Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. Christmas just seems more enjoyable or "fun" when there is a kid around. Here are a few pictures from our holiday.

Our Fisher-Price Nativity Set that Secret Santa left on our doorstep:)

We didn't take Cade to the mall to see Santa this year. Santa at church is sufficient enough. No crying, just strange looks.

Christmas Morning. One of Cade's gifts- his own little chair.

Cade and Daddy- with some ridiculous facial hair going on.

Jordan and Grandpa sporting this years Christmas Jammies.

Roxanne in the girls Christmas Jammies.

The boys put a curly ribbon bow on the back of Cade's head and called him "little black girl" the rest of the morning (no racial offenses intended).

We are excited for another wonderful year in 2010!

One Year Old!!

Look who's one!! I can't believe my little baby is already one! Oh what a year it has been, but never would I trade it for anything in the world. I am so grateful to have such a precious little mess in our family. A year ago today he came into this world, and it's incredible how fast they change. I always think about how he will grow in all the years to come and what he will be like, but really I wish he would stay little forever.

Oh, what a stud you are.

Here are some pictures from Cade's birthday party that we had on Saturday:

Elmo cake.

Gives Dad the- what is going on look.

Decides to try for a touch.

Grazed the top of the flame and decided he doesn't like it.

This is the most he touched his personal "1" cake that he is technically supposed to trash. He has never been one that touches food or puts anything in his mouth. I have only seen babies put anything and everything in their mouths so I don't know what his deal is. The only food I can get him to feed himself is a cracker.

Presents.

Yet again, doesn't want to touch the presents. Madison (his cousin that he LOVES) had to show him, but still no interest in tearing the paper. Luckily, we had Jack and Kate more than ready to finish the job.

Way too many presents from all the family. Spoiled? I say yes. A brat (Jordan), I say no.

Cousins

Cade has reached another milestone this past week- walking! He has been wanting to walk for months and months and would be very frustrated that he couldn't get around like us. Therefore, he would result to extreme whining and constantly grabbing our fingers to help him walk everywhere. But now, this big boy can do it all by himself!

He laughs the entire time. He thinks he is so awesome.

Can't you see the pride beaming in his face? And don't dare not give him praise once he reaches his destination because he will get angry. Oh, I love little boys:)

Trick-or-Treat

For Cade's first Halloween, he went Duck-style. Here are a few pictures from that evening.

Trying to get a picture of his whole costume. Not wanting to cooperate.

At the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. He was real clingy and not in the best of moods.

How we found him when arriving home. Poor baby.

As for our Halloween, it was spent handing out candy to the hundreds of trick-or-treaters that rang our doorbell. And yes, I said hundreds. Apparently, our neighborhood is the big hot spot for all the kids. Maybe it is because almost all of the houses decorate their front yards just for the kids, many of them having haunted house type deals in their yards. There were lines and lines of kids waiting at all of those houses. It was so packed that it was quite the ordeal trying to drive down the street! I now have a new respect for our neighborhood and think it is awesome that everyone has great holiday spirit. Next year, I need to do better decorating and buy a lot more candy.

Fall Cheesin'

I absolutely love this time of year! The weather starts to get cooler and the jackets come out along with the fun decorations and yummy fall food. And so the holidays begin with Halloween- my favorite (tied with Christmas). Therefore, the camera also comes out. Cade looks so cute in his Halloween clothes, and I can't resist.

This goober has also started to cheese for the camera, and it is the funniest thing in the world.

This is starting out.

Here I go.

Full-blown cheesin'!

He knows he is so funny.

Cheesin' another day when I was taking pictures of his first day to wear jeans.

Cade also gets in these bubble blowing modes where he will stand there for about 10 minutes and make this "mwaaa" sound while he blows bubble after bubble. Here's a nice one that I finally caught on camera before it popped.

Works up quite the saliva.

In his adorable glow-in-the-dark Halloween jammies.

More acting funny while cheesin'.

Crawling at Last!

At 9 months, my baby is finally crawling! He very quickly went from only sitting, to scooting around on his stomach, to full out crawling. For those of you family members requesting to see more of Cade, I have including tons of pictures.

Grunting and pushing so hard to move around on his tummy.

Venturing into one of his favorite places- the laundry room. Loves to watch that laundry go round and round. His other favorite- to go into the bathroom and stare at the tub. Giving me hints.

Learning that the knees are supposed to be involved.

The cutest thing ever.

For real crawling.

Cade has also started to babble a whole lot and I would by lying if I said that I didn't absolutely love it. There is nothing sweeter than to hear the sounds of a precious baby. If you try to get him to say something, his response is always Da-Da. Unless he's mad, then it's Ma-ma. What's up with that? Momma is the one with him 24/7!

Helping Momma get ready in the morning. He has 6 teeth now. 4 more on the top.

Love it when he talks to himself.

His favorite- Daddy's toothbrush. It vibrates.

Helping Momma look through the ads.

Bath time is the ultimate fun.

Climbing up to stand.

What a big boy!!
And yes, in almost all the pictures, he is in his jammies.

Coupons

So, as of a few months ago, I am absolutely obsessed with coupons and getting extremely amazing good deals with them at the supermarkets. Literally, I eat, sleep, breathe coupons. And if you don't think coupons do that much to your total besides take a few cents off here or a dollar there, you are WRONG! I know that many of you are already actively saving extreme amounts of money like I am so this is not news for you. But for those of you who don't do this yet, you have to start because it is amazing!

To get started understanding how this process works, go to: southernsavers.com and click on "getting started guides" at the top (that is if you live in the South. Other regions, I believe, have their own websites, I just don't know them). She will explain everything.

The 2 places where I usually use all my coupons are Publix and Kroger because they have by far the best deals. That's right- I did not say Wal-mart. I have learned Wal-mart is only good for those things that you can't get on sale at the other stores. This week Kroger is having ridiculous sales and I purchased $115 worth of groceries for $35!! There weren't as many deals at Publix last week so I only got $28 worth of groceries for $6. However, that is still incredible savings. I usually save an average of 60% or more on my bill. This has really been a great way for us to start building up our food storage a lot quicker than we thought we would be able to. We are able to get many items for just pennies or for free.

My mother-in-law and I always do our couponing together and always joke about it being our mormon version of a high!