Back.... finally

Ok, so it's been awhile. I have been keeping up with everyone else's blogs, but when it came to ours I slacked. Didn't really mean to, but when I'd think about doing an update, I'd find just about anything else to keep myself from having to do it. :) But I'm back now. Instead of a complete play by play, I'll just post some pics over the last couple months. We had Kade's 1st birthday in August. SO FUN!!! I went a little out of control and maybe a tad over the top, but whatev, we had a great time!!! Mimi, Gigi, and Maw Maw did so much for his big day, It was awesome and super cute decor. (I can say that since I have zero creativity so it was really everyone else that put it together):))

We got pics taken of Kade and our new cousin Jay. He is 1 year younger than Kade and so stinking cute. I love him!!! I'll post pics of him soon. Kade loves him too. :) I love the pic above because Kade is dancing. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E... Sing that and you get the cutest lil dance. It's adorable! We LOVE mickey. It's funny, he points him out and sings the mickey song every time he sees him. Cant pass the Disney store at the mall without stopping to say hi!!

And Christmas.... Love the holidays but I'm exhausted! We have 4 places to be and it takes a toll on all of us. Kade was pretty fussy and Shane and I were making excuses left and right. "We missed nap time," "it's nap time," "he's tired," etc, etc... you know. Then on Monday the poor guy breaks out in hives ALL OVER HIM!! Took him to the dr and turns out he was sick and this was the end of it. Some viral deal that leaves his body as a rash... Sooooo, turns out I don't have a super cranky kid. He was sick. Poor lil man. Sick with a virus and we're parading him around prob making things worse. Sorry Kaders!!

We had an awesome Christmas this year and we are so thankful for everything God has given us. We are so thankful for our healthy loving family and that Shane's job is going so well. I am thankful I am able to spend my time at home with Kade and watch him grow up. It's amazing. He does something new every day and I can't believe how fast time is going. He's a toddler all of a sudden, climbing on the couch, running through the house, and chasing poor Dixie. I couldn't ask for a better situation for our family and I am so thankful!

On Christmas at my mom's. Kade wasn't "feeling" the family picture deal. Seems he takes after daddy.....

And my fav. Every morning we wake up, have breakfast, and "help" daddy get ready. Kade watches his every move. He loves to brush his teeth with Daddy, they comb their hair together, he pretends to shave and put on after shave. He does everything Daddy does..... and to Daddy's dismay, he loves to carry a purse. Haha, we pretend to be like mommy too. Any bag left on the floor is fair game. :) He carries it around the house and "collects" things in it.

So, things have been good and hopefully it won't take me another 6 months to do another post.

Kade's Dedication

My first Mother's Day was very special. Shane and I chose to dedicate our sweet Kade at church. By doing this, we are promising to raise Kade in a home that will teach him about Jesus and to have a relationship with God. We take our responsibility very seriously and it was such a special day for all of us. For Kade, we chose Proverbs 2:1-5 as our hope and prayer for him.

"My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

I feel so blessed to have an awesome family and friends to share our day with. There were actually more family not pictured that were saving front row seats for everyone. :)

And, to top the day of..... Kade wore a suit for the first time. Seriously, the CUTEST thing I've ever seen. He looked very handsome and I just wanted to squeeze him. Sooooooo stinkin cute I just can't get over it!! :)

And we've been busy..... playing. :) I love to take him down to our neighborhood park. We go twice a day sometimes! Kade loves to swing, as you can see by that sweet smile. I love him SO MUCH!!! He really just wants to sit on the ground and stuff rocks, grass, leaves, limbs, whatever he can get his hands on in his mouth. I stay busy making sure nothing gets swollowed. :)

Arts festival with my girlies!

25 plus years.... whoa!!!! We are getting OLD! I was shocked when my friends mom posted pics on fb saying that we had all been friends for more than 25 years. A little quick addition in my head, and yep! She is right. That's pretty amazing, but it sure ages me!!! :) These 2 were my very best friends as a baby, school years, etc and we are still very close. I love them like sisters- which is probably more acurate to say than just friends. :)

And I can't even begin to say how much they mean to me. When I got pregnant and found out I was having a boy, Katie OVERLOADED me with clothes. Amazing cute clothes for Kade to borrow along with all kinds of toys and gadgets I didnt even know I needed. I remember calling my mom and we both cried at what a great thing that was. Then it was time to register... Shane and I went to Babies R Us and in my horomonal preggo outburst, I cried because it was too overwhelming. I didn't know what anything was or what I needed, and Shane didn't know what to do with me. (In my defense, he had NO CLUE!!! Seriously, when looking at carseats, he said, and I'm not kidding at all, he said we definitely don't need a convertible carseat....... since we don't drive a convertible. Yep, poor Kade, not sure how we've managed thus far :)) Anyway, we left without scanning anything and Adie dragged her 2 year old (and preggo herself body) to Babies R Us and helped me register for everything I needed. They live on the other side of town, but they are always there for me and i LOVE them more than they know.

Katies boys are adorable. They are the cutest and have the BEST hair in the world. Perfect cute curls that always look perfect. The are so sweet and I'm pretty sure Shane decided he needed to have a son after spending an afternoon with the youngest one, Cash. Ugh, soooooo cute!!!

Kade hates to sit down, but didn't want us carrying him either. he likes to walk himself.:)

Here we are with our moms. All 3 of our moms are good friends too. We did everything together and we all have a bond that will last forever.

haha, Kade needs to tell Mimi to get off the phone. Clearly Adie needs some help!! :)

Mimi and the little man.... BFF's!!!

All kinds of cool stuff to do and cool kids to watch, but of course all we really wanna do is eat grass and leaves. hehe

When he wears out one of our backs, he just moves on to the next!!! :) CUTE CUTE boy!

What a great day with my girls!! Love you guys!

And another thing...

I'll just keep adding to the list of "Why I LOVE not working right now!!!" :):)

Shane calls me on Thursday morning and his dad was heading to the lake.... why not??!!! So, we loaded up and went to the lake! We could only stay one night, but who cares??!! Let's spend a day at the lake..... love it.... love it love it love it.

Kade got to ride on the boat for the very first time. Grandpa took it nice and slow so nobody (aka overbearing mommy) had anything to worry about. haha. we had so much fun.... And when I say "we" I mean Shane, Grandpa, GiGi and me. Kade was not a huge fan. Can't really blame him with that giantic life-jacket, but it is a MUST so what can you do? He'll learn to love it. He did finally get used to it and enjoyed some time with daddy. He was the CUTEST thing in the world. And Gigi took some GREAT family pics. She took all kinds of great pics. Shutterfly is loving me right now :) I've got lots on order. Gigi was taking pics even when we didn't know she was taking them and they turned out SO SO good. I LOVE that she does that for us.

Kade at meal time. He was showing off his vegetable medley-loving smile. :)

And here's a great shot of his 2 cute teeth he has. I love his smile... gets cuter and cuter with every new tooth! We had a great time and can't wait for LOTS more time at the lake this summer!

Easter Bunny

Happy Easter! We went to visit the Easter Bunny today with one of our best buddies. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get these guys to smile at the same time, so we settled for the pic where they are at least looking (sort of) at the camera. Its actually a pretty cute smile from Gavin, and Kade looks like a little angel to me. They look like they could be brothers! It was pretty fun. Shane and I woke up and tried to take Kade for a walk- wayyyy too cold! It was a fun little play date since we couldn't do anything outside in this cold windy weather. We took pics and then walked around the mall. Kade loves to people watch just like mommy!

I'm LOVING the "not working" life. Granted, it's been 2 days... whatever, it's AWESOME!! :) Most definitely going to school in June, but not 100% sure I'll start working right away after I finish school- which is one of the many beauties of Nursing. Doesn't really matter when I want to start, I can do it whenever I want and most likely wherever I want... minus the hours I would probably pick to work :) but I'm focusing on the positives here! :)


We also finally got together with our little buddy Dax a few days ago. Dax was born 10 days before Kade and I hadn't seen this cute little family since I was in the hospital- which I vaguely remember from all those drugs I was on. haha. Dax is the spitting image of his daddy- too cute!!

Here's the daddies and mommies with their babies:

And last week was my official last day. My whole office tok me to lunch and made my last day very special. I know I'll see everyone again and we're all still friends, but I'm sad not to see their faces everyday anymore. :( You know, the sad- but not sad at the same time... again, I loooovve not working, haha. Anyway, they all pitched in and gave me a 1/2 day at the spa!!! An hour massage, a facial, AND a spa pedicure. LOVE IT!!! I'm trying my best to save it for when I really need it, but it's burning a hole in my pocket and I'm not sure how long I can hold off. Here we are at my "farewell lunch." They had Shane come too. I'm pretty sure everyone is going to miss Shane as much as they'll miss me, probably more. They love Shane :) And doesn't he look so cute??

New Chapter

Boy howdy, life has changed!!! Daddy just turned 28 and our sweet little boy is now 6 months old... almost 7 months. Still crazy for me to say- I have a 7 month old! Sometimes I still feel pregnant, so how in the world has time gone by so fast??!! But he's "scooting" all over the place and will be mobile very soon. I'm convinced any day he's just gonna push me away and start running. He's totally gonna skip the crawling and go straight to walking. He walks all over the place, not realizing there's someone behind him keeping him upright, haha. He's getting taller and taller, moving all about, and has a big personality- he's reminding me everyday how fast he's
growing up..... which has led me to my big decision.

I put in my resignation from my job today. GASP!!!! Being away from Kade was breaking my heart. I get SUPER depressed on Sundays when I knew I'd be gone at work the next 3 days (still have Thursdays off, which proved to be nothing but a tease for me!!). So, Shane and I did some soul searching and honestly, this was a LONG time coming. I had actually applied for Nursing school right after Kade was born. And a week ago, I got the ACCEPTANCE letter. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Just what I needed to take the plunge. My prayers have been answered and I'm heading back to school. Since I already have my bachelor's degree and all the prerequisites, I'm going thru an accelerated program that I will start in June and graduate in March 2011. And it's 3 days a week (it's intense, but still- only out of the house and away from kade 3 days- totally doable). And I'm staying home with Kade for 2 months prior. And I'll be able to work 1-2 days a week when I graduate and get more time with my lil man. And it's what I had intended doing when I went to college in the first place, better late than never, right?

I'm excited. I'll have the best of both worlds that I want. I'll get a career that I wanted AND lots of time with Kade and my family. This is really the best thing for us. I feel SO much better now that it's out in the open and no longer some secret I'm keeping. I can't wait!!!

I feel so blessed and so lucky to have the best husband in the world. He works so hard for our family and he's letting me quit my job AND go to school. He's so supportive of me and gives me the confidence I need to do the things I want.

So, for the next 2 months, I'll be doing a whole lot of this:

And looking forward to school and finishing school to do even more of this.

5th Anniversary

Shane and I spent our 5th anniversary skiing in Vail.... AMAZING! We had a blast with our very best friends in the world. It was REALLY tough leaving Kade. I can't emphasize the REALLY enough! I cried off and on the week before we left. The guilt, sadness, ugh, no good! Luckily, my mom and Maw-Maw put my mind at ease. Shane's mom spent the night with us Thursday night while Shane and I went to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert. Such a great concert, but bad timing being that I was leaving Kade the next day!! We enjoyed it though- as much as we possibly could. :) Kade had a great night and Friday with Granna- and then my mom and Grandma took over the rest of the weekend. They were great, took lots of fun pics with Kade, and spoiled him rotten!! :) It was perfect for me to know that he was ok........... plus, the fact we came home to a spotless house, ALL laundry DONE, and dinner on the table. How in the world??!!!! And, they restained our chairs so they look brand new. No kidding!!

The best part of our trip was sharing it with our best friends. I laughed harder than I have in years!!!! You know, the kind that makes your stomach just ache!!!! The above pic was just a glimpse of how our weekend went. SO MUCH FUN!!!! I love you matt & linds!!!!

Here we are at the hotel bar about to go to dinner. Vail is amazing. Will definitely be back..... but kade will be coming along!

Gettin ready to hit the slopes. I was pleasantly surprised that after not skiing for 8 years, I am still pretty good. I'm not great, but I can enjoy myself and occasionally try a new trick. No, not a jump!!! I was talking about speeding up without a snow plow. haha!!

Of course, shane's first time to ski, and he's better than me. Typical.

This is our town..... Seriously, we LOVE this town. It's like being in a real life village that your mom decorates with for Christmas.... You know those tiny houses, with all the shops... a perfect Christmas destination. The people were sooo friendly and very laid back. They don't get in a hurry for anything. Really..... only got annoying once when we first arrived and needed to get our ski gear rented so we could hit the slopes. But after that, it was really nice. No stress about anything, just a town of fun!

The crew..... We all know each other so well, some might even say too well :) so they were the perfect travel companions.

Here we are leaving because our trip is over... Don't be fooled by those sad faces, we were pumped!!!!! Who wouldn't be when you are headed home after a perfect weekend getaway to this.....????

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! My man!! He was a smiling fool when we got home. he got me some roses (thanks mimi and mawmaw!!), and was a perfect little sleeper all night long. He's awesome!

AND!!! I woke up this morning and felt his little gums. Sure enough., a little toothie poked through last night. He's getting so big!!