Naked boy in water. Dressed boy at the zoo.

We are already having a busy and fun summer.  If this mom can survive the heat, Caden will keep us going all summer long.......outside........and in the water.  He is chattering more and more.  This week he started repeating more of what we say.  The new word that is cracking me up is "shoes....(sooce)".  He's a hoot!

A diaper....and "sooce"...always insists on "sooce" outside.

And we can give Milo drinks of water!

And have a drink ourselves!

And make a little pond in the back.

....For a dog to get all muddy in.

And take our diaper off to mow.

And cuddle with Barley to rest.

Clothes on.  Zoo time.  Jared wanted to go to the zoo Saturday
because we usually go during the week without him.  So we did!

"Let's sit on here Caden for a pic...." Just kidding.

First time on the spider web.  What a champ at it.

Showing daddy how to feed the "gokes"

Train rides are serious business.  Don't touch
me and don't make me sit on your lap, please.

Camping

Yep, you can start laughing now.  We did it.  Camped with an 18 month old.  One night overnight, but back and forth to the campground all weekend.  Caden had fun.....except for the sleeping thing.  I will opt to not give you the gory details of the screaming child in the night, the non-sleep we all got, the 3 rounds of thunderstorms in the night we all were awake for, the trip to the outhouse at 4 am in the pouring rain with a child clung to my hip, the circling of the tiny campground my sis and I did in the van for almost 2 hours in the wee hours of the morning (in an effort to get CW to sleep), the way it started storming 2 minutes after we got him to sleep (finally) in the van, or the blow out diaper that included "something" all over the bed, legs, clothes, and feet.  Yep, I will spare you that, and instead leave you with the pics of the weekend.  Prolly won't be going overnight camping with our baby love anytime soon.  But memories, indeed we have :).  Thanks to Allie and Bryan for being such good sports and making the weekend easier to laugh about.  I would have otherwise probably been crying :).

Just arriving.  Camper is so exciting, I am going to lay on the floor!

Men.  Build.  Fire.

Auntie and CW in camper.

Auntie singing with CW's guitar.  She felt like a rock star, can
you tell?  Caden loved it, too.

Per Caden's request, Uncle B took a try on the guitar too.  He
really stole the house....er, campsite with his performance.

Caden went & got each of them and patted on bed, he wanted
them to all hang out with him. 

So of course, they all did.  Because they rock.  And they love him.
And he is totally not spoiled.  Ha.

There she is on that guitar again.  Girl couldn't
put it down!  And Caden in his PJ's...and shoes.
Stylish.  This is before we left Friday night.  Had
no plans to stay overnight, just Saturday night.

Back out for dinner Saturday.

Juice box.  (And mom in a (great) pic :)).

Hanging out.

Buddies.

The fun is beginning....brace yourselves.

Allie, forgive me.  I can't believe I put it up.
But this is the pic that captures our overnight attempt.
Yes, we are laughing, so thankful for that.
It is also before we grabbed an umbrella to head
to the outhouse at 4:00 a.m.  No sleep.  We look good.

Coolers are so fun!!!  So are rain boots!!

Playing in the camper.

Love him.

Last Day of School

Thursday, May 26th was Caden's last day of Dimensions for the year.  It also marked his last day in the Infant room.  Sounds kind of funny to say this 'grown up boy' is in the infant room!  Their infant room goes up to 18 months.  He was the oldest and only walking/running one in his room for the last few months, but it has been great for him.  He is so good with the babies (which is hard for Mommy to believe :)), and he also liked being the Big Cheese in class.  Somebody's gotta keep those babies orgnaized, haha.

This lame mommy was a mess on Caden's last day.  Not because he's 'graduating' to the Toddler Room A in the fall.....he is more than ready for that.  We pass the room every day and the teachers in there always say "Goodbye" to Caden and are sweet as pie.  I was doing fine when I went to pick him up, excited to give the teachers their presents from Caden, and give Caden his Last day of School present! 

Once I got in there, I saw that Caden was still asleep on his mat for nap.  I had never seen him sleeping on his mat before.  It was adorable.  After I woke him, Caden did his usual goodbyes to everyone.  I'm usually not the one to pick him up, Jared does, and he tells me CW says goodbye to everyone, but I've never gotten to see it.  Well, that day I did.  He went around and gave a hug and kiss to every single baby and teacher.  It was so sweet.  Miss Heather said he did that every day.  She got teary-eyed saying how precious it was.  I got teary-eyed.  He hugged Lilly, who just started standing on her own, and laid his head on her shoulder and stood there forever, it was adorable.  Knot in my throat.  Then, it was time to say Goodbye to the teachers.  I turned towards them to say how much I appreciate them and how wonderful they are, and I lost it.  Yep, the ugly, all-out belly cry started in.  Awesome.  Didn't want to do that. 

But the truth is, I am so appreciative of all they do.  It was so obvious they invested so much time in Caden's time there, and truely knew him and what was best for him.  Can't ask for much more than that as a Mom.  Of course, we'd all love to do it all for our kids as Mom's, but when that isn't always possible, how wonderful to have people like that to step up to the plate.  What a blessing.

 

Vegging a little before we head to Dimensions

Deccided he needed a granola bar quick before
we headed out.

Lunchbox ready....time to roll!

Jacket on, drinking sippie, ready to head to daycare

Big boy home from wonderful last day.  Ate well, slept well.
It was a great day.  And he got this awesome new firetruck for
his End of School present, along with Cars Kleenexes and a
Grover book.  It was delightful :).

So, my sweet little peanut who's getting taller and taller is done with his first school year at Dimensions.  He will be in a "big boy" room next year.  He is starting to repeat words we say.  He says, "Bye-Bye", "Truck," "Go," "Car," "Duck," "Quack," "Dog," "Go," "Grandpa," "Bubbles," "Tee (for Auntie)".....I think that's most of it.  He loves my singing and thinks I should have been on American Idol.  He waves his hand to let met know when to sing.  He is ticklish as can be.  He is getting really good about binks in bed and van ONLY (as long as WE are good about making him stick to that).  He is funny as can be.  He is stubborn as can be.  He has a mouth full of teeth.  He loves tools.  He loves trucks.  And we love him so!

Dance Party, with a "K," a "C," and an "A"

My cousin Danell and her girlies, Katina and Adrianna, came over last week for an evening of fun :).  We played outside, blew bubbles, ate mac n cheese, colored pictures, and had a dance party.  And, hey, Danell and I almost got to say 2 or 3 words to each other, too.  Haha.

The chaos in the living room.

Katina spinnin', Caden boogying.

Having fun.

More chaos :).

Taking a break after lots of dancing.  Katina is reading
Caden a Hardware Magazine in the hallway....too cute!

A good day!

CW had lots of fun Monday.  First we went to see Great-Grandpa Olson at his apartment.  Grandpa gave Caden a giant Elmo that was my grandma's (she LOVED Elmo), and he was in hog heaven about it.  Then we met liz in the park.  It was so good to see Liz!  We hadn't seen her forever!!  Caden had a blast in the park....and Liz and I did too :).

Great-Grandpa's cane folds up....it's pretty neat!

Bummed it's blurry....running down hall with 'new' Elmo!

Afraid of nothing.  No matter how big the slide, he's game.

Holmes Lake

We went to Holmes Lake last Sunday with my family, to celebrate my Grandpa D's 84th birthday (a bit late....his was in April, but he was sick at the time and we hadn't celebrated yet).  The weather was wonderful and we had a great time.  See?

Oh, and Jared and Caden wore the shirts that my parents got them for Christmas....."Big Guy Meyer" and "Little Guy Meyer"......pretty funny.

Cool Dude.

He's 84.  Can't believe it.

He spotted ducks.  He heard them 'quacking' flying in and couldn't get to them fast enough.

Momma "Guck" and baby "Gucks" say "Gak Gak...." ask Caden.

Love them.

New Routine.

My little buddy who wants to 'rock' in the living room and watch a show every morning when he wakes up?  Well, that buddy got introduced to the fun of sitting on Mom & Dad's bed while mommy gets ready last weekend, and our lives are forever changed.  Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but guess what he wants to do every morning when he wakes up?  Eat breakfast and watch some of Toy Story 3 on our bed.  Not rock.  Handy because I can get ready while he is in a near comatose state while the movie is on.  But, I love me some cuddle time with little Nugget, too!  Don't worry, we still cuddle & rock before he goes to bed.  Look at this big kid watching his new favorite movie.  Can you believe it??

I should also mention Donkey sitting with him.  Caden hasn't cared much about stuffed animals.  I bought this Donkey on clearance at Target long before CW was around.  He discovered it the other day, and they're pals now, too.  He brought him to bed the last 2 nights.  That's the first time he's tried to bring anything (other than blankie and a dozen binks) to bed.