Fall and all it's Funness!

We love the Fall...football, candy, fires in the fireplace, the holidays!

~So far it's been a great season full of family and friends~

The family at Bates, we had so much fun scavenging out the perfect pumpkins!!!

Our little Buzz

My brother and his band played at Escondido High School as part of their Fall fair, the kids loved the farm!

 

Pumpkin Carving Time!!!

Ready to do some damage and score lots of CANDY!

They picked out their costumes: Kohl, army guy (he picked this for the gun), Brady was our little Buzz (he wore this almost the whole month of October!), Kaden, the scary clown (he's always wanted to be the bloody gory guy)

Kaden's 8th Birthday...and some baseball!

I'm starting to believe, the older they get the faster each year goes by!!! 8, it just seems so "big" kid...almost not a kid anymore :( Kaden had an awesome birthday, it fell on a Sunday, which is the day Kohl and him play baseball. Maybe it was the crowd and all their fans, the birthday vibes, but these 2 boys played like pros! Kohl's making diving plays to second, Kohl and Kaden ran the infield with a great a snab by Kohl, throw from his knees to Kaden at first for the out! Wow, proud parents! :) Kohl went 2 for 3 and Kaden went 4 for 4! He had 2 line drive doubles, he was SO pumped! He even got the game ball (which was perfect, since Kohl got it last week and "someone" was a little upset lol). Then we met up with friends and all my family for pizza! It was a simple, yet great, birthday celebration for our Big K, and he LOVED his day!

Kaden hoping to score!

Kaden at first

Kohl getting ready to slam it!

Yes, I am very proud of my cake :) First time with fondant (from scratch!)

If that isn't a S#@t eatin' grin :) haha...this kid loves money! (and for those of you who have ever lost a bet to him, you know what I mean!!!) He put it all together, along with some gift cards and bought himself a DSi...he's in...HEAVEN!

Back to life....back to reality

We had a great relaxing summer! Not overbooked with too many places to go and people to see, just kind of a day by day vacay and it was perfect! Many trips to the beach, balboa park, backyard camp-outs, lots of marshmallow roasting, swimming, Lake Hodges boat rides, even went up to Lake Elsinore for some swimming a wakeboarding!
So after and great summer full of really doing nothing but hanging out, the grind has started once again :) It's always bitter sweet, a break for mom, but back to the rigid schedule and homework. The boys are also playing soccer and baseball this fall which both started this week....craziness I know, but they love it, we love it and it's so fun to watch them get out there and have fun!
Here are a few pics from our morning of back to school.
Kaden, second grader.....wow!
Kohl, first grader :)
Brady, 2nd year of preschool and loves it!!!!

Kohl "sliding" into 1st grade!

Kohl took part in the traditional San Elijo Slide ceremony where they get to slide out of kindergarten and into first grade. He was counting down the days for this! He and Kaden are very excited to start their new school years at Breeze Hill next year and meet some new friends.

Our little bubs is turning 3...really?!?!

This year, and I think it will fall maybe every 8 years, Brady's birthday will be on Easter. How many more holiday babies can we have in the family! Lets see:
Tara- Thanksgiving
Amanda-Labor Day
Linze- New Years Eve
Zach- few days off of 4th of July
Kohl- 2 days off of Christmas
Brady-Easter
hmm...not too many left!
As most of you know I have been working on some photography stuff. Due to childcare expenses beginning to run our lives, we took some time to figure out the best strategy financially and for our family, so as of 2 weeks ago I am no longer a manager for Gymboree. I left on great terms, with direct comments from my boss that the door is always open to come back! You know me, I have to be doing something, and usually something with some sort of creative outlet involved, so I have ventured into one of the LOVES of my life, photography. Ever since I can remember I have always enjoy taking picture, looking at pictures, visioning what pictures i could or wish I could take :) With a little prodding from one friend (thanks Amy) and some great advice and technical help from another (thanks Laura) I am taking steps towards actually being able to do this as a business. Every session I make sure I learn a whole bunch of new stuff, and there is SO much to learn!
Anyways, enough of my rambling, here is our sweet baby, yes he is my BABY! and he knows it! :) I love spending more time with him, and I know and see how much he loves having me with him!

Kaden's Date Night

Kaden got asked by a sweet little girl in his class to accompany her to a dinner she won with their teachers. They went to Buca Di Beppo in Carlsbad, I dropped him off and he went at ate with all the ladies...he was actually pretty nervous!

Kaden actually has 2 teachers, one was running a little late. This is Mrs. Stremmel (her baby girl on the far left), Lilly, and Kaden

Looking so handsome!!!


Casts and all ( I think its working well with the ladies lol)

Week 1 down, ??? to go

On Valentine's day we finally let the boys ride the ramps at the skate park where I play indoor soccer and with in 5 minutes Kaden managed to go down a ramp not meant for bikes and crash breaking not one, but both arms right at the wrist joint. The first week was treacherous! Poor baby was in so much pain, and could not do anything himself. When we went to get his casts on at Children's that Thursday the 18th, they informed us that he had displaced the bones in both wrists, which we were told at the ER did not happen. This little 2 hour appointment turned into a 9 hour hospital stay. We were told he'd have to be sedated due to the severity of the left wrist. They did a push on both arms, which is when they go under an xray and physically push his bones back into place then cast him...it was a long, long day for both parents and Kaden. He was NOT a happy camper! He has since been back to school, starting today as a half day and will continue that for the rest of the week, giving us lots of work for home. I am more busy now than when I was working! haha, but for a much better cause! We'll find out more on Friday at is follow up appointment where they'll re-xray him, like how long he'll be in his casts and if they eventually might be able to re-cast his left arm down to a shorter cast like his right arm. We also now have to watch for any growth abnormalities he might have in the future since both breaks were on his growth plates. Until then, lots of autographs and he hasn't gotten tired of telling his story!

His right arm


and the doosey...his left!

Home from the ER 2.14.2010....Happy Valentine's Day!

Sitting shotgun, heading to the snow...I know taking him out the day after, but how much more pain are you in when you're just sitting at home dwelling on it.


From the looks of these, you'd never guess those xray pictures were his...does this kid feel any pain???? I love that he is such a trooper, not once did he ever wine or complain about what he can't do, such a brave little boy!




This was the day where he finally broke down, he had hit his wall. It was overload for him when his appointment turned out to be much more than we were initially informed. Then because of the sedation he couldn't eat all day. We had one tired, hungry boy, in pain. He came through like a champ though. He was more bummed he didn't say anything silly and ridiculous when he was coming out of his sleep! haha(this was while we're were waiting, about 6 hours in...can you see how annoyed he is!)


The next day, now he has a tattoo like daddy!



Kaden back to school after a week of being gone; telling his story and getting his casts signed, soaking it up :)


And getting the 5 star treatment from mom and dad too. Because he can not shower or get his hand wet we were wiping them down and cleaning the dirt out from his nails. I don't understand how they still get so dirty when he's not even using his hands right now?


To be continued with more updates as the weeks pass...

Snow Fun!

We decided we needed to get outta here and have some family fun time! We had originally planned just a day trip to the snow, but ended up being able to stay the night! The kids were so excited, the morning we left they were up at 5:30am....are we leaving yet, can we go now?????
What a perfect little trip; Idyllwild is only 1 1/2 hours away, no traffic, not a lot of people, awesome! It rained for a bit, but us "un-snow getters" (I know, wth kinda word is that) didn't care and played out in it for about 2 hours before we realized we were started to freeze, literally! But it did snow all night and was beautiful the next morning! Here are some pics and video of us having FUN :) Some of the pics are blurry, one cause trying to focus wearing big snow gloves is pretty hard and it was raining/snowing so I was trying to cover the camera and take a pic...not that talented.





This video is funny...I am filming all the scenery, the cabin; it seems all peaceful, and in the back ground you hear Jay yelling at the kids haha, poor daddy got a work out carrying them, and their sleds up the hill about 20 times that day!




Kaden's first attempt on a snowboard.




This was Kaden's second full run down the little slope, the first time he didn't stop himself (i.e. make himself crash lol) and went right over the berm at the end; which had a 3 foot straight drop to the asphalt road on the other side, live and learn, right!? If we would have been on a real mountain he would have been off and not looking back, he caught on so quick!





Poor Kohl, no matter how we carved out the snow he would somehow always end up going straight into those bushes, every time! He got so frustrated! But is was actually pretty funny. And bushwacker comes from my brother who is notorious for running straight into bushes when he rides quads, so they'll be sharing that name now lol

My loves and I

My handsome lil man!

Poor daddy, at least he got a great work-out in over the weekend!

Everyone, up the hill again...

Kaden learning to snowboard

They could have sled ALL day, they loved it! Especially Brady, if his brother's were using the sleds, he'd just run, jump and roll down the hill...yes, my kids are weird and crazy!