but just wait until I start moving."

Kyle is also a tough guy. I don't know how many objects have come flying across him. There have been some days Kade just seems to constantly knock him down when I am not looking. Poor kid!!!! Kade might get it all back someday....Kyle loves his big brother though. He loves to watch Kade run and jump around. He laughs hysterically whenever Kade starts to laugh. When Kade is being nice, they have the cutest brother relationship. Even though Kade is sometimes mean he loves his little brother. If another child is about to touch Kyle Kade will say "no my baby!" Other fun facts about Kyle is he loves to laugh, smile, is tickelish, and loves to play in his exerciser. He laughs whenever I change his clothes or diaper. We are extremely blessed to have such a happy and fun little guy!

(The pictures with the blue shirt and red shorts is Kyles first time sitting all by himself. We were so proud of him!)

Red Rock and the Bellagio

Red Rock

Two weekends ago we decided to take the family up to Red Rock. For those who have never been to Vegas, yes, there are more than casinos, hotels, etc. here. In March we purchased an unlimited year pass to Red Rock for only $20 (if you don't have a pass each visit is $5). I was really excited to go this time because I remembered the camera and charged batteries. Kade loves going up there. He continues to amaze us at the things he is capable of doing. This time he started climbing the rocks all by himself which is astounding because Eric and I had kind of a hard time climbing them (not so much Eric, but me). Poor Kyle though just gets to sit and look at the scenery. No climbing for him yet.








Bellagio

Later that Saturday we decided to visit the Bellagio Botanical Gardens and watch the fountain show. For a Saturday evening in Vegas it was not very busy or crowded. As we walked into the garden we noticed it had a summer theme to it. They even had a big decorated ferris wheel. I wonder how they got it in there. Eric says they probably built it. I think they opened the glass ceiling and put it in there with a crane. Every time I visit the garden I am amazed at how the gardeners take care of everything. After roaming around for a little while we went outside to watch the fountain show. Kade and Kyle both loved watching the water shoot up, over, across, and splash around. After the show we noticed this cute, little, lonesome duck swimming away from the water. It must have had quite a shower and show. For those of you who have never seen the water show I recorded about two minutes of it. Enjoy!





Overall, we had a wonderful and fun Saturday!! Thank goodness there is more to Vegas than hotels, casinos, gambling, and other "not so fun" activities.

Backyard Obstacle Course

Since our backyard was done Kade has been playing outside every morning and evening (it is too hot during the day). Kyle enjoys being outside with his big brother. He loves to watch Kade running around. One day we had some friends over. Before they came I tried to think of what we could do for the children to have fun. I thought this would be the perfect time to pull out the "Jump-o-lene" Grandma Fern gave Kade for Christmas. I knew it would be too big to fit inside our house, but would be perfect for outside.




This was Kade's very first time jumping in the "Jump-o-lene". He thought it was the highlight of his day.



Kade and Kyle enjoying "brother time" in their CARS tent (also given to Kade from Grandma Fern).




Here is a video of Kade jumping in his "Jump-o-lene".

Beware of BUGS

Summertime always brings unwanted visitors to our house. I also think our neighbors sprayed their house for bugs last week because I have seen three really icky roaches in our house. They show up in the weirdest places. The first time I saw one I freaked out and Kade noticed it. I promptly killed the nasty bug. The next day Kade was standing by our washer saying "mom look". As I entered the hallway I saw a small black bug slowly walking to the other side. I ran downstairs as fast as I could to get the RAID. When I got back up I sprayed the disgusting bug like crazy. A couple of days later I found another one of these "icky" bugs. I, again, sprayed a ton of RAID on it. As it was sitting there dying Kade is looking at it having a conversation. "Hi bug! How are you? Are you doing good?" I'm thinking if the icky bug could talk it is probably saying "How do think I am doing?No kid I am not doing good. I just got sprayed with poison. I am dying!!!!! So, I am doing completely awful." Maybe I thought about that because we had just watched the movie "Ants" the day before. I also thought it was quite funny that Kade was talking to a dying bug. Needless to say I have sprayed RAID all around the house. Hopefully we will not see any more nasty bugs or maybe I shouldn't of killed the spiders that were outside my house. I hate bugs!!!!!!

Our New Backyard!

We are so excited to have new pavers and our retaining wall finished in our backyard! Kade is now able to ride his bike without me being worried that a car is going to run him over. He LOVES being outside.



For Mother's Day Eric thought it would be nice to plant some flowers for me. With the help of my brother Jeff, we were also able to plant a tree. Our backyard is not quite where we want it to be, but it is coming along.