Halloween Pictures

Caden was Buzz Lightyear (after much coaxing and bribing with candy)....and Maddie was a ladybug - she didn't put up much of a protest.  

 .

 Pumpkin carving was a hit...

Caden and Jackson showing off the pumpkins they carved for Halloween

 

After Pumpkin carving, we made rice crispy treats...with frosting...

 

Caden-isms

I have to write this stuff down before I forget and he doesn't say it anymore!!

"Hi Mommy!  I'm Awake!"  - What he says when he wakes up in the morning and comes into our room, or when he comes back downstairs after he goes to bed, or when he wakes up from nap.

"WAIT! WAIT! (With his arms spread wide)  LISTEN TO ME" - He says this at the dinner table when Matt and I aren't paying enough attention to him.

"Mommy!  I want JUUUUUICE!  Please!"

"Run, Java, Run!!" - He yells this as he is chasing poor Java around our house with his bike.

"Noooo - I want to sleep in Mommy-Daddy Bed" - This is what he proclaims at 5am some mornings when I tell him it is too early to get up.

Mom:  I love you Caden!
Caden: No, you not!
Mom: Yes, I do!
Caden: No, You love Daddy, I love Di Di (his blanket)
Mom: Who does Maddie love?
Caden: Maddie is sleeping!

"Mommy!  Maddie CRYIN!" - When Maddie is crying...usually I'm holding her, so I call him Captain Obvious.

Maddie's U of M Trip

Maddie took her second trip to U of M yesterday for her 6 month checkup.  She'll go every six months for the next ~5 years or so until we know her VUR is fixed.  Dr. Ivancic had an Ultrasound done on Maddie, and it looks like the VUR might be getting slightly better.  It will be a long process though, but we are hopeful she will grow out of it in 5-7 years. When we go back in 6 months, we'll have more extensive testing done to see how far she has come in a year.  For now, she is doing great, and we'll just keep an eye on it!

After every trip, Mom and Dad get a treat and go to Chipotle for lunch and then to Bigby Coffee for the trip home.  The first time we went down we took a picture of Maddie and I at Bigby, so we repeated that this time.  It's amazing to see how much she has changed in 6 months!

Here's Maddie and I when she was 2 months old....

 

 

and our picture now that she is almost 8 months old....

Halloween Playdate!

 We had our October playdate at Kora's house this month!  We had so much fun - and Maddie looked adorable in her ladybug costume!  Caden wasn't so into the costume thing however, so his Buzz Lightyear costume did not make an appearance.  Hopefully he wears it on the 31st!  I think we will be able to bribe him with candy.

 

Maddie in her ladybug costume!

 The kids decorating their pumpkins. 

We got some great group shots this month - the kids behaved, smiled at the camera, and there were no mid-picture meltdowns!  Success!!

Happy Halloween!!

All Around the Callender House

SUPER CADEN!

In daddy's shoes...this happens quite frequently.  Usually it's daddy's shoes, but sometimes it is mommy's shoes - which is even more hilarious.  Especially when he tries to walk in a shoe with a heel.

Maddie has started holding her own bottle...which is a huge win for mom and dad...

Baby Maddie and Baby Eli, hanging out in their carseats watching their crazy older brothers run around the house...

The daddies and their babies....

Jackson and Caden watching a movie so the parents can play cards....oh, the wonderful world of Disney.  :-)

This is a picture from this weekend when daddy was away, both kids woke up early and mommy was trying to get 5 more minutes of sleep.  You can guess this didn't last long, so I gave up and figured I would take a picture.

And finally, Maddie's SEVEN month Pooh picture - I can hardly believe it.

Let's Go State!

Just another Saturday...cheering on the Blue and White!  Here's some pictures from when we went over to Mike and Alysia's to watch the game...

 Maddie isn't a big fan of hair bows, so it was lucky I got this one in.

Picture of Caden and Talia playing nicely together....this didn't necessarily happen all day.  :-)

Alysia reading them both a book before Talia took her nap - super cute!

Maddie's New Tricks!

Maddie has some new tricks!  The first one is her CRAWLING!  She's at 6.5 months and can't quite sit up by herself yet, but she is crawling!  The trouble begins. 

 

The second one is of her latest trick - blowing raspberries.  It's her new favorite thing to do while getting her diaper changed.  Maybe she is trying to tell us something.

Onto the next adventure!!

Kiddo Video

A couple of videos...in the first one Maddie is showing off her bouncing skills.

In this second video, we were out by the fire with Caden.  He was talking on the "Phone" (Maddie's baby monitor) to his friend Jackson.  It was so hilarious, we took a video of the fire so we could capture it. 

September Fun

Maddie's hair is growing fast....and so is she!  here's her 6 month tigger picture - as she was getting ready for the Steeler's game. 

She is SUPER close to crawling now...at 6.5 months.  She can pivot and roll to get to where she wants to go, and she can reach and pull herself to things...

She also just started blowing raspberries - it's hilarious, and I'm hoping to get a video soon.  I have to catch her at the right moment. 

 Caden and Maddie frequently dine together - and Caden insists that Maddie is as close as possible to him.  He always says,  "I want to SEE her!".  Buddy, trust me, you'll be able to see her.

 They also play together now, which is super fun.  Maddie has started to grab at his toys, and as Matt and I suspected, the novelty of having a little sister wore off when that happened.  We now have daily lessons in sharing.  He does really well with her, always insisting on giving her a hug and kiss before she goes upstairs for a nap.

The reason Caden isn't wearing pants?  Potty Training.  That was potty training lockdown weekend where every 15 minutes it was either Matt or I making Caden head to the potty.  Just a few major accidents, he did pretty well.  He's a work in progress and we are just hoping he doesn't go to college still in diapers.  :-)

The Balloon festival was that weekend as well.  We escaped the potty and pullups for a little while to show the kids the balloons.  They didn't last too long, so we only snapped a few pics...

 Believe it or not, there were multiple balloons in the sky....we just aren't that good at remembering we have the camera apparently.

This was a picture from this weekend when Joel and Matt decided it was a great idea to put Matt's hockey gloves on Jackson.  That was a bad idea.  Sorry Heather.  Hopefully Jman's hands will smell normal again in a few days.  :-)  

 And finally, a sleeping Caden, still holding onto Woody and Bullseye, ready to play when he wakes up.  I can't help but think of Toy Story.  :-)

August Update

We have had a very fun August!! 

Here's the rundown...

Our Softball Team, BUZZ.....FINALLY won a championship!!  Matt and I have been playing for about 8 years now, so it has been a long time coming for us.  It's getting harder these days to play - with two kiddos to care for in between innings!  Matt and I usually trade off innings, but we also have some very awesome fans (Bonnie, Rachelle) who make it way easier for us to play most of the game. 

Here's our team picture with the kiddos on the team getting in there as well.  :-) 

Matt's Father's Day charter fishing trip was a huge success.  He and Joel got 4 fish to bring home - one of them is pictured here! 

Maddie gets her exercise every day by jumping in her bouncer.  She LOVES it.  I'll post a video of this soon, but let's just say that if you are in the basement - it sounds like she is coming through the floor.  :-)

Then, it was Anika's first birthday.  Our group of friends felt the the most appropriate gift would be a pink drum set - decorated with Minnesota stickers!  Caden loved the drum set - we might have a great idea here for a Christmas present.  The kids all took turns and now Anika's house is the place to be for the kiddos.  :-)

Happy Birthday Anika!

It was Jackson's 6th birthday this month!  His party was at the community center in the gymnastics room!  Caden loved the party, and is also starting gymnastics class this week.  This got him warmed up for the class.  He is turning out to be quite the daredevil - he jumps off of everything that he can.  Joel is here helping him out on some of the equipment. 

What a fun party!!  Happy Birthday Jackson!

Maddie has also started solid foods. Well, she's been eating yogurt since she was 6 weeks - so actually, she has expanded her menu items.  Because the yogurt has such a strong taste, she doesn't like regular oatmeal and rice cereal - I have to mix it in with the yogurt she eats.  Veggies will be interesting when we start those this week!

 I had to post of picture of Maddie's hair.  It's out of control.  Instead of measuring how much she has grown every month, maybe we should be measuring the length of her hair!