"BOOM, "BOOM"......What a trooper :).

I love holidays.  I love any reason to celebrate whatever!!  I love the idea of watching fireworks.  I like to watch them when they are the big ones that are far away and I have no idea who is risking their life lighting them all of.  Yep, I'm a wee bit of a nervous nelly, and Fourth of July seems to bring out the best of that part of me.  My hubby LOVES lighting off fireworks.  I have always been the nerd who's nervous watching him light them off.  And now I have a son........

Last year he was little enough that he was just scared of them and our night ended pretty early.  This year he was completely unphazed by them.  He would watch one here and there, but for the most part was busy doing this 'n that, and didn't much care.  I think his Daddy wished he was more impressed by the fireworks he was setting off :).  Every so often he'd point to them and say, "Boom!" or "Roar!".  That was about it! 

It was actually lovely.  I was nervous he'd be into them this year, and be the one trying to run down the driveway and 'help' with fireworks.  And, I'd be the nervous mom chasing him down every 2 seconds and sweating buckets.  But, obviously that did not happen.   The holiday that makes me so nervous was a delight this year. 

We went to my parents' on Sunday night and Jared's parents joined us as well.  Then on the fourth we went to Jared's sister's.  It was a good time!!  See, this mama was nervous over nothing!  CW was a champ!  Happy Fourth of July to our 20-month old stud muffin!!!

Auntie and Uncle B bought CW a set of squirt guns....They
spoil him rotten.  And I love it........

And Uncle B helped him suprise Mommy with a shoot of water
as she came outside :).  It'll be payback one of these days,
Al and Bryan :).

He got them figured out.  Except they were backwards and/or
upside down most of the time.....shot himself in the face
umpteen times.....and thought it was a blast!!

The Dad's.
The Grandad and The Grandpa.

Making a plan of attack with Auntie......

Pointing at the parachute Jared set off.  He did like those.

He thought those were pretty cool!!!

Got himself in the face.  Cracks himself up.

So funny.  So cute.

Trying to get the boys in their matching shirts.
"Big Guy Meyer" and "Little Guy Meyer"

Caden brought Daddy a drink and wanted them to sit on the
sidewalk together for a little break between the action.
Kid's got some good ideas.

Found some "jish"....trash.....and wanted Grandad to help
him put it in the recycle bin.  I'm telling you, if it wasn't
for us messy parents living here, this kid would have our
house in order.  He puts it all in it's place, including trash!!

Watching the 'finale' on Sunday with Daddy.

The 1 pic I got of the ladies........

Juice Box.  Grandpa.  Fireworks.

On the Fourth......tried to get a pic of his cute t-shirt before we left.

Silly little man......wanted to rearrange/organize
my cupboard.  Good somebody is!!

Cupcake at Auntie Jaime's.

Diving right in.

Pulling Auntie Jaime on a leash.  She's a good sport.

Watching fireworks round 2.

The spectators.  Jaime's in-laws Bill and Barb came too.

Finger in mouth.  He never does this....
maybe was a little nervous??  So cute!!

Uncle Brian threw him up in the air about 150 times per
CW's request.  Poor Brian's arms!!! 

Every time he'd 'land' CW would hold his cute little pointer finger
up, close to his face, for "One more time"....and Uncle Brian
had a hard time resisting, despite the pains in his arms, ha.
What a nice Uncle!

Attempt at a family pic.  Attempt competed.  Probably
won't be on the Christmas card :).

Cars 2. First Time at the Movies.

We made smoothies.  I got Caden these
cool cups.  He digs smoothies.  Life is good!

Caden's first movie.  If it weren't Cars, he wouldn't get going
quite so young :).  But we were hopeful since he's such a fan!

Thinkin' he is pretty hot stuff in his own seat with popcorn.

Sitting so well, watching so well......as he did for the ENTIRE.....
previews.  Yep, watched so intently through previews then
was pretty over it.  Pretty sure he went on a run in the theatre
and I was the awesome mom trying to chase my kid down
while squatting down so I wouldn't block people's view.  Neat.

Turns out the arcade at the theatre was much more exciting.

After watching some girls dominate Dance Dance Revolution,
he was on top of it.  Dancing machine.

Look out!!

Carrots. Cereal. Sprinklers.

Strange or not, I took pics of him with a carrot, because it
was a first.  This child rejects every veggie I put in front of
him.  Last week, he suddenly wanted a carrot.  With "bep" -
dip (i.e. ranch dressing).  He took a few nibbles off of it. 
Big day in our house, no joke.  I was elated!!!

Yep, just left it in his mouth for a while.  Now I am looking
at this and thinking it was a choking hazzard :).  Oh and yes
he is on the counter....made sense at the time...whatever
I was doing......I was right there.  Mom of the year right?  Ha.

MR. INDEPENDENT.  Like I can't even explain right now.
Wants to do IT ALL on his own.  Like eat his Multigrain
Cheerios, with milk, in the chair and watch cartoons.  A
little spilled I am sure.  I am also sure that's why we have not
replaced carpet or anything in the living room....those things
can happen from time to time when it's all older than the hills!!

I think it was roughly 100 degrees the end of last week.  So we played in the water.  Or were in the air.  Caden made sure we got plenty of sun.  And sweat :).  He likes to do it all himself now, of course.  He lets me know when I'm "invited" to come participate and wants me to run through the sprinkler, haha.  He always has it all figured out and everything to go just so.  It's a hoot!

Drink for Milo, drink for me.  (Yes, that hose is probably dirty,
I know).  Luckily, he survived, don't worry!!!

I had to take a pic of this....so, I asked him to water plants for me.
I was thinking that would be a good water thing to do, while actually
putting some of the water to good use at the same time.  He wasn't
impressed with my idea, but I finally got him to come over to the plants.
Here's what Mr. Smarty pants did.......laid it on the pot to 'water it'.
He has watered plants lots, and knows how to.  This was to
get his mom to 'shut up' and water the plants, too.  Haha.  Oh boy.

Jared's back. And I'm getting caught up on pics.

I love this pic (except for the fact that something was on my lense).  It's on Fathers Day.  I think they look alike here.  And, Caden is actually looking at the camera.  Rarely happens.

Jared went on a trip with church as a Middle School sponsor last week.  5 days.  4 nights.  Longest departure both CW and myself have had from Jared.  We were glad to have him home :).

This is from a few weeks ago when bad storms rolled
in.  We hung out in the basement for a while, just to
be safe, and watched.......what else??  Cars.

Our dear friends Annie and Drew were sweet enough
to bring dinner for us the week before Jared left (almost
2 weeks ago already...time flies).  Ron and Megan joined too.
Here is their sweet little 2 month old Gianna.  Love her!!

It was a lovely evening and just what we needed after our
stressful week of 'blah' medical news.  Wonderful people.

Gianna smiling at Jared.  Make me think he needs a daughter someday :).

We took some pics for Daddy to know what we were up
to while he was away........here's CW and Barley.

Telling me to "come on" by waving his arm so.

Uncle B came and fixed our disposal.  And put a new faucet
in.  So thankful for all that he does for us always....replaced
lighbulbs all over the house and got us in tip-top shape!
And glad we didn't have to have food sitting in our disposal
for a week til Jared got home :)....

Sailor Man

Boys are few and far between in our family.  By that I mean, well, in my mom's entire family, there have been 2 boys in the last 60 years.  My uncle in 1953 and his son in 1990.  Other than that, my aunts, cousins, you name it, have all had girls.  Eight girl cousins on that side.  One boy. 

Well anyhoo, my Grandpa (mom's dad) was in the Navy.  He is of course very proud of that, as he should be.  Grandma would always tell us how she fell for her "Sailor Man" in the handsome uniform :).  Since the day I told Grandpa I was having a boy, he has reflected on how he always wanted to get a pic of each of the boys in a Navy suit when they were little.  My Uncle, my cousin, and now CW.  He had never got the job done with either of the previous boys in the fam. 

Well, this spring mom and I found the jackpot.  Apparently people actually dress their children in this attire for Easter, because there was lots of it at Von Maur.  While I thought it was cute, since it had a lot of meaning in our family, I simply cannot imagine making your son dress in something like this for any other reason.  But, enough about that, we got the Navy uniform and started working up a suprise for Grandpa.  When I did his 18 mos pics (Thanks, Krissy!!) we took one of him in his Navy uniform.....I still need to post those pics by the way.  Then we got a cute little picture made for him to give him for Fathers Day.

But the suprise didn't end there........mom had the Navy song on her phone so that she could play it for Grandpa.  We dressed Caden up in the uniform.  Mom went up to Grandpa's apartment and we lagged behind a bit.  Mom told him she had a suprise.  Gave him a card that said, "You finally have your Navy boy".  The music played.  In came Caden, in his uniform, like a champ.  Totally confused at what was going on, but a good sport nonetheless.  He proceeded to request mom keep playing the song and danced numerous times to the tune :).  It was perfect.  Grandpa cried.  Precious, seriously.